The Collectors Case (2015) Yelena Popova

The Collectors Case (2015) Yelena Popova

Booking opens for New Expressions’ field visit programme

By Claire Gulliver

15 May 2015

Artists and museum staff with a professional interest in collaboration are being invited to experience some of the high points of the New Expressions

LIVE season together.  Hosted by three of the programme’s partner museums in Plymouth, York and Warwickshire, this series of three events will enable the exchange of knowledge and creative thinking and promote inspirational programming ideas.

Each field visit offers the opportunity to see newly commissioned art works and to gain candid insights into their production, interpretation and installation, as revealed by the museums and the artists involved.

Each event will also enable participants to consider options for supporting future joint working between artists and museums - options that will support creative risk taking and experimental new approaches to artist-museum collaboration. One idea under consideration is the option of setting up a practice-based ‘Subject Specialist Network’ (SSN). Arts Council England recognises SSNs as fora for sharing expertise, research, mentoring and developing best practice, and has given New Expressions an award from the Museum Resilience Fund to explore whether this would be a good way to take the initiative forward nationally.

Each of the three field visits has a different theme, inspired by the nature of the art work the host museum has commissioned for New Expressions 3.

The themes are:

Collaborative working with artists, volunteers and historic houses

Upton Park House and Gardens near Banbury with artist Yelena Popova

11.00 – 16.00, Thursday 18 June 

Yelena Popova’s installation ‘The Collector’s Case’ is a video work accompanied by a series of ‘invisible portraits’ that reflect on the extraordinarily rich collection of paintings assembled by Lord Bearsted and the remarkable events that have befallen them since they came into his possession and following his generous donation of both house and paintings to the National Trust.  Meanwhile, “Banking for Victory” the special installation currently on show at Upton, following a concerted programme of research undertaken by the entire team of staff and volunteers, brings the story of the house during World War Two, and precautions taken to ensure the safety of its collection, vividly to life.

Tickets and full programme

Creative risk-taking: commissioning one-off outdoor public events

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery with artist Keith Harrison

11.00-16.00, Wednesday 22 July 2015

Keith Harrison’s ‘Heavy Rock’ commission takes its inspiration from Plymouth’s historic breakwater and a painting in the City Museum and Art Gallery’s collections that depicts the laying of its foundation stone just over 200 years ago. He will be intervening in the casting process of one of the giant 100-tonne concrete wave breakers that are placed out on the breakwater each year. Planning for the commission, which aims to open the eyes of the public to the hidden process that ensures the city is protected from flooding, has involved the museum brokering new partnerships across the city and taking account of the tide tables (the timing of high tide is critical to the timetable for dropping the concrete blocks).

Tickets and full programme

Embedding contemporary artist commissions in capital redevelopment of museums

York Art Gallery with artist Philip Eglin 

11.15 – 16.00, Monday 14 September

Having established a reputation for ground-breaking collaborations with artists through its programme of installations at York St Marys, York Museum Trust has drawn on its experience of working with contemporary artists in its major three-year, 8 million pound capital redevelopment of York Art Gallery. This field visit will enable participants to understand some of the challenges and rewards of engaging in a collaborative approach to re-interpreting and re-presenting collections. They will be able to experience the new building, including the new Centre for Ceramic Art (CoCA), in the company of Janet Barnes, Chief Executive of York Museums Trust and her colleague Helen Walsh, together with Philip Eglin, one of the artists commissioned to work with them for the redevelopment.

Tickets and full programme

How to book

All the events are free to take part in, but places are limited and booking is essential.  To book a place, please follow the appropriate Eventbrite link above.

If you have any queries, please email Susie O’Reilly, Programme Director, New Expressions 3:

E: o_reillysusan@hotmail.com