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Looking at Art Fair People Looking at Art

Female with pink hair, red cardigan, looking at cabbage piece

Introduction by fair curator Nat Pitt

Introduction by fair curator Nat Pitt

The central sculpture pavilion at The Manchester Contemporary has, since 2021, been an area of exploration and investigation into Art’s inner workings, seeking to reveal or expose the lesser-known structures behind the ‘art world.’ Previous editions have looked at; Collections (in 2020) Alternative gallery spaces (2022), Art Logistics (2023) and this year we look at the Studio.

Looking at Art Fair People Looking at Art features 10 artists from ten selected disciplines to bring a part of their studio to the pavilion, an area to experiment, present and make art for the duration of the fair.

There are no expectations of the invited artists, who are both literally and metaphorically at the heart of the fair. Given the same brief, each artist was chosen according to discipline or their métier, to occupy a space over the three days of the fair and bring some element of their studios to engaging in any safe activity of making, performance, or discussion suitable for all audiences visiting The Manchester Contemporary.

Undeniably there are zoological aspects to a studio separated from the audience by a one metre high wall, however this project is not about a voyeuristic gaze nor is it a demonstrational display of people at work. This project seeks to separate the studio and the artist, to uncover the ideas that haunt the artist studio in society and reveal how artists work, in particular how art knowledge is transferred amongst artists. It is an experiment in networks and dialogue.

There is a persistent romantic notion of the lone artist in the New York loft or the Parisian garrett. And yes, here in Manchester, we have our own romances of a post-industrial past, brown field and disused schools or caretaker spaces to make up our complex of studios. Through this pavilion we hope to share and discuss this with artists and fair visitors because to some degree, studios are hidden from the wider society.

An artist life is a vocational and precarious life, spent thinking, making and importantly, for art’s sake, in dialogue with other artists. This project looks at the idea of the artist as a worker contributing to culture through knowledge exchange as set out by cultural thinkers and academics like Alison Bain, C. Leadbeater and Kate Oakley, whose research place artists within society.

“The artist could be seen as self-controlled worker making art in isolation and at the same time working collectively in clusters or ‘innovation systems’”  (Bain. A)
Artists have transferred knowledge through “flexible, short-term relationships (that is for example, private views, talks, studio groups and parties) and external partners” (art fairs, galleries, collectors, group shows, talks, parties, critics and curators)  (C. Leadbeater and K. Oakley)

The Artists

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Credits

Bain, A. 2005 Constructing an Artistic Identity Work, employment and society 19 1 25-46 
Leadbeater, C. and Oakley, K. 1999 The independents: Britain’s new cultural entrepreneurs