Oslo Calling!

From 2000-2005 the G.U.N. Ladies hosted an artist in residence programme called the Art of Hospitality. And it was through this programme that they invited me to live and work in their space in May/June 2003. This was my first residency and solo show. At the end of my residency I presented a performance and multimedia installation called ‘Somewear in Particular’. I’d taken a ‘sabbatical’ from The Wellcome Trust to undertake the residency and managed to secure a small grant from The British Council to transport myself and some artworks to Oslo. www.britishcouncil.org/arts-art-architecture-design-grants-to-artists.htm

The G.U.N. Ladies also exported bunk beds to artist run spaces internationally (in Riga, Valencia, Rotterdam, Åbo, and New York) so that they could undertake exchange programmes and the receiving space could in turn accommodate future visiting artists (a really simple and effective idea – the best ones always are!).
In April 2005 the G.U.N. Ladies donated their last turquoise bunk-bed to TOU Scene in Stavanger (a centre for contemporary arts and music in south west Norway). TAOH Residens is run my Anne Marte Rygh (Dartington graduate and other half of Gilbert & Grape with Helen Pritchard). You can apply to the TAOH Residency and I would highly recommend it, having undertaken a residency with my Norwegian collaborator Jan Steinum in July/August 2007. Check out:
www.touscene.com/en/om/taoh-residency
http://annemarte.wordpress.com/taoh-residency

During my G.U.N. Residency I developed some really fruitful connections and collaborations and have maintained strong links with Norway ever since. Arriving in the Oslo scene with only a few contacts made me especially pro-active about seeking out like-minded artists and collectives. These contacts helped me find a social and professional network through which I could tap into and utilise local knowledge and top tips; ranging from finding a good printers, learning where to get hold of materials, hearing about exhibitions and performances coming up in indie spaces, where to get a decent cheap meal and hear some good live music. Oslo was a really fruitful place for me to test out my ideas, and perhaps in a new city I took a few more risks creatively than in a place where I had a history.

Through that first residency I discovered an active and supportive community in Oslo which resulted in further creative actvities, for example:

I curated Hardcore Soft, for the Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture & Design a touring exhibition that presented the work of artists addressing ‘hard’ political issues (e.g. class, conflict, homelessness) through ‘soft’ means (e.g. textile and participatory practices).

Undertook a little guest teaching at the Kunsthandverk Skolen, Oslo Art Academy

Volunteered at the Unconventional DIY Convention, Hausmania
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=158913402

Co-produced a participatory multi-media exhibition called Home & Away/Hjemme og Borte, at the International Kultursenter og Museum, Oslo & Union Scene, Drammen.

Developed an exhibition and mail art between the Simon Community Glasgow & SAFIR support centre – shown as part of the Oslo Open 2007 www.osloopen.no

Through these and other projects I've sustained collaborative relationships with:

Jan Steinum http://performancekunst.no/nb/profiler/jans
Rachel Dagnall www.h8w.net/work/index.html
Anita Hillestad www.anitahillestad.org

Dagnall & Hillestad are members of the Oslo artist collective Survival Strategists www.overlevelsesstrategene.org/omoss.html
This collective have been working together for over 10 years developing public art interventions and gallery projects.

So that’s my opening blog gambit for The International Pool project. I hope its gives a little background to my international activities in recent years, and encourages you to share your encounters with artist-led initiatives. I’ve provided links where ever possible in case you want to look into some of these artist run initiatives.

I’d like to receive your comments, questions and read about your international experiences and creative journeys. The NWN International Pool project aims to research ‘Internationalism’ and explore what that means to us as an artist led organisation. And to develop a NWN resource of international artist led initiatives for members to use. So please get involved and share your knowledge and experience.

You can also contribute to the International Pool at www.newworknetwork.org.uk

First-time Things - images

The Latvian Connection

I’m gonna dive straight into the pool and start by telling you about one particular life changing international journey, and a number of artist led initiatives I’ve encountered and jammed with on the way. Each has made a real impact on my practice and creative development as an artist. It’s a somewhat winding path and there have been a few digressions and unexpected de-tours but I’ll begin in 2001 in a wonky old cottage in Bucks! I was at the time commuting into London to work part-time as a Project Manager at the Wellcome Trust (Exhibitions Department), working with Verity Slater and Bergit Arends on the Science on Stage & Screen and sciart programmes.

I’d not long participated in a Goat Island Summer School in Bristol www.goatislandperformance.org
which had given me, as I was later to describe, ‘a much needed creative boot up the backside’. I had first met Goat Island (they are based in Chicago/USA) at the CCA, Glasgow where I worked for some years in the 90’s. Up until this Summer School in 2001, I had been focusing most of my energies on facilitating the work of other artists so it was time to research, develop and produce my own work.

“We have discovered a performance by making it.” Goat Island

So I had received on-line information about an international opportunity (I wish I could remember which e-digest or live art listing it was). The Latvian Centre for Contemporary Arts, based in the capital Riga, had put out a call inviting women artists to respond to ‘Sixth Element’.
www.lcca.lv/projects/6th_element
I’ve tried to go back and find my initial proposal, but this all took place two email accounts (and two computers ago) and I wasn’t so hot on archiving my documents/process back then. I have a hunch its on floppy disk in storage.

Well suffice to say a project I had been developing at that time, concerning pioneering women figures in espionage and technology, was accepted and to my immense surprise I was invited to go to Riga to create a small mixed media installation. LCCA took over a central hotel for 2 days in May 2002. They used all the floors, bar one. The Latvian football team would not be moved! Quite a contrast of clientele going between floors that weekend. Each artist had a hotel bedroom in which to present a piece of work or could use courtyard/hallways if preferred.

I was the only UK based artist participating in Sixth Element, the other artists and collectives coming from Latvia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Russia & the Ukraine. It was my first time in the Baltics. I was immensely excited by the opportunity and the work I encountered, but a tad nervous to be presenting solo work in an unknown context. However I received a friendly welcome, and the atmosphere around the event was supportive, had a positive DIY attitude and a really diverse programme - from a presentation by female body builders to a performance about a medium channeling the spirit of Dead Diana – the Princess of Wales.

An episode around a lost bag and a subsequent surreal experience at the central police station threw up some interesting discussion around wages and the local economic climate. LCCA had generously given me £150 fee in cash (which included all materials/production cost expenses). Talking to a local teacher the following day I was to learn that her monthly wage at that time was £80 per month.

Anyway with this money I presented a mixed media installation incorporating performance, textile and works on paper called ‘First-time Things’.

Significantly for me I was accommodated at a B&B alongside a fantastic Norwegian artist collective called Galleri G.U.N (Gallery Uten Navn = Untitled Gallery). The Gun Ladies (as they are also known) are six Nordic artists and curators who until 2004 ran a small gallery space in central Oslo. They currently run The White Tube space in a subway leading to TØyen Underground in Oslo (and welcome proposals)
www.thegunladies.com

Anyway back in Riga, myself and the G.U.N Ladies shared meals together and talked about our work and over the course of 4 days got to know each other a little. I was really thrilled when they invited me to develop a project for their space in Oslo.

Image: 'Sixth Element', LCCA, Riga, 2002

Join me next week for the installment - 'Oslo Calling'

The International Pool

This blog forms part of a wider project entitled - The International Pool'. As part of my NWN Associate role I’m working with New Work Network (www.newworknetwork.org.uk) and its members to research ‘Internationalism’ and explore what that means to us as an artist led organisation.

I've started this blog as a space in which to post a series of personal international experiences that influenced where and how I have been making work in the past few years. I'm seeing this blog as another way of approaching how to share our thoughts and experiences about 'Internationalism'. Maybe it'll act as a catalyst to you sharing your international creative journeys with members on the NWN site.

I’d like to explore how we might pool our collective knowledges about:
international artist led spaces, studios, kitchens, collectives, manifestos, research, festivals, residency programmes etc.

You'll find further info and suggestions of how you can contribute on the Projects and Forum sections of the NWN site.
http://www.newworknetwork.org.uk/modules/project/