Let Loose - a writing project

I'm often caught up with planning and organising so this project is an opportunity to stand back and think about what we do and the experiences people have.  It was suggested the other day that a lot of my work is about providing opportunties to interpret artworks and to share these thoughts.  These opportunities to share interpretations and experiences might be very important.
This gave me a different understanding of a recent writing project I ran for people with hearing loss. The project was based at Dancebase and over six months we saw a lot of dance together, talked about it and shared stories.

You can read the work produced here: http://issuu.com/artlinkedinburgh/docs/issuu_a5_let_loose_booklet_artwork?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

Last year in Edinburgh Festivals we ran a project, Postcard Reviews, for the same group working with a writer to review arts events from their personal experience.  Could participants' writing be one way of authentically representing experiences?

Sharing Organisation's Practice

I thought that it was really interesting to have Anna's perspective on the blog as an artist and something that would eb good to develop through to the public events we are going to deliver over the next six months. I do also feel that it is important to share the organisation's voice in amongst this. Hence starting up a post Sharing Organisation's Practice. However I am aware that organisations are often so involved with sustainability that what is published is cloaked in marketing speak with the aim to attract funders. I think this can alienate audiences and artists and participants and may often not even be what funders want to hear. With that in mind here the most recent Impact Study that we have published at Peckham Space. As you might be bale to tell it is predominantly used as a marketing tool and to attract funding. http://www.scribd.com/e_192881701/d/98093555-PECK-032-IS-14-BOOK-24-8-11. It would be good to know what you would like to hear about from an arts organisation as artists, practitioners, participants and organisers your self.

#affectionatefidelity

Hi Anna - very interested in your questions surrounding permission, control and activism: here's a presentation I gave recently in Dublin and in Helsinki - the presentation features three different projects and looks at issues of public space.  If you have a look at the slides with a print out of the notes you'll hopefully get an idea of the narrative... I haven't read Small Change but it sounds interesting - will look it out in the library...These two submissions (this post and last) represent my two pieces which represent what I do - will review yours and lets get planning... cheers  Helsinki - #affectionatefidelity ptI

Helsinki - #affectionatefidelity ptII

Helsinki - #affectionatefidelity ptIII

Affectionate Fidelity

The one armed bandit of participation

Hi guys - I guess we're still in the process of loading up info and then we can review... here's a presentation I made to the engage conference I programmed in Margate regarding participation - this set the context for the conference:

JG Engage Conf Intro

Small Change

It's funny how things seem to crop up and pop up once you get thinking about them. I suppose one of the things that interests me as an artist/arts project producer/human is the idea of permission, control and activism. To some extent I consider the role of artists to be to demonstrate where there are gaps, or opportunities that are not being used, or spaces that are waiting to be filled (I stop short at problems waiting to be solved.) I have just had a meeting about a new network being set up by Oxford Brookes University and Multistory, called The Small Change Network. I don't know if you have read Small Change by Nabeel Hamdi? It's a great book about people getting started on things in their communities: instead of waiting for someone to come along and solve stuff, it is all about people recognising resources, and making small changes which lead to bigger changes. I feel like the thing we are looking at, trying to explore might be relevant here? What do you think?
There is a forum: smallchangeforum.org  where you can find out more.
I wonder if there are any links to be made?

Sharing Practice

Thanks for sharing thoughts and practice. First a bit about what I do:

In Summer 2010, I organised our studio artist's show in the local park. This is the publication from the activity. I hope this gives you an idea of the involvement I have with AirSpace Studio artists. Hopefully this is a link to a publication we made to document the event: http://www.pdf-archive.com/2012/06/18/cg-book-4-mar/

Then I can share with you an event I organised in winter 2010, which was part of Conjunction 2010: (this is a contemporary art biennial for Stoke-on-Trent) I was invited to be part of the Conjunction Biennial partnership, for the first time in 2010 (though I had helped out in previous years) and my input was the closing event/live art day, which toured people around the city, to the various venues involved.

You can see the live art day documentation video here: skip through it as it is more than 20 minutes long.

Then there was Interrogation - which was a residency at New Art Gallery Walsall in 2009, and then in West Brom in 2010. It was a professional development programme which I designed and delivered for artists wishing to gain experience of intervening in the public realm, commissioned by Longhouse. We worked with over 40 artists over 2 years. A copy of the publication can be seen here: http://www.pdf-archive.com/2012/06/18/interrogation-design2/

I have been thinking a lot about the idea of participation/collaboration and representation. I think I will share my thoughts by talking through my most recent work as an artist, rather than as an arts events/programme organiser as above...I will do that soon.

Recent Report

Explorations in Participation

I don't want to say too much about this at the moment.  Once you have some time, it would be usefult o hear your feedback.  I look forwrad to reading about some of you work too.

Tom Paine's Bones

On one of my breaks from the course, I spent a while on the bridge watching the guys in the boatyard dredge the river to pull out an industrial piece of tubing, which had floated down the water from a nearby factory.  The rubber was entangled under the boats and was in risk of getting caught on the barges' propellors, which would have burnt out the engines.  One of the boats was called the "Thomas Paine".



I'm interested in Tom Paine, and his resistance to organized structures (religion, government) within societies, which end up 'tyrannizing' the ideals they are meant to promote.   An useful analogy for thinking about the visual arts/culture today? We discussed a lot about how arts projects are represented and the desire to let the projects reveal themselves with an honesty, authenticity and integrity,... Can project be led by "Common Sense"?

 

That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. - Thomas Paine

Artist as Leader

I still need a lot of time to process all we learnt at the residential, but it also inspired curiosity which led to this.....
"Artists lead through their practice.  One quality of experiencing art is that artists enable us to see the world differently.  Our focus is on the ways in which this provides leadership."
This will be my weekend reading, sounds good so far.
The Artist as Leader was a research project at Grays School of Art and theres an article on AN website.

Boat

"George Mackay Brown once wrote that 'the past was like a great ship that
has gone ashore, and archivist and writer must gather as much of the rich
squandered cargo as they can'