The system cannot cope with chaos. Randomness and Disorder are anathema to a structure based on predictability. Art, in its multiplicity of forms lies at the centre of a paradox when forced to consider it’s true role in society.
SCIBase was established in 2012 as a collaborative vehicle for artists associated with SCI (Soup Collective International), based primarily in the Northwest of England and run by Wendy Williams in collaboration with BasementArtsProject Leeds.
Through drawing, sculpture, film and 35mm projection this exhibition looks to explore the role of the epigone (an impersonator or apprentice) as each new piece is realised. Four drawings made at the beginning of the project act as proposals for four artworks. The drawings enclose the signature of the artist, offering a framework for how to follow suit. But the corresponding artworks are less defined in terms of their authorship.
Luke Drozd is an artist and illustrator who studied BA Fine Art at Leeds Metropolitan University, and completed his Masters in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London in 2009.
As we leave behind the port of Liverpool and bring the work of SCIBase to Leeds for one final outing in 2012, ‘INHOSPITABLE 1.1’ becomes the marriage of three distinct exhibitions into one coherent narrative, driven by the input of all involved. Along with the shift in cities comes a shift in style and a new set of rules and curatorial concerns emerge.
What began as a slightly tongue in cheek title for the second and third in a series of exhibitions has, for me at least, become a point of serious consideration. Originally the title INHOSPITABLE referred to the site for the second SCIBase exhibition at the Bridewell Studios, a former police station, on the edge of Liverpool city centre.
And so it is that on a warm sunny morning in late March, with the smell of oil paint and turps hanging on the air, BasementArtsProject turns a corner and enters a new phase in its existence.
We arrived in Stockholm on a Wednesday afternoon in flurries of snow and a bitingly cold wind. Our arrival marked the end of four months of collaborative planning, mainly via e-mail, between BasementArtsProject, Leeds and SCI based in the Northwest.
‘SPEAKEASY: art in an age of prohibition’ began life as a throwaway comment. A guest at a previous BasementArtsProject event likened it to ‘something out of 1920’s Chicago’, only here the illicit activity was art rather than the consumption of alcohol.
Art that seeks to engage with political ideas and values does well to do so without rhetorical bombast. Real critique demands engagement rather than the self-regarding calculation of political posturing or the impatient noise of sloganeering.
The ArtRun began life as a simple idea; the commitment to, and execution of, an idea. For Debs, the originator of the concept, this meant using a physical activity to consider what it means to be an artist. Debs is not an artist, but neither is she a runner so both aspects of the idea were essentially a meditation on perseverance.
I have, over the last few years, been fortunate enough to work on various occasions with Kimbal Bumstead a most singular performance artist if ever there was one.
