…. and so, one door is almost closing and we begin to approach another, waiting to turn the handle.
The closing event of Inhospitable at the Bridewell actually began at various times, as people started to wander in as soon as we got there. The venue has quite strict security rules – main front door to always be locked behind you as you enter the premises and all doors within the building ( studios and office) ditto. But, as there were a few of us around, we asked if, just for once, we could prop open the front door and keep it open.
….and that’s when people started to enter. People that had wanted to come in, in the past, but were too ‘scared’ to.
I remember when the Ceri Hand gallery was in Liverpool and I felt the same apprehension over visiting on my own. It was in an ‘uncomfortable’ area of Liverpool and you had to ring a bell to gain entry to the gallery. I only ever went there once – to a private view, when there was safety in numbers. That’s probably why she packed all her bags and moved south ( if everyone else felt the same)
The choice of venue is so important if you want people to ‘follow a trail’. I was talking to someone recently, who was really excited about setting their work up in a venue not normally used as an exhibition space and as soon as I heard the address, my heart sunk and I thought ‘no one is going to visit there’.
Then there is the other extreme…. after finishing our invigilation shift at the Bridewell on Saturday, I walked up to Copperas Hill with fellow exhibiting artist KImbal Bumstead, to check out at least some of the Biennial. I only had half an hour, as I had to meet up with someone, so only got to see one part – The New Contemporaries . As far as I could see, the work with quite impressive and worth a second visit, but the building is so distracting! It’s a massive disused postal sorting office and it really overshadows the work. I found myself staring up at the ceiling, the beams, the pulleys…almost everything that was left in the building, rather than looking at the work itself.
But anyway………. in an ideal world, we would have liked a more central space where people can just walk in, invigilators are paid and the building just has plain floors and a ceiling……but that wasn’t ever going to happen. We do this for our work to be seen – to whatever audience is there and to whatever venue we are lucky enough to secure.
Up at the other side of town, the door stayed open and although it was bitterly cold in the corridor, our Closing event at the Bridewell was very well attended. Kimbal did his presentation – a variation of the one he did in Stockholm, but just as enthralling.
Our second venue – at Albert Dock was an empty shop. People saw it as just that and wandered in – because it was there. There was very rarely a time when no one visited. Tiring and stressful as it was to have two venues open at once, I can honestly say that it has been hugely successful.
The van from Leeds will arrive on Tuesday, we will pack up the two venues and head north.
