ARTISTS TALKING

tactileBOSCH was formed in 2000 by Kim Fielding and Simon Mitchell, two Cardiff-based artists in need of studio space. Fielding had recently finished an MA and Mitchell was doing a time-based media course at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC). The eye-catching name is the product of random word association. “‘tactile’ and ‘BOSCH’ seemed, to reflect our two personalities,” says Fielding. “‘The fist inside the velvet glove’; though which is tactile and which is BOSCH I wouldn’t like to say!” Here is how tactileBOSCH came about'

This profile forms part of a portfolio of material around studios including the studios toolkit ' designed especially for artists thinking of setting up some kind of workspace facility ' case studies of studio organisations at different stages of development and more.

Background

Background

We found the building through the landlord of some friends of ours. He was known to own several ‘evocative’ properties in South Wales and – after a few false starts – he proved to be very tuned in to our needs: a large ‘rough space’ irrespective of condition, with as low a rent as possible! He eventually showed us a 200-year old Victorian laundry building in Llandaff North, Cardiff – the space was jaw dropping! The building was falling apart, but who cares when it looks that good! We took the plunge – along with fellow UWIC escapee Mauro Bonacina – almost immediately (about two hours later) because we recognised straight away, that, as well as giving us a studio base, it would make a fantastic project and performance space. Most of the artists we work with cross the boundaries of performance, installation, sound and vision, and time-based through-the-lens media. The space offers a dramatic back-drop for this kind of work.

We took the summer out to clear the space, which – due to its more recent incarnation as carpentry workshops – was filled with sawdust! We hired skips and a ‘man with a van’, and bribed friends and several students from the art college to help us out. We finally moved in during September 2000, adding a second, adjacent building – the Glassworks – in Autumn 2002.

We’ve been here for nearly five years now, and – though the landlord won’t commit to a long-term contract – we hope to keep the space going for at least another five. Not owning the building or having a long lease makes it hard for us to raise funds to improve the space or to secure ongoing revenue funding, because it’s difficult for us to demonstrate that we’ll be around for the long term. Rescuing the building from falling down (the Glassworks space was particularly manky) has been an incredible journey, regardless; creating en route an army of like-minded practitioners who will remain the cohesive entity that is tactileBOSCH if (or when) we have to move to another location. The ideal would be to buy a building, giving us both security and autonomy.

Activity

Our eleven permanent studios are occupied by artists who share the tactileBOSCH spirit of experimentation. The rent pays for the building and allows us to keep several large showing spaces open for exhibitions, projects and visiting artists’ residencies. We actively encourage applications and project ideas from younger artists, helping to ease the ‘how to? where to?’ trauma that comes with the transition from college into the ‘real world’. We offer a user-friendly environment for them to flesh out new ideas in, and to show the results to a very real and often very large opening night audience. Their input helps keep the space fresh and vital.

Nearly every artist at tactileBOSCH has shown extensively in the UK, with quite a lot also pursuing international careers. Collectively, we have shown in places such Dresden, Berlin, New York and São Paulo. I’m currently working towards my first solo show in New York, opening in March 2005 at One Naked Egg in Manhattan (which is a tad nerve racking). I hope to expand this visit to include several other locations in New York and, possibly, to stage a group show with the tactileBOSCH collective.

We aimed from the start to be an outward looking space. Having lived, worked and studied in the USA I was familiar with the benefits of international exchange. Enabled to a huge extent by Wales Arts International and the British Council, we’ve secured project funding to arrange a number of international residencies and shows. Our projects have grown in ambition, culminating recently in the truly brilliant ‘Co-Habitation’, which exemplified the teetering tactileBOSCH approach to artists’ collaboration! We chose twenty-one collaborators; Wales-based artists reaching out to work with other practitioners anywhere in the world. Some worked with their live-in partner; some stretched a veiny arm halfway across the planet to bring over artists from Zagreb, São Paulo, New York, Oslo and even Norwich!

Exchange and collaboration

‘Co-Habitation’ also spawned mini residencies. Matt Duncan, a New York-based painter, came over to work at tactileBOSCH for two weeks. His space was literally a studio without walls, where other artists or the public could drop in at any time. When Matt left, we exhibited his workspace just as he’d left it. He loved the frenetic energy he was swept up in from the moment he arrived in Cardiff.

Our international profile exploded massively this year when we were invited to do a show in conjunction with the São Paulo biennale. The opportunity came about through a key contact: the Berlin-based Brazilian curator Tereza Arruda. Tereza brought ‘Fish Eyes’ over to Cardiff in June 2003: twenty-five artists mapping out different visions and interventions in the Brazilian contemporary art scene. In return, Body=Construct, featuring artists from our space, formed the South American leg of our Transmission: Cardiff-World Series at the Espaco Anexo Gallery in São Paulo. This was the first time the Sao Paolans had seen emerging contemporary artists from Wales. Explosive live art from Simon Mitchell and Duncan Sturrock on the opening night left the Brazilians slightly gob-smacked! We hope to stage further projects in Rio, São Paulo, Bela Horizonte and Brasilia in 2005-06.

We also managed to bring three Havana-based Cuban artists over to Cardiff in May 2004. Thanks to support from Visiting Arts, local print-makers had a unique opportunity to meet our Cuban guests and to discuss technique and the human condition with them at first hand. tactileBOSCH hopes to be able to return to Havana with a Transmission: Cardiff-Cuba project. We need to plan a year ahead for international projects such as this.

tactileBOSCH aims to put on one large international exhibition each year, not only in the tactileBOSCH/Glassworks space but also at other venues. We see ourselves as a catalyst, linking up other spaces in the city. We collaborate on split-venue shows and co-ordinated openings with organisations such as: our sister space More Front Studios; Coed Hills Rural Arts Space in St Hilary, eight miles west of Cardiff; and the print-consortium VisibleArt. This allows us to stage bigger events and reach wider audiences than would be possible on our own. We also work with other local galleries, such as the Chapter Arts Centre, who have been incredibly supportive, and external partners like the University of Glamorgan, with whom we are staging ‘Dirty Harry’, the first show to feature the entire tactileBOSCH crew.

Structure

We work from project to project, dredging up dosh where we can. Arts Council Wales have been very supportive, along with Arts and Business and Cywaith Cymru (Artworks Wales). Like many artist-run ventures, we depend on a lot of voluntary input, trading free space for ‘slave labour’ and we rely heavily on in-kind contributions from 101 local supporters. Because the space is so distinctive, we’ve also managed to pull in valuable income from film and TV shoots, which has helped us fix up the building, notably the ever problematic 200-year old roof.

We’re currently looking into what organisational structure to adopt: either a charity or co-operative. At the moment we’re a not-for-profit association. We’re working to develop a long-term plan of attack, holding regular ‘ideas forums’ – brainstorming art-meets-business sessions – with invited guests.

In 2003 we constituted the studio, setting up a board of trustees – a mixture of arts and media contacts, tactileBOSCH artists, and business people. Working in conjunction with like-minded design company VisibleArt, we have been experimenting with role-plays within the organisation, with artists as chairperson, treasurer, media-hooker, etc.

Inevitably, given our scale, protagonists at tactileBOSCH are used to playing many roles. Simon, my tactileBOSCH ‘partner in crime’, is a truly explosive performance artist who happens also to have considerable design skills, which we beg borrow and steal to pull together our catalogues and marketing! Andrew Cooper and Jan Bennett help keep us on track as tactileBOSCH committee chair and treasurer, whilst also offering writing and design skills to the mix. My role is ‘instictator’: part instigator – part dictator – part maid!

It has taken a few years for us to establish a firm foothold in the UK and at the same time make a splash in the international art arena. Now that we’ve done so, we mean to make the most of it. Come on down to Cardiff, the water’s lovely!

Contacts

tactileBOSCH artist-led space
Andrews Road
Llandaff North
Cardiff CF11 6LH
www.tactilebosch.org

Kim Fielding
07951 256255
kim@tactilebosch.org

VisibleArt
c/o Robb Trigg
07970 890509
www.visibleart.co.uk

Backdrop Design
c/o Simon Mitchell
dpiworkshop@hotmail.com

For a review of the Cardiff-São Paulo exchange project and information on the artists who took part, visit www.britishcouncil.org/brasil-arts-cardiff.htm and espaco-anexo.com.br