Jamboree

LOW PROFILE look at the outcomes of Jamboree and the possibilities for taking it forwards.

It feels important to know that all of the energy spent developing and delivering Jamboree might become a starting point for a productive shift in how artists based across the country/regions connect, but also that the workshop could be a focus for driving forward the progressive ideas/resolutions/models conceived by the artists involved in the initial weekend/workshop.

Over the 3 days of Jamboree, we (LOW PROFILE and the workshop participants) identified a number of important ways in which we could improve ‘our situation’ and a number of systemic shifts that would be beneficial to artists and arts practitioners across the UK. Here are a few of the discussed ideas:

Artist Associate Schemes

• A need to further connect up the different associate schemes/for the coordinators of the schemes to develop a connected network, which works collectively.
• Artist members feeling more empowered to shape the provision of schemes – questioning what they provide, what is needed and what should be asked for.

Writers

• The need for a network of independent critical writers operating nationally to write about and disseminate interesting projects / work / arts practice.
• Associate schemes, arts institutions and arts journals supporting the development of a mobile network of writers, operating across the regions to enable a less ‘centred’ recording of current practice.

Increased mobility for artists

• Making interesting invitations to others – thinking about the resources / what you have access to (and all of its qualities and idiosyncrasies), working out who it might be attractive to / who you’d like to work with / who you’d like to meet and then making approaches.
• Studio exchange – the need to utilise temporarily empty studio spaces for affordable exchange.  Since the workshop we have found that there is an existing online platform to facilitate this via Artquest:http://www.artquest-artelier.com – it will be useful for participants to join / test / signpost this existing scheme and feedback on any improvements that can be made.

Advocacy

• The need for curators based in the regions to act as advocates and connectors to help draw attention to the artists based in their own locality
• Salaried programmers who are nationally and internationally mobile could significantly support the development of artists in their locality by helping them to expand their opportunities elsewhere, assisting in networking, helping them to make professional connections and recommending their work to peers. In this way, artists in the regions benefit directly from the curators at their local institutions becoming ambassadors for cultural activity in their area, highlighting interesting work / practice / projects and retaining more exciting artists.

As the instigators and shapers of Jamboree, we are now in the process of reflecting on the workshop and considering the possibilities of developing a series of Jamboree workshops, a large-scale Jamboree ‘festival’ and/or the need for us to personally take on any of the needs/challenges/ideas set out above.

We are excited about continuing to find efficient, exciting and creative new ways to improve the situation for artists around the country, asking difficult questions and trying to contribute effectively to conversations about what is lacking and what is required where we live and work. We feel confident that in this activity lie the seeds of new ideas, new models and new frameworks. Our hope is that these grow, nurtured by the spirit of openness and generosity we experienced during Jamboree, and become super productive.

LOW PROFILE is a collaboration between artists Rachel Dobbs (IRL) and Hannah Jones (UK). They have been working in collaboration since 2003 and are based in Plymouth (UK).

LOW PROFILE’s practice spans a variety of performative interfaces with different audiences including small-scale live moments, gallery exhibitions, books, videos, durational task-led performances, sculpture, text works, sound works and large-scale participatory projects. Our work is informed by (and often make in response to) specific contexts and situations.
www.we-are-low-profile.co.uk
@LP_LOWPROFILE

Jamboree #1: Plymouth was produced and facilitated by LOW PROFILE and developed in partnership with PAC Home (Plymouth Arts Centre’s associate programme) and with the

generous support of a-n and Plymouth Culture, in addition to the six main partners: PAC Home and Plymouth Arts Centre (Plymouth), Spike Associates and Spike Island (Bristol), WARP and g39 (Cardiff), Extra Special People and Eastside Projects (Birmingham), CG Associates and Castlefield Gallery (Manchester), Glasgow Sculpture Studios (Glasgow).

Clara Casian reflects on her responsibility towards her adopted city and its interconnected web of possibilities

Jamboree provided me with a good knowledge on how people and places operate outside my area. I lived in Manchester for a few years and only recently I started feeling like I belong. As part of one Jamboree session I was invited to think more thoroughly about living and practising in the city as an artist and what that entails. I immediately imagined a psychogeographical tour around Manchester. I imagined the people and the places forming a drawing that followed my own journey of connecting to the place. The drawing would map out my involvement with Corridor8 and FACT followed by my Rogue studio neighbours that formed Film Material Soup, the Life and Use of Books and then HOME, seeing how all these people and places took the role connectors that would each form different trajectories.

This cartographical drawing also gave me a sense of movement, and I thought of the urban exploration one would take when encountering a city with novel eyes, and what strategies there are in place. In Martin Clark’s session as part of Jamboree, he talked about place and locality and during the talk there was a beautiful extract from Lucy R. Lippard’s The Lure of Local which might provide interesting ground for discussion. The talk was oriented towards place and belonging and there was a mention of the feel of responsibility towards the place you live in, which stuck with me and I felt it was related to my own progression in the city. In my case, things changed when I started feeling more responsible towards the place and connecting with people and spaces created an interconnected web of possibilities that inherently pushed my practice in a different way.

Overall I really enjoyed Jamboree and I think everyone’s journey is different. For any newcomer looking to learn about the place and even Manchester I would recommend a serendipitous walk around the city, as the one led by Morag Rose as part of the Loiterers Resistance Movement, the collective of urban explorers: “Look around you and there’s magic!”

Manchester-based Clara Casian has a practice that encompasses film, drawing and collaboration, working with a variety of media including performance, moving image, sound and light. Clara often works on durational projects that re-construct narratives and that employ seriality and repetition, developing gradually through an accumulation of events, sites and objects. Clara is currently researching Northern UK publishing and censorship and the playful combinations of text and image in unclassifiable ‘speculative Sci-Fi’ anthologies from the early 60’s and 70’s via the history of Savoy Books. She completed her Masters at Manchester School of Art and her work includes research in the digital field and collaborations with artists, makers and collectives.
http://filmmaterial.org/artists/clara-casian/
@ClaraCasian

Place shapes but it doesn’t have to define, reports Beth Kettel

Being in a situation to meet other young artists from around the UK seems simple but actually the opportunities to do that are quite rare, especially in this kind of focused environment. Because of the intensity of the weekend it meant that we really did form friendships/‘connections’ with other practicing artists working regionally across the UK and I would say for me that’s the main thing I took away. When a bunch of artists from around the UK have the opportunity to come together like they did in Plymouth, it made it clear that we were all up for supporting each other, soppy yeah but it didn’t feel false, or like a ‘networking’ event.

It’s quite easy not to properly consider the effect of location as an artist, I mean you think about position and positioning within the wider artistic vocabulary but it was really useful to think about the regions as things in themselves, not separate pockets outside of London, nor as trying to recreate a centre, but how these pockets can be connected and supportive. And perhaps how working in the regions almost offers a different license; a certain freedom. I do however think as far as the weekend in Plymouth was concerned, we needed more time to really establish how these connections between cities could be strengthened and sustained. Because of what was set up over the time in Plymouth I think it would be useful to reconvene, not starting from the start again but have a second round of focused discussion.

I am between cities and don’t necessarily think it’s that relevant for me to be based in one place in particular. Obviously I want to fully engage with the place I’m in and I want to promote the good stuff that’s happening there but I guess it seems less relevant for me to hold up a flag. Place probably does affect the work you make and I don’t know if I’m happy for a place to define what I do, so moving forward, I will certainly give this more thought.

There was a lot on the agenda for the weekend and quite big concerns to try to deal with, which I‘m not sure really got concentrated to a point of resolution, but for a few days I don’t know how realistic that was anyway. It certainly felt like the start of something, something that needs to be continued. Although it didn’t feel like some of the concerns were established, what was established were connections between people and getting an idea for the arts ecology of different cities and how things operate differently within them, useful to reflect back on the city where I’m based, thinking about what could be improved but also what is to be appreciated.

Beth Kettel is an artist currently living and working in Nottingham, she has a studio at Primary and is an associate of Castlefield Gallery, Manchester and Eastside Projects, Birmingham. Recent shows include Gooch, a performance for Sluice Art Fair 2015, London; Post-Point and/or The Sequential Tangential Potential, solo at The Telfer Gallery in Glasgow. Kettel tends to work with text, performance, installation, costume and video. She tends to her mixed feelings and interest in the flexibility, polysemy and obscurity of language, gesture and object.
bethkettel.co.uk
@BethKettel

Crack on! Emma Sumner gets down to business

Place making – mapping the resources, spaces, people and activity

• Resources – Great art library resources in both MMU and Manchester Uni, CG Associates,
• Spaces – Rogue Studios, Castlefield Gallery, Bureau, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, Victoria Baths, HOME, Artelia Studios, Bankley Studios and Gallery, CFCCA, IWM, MOSI, The Library, Bridgewater Hall, Holden Gallery, The Art School (MMU), Zion Arts Centre in Hulme, Contact Theatre, Paper Gallery, International 3 in Salford, The Kings Arms in Salford who also have studios.
• People – Kwong Lee, Jane Lawson, Directors at Rogue, Phoenix, Islington Mill and other studio groups, Ian Brownbill at Engine, the guys from Toast including Monty, Sophia Crilly and Mark Kennard of Bureau, Emma Fry at CVAN, Paulette and Laurence at International 3, Brendan Fletcher Salford Uni,
• Activity – Films and performances at HOME, classical concerts at the Bridgewater Hall, walks down the canal, food in the Northern Quarter, music in the Ritz/Gorilla/Academy,

Outcomes from the ‘what’s lacking/what’s required’ provocation led by Martin Clark

• Is the issue a lack of funding outside of the institution or a lack of skills in knowing how to apply for it?
• There is a need for critical writing in the smaller towns and cities, but there is also a need to raise awareness that writers need to be paid if critical writing is to flourish.
• We must remember that there is a freedom that comes with working in smaller towns and cities and remember to appreciate this and use it to our advantage.
• The threat to artist’s space through development and gentrification is always an issue. Is this something that can be avoided or changed?  Does it need to change, as Lucy Lippard said, “displacement is more appealing to artists than placement”.

Outcomes from the ‘what’s next’ task led by LOW PROFILE

I felt I was taking away other people’s concerns from the session which I now want take forward as future article topics conducting research and interviewing various experts and experienced arts professionals to provide real solutions to the issues faced by artists.

Mottos  – Crack On! – As a pragmatic person, although I understand the importance of discussing the issues we all face as artists, I often feel frustrated that the action to happen following these conversations takes time to really make a difference which is why I live by the motto ‘Crack On!’.  I’m determined to make a difference and help promote change through action.

Emma Sumner is an Artist, Curator and Writer living and working in North West England.  Working with the motivation that the small actions we take can help make a big difference to the world around us, Emma’s complex and decorative practice explores Western consumer traits, focusing on fast-fashion and the consumer’s persistent desire to buy better, newer and more luxury products. Often describing herself as a contemporary Womble, Emma avoids becoming part of the consumer cycle, only occasionally investing in quality items to keep, making use of other people’s donations and scavenging second hand stores. This lifestyle choice leads Emma to create projects which extend into her everyday life, including the creation of her own fashion label, establishing a community market stall and working with artisan designers in India.
http://www.emmasumner.com/
@emmasumnerart

Spike Associate Laurie Lax gained clarity and confidence at Jamboree – and a national network of couches

Only a certain kind of person would sign up to sleep on a gallery floor for three nights with a bunch of strangers. The chances are these people would probably get along just fine…

Often artists are expected to give ‘presentations’ or an ‘artist talk’, but I have found very little guidance on what is actually wanted. Useful from the offset, LOW PROFILE set the task of condensing our practices into 6-minute presentations to share with the group, shaped around three specific questions – the most useful for me being ‘please describe your current and biggest concerns?’

I knew this could be interpreted as something formal that needed to be resolved in the work, or balancing making and paid work, or ‘professional goals?’ However, I posed the question that I am most shy to ask for fear of being pigeon-holed, ridiculed or challenged; the thing that’s been bugging me since I was a student; the thing that’s terribly un-fashionable, the thing that I can’t stop making work about – ‘how to deal with the environment and climate change through my work?’

This was met with a simple but poignant ‘don’t worry about it’. If it’s a genuine concern revealing itself through the process of making, then it is a genuine concern and there is nothing I can do about it. The social, political and scientific effects of climate change are rich territory to explore, but I would still not identify with the term environmental artist!

As well as new confidence in that particular aspect of my work, I will take away from Jamboree the discovery of a little gem in the coast – Plymouth, and a nationwide network of couches to sleep on. Some of us have already met up in Glasgow!

lewdjaw on Jamboree – an audiovisual interpretation

That’s what I want $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Place Making: Spike Associates Laurie Lax, Laura Phillips and lewdjaw reflect on what it’s like to be an artist in Bristol

In terms of art spaces, there are only a handful of public art galleries, and LOTS of transitory pop-up spaces and events, giving it a constantly fresh atmosphere. This is reliant on the general public being actively engaged in the arts – it’s quite a fun-loving party city (not surprising given its proximity to Glastonbury, like San Francisco to Burning Man). The downside of that is Bristol lacks spaces that are in-between and spaces for emerging artists that have longevity. Hyper-gentrification is happening, sometimes Bristol is referred to as ‘West West London’ – lot’s of Londoners are moving over. The neighbourhoods are all very distinct from each other, so there is something for everyone. In fact we unanimously agreed on one-word summaries of all the areas (Clifton=posh, bedminster=yummy mummy, Stokes Croft=crusty…)! Quite an alternative politically aware city (Bus boycotts, Tesco Riot, Counterfire, Museum of Palestine, Tony Benn was local MP…)

Main Galleries:
Spike Island (divisive)
Arnolfini (hit and miss)
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (classic museum but a really good art programme)
Royal West of England Academy (mainly traditional but sometimes contemporary!)
The graveyard of pop-up spaces (in last 6 years only):
Motorcyle Showrooms, The Looking Glass Art Space, Parlour Showrooms, Vericonian Palace, Motorcade Flashparade, Detroit, Bristol Diving School, Central Reservation, Madescapes, Lot, Plan 9… leaving room for new shoots!!!

Regular art festivals:
Bristol & Bath Art Weekender
International Performance Association (various events)
Spike Open Studios
Bristol Biennial
Mayfest (theatre and performance art)
In Between Time Festival…

Healthy pattern of cross-disciplinary collaboration i.e. with music, film and science:
Qu Junktions (booking agents and event organisers who often work with visual artists)
Howling Owl Record Company – label who also put on events and operate in art settings
Young Echo – exciting music collective that put on arty performances
Strong graphitti scene (Banksy!) with the events ‘See No Evil’ and ‘Upfest’ annual graphitti festivals on Nelson Street and North Street respectively, and the outside gallery curated by ‘The People’s republic of Stokes Croft’ born out of the ‘Tesco riots’
Aardman (Wallace & Gromit) and BB Natural History Unit are based in Bristol… so lot’s of media people and facilities around.
Strong circus scene because of the school and venue Circomedia.
Bristol University and UWE means a lot of students of all disciplines.

Local legends: Richard Long, Massive Attack, Portishead…

HIDDEN GEMS
Art related but still regarded a hidden gem:
The Cube Microplex (radical cinema, stage, hub, co-op, managed and owned by volunteers)

Non-art related:
St. Peter & St. Pauls Catholic Cathedral near Clifton
Narrowways Hill (The Mound) in St. Werburghs – a rare untilled piece of land
Cycle paths – Sustrans (national cycle network) is a Bristol based charity
Bristol Rovers – women’s football team
St Paul’s Carnival – not that hidden but a more manageable party compared to Notting Hill carnival
Greenbank Cemetery
A child curated gallery on Vicarage road, inside the missing brick in a wall

Touristy stuff that’s actually worth checking out:
SS Great Britain
The Suspension Bridge
The docks
The shot tower
The zoo is ‘well kept’ and involved in international environmental activism

Laurie Lax was born in Canterbury in 1987 and graduated from BA Fine Art at Bath School of Art & Design. She is based at BV Studios in Bristol and has completed several residencies including Cow House Studios in Ireland; Nida Art Colony in Lithuania; Merz Barn in Cumbria (supported by a-n’s Go and See bursary); Ricklungården in Lapland (Sweden). Exhibited in London, Bristol, Dundee, Folkestone, Canterbury and Chester; internationally in Germany, Ireland and Poland. Selected for the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014, and nominated for the Drawing Room Bursary Award 2015. Commissioned works by Supernormal Festival, Antler’s Gallery, Bristol Biennial and the Royal West of England Academy.
www.laurielax.co.uk
@lax_laurie

Laura Phillips (b.1986) is an artist based in Bristol and is a studio member of BEEF (Bristol Experimental & Expanded Film). Selected screenings include Cornwall Film Festival, Annexinema Screening G39, Outpost Summer Fayre. Awards include: Exeter Contemporary Open. Selected exhibitions as part of Bristol Diving School include: Erial Sutra, Croxhapox, Ghent, Belgium (2015) P-E-R, TOAST, Manchester (2014), Memex: An Autoscopic Exercise, KARST, Plymouth (2012).
www.lauraphillips86.co.uk

lewdjaw is currently based in Bristol, Co-Director of East Bristol Contemporary gallery, and Co-Editor of lockjaws*. Recent exhibitions include shows in Bristol and Bath Art Weekender, Spike Island Test Space, Platform Award Modern Art Oxford, Surface Gallery (Nottingham), Bibliotheque Jean Puy (France), Old Police Station (London).
www.lewdjaw.com
@lewdjaws

Jamboree #1: Plymouth was produced and facilitated by LOW PROFILE and developed in partnership with PAC Home (Plymouth Arts Centre’s associate programme) and with the generous support of a-n and Plymouth Culture, in addition to the six main partners: PAC Home and Plymouth Arts Centre (Plymouth), Spike Associates and Spike Island (Bristol), WARP and g39 (Cardiff), Extra Special People and Eastside Projects (Birmingham), CG Associates and Castlefield Gallery (Manchester), Glasgow Sculpture Studios (Glasgow).

Jason Pinder reflects on the experiences of artists from Cardiff’s WARP during Jamboree residential workshop.

It’s been a few weeks since we roughed it on the floor of Plymouth Arts Centre (PAC), just enough time for the experience to sink in.

After arriving a little late in Plymouth on a Thursday evening and finding somewhere to park the car, we (the Cardiff contingent – Lauren Heckler, Clare Charles and me from WARP) found our way through to a back room of PAC where the floor had been sectioned off into ‘parking spaces’ with masking tape. In this space we would eat, sleep and breathe art for the following four days – except for the evening excursions to the pub.

Our first task, set by Rachel and Hannah of LOW PROFILE, was to draw a self-portrait to stick on the wall. Most people had already done theirs. Stuck up like mugshots along the wall, despite being drawn in the spur of the moment with more than a little tongue in cheek, the images served to help identify the other ‘Jamboreans’ when we forgot their names.

Following the first night where we met people, ate fish and chips, viewed the 2nd part of The Jarman Award screening and had some pints in the local, the first full day began with breakfast and coffee – obviously. Then we got started with our individual presentations. What was interesting was that, although our practices differed greatly, many of the issues we were facing were the same.

After several presentations and coffee breaks, Martin Clark (curator of Bergen Kunsthalle) led a provocation (no, he didn’t know what one was either). His talk was mostly about the trajectory of his career, which has been fascinating by the way, but ended with, what I suppose was the real provocation, questions around what it is to work ‘out in the regions’.

Friday night: KARST exhibition opening, pub, bed.

On Saturday group tasks asked us to deal with the questions: What is lacking? and What is needed?

Between the 15 or so of us, we came up with a lot! But speaking 3 weeks later, the points that are really stuck in our minds are:

• Stronger connections between regional centres will allow for greater mobility for artists and their practices.
• Graduate retention. How our organisations and associate schemes could make staying an attractive option.
• Artists need to be showing outside of their regions.
• Local opportunities should be shared with artists in other regions.

Saturday Night: Screening of Artists’ shorts, pub, bed.

On Sunday morning we were treated to two talks by local experts. The first on Cartography, which tied in nicely to our conversations about the geography of our practices, the second about sound. Both were really interesting and a breath of fresh air having been talking about being artists for days. What became apparent was that the most interesting people are those that are interested. In anything.

We made plans of action and filled out questionnaires. We made offers of our services for each other to take advantage of. We swapped contact details. We made our way home.

Jamboree was a fantastic experience, one that should be repeated. We left feeling refreshed and excited, and with a heap of new friendships. Cheers!

Jason Pinder lives and works in Cardiff, graduating from the Art School in 2008. Working predominantly with objects, but also with photography and text, his sculptural interventions engage with our physical experience of stuff. Both in his studio and the gallery familiar readymade objects – chairs, vessels, ropes, are typically found modified, juxtaposed and re-balanced – catalysts for a tangential wandering of the mind. Alongside his practice Jason is a founding member of the BRG collective and plays a role in delivering the Kim Fielding Award.
www.jasonpinder.co.uk
@JasonBRG

Jamboree #1: Plymouth was produced and facilitated by LOW PROFILE and developed in partnership with PAC Home (Plymouth Arts Centre’s associate programme) and with the generous support of a-n and Plymouth Culture, in addition to the six main partners: PAC Home and Plymouth Arts Centre (Plymouth), Spike Associates and Spike Island (Bristol), WARP and g39 (Cardiff), Extra Special People and Eastside Projects (Birmingham), CG Associates and Castlefield Gallery (Manchester), Glasgow Sculpture Studios (Glasgow).

In this opening post LOW PROFILE discuss the motivations and aims behind its new residential workshop model.

We feel pretty invisible.

We’ve been around for a while and we’ve done lots of things we are proud of, but we remain, in many ways, at the fringes.

Having said that, we like being at the edges. We were drawn to living in Plymouth for its underdog qualities and for the real potential to contribute productively and sincerely to the place we lived and worked in. At the time of settling here in 2005, it is no exaggeration to say that you could count the number of contemporary visual artists based in the city on one hand. A lot has changed since then and the city is becoming an exciting place for artists to be located and for audiences to have high quality cultural experiences.

We have never been concerned about the impact living in Plymouth has, or might have, on our careers. This has been our base and like many artists based in a particular locale or city, we rarely show (or desire to show) work in the city itself. There are, however, challenges to ‘being here’.

• it can be costly and time consuming to travel
• the art scene is still very young and lacking a full ecology of practitioners (emerging, mid career, established etc)
• the city does not have a large, dedicated contemporary visual art venue
• there are very few studio spaces available for artists making non-commercially focused work (est 12 individual studio spaces for rent)
• there are few curators and programmers operating in, and/or visiting the city

Over the years we have shown work across the regions and outside the UK, but have most recently spent the last two years making work (a participatory project ‘Picture in the Paper’ and a solo gallery installation, ‘Impromptu’) originated and based in Bath (South West). Bath, like Plymouth, suffers from a lack of critical engagement and attention from the art world and wider arts discourse. We had made two significant projects and attempted to create an audience for these works, but they remained very ‘local’ in their reach. The revelation that good work can be entirely missed when being presented out of established contexts, is in no way surprising. It is, however, still frustrating.

We are not interested in making decisions about where we live, or make and show work, based on whether (or not) it is strategically good for our career or professional profile. We’re not aiming for grand notions of success, status or recognition, but we do, of course, want our work to be seen, for our networks to reach outside of the places we operate in and for the things we do to attract the attention of people involved in the critical discourse around arts practice (artists, curators, writers, researchers, programmers etc.).­

We started to think about ways we could reconnect with a wider network of artists and arts professionals and support other artists with similar needs, issues and concerns to those that we were identifying.

Jamboree – what was it?

The first iteration of Jamboree took the form of a residential workshop held in Plymouth (Nov 2015) over 3 days, with 16 artist participants (selected from 6 artist run associate schemes from across the UK) and guest curator Martin Clark (Director, Bergen Kunsthall & Artistic Director, Art Sheffield).

The workshop aimed to foster a peer network of artists who are invested in each other’s practices, providing useful and supportive connections; provide a focused professional development opportunity and maximise energy and resources, by gathering a group of artists together from across the country to share knowledge, practice and networks. Jamboree aimed to expand regional/national networks for artists and visibility of artists based ‘in the regions’; create a social environment for sharing; support the potential of long lasting connections and provide useful professional contacts.

During the workshop the group took part in/attended:

• the Jarman Film Award screening
• gave individual presentations of art practice – focused on current concerns, modes of practice and challenges faced.
• a ‘place mapping task’ and group presentations – artists worked in groups to map useful information about the place they live and work in, whilst considering how they operated within that place.
• provocation led by Martin Clark on the notion of place/operating at ‘the edges’ and individual responsibility.
• visited KARST for a behind the scenes tour and private view opening.
• Group session led by Martin Clark focused on notions of what is lacking/what is required.
• Go-Sees to Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery, The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art and Plymouth Arts Centre.
• A public film screening of video work (selected via an open call) by associate artists of Jamboree’s partner Associate Schemes.
• Presentations by a sonic expert Neil Rose and cartography and geographic information systems expert, Sean Lewin
• Reflective sessions on ‘what is next’
• Skill mapping and swapping task (to share individual skills amongst the group)

Jamboree – a new approach to creating a dispersed but connected model.

Our desire to bring people together in one place, to meet face-to-face in an intensive environment to get to know each other and each other’s ­­practice; reflects our interest (and belief) in notions of individual and collective responsibility, and the potential of the collective as an agent for change.

At present in the UK, it is well recognised that there are multiple established art ‘scenes’ operating across the country. This situation disrupts a notion of a clear or singular centre and presents arts practitioners with the potential of a (geographically) dispersed but (socially) connected model.

The framework of Jamboree empowers individuals to make the most of being part of a collective, a community of practice and part of a developing network of artists who are critically engaged, widely dispersed (geographically) but interested in making (social and professional) connections and open to sharing knowledge, information and contacts.

LOW PROFILE is a collaboration between artists Rachel Dobbs (IRL) and Hannah Jones (UK). They have been working in collaboration since 2003 and are based in Plymouth (UK).

LOW PROFILE’s practice spans a variety of performative interfaces with different audiences including small-scale live moments, gallery exhibitions, books, videos, durational task-led performances, sculpture, text works, sound works and large-scale participatory projects. Our work is informed by (and often make in response to) specific contexts and situations.
www.we-are-low-profile.co.uk

Jamboree #1: Plymouth was produced and facilitated by LOW PROFILE and developed in partnership with PAC Home (Plymouth Arts Centre’s associate programme) and with the generous support of a-n and Plymouth Culture, in addition to the six main partners: PAC Home and Plymouth Arts Centre (Plymouth), Spike Associates and Spike Island (Bristol), WARP and g39 (Cardiff), Extra Special People and Eastside Projects (Birmingham), CG Associates and Castlefield Gallery (Manchester), Glasgow Sculpture Studios (Glasgow).