During this year’s Glasgow International, artists Ailie Rutherford and Janie Nicoll presented In Kind, an action research project using the festival as a case study in order to chart the “hidden economies of the visual arts”. Fellow Glasgow-based artist Jessica Ramm finds out what they discovered and ponders where to go next.
The 10th edition of the annual Printemps De L’Art Contemporain festival in Marseille coordinates exhibitions by more than 45 venues across France’s second city and includes a strand on artists from Glasgow, with which the city is twinned. Chris Sharratt reports from the port city that is prioritising contemporary art as it prepares to host Manifesta in two years time.
Jean McEwan is this month’s featured artist member on a-n’s Instagram. Richard Taylor talks to the Bradford-based artist about collaboration, the richness of sustained community work, walking, and much more.
For the latest in our ongoing Scene Report series, Preston-based artist Martin Hamblen provides a tour of the city’s visual arts activity and asks whether the much vaunted ‘Preston Model’ of inward investment stretches to investing in the artists living and working in the area.
Four years on from the Mayor of London-commissioned Artists’ Workspace Study, which predicted the possible loss of up to 3,500 artists’ workspaces in the capital within five years, Jack Hutchinson explores how three of London’s studio providers are navigating a challenging environment and the impact this is having on artists.
The former director of Southend-on-Sea’s Focal Point Gallery takes up his new role in Eastbourne at a difficult time for the gallery, as local council cuts mean a 50% reduction in funding over the next four years. Judith Alder finds him relishing the challenges ahead, and with a focus on opportunities for the gallery to play a more central role in the life of the East Sussex town.
The director of Manchester’s Castlefield Gallery looks back on her first year in the role, a period which has seen the organisation renew its Arts Council England NPO status enabling it to push forward with its talent development programme for artists.
London-based artist Larry Achiampong has had a busy year, including commissions for Somerset House, the Jerwood Visual Arts 3-Phase programme and the Diaspora Pavilion during the Venice Biennale. He reflects on a “full on” 2017 that has been tainted by the avoidable tragedy of Grenfell.
With support from a-n, the London-based artist has launched an online store offering high quality, affordable, limited edition works and publications by artists dedicated to exploring place. Jack Hutchinson talks to her about online sales and research beyond the art world.
This Christmas, ditch the high street and discover original artworks and handcrafted gifts by independent artists and makers who will be opening their studios or putting up their market stalls at a range of venues throughout the UK.
Recent years have seen a renewed interest in clay as many contemporary artists embrace the medium in their work. As the British Ceramics Biennial continues in Stoke and Tate Modern hosts Ceramics Factory, Pippa Koszerek talks about its renewed appeal with the biennial’s artistic director and artists Clare Twomey and Jesse Wine.
As part of their travel bursary to visit Documenta 14 in Kassel, a-n members have been sharing their views on the quinquennial via a-n Reviews and Blogs. AIR Council member Joseph Young, who visited Documenta at the same time, presents a snapshot of their thoughts and reflections.
Nicola Naismith is the recipient of the Clore Visual Artist Fellowship, which for the second year is supported by a-n. She explains how she feels about being the 2017-18 fellow, its relevance to her art practice, and what she hopes to get out of the year.
Known for her detailed sculptural works that combine everyday objects and materials with meticulously applied precious stones, metals or fine embroidery, Susan Collis is interested in making us consider the real value of what we might at first think is mundane and ordinary. Anneka French talks to the artist about her major new solo show at Touchstones Gallery, Rochdale.
The Minnesota Centre for Book Arts biennial celebration of artists’ books is taking place during July and August with a two-day symposium and book art prize at the centre of the event. Sarah Bodman previews the symposium, which runs from 20-23 July, and highlights the work of British artists involved in the biennial.
Arts Council England’s National Portfolio for 2018-22 includes an overall increase in the number of visual arts organisations receiving funding from 121 to 149. We highlight six organisations who will be joining the portfolio and find out what their new status will mean to them.
A new exhibition and free pop-up summer school from Create London and the William Morris Gallery celebrates the cultural and educational legacy of Walthamstow School of Art, which from 1957 to 1967 became a hotbed of artistic ideas and talent. Lydia Ashman talks to two of the people behind the ‘Be Magnificent’ project.
After launching for the first time in Athens in April, the quinquennial art exhibition Documenta 14 has just opened across 35 venues and numerous outdoor sites in its home city of Kassel, Germany. Ten a-n artist members, who visited Kassel with the support of an a-n Travel bursary, pick their top three works from the vast city-wide programme.
Market Gallery’s recent Free Market symposium – supported by an a-n Artist Led Bursary – brought together thinkers and doers to discuss issues around ‘cultural resources in crisis’ and was in part informed by the Glasgow gallery’s own precarious situation. Chris Sharratt reports on three days of thinking beyond the usual.
We asked this year’s Venice Biennale a-n travel bursary recipients and AIR Council members attending the biennale preview to tell us what their highlights were. They came back with 26 different recommendations – and a few repeats.
London and Scotland-based artistic duo Thomson & Craighead have created a new generative moving image work for the Look Again festival in Aberdeen. They talk to Jack Hutchinson about the impact of the internet on our lives and how splitting their time between rural and urban areas has benefitted their practice.
Keith Piper’s exhibition at New Art Exchange, ‘Unearthing the Banker’s Bones’, explores the idea of what our society’s relics might look like from a future perspective. The founder member of the BLK Art Group talks to Wayne Burrows about the themes contained within the work and the continued importance of political and social questions to his practice.
As a member of Artangel’s production team, Laura Purseglove is used to site-specific working and navigating the complexities of staging art projects in historic buildings. All of which will be useful experience for her role at ACE Trust, where over the next two years she will be developing a programme of exhibitions and commissions for churches and cathedrals throughout the UK. Pippa Koszerek finds out more.
For her current show at The Showroom, London-based artist Laura Oldfield Ford has constructed a disorientating visual, textual and sonic journey that draws on her experiences of navigating the gallery’s surrounding area, weaving together multiple voices and alternative histories and futures. Lydia Ashman finds out more.
As a-n launches its dedicated coaching accreditation programme for the visual arts, Pippa Koszerek speaks to the four artists who tested the waters in 2016.
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