CuratorSpace is a website which delivers the tools you need to manage art opportunities efficiently and stay in control.

A new website is making it easier for people and organisations to create exciting and well­-managed art opportunities all over the country. It’s called CuratorSpace and is the result of a collaboration between an artist and a web developer in Leeds.

The Art House, The Old Library Project Commission, Limited Edition Works for Fundraising, Ltd Edition Wall Panels by Daniel Heath. Photo credit: The Art House

CuratorSpace is an online resource for anyone who wants to organise art opportunities for exhibitions, residencies, commissions, and more. It allows people to set up and manage their opportunities, share the details with artists and other participants, select contributions and keep track of all the many different communications that often arise. It also makes it easier for artists and contributors to offer their work for selection.

CuratorSpace has been designed and built by Leeds­ based team Louise Atkinson and Philip Bennison. Louise is an experienced artist/curator herself, and Philip is an innovative web developer. The site helps manage open calls by dealing with some of the time ­consuming administration, whilst adding useful tools that make storing and sharing important data and information a simple, secure and efficient process.

CuratorSpace fulfils a need Louise identified from her own work. She said, “I’ve been working as an artist and organising exhibitions for about 15 years. Initially Facebook groups made organising shows easier, but soon opportunities were being shared on different networks, with responses coming back through email, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook etc. making it very difficult to manage, especially if I was organising more than one event at once.

East Street Arts, Open Studios 2014. Photo credit: East Street Arts

The Art House, SOMETIMES Residency, ‘The Inmate World’, video installation by Amelia Crouch. Photo credit: The Art House

“After a conversation with web developer Philip Bennison about how we could create simple tools to help people organising exhibitions to manage submissions from artists, CuratorSpace was born.”
CuratorSpace was launched last year and has already picked up a number of key users – including the complex multi­-site events of Saltaire Inspired and the prestigious East Street Arts, a Leeds­ based artists organisation with a national reach and reputation.

Bradford’s National Media Museum is using CuratorSpace to commission an artist in residence for The Season of Light 2015 – a series of installations and events responding to the UNESCO International Year of Light and Light Based Technologies. More recently, B­side Festival in Dorset have begun using it for their commissions and have been able to create a separate application form in French for French artists – which only goes to show just how adaptable the system is.

The Tetley, The Imaginary Museum curated by Louise Atkinson. Photo credit: Philip Bennison

East Street Arts have been increasingly using CuratorSpace to help manage their events. Lydia Catterall says “because applications remain outside individual email inboxes there’s no
risk of losing anything or missing anyone’s application. Everything is ordered, tidy and in the same format, and our staff can get access anytime they need. What’s more, CuratorSpace is flexible enough to meet our changing needs as we add new spaces, events and projects locally and nationally.”

June Russell from Saltaire Inspired said “managing a call­out online has simply never been easier, and we recommend CuratorSpace highly.”

Louise and Philip are constantly developing the site and its facilities, “we are delighted that the project is getting use by bigger organisations as well as smaller curators and artists – it is what the site was designed for”.

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Since forming in 2012, Kalopsia has worked to promote and support the creative talent working in textiles today – from contemporary textile art to textile design, we believe that the subject is a diverse practice and holds huge potential for innovation. Our Creative Director, Nina Falk, ran two fashion labels and a store in her native Sweden and found upon arriving in Scotland a number of challenges that textile creators face when producing their fabrics. The lack of resources meant that it was required to travel south to England for short run production and fabric prototyping; an often costly and time consuming process. It became obvious working with other textile artists and designers there was a real demand for a solution.

The Facility is our biggest project to date and aims to support Scottish designers and emerging talent by establishing a creative hub where graduates, independent designers and small businesses can produce their textiles in more efficient and sustainable ways through the use of specialist equipment, trained technicians and the sharing of knowledge and skills. By creating one multi-purposed and designated space, we hope to create an environment where people from different aspects of the textile practice can interact and ultimately fuel the exchange of ideas and knowledge within the textiles industry. We first pitched The Facility last autumn at the STLA symposium and were met with a really enthusiastic response showing there is a real need for this kind of space.

We are looking to build this as a pilot to develop what we hope will be a pioneering new business model for creative industries and are working to make it a commercially viable business that is responsibly grown. With this in mind, we aim to make it a real tool to be utilised by the fresh talent in the textile industry. As we are a social enterprise, Kalopsia see The Facility as an opportunity to train unemployed apprentices, helping them into sustainable and skilled jobs in the regional and national industry.

On Friday 30 January at Ocean Terminal, Kalopsia will be hosting an evening to officially launch The Facility Project. The evening will be an opportunity to hear more about the project but we are keen to hear the ideas of those who could really benefit from The Facility. How can we make The Facility best suit your needs? What would you like to see from it? The event is free and to attend you can your ticket from here.

To get in touch and find out more about The Facility and ways to get involved say hello at info@kalopsia.co.uk.

Visit here for more about Kalopsia Collective on Central Station.

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Bearing GIFs is a collaborative project curated by illustrator Charlene Man showcasing 25 different artists to each create a looping gif based on the theme ‘Meme’.

Presented as an advent calendar, Bearing GIFs will release one Gif a day up to Christmas, each day they will showcase a GIF by one of their selected artists/designers.

See a full list of participating artists here.

GENERATION will bring an ambitious and extensive programme of works of art by over 100 artists to over 60 galleries, exhibition spaces and venues the length and breadth of the nation between March – November 2014, with the majority of exhibitions taking place over the summer of 2014, as part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme.

GENERATION will feature work by artists who came to attention working in Scotland between 1989 and 2014 and include work by artists born in Scotland, as well artists of other nationalities who studied and live or lived in Scotland.

GENERATION has been in the making since 2011. The programme will continue to grow in the coming months, and featured artists include Charles Avery, Sara Barker, Karla Black, Christine Borland, Martin Boyce, Roddy Buchanan, Steven Campbell, Duncan Campbell, Katy Dove, Graham Fagen, Moyna Flannigan, Douglas Gordon, Ilana Halperin, Charlie Hammond, Iain Hetherington, Louise Hopkins, Callum Innes, Jim Lambie, Lorna Macintyre, Sophie Macpherson, Alan Michael, Rosalind Nashashibi, Toby Paterson, Ciara Phillips, Alex Pollard, Charlotte Prodger, Mary Redmond, John Shankie, David Shrigley, Ross Sinclair, Simon Starling, Clare Stephenson, Corin Sworn, Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan, Cara Tolmie, Sue Tompkins, Hayley Tompkins, Zoë Walker & Neil Bromwich, Alison Watt, Cathy Wilkes, Richard Wright and many more.

GENERATION will be one of the most ambitious celebrations of contemporary art ever held by a single nation, and aims to reach and build new audiences for contemporary art. The venues involved in the project have programmed their own exhibitions, working with Associate Curator Katrina Brown and a specially convened Curatorial Board comprised of representatives of the partner organisations, to ensure that all the exhibitions share the aspirations of the project.

Participating venues include The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney, which will present a major exhibition of work by Zoë Walker & Neil Bromwich spanning more than 15 years of their practice. Caithness Horizons in Thurso will show the work of Douglas Gordon for the first time in the north of Scotland, whilst a specially curated exhibition of work by Toby Paterson will tour to venues in Kirkcaldy, Inverness, Peebles and Dumfries. Dalziel + Scullion’s installation Tumadh : Immersionwill be staged in two parts in An Lanntair in Stornoway and Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, whilst venues East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway will present works by some of Scotland’s major contributors to the development of contemporary art in the last 25 years as part of the South By South West (SXSW) partnership.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “The sheer scale and ambition of this project is testament to the large number of talented artists that Scotland has produced over the last quarter of a century.”

See the full programme of listings for GENERATION here.

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No Man’s Art Gallery was founded by Dutch ex-lawyer, Emmelie Koster in 2010. In a very unusual career move, Koster suddenly decided to take up painting whilst in the second year of her masters degree in law. Unhappy with her paintings, she sold them online under a different name (Bob Koster) and set up an a fake art gallery to promote them. Soon afterwards, real artists began sending Emmelie their portfolios looking for representation. By the time she finished her studies and started her job as a lawyer, she realised that the gallery had become a project with serious potential and quit her legal career to focus on realising that potential.

© Max & Charlotte, Ou est Charlie, Piscine Pontoise, Paris V, 2009

The name ‘No Man’s Art Gallery’ refers to No Man’s Land, the land that has no laws and no set boundaries. No Man’s Art Gallery now provides an international platform for young artists by organising pop up galleries all over the world. Every three months they take on a different city to find local young artists with great talent. They exhibit the new-found artists’ work in their local city and travel with No Man’s Gallery to the next city. The exhibitions always show a wide variety of young artists, coming from all over the world. Previous exhibitions have been in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Mumbai, Paris, Copenhagen, and most recently in Shanghai.

Works by Sarah Wijzenbeek at the Mumbai Exhibition

The gallery has its headquarters in Amsterdam as well as a recently opened office in Copenhagen. They aim to promote artistic collaborations between the Netherlands and Denmark in addition to organising their pop-up galleries worldwide. No Man’s Art Gallery is the first art gallery to organise pop up galleries in a different country every few months. The exhibitions are open for a week before they are gone again and are always an adventure to visit. The location is secret, and only disclosed to those who sign up beforehand. So far, they’ve exhibited in special locations worldwide; the ruins of a cotton mill compound in Mumbai, a chapel on Vestre Kirkegaard in Copenhagen, a harbor building in Hamburg, an atomic shelter in Amsterdam.

© Daniel van der Noon, Mertropolis, 2012

In the three months preparation for a pop up gallery, they face the challenge of finding a location and setting up a complete network of artists, art lovers and buyers, members of the press, sponsors and local partners. They select their artists in a new city by contacting all art schools and visiting young ateliers to find the talents that the city has to offer. Everyone in No Man’s Art Gallery gets a say in the selection, and the final decisions are made by Emmelie Koster and Emma Sofie Jensen.

© Participant of the No Man’s Art Slum Photography Contest, Black Sludge, 2011

They also hope to be able to organise the No Man’s Art Slum Photography Contest annually. In 2011, private sponsorship for analogue cameras and film rolls was organised for 45 children from Dharavi, Mumbai, the biggest slum in Asia. The children were taught how to use the cameras in a short workshop and sent off to capture the moments in life that they enjoy the most. The results were absolutely amazing. All the children received the prints of their photos and a selection of the photos are now exhibited and for sale at No Man’s pop up galleries. The proceeds go directly back into buying new film and development of the film.

Mumbai Exhibition

Lyrical Artist Justus Raapgaarde reads his poetry at the Hamburg Exhibition

No Man’s Art Gallery’s latest pop-up gallery exhibition was in Shanghai. The exhibition featured local Chinese artists alongside the artists that were discovered at previous pop-up galleries in Copenhagen, Paris, Mumbai, Hamburg and Amsterdam. Additionally, three Chinese artists will be chosen to travel with No Man’s to their upcoming future exhibitions. Find out more here.

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Triple Canopy is dedicated to slowing down the Internet. This begins with their cleverly-designed interface which encourages prolonged, focused engagement.

Working collaboratively with writers, artists, researchers, designers, and developers, Triple Canopy facilitates projects that engage the Internet’s specific characteristics as a public forum with its own evolving practices of reading and viewing, and modes of interaction.

Why we like it:
With great articles like international art language and downloadable podcasts, it’s difficult not to spend all day on this site.

UN<SIMPLE downloadable podcast by Adriana Reines

Find out more:
Website | Tumblr | Facebook | Twitter

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Get involved:
We Are Unfinished Artists invites all craft workers, artists and makers to submit discarded works and also join them in creating new pieces from their collected fragments.

From September, they will be running weekly workshops at mac Birmingham where people can bring submissions, work on any pieces that spark their interest, and help to construct the final exhibition. If you would like to sign up to the workshops visit the mac website.

Find out more:
Website

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Every Friday lunchtime in 2012 artists, friends and flatmates Ellie Harrison & Oliver Braid are joining forces to co-host a regular half-an-hour slot on Culture Lab Radio.

Broadcast LIVE from their lounge in the West End of Glasgow, the Ellie & Oliver Show aims to explore the philosophies that surround and inform their everyday lives and is set to an eclectic soundtrack that reflects their unique weekly topic: universal themes such as ‘identities’, ‘obsessions’ or ‘routines’.

An audience friendly, upbeat inquiry into contemporary living, the Ellie & Oliver Show offers a rare insight into the day-to-day lives of two of the freshest and more unusual new voices on the Scottish art scene.

Already being hailed as the perfect antidote to a sometimes over serious and insincere art world, the Ellie & Oliver Show emphasises honesty and optimism as its co-hosts use their close friendship to help each other negotiate their individual, and sometimes idiosyncratic, ways in the world. Unfazed by embarrassment, Ellie Harrison & Oliver Braid continue to welcome this weekly interlude from their hectic work routines as an opportunity to ‘catch up’ LIVE on air – offering personal and provocative interpretations of their theme, which seem to strike-a-chord with likeminded listeners, both locally and across the globe.

Ellie Harrison & Oliver Braid were invited by Culture Lab Radio to develop this new show – their first major collaboration – following their highly successful hour-long pilot broadcast as part of Wunderbar Festival in Newcastle in November 2011. Now, only nine episodes in, they are already developing a cult following. Curious fans tune-in LIVE during their Friday lunch break in anticipation of the latest topic of discussion, whilst others listen again or on- the-go, as the handy iTunes podcast and Mixcloud online archive mean that you need never miss a thing. You too can keep up-to-date with the unfolding weekly adventures of Ellie & Oliver – as they chase love, success and harmony across the airwaves and beyond.

Live from Glasgooow, it’s the Ellie & Oliver Shooow!

Visit the Ellie & Oliver Show website
Hear some of the shows you may have missed
Follow the Ellie & Oliver Show on Twitter
Like the Ellie & Oliver Show on Facebook

Here’s a taste of the Ellie & Oliver Show right here:

Ellie & Oliver Show jingles were written and produced by Glasgow-based musician Shortlegs, with logo design by Glasgow-based illustrator (and Central Station member) Emily Chappell.

Since its inception in 1993 – formed in response to what was seen as a cultural vacuum – the gallery continues to be run by a group of voluntary directors on a two-year rolling basis. Through its dynamic and challenging programming Catalyst supports young and emerging local talent, often showcasing new names alongside established and international artists. Over the years Catalyst has continually promoted contemporary art practices in Belfast, and serves as a training ground for artists, curators and arts administrators.

Catalyst Arts is a non-profit organisation supported by a large members base and holds an annual member’s show, giving all its members a chance to showcase their work in the gallery.

Upcoming exhibitions:

Vicinity
22nd March – 13th April 2012
Vicinity is a group exhibition investigating temporary, adaptable and
transitory methods for exploring Belfast city. Artists will work in an
engaged manner, using the mile radius of the gallery as a starting
point to make new work in the gallery and at off-site locations.

The gallery is situated at 5 College Court, Belfast BT1 6BS and opens Tuesday to Saturday, 11am – 5pm.

For more details about past, present and future exhibitions and opportunities, or to become a member, please visit Catalyst website or visit the gallery on Facebook.

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From time to time we feature galleries and spaces that showcase & encourage grassroots artists. Brows through more of our Featured Venues.
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Since it was founded in 2007, kuš! has published 20 anthologies with short comics from 60 Latvian and 140 artists from all over Europe and rest of the world, including China, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, USA and Canada. Some artists are already well known, while others are still emerging. Sometimes kuš! holds open calls when everyone is invited to submit their work.

All the issues are in full color, but the format and names change according to the obstacles of funding and moods of the editors. Every issue contains artistic comics from international and Latvian artists to a certain topic which changes every time. While in the beginning all the comics where published in Latvian as kuš!, since 2009 the anthology has been published in a smaller format with the name š! in English, therefore reaching a wider audience outside Latvia.

The latest issue was š! #9 ‘female secrets’. It contains 160 pages of comics from 27 female cartoonists. Another recent project was š! #8 ‘midnight sun’, featuring some of the most-cutting edge comics from Finland.  You can get both from Kuš! webshop.

kuš! also organises exhibitions, workshops and takes part in international festivals.

You can find more about kuš! on their website, read their blog & Tumblr, and follow them on Twitter & Facebook.

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