Reflections...

by Rocca Gutteridge, 6 Feb 2010

After a time to reflect on the last two Artachat events (The Artist Workshop, In Conversation with Tessa Lynch. Identity and Ownership in Community Arts, in Conversation with Neville Rae) I have been thinking a lot about the issues of ownership and control when Artists embark on a collaborative or socially engaged/community/outreach project.

Tessa Lynch www.tessalynch.com presented one approach when working with people in her own work (rather than in an educational context).
“It is about the concept of the work not the people that are getting involved.”
Tessa sees herself as a ‘director’, the participants are her tools which make up the final piece.

I enjoyed Tessa’s honest approach when working with people and it was apparent that Tessa was in control over the amount of ownership she held with her final artwork.

When Tessa works in an educational context (her last workshop was based at Inverleith House, exploring the work of Karla Black) she noticed the difference in her theoretical approach to working with people yet a similar practical approach in order to engage the audience with the artwork.

“It’s less about me, my work and my ideas and more about an ending…
But probably the methods that I use are quite similar to how I’d use things in my own work”.

For example Tessa uses props in both her own work and educational work as a means to break down the barrier between herself the artwork and the participants.

I have attached a short outline of the interview which took place during this Artachat here:

Notes from Artachat with Tessa Lynch

Neville Rae raised a strong concern over the amount of identity he held with a finished work when working in an educational, community environment. A lack of ownership with the work created a sense of dissatisfaction within his project and a deeper questioning of his process as artist/collaborator/archiver/curator.

The notes from Neville’s session can be see here:

Notes from Artachat with Neville Rae

I recently had a conversation with Devon based film maker Hatt Reiss over the issue of Ownership whilst working on a collaborative project.

Below is the outline of the interview. The work in question was a collaborative animation made after a series of workshops and during a residency with www.terresansfrontiere.org

Interview with film maker Hatt Reiss

Artachat was set up as away to reinstate a hospitable and critical environment outside an art college institution. I am constantly assessing my own levels of ownership and identity when managing such a project. The project aims to offer artists and audiences a platform to both speak and interact but is of course embellished under the umbrella of my own Artachat aesthetic. How much identity and ownership I can take over such a project is my current ponder….

Ramble over!