In response to an open call, more than 300 artists applied to take part in Wysing Arts Centre’s programme of artists’ residencies for 2013. The selected artists who will be working with Wysing during two residency periods over the next year are:
11 March - 6 May: Anna Barham, David Osbaldeston, Charlotte Prodger and Florian Roithmayr
21 September - 10 November: James Beckett, Cécile B. Evans, Michael Dean and Seb Patane
Over the last five years, Wysing has been exploring different structures and systems through which to offer its groundbreaking programme of residencies, alongside short retreats, that support artists to make new work.
The theme of the 2013 residency programme is Convention T, a reference to logician, mathematician and philosopher Alfred Tarski who applied logic to sentence and language structure. The eight artists working at Wysing in 2013 will use this as a starting point to explore how systems and structures, both visible and hidden, can be applied to uncover meaning, narrative and paradox.
A public programme of events takes place during the residencies, where invited local experts and specialists give presentations at Wysing to offer new ideas around the theme including a forthcoming series of talks on the 13th century Royston Cave, Roman roads and trade routes around the vicinity of Bourn, the hidden structures of maths and coding, family bread-making workshops and a live music performance using a Nintendo Wiimote.
The work developed at Wysing’s campus in rural Cambridgeshire goes on to be exhibited in our gallery and through our network of partner organisations.
Director Donna Lynas says: “We are looking forward to working with such an interesting group of artists at Wysing over the next year. We’ve been developing our residency programme so that we can increasingly offer support to more established artists as well as those at the beginning of their careers, and it’s exciting to be able to give them this springboard at a key point in the development of their practices. We are also delighted to be able to give this support at a time when funding for new and risk-taking work is increasingly difficult to secure.”
Helen Lax, Regional Director, Arts Council England, East: “Wysing Arts Centre’s residency programme grows in strength from year to year providing national and international artists with the inspiration and support to develop their work at critical points in their career. We are delighted to see the eight artists selected this year from a range of genres and backgrounds and we are looking forward to seeing the work they produce.”
Wysing Arts Centre’s residency programme is funded by Arts Council England and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
About the artists
Anna Barham studied maths and philosophy at Cambridge University before attending the Slade School of Fine Art, London. She is interested in how meaning is constructed through language and the relationship (or not) of that to ‘truth’, and also in the unruly side of language that takes on a life of its own. She is keen to use her residency to structure and edit a new video work first developed during a public research project at Site Gallery, Sheffield, which considers the alphabet as a potentially endless linguistic system. Barham has presented solo projects for Art on the Underground, with Arcade at Frieze Art Fair 2012, and at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, and has taken part in group exhibitions at venues including The Drawing Room, Matt’s Gallery, Flat Time House (all London), Art Exchange, Colchester, Studio International, Leipzig and FRAC Lorraine, Metz.
James Beckett adapts found objects and items from museum storage to create sculptural arrangements and installations. His work questions the status of artefacts and the nature of collections, becoming an exploration of diverse historical themes, such as those of industrial heritage or the origins of ethnicities. Beckett was born in Zimbabwe and lives and works in Amsterdam. He has had solo exhibitions internationally, including Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and South Africa, and has been in group exhibitions at venues such as the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Wattis, San Francisco, Dak’art - African Biennale, Dakar, GAM, Turin and The Kitchen NYC.
Michael Dean was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. Writing and the delivery of this writing into states of typographical physicality centre Dean's research into the political properties of language, pertaining to authorship and autonomy. Taking the form of writing, reading, drawing, photography, video, sculpture, installation and publication, solo exhibitions include Cubitt, London, The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, Supportico Lopez, Berlin, Herald St, London; Nomas Foundation, Rome and Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany.
Cécile B. Evans is a Belgian-American artist who lives and works in Berlin. Her work focuses on how contemporary society values emotion: its production, hierarchy and representation within culture. She often sources material from science, film or the internet, and is interested in building structures with no hierarchy. She is the 2012 recipient of the Emdash Award, which resulted in a commissioned work for the Frieze Art Fair in London. Recent exhibitions have included a solo performance at Palais de Tokyo Contemporary Art Museum, Paris, How to Eclipse the Light at Wilkinson Gallery, London, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York and Bergen Art Museum, Norway. She has a degree from New York University’s BFA Theatre program.
David Osbaldeston makes collage, drawing, re-drawing, photography, design, and printed matter, and is interested in using his residency to explore how linguistics and avant-garde language might affect our understanding of fictional realities, narrative, and the unfolding of time. He is also interested in how information systems and diagrams provide a basis for alternative readings. Osbaldeston is represented by Matt’s Gallery, London and is currently resident at the ACME Firestation, London. He has taken part in exhibitions at venues nationally and internationally including The Modern Institute and CCA, Glasgow, Focal Point, Southend, Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, ICA, London and EAST International, Norwich.
Seb Patane was born in Italy and lives and works in London. His work includes drawings and adapted found imagery and objects, as well as sound, video and performance. He is interested in ideas of history, particularly the visual outputs of political endeavours and ideas of protest. A recent focus has been on collective gatherings. He has had solo exhibitions at China Art Objects, Los Angeles, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Mulhouse, Maureen Paley, London, Art Statements at Art Basel, and Art Now, Tate Britain, London. Group exhibitions include No New Thing Under The Sun, Royal Academy of Art, London, Compass in Hand: Selections from the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawing Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Beck’s Futures, ICA London and touring.
Charlotte Prodger works with16mm film, video, writing and performance. She uses the meeting language and technology to generate cross-associations and slippages, inviting new routes of interpretation. Source material includes YouTube videos, personal anecdotes and the legacy of structural film and queer subjectivity, which she uses to explore contradictions that arise between form and content. Prodger has had solo exhibitions at Studio Voltaire, London and CCA, Glasgow, and taken part in group projects including Frozen Lakes, Artists Space, New York and Cage Rattling commissioned by Electra and The Wire London for the John Cage Centenary at King's Place. She is the recipient of awards from Artangel and Creative Scotland, and has taken part in residencies at CALQ, Montreal and Cove Park, Rosneath.
Florian Roithmayr was born in Germany and lives and works in London. His work involves the presentation of hand-crafted, sculpted and cast homages to the production of objects, ranging from the wall tiles in a German subway station to the cave paintings of prehistoric man. He often refers to patterns of withdrawal, disinterest or internal retreat. Roithmayr initially trained in Germany as a set designer before studying Fine Art at Slade School of Fine Art, London, the School the Art Institute, Chicago and MA Fine Art at Goldsmiths College. He has had solo exhibitions at MOT International, London, Galerie Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt, Ateneum Finnish National Art Museum and Taidehalli Art Centre, Helsinki, Finland. Group exhibitions have included Solid on our Source Planet, Wysing Arts Centre and Fifteen, S1 Artspace, Sheffield.
WYSING ARTS CENTRE is a working campus providing alternative environments and structures for artistic production, learning and knowledge exchange. Wysing’s large rural site near Cambridge comprises artists’ studios, education and new media facilities, a gallery and project spaces, a 17th century farmhouse and outdoor structures. Wysing offers a unique environment for art to be developed and presented; with an ongoing and innovative artistic programme of events, exhibitions, retreats and residencies; and a unique programme for young artists, Wysing is delivering a rich programme that is accessible on many levels to a range of people. Art developed at Wysing is shown at significant venues around the world, and Wysing is part of national networks including Plus Tate, Contemporary Visual Arts Network, and Arts Council England’s National Portfolio.
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2011 and 2015, we will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and an estimated £1 billion from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk
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For further information please contact:
Lucy Wilson, External Relations Manager, Wysing Arts Centre
07787 854468 lucy.wilson@wysingartscentre.org
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