Surreptitious Networks - North East Contemporary Visual Arts Network event

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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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.