Making It Public.

It is time to show new work and a great way to do that is in a group exhibition. The opportunity has arisen as part of the Fine Art MA I am doing at UCA Farnham. Having had to postpone a previous show last year because of the pandemic, the group set about planning another in the Autumn. The brief was to secure a London venue if possible. Although restrictions were still in place it had been possible to make visits to a number of sympathetic venues. However, it soon became apparent that the scope was limited and reintroduction of lockdown measures have forced us to adopt an online approach rather than postponing again.

With 19 contributors, finding a title that somehow reflects our diverse practices was the first challenge. A shortlist was drawn up and a vote organised that produced the title Beyond the Boundaries. A compromise, a little anodyne, but somehow, something workable. Each artist needed to make a formal proposal, initially intended to be installed on the university campus. A formal proposal to the university and subsequent publicity material was extracted from these proposals by a smaller working group, of which I was part. Learning new tech has been a theme of the pandemic for many and an effective method for collective lockdown writing of these documents emerged with the use of WhatsApp voice calls in parallel with Google Docs. That way brainstorming conversations and writing could happen simultaneously. This what we came up with……

beyond-the-boundaries-press-release-1 Download

The Google folder has subsequently proved invaluable for storage of publicity material and photographs and texts from individual artist’s proposals. These form the content of the zine created by Noelle Genevier for the event. It is a kind of catalogue and can be viewed here.

The exhibition is now a series of online events which need to be orchestrated during the period 2nd – 21st March. First is the launch on Zoom, as advertised in the press release and hosted by artist Louise Ashcroft, followed by posting of the work in small batches on Instagram @undertowprojects. There will also be events that allow the participating artists to talk about their work. The university will help publicise these via their website as well as via the @uca_surreygalleries and @mafineartucafarnham Instagram accounts.

The launch date of 2nd March is fast approaching. Although my work has been built and photographed, I still need to make a short video to broadcast at the Zoom event. This is to fill my three minute slot, during which I can reveal my work for the show. This is the formal equivalent of milling around near one’s work at a private view, but with the added advantage of having the audience’s eyes focussed on it for the slot rather than roving around with a general networking/partying sort of focus. I have footage of the work in progress, as well as loads about walking and collecting my materials, to weave together with shots of the work in situ. I aim to give some feeling via the video of what it is like to be in the piece, moving between its components and experiencing its materials closeup.