Over the past 7-months, OutsiderXchanges, a pioneering visual arts project based on collaboration, reciprocal learning and creative exchange has brought together six learning disabled artists and six contemporary visual artists in one studio space. Taking parity of ideas and aesthetic approaches as a starting point the resulting works blur the line between art and life, inviting the viewer to challenge their own conceptions of art and what might be considered ‘outsider’ art.
Led by Venture Arts, a visual arts organisation based in Manchester that specialises in developing the creative talents and career opportunities of learning disabled people, OutsiderXchanges has been delivered in partnership with BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (Gateshead) and Castlefield Gallery (Manchester) thanks to public funding through the National Lottery by Arts Council England, and Manchester City Council.
Having launched at The Manchester Contemporary in September and shown at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art throughout October 2016, OutsiderXchanges is now heading to the Whitworth on Thursday 3 November for one night only and throwing a one-of-a-kind Art Party. Expect party hats, sound experimentation, performance and a host of artistic revelry. The evening will see the artist collective presenting, artworks, audio visual work and a one off performance by new super noise band ‘Psychedelic Brain cells’, an extension of the experimentation within the OutsiderXchanges studio into sound and celebrates the act of playing. And guests are invited to wear their best party outfits.
Artwork developed throughout the project ranges from pieces developed individually such Sarah Lee’s tactile three-dimensional clay ‘sketches’, inspired by the recent fire at the 16th-century Wythenshawe Hall, to collaborative works such as Yes Lad, Yes Lass (2016) by artists Barry Anthony Finan and Rosanne Robertson, a poignant mixed media video installation. This sculptural work represents the meeting of the two artists with their ambitions laid bare. Leslie Thompson, a prolific drawer, who at every opportunity is documenting his observations of events happening around him, in enormous detail using pen on paper, and in his own recognisable witty style, to artists Horace Lindezey and Juliet Davis who have involved public participation in their practice throughout to In a series of interviews Lindezey has been engaging participants in conversation on their childhood memories whilst also building models of their schools as a tool for reminiscence.
Artists involved in the project include: Juliet Davis, Barry Anthony Finan, Matt Girling, Jane Louise Graham, David James, Sophie Lee, Sarah Lee, Horace Lindezey, Simon Raven, Rosanne Robertson, Leslie Thompson and acclaimed artist Tanya Raabe-Webber. Ten of the artists have been working from one of Castlefield Gallery’s New Art Spaces in Manchester and two from BALTIC 39 in Newcastle.
OutsiderXchanges will also be part of DadaFest 2016 in Liverpool from 17 November – 3 December 2016.
