WEEKENDER – is designed to offer a realistic option for artists who have full time jobs, children, and other obligations and responsibilities that normally make residencies problematic. What does this mean to me? A realistic option. People talk about the ‘current climate’ but I have to say that for me and a lot of other artists, the ability to participate in a lot of art world processes/necessary steps up ladders has always been hampered by a lack of money/time. Money and time are one of the same thing, it’s easy to get caught in the cycle of not being able to afford time. Working 5 days a week leaves the weekend to socialise, recover, recharge, complete life admin, see some art and also try to make some art. I’m don’t think its impossible to have a practice in these conditions but I think you have to be comfortable with a production rate that is slowed down. Of course most artists are not able to sustain their living costs through their practice for a variety of reasons. For some artist’s their practice doesn’t neatly fit into the rigid criteria set out in the art world to enable ‘what artists do’ to be rewarded financially. Some artists just aren’t very good and so don’t make money. Some artists choose to go down the path of working for big art institutions which can lead them into some great careers or tool them up ready to set-up their own art organisation or gallery. But I have also heard many bad things about this path and have had my own negative experiences of working in a gallery. Some artists choose to earn their crusts through activities that are non-art related. This might be because they have skills in other areas that reward well financially and give them time to focus on their practice. It might be because like me, they got annoyed with trying to navigate a big art organisation/gallery and so turned their attention to something more rewarding. Another reason, and one that I truly believe in, is that it can be a healthy past time for some artists to spend the majority of their time outside of the art world.

Residency – I’m going to look at the idea of a residency and explore it through some of my work. How do you do residencies when you don’t have the time or capacity? I’ve been interested in the idea of being an artist-in-residence since 2004 yet strangely enough this is the first ever formal/real artist’s residency that I have been on. I’m going to start by showing you a couple of rejection letters for residencies I’ve applied for in the past.

These rejection letters illustrate the idea of suggesting new areas for artist’s residencies to take place.   The artists placement group did this in the 70’s and put artists into key areas in government bodies and into important areas of industry. In a similar way to how a lot of art organisations work now, the focus was not on producing objects or artworks as such but that the artists were 'incedental' and were there to influence decision making. Then I moved onto uninvited residencies or undercover residencies.

I spent two years on an undercover residency at Harrods where I performed for and met high profile figures such as:

It’s through my own initiated residency I was able to interact with these people and make links to a world normally out of reach. I placed myself on the fish counter as I was hugely impressed with the displays created there and could see some interesting performance opportunities there.

My terms set out for the residency were that it was to be carried out in complete stealth mode, always undercover. This was to enable me access to the store, it’s staff and it’s customers in ways that would not be granted if it had been an official residency. Not that Harrods are likely to start a residency programme for contemporary artists. I received a monthly wage for my work done like everybody else there – yet, at the same time, I was also able to spend time developing my practice and honing my skills. STEALTH MODE: It can be a strain to work hard for a long period of time undercover. As an artist I was always there with the art frame in my head ready to apply to situations, yet I had no one to share it with. I’m not sure if this was really a problem but perhaps the fact that I am here now talking about this undercover residency suggests that I did want to share it.

Over time, I realised the team and the fish became were most important parts of my research and work there, although labour itself was part of my practice. The residency provided me with a situation in which collaboration was to become key, although at first the team were frosty towards me. I had to earn a respect through hard work and through my ability to learn fishmongering skills quickly.

Once I was up to speed, I began to collaborate with other members of my team in creating fish displays. We would be under a tight deadline to complete the display before the shop opened. We had to be able to adapt to new working methods and new materials as we’d be working with whatever had been bought from market that morning.

I spent time navigating the intricate social dynamics that existed in the team in order to finally get to the position where I had been trusted to create the main fish display and this was the ultimate prize, the ultimate dream. This was by no means the end-point of the residency, it just marked a new era where I was now able to keep pushing my practice but with a much higher level of public visibility.   Here are some examples of a collaborative display made by Alex and myself:

One morning after creating a great display we’d critique it from the shop floor and we realised that our aesthetic was subconsciously inspired by the overly baroque environment we were surrounded by.

A great discussion followed amongst the team for several weeks about other more modern styles or movements we could take inspiration from and change the counter’s aesthetic. Many of the team were not keen on any kind of big juxtaposition and so we decided to just create micro areas of rebellion within the bigger display.     There was a huge performative aspect to the residency that I developed over my time there with support from my team. Here you can see me leaning. This is because when behind the counter we are high up from shop floor. This was our stage from which we’d perform for our audience.

Paulo was one of the best. He’d sing and dance and then cackle with laughter, always making our audience laugh and smile. He developed a really strong performance that reversed the play of power between himself and members of management. When being addressed by any members of management, he’d say “yes M’lud”. I’m not sure how he got away with it but it could have been his strong Goan accent that put them off.

I want to illustrate another idea of residency by reading an extract from a text work called ‘ Collected Reports’:       Collected Reports – Artist-in-Residence at The Bulls Head Inn. Here I spent my time exploring a subservient role within the structure of a family run business and looked at the possibilities of navigating a path upwards within it as an outsider.  In response to the hectic and pressured environment, I opened up the notion of pot washing as a physical stress-release mechanism.  This led me to develop a body of work that used washing up bubbles and the various bits of food left in the sink, moulded into a series of low-relief figurative sculptures, based on the other members of staff.    My sculptural representations of staff were briefly exhibited to Terry, the kitchen porter, before being washed down the drain. Terry commented that my ability to ‘wash my work away’ was a courageous act of faith in my ideas.  The ephemeral nature of this work challenged the notion of permanent artwork whilst simultaneously adhering to cleanliness and hygiene policies.  After many attempts to gain a more respected position of power within the family structure I realised that it was not impossible but that now it was not a goal I wished to achieve. I concluded my investigations by deciding to take what I had already gained from the residency and by not getting entangled in the heated family politics.           This works by re-imagining previous experiences that may have been mundane or even painful as positive artistic experiences. I see this method as a template that anyone can apply to their past as a kind of therapy or as in my case, a way of creating artwork out of a life that is governed more by economic struggles and that leaves minimal space and time in which to create art in a more traditional way.   VIDEOS: Harrods Fish Counter 2008 IKEA Cabbage

NOTES FROM TALK AT CAZ PROJECT SPACE 19/07/11 WITH INPUT FROM AUDIENCE MEMBERS The work itself now seems to comprise of more than just a documentary style video, the talk or performance lecture suits the details that add up to be the work. The collaboration and intervention held in Fish Boutique in a way completes the cycle of the work. I am now in a position to be able to come out and say I am an artist. The art frame is out of my head and made visible through WEEKENDER. The conversations held with colleagues whilst in stealth mode at Harrods were not in the language I perhaps use in the talk but in more of an everyday language. I feel its possible to have these conversations that work on two levels. On the everyday, they are honest enquiries that seek other people’s opinions or coax them into thinking creatively. When the art frame is applied I think two things happen. Firstly the conversation can become very charged and powerful. Secondly, if the conversation is translated into ‘art speak’ then it can appear either more powerful and charged or slightly pretentious in relation to its context depending upon the viewer’s own relationship to the language built around art.

All work is Copyright Sam Curtis 2011 ©