The Winchester Gallery Exhibition Proposal Form EXHIBITION PROPOSER: Name Chapel Arts Studios (CAS) Address The Chapel, St Mary’s Cemetery, Andover Phone email info@chapelartsstudios.co.uk Date of submission of proposal: 29th October 2018 EXHIBITION FRAMEWORK / CONCEPT Summary Description of exhibition (100 words max) Responding to the theme ‘Inside/Outside, CAS artists will deliver a multimedia exhibition across three university sites, plus an interactive, online element. With an interrogative, experimental ‘Laboratory’ approach, artists will collaborate both prior to the exhibition and live within the course of the show, exploring the theme within a dynamic, relational and discursive framework. An evolving body of digital, visual and performative work will enliven and connect spaces, drawing university staff and students into an engaging and unfolding dialogue around Inside/Outside, while challenging us to find new and alternative ways to open up the connecting space between the two.

Relevant Previous Experience/Exhibitions: 300 words max Please provide any weblinks to support your application here. The Laboratory of Dissent: Inside/Outside follows on from Laboratory of Dissent 2015, which took place in the Winchester Gallery. This involved 14 participating CAS artists, and culminated in a 3 day symposium, bringing staff, students and artists together in a dynamic dialogue around the theme of Dissent. The exhibition has since been the catalyst for an anthology of essays exploring outcomes which can be found here; https://issuu.com/chapelartsstudios/docs/dissent_a_creative_practice_-_cas_a?fbclid=IwAR1tl3Ek_YnCIosiCOtBWLVpIafi6hMhTLWQPP_bQ4KquMgAf6CRkguz_Sk Images of the project are here: http://labofdissentwinchgallery.tumblr.com http://www.chapelartsstudios.co.uk/portfolio/the-laboratory-of-dissent Our current proposal brings together 12 CAS artists plus a selection of work for The Screen by artists selected from Open Call by CAS Curator, Susan Francis. The artists participating have a broad range of experience and include award winning graduates from the recent Winchester BA (Hons) Fine Art course, lecturers and postgraduate students from WSA and professional national and internationally exhibiting artists from Hampshire and beyond. This year alone those involved have exhibited throughout the UK, in London, Madrid and Montreal in text, object, installation and performance work. Susan Francis who will be contributing to and curating The Screen continues to show her own film work internationally.

The Annex David Dixon- CAS Director - http://daviddixon.co.uk Peter Driver http://www.peterdriver.info/home/4564541191 Andy Jones http://andyjones1970.wixsite.com/the-artist Laurence Rushby http://www.laurencerushbyart.co.uk The Round Karen Wood https://www.saatchiart.com/kbwood Tina Sanchez https://tinasanchezartist.com Maija Liepins - CAS Engagement Officer - http://www.chapelartsstudios.co.uk/artists/maija-liepins/ James Aldridge https://jamesaldridgeart.wordpress.com Online Kimvi Nguyen http://www.kimvi.co.uk Jo Pudney https://www.facebook.com/ArtbyJoannePudney/ Richard Barnfather http://richardbarnfather.co.uk The Screen Susan Francis - CAS Curator - www.susanfrancis.com

Proposed dates of exhibition: Please include any specific reason, e.g. national festival. When will works and objects be available? How much time will be needed for installation? We would prefer the exhibition to take place in November 2019.

● The exhibition will launch with a day long public symposium (for which we will hire space at WSA), potentially on the Friday before the first week of the exhibition, bringing artists, students and teaching staff together to discuss and interrogate the theme of Inside/Outside. Each group will create an interactive engagement on this day, the content of which will kick start the laboratory process along with work already created by the artists who have been working online up to this point.

● The other artists will enter the dialogue as that 1st week progresses through physical artwork, interactive making, text work and performance. The show will continue to grow and morph as the ‘laboratory’ life of the exhibition plays out in response to evolving dialogue around the theme.

● Therefore prior to the symposium WE WILL NEED;

● access to the exhibiting spaces four days before the symposium date ● The vitrines set in place and the walls prepared where necessary. ● The Screen set up and ready to run at the symposium with the first artists’

films (these films, which will include one of Susan’s and will have been selected in advance from open call and approved by August Jordan Davis.)

Exhibition outline: aims of exhibition; academic relevance, context and key themes (400 words max) In an environment of polarised opinion how can dissent open up the spaces within and between polarised positions such as ‘in’ and ‘out’?

Artists have been divided into four groups, each with their own different responses to dissent and the notion of inside / outside. Their artistic outputs will explore four main themes:

● The treatment of images in a highly digitised society and how dissent against digital and

analogue constraints might inspire new artistic experiences. The artists are interested in the ephemeral nature of socially mediated imagery, in patterns and connections, in the construction and deconstruction to generate new ‘wholes’. This work will be collated prior to the exhibition through social media.

● The construction of identities in relation to ‘belonging’. The artists are interested in what it means to be inside/outside in relation to migration, within modern culture and within the academic system. How might dialogue be encouraged between insiders/outsiders to break down barriers and create collaborative learning environments. The group will use text, live art and performance to interrogate these questions.

● The role of self-reflective art practices in the redrawing of boundaries and positions, driven by each artists emotional interior in collaboration with one another. Using the physical bodily movement, materiality and the making process as a meanings of experimentation, the artists

will utilise making, walking, dialogue, all of the senses as the apparatus of their experiments, inviting involvement from the passing public in their work onsite/online.

● The Screen with its collection of short films will serve as a backdrop for the evolving activity, offering its own silent commentary on dissent, a provocation for the artists involved and a ‘Greek chorus’ for the exhibition, reflecting back the themes the various groups are interrogating.

The Laboratory of Dissent aims to create an experiential learning environment at Winchester Gallery. Rather than a fixed exhibition, the Laboratory will offer a dynamic space, enabling change, discovery, shifting positions and new outputs. It will…

● Open a discussion about the learning potentials of collaboration and discursive

practice.

● Encourage artistic experimentation and innovation in an exposed environment and in the relative safety of their collaborative groups.

● Demonstrate dissent as a constructive practice for collaborative investigation

and creation.

● Build upon and expanding existing knowledge through experience.

● Make our experiments and outputs accessible to staff, students and audiences. ‘Dissent forces true dialogic and dialectical engagement across ideas and people. - August Jordan Davis, 2018

How does the exhibition meet The Winchester Gallery Policy? (250 words max)

● It will showcase quality work by experienced, accomplished artists, embracing a variety of media, giving the campus access to a high standard of varied collaborative output.

● It will showcase work by staff, students, alumni, and the wider network with one staff member, 4 alumni and 12 CAS Associate Artists participating. Open call artists will also be brought into relationship with Winchester School of Art and invited to the symposium.

● It will offer a dynamic, exciting and innovative addition to your program, demonstrating the ongoing dialogue between active research and practice in and beyond the academic institution, touching on areas already under research at WSA. The symposium will invite wider discussion informing the artists’ responses and activities, generating intra-actions between people’s theory and practice. In addition LOD generates material for artists and curators reflection, discussion, and further reading and writing on theory as evidenced by the lasting impact of LOD 2015.

● It will offer multiple opportunities to interact with artists and their processes thus creating dialogic across on-site locations and online environments. Audiences will also have diverse opportunities to discuss / engage with ideas / themes (see ‘related events’). Ideally we would like to bring and park up our ‘Art Bus’ as a ‘mobile laboratory’ for artists while they are on site.

● The University will be supporting local artistic practice by providing an environment in which

artists can create a process-based dialogue with new and existing audiences who frequent the University as well as showcase their artistic outputs and findings.

ACTUAL WORKS AND INSTALLATION NEEDS Special Display Requirements: (e.g., Lighting levels, environment, temperature, display cases, AV equipment, security fittings etc...) Artist groups have drafted initial ideas which can be finalised in conversation with the gallery as scope and duration of performances, installations and exhibits. Group 1 (The Annex), David Dixon, Peter Driver, Andy Jones, Laurence Rushby

PROCESS: Experimenting with an audience of home and international students to explore ideas about nationhood, identity, inclusion and internationalism. An interactive/participatory installation in the foyer of Lecture Theatre A - engaging the passing footfall with a brief activity (to be devised) to provoke reflection on identity, nationality, insiders/outsiders. Outcomes from the interactions posted on social media/website.

NEEDS: Two vitrines will need put in place ideally four days prior to the symposium and start of exhibition. No additional equipment needed apart from walls prepared for exhibiting.

Group 2 (The Round), Karen Wood, Tina Sanchez, Maija Liepins, James Aldridge PROCESS: Exploring the influence of self reflective practices (inner thinking, feeling, being and seeing). How inner and outer space is created, and defined, especially in relation to the relationships artists and audiences have with each other and the site of exhibition. Artists will go out from the provided base to explore the local area, paying attention to what they notice, using their bodies, senses, words, feelings, and documenting experiences in a range of ways which may include conversational poetry, drawings with electrical tape, creation of walking bundles, and video and collages to share online. NEEDS: Ideally we would park The Bus of Many Things in the WSA car park for some/all of the duration of the exhibition. Owned by CAS, the bus is a flexible workshop/exhibiting space and would run as a mobile laboratory giving us a making and conversational engagement space. The Rotunda will give us alcoves which can have a range of Laboratory functions such as display, analysis, collection, and invitation. Artists would like permission to use windows, window shelves and the end of bookcases to exhibit work. 1-2 headphones and display monitors for use in the alcoves would be useful to allow for use of audio in the hushed environment.

Group 3 (Online), Kimvi Nguyen, Jo Pudney, Richard Barnfather PROCESS: Investigation of images on social media platforms depicting activities and tag/hash tags

associated with Winchester School of Art. Referring to students, staff : academics, Lecturers and public. Gathered as research material for a collaborative outcome. Method of collected images will be direct full screen grabs of social media post using phones, laptop, iPads or equivalent, looking at the collection of captured images/posts. Artists will discover and develop patterns, connection, contrast, rules of gathering information. Analogue outcome will be the development of presenting virtual material into a physical form for viewers to access through exhibition and via social media posting. Analogue outcomes will include photography / painting /print / collage. NEEDS: This work will also be exhibited in the Annex as well as online and therefore prepared walls and the vitrines in place will be needed as for Group 1

Group 4 (The Screen), Susan Francis who will produce and curate films for The Screen

The screen will show a sequence of curated short films on loop for each day of the duration of the exhibition. NEEDS: The screen will need to be prepared and ready for the Symposium marking the beginning of the process. Managing the loading of the films etc will be negotiated between Susan Francis and whoever provides technical support for this.

Has the project/exhibition been shown before? (If so, please give details of venue and dates) No. But it is the second iteration of Laboratory of Dissent which originally took place at Winchester Gallery in August/September 2015. L.O.D. 2015 responded to ‘Artistic Activism and Agonistic Spaces’ by Chantal Mouffe, and created a rich seam of material for ongoing critical dialogue and practice enrichment. Artists worked in three ‘cell groups’ with a week in the gallery each. The experiment ended with an interactive symposium to which students and staff attended. Laboratory of Dissent 2019 will take forward the principles of exploring constructive and creative dissent whilst in relationship to people, environments and communities but have a different rhythm, being more responsive to the spaces available. WORKS ON LOAN FROM OTHER INSTITUTIONS n/a PROGRAMMING & EDUCATION Benefits of Exhibition for the University and local community: Will this attract new audiences, increase visitor numbers? What is the unique selling point? Our unique selling point is this event will make practice, research and process visible while offering multiple entry points for audiences to interact with artists and their practice-based dialogue. Laboratory of Dissent 2019 offers the University the chance to establish the three peripheral exhibition sites on campus with a dynamic and energetic project which invites opportunity for critical reflection and conversational engagement from staff, students, artists and public both online and on site. Laboratory of Dissent 2015 was used as a case study by Dr August Jordan Davis at multiple conferences, and having learned from that initial experiment we have strengthened our plans for Laboratory of Dissent 2019 to offer more opportunity for learning, engagement and dissemination of outputs, events and practices.

Both the Open Call and Symposium will aid exposure and awareness of the event to a wider audience and create links with other networks. Previous experience shows the open call will dramatically increase the audience reach of the exhibition and symposium as each artist selected will become an event promoter. ‘Open Days’ for public viewing each week will create ‘focal point’ events which can be advertised on social media, and we will have a website for The Laboratory of Dissent 2019 which will include process and practice blogs from participating artists, extending the reach of the project to online audiences. Potential related events, talks or activities alongside the exhibition: We propose “Laboratory of Dissent: In or Out?” will not only consist of “Inside / Outside” an experimental three week exhibition which but also…

● Launch with a Symposium which might include academic and artistic presentations from all round the country and could feature artist researchers from WSA.

● Alongside the exhibiting of work, the structure of Laboratory of Dissent 2019 necessitates artists being active during the exhibition, engaging in process-based relational development of imagery and artistic interventions. Each group may choose to schedule specific performances, artists walks, and audience engagements, to be discussed during the development of a detailed exhibition plan with Winchester Gallery.

● We’d like the exhibition to end with a private view of the cumulative artworks and creative observations.

● Within 4 - 6 months post-exhibition talks and reflections by artists and WSA staff could also take place in WSA lecture theatres for benefit of art and curation students. Some of these could be recorded for digital dissemination of emergent practice-based theories.

BUDGET Proposed Source of Finance/Sponsorship for Exhibition: Please estimate your budget requirements and potential sources of funds, pending approval of a finalised budget for the comprehensive exhibition planning phase. We have approximately £3500 to invest in this project. We suggest giving each of the three on site groups £800 to allocate. In total this would be £2400 This allows them to assign £200 each per artist for travel and expenses. Alternatively they may decide to invest in group resources for the fabrication of their artworks. The remaining £1100 of our budget will go on marketing, symposium and private view, Marketing/project management will be carried out by our two core staff at CAS offering approx. 5 days in kind support each totaling a value of £1041. FUNDING: What sources of external funding have you identified? (Grants, etc.) The funding will be supplied by CAS from their CAS associate fund. Marketing/management time in kind supplied by CAS is funded by Arts Council England as one of their National Portfolio Organisations.