There’s been alot of discussion recently about artists occupying unused spaces, what with property developers being unable to continue development projects due to dwindled finance, as well as an obvious urge to stop squatters entering their premises, taking over and calling it home.
It could be great! Artists occupying spaces and carving some kind of cultural awareness into the city centers’ fashion & consumerist fabric, which we’re all too comfortable with. We were lucky enough to have a tour around Temple Works, the space is amazing and the prospects of such as space – as explained to us – are literally mind blowing, as is it’s facade and its preceding story of factory-worker-fun-times and architectural engineering. Very interesting stuff, nice to romanticise about the community that could potentially grow within its re-development and reference times past in doing so. We’re looking forward to seeing what happens here. This kind of thought patten brought me back to ‘Morphic Resonance’. The artists community that developed within the project. I think it’s fair to say the consensus amongst the participating artists was one of productive socialising – realisation of prospective partnerships, collaborations, development and support. All of which could prove to be very productive towards the development of the Leeds arts scene in the future. It’s a shame it was only 12 weeks! What if it was a year? What if there was a place where partnerships could flourish? Where we could support one another? Where what happened at ‘Morphic Resonance’ could continue and truly great – productive – things could happen.
This kind of long term development, the development of relationships. Is to me what is actually important – not spaces, spaces are effective platforms for this kind of activity and are important because of this. I’m mentioning this simply to make sure people aware that it’s not all about the buildings – there are more important things to develop than buildings in Leeds. We’re still very good friends with the participants of the show, which I’d like to call a productive friendship – not in a way that you could explicitly call networking but simply being around people doing and talking of interesting things – that are willing to support your ideas and practice.
That said I have to mention one of the unsung heroes of Leeds ‘theartmarket’ Zoe Sawyer. Zoe Sawyer set-up ‘Morphic Resonance’ she is more than aware of the needs of the artists in Leeds. She proposed / implemented the ‘Morphic Resonance’ project with this in mind, especially when you consider that Leeds is an environment which is in need of such things. She not only curates the work but curates platforms for things to flourish and happen – all this mindfully thought out as to let things happen organically amongst creatives. We’ve been privy to information about what is happening to ‘theartmarket’ – as we’ve always tried to be involved as much as we can. It’s going to re-launch very soon, after some long drawn out negotiations with the landlords. It seems all the more pertinent now that there are discussions about occupying unused spaces to mention that ‘theartmarket’ has been doing it for years, and the participants of which made it happen of their own intuitive and own hard graft. We’re hopefully going to be involved in the re-launch by exhibiting some of the work we have exhibited elsewhere in the country unseen by Leeds folks eyes (yet to be confirmed). Anyway look out for it I’m sure there’ll be some very interesting things happening there in the near future.
It is easy and natural to get caught up in your own work, especially when you, as we do currently, have a lot on your plate. But, it is always very important to remember who has made your dinner, they may not even have made your dinner, they may have put it in the oven, or be giving you the gas, or made the plate. These people may not be the kind of people you would typically see yourself wanting to or having the chance to engage with, but ambition is fruitless if there is no way of realising it. So those people who want to help people realise things, to help facilitate artists, community projects and creative endeavours in this way step forward, and those who want make, think or do welcome them.
www.kunstfreund.co.uk
We are off to Newcastle tomorrow to begin installation of our show ‘Massive Contact’. We feel excitement and trepidation in equal amounts. The show sees us taking a bit of a step forward artistically, in our thinking behind creating the work and also production of the work itself. After that we are pretty much straight down to London for some meetings then back to Leeds to get back to work. We have a lot on and our hard work over the last few years appears to paying off. As mentioned before though there have been a lot of people along the way who have helped us out enormously, we thank these people and look forward to more surprise meetings, new friendships and more collaborations.
Logo credit: theartmarket kunstfreund network
I think this is a great idea, it is something i had in mind well before the credit crunch – a question of flitting in and out as the work available dictated. We are a group of 6 plus artists just finished 2 yr foundation degree in art and design enterprise. We felt that for a small reduced rent and a month lease was better than nothing for the landlords. It also offered us foot fall, and with the set up being informal, hopefully more people would be inclined to walk in and browse and discuss the work with the artist. I think if it is kept simple we can bring art to the public, and it must be a lot better for the centre of Leeds to have new ideas with possible emerging small businesses. There is a wealth of talent out there, without any showcase and if M and S can start up with a penny stall in Leeds Market, why cant we put Leeds on the map as a centre for arts. Who knows maybe Saatchi will stop browsing round the east end of London for new talent and take the M1 North past Watford Gap!
A very nice post, which reassures me that the conversation and attitudes of artists in Leeds like yourselves embraces what is interesting about the city. The question of social relationships/collective organisation and the need for space is an interesting one too: which comes first? Also it asks the question about whether we need spaces in order to solidify/visualise the supportive networks that already exist in Leeds or whether this visualisation/ formalisation will have the ill effect of making it easier for art to be subsumed into the commercial narrative of the city.
Anyhow, I think the main point that I picked up on, and one that I agree with wholeheartedly, is that the artistic community can be confident in being more vocal about the different positions and aspirations within it, even if they are conflicting!
As an example of my contribution to that conversation, if you’re interested, I wrote a bit of text for the 42 New Briggate website archive in the ‘About’ section at http://www.42newbriggate.co.uk. I’m also working on a publication with Susanne Davies-Crook about the artistic landscape in Leeds and it’s uniqueness which people can contribute their comments and thoughts to via a questionnaire which will be held online at http://www.invisink.co.uk.
I wholeheartedly agree with the article and Ellie. I bumped into Charles Saatchi and Nigella on Vyner St. in East London a couple of months ago and I wished that Leeds could have the innovative collection of spaces that is offered there…it’s mind blowing in it’s modernity and organisation.
I was gifted a keyring from an artist in Berlin thanking me for being a Kunstfreund. What Nous Vous and others are doing in terms of working together to make everyone stronger and more enlightened is the way forward.
Really interesting stuff, great to hear about the artmarket re-launching sometime soon, I have missed it!
I wrote an article after my visit to Morphic Resonance, for those who are interested it is posted on my blog:
http://joannaloveday.blogspot.com/
It was an excellent project curated by Zoe Sawyer. A brilliant example of a space creating a Platform for artists to build relationships and start creating a hub of artistic activity in the city centre. More please!