CALL FOR ARTISTS
C&C Gallery Residency Programme – August-October 2015
This summer, C&C Gallery will be hosting an innovative residency programme. During August the gallery space will be transformed into a dynamic studio environment to facilitate the production of artworks. The merging of gallery with artist’s studio will challenge the traditional boundaries of these spaces, and look to expand the idea of artistic practice.
The residency will run for the duration of August, culminating in an exhibition within C&C Gallery during September-October 2015. Ian Dawson is the lead artist and will work collaboratively with a series of five invited artists (John Greenwood, Claude Heath, Nicola Thomas, Louisa Minkin, Jenny Dunseath) and two applicants from the open call.
We are looking for artists who are interested in extending the relationship between artistic production and an audience, willing to work openly in a collaborative environment. C&C Gallery regularly attracts 1,000 people a week to its partner café and restaurant, enabling the potential for interaction with a large audience.
When conceiving of the residency there was a sense that a broad thematic might be useful, that an imposition would restrain and liberate in unexpected ways. The premise doesn’t necessarily need to be considered directly and shouldn’t inhibit the potential for experimentation.
In Memoirs For the Blind, Jaques Derrida describes drawing as an act of blindness – rooted as it is in both memory and anticipation, taking the action of seeing and replacing it with that of mediation. Marks of a drawing have multiple characters: lines on a page as well as indicators of contour; lacking a “pure” identity they obscure the visual experience.
But what of the expanded field of drawing, drawing is not just a mark on a paper- it is a sound in space, an action within a time and place, a rich and complex mapping process- involving sculptural and performative activities.
In Derrida’s thesis, the depiction of a blind person is a multiple statement of blindness and sight in itself, how then could the extended activities of drawing be used to depict the blind? And how do these then become statements of and about blindness and sight? What new information would they illicit? What positions could they expose?
Working alongside a roster of other artists, the residency will seek to be a lively experimental environment to consider the notions set out above in both a creative and practical way.
As part of the residency programme, you will be invited to take part in a number of events and workshops;
- Workshop with blind consultant John Dickinson-Lilley exploring the various ways those with visual impairments ‘see’ the world; using echo location to understand and ‘read’ an object, as well as tactile identification, audio description and memory mapping to locate self in space.
- Workshop with lead artist Ian Dawson in 3D scanning and 3D printing.
- As part of the exhibition which will run for the duration of September, there will be a private view, an artists talk which you will be invited to take part in, and a charity gala event in aid of Disability Snow Sport UK.
Sales of any works produced during this period will go through the gallery in the usual way, with 50% commission charged, with a % donated to our charity partner, Disability Snow Sport UK.
C&C Gallery will provide a food and all associated exhibition costs.
We welcome applications from artists working in any media. To apply please email [email protected] with biography, CV and website information as well as a maximum of three JPEG images of your previous work, clearly labelled with:
- Your name
- Title of the work
- Year
- Dimensions
- Medium
Cost: £15 admin fee, please pay by BACs Acc No: 61690767, Sort code: 600212 and email to let us know the date and ref of your payment.
Deadline for applications: 30th June, successful candidates announced 15th July, residency start date 1st Aug 2015.