From mid January to mid February, Making a Living (MAL) will be ‘in residence’ on the Longhouse blog. MAL is an independent group of arts professionals currently active across the UK who are researching and campaigning on issues of art and labour.

MAL’s shared principles:
MAL is a group of individuals.
MAL is not always a united front.
MAL is currently a volunteer initiative.
MAL is not a careers advice service.
MAL does not have all the answers.
MAL encourages debate, independent research, solidarity and disagreement.
MAL hosts public meetings that are open to anyone to attend.
MAL ‘members’ are not expected to commit to any MAL meetings, research or campaigning. They have an option to opt in or out of specific campaigns.
MAL is self-organised by its ‘members’.

Individual members of MAL will be writing critical responses to events and activities relating to art and labour they are attending during January and February including Art: What is the use? At the Whitechapel Gallery, the Arts Against the Cuts Long Weekend at Camberwell College of Art and The Amateurist Network meeting at E:vent Gallery.

MAL will also use the blog to post position statements, articulate demands and create links to relevant resources. MAL aim to solicit feedback and gather anecdotal evidence from people working in the arts of cases of exploitation and experiences of labour by posing questions that prompt feedback and discussion on the Longhouse blog.

MAL look forward to meeting you in the blog!

To contact MAL directly or to join their mailing list email: makingaliving[at]live.co.uk

For a brief overview of the Project take a look at this short film (filmed as part of the final conference event – Anna gave a short summary of the project – in the interrogation headquarters hence the poor lighting)

The Approach:

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

The concern this year was to investigate how artists are bridging gaps – gaps in infrastructure, regeneration and consultation processes, and bridging gaps between people and cultural activity. This was done through four interrogation days using four different methodologies:

INTERЯOGATION: ACTION RESEARCH (08 September 2010)

INTERЯOGATION: PARTICIPATION (15 September 2010)

INTERЯOGATION: SITE SPECIFIC (22 September 2010)

INTERЯOGATION: INTERVENTION (29 September 2010)

The artists that were selected to take part in the different ‘missions’ became Agents for the day, and therefore had to be dressed appropriately…in beret, t-shirt and the compulsory moustache.

Each week we invited a guest artist to come along and aid the Agents in their investigations with their specialist knowledge and previous experience.

The Interrogation headquarters were set up as part of the Sandwell Arts in Queens Square initiative, where we were kindly given an empty shop unit within the Shopping Centre by Sandwell Council for the month of September.This meant that we were located centrally and the Agents could carry out their missions on the High Street and see for themselves how the town centre is due to change in the near future.

Our target zone was the top of the High Street, looking out towards an area of redevelopment labelled as the Eastern Gateway. The plans for this area were shared with the agents and Anna gave a short presentation about the town: its history and its future, to ensure they were armed with some background information before they designed their interventions and took to the streets.

After a morning of learning and looking the agents then took a couple of hours to plan their interventions (based on the theme of their particular week) and then spent the afternoon carrying out their missions on the High Street.

The shop unit started off fairly empty with the intention of it being gradually filled over the month: with each week the Interrogation Agents filled the walls with their findings and a record of their interventions whilst reflecting on their experiences.

On Friday 1 October 2010 we held a conference event where Anna and each of the guest artists presented their findings in relation to the topic of ‘Artists Bridging Gaps’.

Each of the Interrogation missions was recorded in real time via the Longouse blog, starting with a recce by Anna in the town before the project began.

Over the next four weeks we will be featuring the results from each of the Interrogation days on this site and presenting some of the discussions and conclusions that emerged during the project, including those of our undercover agents from Rednile Projects.

Now Showing:

Interrogation: Action Research

Interrogation: Participation

public works is an artists and architects collective based in East London, and current members are artists Kathrin Böhm and Polly Brannan, and architects Andreas Lang and Torange Khonsari. Our work takes place in the public, with a focus on how public space is shaped by the very different activities and interests that are inherent to a site. Our work takes place in form of art and/or architecture commissions, self-initiated projects, talks and discussions, and publications and fanzines. See public works projects.

For this blog we want concentrate on activities that are strongly networked, and we want to unroll a bit why and how and with whom these networks are being started and maintained. We will publish
- announcements for events
- descriptions and histories of those networks
- weblinks
- and what we think are interesting essays and publications.

Throughout October we will be active in a number of network activities, such as
Friday Sessions
The International Village Shop (pan-national)
The Hackney Wick Curiosity Shop (Hackney Wick, London)
RHYZOM (pan-european)
Concrete Geometries Research Cluster at the AA (educational).

We will describe all of those in more detail soon,
With best regards for now
Kathrin and Andreas

Folk Float, by public works: a mobile local archive for Creative Egremont, commissioned by Grizedale Arts.

The Interrobangs are a series of events in which we discover different parts of the West Midlands, connecting with artists working there and people living there.  For this September’s Interrobang we have been exploring the Black Country and thinking about Relationships – between people and place, between artists and audiences – and thinking about how the Black Country (it’s people, places and history) has informed and inspired different artists.

The Interrobangs are also a place for artists developing work to be shown in the next Fierce Festival (in February 2011) and for artists currently engaged in Fierce’s Arts Council funded Platinum artist-practitioner development scheme to share some of their process and thinking through work in progress performances and sharings.

Programme details:

Friday 24 September (The Old Post Office, Holyhead Road, Wednesbury, WS10 7DF)
Entrance: FREE

7pm: Doors open

Sheila Ghelani – towards ‘Rat, Rose, Bird’
Sheila Ghelani (http://sheilaghelani.co.uk/) will be performing some of the text-based elements of her work Rat, Rose, Bird – which deals with notions of personal heritage, love, migration and colonisation.
http://bit.ly/RatRoseBird

Plan B performance – towards A Day in the Life (the walkers of Birmingham) – working title
Plan B (http://www.planbperformance.net/) are interested in drawing portraits of places by mapping the trails people make whilst walking using GPS tracking devices.  They will be sharing some work they have been developing around this idea.

7-10pm: An Artists Guide to the Black Country
Six artists spent a long weekend in August exploring the Black Country as tourists, led by Abigail Davey of Breathe.  This weekend was part of the Live Art Development Agency’s initiative DIY – a chance for artists to run professional development programmes for other artists (http://bit.ly/LADA_DIY7).  This is a chance to see the responses of those artists, which have been gathered together as a web-based project.

Saturday 25 September (online at www.wearefierce.org)

Quarantine – The Slightest Movement

The Slightest Movement is:

a system for making a public event

a week-long conversation

a (series of) performance(s)

an exploratory workshop

a means of mapping a city
A group of 15 workshop participants, some from Wednesbury and West Bromwich, others from further beyond, have been selected to take part in this six-day workshop process, conceived by Richard Gregory of Quarantine (http://www.qtine.com/)

The group’s progress will be reported via a blog by Swen Steinhauser.  Although this is not a public event – you are invited to follow the group’s progress online via this blog.

Saturday 25 September (Wednesbury Town Hall, Holyhead Road, Wednesbury, WS10 7DF)

7.30pm: Stoke Newington International Airport – Live Art Speed Date
Stoke Newington International Airport (http://www.stkinternational.co.uk/STK/STK.html) host an evening at the spectacular Wednesbury Town Hall. Live Art Speed Date is an exploration and celebration of intimate exchange between artist and audience. A diverse selection of artists are invited to create and present a four minute one-on-one performance or “date”. The audience make their own journey through the performative dates, and there are also opportunities to interact with other audience members. This carefully curated event explores public and private behaviours and creates a vibrant fairground of experiences.

Featuring dates from: Mitra Memarzia, Companis, Sheila Ghelani, Leo Kaye, Mamoru Iriguchi, Neil Bennun, Deborah Pearson and more…
http://bit.ly/LiveArtSpeedDate

Sunday 26 September (Wednesbury Town Hall, Holyhead Road, Wednesbury, WS10 7DF)

1pm – 5pm: Sharings from artists currently engaged in Fierce’s Arts Council funded Platinum artist development programme – Arzhang Luke Pezhman, Companis, Cody Lee Barbour, Jaskirt Dhaliwal, Leon Trimble, Louie O’Grady

2pm: Alex Kelly from Third Angel – The process of making Class of ‘76
A talk from Alex Kelly from Third Angel (http://www.thirdangel.co.uk/home.php) about the process of making Class of ‘76.  Alex went looking for the other 34 children in a school photograph taken of his class at Chuckery Infant School in Walsall, to ask them what they’d been doing with their lives for the past 24 years.
http://bit.ly/Classof76

3.30pm: Abigail Davey from Breathe and members of the DIY:7 workgroup – artist led tours of the local area
Abigail Davey from Breathe (http://www.breatheartists.co.uk/) and other members involved in theArtists Guide to the Black Country will lead guided tours of the area, taking in some local gems and introducing new ways of looking.

Venues:
Friday 24 September (7pm – 10pm) The Old Post Office, Holyhead Road, Wednesbury

Saturday 25 September (7.30pm – 11.30pm) Wednesbury Town Hall, Holyhead Road, Wednesbury

Sunday 26 September (1pm – 5pm) Wednesbury Town Hall, Holyhead Road, Wednesbury

Tickets:
Entrance to all events is free of charge.  No advance booking is required – just drop in!

Transport information:
Wednesbury Great Western Street Metro station
on the Birmingham Snow Hill – Wolverhampton line

Wednesbury Bus Station
Terminating services: 327, 399, 410, 428, 429, 478, 523, 610, 679
Also stopping: 79, 311, 311A, 313, 313A

For more information: www.networkwestmidlands.co.uk

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