16 July 2010
Final gathering for Nine Trades artists
Public event: Saturday July 17th, 10.30 am to 5.30 pm, Dundee Contemporary Arts
Nine artists who have spent the past year taking art directly to the workplace will come together one last time for the Nine Trades of Dundee Final Gathering this weekend.
Nine Trades of Dundee, a Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design-led initiative, challenged preconceptions about who is an artist by showing how the work of the nine artists who have second, non-art, jobs, is influenced by their experiences in the everyday working world.
Over the past 12 months, a variety of projects have been taking place at workplaces in Dundee and the surrounding area. From Fraser MacDonald’s work at Friarton Recycling Centre in Perth to Chris Dyson making a film about the workers at Dundee’s Michelin plant, the boundaries between artist and non-artist have been blurred.
The participants, stakeholders and colleagues will come together for Saturday’s Final Gathering event, which will see the artists reveal their final outcomes, discuss their experiences and give live displays of the work they have been carrying out.
Primarily taking place at the Visual Research Centre, downstairs at Dundee Contemporary Arts, from 10.30 am-5.30 pm, the Final Gathering will see work and documentation on display all day, as well as several scheduled events hosted by the nine artists taking place. Entry is free and open to everyone. Child-friendly activities will also be held.
Laura Simpson, Assistant Curator at DJCAD, part of the University of Dundee, explained that the event was taking place to share the artists’ experiences of the project.
'This Final Gathering event is a high point of the project. There has been a huge amount of artistic and collaborative activity taking place around Dundee, sparked off by these nine artists and Saturday’s event will open this up to even more people.' she said.
'The artists have used their shared experience with their trade colleagues as a starting point to build really solid, ambitious and inspiring projects. The aim is to encourage people to be more confident in engaging with contemporary visual art and culture in general.'
'It has been very inspiring for us as a team to work with the artists and participants of this project. When you get an artist texting to say how happy and excited they are about their project or a participant asking for more similar experiences its incredibly encouraging.'
The Nine Trades of Dundee project was initiated by Exhibitions at DJCAD and was inspired by the ‘The Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee’, an organisation that has been operating since the 1400’s.
Originally concerned with commerce and standards of the city it now functions as a charity and is involved in the preservation of heritage.
Nine Trades of Dundee aims to increase arts access and encourage more participation for non-arts audiences by bringing art activity and creativity to the heart of the workplace.
More information about all the artists involved in the Nine Trades of Dundee project can be found at www.ninetrades.com.
Notes to editors:
Details about all Nine Trades of Dundee artists and their projects:
Alan Grieve worked one day each week as a hairdresser in Nori’s Salon as part of his Nine Trades project. From his exchanges with customers and staff, he has created a magazine with his colleagues that can be distributed through salons throughout Dundee. He will be cutting hair at VRC’s Centrespace during the Final Gathering and his magazine will be on display.
Ange Taggart worked for many years in childcare, family support, community work, day care management and academia. Her Nine Trades of Dundee project took place at Dundee Central Library, supporting the staff and working with voluntary sector providers. She will be giving a demonstration of TagTool animation technology she has employed during her project, at the Final Gathering.
Ben Robinson worked as a Customer Service Advisor at a Dundee call centre and formed a printmaking group at DCA with colleagues. He gathered the ‘doodles’ they completed during their time at work and the group made screenprints based on their chosen doodles. These prints were framed and form part of an exhibition that Ben will be hosting during the Final Gathering. He will also be delivering a talk where he will share his experiences of the project.
Chris Dyson, a metal fabricator and artist, has been working with Michelin at their Dundee factory. His project saw him organise a drive-in cinema event for staff at the factory, where Grease was shown, and - fitting with the idea of cinema - made a film about the process he went through with the workers at the factory. Both Grease and Chris’ film will be shown at the Final Gathering. Grease will be screened in the DCA cinema with a short documentary made about the Drive In Movie event.
Clare Thornton, a seamstress took on the role of a roving tailor for the project. She gathered stories and tools of the trade as she traveled through the city. Clare has produced a unique trenchcoat inspired by these personal encounters and co-created with several of these tailoring and fabric worker colleagues. Clare has developed links with textile businesses Halley Stevenson, Utopia Costumes and gentleman's outfitters Cooper & McKenzie. A display of her work will be held at the Final Gathering and, wearing the trench coat, she will take part in a walking tour to the McManus, where the coat will go on display at the Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee exhibit.
Debbie Lawson has worked on newspapers for more than 10 years, and her experiences inform her sculpture. She uses furniture and found objects to make sculptures which take the viewer on an eerily animated journey into the psychological landscape of the domestic interior. Inspired by Dundee publishers DC Thomson, Debbie will be making furniture from the Broons’ but ‘n‘ ben with a team of students at the Final Gathering. Debbie’s project will also continue later in the year when she will present work made especially for the DC Thomson staff at McManus Galleries.
David Yu, a cocktail bartender, is also a sculptor and filmmaker and created a series of audio visual interventions in Dundee bars. David, with help from bar staff, patrons and apprentices, filmed in several bars around the town. He edited short films and audio pieces which reflect the character of each of the venues and will present them within a sculpture installation in each bar. A pub-crawl around the bars David has worked in will see him unveil these installations on Final Gathering day. These installations will be on display in The Bush Bar, The Doghouse, Fat Sams, The Trades House and a private flat between 5th and 18th of July.
Fraser Macdonald, an assistant bin loader and Fine Art graduate, has established the 'Garbologist' movement by setting up headquarters at Perth & Kinross Environment Services’ Friarton Depot, from where he uncovers the beauty in what is commonly misconceived as a grim working environment of rubbish. The Final Gathering will see Fraser hold an exhibition, featuring a blog and film of his time as head Garbologiust as well as discussing the experience. Visitors to the Final Gathering will receive a souvenir from the Garbologists movement.
Pippa Koszerek has worked as a temporary secretary in a variety of work places. She worked with admin staff around Dundee to explore their daily tasks and skills and initially invited anyone working in admin to email a photograph of the ‘view from your desk’. Pippa also ran lunch clubs for secretaries as a way to get to know people and let them input to the project. Most recently she hosted a special Board Meeting where the participants undertook admin related games. During the Final Gathering she will be exhibiting the ‘view from your desk’ images as well as hosting games and other activities.
About Nine Trades of Dundee:
Nine Trades of Dundee is a project devised by Exhibitions at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee, with major funding from The National Lottery through the Scottish Arts Council’s Inspire Fund.
Nine Trades of Dundee has also been supported by University of Dundee Graduates Council, The Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee and Tay Charitable Trust.
The outputs of the ‘Nine Trades of Dundee’ will include nine core collaborative commissions; a ‘Nine Trades Final Gathering’ event bringing together the artists, participants and wider audience; two ‘open door’ tours to see the work in situ; ‘Nine Trades Apprenticeships’ for Duncan of Jordanstone students; one ‘Nine Trades’ workshop for a Dundee school; and a linked Creative Learning Resource to accompany the ‘Nine Incorporated Trades of Dundee’ display at McManus Galleries.
The project has commissioned nine artists with second non-art trades to lead collaborative art projects with workers from that particular trade. The commissions have been developed to fit the individual artists’ practice and the working environment and the artists have received curatorial and peer support as part of the larger ‘Nine Trades of Dundee’ project.
About the Visual Research Centre:
The Visual Research Centre is a unique facility dedicated to visual arts research from initial concepts to final exposition and is run by Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design part of University of Dundee.
Visual Research Centre aims to expose and initiate conversations around creative research practice through multi-platform means.
The VRC programme over the next year will also include a focus on public art, music / performance practices and D’Arcy Thompson with seminars, live events, residencies, online activity and exhibitions.
For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
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