Full Scale - Art’s Use in the Real World
Curated by Andy Abbott
Friday 22nd Sept - Friday 8th Dec 2017 at Gallery II, Chesham Building, University of Bradford. Opening hours Monday - Friday: 11am - 5pm (Thursdays until 6pm).
Full Scale - Art’s Use in the Real World is an exhibition that draws together creative practices that aim to affect change at different scales; from the local to the global, the individual to the environmental, and the representational through to the social, economic and political. Case studies and examples of historical projects are displayed alongside live, ongoing activities, and an invitation to propose ‘useful art projects’ for the future.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s award-winning Rubber Coated Steel is a video tribunal where the artist’s techniques for visualizing sound frequencies are used to determine whether Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets or live ammunition at two unarmed teenagers in the occupied West Bank. As well as their enlightening ‘FAQ’s Austrian artist group WochenKlausur’s interventionist practice is represented by documentation of a project where they helped students to create affordable housing from vacant buildings.
The self-organised art school Islington Mill Art Academy display outcomes from their engagement with the Asociación de Arte Útil’s ‘useful art’ archive as part of an earlier residency in the gallery. Copies of Russian collective Chto Delat’s ‘reader on performative education’ from The School of Engaged Art are available to browse and take away.
Open arts collective Wur Bradford present a selection of recent, current and future projects that include a campaign against Street Harassment, Creative Resistance sessions, and a social history project for Bradford’s Oastler Market.
Together the works offer a chance to reflect upon practices that art critic Stephen Wright has described as being orientated towards ‘usership rather than spectatorship’ and ‘characterised more than anything else by their scale of operations: they operate on the 1:1 scale. They are not scaled-down models … (they) are both what they are, and propositions of what they are.’ Visitors are also invited to make proposals for their own useful art projects as part of the exhibition and accompanying workshops and discussion event.
Full Scale public events programme
Thurs Sept 21st: Launch event with performances from Wur Bradford 5 - 7pm.
Sat Oct 7th: Curator Tour plus Skype conversation with Wochenklausur. 12:30pm
Sat Oct 21st: Wur Useful Art Party, 12 - 3pm. Information and registration (free event)
Sat Nov 4th: Curator Tour plus discussion 12pm - 3pm
Sat Nov 18th: Islington Mill Art Academy Pot Luck Dinner, 12pm - 3pm.
Mon Nov 27th: UnCommons Live Music event at Delius Arts and Cultural Centre with Stella Chiweshe (Zimbabwe) and Bradford Scratch Orchestra. 7pm Doors.
Sat Dec 2nd: 12pm - 3pm. Universal Basic Income Cafe.