Tag Archives: artists

🪺Bundles of time🧧

🪺I’ve never been particularly excited about the start of a new year. It’s a completely random slicing and bundling of time, which doesn’t reflect my experience of continuity—from one state to another, through one phase to the next. Whether you celebrate the solar or lunar new year, these holidays can be inconvenient interruptions to an ongoing process of change. But having said that, when you’re studying or teaching, your year is parcelled up into terms. Each term begins with a burst of energy and ends in exhaustion, if you’re lucky, crash or burn out if not. If you manage to have a break, the cycle begins again the following term. But what happens if you don’t get a chance to recharge your batteries? Has burn out become a permanent condition for many of us? Perhaps the holidays give us an opportunity to resist and have a rest, a chance to reclaim off-time. Perhaps we need to reaffirm the annual milestones that we mark and celebrate. They give us occasion to pause and reflect on these bundles of experience, to celebrate what we have learned and achieved—which in turn, gives us the necessary perspective to plan ahead for the future.

🧧I hope you had a break over the holidays, that your year got off to a great start, and that we will have many occasions to connect, collaborate, celebrate, rest, reflect and plan again this year.

🥁Among the highlights of my year that passed, was a shift from working in collectives, to working in partnerships. The work is still collaborative, but there is more continuity and it is much less stressful. When we work in collectives, we address a group of people. We stand on a metaphorical pulpit when we articulate ourselves, and the people in the room are not always the same. Even if we document our discussions and keep accurate meeting minutes, there is so much that is left unsaid, unexamined, unexpressed and undebated. As a result, we experience slippage, miscommunication, misinterpretation, misunderstanding and missed opportunities, stalls in momentum, commitment and agreement or disagreement within the group. I’m currently working in two partnerships and looking forward to share our news with you soon!

🚡Collectives nevertheless provide crucial sustenance for artists, and I’m dedicated to developing better formats for collective ways of working. We’re currently engaged in writing the constitution of the peer support group I’m a member of—to articulate our aims, values and working methods. Wish us luck!

📌First up in events scheduled this year is another round of Artquest One-to-Ones, coming up in early March. If you want to be the first to hear about upcoming dates I recommend subscribing to the Artquest newsletter. Apart from timely updates on forthcoming Artquest events, you will also receive a monthly round up of opportunities and updates on policies that affect the arts, reports on artists’ working lives and other relevant news.

🪸Alternatively, you can book a consultation with me to discuss an upcoming project or ongoing mentorship. For further info and to book a free 15 min chat please visit the consultation page.

⚖️As you may know if you’ve been following for a while, I’ve been working on new courses, seminars and events series. The topics range from studio practice and critical studies to professional practice, curating and exhibition-making. The formats range from courses that last for a term to ongoing weekly events. With this plethora of options it’s been hard to prioritise and I could really use your help. If you have a minute to spare, please fill in the expression of interest form, to let me know which topics or formats you would be interested in.

⛷️See below for upcoming events and watch this space for new events and courses in the summer term. Take care, I look forward to catch up with you soon.

🖍️Critical Theory in Contemporary Art Practice
Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London
4 – 8 Aug 2025, Mon-Fri 10:00-16:00 BST/GMT+1
£820, 16 John Islip St, London SW1P 4JU
Develop your practice and extend your knowledge of critical practices, theories and discourses of contemporary art. This online/hybrid course integrates practice and theory and fosters experimentation and collaborative study in a community of peers.

🍒Art + Critique, Autumn 2024🚀
Critical & Contextual Studies in Art Practice Online
14 Oct 2025 – 3 Mar 2026, Tuesdays 18:30-20:30 BST/GMT+1
Pay What You Can £598 / £488 / £378
Develop your practice and extend your knowledge of critical practices, theories and discourses of contemporary art. This online/hybrid course integrates practice and theory and fosters experimentation and collaborative study in a community of peers.

🖼️Curating Contemporary Art, Winter 2025✏️
Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London
15 – 19 Dec 2025, Mon-Fri 10:00-16:00 BST/GMT+1
£800, 16 John Islip St, London SW1P 4JU
Develop your practice and extend your knowledge of critical practices, theories and discourses of contemporary art. This online/hybrid course integrates practice and theory and fosters experimentation and collaborative study in a community of peers.

📌Artquest One to One📢
Free one-to-one remote advice sessions for London-based artists
3 – 8 March 2025, 10:00-18:00 GMT
Book a free Artquest one-to-one advice session to get feedback about your work, build a strategy for an upcoming project, get practical career advice, discuss the logistics of operating as an artist and find out about other arts organisations and how they can support you.

Practice🔧Theory⚡Critique

Practice🔧Theory⚡Critique

Welcome back! I hope you feel recharged after a fantastic summer 🦜

Feverish preparations are underway for the upcoming Art+Critique course, which begins in a couple of weeks. The cohort is once again shaping up to be a fantastic group of artists and I’m bursting with anticipation Continue reading Practice🔧Theory⚡Critique

ART PRACTICE & RESEARCH RESOURCES

ART PRACTICE & RESEARCH RESOURCES

A thematic list of resources for art practice and research, click the headings for a drop-down list. For a list of resources for curators please follow the link. Continue reading ART PRACTICE & RESEARCH RESOURCES

CURATING BIBLIOGRAPHY

CURATING BIBLIOGRAPHY

This list provides a comprehensive bibliography for the Curating Contemporary Art lecture and seminar series. You can use it as a further reading list or to locate references that are not in the handouts. Please click the headings for a drop-down list.

Continue reading CURATING BIBLIOGRAPHY