Slack Space Third Birthday Party and Exhibition Private View
The Pigeon-hole Project
Slack Space regional Empty Shops conference – ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT TO BOOK
Culpable Earth – firstsite late night opening
Call for artists – Alchemy 2
Slack Space Third Birthday Party and Exhibition Private View
We are hugely proud that Slack Space Colchester has reached its third year. It’s our birthday!. We are celebrating this not only by presenting an important regional conference on empty shops on 17th March (see next entry) but also with a party and private view of our new exhibition “FROM BARSHAM TO ALBION” A retrospective and joyous celebration of the seminal East Anglian Fairs of the 70s and 80s and its legacy, in an archive exhibition of poster art, photographs film, music and reminiscence.
The party / Private view will run from 7.00- 11.00 pm or later on Saturday 10th March. We will be showing some special documentary films, with musical and street theatre offerings from the period. A variety of musicians and performers (to be announced) which will include a real psychedelic band. Illuminati ( that’s Dorian) will do a bit of his world famous (but somewhat dated) psychedelic light show ( if he can find enough kit and borrow some overhead projectors). Mulled wine and some Veggie chilli and rice will hopefully be available, otherwise bring your own drink and make an evening of it!
The event is preceded from 2.00 pm by a the regular “Slack Folk” , an open mic show for local folk based performers. Potential performers are welcome but must book a slot at colchesterslackers@gmail.com )
THE EXHIBITION “From Barsham to Albion” which will also include the notorious Weeley 1971 festival, runs from the 7th March to 24th March. It is open from Wednesdays to Saturdays from 11.00-6.00 pm at Slack Space, Victoria Place, Eld Lane, Colchester.
The Pigeon-hole Project
In the new Slack Space ‘Long Gallery’ near the Post Room, there is a bank of delightful old wooden pigeon-holes.
As part of the Slack Space 3rd Birthday celebrations we are inviting artists to make a piece of 3D art/sculpture to fit into these boxes on a semi-permanent basis.
Each box measures approximately: 35cm wide x 25cm high x 38cm deep.
Paula MacGregor is the lead artist for this project, please address any questions to her at: colchesterslackers@googlemail.com labelled ‘Pigeon-hole project’
Slack Space regional Empty Shops conference – ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT TO BOOK
Transforming spaces – Arts use of empty shops and other disused spaces
Saturday 17 March 2012 9.30am – 5.15pm @ firstsite, Colchester
Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester, Essex CO1 1JH
£32.40 incl. VAT, lunch and two refreshment breaks
A Regional conference hosted by UK premier Empty Shop organisation Slack Space Colchester, in partnership with firstsite. The event will look at working in empty shops and other disused spaces and will combine an interactive focus on case studies and success stories with practical advice and contextual understanding.
Outline of day:
9.30 Arrivals. Refreshments available to purchase at firstsite restaurant
10.00 Abigail Cheverst (Slack Space) ‘Working in empty shops – possibilities, challenges and opportunities’
10.30 Michaela Freeman (Artside) ‘Artside - curating in the public space’
11.00 Amy McKenny (Tap) ‘TAP – running an artist led studio / gallery space’
11.30 Refreshments (provided)
11.50 Breakouts
12.15 Kayte Judge (We are Bedford) ‘We are Bedford’ – case study’
12.45 Chris Clarke (Slack Space) ‘Slack Space – case study’
1.15 Lunch (provided) with performance from popular folk band The Medlars
2.00 The coalface slots – a series of short presentations from working artists on what empty shops activity has meant for them
2.30 Eddie Bridgeman (Meanwhile Space) ‘New spaces, new ways of working - the meanwhile lease, development trusts and other solutions’
3.00 Dan Thompson (Empty Shops Network) ‘The big picture – presenting the results of a National research and evidence gathering project on disused space activity in the UK’
3.30 Refreshments (provided)
3.50 Breakouts
4.15 3Space presentation
4.30 Plenary / panel discussion – ‘Empty shops, disused spaces – the potential, the pitfalls and where we go next.’ The results of this plenary will be fed into the Empty shops Network National conference taking place later in the year
5.15 Close
Refreshments available to purchase at firstsite restaurant
Tour of Slack Space Colchester (optional)
All delegates will receive a copy of the Slack Space Manual and the Empty Shops Toolkit
Partner profile:
Slack Space is one of the premier ‘empty shop’ organisations in the UK and has been successfully putting art and performance into empty shops for over two and a half years
firstsite is a contemporary visual arts organisation based in Colchester with a mission to make contemporary art relevant to everyone.
Artside is a CoExist project featuring two weeks of art and interventions in Southend High Street with artists working directly with venues to create site-led work.
TAP is housed within a converted water works. Currently it houses CoExist Galleries and Studios, The White Bus, MEET, Solug and Open Arts.
We are Bedford is a community collective. The group put on the Castle Quay Weekender in March 2011, an arts festival in 7 empty shops, and run various other successful community events.
Meanwhile Space is led by the Development Trusts Association as part of the Advancing Assets programme, with support from the Dept. of Communities and Local Government.
Empty Shops Network is the National Network for organisations and individuals working in empty shops and other disused spaces.
3Space offer a brokerage service between landlords / developers with empty space and charities or other organisations wishing to use that space.
Culpable Earth – firstsite late night opening
Friday 16 March, 7 – 11pm
Special evening event with live music from the Grubby Mitts in the Learning spaces and hands-on creative activities in the Mosaic space, including beeswax candle rolling, bell ringing, and leather stitching
The evening ends with a display of fire-swinging in firstsite’s D-shaped garden!
A selection of Culpable Earth artist Steven Claydon’s short films will play in the auditorium throughout the evening.
Free; just drop in.
Call for artists – Alchemy 2
WANTED: Artwork for the ALCHEMY 2 exhibition. The exhibition is again all about found objects and recycled materials, but with an added interest this year – the theme of Bottles, Books and Boxes.
We are looking for some very special artwork that fits in with these criteria. The exhibition is 7 weeks away (starting 18 April) – You have just 4 weeks left to register your interest and get your pictures and proposals in to us at colchesterslackers@googlemail.com under the heading of ALCHEMY 2.
