Contemporary artists create new works inspired by North East and Yorkshire museums
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Workhouse Museum. Redfern PR
Leading UK and international artists have partnered with nine museums in the North East and Yorkshire to produce new artworks inspired by the museums and their collections.
As part of the year-long Meeting Point project, led by contemporary art specialists Arts&Heritage, contemporary art installations will be created for four museums in the North East and five museums in Yorkshire during 2016.
Funded by Arts Council England’s Museum Resilience Fund, Meeting Point presents artworks in unexpected places and supports small and medium scale museums to commission artists, who will create a piece of work in response to the venue.
Judith King, director at Arts&Heritage said: “Meeting Point addresses the fundamental question of why museums and the contemporary arts should work together.
“The potential benefits of placing new and exciting artworks in museum and heritage venues are huge, not only for the artists and the venues but for the museum visitors, who will encounter a new way of experiencing history and their collections.”
The project aims to bring new visitors to the nine participating museums and position them as exciting places to see contemporary art.
The nine museums and artists taking part in Meeting Point are:
Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum, Northumberland and Ziad Jabero working with the Bagdhaddies
Dales Countryside Museum, Yorkshire and David Murphy
Durham Castle and Jo Coupe
Head Of Steam, Darlington and Cath Campbell
Kirkleatham Museum, Redcar and Grennan and Sperandio
Pannett Art Gallery, Whitby and Pippa Hale
The Workhouse Museum, Ripon and Catherine Bertola
Shandy Hall, Yorkshire and Anne Vibeke Mou
Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds and Irene Brown
James Etherington, Director of Ripon Museum Trust said: “We are very excited to be working on this project. It is the first time we have been involved with commissioning an artist to create a contemporary artwork based on our story. The process has been amazing and has opened our eyes to the new and different perspectives out there that can help us to tell the story of the Workhouse of the life and the poor who lived here.”
Artist, Catherine Bertola, said: “I was really interested in responding to the Ripon Workhouse, not just in terms of its own history, but also in relation to thinking about contemporary debates around poverty. I hope the work will provide visitors with a deeper insight into the segregation and harsh, seemingly endless reality of life in a workhouse.”
Arts&Heritage has supported the nine participating museums throughout the process, sharing knowledge of presenting contemporary art projects and commissions in non-traditional art spaces.
A networking event between the participating museums and 40 artists from across the UK took place at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and visits to artists’ studios were arranged. Museum teams also met with peers at other properties to learn how they successfully delivered contemporary art projects at their museums and heritage sites.
Meeting Point takes place at nine museums in the North East and Yorkshire from March to November 2016. The project is funded by Arts Council England’s Museum Resilience Fund.
For more information about Meeting Point visit www.artsandheritage.org.uk
