5 Invitations

Graceful Rock

Live drawing session 

Sunday, September 19th, 2:00pm - 3:00pm

Location: 53 28'55.85"N 2 15'29.85"W

Arrivals

Moving in to Castlefield Gallery

We moved into Castlefield Gallery on 13 September, set up our office and started to receive responses.

Invitation No. 3: Graceful Rock

A live drawing session at a specific location.

Emailed to Castlefield Gallery's mailing list and posted on facebook.

One of three

A set of three pencils

Each pencil given to a specific artist during a dinner party 

Each invitation so far sent out has been a considered gesture taking into account who will receive it. In this case I thought it appropriate to create an adaptation of invite No.1 to give to a photographer and a artist/designer. I kept the third pencil for myself.      

Anticipation...

Preparing to move into Castlefield Gallery on Monday. Invitations bearing fruit - lots of responses coming through. Always exciting and intriguing. Need to collect a response from the post office, I look forward to opening it with great delight. Thanks for all the responses so far.      

Invitation No. 5: Press Play

An audio file.

Sent by text message and email to individual artists working with sound.

Invitation No. 4: Directions

Directions for a walk.

Inserted into Castlefield Gallery infomation rack.

Invitation No. 2: A Title, Should You Choose to Accept It.

An envelope, containing a title.

Handed to specific artists, sent in the post and slid under doors.

Invitation No. 1: Please Take One

Pencils, with an instruction for use, delivered to:

Islington Mill

Hotbed Press

Rogue Studios

Bankley Studios

Mirabel Studios

Ian Simpson Architects

Invitations

Over the last week Association have been busy sending out a series of invites to various people in Manchester, to encourage them to respond to our current practice.  We hope that these invites will stimulate new conversations and potentially encourage future collaborations. We are not asking for anything in particular in response - and we accept that some people will choose not to respond.  All the responses we do receive, however will be documented and archived during our time at Castlefield Gallery.

In the meanwhile, invites are finding their way to various corners of the city.  We have sought out certain artists who have specifically shown an interest in working with us, but also covertly deposited invitations in places, to be discovered by whoever happens to pass by.  Envelopes have been slid under doors, text messages have been sent, directions have been given and objects have been deposited.  We await the responses with great anticipation!

If anyone would like further information about where to send a response to, please email us:

associationprojects@gmail.com

Please Take One

Association @ DJCAD

Association were invited to take part in a presentation of work at Ducan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee with Dundee based artist collectives Now Now and Ganghut.  The presentation was organised by DJCAD as an 'exchange of ideas event' with the potential of developing a collaborative project in the future.

We'll keep you posted on any further developments.

http://www.exhibitions.dundee.ac.uk/programmes_current.html
nownowprojects.wordpress.com
www.ganghut.co.uk

Our presentation coincided with the End of Residency Event, for artists Sophie Lisa Beresford, Michael Mallett and Stephen Murray who had taken part in the Cooper Summer Residency.

Summerhouse @ Castlefield Gallery

Association have been invited by Castlefield Gallery to take part in their Summerhouse project.  We will be occupying the gallery between 13-23 September 2010, to undertake the following project:

  

Throughout the summer Association will send out a series of invitations to artists in Manchester, inviting them to respond.  Each invite will be a carefully considered gesture which references our previous activity, but is devised to encourage a response from particular groups of artists. The response we request is non-prescriptive and may take the form of a piece of work, conversation, a further question, or in some instances, nothing at all.  The direction of our activity in the gallery is reliant on the intervention of others.  We intend to arrive at Castlefield Gallery armed with the many or few responses we receive and embark on a fortnight of activity; digesting, collating and responding to our replies.

We will be posting further information about the progress of the project over the next few weeks.

Castlefield Gallery

Islington Mill

Invitation to respond

Whilst working towards the next phase of Association, we have asked a series of guests to contribute to our blog. We await the results with anticipation. 

Shadow drawing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gChROlQRZ_Q

Scholar's Rock

We were visited several times during our residency at Islington Mill by Wang Jun, the current Artist in Residence at the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester.  He made a particular contribution to our 3rd Open Studio, where we invited the public to take part in a live drawing event.  Shortly after this open studio, Wang Jun invited us to respond to his Scholar's Rock project.  Wang Jun invited several local artists, including Lee Machell, Antony Clarkson, Naomi Lethbridge, Sean Caherty, Gweni (Emma Williams), David Hancock, Philip Davenport, Nicola Smith and Tony Trehy, to exhibit their response to his project, along side his work, during his Open Studio in April.  More information can be found here about the project.  Scholar's Rock

Association presented some work that has originated from a series of walks in the areas of Salford surrounding our studio at Islington Mill.  We make particular reference to Ying and Nina’s regular pilgrimage to The Graceful Rock, a boulder in a local piece of wasteland with a particularly classic form.

Sarah

We are sorry to announce that Sarah Sanders has decided to leave Association. We would like to thank her for the fantastic contribution she has made to the many discussions and experiments that have taken place over the last year.  We would like to wish her well and invite her to pop back from time to time to see how we are getting on.

Best wishes,

Jessica, Ying and Nina

No. 16

No. 15

No. 12

No. 11

No. 8

No. 6

No. 4

Clarification

After reading the interview Jessica Longmore gave to Manchester Mouth, I would like to clarify to our readers that I have never 'liked' the name Mutually Advantageous Association. I agreed to it at the start because I could not suggest another title. Thankfully we reduced our name to Association during our residency at Islington Mill.


Nina, Ying and Jess;

Why do you like the name Mutually Advantageous Association?

It is important to you to be Mutually Advantageous in this collaboration? Why?

Answers revised

Please list the most significant moments of the Association residency. (The more the better)
learning the significance of trust and respect

Have you collaborated?
I have taken part in a series of experiments

If so, [refering to question number 2] why have you collaborated?

I wanted to see what would happen

Have you made work?

No

Have you made work?

Question number 4: Have you made work?

Nina Chua

Yes, both as Nina Chua and as Association

Ying Kwok

answer pending

Jessica Longmore

Yes

If so, why have you collaborated?

Question number 3: If so, [refering to question number 2] why have you collaborated?

Nina Chua

I’d been working singularly in my studio for a long time and had got to the stage where I wanted companionship and critical dialogue to be part of my studio life, so first and foremost I collaborated for the shared experience and the sense of possibility.

Now, I’d like to add to the list: challenge. I enjoy the challenge and the negotiation of ideas that comes with collaboration.

Ying Kwok

Put myself in the creative thinking mode.

Get some pressure and excitement

Jessica Longmore

To stimulate my own practice and put myself in a position where I don't know what will happen next.

In the meetings preceding this residency I had become aware of what a huge challenge working in this way would be. This realisation had manifested itself as sheer panic and these moments of panic have continued through out our time at Islington Mill. So in terms of why I have continued to collaborate, despite the difficulties, is, it has made me work harder; it has made me let go of some aspects of my work, brought clarity to others.

Have you collaborated?

Question number 2: Have you collaborated?

Nina Chua

Yes. We have collaborated to create a series of shared events and experiences

Ying Kwok

Yes.

I responded to the reaction and interests of other members.

I have done something, which only makes sense in our collaboration.

Jessica Longmore

Yes - or have I cooperated? I've done both.

Jessica's answers to question number 1

Please list the most significant moments of the Islington Mill Residency (as many as possible)

Islington Mill

Role Forming

Pink

Disintegration of roles

Wall of newspaper

Conversation

Tension

Democracy

Instruction

Care

Wasteland

Communication

Desire to preserve