ARTISTS TALKING

Guildhall and other venues, York
3-10 August

For a week in August, artists from the twin towns of York and Münster worked side by side and amongst finished work by other artists in York’s beautiful Guildhall. Each afternoon the public were invited in to meet artists, to discuss works in progress and to share a little in the creative process. ‘YoMü’ Festival Director Graham Martin hoped that this interaction with the public, coupled with the reflective practice it would encourage, would give ‘YoMü’ a distinctive character.

During the week the workspaces (aligned down one side of the room) encroached slowly towards the static displays opposite, providing tangible evidence of the artists’ need to create elbow room for their work. The work itself was varied, ranging from Ruppe Koselleck’s ongoing project to buy BP shares one at a time, funded by selling small multiples made of tar found on beaches, to the beautiful wax flowers made by Kate Sleight.

One display was placed centrally in the room – Karen Babayan’s selection of large format photographs alluding to her family’s Iranian/Armenian heritage. By placing Karen’s work centrally the space seems to have been both divided and bridged. Her work is complete, yes, but also remains in flux. By the end of the week she had created a completely new suite of photographs encouraged by encounters with the public and other artists.

Other work was placed around the city centre. Kirsten and Peter Kaiser placed medieval looking fruit pickers – long handled red bags with gold coloured prongs around the gape – in a circle around a small, immature fruit tree gifted to the city. The simple sense of waiting and potential created a contemplative feel in this space. Elsewhere, Peter Baker’s stack of bricks, faced with objects appeared in several shop windows around the town offering a strange sense of déjà vu to those who saw it more than once.

‘YoMü’ also had the festival’s photographer (Kippa Matthews) and a researcher (Martell Linsdell) visible within the workspaces throughout, thus creating a running archive of the week. A series of talks by artists for the public and on professional practice for artists reinforced the themes of interaction and development.

A danger of having such a strongly curated event is that its process can overshadow the work produced. By asking artists to interact with the public invited into the space, ‘YoMü’ pushed the process of creativity to the forefront of practice rather than hiding it in favour of finished, definitive work. However, by including displays of finished work by others – Jake Attree’s re-drawing of Brueghel’s paintings were a joy – a kind of balance was restored.

A selection of the works from ‘YoMü’ in York will be on show in Münster later this year.

Bryan Eccleshall

Bryan Eccleshall

bryan.eccleshall@virgin.net | www.bryaneccleshall.co.uk