Sustainability of international female artist led exchange
Our main aim during this second POST project was to see if we could develop a way of working that is sustainable in the longer term. This was in the light of our first project riPOSTe taking a lot of time to manage given the logistical conundrums involved in 14 artists working together for a large-scale exhibition in 3 venues in 2 European cities. With TRADING STATION we wanted to step away from the formulaic, one-size-fits-all basis of exchanging work and create a more rewarding conversation between the artists involved to enable longer term benefits to develop.
The TRADING STATION model was developed to be responsive to artists’ life commitments whilst still providing high-quality artworks and developing genuine, useful professional relationships. The methods employed to achieve this were:
· Less of a focus on the physical exchange of things. By developing a modular 4-publication and 1-exhibition project alongside a series of in person meetings, there was more time to develop relationships and understanding between the artists involved. The process of exchanging ideas and conversations, whether over the internet or in person has led to more in depth exploration of ideas within each artist’s practice and where that crosses over with the work of other artists. Cecilia Kinnear talks about how her extended periods of time in Istanbul has led to her developing work around national identity, influenced by conversations with, and the work of Turkish artist Gülçin Aksoy around ‘red tape’. As Amanda Oliphant states:
“Trading Station is and has been more about an exchange of experience, a natural conversation of life, a progression of chance and coincidence made possible by developing relationships further afield. It has been another way of working, not necessarily about the production of an idea into material objects but about ‘developing’ an idea of a shared connection, being virtual or physical.”
· A more relaxed attitude to the physical exchange of people. Our working methods accommodate a variety of approaches and therefore retain a flexibility in terms of how investigative strands are realised. Robyn Woolston notes:
“RIPOSTE explored and defined a set of working methods that would allow 7 UK artists to exchange with 7 Austrian artists. Looking retrospectively I now realise that the formulaic basis of exchanging work and people between two countries, and two exhibitions, dictated pragmatic responses to logistical conundrums and therefore solutions.”
Within TRADING STATION we adapted our schedule of exchange visits to the availability of the artists. This relieved the pressure to visit within strict timescales and the schedule for publishing the newspapers has been able to be adapted around that, ultimately complementing the exchange schedule. We did not aim for the exhibition at Curve Gallery to be the ‘big finale’ as it was in riPOSTe (with the stresses that comes with). The exhibition was followed by two further further residencies by Robyn Woolston and Cecilia Kinnear and subsequent newspapers that reflect the ongoing development of the project
