The artist & curator joint residencies featured an artist working in an area of new media practice along with a curator, who engaged with each other critically during the course of the residency. This experimental collaborative approach sought to redefine the artist in residence model by viewing professional critical engagement as a valuable and mutually beneficial aspect of the creative process and thus enabling new possibilities to arise across a broader number of contexts.
Artist Saul Albert and Curator Sarah Cook participated in the first residency, which took place in Summer 2004. During the residency they explored a shared interest in the collection, categorisation and analysis of objects and developed the Faculty of Taxonomy for the University of Openness. Their research was broad and included playing many games of categories in the faculty office, a field trip to Ikea and culminated in the Database Imaginary exhibition. They were joined briefly by artist Anne Laforet (who contributed to the Faculty of Taxonomy) and also by artist Michael Weinkove (The People Speak) to develop a forthcoming project that continues the artists' shared interest into games with malleable rule structures (Who Wants to Be?), as well as to create a Newcastle version of Traffic Island Discs (along with Newcastle artist Christo Wallers/ Cineside Collective). Please see the Faculty Taxonomy Newcastle Activities Report for more info...
Artist Ange Taggart (My Dads Strip Club), Artist Chris Graham and Curators amino (Ben Ponton and Lee Callaghan) were in residence from Jan - Mar '05, working together to develop new strategies for artistic interventions into consumer culture and systems of mass production. The residency focused on researching an experimental approach to cross-fertilising digital direct action with live performance. As collaboration is central to the ethos of both the artists and curators, the residency provided the opportunity to develop relationships with artists and activists in the region, as well as build on existing connections. More info...
Each of the residencies was based in an autonomous space upstairs from the ISIS Arts office, offering the artists and curators a level of independence that allowed them to cultivate not only their projects, but also a social space for engaging with the local arts community.
