Does your artistic practice bridge disciplines or experiment with form?
Do you feel the need to connect more with other artists making similar work?
Are you interested in developing artistic practices more than products?
Do you want to build more collectivity into how you work?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, this four day pilot project (taking place on July 15th, 16th, 22nd and 23rd) could be for you. In practice(s): The wood and the trees is not a workshop or a coffee morning or a crit group. It is a collective experiment in holding space for horizontal artistic exchange and mutual support. It is a score for sharing practices and approaches, visions and frustrations; a space to make and re-make relationships with other artists and with our own practices.
Alongside collective practices that will give space for reflecting and exchanging on practical issues in our artistic and social lives, each participating artist will have an opportunity during the four days to share an element of their practice with the group. This can be a session of making, playing or performing, where everyone in the group is invited to engage with your way of working, be that your approach to a medium or theme, a tool you use, or a method or framework of creating, bringing their own practices and interests to the table as they engage with yours.
Application is open to all women and non-binary artists working in Ireland in any medium, at any stage of their career, interested in collectivity, social or experimental practices and artistic exchange. Participating artists will receive an honorarium of €200. The framework is designed and facilitated by Joan Somers Donnelly, with support from Eszter Nemethi and Heike Langsdorf. The sessions are kindly hosted in studio 468 in Rialto and Unit 44 in Stoneybatter, and are supported by an Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland.
To register your interest in taking part please send a statement of your motivation (max 500 words), and a description of your practice (max 300 words) with up to three samples of your work to somersdj@tcd.ie before midnight on Thursday June 9th. Alternatively you can send a short video (5 minutes) detailing your motivation and your practice, alongside the work samples. Please also indicate your availability for the four sessions, which will be full days and will take place on July 15th, 16th, 22nd and 23rd. To ensure everyone participating can share their practice and receive an honorarium, there is a limited number of spaces in the project, with preference given to those who can attend all dates. In selecting participants, the focus will be on bringing together a varied group with intersecting artistic interests and motivations, to try to create an environment of exchange that is as fruitful as possible. The work samples will be used for this purpose, and not to judge artistic merit. In the case that the project is developed further beyond this pilot, interested artists who are not selected will have the option to become involved at a later stage.
Common Ground and studio 468 are delighted to support In practice(s): The wood and the trees. studio 468 was established in 2003 and is a partnership between Common Ground and the Rialto Development Association who own and manage St Andrew’s Community Centre Rialto. studio 468 is funded by Common Ground's annual Arts Council and Dublin City Council Arts Office awards.