Emerging Artist Residencies

30 November 1999

From 23 February to 18 May 2003, PICA will host two very different studio residencies as part of our ongoing commitment to local and emerging artists. Both residencies share a particular focus on notions of 'work space'. PICA's residency program is designed to bring active working practices into our gallery spaces and to enable artists to continue to develop their practice within a supportive and professional context. Visitors are encouraged to engage with the artists throughout the residency period, and to actively participate as workers in Sussi Porsborg's CLOG. The Tower Sussio Porsborg Showing: May 3 - 18, 2003 DIY shoemaking shop: Tuesdays, Thursday - Sunday, 11am to 8pm Sussi Porsborg will convert the Tower Studio to a shoemaking factory in an exploration of participation and unionism. I intend to use the residency period to install a DIY shoemaking shop. The project will work in the context of 'participation theory' Only the wearer knows how the shoe fits - adage of Ancient Greece Participation theory is at the heart of Industrial Democracy, or Unionism. The CLOG (or Sabot) has a long social history, apparent in common phrases and nursery rhymes, but traditionally a work shoe worn in the Industrial Revolution. CLOG, is an object and an act, the shoe itself and participation. In CLOG, the audience is invited to become an active part of the installation, a participant. A CLOG pattern is made to measure, the wearer principle. The CLOG shoe is styled from a clog but made entirely from 'Inbetweeness' - cloth that is the wastage collected from uniform manufacturers, and stitched back together, a union. The participant activates the union on multiple levels, literally by stitching the 'Inbetweeness' back together, but most importantly by becoming both the maker and the wearer. CLOG is free to participants (yes you get to keep your CLOG's, after all you made it, it's yours!). (But a gold coin donation to cover thread costs would be greatly appreciated!). Studio 1 Consuelo Cavaniglia & Annabel Dixon Consuelo Cavaniglia and Annabel Dixon seek to analyse their allocated residency space and its function through a collaborative investigation. A two-week studio showing for Consuelo Cavaniglia and Annabel Dixon will open Friday May 2nd at 6pm. 'This thinker observed that all the books, no matter how diverse they might be, are made up of the same elements: the space, the period, the comma, the twenty-two letters of the alphabet. He also alleged a fact which travellers have confirmed: In the vast library there are no two identical books'. (JL Borges) Our efforts will involve the description of the space using our individual approaches in a combined form: measure, order, construct, restrict, plan, label, direct, balance. How does space affect usage and usage affect space?