found space

Evidence of misdemeanours

2011-10-30T04:41:00.000-07:00

The HEIST project and exhibition has now finished.
Photos can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/foundspace/sets/72157627960370424/

Meanwhile, an archive of articles 'stolen' is now at:
http://www.foundspace.co.uk/heist_archive/

Heads up on HEIST

2011-10-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

Wearable camera obscura by Jamie House seeing some action today at HEIST exhibition.

HEIST
22-28 October 2011, 10am-5pm daily
Unit 22a (first floor), Guildhall Shopping Centre
Queen Street, Exeter EX4 3HP

Nee na nee na

2011-10-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

HEIST exhibition is up and running.

22-28 October 2011, 10am-5pm daily
Unit 22a (first floor), Guildhall Shopping Centre
Queen Street, Exeter EX4 3HP

Getting ready to install HEIST

2011-10-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

HEIST exhibition venue announced

2011-10-05T04:50:00.000-07:00

HEIST
22-28 October 2011, 10am-5pm daily
Unit 22a (first floor), Guildhall Shopping Centre
Queen Street, Exeter EX4 3HP

The easiest way to find us is to enter the shopping centre from Queen Street, using the narrow staircase by WH Smith. This will bring you out onto the first floor shopping gallery, where you will spot signs for HEIST. You can also access this level using the main lifts and staircases.

We will both be in the exhibition space on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd to talk in more depth about the project and its results, but please feel free to visit any time.

More details at www.foundspace.co.uk/heist.html
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/HEIST_BAS

Follow HEIST

2011-09-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Twitter: http://twitter.com/HEIST_BAS

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heist/266338796717916

HEIST is coming...

2011-08-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

www.foundspace.co.uk/heist.html

Maddy Pethick at Off The Hook Clothing

2011-05-10T02:18:00.000-07:00


Maddy Pethick A Kind of Lulling (2011) Looped digital video, monitor

A Kind of Lulling by Maddy Pethick is the latest work to appear in the window of Off The Hook Clothing Exeter, in association with Found Space.

A single image, cut from an outmoded instructional book on how to customize your clothes, provides the basis for a puzzling video exploring artifice, stillness and false adornment. The work, produced in response to the context of the clothing store, reflects the artist's ongoing investigation into found image, sparkles and the application of simple, default rendering tools in video editing software.

Maddy Pethick is a Devon-based artist and a lecturer in Contextual and Critical Studies at Plymouth College of Art. She makes picture and object installations, photographs, drawings, videos and book-works. Clothes, pineapples, cacti, knick-knacks, cats, swing bins, lamps and further miscellanea appear and reappear in ongoing arrangements and configurations both for – and not for – the camera.

Maddy Pethick A Kind Lulling
11th May - 1st June 2011
Off The Hook Clothing
151- 152 Fore Street
Exeter, Devon EX4 3AN

Found Space at British Art Show 7 - Plymouth Fringe

2011-05-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

British Art Show 7 visits Plymouth this autumn and Found Space plans to be part of the Fringe with a performance curation/exhibition called HEIST.

During the run of British Art Show 7 in Plymouth, Found Space will be stealing art (and anything else they can lay their hands on) from the city. A signed and numbered artwork will be left in place of items removed, in a gesture of artistic exchange.

Returning to their home city of Exeter, Found Space will open their lock-up for a few days to show off their haul to the public. Ransoms may be involved.

The work is in response to Exeter’s apparently peripheral status to the British Art Show 7. For a few days, Found Space will attempt to redress this imbalance and give the people of Exeter a chance to participate in British Art Show 7 and Plymouth Fringe.

HEIST explores the mechanics of the contemporary art market, including the value assigned to different types of art or artefacts, and reflects on the legal as well as illegal transactions that utilise art as a commodity or currency.

HEIST is funded by Exeter Arts Council. Venues and dates to be confirmed.

For regular updates, you can join our Facebook Group at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=366353642215

Roller Ballet by Felicity Shillingford

2011-03-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

Felicity Shillingford Roller Ballet (2006)

Roller Ballet is the latest work to appear in the window of Off The Hook Clothing Exeter, in association with Found Space.

Roller Ballet was originally made as part of ‘Heelz on Wheelz’, a performance and visual art production by Fittings Multimedia. Described as ‘a subversive journey through sex, beauty and alternative lifestyles’, this touring production featured a range of fantasy footwear that brought together nice and nasty, clean and dirty.

Roller Ballet offers the viewer a juxtaposition of such opposing themes. Classical combining with the street, it’s a marriage of point shoe in blood red, with ribbon lacing, and low-tech early roller skate wheels. The piece is displayed in action on a half pipe high stand. The ribbons are wired to flow out behind. Shoe donated by The Royal Ballet.

Felicity Shillingford is an Exeter-based artist who works across sculpture, live performance and film. She was a co-founder of Fittings Multimedia, a Manchester-based production company fusing performance and visual arts.

Felicty Shillingford Roller Ballet
25th March - 6th May 2011 (Extended to 11th May)
Off The Hook Clothing
151- 152 Fore Street
Exeter, Devon EX4 3AN

Fingerprints on Trial

2011-03-11T04:43:00.000-08:00

This BBC Radio 4 programme - Fingerprints on Trial - provides interesting background to Sally Howkins' Law, Probability and Risk, currently on show in Off The Hook, Exeter.

You can hear it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/z5zyc/

"After a century in which it has been accepted as the Gold Standard for forensic evidence, Claudia Hammond investigates the growing body of research that challenges the infallibility of fingerprint evidence. She talks to critics who claim the UK has been slow to accept the urgent need for change. She hears about the Shirley Mckie case in Scotland, where a young detective was wrongly accused of leaving her prints at a crime scene and looks ahead to the forthcoming Scottish Fingerprint Inquiry."

Opportunity to exhibit in Off The Hook, Exeter

2011-03-07T04:39:00.000-08:00

Following the success of Sally Howkins' installation Law, Probablity & Risk in the window of Off the Hook Clothing, Exeter, we're pleased to offer further opportunities for artists.

We're looking for compact, high-impact 3-D or time-based work, and we would particularly welcome work related to themes of fashion, clothing, image, identity, individuality, trade etc - or a site-specific piece. A willingness to embrace the challenges of exhibiting in a busy and fast-changing selling space is important.

The exhibition site has an accessible power supply and is supervised during opening hours by shop staff. Work is sited in the window of the store and is visible from Fore Street, day and night. Work should be available for 4-6 weeks. There is no artist fee but we will provide support with installation and publicity.

If you'd like to to be considered, please email up to three images (or a link to a relevant website where we can see your work) and a brief statement/proposal to us at found[dot]space[at] yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk as soon as possible and definitely by 31st March.

Sally Howkins in Off The Hook Clothing

2011-02-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

Sally Howkins Law, Probability & Risk (2010) Two digital photo frames showing randomized stills

A new collaboration between Found Space and Off The Hook Clothing places contemporary art works in the window of an independent Exeter clothing store.

First up, showing until March 25th, is Sally Howkins with Law, Probability and Risk. Dealing with notions of probability and crime detection, this work looks at the narratives left behind when we touch a surface. It celebrates the unique identity of individual human beings and questions our reliance on probability in making important decisions about people’s lives.

Sally Howkins Law, Probability and Risk
10th February – 25th March 2011
Off The Hook Clothing
151- 152 Fore Street
Exeter, Devon EX4 3AN

Where next?

2010-08-10T01:51:00.000-07:00

Found Space is researching and developing a couple of new ideas: one is fairly long-term and won't happen until next year, but the other is more immediate.

We need a small number of artists to produce one-off pieces for a small public space. It has good passing traffic, and is dry and secure. We're looking for bold, attention-grabbing work, possibly with some moving image or kinetic element.

More details to follow, but feel free to register your interest by sending us a brief email, ideally including a link to a website where we can view some of your current work.

Stowage installed at Barnaby

2010-06-18T03:33:00.000-07:00

Whereas previously the pieces were spread across 17 shops, they are now grouped together in a single venue. We have lost some of the site-specific links, but new connections and resonances have appeared.

The show is only viewable from the street, but we've included some interior shots here too. The work is in the main window area and on shelving behind, with The Grimm North's nasty surprise lurking in a shadowy corner just visible inside the door.

The Magnificient Morse Mints are wired up and ready to start talking to each other across the shop at night. The space is also illuminated by lights from work by Felicity Shillingford and Laurel Coxon. Megan Calver's little 'Aladdin's lamp', made of hi-vis material, glows day and night from the shop's dark interior.

The identification labels are from a children's spelling game and refer viewers to an information sheet posted in the window.

http://foundspace.co.uk/macclesfield.pdf

Installing Stowage in Macclesfield

2010-06-18T03:28:00.000-07:00

All 21 pieces came to Macclesfield, some with slight adjustments to make them suitable for the new venue.

For insurance and safety reasons, we haven't been able to leave the shop open so haven't been able to make full use of the sweet-jar-sized shelves at the back. (Most work is simply too detailed to be viewed at that distance, so has been placed in the window area.) However, almost all of the shop interior is visible from the street, so we have spread work across the whole space.

In keeping with the spirit of Stowage in Exeter, we're fitting in with the shop as we find it and, as far as possible, improvising with what's to hand.

Stowage at Barnaby Festival, Macclesfield

2010-05-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

Most of the work will be touring to the Barnaby Festival in Macclesfield and will be on show from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th June for the festival and then for two weeks more. You can find it in the window of Shackleton & Sons (a disused shop), 2-4 Church St, Macclesfield, SK11 6LB

Stowage in Art Cornwall

2010-05-10T03:31:00.001-07:00

Account of the exhibition in Art Cornwall, an online journal for UK art, artists and galleries.
http://www.artcornwall.org/exhibitions/Stowage_Exeter.htm

Fiona Hamilton & Jane Lawrence in Stowage

2010-05-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Fiona Hamilton & Jane Lawrence worked with the staff and customers of Heavenly Yarns to develop their piece the kniTted about the memories and motivations associated with the activity of knitting.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

Felicity Shillingford in Stowage

2010-05-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

Flocked can be found in Shaker Maker, but is best viewed after dark. It consists of birds trapped in a jar and a tangle of fibre-optic cable.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

Maddy Pethick and David Chatton Barker in Stowage

2010-05-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Two separate works: Cat Fold by Maddy Pethick (left) and Fore Street Allsorts by David Chatton Barker (right) in the Read and Return bookshop.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

Stowage in the news and reviews

2010-04-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthdevon.co.uk/2010/04/30/exeters-west-quarter-bottled-for-art/

http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/627491

Ben Langworthy & Scott Daniels in Stowage

2010-04-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Magnificient Morse Mints is installed in Otto Retro and Exeter Peace Shop and is best viewed after dark, when the two sweet jars start signalling to each other across the the road.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

Buff Lancaster-Thomas in Stowage

2010-04-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Gimblejube (consisting of pins, a bee and a lead cast of a jelly baby) refers to the dangers of childhood obesity. It can be found in Rochelle's Curtains.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

Jill Randall in Stowage

2010-04-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Jill Randall's Sheds of Rossendale - Log Cabin (a scale model of a shed in the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire) has been placed in Devon Diecast Models.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

Kwong Lee in Stowage

2010-04-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

Kwong Lee's Emergency has been placed in Fantasy World, a fancy-dress hire and novelties shop.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

More images from Fore Street and New Bridge Street coming soon.

Gabrielle Hoad in Stowage

2010-04-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

Gabrielle Hoad's Is and Was can currently be found in Holly Hemmings Herbalist. This business is relocating before the exhibition closes, so this work may be moving to another site.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

Ben Cook in Stowage

2010-04-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

Ben Cook’s interest in surf culture and the Cornish landscape finds a new outlet in Granite Jar, which is made of paint and surf wax. It's located in Moorland Rambler.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

Steven Paige in Stowage

2010-04-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

Steven Paige's piece Burnt Sugar can be found in Off the Hook, a clothing store. The jar has been engraved and filled with molasses. The engraved text describes the different stages of sugar as it is cooked.

Locations of other works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

John Maxwell Goodwin in Stowage

2010-04-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

The first of a number of photos of work in situ in Fore Street and New Bridge Street.

This is You can take the ‘X’ out of Exeter, but you can’t take the Exeter out of the ‘X’ by John Maxwell Goodwin, a bisected, mirrored jar that has been placed in tma2, a hairdressing salon.

Anyone searching for the second piece in tma2, apologies, it's not yet arrived.

Locations of all the works can be found in the Stowage map and guide.

Launch of Stowage - 17th April 2010

2010-04-18T11:52:00.001-07:00

There was a great turn-out for the launch event at Tuckers Hall, Fore Street - a 15th century guild hall associated with Exeter's once-prosperous wool trade. Artists from Devon, Cornwall and Manchester attended, along with staff from shops in Fore Street and New Bridge Street and other local businesses. We also had visitors from the Royal Albert Memorial Musuem, Spacex, Plymouth Arts Centre, OrganicArts and CCANW.

Food for thought

2010-04-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to the following local producers for kindly donating food and drink to our opening event.

Traditional straw-pressed cider from Brimblecombe's Cider, Farrants Farm, Dunsford EX6 7BA
Master crafted beers from O'Hanlon's Brewery
Hand-fried potato chips from Burts Chips
Fine cheddar from Quickes Traditional Ltd
Wild garlic baguettes from Bread of Devon
Cheese biscuits from Ginny Lyons Catering

Thanks too, to Tuckers Hall for allowing us to host the launch event in style, making it a true celebration of local trade and creativity.

Putting everything in place

2010-04-13T03:26:00.000-07:00

We started installing Stowage on 12 April, with some of the artists coming along to help with their own work. It's been a busy time so we don't have many photos, but the top picture shows Izzy Bright-Roberts of The Grimm North making final adjustments to her piece in Otto Retro, while the lower photo shows Megan Calver (right) discussing the position of her jar in Langans with Felicity Shillingford.

Getting the word out

2010-04-09T03:51:00.000-07:00

We have had a write up and a tweet from Arts+Culture
Word is also spreading via our Facebook events page.

Where's it's at

2010-03-30T04:39:00.000-07:00

At last, lower Fore Street and New Bridge Street make it on to Google Street View. Welcome to our gallery!

Match-making

2010-03-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

Proposals from the artists are due in by Friday 19th - some have already arrived and we're seeing a really exciting range of ideas and approaches. We'll be sitting down soon to match artworks with suitable locations. We'll then visit traders with information on the works they'll be asked to host and to iron out any special installation requirements.

Next stop Macclesfield

2010-03-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

Plans are afoot to take Stowage on to the Barnaby Festival in Macclesfield in June. Watch this space. http://www.barnabyfestival.org.uk/

Latest from the West Quarter

2010-02-24T03:50:00.000-08:00

Fiona Hamilton and Jane Lawrence have joined the Knit and Natter group at Heavenly Yarns. Scott Daniels and Ben Langworthy are working on a morse code communication to link Exeter Peace Shop and Otto Retro. They are among the 24 artists showing work in shop windows in Exeter's West Quarter this April as part of Stowage.

24 artists confirmed for Stowage

2010-02-16T10:08:00.000-08:00

A total of 24 artists from the North East, North West and South West of England have confirmed they will be producing work for Stowage. The show will take place in the shop windows of Exeter's Fore Street and New Bridge Street this April.

Artist update

2010-01-26T10:50:00.001-08:00

The following links are are for anyone wanting to find out more about the artists taking part in Stowage in April 2010. Let us know if you'd like to add a link.

Andrea Zapp (Manchester)
Ben Cook (Cornwall)
Bill Longshaw (Manchester)
Buff Lancaster-Thomas (Devon)
Chris Knight (Manchester)
Chrissie Morgan (Durham)
David Chatton Barker (Devon)
Felicity Shillingford (Devon)
Fiona Hamilton and Jane Lawrence (Somerset)
Gabrielle Hoad (Devon)
Hilary Jack (Manchester)
Isgard Bright-Roberts and Jeremy Haughty (Devon)
Janet Griffiths (Manchester)
Jill Randall (Yorkshire)
John Goodwin (Devon)
Kwong Lee (Manchester)
Laurel Coxon (Devon)
Maddy Pethick (Devon)
Megan Calver (Devon)
Scott Daniels and Ben Langworthy Devon)
Steven Paige (Cornwall)

Jar specifications

2009-12-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

The jars used for Stowage vary slightly in their exact measurements, but these pictures should give a good idea of what to expect. Dimensions are for the exterior and are given in inches. All our jars are made of glass with either metal or plastic lids.

Artists are free to alter or reconstruct the jars as they wish to suit the purposes of their work, but should bear in mind that most works will be shown in confined spaces in publicly accessible positions.

Retailer news

2009-12-02T04:39:00.001-08:00

The following Exeter businesses have agreed to host one or more jars containing art in their shop windows in Spring 2010.
Otto Retro (left)
Rochelle's Curtains
Feathers of Isca
tma2
Shaker Maker
Read 'n' Return Bookshop
Off the Hook
Chuckle Shoes
Langans Foam
Brian Fowler

Opus Mosaic
Heavenly Yarns

Reform Records

Exeter Peace Shop

Make Art

Holly Hemmings Herbalist
Moorland Rambler
Isca Models

Co-Op

Photos of the shopfronts of some of the participating retailers in Fore Street and New Bridge Street can be found at our Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/foundspace

We've not been able to speak to everyone yet, so if you are the owner of a business located in Exeter's West Quarter and would like to take part, please email Found Space at found.space[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk

Artists' brief

2009-09-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

When: April-May 2010 (work to be delivered March 2010)
What: Work in any media suitable for display in or around old-fashioned sweet jars in a retail environment
Where: West Quarter shopping district, Exeter, Devon (then touring)
Who: Most places are already taken, but if you would like to be considered for this or future shows, please email a brief CV, 3 x images of work and/or website address where work can be viewed to found.space[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk
Charges to artists: None

Fee for artists: Dependent on funding

Taking as its focus the classic 1960‘s sweet shop jar, this show is an opportunity to create a piece of artwork to be exhibited in shop windows along Exeter’s Fore Street and New Bridge Street.

This far western part of Exeter's main street has escaped colonisation by chain stores and is home to many small and independent outlets. There is a hardware shop, hairdressers, surf shop, tattooist, book shop, record shop, shoemaker, bridal shop and herbalist, amongst others.

Artists are invited to respond to the jars as entities in themselves (eg as objects of display, nostalgia or containment) and/or to the site (ie the nature of the shops as they are now or were in the past). This local history site gives a feel for the street past and present.

www.exetermemories.co.uk/EM/_streets/forestphotos.php

Jars are approximately 12cm W x 10cm deep x 30cm high, with screwtop lids (the neck is approx 8.5cm in diameter. You can either make work to the jar's specifications or we will post a jar to you for you to fill and return. We hope to be arranging collections of completed work in Plymouth, Durham and Manchester - as well as Exeter.

More pictures of Exeter's West Quarter below.

Pictures from Exeter's West Quarter

2009-09-10T10:02:00.001-07:00

Retailers' FAQ

2009-06-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

Stowage is a joint venture between independent traders in the West Quarter of Exeter City Centre and artists from around the UK. Found Space will loan you one or more artworks built in or around confectionery jars for display in your shop during April/May 2010.

Below are some frequently asked questions, but please feel free to contact us if there is anything else you need to know.

STOWAGE Q&A

Who benefits?
This is a not-for-profit venture that aims to bring together independent traders and independent artists to promote their businesses and artworks in parallel.

Who chooses the work I display in my shop?
The artists and works included in the show will be chosen and allocated by Found Space.

What does it cost?
Participation is free to independent West Quarter traders. All artworks and display materials will be loaned free of charge and Found Space will fund all publicity.

What do I need to contribute?
To take part, you only need to offer us space in your shop and display the work for the duration of the show.

Am I guaranteed an artwork?
We will do our best to provide at least one artwork for every shop that agrees to take part, but this will depend on the availability of work and suitability of display spaces.

Can I keep or sell the work?
No, the work (including the jar) is on loan and remains the property of the artist.

Will I get paid?
No, this is not a commercial venture, but you will benefit from free publicity for your business.

What we do

2009-06-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Found Space is on the look-out for unconventional exhibition venues - and artists who want to show in them.

Venues could be empty shops, offices and warehouses, as well as private residences, community buildings, caravans, buses, outdoor spaces or temporary structures.

Work might be temporary, experimental, open ended, risky, live or otherwise difficult to show in traditional gallery spaces.

We are building a database of artists who are based in the three regions where shows will be based: the Southwest, Northwest and, Northeast. Found Space will select from the database to create shows, giving opportunities for artists to show their work more widely and to build new networks and connections.