There are 5 bursaries available for 2010/11. Each bursary will run from October 2010 – March 2011.

Artists are required to use the bursary to pro-actively discover new contexts for their work via the exploration of different approaches to socially engaged practice in the public realm.

In the spirit and rich tradition of past Action Research programmes all participating artists will be encouraged to test their current creative practice through intensive investigation, reflection and understanding of what is meant by, and the reality of, the ‘public realm’, especially in the current climate of ‘Big Society’, new forms of regeneration being needed and the slowing of capital investment.

We are inviting applications from artists for action research proposals under the umbrella theme of ‘connections’ – how artists and cultural activity can make connections between people, people and place (physical and metaphorical), and between people and knowledge all relating to the current climate and context of regeneration and the public realm.

We are doing things slightly differently this year and we have appointed a lead artist/mentor , Scott Farlow (www.scottfarlow.co.uk), to support the five bursary artists through one to one meetings and three group workshops which will enable the artists to apply their learning to a ‘real’ place and brief.

If you are interested in applying for this opportunity download the full brief and information here.

Closing date for applications is Friday 17 September 2010.

Check back in October to find out who this year’s Action Research Artists are or follow the link for more information on previous Action Research Bursaries

There are 5 bursaries available for 2010/11. Each bursary will run from October 2010 – March 2011.

Artists are required to use the bursary to pro-actively discover new contexts for their work via the exploration of different approaches to socially engaged practice in the public realm.

In the spirit and rich tradition of past Action Research programmes all participating artists will be encouraged to test their current creative practice through intensive investigation, reflection and understanding of what is meant by, and the reality of, the ‘public realm’, especially in the current climate of ‘Big Society’, new forms of regeneration being needed and the slowing of capital investment.

We are inviting applications from artists for action research proposals under the umbrella theme of ‘connections’ – how artists and cultural activity can make connections between people, people and place (physical and metaphorical), and between people and knowledge all relating to the current climate and context of regeneration and the public realm.

This year each of the selected artists will receive support from Lead Artist/Mentor, Scott Farlow (www.scottfarlow.co.uk) during their bursary, through one to one meetings and three group workshops which will enable the artists to apply their learning to a ‘real’ place and brief.

Deadline for Applications is Friday 17 September 2010.

Download the full brief with details on how to apply for the bursary here or find out about previous Action Research Bursaries

INTERЯOGATION: WEST BROMWICH explores the impact that one artist can make in one place, in one day.

The programme aims to look at what impact an artist can make by working quickly and responsively to a specific site in just one day, and provides opportunities for artists to work together within public realm spaces.

Building on the success of last year’s Interrogation: Walsall, (www.interrogation-walsall.blogspot.com) where the emphasis was on exploring how an art gallery can connect with public realm space, the concern this year will be to investigate how artists are ‘bridging the gap’ between people and cultural activity as well as gaps in infrastructure, regeneration and consultation processes. This will be done through four interrogation days using four different methodologies:

INTERЯOGATION: ACTION RESEARCH (taking place on 08/09/2010)

INTERЯOGATION: PARTICIPATION (taking place on 15/09/2010)

INTERЯOGATION: SITE SPECIFIC (taking place on 22/09/2010)

INTERЯOGATION: INTERVENTION (taking place on 29/09/2010)

Each interrogation day will have a specialist mentor who will have expertise and knowledge in that particular day’s methodology to help guide artists through their mission.

Each ‘interrogation’ will last a full day and will see artists learning about different approaches to each of the methods and then planning their own approach, supported by the guest artist and Anna, and going in to the town centre to put theory into practice, interacting with the public of West Bromwich.

Each ‘interrogation’ will produce a set of evidence and information which will be displayed in Interrogation HQ, (otherwise known as Unit 26, Community Artspace (next to Boots, Queens Square Shopping Centre, West Bromwich), to build up a picture of West Bromwich and the role the artist can play in ‘bridging the gap’.

There will also be a conference event to disseminate the findings of the programme and to share our approach with other artists and regeneration professionals alike on Friday 1 October 2010 at the Community Artspace from 1pm. If you would like to come along email chloebrown@multistory.org.uk

For information on how are plans for Interrogation:West bromwich are progressing visit Anna’s blog.

Or to see our live blog during each of the missions go to the Longhouse blog.

With a stall in the indoor market from April to October 2010 as our research centre, we are asking such questions about regeneration in the town centre of West Bromwich.

Following a launch and seminar in 2009, a range of artists and researchers are now contributing to the investigation, amongst them Cody Lee Barbour, David Berridge, Céline Siani Djiakoua, John Dummett, Susan Fitzpatrick, Anna Francis, Neil Gray, Michelle Letowska, Leo Singer, Manu Luksch, Heather Ring, and Urban Research Collective.

Black Country creative advantage is a  partnership of the Centre for Art, Design, Research and Experimentation at the University of Wolverhampton and Multistory in West Bromwich. We are supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

For news and more detailed information see our blog: www.blackcountrycreativeadvantage.org

or join our e-group: http://groups.google.com/group/investigation_creativeadvantage

Contact: Monika Vykoukal, Curatorial Research Associate, University of Wolverhampton

Post or Visit: Stall 42, New Market Hall, Kings Square, West Bromwich B70 7NW, Monday – Friday  9am – 4pm (most weeks)

Email: M.Vykoukal [at ] wlv.ac.uk

‘Phone: 07967230880

The SZPILMAN AWARD is awarded to works that exist only for a moment or a short period of time.

The purpose of the award is to promote such works whose forms consist of ephemeral situations.
Everyone can apply for the SZPILMAN AWARD.

Both individuals and groups of persons are free to apply.

The work must have been realised between 1 Oct 2009 and 30 Sep 2010.

For more information please  - Visit the Szpilman website

Blast Theory – Call For Applicants
20 Wellington Road Residency Programme 2011 – Deadline: Sat 31 July 2010

20 Wellington Road is a renovated Victorian icehouse overlooking Shoreham Harbour. The building provides offices and studios for the company as well studio spaces for artists, scientists and theorists working in related fields. Blast Theory’s goal is to create an interdisciplinary community of international significance.

The Residency Programme is initiated and run by artists. It aims to provide a space for residents to research and develop new work in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Expressions of interest are invited from individuals working in the following fields:
- Pervasive and location based gaming and interactive media
- The use of mobile and portable devices in cultural and artistic practice
- Games design and theory
- Interdisciplinary and live art practice

Applicants should have an established background in their respective fields and should be able to demonstrate how a residency period at Blast Theory will assist the development of their research and practice.

For full details of the programme including available dates and how to apply please visit the Blast Theory website

INTERЯOGATION: WEST BROMWICH explores the impact that one artist (you) can make in one place, in one day.

The programme, organised by Longhouse and working with lead artist Anna Francis, is designed to investigate the impact of short, sharp interventions within the public realm.

The programme aims to look at what impact an artist can make by working quickly and responsively to a specific site in just one day, and provides opportunities for artists to work together within public realm spaces.

Building on the success of last year’s Interrogation: Walsall, (www.interrogation-walsall.blogspot.com) where the emphasis was on exploring how an art gallery can connect with public realm space, the concern this year will be to investigate how artists are ‘bridging the gap’ between people and cultural activity as well as gaps in infrastructure, regeneration and consultation processes.

Each interrogation day will have a specialist mentor who will have expertise and knowledge in that particular day’s methodology to help guide you through your mission.

Call to Artists:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to become a secret agent for a day in order to interrogate the public spaces of West Bromwich.

Working from a top secret base in West Bromwich you will investigate the artist’s role in the post-industrial world through one of four methods:

• INTERЯOGATION: ACTION RESEARCH (08/09/10)
• INTERЯOGATION: PARTICIPATION (15/09/10)
• INTERЯOGATION: SITE SPECIFIC (22/09/10)
• INTERЯOGATION: INTERVENTION (29/09/10)

How to Apply:

To express interest in this opportunity send:

• 300 words describing why you are right for this mission
• state your two preferred interrogation methods in order of preference e.g. choice No.1: Participation, choice No.2: Site Specific
• your C.V. and a maximum of 5 images of your current practice
• any web links

Please send your expression of interest to: chloebrown@multistory.org.uk

Deadline for Submissions:
12pm Monday 26 July 2010

(Please Note: Successful ‘agents’ will be notified on Monday 2 August 2010)

Important Information:

This is a professional development opportunity; each agent will receive a fee of £100 towards travel, time and other expenses, plus £20 on the day of the mission to cover any immediate costs incurred, such as materials for your mission

Agents must be available for the full day of the missions they select (dates are stated next to the four interrogation methods above), and for a project conference day (06/10/10), when the project findings will be disseminated.

Each mission will be documented photographically and with video and results will be displayed on the Longhouse website and on the Conference Day.

For more information go to www.longhouse.uk.com and www.interrogation-walsall.blogspot.com

Mission Control:

Longhouse is an annual programme of work carried out by community arts organisation, Multistory based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands. Longhouse is dedicated to the professional development of artists working in the public realm and provides knowledge, support and funding to artists to develop their practice.

Anna Francis is an artist whose work examines private histories, public space, and civic languages; using forms of intervention, mapping, performance, consultation, and photography to investigate the impact of art and culture on the regeneration of cities, and the artist’s role within this.

Alexandros Vasmoulakis - street artist to communicate with the public. http://www.vasmou.com/

Eltono – Public space artist http://www.eltono.com/interior/coriandoli/

Uses Confetti as graffiti

 Robert Bradford – Creates sculptures out of plastic toys. His sculptures have appeared around England and New York.  http://www.robertbradford.co.uk/

The bombus bee can be found at the Eden Project in Cornwall.

Urban Camouflage -  Camouflage themselves to the urban surroundings using the same materials as the background. http://www.urbancamouflage.de/

Click here to view the embedded video.

Slinkachu -  British artist, street art installation project. http://slinkachu.com/

”The street-based side of my work plays with the notion of surprise and I aim to encourage city-dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings.”

Darius and Downey -  Artists who use steel sculptures and sloping sign posts as a way of displaying humour and witt around the streets.

For more pictures see – http://www.jenbekman.com/dariusdowney/index.html

STEINBRENER/DEMPF – http://www.steinbrener-dempf.com/

”Delete! – removes all the written signals which normally try to attract the passer-by’s attention: a phenomenon we are sufficiently familar with from two-dimensional representations and photomontage works will be translated for the first time into three-dimensionality, into the here and now reality of Vienna’s Neubaugasse. The technique at the heart of Delete! is ‘wallpapering’, which is easy and inexpensive: all written signals (except for those necessary for road safety) will be covered over with monochrome, fluorescent foils, and individual three-dimensional letters will be enclosed in plastic.”

Ellis Gallagher – Graffitti artist based in New York. – http://ellisgallagher.com/

Produces shadows from items in the street with chalk.

DISPATCHWORK - http://www.dispatchwork.info/

Dispatchwork use lego building bricks to fill in gaps of buildings. Or as a repair! They can be found around Europe and New York.

Joshua Callaghan – http://www.joshuacallaghan.com/publicart.htm

Uses camouflage as a way to make utility boxes blend into the surroundings and to make the streets a prettier place to be!

Time: 18:30

Date: Wednesday 28 July 2010

Location: ACME Project Space, 44 Bonner Road, London, E2 9JS RSVP to makingaliving@live.co.uk

Littoral (http://www.littoral.org.uk/) will be joining the event to discuss the relationships between the arts and trade unions as part of MAL’s research and campaigning on art and labour.

MAL is an independent group of arts professionals currently active across the UK who meet regularly to research and campaign on issues of art and labour.