Artist studios at Tate Modern, created by 200 students from Central Saint Martins, UAL, will open the second year of the Tate Exchange Associates programme at the gallery on 15 January 2018. Studio Complex invites the public to take part for free in a wide range of practical art activity and will look at what it takes to survive as an artist in contemporary London with ever-increasing rents and fewer spaces in which to make work.
’This year’s programme explores the many facets, joys and challenges of production today’.
Creativity is the soul of the city, and this project will look at how the notion of an artist’s studio is, of necessity, being re-invented for today’s world. The studios will open in the bespoke Tate Exchange spaces on Level 5 at the gallery. In June, Tate Exchange will welcome its first overseas Associate: Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (VCUarts), from the USA.
Over the course of the next six months, the pioneering Tate Exchange programme will present hundreds of events devised by 60 Associate organisations at Tate Modern and 25 organisations at Tate Liverpool, all from the arts, health, education and the charitable sectors. The overarching theme will be the production with an emphasis on the joy and challenges of producing and making art and the impact of creative learning.
The Associate’s programme marks the second phase in year two of the Tate Exchange programme, the first phase of which opened in September 2017 and comprised artist projects. In Tate Exchange’s inaugural year in 2016/17 the ambitious, new initiative attracted over 230,000 people across London and Liverpool with many thousands more viewing events online.
Among this year’s Associates are Plymouth College of Art whose Factory Settings will look at the kind of art education needed in a world transformed by automation. Staff and students will create factory production stations, digitally mapping visitors’ personalised creative journeys in activities from screen-printing to student protest. Thomas Tallis School will use the classroom as a setting for teachers, students, artists and the public to participate in the production of a ‘good curriculum’ and resources. Through making, editing, sequencing and publishing photographic works of art, teachers will open a window for the public onto the process of curriculum design and professional dialogue. In April, Creativity Culture and Education will take visitors through the Five Creative Habits of Mind, a teaching method that underpins the ground-breaking Lead Creative Schools scheme in Wales, putting an arts-rich education at the centre of the school experience.
From VCUarts in the USA, artist John Freyer, assistant professor at the University, will present a project with a focus on addiction and recovery, building on his extensive work in this area. As part of this, in collaboration with Tate Catering, Brixton People’s Kitchen and people in recovery, a new coffee roast Recovery Roast, has been created for visitors.
At Tate Liverpool, several Associate organisations will tackle the subject of homelessness. In January, Museum of Homelessness presents State of the Nation, a year-long response to the homelessness crisis in the UK. In March, Liverpool John Moores University, in collaboration with Chester Aid to the Homeless, explores some of the causes of homelessness. The theme of production will be examined further in February, when Liverpool Hope University fabricates and construct everyday objects from previous exhibition materials produced by Tate Liverpool and discuss sustainability, ethical consumerism and eco-systems.
Anna Cutler, Tate’s Director of Learning, said: ’This year’s programme explores the many facets, joys and challenges of production today. The next few months of Associates programme offers a serious dig into how we all play our productive parts, seen and unseen. It shines a light on creativity and creative learning as something playful and inspiring, something but that also packs a punch in questioning what gets made, why we make it and who gets to produce or consume it. It follows lead artist Clare Twomey’s ceramics factory in September which began our journey on this important theme.’
On the evening of Friday 26 January 2018, the first Uniqlo Tate Late of the year at Tate Modern will focus on the theme of production with many of the Tate Exchange Associates taking this across the building in pop-up encounters, among them Stance Podcast, Trinity Laban, Digital Maker Collective, People’s Bureau and BACKLIT, Nottingham.
Tate Exchange examines art and its importance to society with the public and external organisations, tackling subjects such as migration, homelessness, mental health and identity. Tate Exchange’s Associates include charities, universities and healthcare trusts as well as smaller organisations from a wide range of disciplines involving, among others, architects, writers, health professionals and musicians.
Central Saint Martins’ Studio Complex will run on Level 5 of the Blavatnik Building at Tate Modern from noon until 18.00 daily from 15 to 21 January inclusive. Admission is free.
Tate Exchange: Production is supported by Maryam and Edward Eisler, Red Hat Inc., Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Art Fund.
Paul Hamlyn Foundation was established by Paul Hamlyn in 1987. Upon his death in 2001, he left most of his estate to the Foundation, creating one of the largest independent grant-making foundations in the UK. Our mission is to help people overcome disadvantage and lack of opportunity, so that they can realise their potential and enjoy fulfilling and creative lives. We have a particular interest in supporting young people and a strong belief in the importance of the arts. www.phf.org.uk
Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. In the past five years alone Art Fund has given £34 million to help museums and galleries acquire art for their collections. It also helps museums share their collections with wider audiences by supporting a range of tours and exhibitions, including ARTIST ROOMS and major works by John Constable and William Stott of Oldham, and makes additional grants to support the training and professional development of curators. Art Fund is independently funded, with the core of its income provided by 123,000 members who receive the National Art Pass and enjoy free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic places across the UK, as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions and subscription to Art Quarterly magazine. In addition to grant-giving, Art Fund’s support for museums includes Art Fund Museum of the Year, and a range of digital platforms. Tate Modern was a finalist for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017. The finalist prize money has been used to support Tate Exchange: Production.