ARTISTS TALKING

Ever thought of blogging but not sure where to start, how to make time or how it might benefit you? Artists talking events are open to anyone wishing to find out more about blogging and social media platforms, and to extend their networks. Experienced artist-bloggers discus how blogging enhances their work and careers, with advice on what makes a good blog and how to make your blog work for you.

Since September 2011 Artists talking has been coming out of the virtual and into the actual, creating a space for dialogue, networking and peer support in all things Internet related. Mining the rich, UK wide resource that is the Artists talking bloggers, these events facilitate discourse on how artists and arts organisations can get the most out of social network media.

Open to anyone, the discussions take in common concerns about blogging, tweeting and online networking, addressing questions such as 'There are so many virtual platforms out there now; where do I start?' And 'How do I find the time to blog - wouldn't I be better off making work?' Or, 'Who's going to read what I write any way? How can I attract the right people to my blog..?'

September 2011 saw the first Artists talking event take place at Core Gallery in Deptford, London. Artists talking bloggers Jane Boyer, Rob Turner and Rosalind Davis talked about their blogs and work, and how blogging feeds into their careers in three significant ways: as a place to reflect on your practice; as a community or network; and as a promotional platform.

Most artists nowadays consider self-reflexivity to be a crucial part of their practice. Thinking about what you are doing, relaying back and forth between your ideas, output and the wider field of art, is second nature. A blog provides the ideal structure for this critical dialogue. Its narrative format - the fact that it is always looking ahead to something 'out of field' - encourages the kind of speculative writing that is continually opening out onto new territory, a new plateaux of self-realisation. As artist and blogger Jeni McConnell says "Blogging sharpens everything, it makes you consider and reconsider what you are doing; it vocalises the inner voice, questions without interrogation or confrontation and teases out ideas and thoughts."

In the specific context of Artists talking, this open-ended reflexivity is spontaneously located within a sustained and sustaining conversational environment, so that, not only do you unfold to yourself, you unfold to and with others. This dialogical aspect of the blogs, hidden like a well-kept secret in the blog comments, has grown up organically through bloggers' interest in what one another has to say. Because of their generosity, and because they recognise in each other a wish to unfold, and a need for others to help them achieve this, Artists talking is a truly ethical field of 'becoming'.

Rob Turner: "The dialogue generated by the comments on blogs ranges significantly. Sometimes it can be like a discussion with a tutor, gaining valuable insight by an exchange of perspectives and experiences - and I have often gained valuable insights about my own work from engaging in a dialogue on other peoples' blogs."

The dialogical, networking potential of Artists talking doesn't begin and end in virtuality. All of the speakers at the Core Gallery event had first established mutual contact through their blogs, and for Jane and Rosalind this virtual connection has engendered a fruitful curatorial partnership in the actual world. Indeed, it was the fact that Rosalind's blog caught my eye that opened up a working relationship between the two of us, enabling me to curate two exhibitions - not to mention the ongoing partnership between a-n and Core Gallery, of which this very event was a part.

Because a-n is well established in the art world, Artists talking provides instant visibility and recognition. As Aliceson Carter remarked in a recent interview I did with her, "Artists talking blogs come up pretty high on search engines - my blogs are a useful profile raising tool."

This kind of experience is born out by Erin Rickard, who was shortlisted for the Safle student award in 2009: "When you type my name in google the a-n blog appears, which is great! The blog shows a good and honest representation of my practice, my work ethic and what I'm involved in, which hopefully gives prospective commissioners good reason to shortlist me."

Reports of this kind are not uncommon. Rosalind Davis' blog led to sales and to commissioned writing; and one of Rob Turner's blogs, used as part of an application for a public art commission, was influential in winning him the brief, and, he says, commissioning bodies now more often than not request that he produce a blog alongside the work - something he no doubt factors into his fee. And Alex Pearl, a successful 'emerging' artist and blogger, got a solo show as a result of his online activity. As he reported at the time in his blog: "I have just been approached by Bath University to bring my solo show to them in November. They found out about me because they were looking up Lucy Harrison and came across my review on Interface, liked it, clicked on my name, read my blog, went to my website and then emailed me."

PREVIOUS EVENTS

How can blogging work for you? Core Gallery, London
22 September, 2011
Jane Boyer, Rosalind Davis and Rob Turner discus community, peer critique and other benefits of keeping a blog on Artists talking.

Web-logs and placing art practice, Superclub, Edinburgh
10 November, 2011
Artists talking facilitates a dialogue between Ross Hamilton Frew and Richard Taylor. The two artists have been using drawing as a model for a collaborative exchange culminating in the exhibition 'Ipso Facto' at Superclub. You can follow their joint blog here »
Callum Monteith is a director of Superclub and you might also be interested in his commentry on Joe Stevens' blog Creative Conversations.

To blog or not to blog? Peckham Space, London
17 November, 2011
Cannily timed to coincide with Sonia Boyce's exhibition 'Network', bloggers Aliceson Carter and Alex Pearl helped launch an ongoing partnership with Peckham Space. Drawing in Camberwell College's Enterprise Week, the event demonstrated again the broad networking potential of the blogosphere.

To view video clips of Artists talking events visit Artists talking on youtube »

Want to host an Artists talking event and form a partnership with us? We are looking for groups and organisations across the UK to team up with. Contact Andrew Bryant, Artists talking editor at andrewdbryant@gmail.com

First published: a-n.co.uk October 2011