EVENT RESCHEDULED
The Value Added conference will be rescheduled. The event retains its focus on the value of socially engaged artistic practice with a revised programme.
The event is now FREE for artists.
Value Added: Roles, participation and economies in contemporary visual practice
Date: To be confirmed
Venue: SPACE Triangle, 129 - 131 Mare Street, London E8 3RH
Artquest, in partnership with SPACE, presents Value Added, a conference for artists and commissioners exploring questions of value in relation to socially engaged artistic practice.
With the emphasis placed on participation and social exclusion in current European, central and local government cultural and regeneration policies, there has been an explosion of socially engaged projects in recent years. This looks set to continue further in London with the cultural opportunities linked to the 2012 Olympics, Thames Gateway and other regeneration projects (e.g. Kings Cross, Greenwich Peninsula).
This one-day conference will bring together key figures from London, UK and overseas to discuss issues specific to London but equally the wider questions of the value and ownership of contemporary arts practice. It offers practitioners (artists and those who work with them) new perspectives on the opportunities for socially engaged practice in London currently and the professional and critical issues inherent in this type of work.
There have been other seminars (e.g. Arts Council England’s Inter-rupt series in 2003), various solo and group exhibitions, and publications (e.g. Open space: art in the public realm 1995-2005, Arts Council England London, Central London Partnership, 2007) on related themes. However, this event is unique in its focus on the major opportunities that London-based artists could have if we engage successfully with the major regeneration projects planned for the capital in the next decade. Speakers will include professionals directly involved in commissioning artists in London, as well as those with wider international experience. This emphasis on professional knowledge and debates clearly sets this event apart and makes it highly relevant for practitioners (both commissioners and artists alike).
The theme of 'value’ is the focus for the conference: the value of this type of practice to commissioners, participants and artists, questions of how we frame and present this value, and how artists and commissioners together can express and capture value. Expressing the value of the arts in social and regeneration contexts is also a key ongoing concern of policy bodies and opinion-formers including Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (for example, Tessa Jowells’ Government and the Value of Culture paper, 2004), and Sir Brian McMaster’s Supporting Excellence in the Arts: From measurement to judgement (DCMS, 2008) and this event will contribute new perspectives to this discourse.
Value Added is presented by Artquest and SPACE, supported by a-n the artists information company and Art Monthly and funded by Arts Council England and University of the Arts London.