Illustrating the approach she brings to her new role at [a-n], Gillian Nicol highlights some of the challenges and opportunities for artists and their practice today, looking broadly at education and employment, status and lifestyle and the impact of widening access to technology.
Glasgow-based artists Ben Woodeson and John Beagles give accounts of two very different recent events in Berlin: the artist-run BBQ Project and Art Forum Berlin, the city’s annual art fair.
Art.tm’s Director Gordon Rogers explains the organisation’s role in facilitating and promoting the work of visual artists in the heart of the most dispersed population in Europe.
Neil Zakiewicz plots the progress of The Trade Apartment’s ‘alternative’ activities.
Peckham’s Whitten Timber Yard is the current home for Area 10, a non-hierarchical artist-led group with experimentation, communication and collaboration at its core.
Drifting south west to Cornwall, Alan Bleakley describes PALP, an artist-led group committed to experimental, collaborative and socially inclusive projects.
Fiona Rutherford rounds up what’s been happening with this artist-led textile group currently celebrating its ruby anniversary.
Tom Burtonwood provides an overview of the artist-run scene in the Chicago.
Louise Clements and Jonathan Willett describe Spectrum 2002, a light-infused programme of exhibitions and outreach work at Nottingham’s artist-run Lightsource.
Mark Gubb describes Derby’s newest artist-led organisation and calls for other artists to get involved.
Deirdre King profiles LA-based artists’ initiative Raid Projects and its international activities.
G39’s Chris Brown reports on a stimulating seminar for artist-led initiatives in southwest England.
Malcolm Dickson highlights the issues around the future needs of artists’ organisations in Scotland.
Brendan Fletcher takes a look at how artist-led initiatives, and the Manchester galleries’ willingness to listen have helped shape the current changes in the Manchester art scene.
Current committee member and studio resident, Katie Exley explains the organisation’s role in supporting and exhibiting artists from Glasgow and further afield.
Sofie Sweger reports on ‘Space/Traffic’ an international symposium of artist-run spaces and organisations that took place in Hong Kong last December.
This ambitious artist-led project has involved seventy-five artists and resulted in over 100 artworks. Cassie Thompson visits the exhibition and talks to the project organisers.
A new artist-initiated event took place across Hull during September. Here, David Briers explores how the event fits into the city’s existing arts infrastructure and discusses some of the national and European links it generated.
The trust’s coordinator Leila Dawney explains the organisation’s artist-led ethos and its work to support the arts in Birmingham.
Lucy Wilson discusses the international outlook and future plans of this artist-run space in London.
DX Raiden explores the artist-run scenes in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
A recurring issue for artists is the constant search for a suitable space in which to work and exhibit. Artists have increasingly addressed this through improvisation and adaptability, to the point where spaces run by artist collectives have become almost synonymous with formerly disused (or unwanted) spaces. As Malcolm Dickson noted in his comment on artist-run spaces (October issue) – “The motivation now is more pragmatic by necessity, in that you just have to do it in order to get work shown (whether your own or other artists)”.
