10 May – 21 Jun

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Eva BerendesMichael DeanRuth EwanJim IsermannCornelia ParkerLawrence WeinerRichard Woods

The Weaving Shed, Frome Silk Mill Studios,Vicarage Street

The distinctive light-filled volume of the recently renovated Weaving Shed will be the site for a new installation by Eva Berendes, one of Germany’s most exciting emerging artists. Berendes’ new work will draw on her diverse influences in the history of abstraction in twentieth century art and design and on the mill’s complex history, which has varied from producing textiles to rocket launchers. The result will be a massive curtain that will dominate the audience and manipulate their experience of the building, blurring the boundary between form and function, domestic decoration and architectural intervention.

Venue Partner:

Eva Berendes (Germany)

Intervention/Decoration is the ambitious inaugural exhibition by Foreground, a new commissioning organisation dedicated to bringing the best contemporary art to the South West through exciting curated projects. Intervention/Decoration will interrupt the historic country town of Frome, Somerset, with seven significant new contemporary art commissions by a dynamic selection of internationally renowned and emerging artists. The exhibition takes place in multiple sites scattered throughout the winding streets and distinctive architecture of the town. Drawing on therich social, industrial and architectural fabric of the town the artworks impose new structures on radically different spaces, from established galleries to neglected buildings. The exhibition explores how artists use decoration and intervention to challenge our expectations and inspire our visions of what is possible in our public spaces.

Intervention/Decoration has been curated and produced by Tabitha Clayson and Simon Morrissey.

Intervention/Decoration Ellenbray, Westway Shopping Precinct

Ellenbray toy shop, housed in Frome’s former library, is one of the town’s most distinctive buildings and one of its only examples of Modernist architecture. The building’s history provides the perfect backdrop for the work of Michael Dean, who uses a hidden structure of words to create his sculpture and photography. Dean will populate the unused space between the former library and the river with fragile yet fascinating structures made from black balloons, folded metal, hexagonal concrete and sticks to create a sculpture garden as beautiful as it is mysterious and unexpected.Venue Partner:

Ellenbray

Michael Dean (UK)

Black Swan Arts, Bridge Street, and publicperformances. Visit www.foregroundprojects.org.ukfor a calendar of performances

Ruth Ewan’s work explores the circulation of radical ideas within popular culture, often using the creativity of other people, from buskers to schoolchildren, to bring her ideas to life. In Frome Ewan will employ the town crier to make a series of proclamations taken from Poems of Human Service by Gustav Spiller, a leading figure in the pacifist and ethical movements in Britain in the early twenti-eth century. Echoing the Black Swan’s former life as a tavern and public meeting room, printed proclamations will then be displayed within the gallery after each cry, steadily re-activating historical aspirations towards a more egalitarian society over the duration of the exhibition.

Venue Partner: Supported by Frome Town Council:

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Boarded-up windows and building sitehoardings, various locations

Fascinated with pattern and its relationship to architecture, Jim Isermann has used 1950’s textile designs produced in the town as the inspiration for hisproject. Isermann has twisted these original designs into one of his signature repeat patterns. This will have a dramatic effect on the architecture of the town during the exhibition through the most economical of means - wallpapered onto boarded-up windows and building site hoardings throughout Frome to create a striking temporary decoration from a common eyesore. With thanks to Frome Museum.

Venue Partners: Peter Moore & Pang Properties Ltd and individual property owners.

Supported by:

Jim Isermann (USA)

Façade of the Old Church School, Butts Hill

Cornelia Parker, one of Britain’s most respected artists, is best known for her powerful transformations of found objects and her fascination with the relationship between destruction and creation. Her new commission responds to Frome’s strong history of non-conformist worship and the recent death of her parents. Parker’s work will fuse Philip Larkin’s infamous poem This Be The Verse, with its irreverent but incisive analysis of family dysfunction, with the ornamental skills of the stonemason to produce a meditation on family and personal responsibility that is as humorous and irreverent as it is thought-provoking. This work contains language that may be unsuitable for children.Venue Partner:

Cornelia Parker’s work has been produced and sponsored by Minerva Stone Conservation

Cornelia Parker (UK)

forward space

forward space

North Façade of Frome Silk Mill Studios,Vicarage Street

Lawrence Weiner is one of America’s pre-eminent living artists, a pivotal figure in the history of conceptual art and its attempt to expand the idea of art beyond objects into the realm of ideas themselves. Since his seminal work Statements, 1968, Weiner has dispensed with making paintings or sculpture and concentrated on using language as his only material.In Frome, Weiner’s work will consist of a simple but imposing text painted directly onto the mill’s stone walls that both comments on the building’s position within the townscape and simultaneously suggests the subtle hierarchies of public space.

Venue Partner:

Lawrence Weiner (USA)

Rook Lane Chapel, Bath Street

Richard Woods’ installations mix traditional printmaking techniques and historical motifs with industrial materials to transform the façades or interiors of buildings with boldly imposed surfaces that question ideas of taste and value. For Intervention/Decoration, Woods will transform the interior of the listed eighteenth century non-conformist chapel, one of Frome’s most significant listed buildings, with a riotous false floor of clashing coloured cartoon floorboards that will playfully question our attitude to and use of such historic buildings in the twenty first century.

Venue Partner:

Richard Woods (UK)

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Learn More & Get Involved

LearningIntervention/Decoration is accompanied by an in-depth Learning programme designed to create exciting activities for young people in education, community groups and excluded and disadvantaged groups. Activities include guided talks and practical workshops, extended projects with artists, new contexts for national curriculum subjects for schools and placements to increase skills, confidence and community contribution. If you would like to find out more about Foreground’s work with schools or community groups or would like to arrange to visit the exhibition with a group please contact Foreground on 01373 888187 or email getinvolved@foregroundprojects.org.uk. Teachers can also download a compre-hensive teachers pack with more informa-tion and activity ideas for children at the exhibition and in the classroom from the website.

PublicationThe Intervention/Decoration publication forms an indispensable guide to the exhi-bition featuring documentation of the artists’ projects and essays by the curators. The publication will be available topurchase from the Project Hub.

Intervention/Decoration printed matter sponsored by BAS Printers.

www.foregroundprojects.org.ukMake sure to visit our website for more information on the project and artists, to download resources, join our mailing list and keep up to date with the latest news on our blog.

Website sponsored by Tickbox Marketing.

On Saturdays curators, writers and historians will lead informal and informative guided walks around the project discussing the artists, projects and the sites they have used. All talks start at 2pm outside the Project Hub:

10th May Tabitha Clayson & Simon Morrissey, Intervention/Decoration’s curators17th May Lucy Byatt, Director of Spike Island, Bristol31st May Sally O’Reilly, art critic for Art Monthly and Frieze 7th June Alastair MacLeay, Frome Society for Local Study 14th June Mike Ricketts, artist, lecturer and writer on public space 21st June Claire Doherty, Director of Situations, UWE

Events

Talks

In collaboration with The Merlin Theatre, Frome, Foreground invited the artistsin Intervention/Decoration to choose their favourite films. The eclectic programme ranges from European art-house classics to teen flicks and cult musicals, providing an entertaining glimpse into the artists’ inspirations.

27th May, 6pm Lawrence Weiner’s choice: A Bout de Souffle by Jean-Luc Godard7.45pm Eva Berendes’ choice: New York, New York by Martin Scorsese

28th May, 6pm Jim Isermann’s choice: Clueless by Amy Heckerling7.45pm Cornelia Parker’s choice: Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier

29th May, 6pm Ruth Ewan’s choice: Culloden by Peter Watkins7.45pm Michael Dean’s choice: Fahrenheit 451 by Francois Truffaut

30th May, 6pm Curators’ choice: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory by Mel Stuart7.45pm Richard Woods’ choice: Edward Scissorhands by Tim Burton

Please visit www.merlintheatre.co.uk or call 01373 465949 for more informationand to book tickets.

Artists’ Inspirations Film Programme

Free drop-in sessions with creative stuff to do for children and their parents or carers. Sessions take place between 1-4pm at Rook Lane Chapel on Saturday 10th May, 31st May, 7th June, 14th June, 21st June and Tuesday 27th May and Thursday 29th May during half-term. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Family Workshops

Each Saturday afternoon from 3pm Richard Woods’ installation at Rook Lane Chapel will be transformed into a social stage, hosting an eclectic mix of free activities, ranging from performances by community choirs, street bands and street dancers to storytelling sessions and even a wedding!

Please visit www.foregroundprojects.org.uk to view a full events calendar.

Performances & Celebrations

Volunteer Foreground can only deliver its ambitious projects with the help and dedication of volunteers. Volunteering offers a stimulating way to be more involved with Foreground’s projects and to develop deeper knowledge of contemporary art and increase professional skills. Volunteers get the opportunity to act as Live Guides, to work with commis-sioned artists and help develop specific areas of Foreground’s activity. If you are interested in contemporary art, are willing to learn new skills or have specialist skills and experience you would like to offer Foreground please contact Foreground on 01373 888187 or email getinvolved@foregroundprojects.org.uk.

Support us Foreground receives no revenue funding and must raise 100% of its costs through fundraising. Supporting Foreground offers individual donors, funders and commer-cial sponsors a dynamic way to contribute to their community, develop the cultural infrastructure of the South West, and promote their businesses. If you would like to learn more about the benefits of supporting Foreground please contact us on 01373 888187 or email supportus@foregroundprojects.org.uk

Frome Community Lottery supported the purchase of computer equipment.

The University of the West of England funded international research for Intervention/Decoration.

Intervention/Decoration is accompanied by a varied events programme offering a deeper insight into the exhibition.

By trainFrome station has good rail links and is located 5 minutes walk from the project venues. Visit www.nationalrail.co.uk or call 08457 484950 for details.

By roadFrome has good road links within the South West and to the M3/A303, M4 & M5. Extensive car parking is available in the Market Yard car park adjacent to the Project Hub. National Express Coaches serve Frome from London and there are also bus services from a range of towns in the South West.

Sponsored by:

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Visiting Intervention/Decoration

Project Hub Start your visit to Intervention/Decoration at our Project Hub, situated directly above Frome Tourist Information Centre adjacent to the Market Yard car park in the centre of town. The Hub houses everything you need to make the most of your visit, from the exhibition publication to children’s guides and resources on artists and the history of Frome.

Opening timesAll venues are open 11am - 5pm, Tuesday - Saturday, during Intervention/Decoration.

AccessWheelchair access to the exhibition sites varies depending on the nature of the site. Guide and hearing dogs are welcome. Foreground aims to be accessible to all disabled visitors.

Getting hereLocated 17 miles south of Bath, Frome benefits from good transport links by road and rail to areas throughoutthe South West, South East and the Midlands.

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www.foregroundprojects.org.uk

Intervention/Decoration has been funded by: