Self Assembly

Self Assembly shares the strategies and tactics artists employ to make work in the real world.

The art world can be hard to navigate: hard to find the right person at the right organisation; hard to find funding or finance; hard to make the time and space you need to keep working.  How do other artists do it?  Self Assembly showcases the different paths artists take to sustain their practice while still paying the bills, and shares the ways in which artists in a variety of circumstances, working in a variety of ways, get the opportunities they get.

Most artist presentations talk only about the professional side of practice - the exhibitions, residencies and other opportunities gained throughout a career; the bits that make an artist into a professional artist.  Self Assembly seeks to lift the lid on how artists actually manage their time and money, balance the demands of work and life, and still get round to making work.

There are as many different ways to be an artist as there are artists, and we believe that artists are the best experts on how practices works.  Self Assembly seeks to share these tricks of the trade and the inside information artists need to orient themselves in the part of the art world they choose to inhabit.

By meeting more artists and sharing ideas, you increase the network you can rely on for help when you need it, meet potential collaborators and learn from the mistakes of others.

Next Session: BOOKINGS NOW OPEN

The Professionals
Date: Wednesday 8 May, 6,30pm to 8pm

Venue: University of the Arts London, 272 High Holborn, London WC1V 7EY

Price: £4.oo Book your ticket now!

How can artists convey their professionalism when applying for opportunities, considering that nowadays all you are allowed to send is an application form and a few images? What is the criteria that curators and galleriests use when selecting applicants? What are the tools at the artists disposal?

In this new Self Assembly session, Debra Wilson and Chiara Williams, directors of WW Gallery, will share their expertise as gallerists and organisers of a number of successful open exhibitions, including Afternoon Tea: Works on Paper at the last Venice Biennale and SOLO Award.

Established in 2008 in Hackney, WW is one of London’s leading contemporary artist-run spaces with a reputation for consistently forward-thinking and innovative projects. The gallery has a programme of solo and group exhibitions, accompanied by regular talks, tours and publications. The directors also run a very popular Surgery for artists. 

Past Self Assembly Seminars in 2013

The Fine Art of Negotiation

Date: Monday 25 March
Though often overlooked negotiation is a skill employed in all aspects of a career as an artist, from putting on a show, to agreeing a commission fee, getting sponsorship and more. Hear artist Emily Speed discuss how she has learned to negotiate with galleries and commissioners to make sure that she has access to the resources she needs to produce her work.

Emily is an artist based in Liverpool. Working in performance, installation, sculpture, drawing and artists’ books, she explores the temporary and the transient through reference to architecture and the body. She has also written Getting Paid , a project blog for a-n for two years, The Fine Art of Negotiation was organised by Artquest in collaboration with FACK.

How to Run an Artist Led Space - January 2013
Ami Clarke, artist and director of Banner Repeater looked at the benefits and challenges of running an artist led space - her presentation covered topics such as the choice of location, finding and approaching funding bodies and the ins and outs of setting up as a small organisation. Ami has given Artquest some tips on setting up an Artist Led Space.

The recorded audio of most Self Assembly seminars is on this page, just under the photographs. The full list of the previous seminars can be found on the past projects pages 2012, 2011 & 2010.