Publications

Programme of dynamic, practice-led discussions on hospitality, space and contemporary art making, researched and directed by artist, curator and writer Sonya Dyer and jointly commissioned by a-n and Axis.

Neighbourhoods and Neighbourliness
6 - 7.30pm, 18 November 2010, Turner Contemporary Margate.
Speakers: Ana Laura Lopez de La Torre and Sophie Hope, chair Curator Sepake Angiama, Turner Contemporary.
Artists and curators are increasingly working directly with communities, a practice that goes right back to the days of the Artists Placement Group (APG) and beyond. What are the ethics of such practices? How has 'instrumentalism' impacted the types of work artists make? What is the role of the curator within such a landscape? What conditions are needed in order to make it possible for creative practitioners to be 'good neighbours' within this context?

Sonya Dyer reports from this event. Read on »

Liminal Space
6 - 7.30pm, 19 January 2011, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Speakers: artists Sinead O'Donnell and Poshya Kakl, chair Professor Andre Stitt.
Changes to the Visa system have made it increasingly difficult for artists from outside the EU to come to Britain, as the Manifesto Club campaign led by Manick Govinda attests. With the creative use of technology, artists and curators are finding ways of not only protesting against the system, but bridging the gap between 'here' and 'there' - the liminal space. This event will do just that - bridge the space between the UK and Iraq through artists Sinead O'Donnell and Poshya Kakl, who have claimed this space out of necessity through innovation and performativity.

Sonya Dyer reports from this event. Read on »

Hospitality
5.30 - 7pm, 16 February 2011,  East Street Arts: Union 105, 105 Chapeltown Road, Leeds LS7 3HY.
Speakers: artists Jeanne Van Heeswijk and The Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home, chair Nuno Sacramento, Director Scottish Sculpture Workshop.
Defined as "the relationship between guest and host" or the "act of being hospitable" this discussion aims to explore the cultural value of hospitality. What is the responsibility of the host in relation to arts practice? What happens when artists are also hosts? Do communities host art spaces, or are they always interlopers? Is there room within the current economic climate for artists to take a more 'rock and roll' attitude to being guests, or indeed hosts? Do hosts have an obligation to tolerate guests, however disagreeable? Are artist-led initiatives the best way for artists to take control of the guest-host axis? What is the relationship between hospitality and intimacy?

Sonya Dyer reports from this event. Read on »

Structure and Space
6 - 7.30pm, 9 March 2011, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire.
Chair: Dr Wendy Pullan (Cambridge University); Speakers: Ansuman Biswas and Celine Condorelli.
Art and architecture intersect in this discussion, which highlights practices that explore ideas of space, confinement and borders. What are the politics of the ways in which people inhabit space, and what does contemporary practice have to say on the subject? What light can voluntary confinement bring to our understanding of the complexities of space? How do structures support our engagement with and understanding of the ways in which we inhabit our bodies and the wider world?

Sonya Dyer reports from this event. Read on »

Read on » for more information about the contributors.

First published: a-n.co.uk October 2010