Image: Timothy Ivison & Julia Tcharfas, Metropotamia, 2011 (Hilary Crisp Gallery)
Do we need to grow up? – a project exploring artist ecosystems; the models and systems by which we thrive or barely survive.
Do we need to grow up? forms part of The NewBridge Project’s 5th Birthday, it encompasses an exhibition, 2-day conversation and birthday party – the programme will critically consider and celebrate the nature of artist-led communities and workspace.
What are the rules, interactions and conditions that form and cultivate artist-led communities and workspaces? Do these delicate artist ecosystems have a lifespan, how long before we become the institution we react against – do we need to grow up?
The eruption of artist clusters and DIY culture is often counterbalanced with economic stability and redevelopment strategy; forming a complex set of relationships between the people who live in a place, artists, arts organisations and the cultural policy that determines how we produce and consume. Do we need to grow up? examines these connections and how particular ecologies evolve beyond a singular movement.
2-DAY CONVERSATION
Thursday 10 September & Friday 11 September
Venues: The NewBridge Project, BALTIC 39, Tyneside Cinema
Tickets: FREE, booking and deposit required
We are having a 2-day conversation in aid of The NewBridge Project’s 5th Birthday; there has been a boom in repurposing empty buildings for creative ‘meanwhile’ use – we’ll be exploring the various models; the vibrant artist ecology that grows from these creative hubs; the necessary social, cultural and political conditions and what comes next…..
2-day conversation will bring together; artists, arts organisations, artist-led initiatives, local authorities, funding bodies, developers, Universities, researchers and architects to explore:
- the various models and approaches from; artist studios, project spaces and galleries, live/work space, creative hubs and so on
- how these initiatives have survived and can hope to be sustained
- the social, political and cultural factors that influence artists and spaces
- the institutional and civic role in artist-led activity
- what are the necessary conditions for artist clusters and creative hubs
- What comes next…..
2-day conversation will culminate in a screening on Friday evening of ‘72-82’ at Tyneside Cinema about the extraordinary history of Acme Studios (London) accompanied by a Q&A with Jonathan Harvey (Co-founder and Chief Executive of Acme Studios).
Contributions from: East Street Arts (Leeds), Grand Union (Birmingham), Castlefield Gallery (Manchester), Star & Shadow Cinema (Newcastle), Acme Studios (London), BALTIC Centre of Contemporary Art (Gateshead), Tom Warburton (Director of Investment & Development, Newcastle City Council), Jane Tarr (Director Organisational Resilience and Environmental Sustainability and North, Arts Council England), Alex Niven (writer and Assistant Editor of New Left Review) and more TBC.
Fore more information, click here
