BasementArtsProject

Recently, I took the step of creating for BasementArtsProject a Board of Directors. This act came about as a result of many things, one such thing being that I actually started the process about five years ago but never got to complete it. As with many things run on a shoe string and by a single person, that which is not essential to survival in the moment gets pushed to the back and becomes a ‘Back Burner’ project. One of the things that the pandemic has provided is the space to start reconsidering such things, and at a time when it has become both desirable and necessary.

At the beginning of December we had an informal meeting of Directors via Zoom to discuss what a board should look like and how it would operate. One of the things verbalised in this meeting was something that has been in the back of mind for the past twelve months or so, and that is that ten years is a significant period of time to do something and such longevity is something to be acknowledged. Not being one for self-congratulatory talk I had to admit that hearing someone else say this made me think, actually, you’re right! Maybe this does need celebrating. Not just for the benefit of The Basement, but also for those that have sailed with us over the years.

It just so happened that back in June of the foul and pestilential year of our Lord that was Two Thousand and Twenty, having already put a programme in place, I had been having discussions with Kimbal Bumstead, the first artist with whom I worked as BasementArtsProject. The 2020 programme has had to be put back into 2021 but now has the addition of a celebratory 10 year project.

And so, in April 2021 we will be presenting a project by Kimbal Bumstead entitled ‘We Are Still Here’ a follow up to the first project ever staged at 28 Back Burton Terrace under the rubric of BasementArtsProject ten whole years ago.

This Is Our House. (Audio/Visual/ Performance/Installation) Kimbal Quist Bumstead. BasementArtsProject April 2011. Photo Kimbal Bumstead

What follows is a conversation with Kimbal Quist Bumstead via the pages of the Studio Journal in which we discuss the nature of a project which is, at this point, a tabula rasa on which we can chart a map of previously unchartered territory. Over the coming months we shall be using the Studio Journal to develop the project from the point of conception through to completion. Of course we do not know how this is going to play out in terms of Covid-19 but, no matter what the situation is regarding the pandemic, a ten year project with Kimbal Bumstead will happen whether it be online or in person at BasementArtsProject. Of course we hope for the former, but . . . well, let’s make no suppositions and get on with it

Bruce Davies 2021

Kimbal, how are you? How are you finding life as an artist in the capital at the moment?

16th Nov 2020

Hi Bruce,

First off, I feel honoured that you have asked me to be part of the 10 years anniversary show. It was a great privilege to be able to realise the This is Our House project with you Debs, and the kids way back in 2010. It was special in many ways, firstly because of the unique and intimate nature of the project, the idea of having an art space in your house, and all of your openness to invite people in to come and make art, but also your openness to then show this to the world. And secondly because of your openness to whatever might come in terms of an exhibition. As such it became an incredible platform for experimentation and creating something that would not have come about in any other way – fundamentally site specific, and intimate in nature. There’s something very strong about a living space also being a space for creation, and space for connection and communicating. Art and life inextricably linked. This year of course has made that even more significant, with the need to work from home, everything all in one place. With the difference however that the creation of things in your house, the learning and exploring could not be shared (at least not physically, or face to face).

Both of these two reasons I just mentioned (the intimacy of the home art space, and your openness to experimentation) make me really excited to make something for the 10 year show in April 2021. It’s been a year of being at home, getting to know the interior of the flat we live in more intimately than ever before, a year of the horrors of zoom calls, glimpses into other people’s interiors and where the soundtrack in the supermarket is the closest thing to a party. I’m a bit slow in responding to your message, and as I write now, London has gone into lockdown 2, I imagine it will last much longer than they say to be honest, but I do hope that come April we can do something physically in the basement. Maybe we should do a rave?!

K+E Meandering Slowly AAJA Radio Broadcast by Kimbal & Ely

This year has been a big change for me in terms of my practice. I’ve been lucky to continue working on my paintings, both from home and also from the studio since July, and thanks to the internet, the artistsupportpledge (the incredible culture of sharing initiated by Mathew Burrows back in February), and my trusty bicycle, I’ve been able to continue selling work and dropping it off to people who live in London. (and posting further afield). So from that respect it’s been quite a good year to be fair.

Since my last show at BAP, my practice has undulated between performance, installation, video, drawing and map making with a generally increasing curve towards painting. Painting has now become the main thing I do as an artist, but this is not the only thing. To be honest at the moment I am at a point where I do not know what the next step is. I feel that my practice needs to reconnect again with the interdisciplinarity of my earlier works.

One of the recurring threads within my work has been about capturing spaces and places; People in those places - stories, experiences and the ‘feeling’ of them through video, mark making, and performance. The model house, video and photobooth installation that I made for This is Our House back in 2010 was absolutely about capturing a kind of intimacy in the here and now. It captured a moment in time, which funnily is now memorialised in your house. For my next body of work, I want to reconnect to ideas around place, memory, materiality and physical experience. The home environment as a space, a place, a vessel, one that has become so significant, (painfully so perhaps), this year. Distance, and detachment is another theme that has been significant this year, feeling close but being far… it almost feels unimaginable to actually be in another place that is not London right now. Lets see how the next months pan out…

Back when we could travel . . . KQB work (projection) as part of an installation at Liverpool Independents Biennial 2012. Bridewell Studios

In anycase, the point of this rambling message is to say that I am excited about this exhibition as being a platform to experiment with a new work, within the context of a site specific environment. Working with the past, the present and the future, of the space itself (your house) as well as the changes in my own practice. I do not yet know what this exhibition will contain. Whether it will be a physical thing, an installation, some artifacts, a video, a performance, paintings, or an online thing. Recently I have been thinking a lot about soundscape and materiality, how places feel and how they sound. I am thinking something along the lines of an installation with drawings and sound. But at this stage it could be anything, and I hope that through our conversation the work will emerge. The important thing for me is that it will be site specific. I see this project as a challenge and a learning experience. It’s important for me that the work comes out of the process rather than just coming up with an idea or some stuff and super imposing it. It will certainly not be an exhibition of paintings. Although that is not so say that there will not be any paintings in there!

For now, I am sending a snippet of some sound sample experiments from stuff around the house. Perhaps this will be a direction to go in. Re-imagining spaces, textures and materiality…

I am sending a snippet of some sound sample experiments from stuff around the house. Perhaps this will be a direction to go in. Re-imagining spaces, textures and materiality…

TO BE CONTINUED . . . .

Part two will be coming soon in another Studio Journal post.

Kimbal Bumstead

Documentation of other work / projects by Kimbal Bumstead can be found at https://www.kimbalbumstead.com

BasementArtsProject | DECADE: A conversation with Kimbal Quist Bumstead #1

For invitations to our Exhibitions and Events

BasementArtsProject
28 Back Burton Terrace
Beeston, Leeds, LS11 5JH