The Summer Project
Date: July 2024
Exhibition/Show Type:
Group
Media:
Exhibition Description
The Summer Project gave an opportunity for up to 40 emerging artists to participate in a unique multidisciplinary visual arts project in the summer of 2024.
The Summer Project residency focussed on the themes of Migration, Environment, Identity and Sustainable Structures.
Facilitated by Tony Casement and Kasia Posen it encouraged exploration and cross pollination across visual arts practice, including underrepresented areas like performance, digital and sound as well as the more established visual arts forms.
see here for more on the project mentors and speakers
The creative energy generated during the nine-day residency resulted in a large volume of work and was evident in the final day open studios event on 23rd July.
It also posed a problem for The Summer Project exhibition curator Lewis Dalton Gilbert:
‘When I first set out to curate The Summer Project, I, like everyone else, wondered how I would find a place for the work of 42 artists across two spaces in just two days. However, after my initial conversations with the artists, mentors, and organisers of the residency, I realised that the most remarkable experiences from the project’s first seven days were those of collaboration, conversation, experimentation, and exploration. Thus, I decided we should celebrate these elements by showcasing some of the artworks and experiments created collaboratively or in parallel. To ensure each participant is represented, I also asked them to submit an A3 page reflecting their time at The Cut, to be displayed in the café at the heart of the institution. These pages will also help frame the publication being produced to commemorate the incredible achievements of everyone involved.’
The Summer Project was launched and introduced through an exhibition with workshops at The Undercroft Gallery in Norwich during July 2023. This was followed in September 2023 by a major exhibition at The Cut of work by the iconoclastic Bruce McLean, which set the scene for an intensive emerging artists’ residency in the summer of 2024.
The 9 day residency at the heart of The Summer Project allowed emerging artists to work with their peers and with experienced artists in an exploratory way to achieve a greater depth of understanding and direction in their own practice.
Those taking part were encouraged to challenge notions of what each art activity can be through communication and collaboration with those in other subject areas, while giving full reign to their abilities and imagination.
Participants were supported by a group of 14 artist mentors – all established artists and practitioners – drawn from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines.
Technical support in film, digital and print was available throughout the residency.
Aand there was a series of lectures, seminars and discussions on the key themes led by visiting artists who are at the forefront of working across boundaries and at the intersection of the arts and other areas like science and new technologies.
The Summer Project concluded with an exhibition of selected work from the residency and there will be a Summer Project publication in print and digital formats capturing the main themes, topics and questions that arise during the project including essays from the seminars and ideas generated by the participants.
This publication will be available to the local community and shared with local art schools, high schools, colleges, libraries and arts venues as well as being available online.
A digital version of the Summer Project Publication will be available and the project will be recorded on film and available on our website.
The timetable for The Summer Project:
1.Undercroft exhibition July 15th-August 8th 2023
2.Bruce McLean exhibition, The Cut September 9th-October 7th 2023
4.The Summer Project Residency July 15th -July 24th 2024
5.Summer Project Exhibition August 6th -September 24th 2024
6.Summer Project Publication September 30th 2024
Summer Project outcomes include
Eva Bachmann’s An Alternative guide to Halesworth
Amy Douglas here
