Projects in 2011

Artquest projects that took place in 2011

Artlaw TV - October 2011

ArtlawTV was a series of short films commissioned by Artquest to explore many of the legal issues that artists face when making, showing, selling or distributing their work, presented through actual artistic practice. These films can be viewed on the Artlaw TV page.

Adhocracy - 6-7 August 2011

Adhocracy was convened by New Work Network taking the form of a mini-festival celebrating D.I.Y. cultures, collective action, creativity and can-do attitudes: past, present and future. Adhocracy included an alternative Fair; dialogues and panel discussions; demonstrations and How-To's; a pedal-powered cinema and a night of Good Attitude. Artquest supported this event by facilitating contributions on artists collectives in Adhocracy's Rally of Speeches from Marlene Smith and David Curtis / Biddy Peppin.

Festival of Blackboards - 19-31 July 2011

Festival of Blackboards was a series of free events exploring the role of the artist and the creative process in today's education system, organised by Cubitt Education in partnership with Artquest.

Soundings - 1-3 June 2011

Venue: La Chiesa Anglicana di Venezia, Campo S. Vio, Venice, Italy

Soundings was a three-day exhibition and series of events that took place during the opening week of the 2011 Venice Biennale, bringing together open critical discussions, artworks and readings.

Venice Agendas: discussions, each day, 9.30-11.30am

Following on from the successful Agendas series of past Biennales, Venice Agendas aimed to continue the crucial discussions facing contemporary art and critical practice as part of an international debate, and question the Biennale's power as cultural commodity.  National boundaries are being redrawn, cultural identities are being questioned and centres of global economies are shifting; these dialogues will focus on culture as a global currency used as an expression of power through national identity.

1. Wednesday 1 June: The Artist as Critic

With artist/writers Nathaniel Mellors, Richard Grayson, Martin Holman and Rachel Withers, with interventions from Jon Thompson and Lutz Becker

2. Thursday 2 June: National Assets: peripatetic global cultures

With Iona Whittaker (Beijing-based art writer), Jean Wainwright (Audio Arts, University of the Creative Arts), Gayle Chong Kwan (artist, New Forest Pavilion) and Alan Haydon (De La Warr Pavilion)

3. Friday 3 June: Hidden Agendas: Global Art Education and the Biennale Aesthetic

With Chloe Briggs (artist, Parsons Paris School of Art + Design), Ingrid Koenig (Emily Carr University) and Mark Gaynor (Principal Lecturer at Southampton Solent University and ELIA European League of Institutes of the Arts)

Also included an exhibition by William Furlong: Passage of Time and Terry Smith: Naming the dead, and readings by Maria Morganti.  Partners: workinprogress, Audio Arts, de la warr pavilion, Q-Art London, AICA UK. Exhibition supported by: St George's Church, Sonica Studios, Nuova Icona.

Generator - April-June 2011

Generator was our first attempt at crowdfunding for a project.  We created a bursary programme to be funded by online donations through the WeDidThis website. After three months of marketing and trying to get donations through the site, the project did not reach it's total and all donations were returned. 

WeDidThis is a the UK's first dedicated crowdfunding website for the arts. It encourages patrons to make cash pledges towards arts projects, with every donation (however small) rewarded with a personalised gift that brings audiences and supporters closer to the creative process. The bigger the donation, the bigger the gift.

Artists Gareth Hudson, Marina Rees and Rich White were selected for the project.

Selling Out: Ongoing project started May 2011

A series of talks and workshops to give artists the practical and critical skills they need to make money out of their practice. More information on the project can be found here.

Artspeak: 12 April 2011

Dr Peter Hill: Build Your Own Superfiction
Venue: Club Room, 2nd Floor, Conway Hall

Dr Peter Hill is a Scottish-born Australian. He trained as an Industrial Designer and then as a Fine Artist and has written for over 40 art, design and educational publications around the world. Peter Hill returned to Glasgow from London in 1981 and started to write about art in Scotland for numerous international magazines outside Scotland and founded ALBA, a Scottish contemporary art magazine.

Dr Hill gave a lecture titled "Build Your Own Superfiction". Peter Hill invented the Superfiction both as an artwork and as a way of testing ideas and expanding the notion of ‘lateral thinking'. In 1989 he created the fictitious Museum of Contemporary Ideas which existed only through its Press Office. Supposedly the biggest new museum in the world, it was written about in Germany and Austria (Gabriele Knapstein, Wolkenkratzer magazine, October 1989) as if it was real, and a meeting of German industrialists and curators (chaired by Dr Wolfgang Max Faust) was held to see if Frankfurt could build a real museum based on this model. Hill has used Superfiction projects as a way of teaching undergraduate students across a wide variety of studio disciplines.

Emerge seminars - October 2010-April 2011

A series of hands-on seminars and workshops to help artists sustain their practice. To accompany this season of events, five artists' commissions took place in curating, peer mentoring and networking, setting up an artist led space, working in education and working collaboratively.

Community Contexts: Setting up an artist run spaces

Venue: The Showroom, London

This session looked at setting up an artist run space with a particular focus on engaging with communities and neighbourhoods. It included case studies of current Showroom projects, plus presentations from the Emerge Arts Activists Commission group 'Group+Work' and the National Federation of Artists' Studio Providers.

Networking Knowledge: Knowing your audiences
Venue: Enfield Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield

This event, run by international artist Noemi Lakmaier and with advisory support from Creative Capital, provided artists with a step by step plan for writing and speaking about their work. This practical session was about establishing what your practice is (and what its not), and who you want to reach and how.

Educating the Educators: Engaging with Gallery Education

Venue: Salon Contemporary, London

This event was intended as a first stop for artists to get to grips with how their practice could connect with, and be developed by, a variety of approaches to working within gallery education. The session was based on a practical workshop run by Emma Hart and curator Leanne Turvey. Participants were offered additional advice from Jane Sillis, Director, engage, the national gallery education organisation.

Creating Collaborations: Collaboration Conundrums

Venue: Arts Depot, London

This event was run by Russell Martin, artist, Rational Rec Director and Programme Manager at Artquest.  It was aimed at artists who are considering working collaboratively and are looking for advice on the pitfalls and opportunities for shared working, as well as tips on finding and approaching artists to work with.   

Curating Connections - Approaches to group exhibitions  

Venue: Acme studios and Intervention Gallery

Held in collaboration with Intervention Gallery and Acme studios, and run by Nick Kaplony, artist, curator and Artquest Senior Programme Co-ordinator,  this event addressed practical and conceptual approaches to curating. This event was a workshop style 'hands on' approach to the challenges and opportunities of curating a group exhibition from diverse artistic styles and practices.

E17 Art Trail

In Autumn 2011 Artquest supported the E17 Art Trail: Walthamstow's well established art festival which this year will present more than 200 events and exhibitions from 2-11 September around the E17 postcode, in the Borough of Waltham Forest.

New Economy of Art - ongoing open discussions - see main project page

Self Assembly - ongoing project started February 2009

Seminar series looking at the individual elements of an artists career and how they fit together.  See the main Self Assembly project page for further details and recordings of past sessions.

The Real World - ongoing project started May 2009

Looking at real-life examples from the careers of practitioners, The Real World is presented in collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery.  See the main The Real World project page for further details and recordings of past sessions.

<<3 Months in Berlin>> Residency

See the main project page for more information

Going Dutch Residency

See the main Going Dutch project page for more information

This article is from the Artlaw Archive of Henry Lydiate's columns published in Art Monthly since 1976, and may contain out of date material.
The article is for information only, and not for the purpose of providing legal advice.
Readers should consult a solicitor for legal advice on specific matters, and artists in London can get free online legal advice from Artquest