Notes from the Field: Commoning Practices in Art and Science

For over 20 years, Arts Catalyst has pioneered art that engages with science and technology, commissioning over 125 ambitious artists’ projects and numerous exhibitions. In January 2016, for the first time, Arts Catalyst opens a Centre for Art, Science and Technology in London’s King’s Cross. The centre will provide a space for artists and scientists to experiment and create new projects, and enable vital interactions between artists, experts and audiences. Exhibitions will reflect and extend Arts Catalyst’s national and international projects and the work of partners. Having this base will also allow Arts Catalyst to develop long-term projects with local communities around King’s Cross.

For its opening exhibition at the centre, Arts Catalyst presents Notes from the Field: Commoning Practices in Art and Science. This multi-faceted project investigates the notion of art as a tool or tactic for action with communities, with a focus on projects involving science and technology or driven by ecological concerns. Notes from the Field… presents aspects of Arts Catalyst’s ongoing art and citizen science project Wrecked! on the Intertidal Zone with lead artists YoHa, Critical Art Ensemble, Andy Freeman and Fran Gallardo, who are working with communities on the Thames estuary. Alongside this, it presents the Arte Útil archive, a project initiated by artist Tania Bruguera, which chronicles a history of art projects that create tactics to change how we act in society. In an archive room designed by Collective Works and ConstructLab, housing physical copies of selected Arte Útil case studies, and through exploratory workshops and discussion events, visitors will be able to speak with invited resident guests, undertake their own research, or propose new Arte Útil case studies. Contributing artists, scientists and experts to Notes from the Field… include Alistair Hudson, Dimitri Launder, Sylvia Nagl, Graham Harwood and Veronica Ranner.

Graveyard of Lost Species © YoHa 2015
Graveyard of Lost Species © YoHa 2015

YoHa is a partnership between UK artists Graham Harwood and Matsuko Yokokoji, which has established an international reputation for pioneering critical arts projects, including Tantalum Memorial, Coal Fired Computers, Invisible Airs and Endless War.

The Souvenir © Critical Art Ensemble
The Souvenir © Critical Art Ensemble

Critical Art Ensemble is an acclaimed US-based collective of tactical media practitioners, focused on the exploration of the intersections between art, critical theory, technology and political activism. Their work has been shown in major museums and biennales internationally. Fran Gallardo is an artist and engineer, whose background includes studies in biochemistry, computing and space systems engineering. He is an active member of the Environmental Art Activism movement. Andy Freeman is an artist, educator, technologist and former oyster farmer, whose practice that involves the combination of open data tactics and community engagement. Tania Bruguera is a Cuban installation and performance artist. Her work pivots around issues of power and control. Several of her works interrogate and re-present events in Cuban history. On 2 January 2015, she was freed having had three back-to-back detentions in three days, and after over a thousand artists worldwide signed an open letter to Raúl Castro calling for her release.

Artistas latinoamericanos participantes

  • Tania Bruguera

Enlaces de interés