Working as an artist, a community artist,
an artist in the community, an arts administrator and an arts researcher in Northern Ireland for the last number of years,
it struck me that among the people I met and the places I went, there was a fair amount of disparity about what all those
job titles meant I was supposed to be doing.
Through my work I strongly felt that
the roles of art, artists, the community, administrators, participants and funders needed closer examination.
Not forgetting
of course, all those forms that accompany any kind of community arts work, oh those forms, they demand to be art in their
own right: filled out, un/sexed up, analysed, admired and taken extremely seriously.
So, I decided to interview a cross section
of people involved in the arts and community arts in Northern Ireland and make my artwork in response to their answers.
Launch invitees were treated to an interactive
form filled performance art experience, you can sample the online version below.
Many thanks to all those who were my
aiders and abetters: a trusty band of case officers, external evaluators, press photographers and exhibition supervisors
- to them, the interviewees and all those invitees who successfully completed the launch and have the certificates to
prove it, I sincerely thank and rethank.
