With Others – three collaborative projects

With Others supports three separate collaborative projects for two years including an exhibition at Forum Box towards the end of the first year. The grant supports the artistic work of myself – James Prevett, as well as a wider workgroup of Samantha Lippett and a workshop assistant. With Others focuses primarily on artistic work for three collaborative open-ended artistic enquiries: -Nomadic Monument: A series of collectively made sculptures that move around people’s homes -Thing Radio: A mobile community internet radio broadcasting station -Organic Sound Society: A sound art collective (band?) for people with no musical training (ability?) I have a long-term interest in working with others and making ‘things’ together that explore notions of the public and private, the expert and amateur. This is driven by questions such as, who has access to art and on what terms? And following this, who has ‘permission’ to make ‘Art’? I am interested in social relations that occur around a thing that is being made and I am increasingly interested in allowing those relations to guide the outcomes of open-ended artwork. Shared experience becomes an essential part of the work – the act of collectively making something can impact meaning and relevance into the thing being made. All the projects cross borders of discipline, nationality and of accepted understandings of what might be considered ‘professional art’. When we make things together, we collectivize our voice, share experiences and challenge accepted understandings of art and creativity.