The retrospective of this most prominent Japanese female artist showcases her obsessive, polka dot strewn, colourful artworks. As I navigated the show my own passion for dotty and intricate surfaces was piqued, and I became aware that I was walking around the gallery with my eyeballs as close to the canvases as possible. I wanted to zoom in, to understand and become part of these beautiful and painstaking details. When I became saturated with the tiny circles I zoomed out, enjoying the dots from afar – small, dancing, mad things. They imparted a tickling sensation as they shimmered and faded in and out of view.

“…an almost hallucinatory intensity that reflects her unique vision of the world…”

There is a poigniant story and sense of brave adventure to Kusama’s work and life, in which she has overcome times of mental instability as well as many social, cultural and familial obstacles. There has been much written about her journey between Japan, New York and back again. What I want to convey to you here is my own physical experience of the exhibition – I imagine yours will be different. I urge you to go and find out, as the way her art engages each person is quite an individual sensation.

Much of Kusama’s art has an almost hallucinatory intensity that reflects her unique vision of the world, whether through a teeming accumulation of detail or the dense patterns of nets and polka dots that have become her signature. She is renowned for her ‘environments’, large-scale installations of dazzling power that immerse the viewer.

The exhibition begins with her early paintings  from the aftermath of the war, when Kusama began moving from the distinctly Japanese style of Nihonga painting to a more avant-garde aesthetic inspired by surrealism. With a lack of materials to hand she improvised, using seed sacks from her parents business. Even at this point there were seed-like dots appearing in her artwork.

“the ghosts of the polka dots haunting my retinas”

The next room showcases some early works on paper, where her bold use of colour and leaning towards ‘optical illusion’ has surfaced. As I stare at one drawing of a brightly coloured, dotty-patterned sun glowing out from a black background, it appears to loom from the page. My eyes shift over to the next sun work which is a whiter circle of light,  and I see the ghosts of the polka dots haunting my retinas from the previous piece, appearing to dance atop of this new drawing.

“white nets enveloping the black dots of silent death against a pitch-dark background of nothingness”

The next room contains Kusama’s complusive ‘Infinity Net Paintings’, formed by drawing repetitive arcs  in white paint on a dark canvas. The result is an overly white expanse with irregularly shaped dots peeping through. Up close it is the ‘net’ – not the dots – that I focus on.  In one way, there is an immense calm and stillness about the canvases. The white is quite monumental and meditative. The incessant structures of the pattern and the brush-marks in the paint seem to be encasing a great energy but controlling  it quietly.

As I stepped back from my position up close to the canvas, the white brush strokes dropped away and the dot’s themselves became the focus. Forming an obsessive network of patterns,  this organic visual language evokes both the micro and macro, the cosmos and the cell structure. My eyes started joining the dots (literally) and physically feeling the movement between them; the energy and momentum as they traverse the canvas like a swarm.

Yayoi Kusama has called the paintings “white nets enveloping the black dots of silent death against a pitch-dark background of nothingness”. like the Nets, Kusama’s collage works (below) also transform visually depending on your proximity. The large pieces are made up of airmail stickers and other every day ready made objects which she repeated ad infinitum, “until the recognisable verges on the abstract”.

“my eyes feeling a little like moths flitting from one point of light to another.”

A most fascinating room was called ‘I’m here, but Nothing’. Pictured below, you can see that it is a darkened domestic interior, covered in fluorescent sticker spots which glow in the dim UV light. You don’t see the room or even the surfaces, but just a network of floating points of light that shift and shimmer as you perambulate. As it is not possible to focus on the objects but only on these bright spots,  I felt myself pushed into a hallucinatory experience – my eyes feeling a little like moths flitting from one point of light to another.

“drawn in by it’s beauty and awestruck by its seemingly endless scale”

The finale  of the exhibition came with the mesmerising and spectacular ‘Infinity Mirrored Room’: A dark, mirrored space strewn with dangling strings of tiny lights, which appear to extend back into a never ending expanse. The lights slowly fade into different colours,  creating a magical experience which is intended to allow the viewer to “suspend his/her sense of self and accompany Kusama on her ongoing journey of self-obliteration”. I spent a long time in this immersive field, (even though the gallery staff do try to keep you moving through), and it was captivating unlike anything I’ve ever perceived. I believe Kusama wants the viewer to enter the room and get lost in its wondourousness – drawn in by it’s beauty and awestruck by its seemingly endless scale – so I advise you to spend as long in here as you can.

An experience akin to being suspended in a beautiful cosmos gazing at infinite worlds, or like a tiny dot of fluoresecent plankton in an ocean of glowing microscopic life, it was the perfect end to the show.

There are further images below, and for more insight this is the Tate’s first look video – click to play:

Images courtesy of Sarah Lee for the Guardian and Nicola Anthony

_________________________________________________

Nicola Anthony is an artist and art writer living & working in London. She seeks to discover things which make her mind crackle with creative thought. Catch @Nicola_Anthony on twitter, or her artist’s website

“Laborious and often obsessive with the way she constructs her work…a very treasure-box-like experience”

Click below to listen to Silvia Krupinska discuss Nicola Anthony’s artistic practice on Colourful Radio

“she layers and builds up, and uses the audience to interact with the artwork….”

Read Krupinska’s blog and video tour of my studio on Art Review or her own blog.

Silvia is a wonderful personality with a quirky perspective & her own fascinating artistic practice. You can find out more about Silvia Krupinska plus see her article about my studio on her Art Review blog or her wordpress.

An extract of what Silvia has to say:

“As I entered Anthony’s studio in cultured and busy Southwark, I could smell traces of resin in the air. It was a good sign of a busy and experimental studio, which I fully expected. I’ve known Anthony for a few months, nevertheless I never talked to her about her work in much detail, nor visited her creative hub before.

The walls are covered with textural drawings, lines, words, texts and cut-outs from magazines and papers. Under her window on the right is a desk, where she writes her art reviews and other works. The wall on the opposite side is very well lit. It’s a photography corner with two amazing glass and resin glass sculptures. There are works in progress on the floor and leaning on the walls, but the whole space is very organized and planned. The remaining wall, as I came in on my right, is full of date drawings, other textures and generally paper works dominate.”

Tune in to Colourful Radio live now

Tuesday 14 February 2012

It’s clear that all speeches from this podium today will need to have a Valentine’s theme.  So let me try and rise to the challenge, by recognising that today is an opportunity for us to talk about the state of our relationship.

Let me begin then with a declaration of love.  I love being the Minister for Culture, and it is a huge privilege and pleasure to represent such an important and vital part of our national life.  In a time of economic austerity and uncertainty, a theme we’ll hear a lot of, the arts are more important than ever.  And there is increasing recognition that you, the people in this room, are brilliant at what you do.

And what you do is important. I come from the school of thought that the arts are their own justification, valuable in and of themselves.  You don’t have to find other arguments to explain the importance of what you do.  In any event, I think those arguments have been made forcefully and effectively.  No one doubts the contributions that the arts make to our economy, our communities, our schools, and our well being.  And we see it today more than ever before.

Wherever you look British creativity is having a massive impact, here and abroad. Leonardo, Freud and Hockney drawing massive crowds, with Hirst to come at Tate Modern.  Warhorse, Jerusalem and One Man Two Guv’nors.  British artists, like Adele, dominate the album charts, British films top the box office, British fashion is centre stage.  Around the country, new and ambitious museums and galleries are opening from the Turner in Margate to the Hepworth in Wakefield; from M Shed, a new museum for Bristol, to Firstsite in Colchester; and from the Nottingham Contemporary to the recently refurbished Holburne Museum in Bath.

I said earlier I wanted to discuss the state of our relationship.  As with any relationship, it’s important to know where we are going.  So today is an opportunity for me to set out our approach to culture.

First, we believe absolutely that Government must provide the core funding for the arts.  Many relationships do founder over money, and ours may be no different.  I am delighted, therefore, that in a time of economic austerity, we have limited the reduction in arts funding via the Arts Council to less than 5 per cent in real terms.  The Arts Council will receive some £2.3 billion over the next four years.

Second, we support the mixed economy model for funding the arts, which is almost unique to this country.  This means that the arts should support themselves through a combination of Government funding, philanthropy and earned income.

As part of this support, as part of this ecology, we have looked at ways to increase philanthropy, I want to make it clear, not to replace Government funding but to help the arts to a more sustainable footing.

So in tough economic times, we have introduced:

• an inheritance tax break for people who want to leave money to the arts in their will;
• at last, a tax break for people who want to give art to museums while they are still alive;
• an increase in the threshold for acceptance-in-lieu by £10 million a year;
• we have established with the Arts Council a match-funding and capacity building scheme to help the arts raise more money from the private sector, individuals and charitable foundations.  The Catalyst fund is worth £100 million, and we will announce the first awards in May;
• separate trusts for museums to ensure that they can spend the money they raise without it being counted as public spending.

Third, we absolutely support the arm’s length principle.  We want the arts to be as independent of Government as possible.  That doesn’t mean that the Government shouldn’t have an arts policy, or that it shouldn’t direct money towards programmes that it believes will be beneficial to the arts, whether it be philanthropy or education.  But it does mean that the Arts Council should be free to support the arts organisations it feels are worthy of support, without interference from politicians.
So far, so evolutionary.

Fourth, a principle that I have tried to pursue is to break down the silos that exist within the arts; and between the arts and other creative industries.  I find it frustrating that many pioneering arts organisations don’t have the opportunity to share their expertise with others. It frustrates me that the arts, which are the bedrock of our creative industries, are not seen as an essential contributor to the debate about the future of those creative industries. And it concerns me that the arts may not be benefiting from the revolution in technology that we’re seeing in the twenty-first century.

So all across the piece, we are looking at collaboration.

• We have established for the first time a Creative Industries Council, which brings together two Government departments, BIS and DCMS, along with representatives of all the creative industries and the main public service broadcasters alongside the Arts Council, to take part in that conversation and that common agenda.
• We have merged the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council with the Arts Council, bringing together formally for the first time libraries, regional museums and cultural organisations.
• We have established a creative industries funders’ forum to bring together ACE, NESTA, the Technology Strategy Board (which is not a name that you would necessarily think has an interest in the arts, but it does), the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Creative England, the British Film Institute and Skillset to look together at how they can more effectively support the creative and cultural landscape.
• The Arts Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and NESTA have come together to create a digital R&D fund to help the arts and heritage benefit from developments in technology;
• And as Dame Liz Forgan and Alan Davey have mentioned, the Arts Council and the BBC are collaborating on The Space, which some have described as the most significant cultural intervention since the Arts Council itself was formed.  (I am not taking credit for that, but I am an enthusiastic bystander).

I would like to do more.  My challenge to the Arts Council is that it can be much clearer about the development work that it does, and look at how it could do it more effectively.  It should be an organisation that shares ideas between the arts.  It should work as much with those it does not fund as with those it does.  It should work with not-for-profits and with business, and learn from both.

I’m also, as many of you will know, excited about what technology can do for the arts.  I think it provides an unprecedented opportunity to reach out to new audiences.  I don’t regard technology in binary terms – that the future will be totally different, or that technology will fundamentally change the way we live.  We will all still want to go to see live theatre, music, dance, or visit galleries and museums.  But I passionately believe that technology can enhance that experience, by deepening and enriching what you experience, or by simply letting you know that something is happening nearby. In the twenty-first century, as Patrick Hussey from Arts & Business wrote in his Guardian blog, algorithms are almost as important to the arts as audiences. And technology is about informality, flattening hierarchies and removing barriers – something that the arts in all their forms should embrace.

So, the arts should be seen as leaders in innovation in technology.

Fundamentally, what we want to achieve is the long-overdue recognition that the arts sit at the centre of the change we are all experiencing, not at the periphery.  The importance of the arts is growing, not diminishing.  As our science minister David Willetts has said, “instead of just thinking about STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths, we should add the Arts so it becomes STEAM”.

I am delighted that a report I commissioned, reported on the importance of the arts to the Video Games industry.

Fifthly, finally, we want to ensure that as many people as possible experience the arts, starting in schools.  We have already ensured that we have maintained free entry to our national museums – that could perhaps be a principle all of its own.  But now we need to reach out in other ways.

Following Darren Henley’s music review, we have launched the first ever National Plan for music education.  I think that is a massive achievement.  It’s an example of close collaboration between the DCMS and the Department for Education.  Again, it is heartening, if you are looking for ways to justify the arts, that the DfE has explicitly recognised the importance of music education in underpinning a rigorous academic education.  The plan also puts the Arts Council – and therefore arts organisations – at the centre of the strategy.  The Arts Council will assess the bids for funding in the next few months.  Again, we are looking to break down the barriers, to see schools and local authority music services working with leading local, regional and national music organisations to deliver a rich, varied and full curriculum for school children.

Next week, we will publish Darren Henley’s review of Cultural Education.  We want to build on the national plan for music with the first ever national plan for cultural education, covering as much ground as possible from archaeology to architecture and the built environment, archives, craft, dance, design, digital arts, drama and theatre, film and cinemas, galleries, heritage, libraries, literature, live performance, museums, poetry and the visual arts. We want to work with arts organisations large and small and encourage them to play their part in providing children with varied cultural experiences.  The review process has already had an impact, with the main Lottery funders  – for arts, heritage and film – already looking at how they can work more closely together on the ways that they support cultural education.  Amazingly, they had never formally collaborated before.

Finally, we cannot ensure that as many people experience the arts unless the arts are in as many places as possible.  So we also need to do much more to support artists and arts organisations outside London.  The catalyst fund will make an important contribution, as will the continuing “Grants for the Arts” programme.  But I am really delighted by the Arts Council’s decision to establish the £37 million “Creative People and Places Fund”.  Over the next three years, fifteen areas of the country with a low level of arts engagement will receive grants of between £500,000 and £3 million to establish innovative and fresh arts projects, to help build a vibrant cultural infrastructure.  This is exactly the kind of innovation we need.

So, we are focussing on securing funding; developing a mixed economy for the arts; fostering philanthropy; maintaining the arms’ length principle; encouraging collaboration; embracing technology; working with creative industries; and working in partnership on a cultural education national plan.

As Dame Liz Forgan has mentioned, 2012 is the year when Britain’s creativity takes centre stage, as it deserves to.  When people come to Britain for the Games, they will see a confident, vibrant country regaining its economic strength, not at the expense of world class culture and the arts, but precisely because of it.  For six weeks we are going to be the centre of global attention. The London 2012 Festival – and here I pay tribute to Ruth Mackenzie’s vision and determination -  will showcase the best that we have to offer in the arts and creative industries.  West End LIVE will feature the cast of every single West End musical performing for free; Gustavo Dudamel performing with the children of Stirling; and Land of Giants, the largest outdoor arts event ever seen in Northern Ireland performed on the Titanic slipways in Belfast. And that’s not to mention the likes of the UK premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle; an epic new choral work from composer Jonathan Harvey to be performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; and a major exhibition of contemporary West African art in Manchester.

I hope you will agree that there is a huge amount to look forward to.  I’m sorry that a speech like this can never really avoid jargon, or the mundane prose of policy.  But we should never forget that at the heart of everything we do is the artist, support for artists and freedom for artists.  As John F Kennedy so memorably said when speaking about the poet Robert Frost: “The artist [is] the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state…the artist’s fidelity [strengthens] the fibre of our national life…I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist”.

I say, Amen to that.

Thank you.

[Ends]

Thanks to the Guardian for siting this blog post on their SOTA Roundup here

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/jobs-and-conferences/conferences/state-of-the-arts-live-video-stream/

Have your say #sota12
artscouncil.org.uk/sota12

Conference programme:
9.30am–9.40am Introduction
Lyric Theatre
Chair: Kirsty Wark journalist and broadcaster
What Matters? Film: interviews with artists by artist film-makers, straybird
(Becky Edmunds and Lucy Cash)
9.40am–9.50am
Lyric Theatre
Welcome address
Alan Davey Chief Executive, Arts Council England
Peter Salmon Director, BBC North
9.50am–10.10am
Lyric Theatre
Keynote presentation: Future now
Liz Forgan Chair, Arts Council England
Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries
10.10am–11.00am
Lyric Theatre
Keynote panel discussion: 2012 and then what?
Chair: Kirsty Wark journalist and broadcaster
Panel includes: Ed Vaizey MP; David Edgar playwright; Jonzi D Artistic
Director, Breakin’Convention and Jonzi D projects; Ruth Mackenzie Director,
Cultural Olympiad, LOCOG; Sally Lai Artistic Director, Chinese Arts Centre
and Liz Forgan Chair, Arts Council England
11.00am–11.30am Tea and coffee break
11.30am–1.00pm
• Compass Room
Morning parallel session A:
Artists and a changing society
Chair: Sir Richard Leese Leader of Manchester City Council
Speakers: Gavin Stride Director, Farnham Maltings and Dr Drew Hemment
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, FutureEverything
8.30am–9.30am
Left of entrance
Registration, tea and coffee
Welcome performance by the Lowry’s Centre for Advance Training dancers,
choreography by Sharon Watson and Phil Sanger from Phoenix Dance Theatre
Please note: Colour coding on the programme relates
to the site-map showing locations of parallel sessions
State of the Arts conference, 14 February 2012, The Lowry, Salford
Have your say #sota12
artscouncil.org.uk/sota1211.30am–1.00pm
• East Room
Digital World Centre
Morning parallel session B:
Artists and the imagination
Chair: Christopher Cook cultural historian and broadcaster
Speakers: Hetain Patel artist and Kathryn Tickell Artistic Director, Folkworks
11.30am–1.00pm
• Hexagon Room
Morning parallel session C:
Artists and the creative economy
Chair: Kirsty Wark journalist and broadcaster
Speakers: Craig Hassall Chief Operating Officer, Raymond Gubbay Ltd and
Godfrey Worsdale Director, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
11.30am–1.00pm
• Studio 1
Morning parallel session D:
Artists and communities
Chair: Liz Pugh Co-Director, Walk the Plank
Speakers: Dan Thompson social artist and Artistic Director, Revolutionary Arts
and Rosie Kay Rayne Choreographic Fellow and Artistic Director, Rosie Kay
Dance Company
11.30am–1.00pm
• Conference Theatre
Digital World Centre
Morning parallel session E:
Artists and international
Chair: Graham Sheffield Director Arts, British Council
Speakers: Alex Poots Director, Manchester International Festival and
Jorn Weisbrodt Artistic Director, Luminato Festival, Toronto
11.30am–1.00pm
• Central Room
Digital World Centre
Morning parallel session F:
Artists and young people
Chair: Baba Israel Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer, Contact
Speakers: Shiva Feshareki composer and James Cousins choreographer,
winner of Matthew Bourne choreography award
11.30am–1.00pm
• Studio 3
Morning parallel session G:
Artists and audiences
Chair: Sue Harrison Chair, Chester Festivals and The Bluecoat
Speakers: Alistair Spalding Chief Executive and Artistic Director,
Sadler’s Wells Theatre and Helen Marriage Co-Director, Artichoke
11.30am–1.00pm
• West Room
Digital World Centre
Morning parallel session H:
Artists and fundraising
Chair: Julia Fawcett Chief Executive, The Lowry
Speakers: Lucy Bird Chief Executive, Marketing Edinburgh and
Régis Cochefert Head of Arts, Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Please note: Colour coding on the programme relates
to the site-map showing locations of parallel sessions
State of the Arts conference, 14 February 2012, The Lowry, Salford
Have your say #sota12
artscouncil.org.uk/sota1211.30am–1.00pm
• Lyric Circle bar
Morning parallel session I:
Artists and our future environment
Chair: Alison Clark-Jenkins Regional Director North East, Arts Council England
Speakers: James Marriott writer, artist, activist and naturalist, Platform and
Jay Griffiths writer
1.00pm–2.00pm Lunch
2.00pm–2.20pm
Lyric Theatre
The Big Issues – themes from the morning debates
2.20pm–2.50pm
Lyric Theatre
Interview: The TV trade off – does television
do great art?
Arlene Phillips choreographer interviewed by Will Gompertz Arts Editor, BBC
2.50pm–4.10pm
• Compass Room
Afternoon parallel session J:
Artists and a changing society
Chair: Althea Efunshile Chief Operating Officer, Arts Council England
Speakers: Aida Eltorie Independent Curator and Director, Finding Projects
Association and Neville Gabie visual artist in residence, Olympic Park
2.50pm–4.10pm
• Central Room
Digital World Centre
Afternoon parallel session K:
Artists and the imagination
Chair: Fiona Gasper Executive Director, Manchester Royal Exchange
Speakers: Michael Morris Co-Director, Artangel and Clio Barnard artist
and filmmaker, Emma Gladstone Producer, Sadler’s Wells
2.50pm–4.10pm
• West Room
Digital World Centre
Afternoon parallel session L:
Artists and the creative economy
Chair: Ruth Pitt Executive Producer, Tiger Aspect Productions and media consultant
Speakers: Kit Monkman Creative Director, KMA and Mark Murphy director,
writer, producer – outdoor spectacle and Tania Harrison Head of Arts
Programming, Festival Republic
2.50pm–4.10pm
• Hexagon Room
Afternoon parallel session M:
Artists and communities
Chair: David Fleming Director, National Museums Liverpool
Speakers: Peter Jenkinson Co-Director, Culture+Conflict and
Ruth Little Associate Director, Cape Farewell
2.50pm–4.10pm
• Studio 3
Afternoon parallel session N:
Artists and international
Chair: Andrew Nairne Director, Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge
Speakers: Jude Kelly Artistic Director, Southbank Centre and
Pavel Büchler visual artist
Please note: Colour coding on the programme relates
to the site-map showing locations of parallel sessions
State of the Arts conference, 14 February 2012, The Lowry, Salford
Have your say #sota12
artscouncil.org.uk/sota122.50pm–4.10pm
• Lyric Circle bar
Afternoon parallel session O:
Artists and young people
Chair: Paul Roberts Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) with
Keisha Thompson young artist
Speakers: Darren Henley Managing Director, Classic FM and Dave Moutrey
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Cornerhouse
2.50pm–4.10pm
• East Room
Digital World Centre
Afternoon parallel session P:
Artists and audiences
Chair: Stella Hall Festival Director, Preston Guild 2012
Speakers: Bradley Hemmings Artistic Director and Chief Executive,
Greenwich+Docklands Festival and Dr Xerxes Mazda Head of Learning,
Volunteers and Audiences, The British Museum
2.50pm–4.10pm
• Conference Theatre
Digital World Centre
Afternoon parallel session Q:
Artists and fundraising
Chair: Moira Sinclair Area Executive Director: London, Arts Council England
Speakers: Gavin Sharp Chief Executive Officer, Band on the Wall and
John Mowbray Director of Corporate Affairs, Northumbrian Water
2.50pm–4.10pm
• Studio 1
Afternoon parallel session R:
Artists and our future environment
Chair: Colin Paterson Arts and Entertainment Correspondent, BBC
Speakers: Mojisola Adebayo writer, performer, director, producer and
Andy Field Co-Director, Forest Fringe
4.10pm–4.45pm Tea and coffee break
4.45pm–5.15pm
Lyric Theatre
Call to action
Chair: Kirsty Wark in conversation with Alan Davey Chief Executive,
Arts Council England. Featuring a performance by Contact Playback
5.25pm–5.30pm
Lyric Theatre
Closing remarks
Alan Davey Chief Executive, Arts Council England
Please note: Colour coding on the programme relates
to the site-map showing locations of parallel sessions
5.30pm–7.30pm
Imperial War
Museum North
Drinks reception at the Imperial War Museum
North, hosted by the British Council
5.15pm–5.25pm
Lyric Theatre
Looking back, moving forwards
David Edgar playwright
State of the Arts conference, 14 February 2012, The Lowry, Salford
Have your say #sota12
artscouncil.org.uk/sota12

State of the Arts is an intervention from the Arts Council (ACE), with a keynote speech from Ed Vaizey, aimed at senior arts professionals and intended to provide a collective space to discuss current issues and the latest thinking within the sector. This year artists views are being sought, and the conference topic is “Artists shaping the world”.

In light of this new emphasis on being inclusive of artists, (the lack of it being the main criticism of last years conference), some very topical views came through the online discussion which you can read in full here. (Also on twitter here #SotA12) As an overview, topics included:

Including artists at the heart of the debate - Artists having the ability to shape policy

Mentoring and collaboration between artists and organisations; or artists and artists

Collaboration with other industries to make our voices heard, and networks such as Turning Point

Arts as ‘R & D’ or inspiration to the rest of the world

Being too polite at these conferences (as suggested by Judith Knight from ArtsAdmin after last year’s event)

Advocacy for the arts and highlighing new channels for this such as the new Space arts broadcasting project by ACE and the BBC.

Do artists really want to be involved in policy or do they just want to know their views are being represented?

How art already shapes the world – if ‘changing the world’ is really the solution or just a bit of an out of touch goal, versus, concern that there’s an idea that artists might not want to shape the world…

On the selected panel with me for discussion were:

Alison Clark-Jenkins, regional director, Arts Council England

Alison is Arts Council regional director for the North East and is a former director of arts, educator and marketer – she is a staunch northerner and passionate promoter of collaboration. @alisoncj

Marie Nixon, Clore fellow, Clore Leadership Programme

Marie is a Clore fellow for 2011-12. She works across the north of England as a senior manager, Advocacy at Arts Council England – Marie is also a musician who performs with her band The Cornshed Sisters.@mariemarie0

Emily Bull, operations manager, Audiences South West

Emily is the operations manager for Audiences South West. In her role she deals with project management, facilitation and general audience development work – she has an MA in Arts Management and experience of working in arts and cultural venues, as well as with touring companies.@audiencessw

Dany Louise, strategic facilitator & arts writer for Guardian and others

Dany is a visual arts specialist and writer with 20 years experience in education, management and strategic arts roles. Now freelance, she focuses on organisational development and cultural policy in the visual arts and at Guardian. @DanyLouise

Rebecca Drew, curator freelance

Rebecca is an arts professional, curator and editor – she was formerly deputy director of Photoworks. @BexDrew

Nicola Anthony, artist & art writer

Nicola is an internationally exhibited artist and art writer, creating intricate sculpture & drawing in her studio on London’s Southbank – she is a collector of art, thoughts and words. @nicola_anthony

Anna Brown, owner and director, Annabee Potts

Anna is a ceramicist and full time postgraduate student studying management and the creative industries. @annabrowntweets

Read the discussion in full here. 

>> Other interesting articles on the event by Andy Fields here, and Dany Louise here, as well as an great article called ’Artists are their own agents of change’ by Jack Hutchinson of AIR, here

Here’s what’s in my sketchbook, on my mind and in my studio at the moment:

I am fascinated by the connections between people that we don’t realise exist – the links between us all on a human, universal level.  I like the fact that we are all a bit weird, dark and strange inside. But most of us spend a large portion of our time worrying about this or feeling alone and different. In my mind, the thing that connects us all is the fact we are all different and that is what it is to be human. A lot of my past projects have delved into this, asking people to give me a secret or write me a letter.

My Word Collection Project continues to astound me –  The project has been ongoing for 6 years now and remains surprising, intriguing and compelling. The sentences people send me are often very open and honest, the collection can be beautiful, disturbing and reassuring at the same time. I love the fact that all these disparate people have become connected through my artworks and through the eyes of a reader. (add your words to the collection here or at the bottom of this post) Here are a few recent ones:

I keep hitting my head against an invisible wall. I want to play with you. I am so grateful for the support of my loved ones. I don’t need these amateur dramatics. I said to myself. I embarrass myself. I have a crass panache for stating things blatantly. I’m sorry for going on so long. I feel different. I believe that. I kept hold. I don’t want to waste time rhyming spaceships with paperclips.  I overcame what I thought would be my end. I had potential. I feel different every day. I get distracted. I can’t bear it. I love my family. I lost it all. I am glad I found you. I secretly crave bacon.

Talking of secrets, my recent work also flirts with the cult of the confessional – today’s outspoken, self publishing & fame obsessed world – but attempts to turn this on the observer. Using unexpected and truthful material from my ‘Word Collection’ which resonates with us all & goes beneath the surface and the glamour, attempting to be the opposite to what we could find on any reality TV show or twitter page.

For a while I have been toying with the idea of throwaway conversations with the concept of a sculpture called ‘Twitter bird’, which I want to be a bird-like form constructed using text laser cut into paper, sourced (of course) from Twitter where people are all busy ‘connecting’ and telling us their ‘secrets’.

Here are some of my experiments with laser cut text:

by Nicola Anthony

Great article by Matt Roberts in the Guardian today – interesting to stand back and see the way the landscape in the arts sector has changed. (original article here)

“The golden age of public funding in arts is over – it’s time policy makers help visual artists link creativity to revenue”

They can't all be Hirst, but self-starting artists are beginning to break through. Now they need help in breaking even. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen / Rex Features

Reblogged from Silvia Krupinska – Organic Contemporary Sculpture Blog:

This video is representing a part of my personal experience of the Fabelist’s Imprint Festival at the Serpentine’s Centre for Possible Studies in London. A group of artists, Edible Art Movement have set up this amazing installation called “Sing for your Supper / Draw for your Dinner”.  I loved it.

Silvia Krupinska gives us a video tour of part of her experience at IMPRINT here

A-side/B-side is an artist run gallery, project and studio space situated in a stunning new creative complex: The Hackney Downs Studios on Amhurst Terrace.  A-side/B-side curate exhibitions, host events, run classes and provide workshops for creatives. Their vision is to house a collective of both emerging and established artists, supporting ambitious collaborations within an experimental and evolving creative space.

A-side/B-side are currently seeking new members for the studio spaces, all with excellent natural light.  The monthly rental fee includes the use of the 450 sqft project space and lots of opportunities for teaching, networking, running or attending workshops and much more.

Studios are available from the end of January 2012, please email or phone if you are interested in viewing the space.

email: asidebsidegallery@hotmail.com

Catherine: 07792126195

Tinsel: 07876340293