Category / Professional Development
What a Way to Make a Living: how labour precarity and a lack of recognition for artists’ work create the conditions for burnout
This academic essay is from a while back, and has been published in Intersections, the postgraduate journal for multidisciplinary exchange of research and practice at Ulster University, but I’d realised that i hadn’t shared it here… What a Way to Make a Living: how labour precarity and a lack of recognition for artists’…
Loft Collective podcast
I was recently coerced into participating in a podcast by artist called Brian Kielt for Loft Collective, of which he is a founding member. You can listen to it here. Loft Collective draws together a diverse group of creative practitioners seeking to establish a multi-disciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas in contemporary visual culture.…
Research interests
I thought that it might be helpful (both for you: the reader, and me: the writer) to focus less on my jobs and professional interests, and more on my almost (hesitantly) artistic interests* *I have not made work as an artist for a very long time, but I will again, at some stage. Dammit. These recurrently all…
Greater Manchester Arts Consultancy
My friend and former Ikon colleague Kate Self and I have been looking for ways to work together for ages, and we’ve found it: a project on behalf of Greater Manchester Arts, which engages both of our interests: artist development (me) and participatory practice (Kate). We’ve been invited to map provision and make recommendations for…
Studio Visit: John Rainey
Yesterday I visited NI/ London-based artist John Rainey in his (amazingly equipped!) home studio. I invited John to work with me on a new initiative that I’m coordinating on behalf of VAI NI. About John: Through a series of classical references and both manual and digital (3D Print) processes, my sculptures consider how digital…
International Curator Visits
This week, VAI NI welcomed six curators from Paris to visit Northern Ireland to meet artists, studios and galleries in Belfast and Derry. Their packed schedule involved a series of public engagement events, Show & Tells and individual studio visits based on each curator’s personal interests. They are: Raphael Brunel (Independent curator and writer and member…
UPDATE: Hospitalfield Residency
Image: Burst, Piñatas, Burst! Terry Fox, Paul McCarthy, Walter Benjamin, Mercedes Sosa and Gertrude Stein, Fabiola Carranza, 2006 http://fabiolacarranza.com Hospitalfield have now released details of all residents in the 2017 tranche. It’s been great to see and hear more about who I will be joining in March 2017. They are: Akiko Kobayashi – Architecture, UK Conor Baird –…
Mentoring: Paul Moore
Image from the #fleg series, Paul Moore, 2014 Paul has invited me to undertake some support sessions with him, specifically around project management, signposting, writing and developing proposals. I’ve outlined a plan for 8 different sessions, which we’ll start in April 2017. About Paul: Paul Moore is a visual artist based in Belfast working in…
Mentoring: Moran Been-noon
Still from ElectroMmunication, Moran Been-noon, 2008 https://youtu.be/gs8QCguc1uA I’ve been approached by an artist/ curator to undertake some mentoring. We’re figuring out the details and a plan of action but have so far been corresponding by email and Skype. Moran has significant experience and I am excited by the discussions we are having. About Moran: Moran Been-noon is an…
Avenue: a new domestic space initiative for artists
I’ve been ruminating on the idea of providing domestic space for artists for a while… and in Spring 2017 I will launch a new initiative – Avenue – that supports artists/ curators/ academics visiting Belfast, from my own home. My proposal is to offer affordable accommodation to individuals and groups in a supportive, artistic environment,…
