In February 2018 I was invited to take part in a project in Dordrecht. The concept centred on making work that revolved around ideas about language, hospitality and identity which loosely related to the city of Dordrecht’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Synod of Dort, and the accompanying translation of the Bible into Dutch. The city itself was once of the oldest in the Netherlands complete with a medieval heart and concentric circles of later development. Artists were drawn from towns in Europe that were twinned with Dordrecht and the final group consisted of 3 artists from Hastings (UK), 2 from Varna (Bulgaria) and 1 from Recklinghausen (Germany) plus other artists connected to these artists who came from Mallorca, Berlin, Essen, Wuppertal and Eastbourne. Funding for the project included 10 days accommodation with 2 meals a day plus a contribution towards travel expenses. Each artist therefore had to weigh up the value of embarking on such a project; for me the value lay in making new contacts, developing relationships and being part of an evolving esprit de corps that came from uncertainty, being away from home and facing a myriad of new encounters and situations.

Selected artists spent 10 days in Dordrecht, living and working together to make work based on the theme of identity. Hospitality was provided by the project director, who ensured we all had cosy accommodation at the hostel on the wooded edge of Dordrecht and a hot meal every evening together in his spacious studio, which meant we all got together at least once a day although it did involve a drive across the city every night from cosy hostel to chilly studio. The language aspect became evident as we all sat down to breakfast on the first morning and discovered that between us we spoke Bulgarian, German, Polish, Russian, Dutch, French, Spanish, fortunately most communication was in English.

The formula for a project like this can cause anxiety and prior to arrival the framework was loose, access to tools and equipment vague and the sites for placing work unclear. The director proposed a daily routine of getting together, planning and working both at the studio and around town. In my case, despite a fair bit of prior research it was hard to envisage making an artwork without knowing the place first hand, so not knowing what to bring with me was one cause for uncertainty and another was finding meaningful ways of working once I arrived. Most artists arrived with pre-made or partly made ideas or artworks, but for me the potential for making a site specific response was of more interest, and I quite enjoy the urgency of making something to a tight schedule. The more guerilla aspects of the project became apparent quickly, if we wanted a particular space in town for our work the director would try and get the appropriate permissions, which turned out to be a rather hit and miss process. We were mostly left to find our own solutions to fixing work to walls and a few of us spent hours or even days wandering around trying to connect ideas, thoughts, impressions in order to make connections to the idea of identity or form a site-specific responses, either through performance or installations.

The director was both genuine and generous in his approach to the networking potential of the project and he not only provided plentiful opportunities for us to get to know each other, but took us en mass in his red van to meet local artists and visit the local contemporary art spaces. We met the Dordrecht city artist for 2018 and visited different studio complexes, and one evening we we took part in a speedy hour long dérive around Dordrecht led by a local artist. We made friends with each other over a range of international dishes- tortillas, shepherds pie, sausage and chips, paella and a home made curry, cooked by the director’s artist friends, which was no mean feat in a place with a couple of electric rings and 12-15 hungry chilly artists to feed. One surreal evening we were entertained by a Glaswegian singer with a nice line in angry/melancholy songs, about Britain, Brexit and being sad in Superdrug – things we British artists were trying hard not to think about.

The studio base was a huge industrial unit on the edge of town and had a huge stock of wood, metal, objects in transition and offered a decent sized indoor exhibition space and a large outside area with cabins, carriages and assorted half completed and abandoned artworks and a huge graffiti’ed wall. The space was divided into an exhibition space, a performance area and eleven studios, an enviable arrangement apart from the cold. Most artists exhibited some work in this space, which was quickly re-purposed around them and enlivened by an electronic sound/film work at the opening event. Other artists used the city as a stage for performances or installations, creating surprising encounters for visitors and inhabitants in equal measure.

Perhaps the most successful aspect of the project was the reinforcement of a feeling that as artists we have much in common and much to share, and a reminder that we all thrive in environments of acceptance, curiosity and generosity. Genuine interest and hospitality was shown to us by everyone we met, from the gallery directors, council volunteers, artists in local studios and visitors to the exhibition space. It was good to feel ‘at home’ in the company of artists who ranged in age from mid 30’s to late 60’s and who were otherwise occupied in running project spaces, art festivals, galleries, lecturing and teaching, and one was a full time pharmacist. We were a disparate bunch in many ways but we were held together by visual language, acceptance and a nightly ritual of defrosting and reviving by the fire in the bar !

Overview: overspent – yes; challenged by weather – yes; new work or ideas to develop – yes; new connections made – yes; new friends made – yes; critical debate – some; new leads made-some; exhaustion level – medium to high; stimulated by contacts and place – yes; increase in visibility-not much; to be repeated-yes;


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