Conclusion
During our 2012 project, riPOSTe, all members of POST experienced significant family-life events which impacted on their capacity to manage the logistical side and contribute to artistic aspects of the project. During TRADING STATION, once again, life has dealt high and low points to each of the artists involved. These prominent life events take time and energy that would otherwise be used to develop personal and collaborative practice. If we had stuck to the model used in riPOSTe, we can realistically say that TRADING STATION would not have progressed past a single exhibition at Curve Gallery in Liverpool and the relationships, working practices and outcomes that have emerged from the project would not have happened.
The success of TRADING STATION for the artists involved has not been it’s critical acclaim or economic value, it has been the total reward of the experience which should be fully and consciously embraced to understand success; the way that TRADING STATION has adopted a flexible approach to presentation of artworks and exchange of people, developed use of virtual platforms for communication, afforded periods of reflection and the space for both collaborative and individual voices, meaning that members of POST have been able to continue to be a part of the project throughout the turbulence of life. The TRADING STATION model developed a more relaxed exchange programme, responsive to the artists’ life commitments, enabling high quality artwork and sustainable relationships to develop, which will positively affect the practices of all of the artists involved into the future.
