Visual art exhibitions and events with a platform for critical writing
Deveron Arts, Huntly
March
Reviewed by: Nuno Sacramento
It will take some time until the title of this text becomes reality. Despite the fact that, for over a decade, Scottish contemporary art (and artists) have been positioned amongst the very best internationally, there is still no established critical context for socially engaged practices in Scotland.
Over a year ago, David Harding approached Claudia Zeiske at Deveron Arts in Huntly, after several failed attempts elsewhere to organise a workshop on social practices.
Deveron Arts runs international residencies and projects primarily with socially engaged artists under the motto, ‘The Town is the Venue’ (TiV). Deveron Arts saw ‘Praktika’ as a great opportunity to be self-critical about its strategies, as well as to be involved in the genesis of this critical discourse in Scotland. Its rural setting in the rolling hills of Aberdeenshire was the perfect backdrop for the activity of critical retreat. Furthermore, the fact that the town is by now very used to the presence of contemporary artists made it the perfect place for ‘Praktika’ to happen. In the words of one of the resident artists, the engagement with the community of Huntly is clear: “There is the Butcher, and the Baker and the Artist, and every one has a clear role”. This rather romantic notion has been truly assimilated by the community as most people realise that the artists are here to open new channels of discussion around relevant topics (windfarms, closing of traditional commerce, car cruising, celebration of local writers etc). This presence often results in the establishment of forums of dialogue where even the police and the court’s remits fall short, as noted by one of the local councillors.
One of the main reasons for ‘Praktika’ to take place in Huntly is the fact that it was totally embedded in the local community. Instead of staying in hotels and bed and breakfasts, artists stayed with a range of local people: teachers, doctors, musicians, mums and dads. The event started with a walk up the Clashmach Hill and ended with a Ceilidh in the golf club.
‘Praktika’s format was both simple and extraordinary. It was a group critique, like the ones we have grown used to in art schools. What was particularly special about it was the two days’ non-stop talking about art and engagement. It was both formal and relaxed, although very different from pub talk. It was something most of us had not been involved with since leaving formal education and one wonders why we don’t do it more often.
The ‘Praktika’ workshop took place in the Ex-Servicemen’s Club; a long room with tartan curtains, a stage on one side and a bar on the other. There was a large screen and a number of chairs positioned in front of it in a semi-circle. The workshop’s organisational nuances were precious, and it was largely due to the structure being ‘tight’ that ‘Praktika’ was such a huge success. The discussion group was made of twelve artists, three organisers, one writer and one assistant (video documentation). This allowed the discussion to remain focused on the strategies, methods and aims of artists working with socially engaged practices. The presentation was limited to one project per artist. Had artists described practices over a period of time, the discussion could have easily been diluted. The twenty-minute presentation and forty-minute discussion slot meant that the twelve artists would present work and be critiqued over a period of two days. There was enough time for discussion, and although we spent over six hours’ a day discussing, taking notes, arguing etc, the time went by exceptionally quickly.
The selection of the artists for ‘Praktika’ was made through an open call for submissions nationwide. The large majority of the artists came up from Glasgow (eight or nine out of twelve), which prompts us to think in terms of demography in the critical context of socially engaged practices.
Amongst the topics addressed in the Huntly workshop were ‘public and context’, and ‘commissioning’. Possibly due to the reasons above (social practices developed in urban contexts), we noted a very strong division in the definitions of public. The majority of artists worked with marginalised groups or, in the words of Nina Moentmann, communities defined in essentialist terms such as asylum seekers, elderly, people in mental health institutions, etc. Other artists seemed to work more with communities of interest, or to take a large chunk of the population into consideration, while constructing positively defined social groups.
The discussion moved often into the territory of commissioning, and how often funders seem to think art will solve social problems. The difficulty to respond to more than one brief was felt by the artists; the work is reviewed in artistic terms by the peers while – due to funding pressures – it must also ‘tick boxes’ and be of consequence to a certain community. It was felt that the criteria, currently based in ‘counting heads’, was clearly inadequate to ascertain the consequence and quality of the public experience.
The critical context for the socially engaged practices in Scotland will not emerge overnight, or be the result of a single workshop. Nevertheless we are aware of the positive contribution of ‘Praktika’ in this direction and hope this was but the first one in a number of systematically organised workshops on socially engaged practices to take place in Scotland.
www.shadowcurator.com
www.deveron-arts.com
The workshop ‘Praktika’ was conceived by David Harding and Rosie Gibson. It was organised by Claudia Zeiske and Deveron Arts. Participating artists were: Deborah Beeson, Sylvia Grace Borda I Jacques Coetzer, Will Foster, Alhena Katsof, Shauna McMullan, Eva Merz, Janie Nicoll and Alex Hetherington, Anthony Schrag, Pamela So, Kirsty Stansfield, Iseult Timmermans. A book with the proceedings of the workshop including descriptions of the artists’ projects and the subsequent critique, as well as two essays, will be published by Deveron Arts in summer 2008.
Writer detail:
Nuno Sacramento has been the Shadow Curator of Claudia Zeiske at Deveron Arts since September 2006.
Venue detail:
No one has commented on this article yet, why not be the first?
To post a comment you need to login
Back to top