studio notes

Reproducing some of my notes from the recent studio conversation in an attempt to keep some momentum going over the Christmas slump and because it feeds into other stuff elsewhere…

Draw your own conclusions and do as you see fit!

Things in [square brackets] are notes I’ve added as I’ve typed these now.

  • Defensible space vs. shared spaces
  • £4 per square foot, including bills (national average £7 [national average for what? What were we comparing?])
  • Studios as something to exploit and then move on from
  • Nobody [at the studios] was talking about their work!
  • Programming vs studio space. Where is the activity?
  • Push people out into the city [to further their careers, make way for new artists and prevent a plug forming in the studios]
  • The functions of a café includes that of an ad hoc public space [cf actually making a direct financial profit, many projects are born here]
  • Associate programme:
    • collaborations
    • sharing knowledge
    • Friends model
    • Travel bursaries
    • How do you make it sweet enough for people to be dedicated?
    • computer access 24 hours
    • library
    • Access to space and to each other (primary function)
    • Draw on it for information and opportunities
    • £12 per month
    • not through a selection process, but available to anyone who feels they are following a path within the visual arts
    • Consists of an active core
    • Peer-to-peer networking
  • Studios as part of the ecology of the area and the region (how does it do this and how is it charged with energy?)
  • Using the institution to create networks
  • Who is the gallery for?
  • Spike Design as a way of getting the funders through the door
  • DCMS toolkit
  • What is our relationship with bricks and mortar that can fit our new economies?
    • related to profile
    • dependent on career stage of the artists involved
    • are studios actually the model of the future?
    • Where is the urgency?
  • 24-hour access
  • Studios providing new ways for graduates to participate in the city
  • Cube in Bristol as a potential model based not on studio space, but on social activities that become the starting point for many initiatives, thereby leaving a legacy.
  • Do people need an ongoing space?
  • Do people need a temporary space?
  • A space that the city provides will never be your space – it is for generations
  • Nuclei around centres of common need
  • How to manage something that is fractured?
  • Artists do not want to be building managers
  • Lack of social confidence in Birmingham’s practitioners (by contrast Spike Island grew from activism and lobbying)

Merry Christmas everyone – what can you make happen in 2008?