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Exploding myths about money: the ‘bank’ printing artworks to pay off community debt
As part of their Bank Job project in Walthamstow, Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn have printed ‘money’ and bonds as a way to write off personal debt in the community. Artist Alistair Gentry, who has been involved in the initiative, talks to them as they prepare for a symbolic ‘Big Bang’ event in the City.
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Engage conference 2018: artists, healthcare and art as a “humanising force”
This year’s Engage conference in Manchester brought together educators, curators, researchers, artists and policymakers to discuss the diversity of approaches to arts and health – both physical and mental – in current practice. Artist and writer Alistair Gentry reports.
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Artists and mental health: a conversation that needs to get louder
When artist and writer Alistair Gentry first shared his experiences of depression earlier this year it resulted in a flood of private feedback and led a-n to commission a series on artists and mental health for our Resources section. Drawing on the conversations he’s had with artists and arts workers, he argues for more openness about mental illness and wellness in the arts.
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Artists and mental health: depression is neither romantic nor inevitable
Do the pressures of being an artist, with the precariousness of funding, the demands of unrealistic deadlines and the need to be seen to succeed and deliver consistently, make talking about depression and mental health tantamount to career suicide? Artist and writer Alistair Gentry, who has suffered with depression since a teenager, thinks the answer is ‘Yes’ – but that the issue is too important to keep quiet about.
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Artists are human too: why residencies need to reflect economic and social realities
With too many artists’ residencies excluding those who don’t have independent means of support or who have responsibilities at home, Alistair Gentry welcomes Wysing Art Centre’s new residency programme and calls for more of the same from building-based arts organisations.
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Queer art in the UK: notes on two exhibitions exploring current ideas and aesthetics
In the exhibitions ‘Queer Art(ists) Now’ and ‘Notes on Queerness’, the idea of queer art is presented in an artist-led context, with work ranging from painting to film. Alistair Gentry speaks to some of those featured and explores what the amorphous, contested term ‘queer’ might mean for artists in the UK.
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Working for free: what’s to like?
Artists are often asked to work for free in return for exposure via social media likes and audience praise, so for a recent commission (paid) Alistair Gentry decided to walk around Folkestone dressed in a cliched ‘artist’s costume’ asking other types of worker if they’d do the same. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they weren’t particularly keen.
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Ethics, art and technology: the need for a human-centred approach
At a recent symposium in London, academics, technologists, artists and film makers gathered to discuss the politics and ethics of art technology. Artist and writer Alistair Gentry attended and was struck by the need for a much closer relationship between the tech and ethical tendencies in this ongoing and vitally important debate.
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Folk art, fine art and the snobbery of taste
The current British Folk Art exhibition at Tate Britain provides a timely reminder of art as an expression of creativity and emotion. It is, argues Alistair Gentry, a compelling alternative to a ‘sick and twisted’ contemporary art world.
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Let them eat buildings
In the light of Arts Council England’s recent capital grants announcement, Alistair Gentry asks when investment in the work of new, financially strapped artists will be given the same priority.
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Artist proposes a vortex, gets a black hole
Over two years since it was commissioned, Anthony McCall’s contribution to Artists Taking the Lead is yet to materialise. But beyond the obvious issues around public funding and value, what does a project like this say about contemporary art and its relationship to audiences?
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The House of Supernormal
Having navigated both cultural and physical obstacles to integration at this year’s Supernormal Festival, our correspondent explores the gap between good intentions and outcomes.