NAN

Jonathan Swain introduces a new series of articles resulting from Close proximity, a two-day NAN event that took place at New Greenham Arts in Berkshire, 21-22 May 2005.

Close proximity was a two day NAN event organised by Helen Sloan, from SCAN and myself, an artist from Brighton.

We used the opportunity to ask how the economic dominance of London, artistically and more generally, was affecting those who lived and worked in other parts of the South East of England. Politics, economics, transport, town planning and the art markets were unashamedly to be the core of the debates. Loneliness and isolation the surprising subtext. We wanted to hear of the differing strategies for survival artists and art organisations had developed. Had these changed over the past few years, and was there a common thread?

Aware that artist networking events can sometimes feel a bit like reinventing the wheel, we chose to invite groups and individuals who have been working communally for a long time. Arte of Change, Artquest, SCAN, David Cotterrell, Stour Valley Arts, Trudi Williams, between them they share many years grafting away on community and public arts projects. The vagaries of the art climate mean that they are often out on a limb one moment, essential inclusive partner the next. How are they coping with the New Labour years, the regeneration game, expanding technologies and the like? Are new art practices developing as a result?

Trying to organise any social gathering in the South East of England can be a torment. Such a large region, such high-powered existences, time so precious and such a bad lateral transport system. A network physically gridlocked, with London gleaming mythic on the horizon. We could have easily chosen a venue in Brighton, Oxford or even, with a certain irony London itself, but we felt that these places are atypical of how we live in the South East. Greenham Common is only two miles from the centre of Newbury but with a rugged, desolate feel that could be North Wales or East Anglia. Its long and resonant history has in recent years become synonymous with the US air force base, and the peace camps that surrounded it. The vast site is now turned over to light industrial units and open common land, a notional barrier to inexorable suburban creep. New Greenham Arts, a complex housing a gallery, a few artists’ studios and a rehearsal space is tucked away at its centre. The fact that the arts centre was founded and funded by the philanthropic charity that runs the industrial estate added to the debate, was this to be a model for future arts funding? That there was a twenty-four hour free car park, easy access to the motorways and we had permission to camp at roughly the same spot where one of the protest camps had once been were other favourable factors.

We wanted to offer some other models for networking, stir things up a bit. Guided tours and Q&A sessions were arranged with a few of the businesses on the estate. A municipal road sweeping firm, an ecological energy company and a prototyping factory, all with contradictory experiences and fantastic tales. The CEO of the business park offered us his views on technology, art and funding. We also invited Sarah Hipperson from the Greenham women’s peace campaign to tell us how they organised their twenty-year-long protest against the US Air Force presence.

We also wanted to include a few of the many South Eastern galleries and curatorial organisations, so they could hear what was being said and to explain their own future planning. Sarah Thelwall offering her predictions for the art market, and it’s effect on public funding, Victoria Pomery the plans for the Turner Contemporary in Margate. It also allowed for informal discussions and chats on an equitable level. Does living on the rim of the gilded art market trough cause identity problems for galleries, cities, towns, even individuals? If you ignore it does it go away? Does it have funding implications for the region and other more base micro-economic problems?

The rural location offered some lush surprise elements too, all different forms of networking in their way. Field trips across the common with the Park Ranger, a look around the decontamination chamber, one-to-one meanders through the beautiful woodlands, a campfire in the evening. All that was needed was the rabid barbie and a drop of Chardonnay to complete suburban scene, the loneliness and ever present alienation of the South East turning to vapour in a mist of alcohol and wood smoke.

This article is part of a specially commissioned set of writing resulting from Close proximity, a NAN event devised by Jonathan Swain and Helen Sloan that took place at New Greenham Arts in Berkshire, 21-22 May 2005.

NAN facilitates exchange, dialogue, and collaboration amongst visual artists, whatever their practice and location. It offers a focus for critical exchange and feedback and through research and mapping seeks to develop greater awareness of the value of artists’ initiatives and of their changing professional needs. For more information about NAN go to Networking networks or contact emilia.telese@a-n.co.uk

Jonathan Swain

First published: a-n.co.uk September 2005