An Experiment in Collaboration

What happens when 6 artists embarking on 6 commissions are asked to choose a collaborator to work with in new ways? Who will they choose? What will they want to make? How will the process work? Will these collaborations continue after the exhibition? Will they fail? Will this opportunity encourage the artists to collaborate in the future? How does the collaborative working process differ to their usual ways of working? What are the benefits or disadvantages of working collaboratively?

An Experiment in Collaboration forms part of the Jerwood Visual Arts series of exhibitions and initiatives to support and promote emerging talent. 6 artists were invited to choose a collaborator to work with and to submit proposals for an experimental project that looked at the process of collaborative practice including:

Gemma Anderson + forensic psychiatrist Dr Tim McInery and three of his patients from Bethlem Hospital, London = a series of revealing portraits;
Daniel Baker + computer game designer Ricky Haggett = a computer game of the artist's fictional world of 'Glob';
Michael Pybus + Dazed & Confused magazine = a series of fashion photographs set within Pybus' painting/sculptural installation;
Paul Richards + artists: Joanna Castle, Jason Dungan, Jenifer Evans, Claire Hooper, Edward Peake, Guy Rusha & Gili Tal, Joe Walsh = an experimental film about cinema - a film about a film.
Karen Tang + architect Daniel Sanderson = a Modernist building titled 'Modern Molluscs'.
Artist collaborators Jackson Webb + biophysicist Dora Tang = chemical drawings that challenges the role of the 'author' within collaborative practice.

The exhibition will begin a conversation about collaborative working practice through a series of experiments and interconnected dialogues while allowing for each of the collaborators to explore a new way of working, drawing either on the other's expertise, ideas, knowledge or experience.