Contemporary Visual Arts Network - Journal

Surreptitious Networks - North East Contemporary Visual Arts Network event

2013-05-03T17:13:15Z

Monday, 20 May 2013, 11am - 6pm
Tyneside Cinema, Figgis Room,
10 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 6QG

North East Contemporary Visual Arts Network is funding 3 critical writing bursaries on offer for emerging artist/writers in the Greater North to reflect and respond to academic research undertaken by CRUMB research associate Isabella Streffen as part of her fellowship through the AHRC Cultural Engagement Scheme. This is the first of a number of pilot projects that North East Contemporary Visual Arts Network is a partner in to explore how artists’ academic research within Universities is disseminated and explored within the visual arts sector for mutual benefit and by doing so, seed new connections and test new partnerships.

This artist-led workshop will be led by CRUMB post doctoral research associate Isabella Streffen and co-chaired by Dr. Sarah Cook of CRUMB and will focus on the “surreptitious networks” operating within artistic practices. The aim is to reveal how artists expose, work with, critique and create inadvertent or hidden networks in the development of their practices. The workshop will share knowledge from the practices, strategies and critical perspectives of four artists working with digital and non-digital networks:

Graham Harwood

Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway

Joanna Griffin

Isabella Streffen

Information about the contributors can be found here.

Discussion will touch upon methods and meaning of network creation, both deliberate and accidental and the relationship between the human and non human with questions likely to arise such as:

What other types of network emerge as the by-products of digitally networked practices?

How can the exploration of networks most usefully seed other networks?

What strategies do artists use to navigate and manage networks in their practice and how do the “echo networks” of digitally networked practices differ from those of non-digital practices?

Morning presentations will be broadcast by basicfm, while the afternoon workshops will offer a chance for participants to engage more closely with each of the artists to discuss strategies.

Details of the bursary can be found here. Bursary applicants are invited to apply for one of three bursaries by emailing A CV and a piece of written text to juliab@balticmill.com by May 13th and will need to be available to attend the event on 20th May in Newcastle. Selected applicants will be sent a briefing pack. Bursary recipients will have their articles co published by CRUMB and a-n.

If you would like to attend the event, potential delegates are asked to apply by email to streffen@mac.com with a Biography a short (200w) statement about what they would make of the opportunity by 15th May. Selection will be done by CRUMB and delegates will be notified by 16th/17th May so please hold the date until confirmation.

This project is a CRUMB Professional Development Workshop in collaboration with Pixel Palace and in partnership North East Contemporary Visual Arts Network and A-N.

Winners announced as New Art West Midlands celebrates region’s emerging artistic talent

2013-03-25T10:02:40Z

An altar featuring felt budgies and foil-wrapped ‘turds’ and a bicycle wrapped in wool are among the varied exhibits now on show in three Birmingham galleries as part of the award exhibition New Art West Midlands.

The best new work produced by recent graduates from the region’s five university art colleges was celebrated on Thursday 7 March in a prize-giving at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham.

Rafal Zar, a graduate of Birmingham City University, was awarded the £1,000 first prize following a unanimous decision by judging panel Nicola Kalinsky, Director of the Barber Institute; Simon Cane, Acting Director of Birmingham Museums Trust and Wendy Law, Director of Turning Point West Midlands, part of the national Contemporary Visual Arts Network supported by Arts Council England and hosted by Birmingham City University.

Rafal Zar - awarded the £1000 first prize

Runner-up prizes of £500 each were awarded to Corey Hayman, a graduate of Coventry University and Stuart Layton, who studied at the University of Worcester. These graduates also received bursaries to make new work for the exhibition.

This year’s New Art West Midlands project, part funded by Arts Council England and Birmingham City University via Turning Point West Midlands, is the first in an annual competition and exhibition initiative that promotes and encourages the region’s emerging artistic talent.

Exhibitions now open to the public at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Grand Union in Digbeth display the work of some 22 emerging artists, chosen from a long list of applicants by selectors Jeremy Millar, artist and tutor in Art Criticism at the Royal College of Art; Lynda Morris, Chair of Curation and Art History at Norwich University College of the Arts and Keith Piper, artist and Programme Leader of the MA Fine Art programme at Middlesex University.

The exhibiting artists all graduated in the last three years from Birmingham City University, Coventry University, Staffordshire University, University of Wolverhampton and University of Worcester.

New Art West Midlands catalogue - available from all exhibiting venues

Wendy Law said judges had been impressed by the wide range of subject matter and media. “The artists selected displayed an awareness not only of what is going on in contemporary art today - they are working with and commenting on political, historical and social issues,” said Wendy. “There is a real maturity across the work in terms of the ideas and their execution.”

Nicola Kalinsky said that all three winners had displayed not only maturity and professionalism, but also potential for growth as artists.

“Rafal Zar’s work is very coherent and assured: It’s visually very striking, and creates resonances drawn from popular culture that are both familiar and also alien. There was an ambition to his work which interested us all. Corey Hayman and Stuart Layton’s pieces were also very individual, very urban, and had a remarkably assured quality and authenticity about them.”

Simon Cane added:

‘This was a remarkable opening year for the New Art West Midlands project and the culmination of a hugely worthwhile collaborative project between the three galleries, Turning Point West Midlands and the five universities. It certainly augurs well for the future of New Art West Midlands – and is a revelation of the immense artistic talent and creativity being nurtured in – and by – the region and its art schools.’

New Art West Midlands continues at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and The Barber Institute of Fine Arts until 19 May 2013, and at Grand Union, Digbeth, until 16 March 2013.

The New Art West Midlands catalogue is available at all exhibiting venues for £10.

Collaborative Acts - Thursday 14th March 2.30pm – Scratch Night from 6.30pm, MK GALLERY

2013-03-13T13:37:23Z

Artists and curators from across the east and south east regions of England, are invited to attend Collaborative Acts - a space to hear more about opportunities to work together with others and how groups of artists are doing this already - either as informal networks or as collectives.

MK Gallery will provide an informative, informal environment to meet other artists, hear about diverse ways of working and seeing the outcomes of collaborative practice.

Speakers include: Gareth Bell-Jones, Artists and Programmes Curator at Wysing Arts Centre, will introduce the Escalator Visual Arts Programme with Escalator artist Florian Roithmayr, before contributions from Emma Jayne Taylor from Artworks MK and Carousel art collective.

From 6.30pm join us for a special MK Gallery Scratch Night Introduced by artists Jamie George and Fiona James. Artists Jamie George and Fiona James, who each participated in the most recent Escalator artists’ retreat; Space of Attention at Wysing Arts Centre will introduce an evening of overlapping and interrelated video and sound with contributions from their fellow retreat participants Jenny Chamarette, Annie Davey, Natasha Hoare, Sidsel Meineche Hansen, Stephanie Misa, David Morris, Rosalie Schweiker and Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll.

Tickets are free and event attendees will be provided with dinner (5.30pm and 6.30pm, with a pay-bar) and are invited to stay for a special MK Gallery Scratch Night from 6.30pm, programmed by artists from the most recent retreat at Wysing Arts Centre.

Book your ticket now via eventbrite http://collaborativeacts.eventbrite.co.uk/

Collaborative Acts is part of a programme of events hosted by Contemporary Visual Arts Network East and South East to generate collaboration across the wide range of artists groups, networks and projects active in their regions. www.cvan.org.uk Collaborative Acts is funded by the Arts Council, England Knowledge Sharing Project.

New Art West Midlands

2013-02-14T09:53:02Z

2012 © Herdi Ali Boy

Turning Point West Midlands is pleased to announce the launch of New Art West Midlands (NAWM) is a new platform to showcase work by selected art graduates and is a partnership between TPWM, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, The Barber Institute, Grand Union, and Birmingham City University, Coventry University, Staffordshire University, University of Wolverhampton and University of Worcester.

The exhibition takes place across 3 venues:

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery - 15 February - 19 May 2013
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham - 8 March - 19 May 2013
Grand Union, Birmingham - 15 February – 16 March 2013

NAWM is a major development for the TPWM network, providing a significant opportunity for artists to show work across these reputable institutions at a crucial time in their development.

A catalogue has been produced to accompany the exhibition and includes essays by independent curator Rachel Bradley and Lisa Beauchamp, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, and by the three selectors, Lynda Morris, Jeremy Millar, and Keith Piper.

Information on other TPWM Projects can be found at:

http://www.tpwestmidlands.org.uk/projects

Applications open for YVAN Cultural Entrepreneur Programme (CEP)

2013-02-04T16:32:04Z

Munro House, Leeds - the sort of creative enterprise the CEP is intended to encourage.

Do you live or work in the Yorkshire and Humber region? Are you interested or active in contemporary visual arts? Have you got a great business idea that could contribute to the region’s visual arts market? Do you consider yourself as a budding cultural entrepreneur?

If you answered yes to all these questions then you may be just the person we’re looking for to take part in the pilot Cultural Entrepreneur Programme from March – December 2013.

The Yorkshire and Humber Visual Arts Network (YVAN) is looking to recruit 6 Cultural Entrepreneurs with ambitious and innovative ideas that have the potential to become new business activities that will generate revenue in the contemporary visual arts sector.

If you are interested in applying for this exceptional opportunity, please download the application form as a Word document HERE or a PDF HERE. Alternatively, contact Project Manager Andrew Palmer on andrew@palmersquared.co.uk or telephone 07913 397541 to request further information.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 1 March, 12 noon.

YVAN is working with partners including Arts Council England and the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) on the development and delivery of this programme, as part of the CAS national visual arts market development plan.

Radar Love - Including Young People

2013-02-04T13:08:59Z

We are delighted to announce a programme of consultative events, organised by CVAN South East, as part of our new initiative – RADAR, supported by Artswork South East Bridge as part of its investment in Networks.

RADAR is a programme of research and activity that aims to enhance and develop cultural opportunites for children and young people in the South East by working in partnership with its key visual arts orgaisations.

Our first RADAR event entitled "Listening To Young People' will take place at Milton Keynes Gallery on Thursday 7th February 12.30 and will be hosted by specialists from the gallery and young people from Lost & Found, MK Gallery’s youth forum. Bringing together a range of expertise we will ask how the visual arts sector can be better orientated towards young people ? The event will be followed by the preview of an exhibition by Lost and Found (see picture).

Places are free but limited and can be booked via Eventbrite.

How to Survive the Open

2013-02-04T11:09:50Z

Edward Sellman, Ascension, Winner of the Attenborough Prize 2011

East Midlands Visual Arts Network’s Open Season presents How to Survive the Open featuring art critic and journalist Jessica Lack and writer, curator and artist Gordon Dalton

New Walk Museum and Art Gallery on Thursday 7 February 2013 at 6.00 – 8.00pm

In partnership with five regional venues, EMVAN presents Open Season, a collectively branded programme of open submission exhibitions and a series of associated events that will consider the 'Open' from the perspective of the artist, the project manager, the curator and the critic. Each event will feature contributions from a variety of individuals.

The ‘Open’ exhibition is where many artists take their first steps into the art world, work with their first curator, present to their first public audience, win their first prize, make their first sale. Yet despite this, and a rich pedigree, which includes the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, the John Moores Painting Prize and the London Open, the format divides opinion and has many detractors who question its quality and its relevance. Whatever your viewpoint, it is clear that the ‘Open’ generates a great deal of debate!

Jessica Lack and Gordon Dalton have each carried out a written review of the Open Season exhibitions, which will be featured on www.emvan.net shortly.

To book a place at this event call: 01332 290 606 or visit: https://uk.patronbase.com/_DerbyQuad/Productions/66J2/Performances

For directions to the venue, visit: http://goo.gl/mfjlY

How to Survive the Open

2012-12-03T16:50:13Z

East Midlands Visual Arts Network’s Open Season presents How to Survive the Open featuring curator (formerly of the Mostyn Open), writer and academic Anders Pleass.

Derby Museum and Art Gallery on Thursday 13 December 2012 at 6.00 – 8.00pm.

EMVAN Open Season events will also take place as follows:

New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester - Thursday 7 February, 6 - 8pm - featuring: Jessica Lack, freelance and Guardian journalist and Gordon Dalton, artist, writer and curator

To book a place at any of these events call: 01332 290 606 or visit: https://uk.patronbase.com/_DerbyQuad/Productions/66J2/Performances

For directions to the venue, visit: http://www.derbymuseums.org/locations

Special Event in Liverpool - Contemporary Visual Arts in the Spotlight

2012-11-21T10:43:31Z

The coming years will continue to be difficult for arts organisations, especially with a rapidly approaching spending review and continuing pressure on local authority funding. North West visual arts organisations need to equip themselves to make strong arguments and to link to national advocacy work by the Contemporary Visual Arts Network to respond to the challenges that are heading our way.

Today, Visual Arts in Liverpool, North By NorthWest and CVAM (Contemporary Arts Manchester) are hosting a special event, at which attendees will be invited to workshop a series of arguments, network with colleagues and enjoy a last chance to see Liverpool Biennial, including a debate on future curatorial practice.

The programme is as follows:

On Friday 23 November 2012:

15.00 – 17.00 at the LJMU Copperas Hill Building

A provocative workshop to prepare us to better make the case for the importance of visual arts in society with Gavin Wade - Cultural Entrepreneur

17.00 – 19.00 at the LJMU Copperas Hill Building

An opportunity for informal networking with colleagues from across the North West. Drinks and light snacks will be served.

19.00 at the LJMU Art and Design Academy

Changing the World From Here with Sally Tallant, Director, Liverpool Biennial leading the debate ‘How can we develop models of biennials and curatorial practice that explore possibilities for a post-industrial ecology, rethinking the relationship between art, urbanism and value for the 21st Century? What is necessary?’

Sally Tallant will present a vision for the future of the UK Biennial in Liverpool. There will be a panel discussion with Joseph Grima, Curator of the Istanbul Design Biennial and editor of Domus and Professor Ute Meta Bauer.

This is also your last chance to see the Biennial, fill in any gaps, things you may have missed or see your favourite parts again. If there is enough interest we will also seek a curated discussion or tour of the Biennial.

Turning Point West Midlands' projects update

2012-11-14T11:41:36Z

Turning Point West Midlands has been busy rolling out its TPWM Projects with its partner lead organisations: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, New Art Gallery Walsall, The National Trust, New Library Birmingham, Worcester University, Eastside Projects, Grand Union, and Writing West Midlands.

New Art West Midlands

As part of this new BA/MA graduate exhibition in 2013, five artist bursaries have been awarded. The bursary artists are: Rashid Khan (University of Wolverhampton); Stuart Layton (University of Worcester); Sophie Bullock (Birmingham City University) and Corey Hayman (Coventry University).

New Art West Midlands will take place at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery from Friday 15February to 19 May2013, The Barber Institute from Friday 8March to 19 May 2013 and Grand Union from Friday 15 February to 9 March 2013.

The New Art Gallery Walsall (NAGW) and Artist Development

A range of professional opportunities are being offered to artists through the NAGW/TPWM partnership including a 6 week artist residency at NAGW's studio.

The selected artist is Pak-Keung Wan. He has an MA from the Royal College of Art and is based in Birmingham. Pak-Keung will use the residency to develop Lune – a series of painstaking pencil drawings that link to a publication by NASA, and an animation.

The National Trust

In partnership with TPWM, the National Trust have set up a new Artist Residency opportunity at Dudmaston Hall. The recipient will be announced on the TPWM website soon.

Eastside Projects

Stuart Whipps and Joanne Masding have been awarded the first Heterotic residencies, funded by TPWM, at Spike Island and Temple Bar Gallery and Studios respectively. Both artists will be resident during February 2013.

New Library Birmingham

The Artist in Residence Faye Clarridge is currently showing work at the Towner Art Gallery.

New TPWM Flyer

TPWM with Fraser Muggeridge Studio has produced a new flyer. With a minimalist but vital message`Visual Artists' Support/Support Visual Artists', the purpose of the flyer is to lead people to the TPWM website where they can find a wealth of information covering all aspects of the visual arts in the West Midlands and beyond the region.

TPWM Visual Arts Forum

Wolverhampton Art Gallery hosted the forum lead by represenatives of artist collectives from across the region. Professor Nabeel Hamdi followed with an inspiring talk on`Small Change'.

This is just a snapshot of the activity taking place across the West Midlands. More information on all projects can be found on the Turning Point West Midlands website.