Publications

Read the Future space interviews in full. These interviews formed the base material for the Future space publication.

Introduction

Future space addresses the future roles and functions of artists' workspace. It introduces current strategies and concerns and places them in the context of artists' developing practice and critical frameworks, using interviews with a range of artists and other professionals proactively engaged in arts planning or working with artists. What will artists' practice and resources be like in 2015?

Faisal Abdu'Allah

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

The notion of workspace is in a state of flux. As a practitioner with a space, I find that more think-time happens outside of the space, as I tread the London urban landscape. The space just becomes a haven for meditation and paperwork. I think the expectations now are flexibility and 'floating space'. What I mean by that is artists setting up studios at the points of their inquisition.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

As I said above, if we look at the history of practice and the level of research done by contemporary practitioners, you begin to see trends. I am keen on leasing studios in the un-conventional arenas.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical workspace will be the dinosaur. New technologies, such as laptops and mp3s, compress space. Compact or virtual forms of retaining and documenting ideas will be at the forefront of practice, making the pencil redundant.

How should cultural planners and artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

They should re-assemble the historical relationship that space, artefact and concept has had with artists, and imbue them with the liberty, confidence and resource of the 'floating studio'.

Faisal Abdu'Allah, FRSA, artist, lecturer University of East London.

Jeremy Akerman

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

Some kind of affordable stability and/or appropriate facilities.

What will be the difference between artists’ needs then and studio provision now?

Studio provision isn’t an artist’s right, it is up to them to decide what their needs are and find ways to meet them. Anticipating artists’ future needs sounds like art by prescription. Most successful artist’s studios usually look pretty good.

How important will physical workspace be. What might compensate for a lack of it?

The impact of physical space where art is made (lots or very little) is barely remarked upon when looking at art work – as though art appears by magic. Nothing really compensates for lack of space, nor does lots of space ensure excellent production. Virtual space has produced some interesting things so far, ie Harrell Fletcher’s work, but the idea that you plug an artist into virtual space (the web) and get loads of good stuff is largely a red herring.

There isn’t really a formula beyond a decent amount of physical space and a list of relevant contacts

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

I’m not sure how far you can plan culture. Where would you plan it? Civic galleries like in Glasgow would be good. There are virtually no well-run open submission galleries (for free that is). Artists’ support agencies should help artists get into studio spaces at affordable rents and connect them to the people they need to know.

Jeremy Akerman, artist and curator, London.

John Beagles

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

A flexible space, capable of reflecting constantly shifting forms of production. I would think all studio buildings will have to have more shared spaces for short production periods for installation, photographic, video work, etc. Wasps in Glasgow has a large space that can be hired for short periods – the problem is that it’s too expensive and is unsuitable for video, photographic and installation work because of poor lighting and its unusual architecture. There are obviously economic constraints on how much flexible space they can afford to maintain (at a potential loss)

What will be the difference between artists’ needs then and studio provision now?

Studios now are still too tied to traditional working practices i.e. painting and sculpture. For instance, our studio only has one phone socket, which makes using a computer or the internet tricky. Like many art schools, the space is still organised around providing good natural light, which is frankly not an issue for most of the artists I know.

How important will physical workspace be. What might compensate for a lack of it?

I think it will still be important. I don’t envisage artists giving up making art objects, just that this will be one amongst many other creative options available to them.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

I’m afraid its a dull, obvious answer: by trying to figure out ways to secure spaces for artists at low cost, within a housing and property market that is frankly out of control. If things go on as they are now, I can see many areas of Britain having no artists’ studios in the centre of towns – well none that the majority of artists could afford. They perhaps need to lobby for rent controls or tax concessions for such spaces, and argue that such spaces are beneficial to the cultural life of a city.

John Beagles, artist (collaborates with Graham Ramsay), lecturer Edinburgh College of Art, freelance writer.

Zarina Bhimji

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/ working environment?

Safety, light, lots of wall space, good eating space near by.

What will be the differences between artists’ needs then and studio provision now?

Lack of money.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

A Paul Hamlyn Award

How should cultural planners and artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

Help artists to be able to buy the spaces. This will give them a future in which they can work and develop work without pressure.

Zarina Bhimji, artist, London.

Jason Bowman

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

To negotiate architectural and ideological solutions that will equally support the overall dynamics of both the visible and invisible aspects of the totality of their practice and allow for the working environment to be adapted towards the organisational behaviours of individual practices in all research, production and reflection modes.

What will be the differences between artists’ needs then and studio provision now?

They will seek new formats of tenancy – spatially, temporally and financially – that will have a major impact on the relationships between the altruism and monopolisation mechanisms by which they currently operate.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical workspace should be considered as an element within a practice conceptually, as a significant element that hosts the working methodologies and mechanisms of a practice. I would argue that if it is a ‘lack’ then there is no compensation irrespective of whether it is a desk-based or manufacturing oriented practice. It can’t be compensated for even for desk- based practices.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

Engage with intimacy with the ‘invisible’ aspects of artistic practice – its behavioural aspects – as opposed to a continued focus on the ‘product’, even if that product is a skill or service. Recognise that an artistic practice is a series of behaviours in a constant state of flux.

Jason Bowman, artist, arts consultant.

Daniel Brine

What key things will artists need from a workspace/working environment?

Artists will increasingly work on a project to project basis, finding the right space and resources for each project: sometimes a studio, sometimes an office, sometimes a theatre, sometimes a laptop; sometimes solo, sometimes in partnership.

What will be the differences between artists’ needs then and studio provision now?

Fleet-of-footness. Artists’ needs will alter rapidly and a number of times over a year.

Accessibility – ie immediate availability – to spaces and resources will need to change. Also, because artists will increasingly be working in interdisciplinary ways, there will be a need for a greater diversity of available spaces.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical space will still be important but the notion of how long artists retain spaces for will change – it will be short-term lets rather than long leases. No artist should be thinking about ‘my studio’ but rather ‘the studio I am using on this occasion’. Equally as important as studio space will be office space and the ownership of personal equipment. Every artist will own a laptop and have a web site.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

Consult with artists.

Daniel Brine – Live Art Development Agency.

Lucy Byatt

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

Inevitably, ‘space’ buildings will always be required. As in many towns and cities the price of land and buildings escalates, finding space to use outwith the commercial market will be continue to get more and more difficult. As local authorities and RDAs cling to the notion of culture as an economic driver, I suspect that now is the time to direct these inclinations, with care, to secure buildings for the future. But, what will go on inside them? Where is the focus on ensuring that what takes place within them will be of interest!!?

The issue is: what sort of culture? The agencies seem focused on economic outcomes: the models they read about that have been successes in other, greener pastures. But, building well designed studio space does not make necessarily for good ‘culture’ if no one is brave enough to talk or make decisions about ‘quality’.

Provision based on these sorts of economic priorities is feeding more and more of a dependency culture where artists are concerned. The number of artists who think that they should get – without any sort of contributions – what they want, is growing. Where are artists being asked to work through what their own ideologies or philosophies are? If you look back over recent history, the most important initiatives – either galleries, artists’ groups or workspace – have come out of artist-led initiatives that, temporarily, key into a moment through debate and discussion. They ride on an energy and enthusiasm which lasts for a period of time, not forever. The value of what they are doing is about that group – what emerges in their practice, not the building itself.

Here at Spike we have a building, thanks to some lucky, speculative action on the part of a group of artists some time ago. But if what goes on inside this building is not relevant, if structures for renewal are not put in place now, then there will not be any inspiration or energy to ensure that good practice emerges from the building in years to come. I see here, at Spike, that we must put in place structures and challenges that give ownership to new generations of artists as they come along. They must have the scope to reinvent the organisation: learn through taking over areas or responsibility; contribute in order to get something out. Whilst the administration ticks along in the background, how do we build in renewal, or provide space for the unexpected and keep hold of an ‘artist run’ ideology? Transmission gallery in Glasgow is a very good example – and I hope Spike will also be – of providing artists with decision making opportunities – but not the same artists forever. Artists should grow through Spike: influencing it, taking what they need and moving on to the next thing, having gained through their time here the confidence and breadth of information they require. Not through spoon feeding, but through being challenged, through peer learning and by taking risks and making mistakes. Above all, by making their work.

This is the task of the Arts Council and other agencies: to respond to proactive artists groups; to put structures in place where things can be spontaneously responded to, rather than planned for ten years in advance.

The two issues that need sorting out now that would lay good foundation for the future are: art education, and the legacy of the more instrumental policies that place artists in roles for the benefit for other social agendas.

Undergraduate education in art colleges must be safe guarded as a good liberal education – not a training to be an artist. An education through contemporary art and theory is an excellent one for many professions. We cannot be faced with thousands of graduates from art colleges who think they have failed if they do not continue to make their art. This education, at its best, makes for a wonderful, self-motivated, broadly educated workforce, of whom only a few ‘need’ to be artists to use what they have learned. It is more at post-graduate level that one should expect artists to be emerging. The Arts Council and other agencies should play a role to ensure that art education is kept at a level where young people are graduating well educated, and that studio practice throughout the period of undergraduate study is seen as a fundamental aspect of this education, whatever they might end up doing.

As Tessa Jowell timidly starts referring to ‘art for art’s sake’, as do some of her DCMS officers, we must look ahead a bit and see that we have a raft of ‘jobbing’ artists who are not really artists, but have been an artist in education or health, or a public artist. Over-prescriptive commissioning processes have directed practices. These are not socially engaged practices: born out of the theories of the everyday, with a clear understanding of the artist’s process. These practices have emerged through a demand that artists should be instrumental in other social agendas. They are complicit with and entirely directed by the institutions in which they work.

commissioners, etc. who have been responsible for directing the artists practice in this way, through prescriptive briefs? Much reform is required in this area. This is a massive job for the Arts Council and for other agencies – like a-n – who advertise and support many of these initiatives that do not represent ‘good practice’; that ‘make’ artists form their practice in ways that they would not have done otherwise. Artists inevitably find themselves under economic pressure to say ‘yes’ to working in these ways.

What will be the differences between artists’ needs then and studio provision now?

I think there is a need to see that different solutions suit different areas of the country.

Bristol is a city at the edge of the central network that is London. Here, the artists choose to base themselves away from the central networks that would sustain and inform their practice. There are fewer institutions and resources for them to draw on, and we have a different catchment of artists here than you will have in London, Glasgow or Berlin.

Spike therefore needs to satisfy artists’ needs in a different ways than might be the case in a ‘central’ city or in a rural situation. We are in the process of researching and setting up an associate membership. Whilst studio space here is relatively plentiful, we are always under pressure from so many who would like to have a space. Overwhelmingly though, artists are saying that if they cannot have a studio then they at least need a ‘place’ to go that will offer them a network to draw on; to ‘join’ something so that they can belong and develop their practice – away from the building, but with support they can get from the organisation when they need it.

Students coming out of art colleges now who decide they want to continue their practice do not prioritise having studio space. Often they have massive debts which makes this impossible. We have more and more artists applying to Spike in groups to share a small space – working together. We need to find ways to encourage this process, which enables them to support each other through the development of their practice.

I am not so interested in teaching how to write a good CV or how to write a proposal for a public art work. Whilst this is sometimes necessary, and is easy enough information to pass on, it is misleading to tell artists that they need these sorts of skills over and above an interesting, clear-sighted and challenging practice. They need to work hard at their ‘work’, continuing to inform their practice. This is harder in regional cities.

How important will physical workspace be. What might compensate for a lack of it?

There will always be a need for physical workspace. But, flexible policies are needed: to enable a good turnover of space and to ensure there are more ways of being part of an organisation than just renting space.

Opportunities for exchange, showing, training and getting information.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

Securing buildings seems appropriate, but work needs to be done to ensure that the way in which they are used in the future is renewable; that policy is changeable that they are flexible institutions which can be reviewed and renewed on a regular basis by new people. They must be open to the next generations. It should not just be: rent a space and away you go.

Lucy Byatt, Director, Spike Island.

Helen Cadwallader

This response considers the space needs in 2015 of media artists. Media arts are practices mediated by technologies such as the camera or computer and presented in a variety of platforms for example, broadcast, web cast or wireless.

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

To advocate for the future, it is important to understand the development of media arts in recent years and the specific context and conditions of production, distribution, exhibition, critical and audience engagement of this form of practice.

The last ten years has witnessed a period of rapid growth and development in the integration of modern computing, electronic networks and related technologies. The availability of computer technology on the mass-market, coinciding with the emergence of the internet, has resulted in opportunities for relatively inexpensive media production, coupled with unmediated access to a potentially limitless audience. The development of media arts practices and production is, in part, a response to technological developments driven by the market place.

Photography has undergone dramatic changes from a celluloid format and chemical process to a digital format and computer-based printing method. This has resulted in an expansion of photography (as an aesthetic form rooted in documentary realism) to embrace constructivism and conceptualism and to adopt larger scale physical formats opening up new forms of exhibition in the gallery. There has been no consensus on the need to maintain the publicly-funded, open-access, chemical-based darkroom production facilities; the trend has been, rather, towards disinvestment, reflecting the growing tendency of photographers using digital processes.

New media art and practice has emerged from an electronic media culture characterised by electronic distributable formats, popular culture and entertainment and a counter-culture based on activism and dissent. Media arts often combine content and platform, existing in formats, spaces and environments which bypass the art gallery. As basic equipment has become more affordable, many new media artists choose to get kitted-up and work from home.

For both photography and new media practitioners, there is still the need to meet with like-minded people and share ideas and skills. Media artists practice change and so the space that these artists work in changes with them. Given the protean nature of media arts, flexibility is key – in terms both of space to work in and space in which to show work

There is an argument to develop dedicated buildings to facilitate a community of specialists to share ideas and skills: a cultural and social hub to meet, research and develop ideas through mutual support. A workspace for media artists makes sense if there is some technical support and advice, a range of places to meet and a public programme of talks and presentations of work. Future Spaces for media artists would offer good basic services for power and data delivery, be completely wired-up and be able to respond to and accommodate technological developments. The emphasis here is less on providing the latest high-tech commodities and equipment – which can be cumbersome, difficult to maintain and dependent on highly specialised skills – as on affordability and facilitation.

The ideal would be a hybrid mix which could service individual needs and provide a community of shared interests, combining open-access production facilities, social space and a range of types of work and/or discursive spaces. Future Spaces for media artists would be highly mutable, adaptive, affordable and, as importantly, warm, comfortable and secure with long-term leases as protection against future property speculation. Media arts, particularly new media practice, benefit additionally from on-line support through international websites, which provide opportunities for exchange across geographical boundaries and constraints.

What will be the differences between artists’ needs then and studio provision now?

For media artists who often occupy a space between the commercial creative industries and a need for a neutral space to develop practice, the future is already here. There are many examples of the hybrid, mediated workspace environment which exist as publicly funded open- access spaces, online environments or as self-funded artist led initiatives.

How should cultural planners and artists’ support agencies prepare for Future Space?

One of Arts Council England’s six corporate priorities is supporting the individual artist. We invest directly in artists’ work and in the infrastructure which supports their work. Studios and workspaces are a vital part of that infrastructure, playing a powerful role in urban and rural regeneration. Since 1996, Arts Council lottery funding has enabled studio organisations from all over the UK to upgrade and in some instances purchase their buildings.

In 2003 ACE supported a ground-breaking National conference on studios at Tate Modern at which Estelle Morris, Minister for the Arts endorsed the growing importance of the studios movement. In 2004/5 a detailed Action Plan for national studio development will be produced drawing on the conference reports and commissioned research which is taking a detailed ‘snapshot’ of the studio sector and testing the feasibility of a concerted lobbying voice and network for the exchange of information, advice and expertise for studio groups/organisations. Arts Council England intends to play a leading role in lobbying Government, regional development agencies, local authorities, planners and developers, to ensure that artists’ workspace can be prioritised and supported.

Helen Cadwallader, Visual Arts Officer: Photography and New Media, Arts Council England.

Juan Delgado

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

Principally, an affordable space as many artists still run their practice with very low income.
An environment which allows working and sharing with other artists; one which is stimulating and encourages collaboration.
As a disabled artist working with other disabled artists I find that many workplaces are still inaccessible.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Accessibility and affordability.

How important will physical workspace? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Availability of space implies the chance to develop and produce work. Residencies are a very good alternative when you have no access to studios.

How should cultural planners and artists support agencies prepare for Future Space? This questionnaire is a good way, I guess…

Juan Delgado, artist, London

Naomi Dines

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

Affordability: allowing maximum time for art work as opposed to income-generating work

Accessiblity: within reach of multi-faceted lives (domestic, paid work, professional arenas) and adaptable to a range of physical abilities

Useability: suited to a range of practices and flexible working times; safe and secure for work, equipment and person

Long term predictability: minimum disruption and displacement over time, particularly where artists are involved in the set up and running of workspace

Facilitation of access to communal/shared facilities for production through formal or interpersonal arrangements

Professional support, through the community/network of artists working there, and their professional contacts, alongside formal opportunities for professional development

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

The same needs will pertain, with increasing pressure on time and financial capacity. Provision of production space cannot meet current demand, and is becoming less and less affordable. These problems will persist and become exacerbated, which could lead to a reduction in the overall production of the full range of art work because of reduced time, opportunity and facilities.

How important will physical workspace be and what might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical workspace provision and actual professional communities will still be a necessity for most artists.

A reduction in the kinds of work requiring physical production space would in part be a self fulfilling prophecy brought about by reduced availability and affordability

Virtual networks will allow greater professional connectivity for those outside of communal environments, but will not be able to replace actual exchange, collaboration and contact

How should cultural planners and artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

They should secure current provision against market and development forces whilst the opportunities still exist to capitalise on work done already. They should also make further options available to meet unsatisfied demand.

They should broker for and support a variety of modes of provision, allowing different kinds and durations of spaces to be available to those who can make use of them

They should develop new models of studio use and professional networks to re-connect those excluded from current systems by financial, temporal and geographical constraints

Partnership development opportunities should be explored, which could lever private funding for affordable, permanent artists’ workspace on the back of commercial contracts which help developers to satisfy local authority planning regulations. The recent deal between ACME studios and Barratt Homes – by which Barratt will create 50 permanent artists studios as part of a new housing development scheme in south east London – offers a model for this.

‘Community Land Trust’-type models should also be explored. These enable common ownership of production space by a group of artists, whilst ensuring that the equity remains the property of the organisation, in trust for future generations of artists.

Naomi Dines, artist, lecturer Central St. Martin’s, London; Studio Manager, Occupation Studios, London; member of ACME Studios Management Committee.

Steve Dutton

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/ working environment?

‘Expect’ and ‘need ‘are not necessarily equal terms here. Artists will, I guess, need what most human beings need: warmth, light and food. Depending on their practice, some artists could then start to expect or hope for a bit more. It’s so dependent on individual practice that it’s impossible to generalise, but it might include: IT support, imaging and web support, research support, admin support, technical support., funding guidance, good communications, critical input'

What will be the differences between artists’ needs then and studio provision now?

It could go either way; any predication is almost bound to be wrong. It could be that the very nature of workplaces and spaces then available will dictate the kind of work that artists will make in the future. Variation will be the key – more specific kinds of spaces with clearer agendas (and more personality!).

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

It may or may not be important; the question may be whether the artists’ workplace will be a permanent base or home, so to speak. Many things need some kind of fabrication, but the time scale of that fabrication may be short or long. Dedicated larger spaces, fully equipped to rent for short lets may prove popular.

How should cultural planners and artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

They should listen to artists, but also get properly informed about national and international practice. Planners and agencies would do well to have artists, curators and architects with international profiles on their books. Much planning seems to respond almost entirely to a local vision, without any sense of what may be going on better elsewhere. Planners should learn from the mistakes of others, but to do this they will need to get out there and listen to people.

Steve Dutton, artist and trustee S1 Artspace, Sheffield.

Barnaby Drabble

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

This will depend, clearly, on artists' respective practices, which are unlikely to become less diverse in the coming 10 years. For the majority, the key needs and expectations will remain those for different forms of space… a) studio space b) storage space c) social space d) virtual space

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Studio provision today still tends to concentrate on a) studio space and b) storage space. This supports the traditional logic of object production and conservation. In ten years time, as practice changes, the need for b) social and c) virtual space will grow – reflecting the emerging artistic logics of communication and networking. Successful studios will incorporate space which can accommodate this change.
In terms of social space, we will see: more guest studios and apartments for visiting artists that promote international exchange; more shared spaces where skills and technology can be pooled; and more informal use of spaces for events, meetings with clients and peers, presentations and socialising. In terms of virtual space, the growth in the use of new media technologies will significantly impact on studio provision. In ten years time, the laptop will be a ubiquitous artists' tool and access to high-speed, wireless internet and a well serviced new media suite will be paramount for a large number of art practitioners.

How important will physical workspace be. What might compensate for a lack of it?

The importance of physical space will not be eroded by these developments. Nothing can compensate for a lack of space for artists – it is paramount to successful art production.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

By helping artists to buy buildings.
In 2015, good studios will resemble the open-plan offices of untidy architects. I know several admirably untidy architects, but I am not sure if this will help you.

Barnaby Drabble, freelance curator and critic based in Zurich and Edinburgh

Leo Fitzmaurice

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

I am not sure that art practice will move on in the same way that science or even technology moves forward. I am sure that artists will explore whatever developments may occur, but only in the same way as they constantly find new possibilities in the techniques and processes already available. In this way, I guess that artists' needs will become even more diverse and unpredictable than they are now. Speaking from my own point of view, sometimes I need a studio to make work; sometimes I need an office, a library, or even a particular location. And that's just to satisfy one artist's needs now.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

I think that cities will continue to be in flux, with areas becoming less or more popular, and artists have always been good at sussing out what they need in a changing environment.

I guess that – especially in places like Liverpool – in 2015, time and, in particular, money will be far more important factors than space, which I think will still be readily available even after the property bubble that will come with us being the ‘Capital of Culture–.

How should cultural planners and artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

I think I would be a little freaked out if someone had planned for my future needs as an artist.

I think it only makes sense for cultural planners to support artists rather than places. This will allow organic development around artists' developing practice.

Leo Fitzmaurice, artist, Liverpool

Michael Forbes

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

One of the main requirements is that a workspace will have to feel modern or contemporary – fit for use by an artist. It will provide: good light, heating, IT access, good physical access, networking opportunities, and the ability to have a dialogue with other artists.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

In many ways the needs might not be that different. But, the needs are not being met now. As our personal living standards improve, it shouldn't be too much to expect the standard of studios to improve. Too many studio spaces are cold, dark, dingy shells which are not conducive to producing consistently good work.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical workspace will be very important to the way the artists work. Experience tells me that artists limit themselves and their expectations to the space available. Therefore a lot of strong work is not being produced because of a) a lack of studio space and b) the lack of facilities in these spaces to support the relevant art practice. I don't think there are any ways to compensate for a lack of appropriate studio space; work just gets put on a back burner.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

The first and obvious answer is: more capital money ring fenced for artists' complexes. These will include studios, exhibition space, live art space and resource space, run in the interests of artists. The process of getting these spaces together must be made a lot easier and should be fully supported. All too often it feels like you are banging your head against a brick wall…

Michael Forbes, artist, freelance curator and a leading member of Nottingham studio consortium group

Christopher Frayling

I grapple with these kind of issues every day of my life.

What to expect
Customisable, flexible, multi-media spaces, with opportunities for traditional and digital practices. Also, they must be cheap.

Differences
Most spaces are in old houses, with one power-point. The advantages are high ceilings and sense of space. But there are many disadvantages.

How important?
Physical workspace will remain invaluable. Tiny upper rooms with screens are, in my experience, a myth.

Preparation
Keep it cheap and accessible. Not a previous space. Allow artists to make it their own. Wired in. Good light as well – top-light, if possible. Allow for crossovers of traditional and digital. Provide space to pin things on the wall. Don't be upset when it gets dirty.

Models
Come and talk to art students. We've been looking, and there are very few ‘models for the future’.

Christopher Frayling, Rector, Royal College of Art; Chairman, Arts Council England

Tom Goddard

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/ working environment?

From a personal point of view, the key to an artist workspace would be accessibility (ie good transport links), the size of space and, of course, cost.

I don't place any particular importance on sharing space with other practitioners – this can sometimes be a distraction. I prefer to develop my own exhibiting opportunities, rather than take part in the inclusive shows (summer/winter) which are organised within the studio.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

In the next fifteen years, cost will have the biggest impact on the artist. Prices will continue to rise as developers get hold of more dilapidated buildings and turn them into studios, charging artists ever higher rents.

I don't think I can speak for other artists, but for me larger, cheaper work and live spaces could be the answer; perhaps collective spaces, with accommodation, as can be found in Switzerland and Scandinavia – collectives of writers, musicians etc. Better links throughout Europe, providing more shows abroad as well as here. More residencies in the UK, housing UK artists.

Artists need to be able to work and exhibit more freely. Too many chances and ideas are crushed in this country by the threat of authority and expense. The best video and performance artists can make far less turnover than mediocre Christmas card painters and standard. An artist who makes money is rarely the most significant.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical workspace will always be important and will be prized as much any other factor – unless, exhibition space can be guaranteed on a regular basis and work can grow organically through working/showing environments.

More people working digitally, in a computerised headspace, will compensate for a lack of physical space.

How should cultural planners and artists' support agencies prepare for Future Space?

Artists should be at the heart of every city as they have been in all the great cities of the past. Maybe councils in the UK should take a leaf out of the Parisian initiative, where artists from all over Europe are encouraged to live and work in abandoned buildings by the Paris council. Sadly, our laws to not allow for this in the same way that French law does.

Art enriches culture. Not by emphasising that the public should go to large galleries to learn something about themselves, or by claiming that this will bring a spark to their lives. This takes time and learning. Instead, artists should be housed in areas of the community where there is diversity, opening them up to different areas and people; the country as well as the city. More artist-run initiatives should engage with local people; giving stuff back to the areas in which they live, to really enrich them.

Tom Goddard, artist, London

John Hartley

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

As now: cheap, flexible, warm space. But, they will also need critical support from their peers (not just facilities based), something we are getting better at. There will be a greater focus on how studios interact with the ‘outside’. Networked and accessible communities have lots of needs and will continue to invent new ways to connect with audiences, stakeholders, partners and collaborators.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Who knows what mix of finance workspaces will support themselves with in ten years time. But, whatever happens, wider collaborative relationships will promote more divergent creative production. Practitioners are already working imaginatively with many different stakeholders and developing new models for arts practice. This can only increase.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

This depends on practice. For some types little may change; others may work on a project by project basis or, increasingly, from a space at home. The type of available space may change too. Rather than ex-industrial, there may be more ex-commercial space available.

One unanswered question is the degree to which networked, creative communities rely on geographical proximity. Can you ‘join a scene’ remotely? Must we assume the white heat of ideas exchange has such urban characteristics? But how sustainable are remote networks?…

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

People other than me can help better on strategic thinking for studio development, but ownership can be an important way of avoiding being priced out of regenerated areas that studios help create. Accessibility and provision for diversity should be thought about in the widest possible senses. Without community engagement with creative possibilities, it is too easy to keep to the same forms of production.

John Hartley, artist, Limehouse Arts Foundation; Interdisciplinary Arts Officer, Arts Council England

Keith Hayman

Understandably, a-n is interested in the supply-side when it comes to artists' future needs and creating the ‘push’ to see those needs met. But, I think it is equally important to understand the 'pull': the changing and developing demands against which artists succeed and fail.
It is important to consider the context within which change will happen.

The future business is a risky one, whatever the field, but nevertheless we all try to guess the future. This is probably more important in the art world than in other sectors because there is far less longer term-forecasting going on, as artists struggle to make their careers and support organisations try to seek out the next short-term grant.

Continuing efforts by a-n to create a long-term confidence and professionalism amongst more artists are important, especially if the present economic buoyancy continues. So too are efforts by the Arts Council to research, equip and develop the art market and artists with a wider/deeper understanding of what makes everything tick. And even more important are efforts to put in place comprehensive support systems, such as the about to be launched low interest purchase scheme, and the results of research on developing the market for contemporary art in England, which shows the need to do much more to develop regional ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ infrastructure to balance and complement the continuing dominance of London. So context is everything.

In ten years' time, as now, most career artists will depend on the wealth of the nation, the state of the economy and how much disposable income is around. There will also be more doing art ‘for fun’ as the post-war baby boomers enter their dotage. There will still be a minority of ‘rebels’ ‘doing their own thing’ whilst getting by as best they can. But as things change and if there is a continuing buoyant economy then more people from a wider cross-section of the population are likely to be buying more art, craft and design. No doubt an economic down-turn would reduce art consumption, but I feel that a broader awareness of art is now more firmly rooted than at any previous time and that, therefore, art might be more resilient to economic change that it has previously been.

London's dominance of the art world will still be the case in 2015, but assuming that there is a continuing development of regionalism the pressure for developing regional and local markets for art, based on the big cities, will bring about investment not seen before. Key public galleries could be pivotal in this.

I also believe we are likely to see more ‘art for art's sake’ following the DCMS's recent signposting of a mood change away from the previously narrower concern with the community responsibilities of art. These will continue to remain important, but I think there will be a more sophisticated understanding of the role played by art in our society. I think we will be getting more than just more and better public art, or a broader appreciation of creativity in schools. These relationships will become more comprehensive and ‘liberal’ as public agencies, the private sector and citizens generally see that, by shocking and questioning, artists help society to look at and to change itself. It maybe that we are at the end of the era where the tabloids try to con the masses that contemporary art is a fraud that they should have nothing to do with.

The net result of this will be more people wanting to be artists and more artists wanting to remain artists and expecting to earn a reasonable living by doing so. As such, it will put new and more demands on artists pre- and post-qualification, and on art education in schools. It also means that the demand for artists' workspace will increase and more purpose built or refurbishment schemes will create higher standards of expectation. But it won't just be for space as we have it now.

This is not to say that artists will remain artists as we know them now. Our market system is fast becoming more and more product and lifestyle orientated, incorporating more artists into a total image making world. But this will be alongside other disciplines, so we will get more techno-bohos, more techno-artists and so on. This will increasingly shape education; all enabled and made ever more easy by digital advances.

At the same time there may be a strengthening reaction to such an incorporation of that artistic spirit as artists play out their traditional avant-garde, rebel role of being voices outside the system.

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

The buildings and facilities being developed by organisations such as Acme and Yorkshire ArtSpace will become the norm of artists' expectations – including an expectation that comprehensive programmes of comprehensive programmes of continuing, high-quality soft infrastructure support and training will be provided. Art will be part of the central remit of business support agencies, instead of a marginal add-on. Live/work environments will be more common and artists will increasingly want to work alongside other disciplines outside the arts, sharing facilities and equipment. More artists will create their own organisations and develop collective self-promotion. Marketing and showing will also become normal.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Artists will be more confident of their position in society and conscious of their importance to it. More will expect to earn a living from art and will therefore expect the sort of State back-up generally provided in the economy. Because art will be different, their needs will be wider and studios will no longer just be for artists. They will meet a wider set of needs from a wider range of interlinked disciplines.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Having a physical base will remain important but, as now, many artists will still do their own thing – working from home or in a multitude of down at heel premises that the economy had no present use for. New sorts of workspaces and communities will emerge, for example as part of college communities. Compensations will include the presence of active regionally-based markets for art in which new generations of local galleries and agents will emerge and provide outlets and support. Stronger artists' organisations will bring a stronger voice and network support.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

On the basis that art will be much more central to our society in 2015, I think agencies will have to come out of their art box much more and equip themselves with the skills and confidence to live with the ‘big girls and boys’. I think that this is only just beginning. Nationally, that will require a strategy which asserts the place of art in our rapidly changing society as something with the capacity to strengthen communities, develop the economy and at the same time be a challenging and questioning conscience of society. At a local or regional level, such a plan should translate into comprehensive development frameworks embracing the education system, planning, economic development, business organisations, local artists organisations, Regional Development Agencies, the Arts Council and public and private galleries and museums.

Keith Hayman, artist and consultant, former Director of Economic Development Sheffield City Council

Ian Hunter

I will tackle these questions from two main angles: a) the context of recent critical art and post-studio art practice debates and b) a more pragmatic and specifically rural perspective, because that is the area I am most interested in right now: The question of resourcing and provision of formal workspace or studios is, in my view, a rather archaic an outdated concept. It implies a 19th century atelier model of artistic creativity and way of thinking about the role of artists and art practice in society. If you're talking cultural industries – housing artists, decorators and designers, etc. as part of a strategy to buttress the consumerist, urban middle class cultural elites, and new (post industrial) urban cultural economies – then fine. But, in terms of locating and resourcing the more critically engaged edge of contemporary art and cultural practice, the relevance of the studio space and the model of the artist as hero or genius (and the studio as a creative incubator) went out of the window eons ago. Of course, artists need and deserve decent housing and studios to work in (I am not agin that!), but the institutionalisation of the big lottery-funded inner city studios and their ill-disguised complicity with the agendas of the so-called inner city regeneration through cultural industries initiatives (read gentrification) is well documented – see my article in CIRCA art magazine c.Autumn 2002. OK now that I have got all that off my chest. The part two response…

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?
Studio and workspace provision for rurally-based artists, designers and crafts people is likely to be a key area of DEFRA, ACE and DCMS policy in support of the new rural regeneration and rural cultural industries initiatives now being framed. The expectations are two way: what are the arts open to give, and what role will they play in the new rural economy (and culture)? The cosy studio hack artists we don&;39;t need. So it will be studios and housing according to demonstrated need, and – more likely – potential for contribution to the new rural agenda.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Clusters based on new technologies; new communications hubs in rural areas; sustainable rural resources. Also, more energy efficient, ecologically sustainable, studios based on investment in and utilisation of local skills, materials and resources. Many farm-based art projects, ie 'Artfarms'*, and ‘rural design studios’ initiatives are likely.

*The ‘Artfarms’ programme (e.g. Hirsch Farm, Illinois, USA); the new ‘Rural Arts Studio’ projects (Kellerberin, WA, and the Rural Art project in Northern Thailand); the ten year Rural Design Studio projects programme in rural Tennessee. All of these are part of an international pioneering movement, with ‘Artfarms’ and ‘rural studio’ projects developing all over the world (Thailand, Australia, Ireland, Spain, France, USA, etc). This has been building for ten years or so. We are planning the first international ‘Artfarms’ – new rural work spaces' conference and exhibition for Somerset, late 2005. We are also advocating a research and development programme to ACE, to document the work of the UK and European pioneers and to secure new investment for future projects in England.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

The emergence of a raft of new hybrid rural workspaces is already evident: eg cattle auction centres as performing arts studios; redundant farm buildings as artists studios; surplus farm barns as video production and editing centres, and as sculpture workshops and rural arts centres; converted pig sheds as craft studios; cow byres as installation project spaces; and innovative rural design for new purpose-built studios and artists' houses, utilising traditional rural materials and skills (earth built studios, hay bale constructed studios, studios in converted grain silos, etc.)

Ian Hunter, artist and director of Littoral Arts, Lancashire

Rob Kesseler

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

It all rather depends on the type of work being done, but also on the stage of one's career. As someone in the latter stages of mid-career, I find myself working away from the studio a lot on project work. Increasingly the studio becomes a storage depot.

My key needs are: storage space, ease of access, economy.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

How important will physical workspace be and what might compensate for a lack of it?

How should cultural planners and artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

In many ways these issues can be conflated.

Storage is a big need and could be centralised within studio complexes. Some central workshop might also be an advantage, as we all have money tied up in equipment that only gets used sporadically. Many artists have intermittent need for space, so bookable areas – especially for 3D work – could be an advantage. Much more professional fabrication is being done away from the studio, which suggests less physical demand for larger spaces. Perhaps the escalating cost of studio rental has spawned three distinct changes in how studios are used:
1. The Arte Povera approach to material appropriation.
2. Outsourcing of complex fabrication.
3. Off-site project-based work.

As much more work tends to be computer-based, in one form or another, more time seems to be spent doing this at home. As someone who has paid out quite a bit on studio rental over the past 20 years, I now regret not buying a more appropriate live/work space 25 years ago, This is certainly something I will be looking to do in the next 5 years. It would certainly make for more flexibility and, economically, would be more sensible.

I think there is a pension issue here too, as we are all being shunted towards self-reliance. Why should artists expect less than basic security in later life? Artists' fortunes rise and fall – and their income with it. In the past, planning for the future has not been something that many artists have thought about sufficiently, until later on in their careers. Studio ownership, or shared ownership, might at least allow for some flexibility later in life, when needs and style of work might change.

Rob Kesseler, artist, London

Langlands & Bell

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

There are so many different ways artists work today that it is impossible to generalise. However some things we think are likely to be important are:

A fast connection.

Stability: somewhere to work that one can depend on. A secure base for making art, displaying art, and meeting the people one is working with. Such a base does not have to be physical it could be virtual.

Flexibility: space can be a burden as well as an asset, artists will travel more. An effective website/internet presence will be essential for most artists.

Independence: not relying entirely on one thing, one place, or one person; yet, also being prepared to collaborate, if it makes sense to do so.

Privacy: somewhere secluded and free from distraction.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

It seems safe to assume that for most/many artists physical space will be even less important than it is now. Developments in information technology have created more possibilities than we can possibly imagine: in terms of tools for making art, opportunities for communicating, and disseminating artistic production, and also for mutual access between artists, curators, collectors, and other interested parties.

Recently while exhibiting internationally, most preparations have been done via email and the internet: from initial introduction, through supplying designs, templates, and instructions for sculpture, wall paintings, etc. to sending computer data for installation/projection, and editing material and images for publication etc.

We are currently working on an exhibition in Brussels which is a technical collaboration with the BT research lab. It uses some of the most advanced technology available, and people will be able to visit the exhibition interactively over the internet, as well as physically in person.

How should cultural planners/artists' support agencies prepare for Future Space?

By remaining open to new ways of working, and supporting new initiatives.

Langlands & Bell, artists, London

Robert Loder

Looking forward to 10 years to 2015…

Studio buildings will need to provide artists with facilities to communicate: with other artists, and with a local audience. This implies a structure for building management which will enable resident artists to operate as a loose community, organising outreach activities (which will probably become an increasingly important part of artists' practice) and exhibitions both inside and outside of the building.

It will become increasingly difficult to attract public funding for studio buildings that just provide space for artists. Some commitment to creating relationships with the local community will be a requirement. It already is. Public funding will be increasingly justified on the grounds of contribution to ‘quality of life’: of the locality, and further field.

Studio buildings will need to provide computer facilities; as an aid to practice, but primarily as a means of communication. The idea of the lonely artist in the attic will finally have been laid to rest. Artists will need to exchange ideas and practice with a widening constituency of fellow artists (both in the UK and abroad), and with audiences accessed through the internet as well as in physical locations. Artists will, periodically, need larger spaces to undertake projects, but will be able to work for most of the time in relatively small studios. As work will tend to become more collaborative, this solution will be more suitable and less expensive than maintaining a large individual space for each artist.

With the growth of communities in the UK with diverse backgrounds, there will be an increasing number of local centres serving small localities. Art making will, at the same time, become both more open to a diversity of cultural influences and more local in relation to audiences. Artists will need funds to travel and residencies will be more in demand. The management of the studio building, or the artists group within them, will need to provide a resource for artists to access these opportunities.

While object making will still be important (and we can expect some revival of interest in painting and sculpture), it will tend to be planned in the studio but presented on site and outside galleries. The production of work for sale to private patrons will increasingly become a specialty business (though an important one since it generates income). Artists will tend to make drawings or small works for sale that are mementos or records of work that is site specific or ephemeral. Numerous examples of this practice exist already.

Audiences will increasingly experience art in locations that are accessible to a wider community than the commercial gallery. Marketing of this work will be aided by the internet, email lists, etc.

Museums will increasingly become large-scale places of entertainment, publicised by the media and led by groups of artists who make their way onto television by planning yet another way of creating a sensation to appeal to the mass market. The duration of styles and fashions will change increasingly quickly as national and international audiences demand something new for their money. Good art, though becoming increasingly diverse, will become much harder to find. Once again, we need to recognise that the process of time will establish what art will endure. Many museums and institutions, being bureaucratic in structure, will again miss the bus with regard to acquiring work that will be significant for future generations. They may need to radically rethink the way in which such work is displayed, and this in itself may be a deterrent to their acquiring it.

In summary…

Space is just one aspect of what artists will need in their workplace. They will need also to organise themselves in a way that combines developing their practice and developing their audience. Interacting with an audience will increasingly become part of practice.

Studio buildings will need increasingly to provide services and know how, and this will often be as important as the provision of permanent space.

Robert Loder, co-founder and chair, Triangle Arts Trust and Gasworks, London

Chris Murray

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

Spaces will need to become increasingly adaptable. The post-modern vision is already with us and there is now little boundary between sculpture, video, painting, installation, etc. Many artists work in any and all of these mediums. There is also more collaboration between artists – gone are the days of monk-like isolation, if they ever really existed. Artists increasingly need to communicate and to be exposed to other thinking, debate and contact with other creative industries. Spaces will need to accommodate these needs. Live-work doesn't always work, but affordable housing is essential and artists might be regarded as keyworkers alongside police and medical professionals.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

That space is inflexible, often isolated and affordable housing might be miles away.

How important will physical workspace be. What might compensate for a lack of it?

This will always be important. Home working and electronic villages never really happened. They probably will to a larger extent than now, but people, particularly creative people, want and need contact. That's why the population of cities continues to rise as a percent of total population. E-studios will be OK for a minority, but artists don't on the whole operate like this; they are eclectic and need to be surrounded by bits and pieces of ideas, drawings, photos, objects. The studio of a good artist is like an Aladdin's Cave of ideas.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

By getting in at the beginning of the development of Masterplans and Local Plans, particularly in the housing market renewal and urban growth areas. By talking to developers, and developing pilot projects to show how this can work.

Chris Murray, Director of Learning and Development at CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment)

Sandy Nairne

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

That space is accessible, wired, able to be shared with others and able to be accessible to the public for more frequent studio exhibitions.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

It should be the case that artists will mostly remain in city centre locations, but with the ability to make sure that all artists can be catered for in terms of mobility, and with a set-up that positively encourages exhibitions and public interaction. Whether it is the sense of ‘sale direct’ or something more educational, there are huge gains to be had by letting more of the public in.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

For many artists, like now, separate space will either be less important or remain hard to afford. The best studio accommodation also offers something social and intellectual in the mix with other artists. It is hard to know whether the innate possibilities of digital art and artists working with higher tech equipment will lead to less painters and sculptors – I doubt it.

How should cultural planners/artists' support agencies prepare for Future Space?

They should: continue to do audits of what artists need in particular cities; try to look for different models in different places (provision in Newcastle might be very distinct from provision in Manchester or Birmingham); try to look for shorter-term rural options (retreats and such-like); offer to make more connections with art-schools and with showing spaces of different kinds.

Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London

Michael Pinsky

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

For most artists I know, it isn't a question of having a space somewhere – this will usually end up getting used for storage. It is more important to have access to communications systems: telephone, internet etc, and specialist tools and support. This is usually only on a project-by-project basis and is not needed continually.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Artists will need access to specialist facilities and technicians as and when they need them.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical space can be important, but it is a luxury in many cases.

How should cultural planners and artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

They should try to partner artists with small enterprises which have the specialist expertise and facilities that the artist needs.

Michael Pinsky, artist, London

David Powell

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

Artists will expect that workspace will be affordable, practical and congenial. Affordability must include an ability to own where possible, and also to find space. Practicality for many will include broadband access. Congeniality offers the opportunity for sharing with colleagues, in a location that makes sense to individual and collective practice.

What are the main differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Affordability will be even more difficult in large city centres; broadband and its successors even more important. The right kind of practical advice and support should be available to enable artist-led spaces to flourish.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical workspace will continue to be essential for artists who make physical work. What might compensate for a lack of it is: shared space; space on offer for projects (in galleries as well as studios); the development of workspace opportunities for short and medium term projects in almost any other sympathetic building or location; space on offer to young artists and artists in or from other countries.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

They should: influence planning frameworks and agreements; invest in property; set up the right kinds of legal (cooperative?) structures; encourage successful artists' studio developers to grow and to encourage others.

David Powell, urban generalist and founder/director of cultural research and project development company DPA, chairman of Camden Arts Centre

Damien Robinson

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

As usual: everything and nothing. If you don't have a space, you'll make do with a crumbling shoe-box; but, we'll always be aspirational about having the ideal space to allow us to create the best possible work.

Legislation, on issues like accessibility and health and safety, means standards – and expectations – have gone up. Given the shortage of buildings and the potential increase in short-life lets, some kind of modular studio that you can pack up and move on with, irrespective of art form, would be the ideal (a Tardis perhaps…).

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

I think the impact of the property market means that studio costs will go up and – unless we can work more collectively to come up with some very imaginative approaches to studio provision – there will be fewer to go round. But, fewer artists will be able to afford them anyway.

Studio providers will want to purchase buildings to get around this (as many do now), but will continue to be opportunistic about leasing. Artists will make better use of smaller spaces. There will be more emphasis on sharing spaces (including ‘timeshare’), collaborative working and new technology. These approaches are happening already but they'll become more consolidated, formalised and accepted. Studio acquisition and maintenance will become an integral aspect of artists' vocational training and professional development – so recent graduates won't have to ask ‘where can I find a cheap studio?’.

Studios will turn up in unexpected places – if we can have a ‘Tate in Space’, what about a studio to go with it?

How important will physical workspace be and what might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical workspace will always be important; it's not just a working space (and meeting place, canteen, office, warehouse, gallery…) but an extension of your mental space.

More effective use of the possibilities of shared space (meeting rooms, kitchen, etc) is already taking place in some studios. Perhaps we can extend this across art forms? Is it just that like-attracts-like when studios are at development stage? Studio = visual artist, but if you are a writer you work at home. Is this true or a truism? How can we join forces? All creative people need a space to work.

How should cultural planners and artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

Planners need to understand that ‘artist’ is not a direct equivalent of ‘creative industry’. There are parallels and overlaps, but promoting artists as tools for economic growth and regeneration has to acknowledge that these are not our raison d'etre. Positive social impacts are a bonus, but we are not a universal remedy.

Artists' support agencies should continue, and extend, work on sharing information and advice between individual artists and groups. They should make more of this kind of process: of allowing artists to feed back to you – it keeps the dialogue going. There are so many variables on the issue of what artists want. Generally, more investigation and discussion on flexi-spaces, such as live/work: spaces that can work in many ways.

Damien Robinson, artist, Southend

Bruce Rosensweet

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

The current trend for artists' workspace is towards community: clusters of work and live/work studios, rehearsal and performance spaces, galleries and supporting enterprises (health services, supplies, clubs, restaurants, cafes) within buildings, complexes and neighbourhoods. Of course, t'was ever thus, but now more energy is focused on purposefully creating, designing and engineering these developments. I think that the energy and the required public and private funding support will continue to grow over the next decade, and that artists will come to expect these designed communities and seek them out.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

For some, it will be enhanced, geographically-centred community. Others, though, will continue to work on the fringes and move along when things get too integrated, organised and/or expensive. There will always be artists who seek the lowest common denominator type space – the cheapest, the funkiest, space with the fewest amenities. And, of course, they have their own communities.

Co-ops, collectives, and artist-run centres provide the most efficient and affordable use of space for the greatest number of artists.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Some artists are working in a more virtual and conceptual environment and that may expand. However, I think space will always be required and should become more available in the future. The only thing that will compensate for a lack of space is contraction and sharing.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

Through conferencing: sharing ideas, cautionary tales and success stories. By lobbying governments and the private sector to advance the cause of creative clusters; demonstrating how they can improve communities and drive economic and social development.

Bruce Rosensweet, Director of Tenant Services, Artscape, Toronto, Canada

Mhora Samuel

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

That they should be affordable and have: water supply and toilets; appropriate architecture and design (eg heights of doors and ceilings must be a minimum of 10ft for large work); lifts; 24 hour access; no leaks; sound insulation; a safe and secure environment (eg compliant with health and safety regulations); good natural light (windows or skylights); electrical lighting and electrical points; adaptability to needs (ie able to change interior design according to the needs of the project or work; access to an existing community and/or communal space within the building; a gallery or showing space; a phone, broadband connection and postal address.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Continuing availability of a diverse range of spaces for the visual arts; access to IT and broadband; spaces more compliant with health and safety and other legislation; greater general awareness of artists; practice reflected in building design; more work-live space. Whilst the private market will continue to be the main commercial driver, there will be more artists working in education, training and social regeneration.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

It will be very important to retain a physical space – even if very small; to have a space dedicated to professional practice, where you can work on, store and develop work. Compensatory space solutions might include: site specific work; residencies in education and training spaces which offer access to facilities – though this will depend on the artists practice. We can't see how artists could manage without physical space as even design-based work requires workspace, office space, or a space within your own home.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

By working with and talking to artists groups. By setting out plans and developing ideas for space providers – public and private – to work with artists to embed studio space in new building projects, including housing or mixed-use. By engaging with initiatives to establish better networking and exchange of information and best practice between artists' groups, such as Acme's national studios survey. By engaging with and developing new ways to retain artists' presence in the centre and at the heart of communities.

Mhora Samuel, Chief Executive, CIDA – Cultural Industries Development Agency London

Adam Holmes-Davies, artist, Maryland Studios; Training and Skills Adviser, CIDA – Cultural Industries Development Agency London

Mark Segal

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

I don't see the affordability issue changing. If anything it is getting worse. I'd foresee flexibility of space being a requirement, such as the availability of large spaces at short notice for short periods of time. Space might be needed temporarily for the development of installation and screen-based work; short-time scale presentation of work; curatorial visits.

I'd anticipate a need for broadband internet access for research and self-marketing. Developments in video conferencing facilities could allow artists access to curators and peer group critical forums.

Access to skills and social networks will also be important. New solutions might include ‘lounges’, for common/social space; wireless networks and pooled technical support; training programmes and facilities; access to kit technology as required.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

There should be more, and cheaper, studios. Changes in work practice will lead to more collaborative working, new partnerships, sharing of resources and pooling of skills. Office or desk-based work will increase as artists spend more time on R&D, fundraising, writing, admin, marketing etc. More temporary access to space may be needed, to undertake specific work linked to funded projects.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical work space will remain important for artists. Despite development funding tending to prioritise digital practice, many artists are still developing ‘real’ work. Indeed, screen-based practice is a ‘real’ development which requires a response. Outsourcing production of work is still the prerogative of the few.

A review of partnerships between artists and academic institutions/businesses, etc may be fruitful in terms of access to resources, technologies and space.

Funding could facilitate R&D time and (temporary) space.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

They should…
Develop accessible, affordable space – including large space – within business plans (no expected income, covered by small space rentals).
Advocate for local authority, RDA and ACE investment by pointing to previous urban regeneration.
Advocate for artists within cultural partnership programmes.
Recognise individual investment.
Offer planning and support for small-scale or home-based studio development in rural areas.
Investigate temporary/low cost build options, such as recycled shipping containers.

Mark Segal, Director ArtSway gallery and studios, Hampshire

Anthony Shapland

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

Over the last decade working collectively to generate an alternative way of presenting work through artist-run spaces has become an essential component of the art scene in the UK. This, combined with working within studio groups, has become increasingly prevalent. Because of this shift, this blurring of the boundaries between artist, curator and critic, artists have necessarily become their own ‘agents’, acting in this capacity alongside producing work.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

The use of the internet as a research and communication tool has meant that the traditional idea of a studio (cheap, ex-industrial, usually cold in winter, hot in summer) is being replaced, in part, by a space that more closely resembles an office environment.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

A physical workspace is not an essential component of many artists' working practices today. Rather, it is a space where work can be produced that is situated neither at work or at home – a thinking space.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

If the role of artists is considered important within a city, we should be looking to produce more permanent, effective structures for providing studio space. In the past artists were often able to move into areas when they were not desirable, as a first wave of regeneration, only to be squeezed out as prices rose and there was more profit to be had from the buildings they inhabited. Just as planners have a percent for art scheme (though that scheme is shot through with problems and generates a huge amount of bad work), maybe there should be a proposal for a percent for artists?

An interesting phenomenon is the proliferation of live/work space across Germany. As the housing market rises out of the reach of most artists in the UK, this option would be one way of ensuring that artists are not frozen out of the cities where prices are high. In Germany, in my experience, the spaces are subsidised and workspace is given rates relief.

Anthony Shapland, artist and co-founder of g39, Cardiff

Mick Smith

What key things will artists expect or need from a working environment?

They will need light, uncluttered, affordable and flexible space, with no limitations, unrestricted hours and no grief. A holistic environment would incorporate creative, artistic and business space and resources alongside social and networking facilities. Currently, these are seen as separate, rather than part of a unified whole. This separation leads artists to feel that the worlds of art and business are mutually exclusive. We need to realise that our current perspective leads to fragmentation. We should take steps to bridge this divide through well-designed workspace solutions.

What will be the main differences between artists' needs then and studios now?

There are very few environments which take the approach outlined above: including facilities for living, socialising/networking, creating, and providing access to business and marketing support as an integral part of this, rather than as minimal bolt-on solutions. This is what we need.

The Enterprise Pavilion, Bournemouth, is aiming to meet these needs (though not live-in) by providing creative business space on campus with mentoring and specialist business support, as well as access to workshops, studios and other facilities for artists wishing to set up their own creative businesses. See www.aibep.co.uk

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for lack of it?

It is difficult to pin down exactly what constitutes a creative environment. Much can be done digitally, rather than purely physically, and some (though by no means all) forms of art depend almost exclusively on this. However, the key is to focus on what helps the individual artist to create. Clearly, human interaction and the uncensored buzz of ideas is part of this.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

By considering, and effectively catering for, the right and left brain activities involved in producing art sustainably – within a system governed by commerce – in order to widen the mainstream and promote the unification of culture and commerce.

Creativity is clearly a right brain activity (random, intuitive, holistic, synthesizing, subjective, looks at wholes). The practice of commerce normally emphasises the left brain (logical, sequential, rational, analytical, objective, looks at parts). This divide is not a fundamental one: some business activities are essentially creative, and some art can involve very left brain methods and processes. However, there is a cultural and structural divide, reinforced by the emphasis (and status) given to left brain activities, such as measurable outcomes and benchmark standardisation in commerce. This is often reinforced by our underpinning educational and governmental systems and structures.

The creative industries are at the front line of this divide. Clearly, there is a need to integrate the two in order to make art a sustainable business. I refer to the need to enable artists to turn their art to commercial advantage. There is the obvious option of taking another day job to support artistic activities, but this should not be the goal of Future Space.

Progress can be achieved by training and supporting artists to learn the right brain activities involved in business. Hopefully, this training and support can be delivered in imaginative right brain ways, rather than trying to bash square pegs into round holes. However, it is also about systems and structures. Successful companies who see themselves as modern and imaginative (such as Microsoft, IBM and other Silicon Valley companies) deliberately try to design their (often campus-type) locations to accommodate and promote the right brain activities they rely on to generate their intellectual property.

An essential part of the success of Future Space will be the designing of spaces, systems and structures to integrate the two approaches. This “whole brain” approach will help, longer term, to widen the mainstream and integrate the separate ideas of culture and commerce which seem at present to be different parts of the same picture.

Mick Smith, freelance creative business consultant

Emilia Telese

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

Artists will need access to the internet, particularly those living in rural locations or working and exhibiting in multiple locations. This will allow online networking and access to current debate with artists from other locations and/or disciplines. For every artist, having access to the internet will be as essential as having a telephone.

Governmental arrangements will be needed to facilitate better rent deals for artists' studios, particularly those catering for low or intermittent income practitioners, and those not working commercially.

Daylight and space will remain essential.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Now: Soaring rent prices are triggering the relocation of artists from city centres into peripheral or run down areas. Spaces not belonging to larger studio providers which have subsidised rents or other sources of income (e.g. Space and Acme in London; Phoenix in Brighton; WASPS in Glasgow) have to face a choice of…

2015: It seems likely that rent prices will have driven artists away from city centres into former industrial buildings on the outskirts of cities (a trend underlined at the Creating Places conference, July 2003 at Tate Modern). Artists' needs will then be related to different issues, such as travel to and from studios from their homes, or security in the workplace and protection from vandalism and theft due to the location and marginality of the studios. This could, though, lead to some artists working in a less isolated way, with conglomerates or communities of artists replacing the solitary studio.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical workspace will be at a premium, so it is likely that artists working on a large scale will change their practice to suit the space they can afford. This could mean building commissioned work on-location, computer-based planning of work which is then sub-contracted to external workshops, or studio-swaps for limited amounts of time with studios abroad where space is more available. It might help to create the possibility of a niche market of international studios exchange programmes.

In areas lacking studio space, artists could have ‘timed’ studio contracts, in order to give other artists the opportunity to have a space. Or, it could be that studios that are not used more than one day a week could be sub-licensed in a “time share” fashion to other artists. In order to keep their studio, artists would have to make the case for having a studio if they are unable to use it often. In my experience, there are many artists who keep a studio “just in case”, but their life choices have led them elsewhere. By discouraging this tendency, we could free up more spaces for artists who want to use them in a more consistently productive way.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

Artists' support agencies should work with housing-related government offices to secure government deals to preserve stable or subsidised rent costs for the short and medium term.

Cultural planners should work with city planners to increase infrastructural services in the areas likely to become the location of artists' studios. Artists could then work in better conditions from the start of their occupancy, rather than be the sole catalysts for change and regeneration in previously culturally desolate areas.

Emilia Telese, artist, Artists' Networks Coordinator, a-n the Artists Information Company, Brighton

Martin Vincent

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

It depends what work you're making. It can be argued that the whole idea of the artist's ‘working environment’ has shifted. The working environment is now the gallery, the public space, the internet. The making of the work increasingly happens in the place where it will be seen, rather than the work being made in the studio and the artist handing responsibility over to the curator or gallerist at the studio door.

For me, the most important thing for a studio-type space is location (location, location). A state-of-the-art studio ten miles from the nearest train station doesn't interest me. What I need is a place that is dry and not too cold, secure, has 24-hour access, and is near to things – transport links, art supplies, and somewhere to go out and have a coffee with someone if they come and see me. I need somewhere to show people my work and, maybe, an internet connection. I don't see these basics changing. Others will still need sturdy floors, power tools, dust extraction, lifts and big doors. And all for £60 a month!

Karen Watson

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

ESA started just over ten years ago, looking back at the changes is interesting. Although we could aim then to do the basics – good spaces rather than leaky, cold spaces – I don't think we could have predicted what artists might want, so I am not sure we could do the same now. The important thing for us is that we constantly talk and listen to – and are therefore informed by – artists. They are the first to know what direction things are moving in, and what needs there might be. It makes us responsive to a certain extent (although we are more pro-active in other ways) but I am not sure that's a bad thing.

Technology is the biggest thing that changes; keeping up with that is crucial.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Artists' studios will be as important as they are now, if not more so, as the professional role of the artist is more widely recognised. However, what studios contain will change. The use of technology will dictate this to a certain extent. For both communication and for making, technology is becoming increasingly important. Also, boundaries are dissolving all the time – a studio, office, meeting space rolls into social space. I still believe, though, that artists will always need that bit of space that is their own to play and experiment in.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

Physical space will still be very important. Membership schemes, tailor-made events for specific purposes and networking opportunities could help compensate for a lack of it.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

Cultural planners and artists' support agencies are more reactive than organisations like ourselves, so I guess they need to keep listening, take some risks, try new things out. They should try not to be self-serving or to chase funding that takes them away from their core vision of supporting artists.

Karen Watson, Director, ESA (East Street Arts), Leeds

Jane Watt

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

I think the things that artists need (but don't necessarily get now) will remain as:

• flexible space and time
• peer support

There may additionally, perhaps, be more integrated working with other professionals – eg artists might have a designated space or role within another organisation.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Artists will have integrated office or admin spaces, rather than just ubiquitous paint on the floors.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

I'm sure artists will continue to think and work more laterally – not just to the romantic ideal of a big drafty studio.

More transience in terms of work and materials. Alternative documentation (virtual documentation) and storage of work.

Even though open-plan and time-share are encouraged as alternative studio options, I think many artists still have a nesting instinct and will still feel the need to have a space of some kind in which to work, think or just come back to.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

They should support sustainable and integrated workspace and roles for artists within the larger urban, or rural, communities – not just as an initial consultation, or in an area that is pre-regeneration and therefore on the fringes.

Jane Watt, London-based artist who in eight years has had three shared studios in artist-run spaces and now has a studio in her home

Mark Waugh

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

For Live Artists, their work is often a direct response to the context in which it is performed and so their spatial requirements are specific to their practices. But what is a studio? Studio space is somewhere to organise and mobilise concepts. It might be transitory, but it will benefit from communication resources. The isolated artist is not engaged with the social production of meaning. The studio is a social hub.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

Future speculators will be influenced by our economies and ecological systems. Rem Koolhaas will build CCTV in Beijing and the studio spaces there will reflect a nostalgia for ideologies of communism and an ironic spin on the cult of the artist. Art studios in the future will perhaps be influenced by the dematerialisation of labour and will therefore be less influenced by the need for extensive floor space for the manual manipulation of things. But perhaps labour will become a performance style?

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for a lack of it?

“An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have but that he – for some reason – thinks it would be a good idea to give them.” Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again. Does something cease being art once we need it? If there is a lack of physical space in the future, perhaps the gifts of art will be shrunk to fit. Perhaps the disappearance of art will transpire through an expansion of the economics of ‘need’. In this sense Warhol's Factory model makes sense. The question is: are ‘artists’ still artists if they are producing commercial commodities? Is financial remuneration a compensation?

In England support networks are critical to Live Artists, creating a sphere of ideas in which innovation can flourish. These include: Arnolfini, New Work Network, Artsadmin, Black Arts Alliance, Bluecoat, Baltic, Beaconsfield, HTBA, Grizedale Arts, Colchester Arts Centre, Fierce, Green Room, and the Live Arts Development Agency, to name a few. The most dynamic working environments are those exposed to a significant diversity of ideas which encourages critical reflection. Some international spaces which I think have this ambience are: PS1, New York; HIAP studios in Kable Factory, Helsinki; Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt; and the Dashanzi Art district in Beijing China.

How should cultural planners/artists support agencies prepare for Future Space?

The AFoundation in Liverpool has recently invested heavily to protect the Independent sector of the Liverpool Biennial. However, (as artists living there will tell you) in the face of accelerated regeneration, this smart move will not deflate the rise in rents and mortgages. The home is the de facto studio for many artists and it must be factored into the future economics of the creative industries. It is also essential to ensure flexibility is factored into all future space. London doesn't have such a space for Live Art. A space dedicated to the development and presentation of work has been absent for some time and this is the kind of issue that will feature in the forthcoming Presentation Review of the Visual Arts, a research and advocacy strategy lead by Arts Council England.

Mark Waugh, Visual Arts Officer: Live Art, Arts Council England

Liz Whitehouse

What key things will artists expect or need from a workspace/working environment?

Secure and safe space at reasonable cost.
Accessible space - more of us will live with a variety of illnesses and disabilities than ever before.
The company of other artists - a creative environment.
As many artists' practises become more dependent on expensive equipment, particularly in new media and video/DVD, access to up-to-date equipment at reasonable cost.

What will be the differences between artists' needs then and studio provision now?

As already mentioned, the need for many artists to own or access more expensive equipment, leading to the need for secure studios.
Potentially, more studios being provided by organisations modelled on providers such as Wasps, Space and Acme, where the provision and management of studios is not directly in the hands of the artists – freeing artists to concentrate on art.

How important will physical workspace be? What might compensate for the lack of it?

I believe that artists will continue to work in the widest range of media and will therefore always need a variety of different kinds of workspaces.
New media will allow more artists to work at home, potentially leading to greater isolation for artists. Compensation for the lack of workspace would therefore be the need for agencies to reach out to isolated artists with help and advice.
There may be a greater need for workspace to be available for short-term hire.

How should cultural planners and artists' support agencies prepare for Future Space?

They should give support (financial, encouragement, information) to groups of artists who have realistic proposals for creating long-term workspace.
They should work to persuade non-cultural support agencies (Regional Development Agencies, local authorities, Business Links, etc.) of the value that artists bring to a town or city in terms of creativity and feeding into all sections of society – business and community – in many ways. Artists' spaces should be central to a town or city – artists should be seen to practice at the heart of the community, not resigned to the periphery.

Liz Whitehouse, Director, The Art House, Yorkshire, currently striving to build studios for artists that are accessible and provide technician support to enable disabled artists to work alongside others

The writer

Interviews devised and conducted by Paul Glinkowski, a writer and journalist, and currently Rootstein Hopkins Research Fellow, Wimbledon School of Art.

Paul Glinkowski

Interviews devised and conducted by Paul Glinkowski.

First published: Future forecast May 2005