CANNED is a biannual, artist run magazine of contemporary art and critical dialogue.

CANNED was founded in 2011 by Iris Priest and Rory Biddulph in order to provide a platform for the exchange and enlargement of ideas and to support emerging artists and writers in their career progression both regionally and nationally. As such, issues to do with community, dialogue and reciprocity are important both to the CANNED founding intent and ongoing aspirations. For the most recent edition, ISSUE 3 we invited an open discourse on these themes, collaborating with artists, writers and critics to facilitate a wide, diverse and at times challenging examination of the perceived role of art in the contemporary context.

The CANNED programme has extended to the facilitation of real life events and exchanges from our work with basic.fm (the online radio station of art and culture), to one-off projects such as Peinture Abstraite – a collaboration between NewBridge artists Thomas Whittle and Holly Watson with the Swedish artist Jacob Dahlgren, culminating in the exclusive CANNED 3 centrefold and a thoughtful essay by Watson. Similarly in May 2012 CANNED hosted the three-day long event A NewBridge Enquiry. Devised and curated by the artists Andrew Wilson and Toby Lloyd A NewBridge Enquiry generated a wealth of critique, conversations and exchanges between artists, the public and other interested bodies. Some of these conversations – encompassing conflicting opinions and perspectives on the social efficacy of art – were then continued in ISSUE 3 through the four-way discursive essay A NewBridge Enquiry: the Politics of Participation and the Act of Invitation.

This approach to generating content and challenging, far-reaching discourse is something which the CANNED team hope to advance in future publications through collaborations both within the region and beyond to other national and international artists, writers and institutions.

CANNED are currently looking for submissions for ISSUE IV –The Politics of Representation, see details here.

Find out more about CANNED:
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