An office sales environment is probably not the first thing that springs to mind when you picture an artist-led space, but Generator in Dundee is working with performance artist Catrin Jeans to build just that.
The artist will act as sales manager, boosting team morale through training exercises for Generator, one of five organisations commissioned by The Royal Standard to take over its exhibition space for ‘Service Provider’, its Liverpool Biennial 2012 programme. In keeping with the ‘hospitality’ theme of this year’s Biennial, each organisation will use the gallery for a two week period – the only proviso being they must offer a ‘service’ of some kind.
Elizabeth Murphy, one of the directors at The Royal Standard – a gallery, studios and workspace in Liverpool – explains the genesis of the project: “When asked to become an official partner of the Liverpool Biennial, all the directors were keen to develop an exhibition that we knew couldn’t be achieved by the other partners. Our position is very unique, and although sometimes being an artist-run space is challenging, we can afford to take risks and realise projects other spaces can’t.”
The programme features organisations from across the UK. Nottingham-based Tether are contributing ‘This is it. This is it’, incorporating an installation, parade float, studio production space and a series of public events. Elsewhere, bubblebyte.org will use a virtual platform to explore the implications of what it means to be a host/guest in an online space, while artist duo Sovay Berriman and Laura Mansfield are providing a relaxation booth for Biennial staff. London’s Form Content will be developing key themes in its ongoing texts, ‘It’s moving from I to it’.
All the commissions will be supported by the development of an evolving publication and a series of panel discussions. Says Murphy: “The project aims to question the notion of a public, the power dynamics between hosts and the hosted, the permanence of experience and the legacy of hospitality, particularly in what is becoming an increasingly inhospitable age.”
Service Provider runs from 15 September to 25 November 2012. www.the-royal-standard.com
