UP Projects and the Public Art Network UK present Assembly, an online learning and development programme for curators, producers and public art practitioners that explore issues and good practice in relation to the expanded field of public art. Assembly invites the public art community to explore the role public art can play in raising awareness and effecting change on issues around diversity, community cohesion, and the digital realm as a public space. The programme will engage curators, artists, commissioners, and people working in public contexts, encouraging them to pool their knowledge, and inspiring them to learn from peers in the art community.
The programme advocates for a broader, more nuanced, understanding of what it means to commission work for a public context and work in socially engaged ways. In the UK, while there are increasing opportunities for socially engaged work, particularly in urban development and regeneration programmes, there are very few opportunities to develop sector-specific knowledge and skills. Emphasis is often placed on learning on the job which carries risk, particularly when working with communities and vulnerable groups.
Through a series of four free online events, Assembly invites the sector to focus on a set of priorities for the future of public art. These will be shaped exploring the following questions: Who has agency? Whose voices are heard? What is collaboration? What is the role of curators in socially engaged practice? Is the future of public art online?
The events are led by socially engaged and public art curators and artists whose work strives to not only raise awareness but also effect change, working with models that advocate for mutual aid support, environmental responsibility, and non-hierarchical and collaborative ways of working.
Learning resources will be generated from each event and made available for free downloads from UP Projects’ website to support sector development and learning.
All Assembly events will take place online in The Hall, UP Projects’ digital participation space.
Assembly has been developed by UP Projects in collaboration with Public Art Network UK (PAN) and is generously supported by The Art Fund. The programme has been put together by Jes Fernie, Elisabeth Del Prete, Theresa Bergne and Emma Underhill.
Events
About Public Art Network
Public Art Network (PAN), UK is an emerging network for contemporary visual arts curators, managers and producers working in the public realm in the UK. It offers a sector-specialist network with a wide reach and convening power. It aims to be inclusive with equal emphasis on curators, managers and producers; and recognises the diversity of practitioners who have arrived at commissioning from varied situations. Its focus on internal professional development will be balanced by external advocacy and connections to artists, commissioners and the public. PAN UK and UP Projects are working in partnership to develop Assembly which forms part of an initial programme of events that will support curatorial development and will feed into a set of guiding principles for the sector. The PAN steering panel members are Vivien Lovell, Vivienne Reiss, Jeni Walwin, Theresa Bergne, Louise Trodden, Jes Fernie, Emma Underhill and Sam Wilkinson. PAN UK are supported by the Art Fund and UCL Culture.
