Then The actual weekend...
Saturday, May 8, 2010
....
Pretty Vacant
"PrettyvacanT is an arts initiative set up in 2009 to repurpose the large number of vacant properties in Dublin as temporary spaces for artists.
We enliven empty city spaces through video projection, installation, painting, photography and sculpture.
The dynamic use of dormant space makes unoccupied premises more aesthetically appealing and creates activity and vibrancy in the building and surrounding area.
We hope to bring art to a new audience in an exciting and unexpected way, away from the intimidating atmosphere of a gallery."
We met with Pretty VancanT and told her everything we'd been doing and vica versa. Seemed that there was alot of red tape in the way of everything. Creative Limerick was mentioned a few times so we reearched this more;
Creative Limerick is an innovative initiative set up to promote the work of young artists while reanimating Limerick city. Creative Limerick enables artists to use vacant prime shopfront space to sell/endorse their work. The creative industries included in this initiative include advertising, architecture, art and antiques markets, computer and video games, crafts, design, fashion, film and video, music, performing arts, publishing, software, television and radio.
The practitioners are responsible for fitting out the window space, lighting and keeping the display updated. Their work is insured and there is no fee to the practitioners. The initiative initially was to last for a trial period of 3 months but has been ongoing since November.
After a few weeks of not really knowing where to turn to next we we're quite disheartened. Eimear and Jonah were filming in the sculpture dept for the Arts Council of Ireland and wanted to know what we knew/thought about the arts council. To be honest we didn't know too much at all but Hannah and Greg got to say their bit on tape.
Eimear informed us about a whole weekend planned but the Arts COuncil to talk to young people about what they want from the council in the future. So we got on board.
The weekend was a pretty good success. Got to talk SPACE for hours and made lots of contacts.
"PrettyvacanT is an arts initiative set up in 2009 to repurpose the large number of vacant properties in Dublin as temporary spaces for artists.
We enliven empty city spaces through video projection, installation, painting, photography and sculpture.
The dynamic use of dormant space makes unoccupied premises more aesthetically appealing and creates activity and vibrancy in the building and surrounding area.
We hope to bring art to a new audience in an exciting and unexpected way, away from the intimidating atmosphere of a gallery."
We met with Pretty VancanT and told her everything we'd been doing and vica versa. Seemed that there was alot of red tape in the way of everything. Creative Limerick was mentioned a few times so we reearched this more;
Creative Limerick is an innovative initiative set up to promote the work of young artists while reanimating Limerick city. Creative Limerick enables artists to use vacant prime shopfront space to sell/endorse their work. The creative industries included in this initiative include advertising, architecture, art and antiques markets, computer and video games, crafts, design, fashion, film and video, music, performing arts, publishing, software, television and radio.
The practitioners are responsible for fitting out the window space, lighting and keeping the display updated. Their work is insured and there is no fee to the practitioners. The initiative initially was to last for a trial period of 3 months but has been ongoing since November.
After a few weeks of not really knowing where to turn to next we we're quite disheartened. Eimear and Jonah were filming in the sculpture dept for the Arts Council of Ireland and wanted to know what we knew/thought about the arts council. To be honest we didn't know too much at all but Hannah and Greg got to say their bit on tape.
Eimear informed us about a whole weekend planned but the Arts COuncil to talk to young people about what they want from the council in the future. So we got on board.
The weekend was a pretty good success. Got to talk SPACE for hours and made lots of contacts.
No. Nope. Nada.
We then thought maybe we should contact the Dublin City Coucil and the Temple Bar Cultural Trust. See if they could help in any way. Got their contact details and sent our proposal.
Temple Bar Cultural Trust replied saying they didn't have any free space available but gave us a list of properties we could rent.
No Thanks.
And the Dublin City Council got back to us asking for a meeting.
But they weren't the Dublin City Council at all. Somehow we had managed to get the contact details of Davy Insurance on Dawson Street. Excellent.
We met with them. They were VERY KEEN. Said they'd get back to us once they had spoken to their bosses.
In the end couldn't help us. But said if we needed any help with anythig else not to hesitate to contact them.
Got a bit repetitive.
Temple Bar Cultural Trust replied saying they didn't have any free space available but gave us a list of properties we could rent.
No Thanks.
And the Dublin City Council got back to us asking for a meeting.
But they weren't the Dublin City Council at all. Somehow we had managed to get the contact details of Davy Insurance on Dawson Street. Excellent.
We met with them. They were VERY KEEN. Said they'd get back to us once they had spoken to their bosses.
In the end couldn't help us. But said if we needed any help with anythig else not to hesitate to contact them.
Got a bit repetitive.
Connaught House. No
So we met with Connaught House. We met Yvonne. She was lovely. We chatted about what we wanted. She showed us a huge oom where we could have our exhibition. Told us that John Rocha was having a show there that night to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Then she showed us their brochure of all their other properties available.
This was all starting to look as if she thought we were willing to pay for the space. Which we weren't. Breakdown in communication.
We left and she said she would call us when she'd talked to her boss. As we walked away we all shared concerns that she'd gotten the wrnog end of the stick. So we called her to clear it up. We would not in fact be able to pay for the space, We wanted it for free. Philanthropic gesture really.
She hadn't got that. We apologized. She appologized. Said if we thought she could help in any other way to contact her.
So 1 down.
This was all starting to look as if she thought we were willing to pay for the space. Which we weren't. Breakdown in communication.
We left and she said she would call us when she'd talked to her boss. As we walked away we all shared concerns that she'd gotten the wrnog end of the stick. So we called her to clear it up. We would not in fact be able to pay for the space, We wanted it for free. Philanthropic gesture really.
She hadn't got that. We apologized. She appologized. Said if we thought she could help in any other way to contact her.
So 1 down.
Empty Space
We contacted Connaught House after seeing this.
ART SPACE:What's going to happen to all the empty office buildings around the country? Aoife Tunney has filled a vacant cavern with art, writes GEMMA TIPTON
ON THE FLOORS above and below, it’s another day at the office. People are working at their desks, having meetings, making notes, taking calls. To get here, we have signed in at the front desk and taken the lift to the first floor. Anglo Irish has its Private Banking offices here. The carpet is thick and there is art on the walls. Then we open a pair of inlaid wooden doors, and take an unexpected step down, to find a surprise.
We’re in a huge, exciting space that extends off towards distant windows, giving views onto the tops of trees. There are no desks here, no carpets, and the walls aren’t quite finished. But placed around the empty shell there are pieces of art: installations, films, special constructions. As an office space, this floor is on the market and has been for some time. Once let, I’m sure it will make a perfectly fine divisional office, or even a headquarters for some company – but as a contemporary art gallery it’s absolutely phenomenal. I’m here with Aoife Tunney, who has made this place (temporarily) a gallery, and whose exhibition work.in.space runs here until June 18th.
Tunney, a graduate of the MA in visual arts practices at the Institute of Art, Design Technology in Dún Laoghaire, had already curated an exhibition at the Back Loft in Dublin, and had worked at Four Gallery. “I was looking around for spaces to put on a show,” she explains, “and not having much luck. That was before the downturn. I had decided not to approach established galleries because I didn’t feel I was on that level yet, but I also wanted to do something different.”
The first artist Tunney approached was Declan Clarke. “His work often comes from a political perspective, and I wanted an element in the exhibition that addressed the politics of why this space existed at all, and why it is empty. It’s almost as if this space is representative of the bubble we’ve gone through. So Declan came to see the space, saw its potential, and has made a film about it.”
This office-as-art-space phenomenon is not a first: in the empty CA department store on London’s Oxford Street in 2001, Michael Landy famously destroyed (crushed and shredded) his own belongings – including art works, his birth certificate and a coat his father had given him. In the UK, the government is discussing making grants available to people to use vacant retail space for cultural or community purposes. It’s also something that has been happening in an informal way in Ireland, with organisations such as Pallas, G126 and Thisisnotashop operating in otherwise “unwanted” buildings. The origins of Temple Bar were also in abandoned factories – a shirt factory, in the case of Temple Bar Gallery and Studios.
Equally, not all landlords feel comfortable working with artists, who they may feel are a different breed. In New York, Swing Space and Workspace are two initiatives of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) that provide a model we could adopt here. They take advantage of commercial space that is vacant for a variety of reasons, as the LMCC’s residency director, Erin Donnelly, explains: “Many commercial buildings have vacant space locked between tenants with long-term leases that is not really marketable on its own.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2009/0606/1224247820020.html
SPACE
We would like space.
Space to hold exhibitions.
Space for open discussions.
Space to create art.
Space to swap skills.
Thanks.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Art by Processing.
We started using the processing programme last week and quite suprisingly I really enjoyed it. I had no idea what it meant goint into it. All the jargon went straight over my head. But once we started actually writing the code it kind of ckicked. Not that I can do anything more than a simple line or rectangle. But it definitley gave me a taste for something I'd love to really explore!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
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