Introduction

What do artists do? is a project initiated by Phyllida Barlow to establish a working environment where she and a group of artists, can engage with the processes of making work when there are no outcomes expected or provided for those processes or the resulting work. The project will therefore not culminate in an exhibition, its emphasis being instead on the invisible activities of how artists make work - those processes which though they may not be seen, acknowledged or known about, form the resources and motivation for an artist’s creative activity.

The contention is that once an art object has achieved a destination - whether that be gallery, public space, commission or sale – the process of how it arrived at what it is becomes diminished and erased. This is understandable because the art object in its final realisation no longer requires the baggage of its production for it to exist. However, with such a persistent emphasis on commodification of the art object, since the late 70s to its current form, there is an impact on artists and those aspiring to be artists which the project will address. An ignorance of how art becomes made and how artists work – what artists do - is prevalent at all levels of art, from secondary school through to high level retrospective exhibitions at international venues. The participating artists in the project will not all necessarily agree or support this contention and may have been appointed with that in mind.

The project began in September, 2007 with the formation of the group of artists that would participate and the search for a suitable space – somewhere that could function as a “hybrid”, neither studio nor gallery. In February 2008 a space was found on an industrial estate in Clapton, East London, and in April 2008 the participating artists began using it. An important component of the project from the outset is its documentation. Apart from photographic records being taken regularly, it is intended to develop other forms of documentation: books, video recordings, texts, recorded conversations, etc. and this blog which will act as a discussion forum for the project’s participants as well as a way of giving access to the project and its progress to a wider audience.

What do artists do? is funded by the Arts Council England.

Participating artists:
Jeremy Akerman
Anna Barham
Phyllida Barlow
David Cheeseman
Melanie Counsell
Jason Dungan
Jess Flood-Paddock
Max Holdaway
Steven Johnson
Brighid Lowe
Fabian Peake
Jon Thomson & Alison Craighead
Charlotte Thrane
Roy Voss
Maria Zahle