9 April — 23 May 2010

Aid & Abet, Beyond, C-O-L-L-I-D-E-R, Kaavous-Bhoyroo, Lost Toys Records, Market Project, Outpost, PROJECKT, Semi Formal Discussion Network, Stew and YH485 Press.

Artist-led initiatives and studio groups from across the eastern region re-located to Wysing’s Bourn centre for six weeks in an unusual take on the established art fair model. With well over fifty artists contributing plus special events, PRESENTS highlighted the breadth of artistic output in the eastern region.

Aid & Abet is an artist led initiative based in Cambridge, co-founded by Wysing studio artists Sarah Evans, CJ Mahony and David Kefford. Aid & Abet functions as a grassroots organisation providing creative platforms and outlets for artistic practice through a three way interaction between artists, artworks and audiences. For PRESENTS Aid & Abet chose to work with London based letter press studio A Two Pipe Problem who have designed Aid & Abet’s first print material featuring their name as well as two new posters from the Exquisite Corpse Series. A Two Pipe Problem also collaborated with CJ Mahony to graphically produce a new text based work, Anya.

Beyond is a new information network established by Catherine Hemelryk, Julia Devonshire, Kaavous Clayton, Laura Bowen and Lotte Juul Petersen that uses the A4 page as the starting point and grows one page at a time. Beyond is produced in different places and facilitated by curators, artists, cultural producers and writers. Beyond has invited all participants of PRESENTS to contribute to the first issue as well as commissioning works and texts by other artists and curators. Visitors were invited to combine any individual pages from the display in Wysing’s Reception to make their own copy.

C-O-L-L-I-D-E-R is an artist group who explore the theme of encounters through narrative and site specific works. The group first met at the Escalator Visual Arts Retreat Neither Here Nor There (June 2009) and were inspired to form a group following the experience. They are Will Clifford, Sarah Evans, Bettina Furnée, Catherine Hemelryk, Hayley Lock, Rachel Oxley, Mark Ross and Caroline Wright. For PRESENTS they developed their first collaborative work, Pipeline, a long structure of pipe material connecting a double compartment booth within the gallery and Amphis (the recycled building made on the site of Wysing in 2008). The installation invited visitors to communicate through the pipe creating playful encounters. Souvenirs made by individual members of the group were displayed in Wysing’s Reception.

Kaavous-Bhoyroo is an arts agency founded by Jane Bhoyroo and Kaavous Clayton in 2008 to commission new works by emerging and established artists. Kaavous-Bhoyroo commission artists’ editions providing artists with an opportunity to explore new ideas. They have worked with artists including Simon Liddiment, David Kefford, Lee Marshall, Coco Crampton, Rob Filby and Leo Fitzmaurice. For PRESENTS all of these editions were shown as a retrospective installation in Wysing’s gallery. Kaavous-Bhoyroo also launched their new spring quarterly edition by R.J. Hinrichsen; a sound piece on printed cd in a screen-printed sleeve. For the duration of PRESENTS it was available to borrow on an MP3 player to take for a walk around Wysing’s site.

Lost Toys Records is an initiative by Andy Holden & Johnny Parry. As well as having released several albums, Lost Toys Records put out a series of unique, handmade and numbered editions. Featuring both Lost Toys artists, as well as guests to the label, each edition includes a hand made sleeve, designed by the artist in collaboration with Lost Toys Records. For PRESENTS Lost Toys Records exhibited a Lost Toys Lounge - a display of videos, paintings, posters and records, as well as a space to sit and listen to the music. The homely display included work by Andy Holden (Grubby Mitts), Phil Root (Pyramid Pyramid), Buzzard Lope, Ricky Leach, Betty Frances, and videos by Andy Holden and Johnny Parry. Betty Frances and Ricky Leach also performed for the launch of PRESENTS from 4.30-6pm on Saturday 10 April.

Market Project is an artist group established at the Escalator Visual Arts Retreat, Economics of the Art System (October 2009). They are Annabel Dover, Laura Earley, Julie Freeman, Alistair Gentry, Helen Judge, David Kefford, Annabelle Shelton, Elaine Tribley and Martha Winter. This fluid collective researches and engages collaboratively with new methods of improving and sustaining their careers as professional artists, with a particular focus on creative engagement with economic and revenue aspects of the art world. For PRESENTS Market Project constructed a series of square boxes where each member has individually responded to this display method. All works, books, ideas and research are for sale.

OUTPOST is an artist-run contemporary gallery in Norwich founded in November 2004. It supports an artist membership of over 300, and is run by a voluntary steering committee made up of artist members. To date OUTPOST has presented over sixty solo shows in its gallery and three selected annual members shows as well as various off site projects including Zoo and Outhouse in 2009. In January 2010 OUTPOST Studios opened to artist members creating a further system of support for them. For PRESENTS, OUTPOST invited artist James Epps to present Hazard Warning series, a work concerned with the authority and space of the artwork within the gallery framework. In the work specific pieces are manipulated, undermining the sign and changing our reading of this image.

PROJECKT was established on the 1 January 2009. Through curatorial experimentation it provides new and innovative contexts for contemporary artists and practices. PROJECKT presents Field Broadcast a project initiated by Rob Smith and Rebecca Birch that enables artists to stream live work from fields around the world to your computer via a desktop application, live from 8-16 May.

To access the broadcast visit www.fieldbroadcast.org and click download viewer and follow the instructions. A bell rang in Wysing’s gallery to mark the start of each new broadcast and there was a special live screening at Wysing on the 16 May. Information about accessing the performances was also available in the gallery. 30 artists performed including Juan Cruz, Alex Pearl, Simon Faithfull, Ian Whittlesea, Toby Huddlestone, Susan Collins, Sara Bjarland, Dan Coopey and Ed Atkins.

Semi Formal Discussion Network is an initiative of artists R.J. Hinrichsen and Mark Wilsher. The network is a conceptual model designed to generate in-depth discussion about art. A simple leaflet was produced that acted as an invitation and stimulus for people to organise their own discussions based on a set of four rules, available for free in Wysing’s reception area.

STEW is an artist led gallery and studio space in the centre of Norwich. The name derives from the shared ideal of food playing a central role in the space and reflects the mixed practices within the building. The earliest board meetings were based around cooking, eating, discussion and decision-making. For PRESENTS Stew worked collectively to explore other ways of sharing their practices culminating in the collaborative exercise entitled Lump Sums. Shown in Wysing’s gallery, with a nod to conventional museological display, Lump Sums was an edition of 10 coins that are a reasonable representation of the group as well as individual ideologies. The production of these coins is indicative of the innate level of skills sharing and making within the STEW studios.

YH485 PRESS is a publishing and curatorial initiative based in Great Yarmouth, started in March 2009 by visual artists and writers Aaron Juneau, Jonathan Watts and curator Harriet Mitchell. Working on a peninsula on the easterly edge of the British Isles, it follows that YH485 Press is on the edge of the contemporary art world as an urban phenomenon. YH485 Press does not suffer wilful marginalization or provincialism. For PRESENTS YH485 Press launched new photobooks by Martin Pigott and Glen Jamieson and their second newspaper, surface after the release of periphery earlier last year. In addition YH485 presented a showreel of video works.