Secondment

Research Question: How can the archive support the research and testing of alternative forms of cultural value that are not measured by the neoliberal value discourse, such as commoning, care and unlearning practices, and the social wealth they generate?

My research into the archive at Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons responds to the above research question that, in turn, was inspired by RT12: Grass Roots Practices: Documentation and the Archive will analyse existing spatial projects in the archive to find ways of articulating art policy and methods through archival materials.

Through an analysis of the Nina F. bell House Museum archive at Casco, I examined how the principles and practices of commoning, care and unlearning can be compatible with a publicly-funded, semi-horizontal art institutional structure. Commoning is necessarily an ongoing constituent process that involves multiples trials, exercises, sometimes impossible obstacles and perceived failures, but ultimately a commitment to ‘stay with the trouble’. My research of the Casco archive enabled me to understand the complexities of these processes particularly as they were applied to the invisible, back-end of the art institution’s operational structure and staff relations, but equally the forms of social wealth these processes generated. 

My research has culminated in an academic article entitled, ‘Commoning the Art Institution: A Case Study of Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons’. This article examines how the principles and practices of the commons and ‘commoning’ have been applied by Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons, as a means to make their institution more just and equitable. The analysis is conducted via a lens borrowed from Gerald Raunig, where he sets out six tenets for what he terms ‘the art institution of the common’, in his 2013 article ‘Flatness Rules: Instituent Practices and Institutions of the Common in a Flat World’. It will argue that Casco’s approach sets itself apart from the other institutions Raunig has examined, by applying the practices and principles of commoning to both their front-end programming activities and to their back end internal governance processes, what Casco call a ‘double track’ approach to commoning. It will also consider the challenges the team at Casco have faced, and their commitment, after Donna Haraway, to ‘stay with the trouble’ and not shirk from sometimes (im)possible challenges.

Together with my NCAD colleague and fellow Spacex-rise researcher, Seoidin O’Sullivan, who also conducted research into Casco’s archive, we are testing out commoning and unlearning exercises in the context of the art school with a view to the students unlearning neoliberal values that the students perceive to be negative. Workshops with the students concluded with a desire to unlearn values such as ‘individualism’, ‘competitive behaviour’, ‘that failure is only negative’ and the overwhelming feeling of ‘busyness’ that working as an artist against a backdrop of precarious labour and the gig economy gives rise to.

I have completed my secondment to Berlin with Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg Plaz (KRLP). The work consisted of two visits – the first to understand the context of the place and the second to engage in a public research action. The primary visit was centred around the concerns of The Department of Embedded Knowledge to understand what types of knowledge were embedded in the context surrounding the gallery – initially, based on the limited time available this focussed on ideas of the linguistic embeddings of the place through place names. An item of particular significance in the context given the changes to place names over recent history and a recent protest about a business  – the far right associated clothing brand Thor Steiner – being incompatible with the name of the street it was proposed for – Rosa Luxemburg Straße. The work was interested in the area’s connections with trade-unionism, it’s later gentrification and the existence of platform and precarious labour in this context.

The challenges of doing “embedded” work in such a short space of time and from a distance was somewhat clear early on and so the project changed a little before the second part of the secondment. The latter part of the project focussed more on what are the conditions that allow organisation are. The project engaged with another space, Offline, that is formed as a space for collective action with a particular connection to artistic action and in the context of techno-capitalism. Working with them and with KRLP the research outcome became an event; “It’s easier to talk about [platform capitalism] when having dinner together”. The event was an open event with food and some framing prompts around the history of European Colonisation, the movement of people and resources in response to this, the contemporary conditions of European immigration law and the use of digital labour platforms. The food menu was a series of potato dishes that connected to each of these prompts.

The invitation to the event was circulated amongst various networks by Offline and in various activist networks. As the invitation and respondents included people of various immigration status it was decided that there would be minimal documentation of attendees and outcomes. 

My research aim is based on critical analysis of virtual art platforms (e.g. O-fluxo, Art viewer but also Instagram) and their influence on artistic practise but also condition of contemporary galleries.Those platforms are enquired as an indexes of discursive limits (Foucault, 1969) but also as a specific form of public spaces with its autonomous cognitive rules (Malafouris, 2013) and aesthetics (Virilio, 1980). Those kinds of virtual public spaces are then – even if it looks at first sight differently – indisputably linked with material artifacts (Miller, 1997) in galleries and creates one coherent knowledge system consisting of various actors (Latour, 2005).

To understand how virtual platforms disseminate its potential it is firstly important to describe their aesthetic patterns influencing the depiction and presentation of art pieces. My research is for that reason stepping back from established art science positions which are mostly focused on one particular object and tries to term the trends in the contemporary art scene in border scale (Bishop, 2024). In other words – it is more about creating topology of similarities rather than typology of details. Because of mentioned specificity we can methodologically classify this approach as study of material culture dynamics in galleries and studios plus its enlarged cognitive assumption caused by the virtual realms.

And because an important part of my terrain is accessible from places all around the world I had decided to use my SpaceX secondment in UvA mostly for self-led research and regular consultations with several scholars in the Department of digital humanities of Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research. Closeness of Utrecht city and the fact that the local university has a strong tradition in New Materialism studies (e.g. Rosi Braidotti and Rick Dolphijn are based there) provides another valuable consultation option. Last but not least the lecture summing up my one month abroad research results was already arranged with art historian Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes at UvA.

I dedicated my secondment period to conducting research around the liberatory potential of (an)archival materials and their capacity to foster contemporary political struggles.  During my placement period at the University of Modena, I engaged in practices of collaborative education, archival inquiry, collective research, and interdisciplinary exchange.

In the framework of the SpaceX programme, I collaborated with URBANER – Culture Urbane Emilia-Romagna,  AFOr- Archivio delle Fonti Orali, Collettivo Amigdala, Istituto Storico di Modena, AISO – Associazione Italiana di Storia Orale on a series of events and workshops with artists, local residents, researchers and activists around the topics of urban displacement, depopulation and memory.

Working specifically in the context of the „Villaggio Artigiano” – a semi-autonomous, self-sufficient suburb of Modena – I, alongside researchers from the host institution, attempted to create a collective spatial memory of the village.  After the conclusion of the first edition of the School of Oral History, we proposed a public meeting on the theme of archives from their constitution and creation to their possible (re)use. Starting from the sharing of the outcomes of the School and the practices developed so far for the construction of the digital archive of oral sources of the AFOr project, the discussion aimed to develop a critical dialogue on the topic thanks to the comparison with other projects that were presented during the event.

During the second part of the secondment, in the framework of the To Echo/Fare Eco and in collaboration with AFOr – Archivio delle Fonti Orali, we discussed and put into practice the ideas around reimagining and reconfiguring the archive as an accessible, shared resource for local communities.  During the Fuori Dal Tracciato festival, I co-organised a collaborative workshop aimed at creating an ephemeral and itinerant archive of the history and memory of the Villaggio Artigiano. During the event, by valorising the importance of grassroots printing and publishing, we produced various publications, zines and pamphlets that presented a community perspective on Villaggio Artigiano and the work done by the host institution in recent years.

The overarching theme of my secondment was devoted to verifying and exploring different approaches, practices and reflections linked to the collection of sources which, through their archiving, generate new possible recontextualisations

Starting from Annie Vrychea’s archive, Professor in the School of Architecture of the National Technical University (NTU) of Athens, who together with other prominent feminist Greek scholars researched the relationship of gender and space, while initiating the relevant module in her department in 1991 after huge efforts. Her archive is now being housed in NTU, where my residency took place, and has been in a cataloguing process for the last couple of years. I more specifically looked into her work on the intermediary/ in-transition spaces that women created in the refugee settlement in Thebes, Greece, to communicate during their everyday lives while performing their unrecognized, invisible domestic work. Annie’s archive was a great inspiration for looking further into domestic design, the isolated household and how this affected women’s lives. Designs from Dolores Hayden’s books could be found in Annie’s archive presenting experimental communities of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, which provide us a good insight to the benefits and limitations they faced, and that can in turn inform our new projects/experiments. The outcome of the research is an article based on archival and bibliographical research examining the role of architecture in the (in)ability to implement the feminist call of family abolition. Because as Hayden herself says “as contemporary feminist groups begin to investigate housing reform, evaluating the work of earlier activists becomes a political, as well as historical task.

Research Direction: To explore how spatial practices in art, architecture and design can promote collective models for the development of artist-led institutions. To examine whether these practices can effectively address new cultural economies by engaging diverse publics and facilitating international discursive exchange for sustainability in artistic practices.

During my previous research secondment in Greece as part of the SpaceX Marie Curie Horizon 2020 program in 2023, I delved into transdisciplinary practices, connecting spatial practices with cultural sociology, cultural policy, and behavioural economics. My engagement with various artist-led organizations in Athens, including Pet Projects, Neo Cosmos, and Deo Projects in Chios, illuminated the potential for developing further exchanges that explore residency practices and their intersection with tourism. This endeavour aligns with my broader research goal of nurturing collective institutions. 

The primary objective of this residency is to explore how spatial practices in art, architecture, and design foster public exchange and promote cohabitation within urban spaces. I aim to examine whether these practices can render new cultural economies by engaging diverse publics and facilitating international discursive exchange within communities.

The research would articulate and produce an evolving practice of collective artist-led institutions as public art. Through site and medium-specific interventions, working with a decentralized, distributed, and democratic network of people and core organisations across public, private, and charitable sectors, the research would unlock a previously untapped resource to develop sustainable artistic practices and policies for reform

Methodology:

My approach involves immersing myself in the vibrant cultural landscape of Athens, and collaborating with local artists, architects, designers, and community members. Through participatory workshops, interviews, and observational studies, I seek insights into the impact of spatial practices on societal dynamics and the potential for fostering inclusive environments.

Outcomes:

Development of programs in Athens addressing inclusive spatial practices, public exchange, and diversity promotion.

Creating an exchange platform between Athens and Northampton, culminating in presentations at both locations.

Integration of research findings and dialogue into the opening program of the new Arts Collective building in Northampton, scheduled for February 2025.

Production of a comprehensive syllabus and toolkit for international collective contemporary artist-led practice as part of a Book to be published by Routledge as part of the H2020 research programme.

As the joint Artistic Director and CEO at NN Contemporary Art, my practice involves reshaping governance structures to drive collaborative strategic directions. My deep involvement in a 4.7 million capital renovation project at NN Contemporary Art over the past three years is crucial. This project transforms NN Contemporary Art into an architectural Arts Collective with expansive studio, gallery, shop, community kitchen, and learning space facilities. The research program aligns with this ongoing project, offering an opportunity to shape the institution’s future direction. NN is not the recipient of capital monies but the end user of the facilities; therefore, testing and developing collective strategies with others is essential. This relies on my participation in various international networks. Engaging with diverse perspectives and collaborating with artists and organizations globally enriches artistic practices and fosters meaningful connections within the artistic community. 

The project looks at new institutional models and focuses on developing programs in dialogue with specific questions around tourism, economies, refugee crisis and gentrification and looking at how the rise in Air b n b economies and the Golden Visa schemes in Athens are causing a threat to the sustainability of artist-led practices and organisations. 

The first time I visited Prague was 36 years ago. I was still a student at the Rietveld Academy and used the city as a great source of inspiration. I photographed towers and ornaments there and was attracted to the romance of decay. The wooden structures built to protect people from falling rubble were like the fixtures for the sculptures in my head.

My memories of Prague were so precious that after the fall of the wall, I avoided the city. I had no desire to see how it had been refurbished and repainted. The opportunity to re-explore Prague through Space-X at length was an invitation I couldn’t resist.

My focus was on the diverse number of monuments in the city. What was left of artworks from the Soviet era and what had replaced them? I wanted to explore the city as much as possible on foot, taking in all my senses.

To my delight, I recognized almost all the ornaments I had photographed in ‘88. Many of them I could still find the exact spot where I had been standing at the time. It made me even more aware of the surface I was standing on. Many of the streets are now paved with small cobblestones. It looks neat but is less telling than the asphalt, in which every repair remains like a scar. 

Another big change is the smell of the city. Back then, the city smelt of coal and sauerkraut; now it smells of sweet waffles and perfume. Also gone are the whispers and gossip. I got to know dozens of Czech colleagues and artists and went exploring in studios, mines and railway yards.

My research into monuments and public artworks were a perfect alibi to stroll unabashedly through the city and photograph everything high and low. I feel more and more at home there, understanding the connections better and hearing what is missing. 

Last November, I was a keynote speaker at the Velvet Debate and got to talk about my experience in Prague and about Stroom Den Haag. 

I wish my Space-X walk would continue indefinitely.

My SPACE X secondment was at Home for Cooperation, a community centre in the buffer zone in Nicosia, Cyprus. I made several trips here during two secondments between 2023 and 2024.  

My first trip was in January 2023. One of the questions I asked myself during this first week was what I, as someone from the UK, could do or bring in a social and politically complex context in which the UK is historically responsible for harm. 

I asked an artist from Cyprus what value I, as a visitor, could bring. She replied that as a first-time visitor, my newness and my first impressions might reveal something that someone who is embedded in living there cannot see.  

I tried to cultivate a practice of listening during this first week by noticing the strong feelings and observations that happen with initial impressions. I tried to stay alive to my instincts. I attended events, walked the streets, visited museums, drank pomegranate juice, read books in the ADHR library, and tried to slow down. I stopped to listen to sounds and tried to meet as many people as possible. Saying yes to things, meeting people, and walking down paths where I don’t know where they go. 

This first week was generously supported by Home for Cooperation. They introduced me to artists and NGO workers in Nicosia who are leading workshops in an intercommunal context.  I heard about different projects, such as Peace Players, a basketball-playing project with Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot young people, and the UN Youth Champions. This connected to my existing practice-based PhD research about the role of art workshops in the UK during a time that is described as a polycrisis; the interconnection of different global crises that are greater than the sum of their parts. My practice looks at the role of togetherness, imagination and dialogue in the art workshop during this time.   

I was particularly moved by the time I spent at the Home for Cooperation Cafe. The Cafe was opened in the buffer zone in 2011. I noticed the incredible mix of people using the space. Children crossing the buffer zone for school play in and outside the building. People holding language classes. People crossing from south to north and from north to south. Friends meeting for a beer. Groups of people sitting on the long benches outside. I noticed the visibility of institutions —NGOs at work – people in meetings with laptops and notebooks. UN peacekeeping force drinking iced coffee. Italian, Irish, British patches of flags on arms.   

My next visit in October aligned with the Home for Cooperation festival Buffer Fringe. This extraordinary performance festival takes place over several days in venues in the north and south. The opening night was in the buffer zone. The festival brings conversation, conviviality, and artistic performances from international contexts to this highly political space. It is both surreal, incredible, and moving. The wild graphics of the Buffer Fringe give the event a science fiction-like atmosphere. 

During this visit, I propose to interview artists who have experience facilitating intercommunal workshops. I am thinking about how to hold space in the art workshop for people who have different experiences, and opinions. I am reflecting on this in relation to heightened divisions in the UK, and I am thinking about the research questions of the Space X project. I am thinking about the role of the art workshop as a space for difference and empathy.  I go to workshops and write about them. I go to Taking the Floor- Body and Voice in the Space by Paula Carrara, which takes place as part of the Buffer Fringe programme, and A Space of Our Own, organised by the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research exploring gendered experiences of public spaces and the role of public monuments with educators from the north and south of Cyprus. 

During this trip I talk with artists and NGO workers about their practices in cafes, in their homes, on the streets. Some conversations are recorded, and others are not. One evening in a bar I meet community facilitator and cultural producer Argyro Toumazou. I am moved by a map she shows me of Nicosia, as though the city is not separated by a buffer zone. 

I stay with Barçın Gökbörü who runs MultiKulti parties near the buffer zone. I meet many people who pass by through the accommodation. I talk with him about the partie he hosts. I think about what a party can do that a workshop can’t. I think about feeling, and empathy when dancing. I meet dancer Arianna Economou over a shared love of the word rehearsal and a chance meeting at a presentation of work. We meet at a cafe near her studio to talk about a history of incredible intercommunal projects she has led.  

My time is latticed by meetings, and chance encounters. I see a poster about a contemporary art festival called Xarkis in a village called Kornos. I take the bus there. I find myself in a workshop around experience of pain. As a village famous for ceramics the artists have built a clay pit in the centre of the village, outside a ceramics workshop. After the workshop we all go in there. My face is covered in clay. I join a walking performance around the village, culminating in a gig played in an empty shop. One artist gives away ice cream from an ice cream van, telling stories, memories. Is this post-capitalist ice cream based on new forms of relational exchange? 

In October, during this time, the war starts in Palestine. Geographically we are close, and share the same climate, the same skies. I think a lot about the UK’s colonial history in Cyprus, and in the Middle East. I start to imagine workshops that haven’t happened. 

I stay in an accommodation with a host from Cyprus, and guests from Syria, from Germany, and from the UK. We share dinners together. We eat walnuts in syrup, made by the hosts aunt. All of us have a story about walnuts in syrup.

I visit Cyprus twice more. I see Cyprus at all points of the year. In the sunny and cold days of winter and the extreme summer heat. During these later trips I transcribe interviews, write about the workshops I attend.  

In winter I run a workshop at Home for Cooperation about care and rehearsing future worlds. How can I talk about a workshop without running one? In the workshop we reflect on care practices in our own lives, and how they might use as principles for society more broadly. We create posters based on these small acts of care in our own lives, imagining them as principles for society. 

I create a small intervention in the Home for Cooperation cafe based on reflection about workshop practices and the cafe itself. I sublimate the text ‘We are all rehearsing futures’ on mugs that Home for Cooperation uses for plants. I want to think about how actions in the present are forming futures. The text acts as a mirror and a prompt. 

On my final trip in the heat of summer where mostly I am out at night due to the heat of the day. I reflect on running workshops and what this means. I think critically about how I run workshops. I reflect on planning workshops. I try to imagine another way to plan, which is less about time and more about care. I spend time Cyens maker space and learn printing techniques.  

I plan to print a small run of the publication, and a copy will go in the library at the Home for Cooperation cafe . 

Thanks to Home for Cooperation, Buffer Fringe, Andri Christofides, Barçın Gökbörü, Maro and her family, Christina Skarpari and Xarkis Festival, Nihal Soğancı, Paula Carrara, Arianna Economou, Natali Touloupou, The Association for Historical Dialogue and Research, Cyens Thinker Maker Space, Fiona Whelen, Hoi Polloi, Rüstem Kitabevi, all attendees of the workshop at Home for Cooperation, and all the other people and places I had encounters with during my time in Cyprus. Thank you for your generosity. 

02/02/2023 – 16/02/2023 and 11/01/2024 – 26/01/2024

My secondment to Coventry University took place in two two-week visits, one year apart. Although this planning occurred to accommodate work obligations, it worked quite well in allowing for enough space in between the visits for initial relationships within the network to develop, and the focus of the secondment to be finetuned by the second visit. 

One of the main objectives I had going in this secondment was to connect with members of the network and explore the different ways in which spatial practices are incorporated into the work of colleagues across disciplines. Coming from a non-profit cultural organization like the Home for Cooperation which operates from the buffer zone of Nicosia Cyprus, the transformative potentiality of spatial practices in cross-sectoral practices and methods, was of great interest. 

A key element of my time in Coventry included walking and exploring the vastly contrasting landscapes of the city, visiting museums and galleries, while connecting with people who call Coventry home or workplace. The first visit was more about tracing my steps, finding my bearings and deciding what the secondment would focus on. Coventry offered a multitude of stimuli not only regarding its beautiful landscape contradictions but in the reflexivity I witnessed among the SpaceX network in the discussions around the aftermath of Coventry being UK’s City of Culture. 

During my first visit I had the chance to meet with Sevven Kucuk and Ryan Hughes from Coventry Biennale, discussing methodologies and approaches in organizing an arts festival where locality and creative exploration are at the forefront, exchanging experiences and practices regarding the organization of the Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival in Nicosia by the Home for Cooperation. I also had very fruitful discussions with Dr Ahmadreza Hakiminejad, Dr Mahsa Alami Fariman, Prof. Gary Hall, as well as PhD researchers of the Postdigital Cultures Centre at Coventry and fellow Space-X researchers.

I also gave a presentation about my organization and own PhD research at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures with fellow SpaceX researcher Georgia Perkins from Sirius in Ireland. Additionally, along with Mel Jordan and Andy Hewitt, I attended a talk in neighbouring Northampton visiting NN Contemporary and Vulcan Works, finding out more about their efforts in creating inclusive spaces for local artists. 

My second visit to Coventry, a year later, focused on reflecting on the connections built within the network and how they could potentially inform our work at the Home for Cooperation, and my own research. Having already hosted researchers at the Home under SpaceX, prior or during my second secondment visit I connected with Dr. Fiona Whelan from NCAD, Alex Parry and Marley Treloar from the University of Coventry, exchanging and reflecting on our experiences within the network and project. During this time, I also did some more hands-on fieldwork, focusing on Fargo Village at Coventry, speaking to the management team and finding out more about their approach and efforts in supporting local creatives balancing openness and inclusivity with viable business models.

Since the completion of my secondment, I had the chance to participate at an Online Conversation at Coventry University by Art, Space and the City research group, with fellow SpaceX researcher Ryan Hughes from Coventry Biennale, coordinated by Marley Treloar. The focus of the talk was on the importance of organizations being reflective towards their approach and operational structures and how this practice can inform the organization’s vision and commitment to its values and mission.

Lastly, in celebrating the possibilities of the smaller networks created within the wider SpaceX network, an informal online discussion was organized with Georgia Perkins, Marley Treloar, Alex Parry and Fiona Whelan and myself. In this meeting we discussed and exchanged experiences of our secondments, research interests and explored potential outputs and collaborations.

27 Jan 2023 – 28 Feb 2023

SCREAM – STREET CORNER REALITY: Ethnography As Mockery is a spatial practices observation game inspired by the pioneers of Sociology and Urban Ethnography on the one hand, and the artistic avant-gardes of the 1970s on the other.

The main idea of SCREAM is to realise a video shot by choosing a perspective and a single sequence to which a ‘script’ is subsequently added. The aim of SCREAM is to challenge the tradition of ethnographic observation by reversing it without invalidating it. Ethnography is in fact a method based on the organisation of field notes or detailed descriptive accounts of any observation of reality made during a given period. In contrast, SCREAM creates a fictional text from the indications provided by reality that manifests itself without mediation by revealing inspirations, expectations, curiosities and patterns of everyday spatial practices.

Below are the ‘instructions’ for making a SCREAM video.

• Observe the space near your location and choose a perspective from which to shoot. It is important that it is a public or mixed space where different daily activities take place. Choose a shooting point that is reliable and does not disturb the activities of the space to be filmed.
• Equip yourself with a video camera or smartphone, a tripod and possibly a directional microphone (not necessary but can be useful).
• Record a single sequence. You can also move the camera or zoom the shot.
• Watch the recording. If you are not satisfied, try again, but try to find even in the most seemingly insignificant gestures and practices something to “play with” and meaning to bring out.
• Add your own audio commentary in the form of a choreography or script of what really happened.

I realised until now 3 SCREAM videos in Berlin, Florence and Dublin.