Chelsea Salon (2009 - 2016)

Chelsea Salon (20092016)

(2009 - 2016)

Chelsea Salon (2009 - 2016)

Design, illustration, image editing, cover design, logo& layout: Joshua Y’Barbo Cover image: Laura Carew

This book is drawn from the Chelsea Salon archive which resulted from several years of producing salons with postgraduate students at Chelsea College of Arts. The archive has been put together by Laura Carew and me and contains contributions by many people who became involved with Chelsea Salon between 2009 and 2016.

This book also contains material provided by alumni of Chelsea College of Arts, who under the tutorage of Brian Chalkley, formed their own unique relationships with the salons at Chelsea College of Arts. The archive includes numerous images of salon events, audio recordings of conversations, videos made during or as the result of past salons, posters for events, funding applications, propositional lesson plans, unrealised proposals, and a mass of correspondence.

The submission of this book made the digitised archive material in the form of a chronological account and a visual record of the history of Chelsea Salon and selected other salon activities.

There is no individual authority on the salons at Chelsea College of Art, though these activities have origins in Chalkley’s teaching practice disseminated to his students starting in 1996 and continuing through today. Over the years many students have organised and participated in their own salons which provided numerous personal accounts from various perspectives. This book is not a comprehensive account of past students’ perceptions but a snapshot of several iterations of the salons under the machination, Chelsea Salon, which was primarily directed and coordinated by Laura Carew and me, as students, alumni and teaching staff at Chelsea College of Art.

This book also provides an endpoint for practice-led research in institutional critique after the educational turn and critical pedagogy in the art school after the social turn in art. The material selected for this book forms a narrative of the development of Chelsea Salon and illustrates one example of an expansive iteration of Chalkley’s salons.

Joshua Y’Barbo

On behalf of Chelsea Salon

Contents: Introduction Chronology of:

Selected salons at Chelsea College of Arts (2008 - 2009) & Chelsea Salon (2009 - 2016)

Chelsea Salon Programme Collaborative Members Institutional Hosts

RESERVED FOR

INTRODUCTION:

The salons at Chelsea College of Art pre-date and endure past the active years of Chelsea Salon. The origins of the salons at Chelsea come from the teaching practice of Brian Chalkley who began his career in academia in 1976 when he taught at Norwich University of the Arts after completing a BA at Chelsea College of Arts (when it was located on Manresa Road) from 1969 to 1973 and an MA at Slade School of Fine Art from 1974 to 1975. While at Norwich, Chalkley began working with his concept of the salons concerning the taught environment found at the university, which was not solely prescribed to the studios and offered more casual conversations than formal, guided group critiques or tutorials. Chalkley brought his teaching ideas to Chelsea in 1991, first to BA Fine Art, then the Postgraduate Diploma and MA Fine Art in 1996.

Over the years Chalkley studied and taught, a great deal of thought was going into making the teacher-student relationship more horizontal, evening out the roles of teacher and student to occupy a shared level of accountability and expertise. From this heritage and starting in 1996, Chalkley introduced the salons to each year group of Chelsea Fine Art students as possibilities to do something outside of the general role of what was expected. The salons at Chelsea College of Art began with a porter cabin located on the former Manresa Road site, where Chalkley first called the students together and told them he wanted to do this thing called the salons. Chalkley was unsure of how to do the salons and presented students with the idea that us, as a student, might have other interests that we do not feel fit into our understanding of art school practices. Through his concepts of the salons, Chalkley created space and time for playing and having fun within the taught learning environment at Chelsea.

In 2008, Laura Carew and I met as students on the Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and were soon introduced to Chalkley’s concepts of having fun with possibilities of creating convivial, yet critical spaces through the chances of hosting salons. Starting in 2009, I joined the MA Fine Art course at Chelsea and began working on a series of salons. I initially used the salons as a way to meet other students across the newly formed Graduate School within the UAL, which started a slow process of drawing together the students, resources and unique identities of Camberwell College of Art, Chelsea College of Art, and Wimbledon College of Art. Between 2009 and 2010, the salons that I was involved with creating responded to conflicts that emerged when these academic institutions held within the University of the Arts London collided. At the same time, Carew organised a series of gallery visits as an associate lecturer on the PgDip FA course, which we had both completed the previous year. Chelsea Salon formed when we united our efforts together in pursuit of academic work in art-making and art teaching. Together Carew and I worked on a series of popup exhibitions, artist talks, gallery visits, educational workshops, performance events, a film club and a temporary exhibition space at Chelsea under the moniker, Chelsea Salon.

We contextualised our efforts by gathering communities of art students at UAL, building frameworks for collaboration, and establishing critical stances towards social and aesthetic concerns within contemporary art and the art school.

In 2013 and with help from former Dean of Chelsea College of Art, George Blacklock, Chelsea Salon became the focus of a practice-led research project on institutional critique, critical pedagogy and socially engaged art after the educational turn. This research project prioritised capturing Chelsea Salon as a product of socially engaged art practice but was confronted by an obstacle for materialising the discursive and disembodied qualities of producing salons. Theoretical terms drawn from contemporary art met the challenge of capturing Chelsea Salon as a critical practice of institutional criticism by giving objectives for defining the nuanced and subtle performativity and agency qualifying this form of social, pedagogical art practice. These terms include community, collaboration, and antagonism. Understanding Chelsea Salon under these terms generated critical claims analysing the power relations between pedagogical actors in salons, the noticeable shift of institutional sites the salons moved across, and the role of dialogue in forming participatory frameworks for subjects and objects to interact. From this analysis, Chelsea Salon generated theoretical claims on tutor-less critiques, site-shifting seminars and the materiality of dialogue. Within the framework of practice-led research, Chelsea Salon emerges as an expansion of Chalkley’s teaching practice as an iterative practice of self-institutionalisation and a nomination and appropriation of art pedagogy and the art school as a form of institutional critique after the educational turn.

In 2012, Claire Bishop provided a starting point for critique pedagogical projects in her evaluation of participatory art and spectatorship by asking the following epistemological questions:

What does it mean to do pedagogy and educational programming as art? How do we judge this kind of work? Do we need to experience the work/ situation first-hand to be able to comment and critique?

Contextualised by this point in contemporary art history, the following material gives evidence of a unique and iterative art practice that made use of art pedagogy and educational programming as both content and context for critical interventions into the physical, social and discursive sites of Chelsea College of Art between 2009 and 2016.

Joshua Y’Barbo 2018

Community Collaboration Antagonism

Performances Exhibitions

CHRONOLOGY:

Selected salons at Chelsea College of Arts (2008 - 2009)

Chelsea Salon (2009 - 2016)

2008-2009

This academic year showcases the salons in action prior to mine and Carew’s experiences using the salons. These were salons that students on the MAFA course hosted regularly to show their work in projects spaces at Chelsea College of Art. At the time, I was part of the Postgraduate Diploma course and fellow course rep, James Gardiner (Gaz), proposed a few salons that year. None of the salons in this section are part of Chelsea Salon as a project but do show the role of the salons on the MAFA course during this year.

6 November 2008

title: Live Music Salon

participants: performance by Sam Amidon (NYC)http://www.myspace.com/samamidon organised by: Luke Drozd date/location: 6.30pm thursday 6th nov Crypt space or triangle

comments: alt-folky chap who will be making some music, showing some drawings and maybe other things too...who knows.

13 November 2008

Title: “PUMPING IRON”

Participant: Chelsea MA & PgDip students

Organised by: Gaz and Natasha (PgDip)

Date/location: 6pm at the Crypt

Comments: Gaz and Natasha are leading the Salon this evening.

Tonight there will be a screening of “PUMPING IRON” starting the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger showing tonight at 6pm at the Crypt. Everyone is Welcome! Bring Plenty of Booze! ...and be prepared to be amused!

6 December 2008

Title: proposed battle of the bands salon

Participant: open to all postgraduate students at Chelsea College

Organised by: Gaz

Date/location: unrealised (later an attempt was made to host a monthly open mike night in the SU bar but only one night ever took place).

Comments: hello, had a discussion with some ma people at the party the other night about doing a salon event where we have a battle of the bands between pg dip and ma. thought it would be good to mention it now to get people to start thinking about it, hopefully it would happen soon when we get back after crimbo. maybe we should get all the ma’s involved if textiles/graphic/cwcp/isd are interested as well? suggestions etc. would be good, let me know.

cheers, gaz

17 January 2009

title: inter-ma (and staff if they’re up for it) football tournament/league.

participant: MA & PgDip organised by: Gaz date / location: unrealised (though we did play a few times in the parade ground and once at Battersea Park)

comments:

hello everyone, for those of you that don’t know me, my name is gaz and i’m on the pg dip.

as a kind of extended salon thing i want to start an inter-ma (and staff if they’re up for it) football tournament/ league.

hopefully this would be a really good way to get us together and i would like to stress that it wouldn’t rely on people being good at football (i’m shit, i just like watching matches). i just think it would be good to get outside doing something active for a change (or if you are an active person, do even more active stuff).

this project is currently at an embryonic stage of development so please email me back to say if you’d be interested or have any ideas about how it could work or else i won’t have any idea of numbers etc. cheers, gaz

27 January 2009

title: participant: chris clarke and patricia lennox (MA Fine Art) organised by: chris clarke and patricia lennox date / location: 27 Jan 2009, 6-8 in A120

comments: dear all chris clarke and patricia lennox from MA are doing a salon tonight 6-8 in A120 (i think).. thay wanted me to invite you. done b

9 March 2009

title: Come to my Piñata !!!

participant: Lucia, Miranda and Chiara (MA Fine Art) organised by: Lucia (MA Fine Art) date / location: Tuesday March 10th - 5:00 PM @ Room A119A

comments: Hey Josh! hope you can come and forward to PGDips... X Lucia

-------------------------------------

To: Joshua Y’Barbo 9 March 2009 at 11:27

Dear all, Here is the invitation to my Piñata this tuesday at 5:00 pm. I hope you can come to help me smash it ;; ) At 5:45 it’s Miranda and 6:30 is Chiara: 45 minutes each so we all have time to go. See you there, X Lucia

Come to my Piñata !!!

Tuesday March 10th - 5:00 PM Lucia Pizzani @ Room A119A Chelsea Project Space

16 March 2009

title: no title participant: Mercedes organised by: Mercedes date / location: room a119a and tomorrow at 5pm (Chelsea College) comments: hey josh!

I have room a119a and tomorrow at 5pm is my salon. You and the pg dippers are invited to come. I’ll be installing everything today... hopefully it’ll be ready for people to come and take a more private look during the day on tuesday before the usually super crowded salon.

Besos! Mercedes

17 March 2009 title: participant: Andrew Salgado organised by: Andrew Salgado date / location: A119, 6:30pm (Chelsea College) comments: Andrew Salgado

I'll be hosting you tonight in my makeshift studio in A119. I will be showing some unfinished works, (but I hope that doesn't impede our discussion,) and I want to stress 2 things: First, this is not a 'show' or 'exhibition', so let's not discuss it as such. Second, ideally we'll keep things light and fun, so I encourage getting a drink or two beforehand. I'd love to hear any and all comments so please speak up. Super. A119, 6:30pm. See you there. a

*Drinks to celebrate the wonderfulness of Fiona and Mike Murphy in the bar afterwards - share your love of the Irish.

2009-2010

Starting with the Graduate School Festival in 2009 (hosted across CCW), the event at Camberwell College included an open Q&A with Linda Drew. I went because I wanted to question the shared resources at CCW (see email to Brian summarising my issues and also proposing salons between CCW). Notable, is the Camberwell Salon (Jim & Naomi) at SLG, which my introduction to can be seen through email trials. In several emails (see Camberwell Salon folder), their format, aims, etc… are clearly laid out. Attending these salons kick started my own involvement in Brian’s salons (formatted completely different to the Camberwell Salons at SLG, not such a traditional group critique, which I found really laborious and boring). During this time, I had not acknowledged the salons (then called CCW salons) as my practices and did not present salon activities as part of my MA work. My involvement slowly became more central to the idea of hosting events outside of the college after two students (Jenny Gordon & Fiona Whitty) from the pervious year gave a presentation on the salons from their year. I asked them to help me with the Auto-italia salon, which was another result of going to the CCW Graduate School Festival where Kate Cooper and Amanda Dennis (of Auto-Italia) were present and where I presented the idea of hosting a salon in their space.

Title: Camberwell MA Fine Art Salon II Participant: Camberwell & Chelsea MA Fine

Organised by: Jim Threapleton (Camberwell)

date / location: 25 Nov 2009 at South

For the second Camberwell Salon we (Jim & Naomi) would like to invite Chelsea to submit work, performance or just participation. The Gallery has a huge screening facility set up as part of their current exhibition, so any film/moving image based work is very

Please come to the South London Gallery between 10am and Midday on 25th Nov to submit any work to the event or book your

Work can left over night but needs to be collected by 12pm the following day.

As part of the event Atlantis Art Materials sponsors a £50 materials prize which we’ve called the ‘Turn-Up Prize’, so…turn up with

10 December 2009

Title: CCW Salon hosted at Auto-Italia (Chelsea hosted CCW Salon)

Participant: CCW MA Fine Art student, Chelsea Alumni, Kate Cooper & Amanda Dennis (Autoitalia), Auto-italia invited artists

Organised by: Jenny Gordon & Fiona Whitty (Chelsea Alumni) & Joshua Y’Barbo

Date / location: Auto-Italia South East, Old Kent Road, Dec 2009

Comments: 60 plus artists, group discussion led by Brian Chalkley, show reel of films, a series of performances and live music at the end. Food and drink where served (I made gumbo and barracho beans for the vegetarians). The email announcement that went out to CCW students is listed below. Brian’s role in compering the event gave the salon something special that has not been replicated in future salons.

Dear All CCW MA’s

Chelsea MA Fine Art is hosting an open call for submissions for a Salon to be held at AutoItalia on Dec 10th. We are accepting proposal for 2-D, Sculpture, Video, Sound, Readings, topics of discourse for round table discussions, games and 5 min soapbox speeches & performances. This is NOT a show with a private view but more a forum for dialogue and an excellent opportunity to create a community outside of the CCW colleges within the setting of a prominent gallery space in South London. The main objective for this Salon is to provide an opportunity to try out ideas, showcase talents seemingly unrelated to your practice and to focus a specific interest in the discussion of work.

Install: Dec 9th - morning Salon: Dec 10th 11am - 1pm, lunch, 2pm - 5pm followed by concessions de-installation: Dec11th - morning Proposals: deadline Friday, Nov 27, 2009

Performance & Film: 5min MAX - unfinished work is acceptable, we ask that a link be provided of a short clip of your film with your submission.

2-D: ready to hang Sculpture: large works are acceptable - there is a very large amount of floor space available

Round -Table Discussion: We have four time slots available to fill with round table discussions. We are also looking at other opportunities to create a dialogue and welcome proposals for topics, discussions, or workshops.

Equipment: It is the responsiblilty of the artist to bring all equipement need to install, show or project their work. There is a large screen and projector which will be provided for films but indiviual projectors will NOT be provided.

Install: all work selected must be delivered to Auto-Italia 1 Glengall Road

Peckham London SE15 6NJ http://www.autoitaliasoutheast.org/

It is the responsibility of everyone involved to deliver, install and collect your work. You are also expected to participate in the salon funcitions, talks, etc....

19 February 2010

Title: CCW Chelsea Salon - Feb 19th / Chelsea MA Salon / Chelsea hosted Salon @ Auto-Italia

Participant: CCW MA students, Kate Cooper & Amanda Dennis

Organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo Date/location: Feb 19th @ Auto-Italia

Comments:

CCW wide, smaller turn out. This salon was not nearly as energetic as the previous one and prompted changing spaces and platforms to maintain enthusiasm. The group discussion was a very traditional group critique, which had been strongly established within the Camberwell salons at SLG and something that students wanted to engage in. I personally did not like the environment and dynamic of group crits in this kind of setting and started to intervene in to these kinds of discussions by planning for future salons to take different shapes. A running issues, in my opinion, that continued to be part of the salons for the next few years. Students wanted to critically engage in discussion about each other’s work, which I disliked on the basis that people felt (myself included) that a hierarchy of what ideas and kinds of work where being established and a false sense of who knows more than who would begin to involved. The environment was the same as groups crits found within the studios at college.

Issues with clarity on an agenda for the event caused problems for Jenny and Fiona’s involvement. This salon was the beginning of me directing events on my own.

10th

This salon was the second salon that Camberwell invited Chelsea students (and first for Wimbledon students) to participate in. The SLG events where independent of Chelsea Salon (or the salons at Chelsea at this point, the name / logo etc.. are still not a part of the salons themselves, though in my practice, I began experimenting with branding, design and logos which would later become part of the practices i used when working on Chelsea Salon).

The structure of these events tended to be lead like group crits. I was very put off by this form of working as I felt that the strength of these gatherings was building group dynamic and social interactions under the idea that we had equal capacity for understanding and could share rather than critically disseminate understanding of art onto other people’s work (we know more together instead of one person after the other showing off their art speak while slating an individuals work). This practice became more and more prevalent within the salons as students wanted this kind of critical interaction and feedback.

March 2010

title: Camberwell MA Salon III / Trash it Salon III at the Art Bin

participant: CCW MA Students

organised by: Jim Threapleton (Camberwell) & Naomi Pearce (SLG)

date / location: 10 March 6:30-9:30pm at South London Gallery images: http://www. photographssalonseries.blogspot. co.uk/2010/11/auto-italia-feb-2010.html

Comments:

The Camberwell MAFA course invited the Chelsea MAFA course to participate in a salon based around Michael Landy’s Art Bin. All students / artist brought failed art works.

This salon, however, was much more of a performance where works could be shunned and explanations given for the works failure. This aspect was very interesting to me and something that I would continue to consider as the project (Chelsea Salon / CCW Salons) developed.

Details sent to Chelsea students listed below:

Submit work on Tuesday 9th to the MA Fine Art studio, Wilson Road. Between 11am and 4pm

Don’t forget work will go in the Art Bin at the end of Salon.

Michael Landy will be introducing the evening with a Q&A session.

Any questions call Jim

25 May 2010

title: 3rd CCW Salon - Flat Time House / CHELSEA/ CAMBERWELL/ WIMBLEDON MA SALON 3 participants: CCW MA students, John Hill (FTHo & Lucky PDF); The complete list of participants and their work is listed below in a separate document. organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo & John Hill date / location: Tuesday 25th May 2010 at Flat Time House images: http://www.photographssalonseries.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/flat-timehouse-april-2010.html

Comments:

The salon included CCW students across mediums who presented works in film and performance. Most artists where experimenting outside of their practice. The salon included a show reel played in the kitchen of FTHo and performances staged through out the house.

There was no group led discussion and discourse was based on casual conversation and general feedback on each other’s work. One Wimbledon student who had up until this time associated her practice with painting tried a performance that was later included in a Lucy PDF project at Auto-Italia. Other performances included music based performances and a drawing workshop that I ran based on a Roy Ascott assignment for the Ground Course. This salon is the second salon that I organised without the help of Jenny and Fiona and with FTHo educational officer, John Hill

The announcement sent out to CCW MA students is listed below:

CHELSEA/ CAMBERWELL/ WIMBLEDON MA SALON 3

Call for Proposals: Film / Video, 3D & Performance. (sorry, no 2-D work this time).

This is an announcement for all CCW MA Fine Art Students to submit work for the 3rd CCW Salon.

The Salon this month will take place at Flat Time House, the former residence of

the late artist John Latham.

Flat Time House

210 Bellenden Road London SE15 4BW

+44(0)20 7207 4845 http://www.flattimeho.org.uk/,

time: (to be announced) date: Tuesday 25th May.

Please, limit Video submissions to 5mins and formatted for Qicktime to be shown on a show reel. If work is to be displayed in alternative ways (i.e. monitor or single projection) it will be the responsibility of the artist to provide equipment. Performance please submit proposal with writing, images, video or any other type of documentation. 3-D we have limited space for 3-D works and will select works based on this limitation. Works will be considered for the exterior garden space as well as a few interior spaces.

Deadline for submission of Proposals will be Friday, 14th May by 5pm.

27 July - 2 Aug 2010

title: Final Chelsea Salon: Woodmill

participant: CCW & CSM MA Students, John Hill & Naomi Pearce (SLG & Woodmill) organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo date / location: 27 July - Aug 2nd the Woodmill - Neckinger Depot SE16 3QN images: http://www.photographssalonseries.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/ woodmill-aug-2010.html comments:

This Salon is the final salon organised by 2009/10 MA Fine Art students at Chelsea College of Art & Design. The Salon has been a great opportunity for students across the University of the ArtsLondon, to meet, critique, share ideas, as well as show case works or experiment with concepts and approaches seemingly unrelated to one’s creative practice. Works presented in previous salons have ranged from painting, sculpture, drawing, film, performance and installation. Students from Chelsea, Camberwell, Wimbledon and Central Saint Martin’s Colleges have participated in previous events, which have been hosted outside of the academic settings of the various colleges and hosted at est. artist spaces, galleries and studios. Auto-Italia and Flat-Time House have previous hosted the Chelsea Salons.

The Final Salon for our course will be hosted at the Woodmill in Bermondsey. The Woodmill is a large-scale artist studio and gallery complex based in Bermondsey, London. Opening in February 2010 the Woodmill houses 3 gallery/project spaces and is dedicated to the provision of affordable studios for 50 artists. Through a varied programme of exhibitions, talks, workshops and events the Woodmill will act as a focused but diverse conduit for the development of early career artists, the introduction of more established and international artists to the locality and as a centre for critical engagement.

To participate, please send a proposal by Wed, July 21 to Joshua at j.y-barbo1@chelsea.arts.ac.uk

Participating Artists:

Beata Kozlowska

Edward Cotterill

Eilidh Short

Flora Robertson

Hannah Secord Wade

James Gardiner

Joshua Y’Barbo

Leo Koivistoinen

Livia Paola Gorresio

Lulu Li

Melania Yerka

Ronan Tuite

Rufus Epp

Ula Darjeeling

2010-2011

At the end of my MA, Brian Chalkley asked me to give a presentation to the incoming MAFA course about the salons and proposed to continue the activities that I had started whilst on the course. The project was still just myself working on finding spaces and hosting salons wherever I could. Laura Carew and I had not started working together. She was running a series of gallery visits for Babak’s PgDip course, the same course we met on in 200809. This year proved to be very difficult to manage the breadth of responsibilities of putting on salons whilst also working a full time job and adjusting to post-MA life. A focus was maintained on making these events CCW wide though support for the project was solely coming from Rebecca Fortunum, Brian Chalkley and Edwina Fitzpatrick. David Garcia, Dean of Chelsea at the time, and Chris Wainwright where not interested in the project. Linda Drew would leave during this time as well. Issues began arising about working voluntarily and a rivalry between SLG salons (funded by Camberwell College) and the salons I was organising across CCW became apparent. All my time was voluntary which was and is still a contested issues within educational practices.

During this period, i began a blog to keep people up to date with salon activities and starting cataloguing images that participants sent. The first blog post was to initiate a social mixer at the Woodmill. (something that I’m trying to re-visit through the Postgraduate Community in 2015).

3 Dec 2010

Title: CCW Salon / Social Mixer Invitation / PASS THE PARCEL AT THE PARALLAX PRIVATE VIEW

Participant: CCW MA students, Woodmill Artists, Woodmill Exhibitions Team

Organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo

Date/location: 3 Dec 2010, The Woodmill

Dear All

Please come and play Pass the Parcel at the Parallax Private View

Pass the Parcel at the Parallax Private View by Dirty Square Gallery - A salon proposal presented by Holly Stevenson, MA Fine Art graduate from Chelsea College of Art including artists Jenny Pickett, Charlotte Patton, Leo Koivistoinen, Eilidh Short, Joe Stevens, Nicko Straniero, Trevor Kiernander, Charlotte Warne Thomas, Holly Stevenson, and Sunshine Frere

The Woodmill this Friday at 18:15

Comments:

The Salon Social Mixer was organised with the education team at the Woodmill. The event included performances and work by artists from Dirty Square gallery.The salon was meant to be a social mixer and the start of a series of salons at the Woodmill that I would be co-ordinating through the education team there but internal politics between the education and exhibition teams prevented further salons from materialising. Camberwell MAFA students, Tracy Payne, made a surprise intervention into the group with an inflatable that she placed in the room, disrupting the end of the pass the parallax games and giving everyone a fight followed by a good laugh.

With love, Holly and Sunshine

17 Dec 2010

Title: No. 1 Showroom at Men Can Not Live on Bread Alone (pop-shop / exhibition)

Participant: Chelsea Alumni 2009-10

Organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo

Date/Location: 8b Assam St SE1

Comments:

No. 1 Showroom was meant to be a new project that was building from the salons that took place the previous year. The idea was that it would be an alumni project, specifically for our MA year and work to create shows and build a post-MA support group. The names was too close to The Showroom and the project quickly was absorbed into Chelsea Salon. The event itself came from Brian, who put me in touch with a fella named Marco, whom he did a performance with in the triangle space that year. The group Men Can Live… where a pop-up vintage shop and we paired with them at their Whitechapel space to put on a two part exhibition.

This short-lived project shows further development of my practice of branding and organising events around art practice. The original intention was to have ascending numbers for each showroom. At this point, Laura Lancely had a link to the Chelsea Salon series blog on the course content for the MA Fine Art programme. She added the showroom series blog (no longer active) as well. Both where removed from the website when the UAL rebranded (date needed). A UAL showroom was soon added to the UAL website.

CCW Salon Series at New Gallery Monday, Feb 21st 6 9pm

Compered by Tom Trevatt & Joshua Y'Barbo

Hosted by New Gallery 94 96 Peckham Rd Camberwell, Greater London SE15 5 020 7701 1253 www.newgallerylondon.co.uk

Participating Artists: WIMBLEDON: Christina Bryant Luisa Sánchez

Flora Robertson Nicki Rolls Cristina Garrido Spyridon Giasafakis Giorgio Garippa Scott Mason

CAMBERWELL:

21 Feb 2011

title: the Salon Series at New Gallery / New Gallery Salon / Possible Salon: Feb 21

participant: CCW MAs & Alumni, Woodmill Exhibition Team

organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo date / location: 21 Feb 2011 New Gallery (Currently the Peckham Pelican) Peckham

blog: http://www.chelseasalonseries.blogspot. co.uk/2011/02/ccw-salon-series-at-new-gallerymonday.html

images: http://www.photographssalonseries.blogspot. co.uk/2011/02/salon-series-at-new-gallery.html

comments: This salon was hosted by the former New Gallery in Peckham and included Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon College students. The event was compered by Tom Trevatt of the Woodmill Exhibition team and organised by Joshua Y’Barbo.

This salon was a very critical group critique of artists’ work, which some enjoyed and other found off putting. The group seemed divided (myself included) between wanting to socialise and show work outside of the studio, have a beer and enjoy meeting people from other colleges or experiment with ideas in a non-critical setting; and the other’s who wanted an opportunity to engage and debate the critical nature of their art practices. These two distinct position had overlapping qualities but caused a physical separation between the groups. After this salon, addressing the needs of the two types of salon participants became very important and led to looking at different ways for participants to engage.

Salon Series at New Gallery Monday, Feb 21st

Cristina Garrido MA Fine Art Wimbledon

Alumni Project at Wimbledon College

It's Been One of Those Days, All Week

July 2011

Alumni Project 1

title: It’s been one of those days, all week

participant: (Artists) Chris Clarke, Michael Lawton, Paul McCann, Ronan Tuite

organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo & Scott Mason (WCA)

Aug 2011

Alumni Project 2

title: Club Paradise participant: Artist: Leo Koivistoinen (MAFA Chelsea 2009-10) Text: Robert Cliff (MA CWCP 2009-10)

organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo & Scott Mason (WCA)

infopmcc@gmail.com

action.capsule@gmail.com

It’s been one of those days, all week

The exhibition It’sbeenoneofthosedays,allweek is a group exhibition with work by Chris Clarke, Michael Lawton, Paul McCann and Ronan Tuite and features media-specific works focusing upon notions of nostalgia and temporality.

While the content of each of the artworks is reflective and displays an explicit fascination with temporality, the mixture of media in the exhibition can be perceived to mirror the protean nature of nostalgia.

The word nostalgia translates directly as “returning home”, an aspect echoed in Ronan Tuite’s work, a digital reworking of a maze (now long gone) from a shopping centre in his home town. The work seems to exist as a memorial to a valued childhood location, while at the same time ex ploring the fictitious nature of memories. The digital construction using gaming technology seems to compound the sense of fantasy along with the constructed nature of the memory.

In a similar vein, Paul McCann’s audio work examines the malleable nature of memories and by ex tension reality in general. Through a series of digressions the narrator discusses a kind of futuristic occurrence from his adolescence. Veering from wholesome nostalgia to outlining the easily ac quiescent nature of our sensory faculties, it questions the nature of how we experience the world around us and how we retrospectively attribute meaning.

In its entirety the work embodies an anachronistic sentiment in much the same way as an out-dat ed science fiction book and seems intent on examining the legitimacy of memory and perception, reality and delusion.

Chris Clarke’s work SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1955 (This has gotta to be a dream) portrays slide mounted 35mm film ‘clip’ frame from an original 1985 cinema release print of Back to the Future which is projected onto a wall while the film’s full audio track plays continuously. The scene featured is a pivotal moment of realisation where Marty McFly opens a newspaper and discovers he’s no longer in his own time. Clarke’s work isolates this particular instance. While the audio perpetually continues, the moment of temporal realisation significantly remains frozen. The projection situates the viewer in relationship to the moment of realisation contrasted to the pro cession of the audio track subsequently proposing questions of temporality and our experience of time.

When considering the relationship of nostalgia and art it seems to unremittingly lead back to paint ing. This romanticised process was once bluntly summarised by Victor Burgin as ‘the anachronistic daubing of woven fabrics with coloured mud’. If this statement is to be accepted then the process of painting and the material itself must be considered inherently nostalgic. For this exhibition Michael Lawton was invited to reflect upon this and to produce a work with this consideration in mind. His work is a response to this assertion.

For further information please contact Paul McCann at infopmcc@gmail.com or 07411814058

date / location: Wimbledon College of Art July 2011 blog: http://chelseasalonseries. blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/ alumni-project-at-wimbledoncollege.html images:

comments: Organised with Scott Mason (WCA), this salon event was a proposed show by Chelsea Alumni and hosted at WCA. Two part project attempting to bring alumni back into the college during the month leading up to the end of year show. Mason offered his showing space to host the project and to allow WCA students access to recent graduates for additional feedback on their final show pieces. The project took place over two weeks with this project being the first week and including Chelsea alumni from 2008-2010.

date / location: Wimbledon College of Art August 2011 blog: http://chelseasalonseries. blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/ alumni-project-at-wimbledoncollege-pt.html

images: comments: This exhibition was the second part in the two part alumni project at Wimbledon. This show was meant to allow WCA students the opportunity to speak to Robert about his discursive transition from painting to curation & written text, and to speak to Leo about his theoretical research and conceptual practice. The exhibition lasted a week during the installation of the end of year show at WCA.

Chris Clarke

Michael Lawton Paul McCann Ronan Tuite

featured artists:

18 Aug 2011 Chisenhale Salon

title: Chelsea Salon Series - Chisenhale Gallery / Chisenhale Gallery

Salon

participant: CCW MA students organised by: Jaime Stevens & Joshua Y’Barbo date / location: blog: http://chelseasalonseries.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/chelseasalon-series-chisenhale-gallery.html

images: http://www.photographssalonseries.blogspot. co.uk/2011/07/chisenale-gallery-salon.html

comments: the project was not documented and I’ve tried to contact students / artist from this salon to retrieve some documentation. The event was originally a showreel in the project space but due to a shift in the exhibition programme, we where allowed to use the entire space. The environment was not a group crit and felt more like a party celebrating all of these artist who had one final chance to get together and show some of the work they where planning to show for their end of year exhibition or work they did not have a chance to show during the course. There where impromptu performances by students who felt the setting was comfortable enough to do so.

Chisenhale Gallery

Here is the updated list of participants. We are at full capacity with nearly 40 students. What i need now is details on the nature of the work that is intended to be shown, i.e performance, video, 2-D, 3-D, etc... I am sorry that the admin has taken me so long but we’ll get there in the end. Please, have all details to me by Friday, July 29th in the evenin(I need the details for meeting with Jaime Stevens at Chisenhale on Sat). I’ll have the confirmed artist list, details of installation and salon event schedule by Monday.

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to email.

best, Josh

Hello Everyone,

2011-2012

Starting at the end of this year, the salons started to become a collaborative / collective effort. Laura Carew and I started working together and in early 2012, Kate Ross, would join us and make a great contribution to the project. She would continue working with us until the end of her position at Chelsea SPACE in 2013. During this time, David Garcia moves from dean of Chelsea to research, George Blacklock moves in and John Cussans is replaced by Dave Beech in delivering the General Theory Forum. Courses are beginning to be moved around CCW.

Midway through 2012, i started making considerations for doing a research project around the salons. George Blacklock began supporting our combined efforts more than anyone at the college before and through this support, the project was ‘branded’ Chelsea Salon. The name had switched from CCW salons to Chelsea Salon near the end of 2010 so as not to confuse the project with the Camberwell / SLG salon.

Nov 2011 title: Brunswick House Salon participant: CCW MA students & CCW alumni

organised by: Laura Carew, Joshua Y’Barbo & Jeeti Singh (MAFA Chelsea Alumni)

date / location: Brunswick House Vauxhall blog: http://www.chelseasalonseries. blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/open-call-forperformance-brunswick.html

comments: The event was performance and film based. A showreel from FTHo salon (May 2010) was shown alongside performances from MAFA Chelsea students on the course that year. Laura and Jeeti led this salon as I was away in America. Feeback was good for those who’s practice fit within film and performance but 2-D, 3-D and installation artists felt they needed salons more suited for their particular needs. The following salon was an attempt to find a space that would suit.

April 2012

title: Round Chapel Salon

participant:

date / location: April 2012 Round Chapel Hackney blog: https://curatorialcuriosities.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/ chelsea-salon-series/ images: http://www.chelseasalonseries.com/round-chapel-salon. html

comments: This salon was an attempt to place students of all different types of practice into a problematic space (a listed church). We attempted to collate the data from the conversation and collected details into a publication that remains unrealised. I have archived all material gathered from this event. Kate, Laura and I, with help from Robert, began dialogues with all of the artists attempting to speak to each one or groups of a few over the event. Brian attended this event and made comment that the salons are changing but then things do…(exact words are lost on me but I do remember him making comment).

At this salon, we first met Cadi Froehlich (who had to hold her sculpture up because it kept falling on the floor), James Edgar (Camberwell Press) and Monika Kita (who would later work on other film based projects, including the FTHo film project & Chelsea Salon Film Club, and become a member of staff).

CCW MA students and Alumni, Chelsea Salon and Robert Cliff (Chelsea Alumni 2010) organised by: Kate Ross, Laura Carew and Joshua Y’Barbo

June 2012

title: For Display Purposes Only

participant: Chelsea & Goldsmith Alumni

organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo

date / location: 18-22 June 2012 Bussey Building Peckham

images: http://www. chelseasalonseries.com/for-displaypurposes-only.html

comments: This project is part of an every growing series of events, shows, and salons linking alumni from Chelsea College with current students, alumni from other universities and a varied of spaces. We where able to gain access to the space and negotiate a deal through Chelsea Salon’s affiliation with Chelsea College. This is not a new tactic and in fact one that we used from the beginning of the project. Through the Chelsea Salon, we where able to book two exhibitions at a reduced rate to include an alumni based exhibition, one week, and a MA chelsea student exhibition the following week.

Artists: Kazuya Tsuji, Ula Dajerling, Trevor Kiernander, Paul McCann, Leo Koivistoinen, Joshua Y’Barbo, Laura Carew, Edward Cotterill

July 2012

title: Painting In Conversation

participant: MAFA Chelsea organised by: Jean Kim, Adam de Boer and Joshua Y’Barbo

date / location: PRIVATE VIEW: Wednesday July 18th 2012 from 5:00pm till 9:00pm July 19-21 2012 The Bussey Building

blog: http://www.chelseasalonseries. blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/painting-inconversation-international.html

Comments: Student organised painting exhibition that Chelsea Salon facilitated access to the space on the back of the alumni exhibition mentioned above. We used Chelsea Salon as a bargaining chip to access the space and reduce the rate to allow the two exhibitions to happen over a two week period. The exhibition, itself, was organised by the students and was based on a student proposal.

Artists: Jean Kim, Liz Elton, Nicholas Dedics, Adam de Boer, Johanna Keogh, Maarten Van Den Bos, Dalia Baassiri, Alison Lucas, Mohammad Namazi, Michal Kozlowski, Yue Xiaofei, Nakyoung Kim, Sakura Mori, Sanghyun Kim, Sejung Lee, Shiew Eng Hii, Xiao-yang Li, Soo Eun Baik, Thekla Ek, Jae Youn Won, Xingyue Zhang, Yuma Tomiyasu, Alejandro Salcedo Barrero, Chen-Shih Lu, Rebecca Byrne, Kan Xie

3 Aug 2012

title:

date / location: 3 Aug 2012

Cross

blog: http://chelseasalonseries.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/chelseasalon-series-salon-with-whitty.html

images: http://www.photographssalonseries.blogspot. co.uk/2012/08/harts-lane-studio-salon-aug-3rd-2012.html

comments: The statement from the blog about the event:

The next Chelsea Salon Series Salon will be run by Fiona and Jenny. They have worked in a variety of interesting and exciting ways to realise their ideas in different art forms. Fiona and Jenny would like to capture the adventurous and experimental spirit of their Askew events and first salons held at Chelsea College in the year that they took their course.

This means that this salon will be open and encouraging. There is no specific theme, but the aim is for students to be experimental, risk taking and daring! It doesn’t have to be pieces that you are working on at the moment. It doesn’t have to be something that is finished and final. For example, try working in a different format or media or with subject matter other than what you usually use. What about using dance, music, poetry or cooking something new you haven’t tried before! We really want to encourage performance and interaction. Think about those ‘60s and ‘70s ‘happenings’ which embraced the experimental and free thinking zeitgeist...

Harts Lane Studios Salon with Whitty Gordon Projects / The Salon Harts Lane Studios

participant: MAFA Chelsea, Whitty Gordon Projects, Kate Ross, Joshua Y’Barbo organised by: The Chelsea Salon Series Team (Joshua Y’Barbo, Laura Carew and Kate Ross) & Whitty Gordon Projects (Fiona Whitty and Jenny Gordon)

/ Harts Lane Studio New

2012-2013

This year, the MA Fine Art course at Camberwell would be disbanded and the foundation courses at CCW moved to Camberwell College. Other course, at Camberwell also disappeared and the MA Fine Art PT course moved to Chelsea to replace the PgDip FA course that had been offered previously. Also, the remit of the salons narrowed to focus on Chelsea College, neglecting the previously CCW wide remit of the project. Factors included the near unmanageable size of the MAFA course at Chelsea and the sole support on the administrative level coming form Chelsea College. There was a lack of support coming from CCW on the administrative level but CCW course directors supported the project in the past. With the Camberwell MAFA course dissolved and absorbed into Chelsea, Wimbledon was left out of the scope of the salons starting this year.

The start of my PhD was delayed and funding was almost not made available and the project nearly ended. During this time, George gave Chelsea Salon space to work in E block and began supporting a series of talks Laura had planned.

In Nov of 2013, I proposed working with PhD students and MA students in a salon week that picked up on previous collaborations with Barbara Steveni. Retrospectively looking at the Chelsea Salon, it was during this time that the project began to fold back into the university setting which was the projects initial point of departure. This institutionalisation is a key aspect to the research project and placing it within the legacy of Institutional Critique. Salon activities outside of the college dropped drastically and events based on practice slowly become less frequent.

9 Nov 2012

title: CORE ARTS SALON / The Chelsea Salon & New Works by Core Print Makers at Core Arts Gallery

participant: MAFA Chelsea & Core Print Makers

organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo, Kate Ross & Peter Burnett (Chelsea Alumni)

date / location: 9th November 2012 Core Arts Homerton

blog: http://chelseasalonseries.blogspot. co.uk/2012/10/install-now-tomorrow10am-1pm-for-core.html

comments:

Brian introduced me to Peter Bennett who was working at Core Arts after visiting the Round Chapel location. The space catered to individual who where recovering from drug and alcohol addiction or suffered mental disabilities. The salon was an opportunity to bring two groups together to discuss the common theme of art practice. Though, i had felt the event went very well, the Core Print Makers latter fed back that they felt marginalised and found it difficult to integrate into discussion with the Chelsea Students. The show reel that was shown as part of the salon was latter included in the alumni show: S.I.T.E. at Chelsea College.

April 2013

Title: Proposed Curriculum for Salons (unrealised) participant: MAFA Chelsea, SLG salons, Chelsea Salon organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo and Laura Carew date / location: Chelsea College of Art (and outside locations)

Comments: Dear Brian, Below are dates and suggestions for next year’s salons. I believe there is a strong need to have socially based and interactive events along side smaller critically based events through out the year. I see structure as Chelsea Salons and SLG salons.

the Chelsea Salon events that Laura, Kate and myself propose to organise will be the social and experimental events with changing locations through out the year. I believe 2 a year are more than enough as i hope that students will be encourage to create their own events.

SLG salons run by Dave Charlesworth & Naomi Pearce are the smaller, critically structured events mentioned above. These have been really successful in critically engaging the students and providing discourse and feedback from outside the college.

My suggested structure for next year would be structured as follows: MAFA 2013-14

Nov - Chelsea Salon (large social event where students can experiment and meet one another)

Nov - Dec - SLG as available.

Jan-March SLG as available

April - May Chelsea Salon (post Interim show event. also large & experimental)

May-June SLG as available

Aug - Chelsea Salon (pre-final show salon)

title:

15 May 2013

Flat Time House Film Project / If You Don’t Know, Now You Know

participant: MAFA & MA Curating at Chelsea, John Hill

organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo, Chris Daly, John Hill, Kate Ross

date / location: May 2013 Flat Time House Peckham

blog: http://www.chelseasalonseries.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ chelsea-salons-series-at-flat-time.html

image: http://www.photographssalonseries.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/ ftho-film-project-may-15th-2013.html

comments:

The Flat Time House Film Project 2013 was a salon that asked artists participants to bring elements of their practice that could be filmed at Flat Time House (FTHo) in Peckham. The entire salon took place took place over 7hrs and required the artists to assist one another in setting up, performing, breaking down and clearing FTHo before the close of the day’s shooting.

The film is a result of the Salon and a parallel work to the Salon event itself. The seemingly shambolic transition between one scene to another was made coherent and contextualised by MA Curating Alumni, Emily Purser and Ravian van den Hill, through notes between one another that were typed as the day unfolded.

The idea was developed by Chelsea / Camberwell MAFA Alumni, Chris Daly, and Joshua Y’Barbo with the support of John Hill, Flat Time House Educational Officer, the MAFA & MA Curating courses at Chelsea College of Art & Design and guest performers.

2013-2014

During this time Chelsea Salon began developing a relationship with the Pg Community, a newly appointed position at UAL. We aimed to work with the Pg community before the UAL created this position and develop a good working relationship Pg Community Coordinator who offers opportunities to fund our activities.

We make attempts to refine the infrastructure of the project and begin to mirror institutional practices. Additional activities are added that include Laura’s series of talks for alumni students funding by George Blacklock, a film club (conceived by Laura and George but coordinated by AV tech Monika Kita), a volunteer to help with social media (Hui Hui Li) and an exhibitions space for alumni in E block. All but two events are placed within Chelsea College and the institutional setting is having an effect on the project.

Actual salons (dynamic exhibitions and workshops) are in a steady decline. The film club eventually becomes absorbed into the CCW Public Programme. The name changes and the authorship of the programme becomes problematic. The talks are scrutinised at CCW level but supported by Chelsea & UAL. Additional support comes from Nigel Carrington through the Pg Community. By the end of 2014, Hui Hui, who had been helping us develop our social media platform, has to return to China after her student visa expires. The exhibition space proves difficult to maintain due to the health and safety restrictions and the constant attention needed to invigilate.

Restrictions on time and reoccurring debates on working with volunteers has an effect on the project. Placing this project within the research framework also has an affect on the project. By the end of this year, the only activities left are Laura’s talks. Assumption are raised about the placement of the project within the institution and the effect on the project’s vitality and ability to operate.

4-7 Nov 2013

title: Not Knowing: APG / CCW / Introduction to Chelsea Salon

participants: MAFA Chelsea organised by: David Cross & Joshua Y’Barbo

date / location: 4-7 Nov 2013 / Triangle Space, Chelsea College of Arts

website / image: http://www. chelseasalonseries.com/not-knowing-apg-ccw--chelsea-salon1.html

Comments:

This introduction to the Chelsea Salon series continues a collaboration between CCW and the Artists’ Placement Group (APG).

The aims of the project where to explore how the APG methods of ‘Not Knowing’ could help us question assumptions about our roles and the structure of Chelsea College of Art and to refine understanding of the changes produced by, and happening in, higher education in art and design.

The objectives of the project where to devise and produce a ‘publication’ for exhibition in the Library. Whether based on text, image, or any combination; hard copy or digital; collaborative or a compilation of individual works, the ‘publication’ can be anything your group decides.

To bring an object, image, text, gesture, or other thing that represents an interest or influential moment outside your practice.

To take part in a ‘show and tell’ exchange of these things, as a way to develop the content for your group ‘publication’.

Outcomes:

By taking part in discussion and working creatively with others you will exchange different interpretations of roles (especially student, staff, artist/designer and academic), clarify concepts (such as knowledge and enquiry, practice and research, teaching and learning) and so develop your position in the debates around your practice and profession.

9 - 17 Dec 2013

title: S.I.T.E: CCW Alumni Show

participant: MAFA Chelsea Alumni 20122013 (showreel from Core Arts Salon)

organised by: Chelsea Salon and CCW date / location: 9 December – 17 December

Mon – Fri 10:30am – 4pm (Closed Sat & Sun) PV: Thursday 12 December 5:30pm –7:30 pm at Chelsea College of Art & Design

comments: For the alumni exhibition, Chelsea Salon set up an installation w/ salon style chairs and a monitor playing the showreel.The show reel was created and shown for a salon event held at Core Arts on the 9th of November 2012. The seven artists featured where recent graduates from Chelsea College and used the Chelsea Salon platform to experiment with the medium of film within their practices.

Artists:

Katriona Beales

Ikjung Cho

Michal Cole

Mei Homma

Cheryl Papasian & Alex J Wood Liang Wang

About Core Arts: http://www.corearts. co.uk/

19 Feb 2014

title: Cubbitt Proposal (unrealised)

participant: select number of current MA Fine Art students and alumni from Chelsea College, Cubbitt Education Officer & Archive Intern (past Intern: Emily Purser - MA Curating 2012-13).

organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo date / location: (unrealised)

T: 07585800155

19 February 2014 8 Angel Mews, Islington, London N1 9HH, United Kingdom

JOSHUA Y'BARBO

CHELSEA SALON E: JOSHUAYBARBO@ GMAIL.COM

Dear Gallery Manager, My name is Joshua Y’Barbo and I’m currently a practice-led research student at Chelsea College. My practice and research combine socially engaged art practice, critical pedagogy and institutional critique in an investigation of the structural changes within art institutions of educa-tion due to deep funding cuts. As part of my investigation, I have been working with the MA Fine Art Course at Chelsea College since 2009 on an on going series of sa-lon projects under the title Chelsea Salon. The Chelsea Salon involves current students and recent graduates from Chelsea College. The inti-tative aims to bring students and alumni together in projects that oc-cur outside of the university. For more details, please visit our website. http://www.chelseasalonseries.com/

Based on Thomas Hirschhorn’s work, Musee Precaire Albinet (2004), I would like to propose a project that would involve a select number of current MA Fine Art students and alumni from Chelsea College. Following the timetable set below, I would like to work with the Cu-bitt archive to set a theme for participants to respond to through their practice. The themes would relate directly to the history of Cubitt and how the development of the gallery might shed some light on current trends within artist run studio spaces / peer to peer projects and collec-tives in London.

The timetable is only a suggestion based on Hirschhorn’s project men-tioned above and open for modification based on time, space and available resources.

Sincerely yours, Joshua Y’Barbo

Proposed timetable:

Monday: First meeting. Artist arrive with work and materials. A disc-cusions about the project is held followed by practice based workshop

Tuesday: Artist respond to practice based workshop followed by a writ-ing based workshop

Wednesday: General Discussion and Critique with invited Guest

Thursday: PV / Drinks

Friday: Works are open to the public

Saturday:Works are open to the public

Sunday: closing, de-install, etc...

16 JOHN ISLIP STREET, MILLBANK, LONDON SWI 4JU WWW.CHELSEASALONSERIES.COM

Organised by: Laura Carew

Date / Location: 25th Feb 2014, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

4th Mar 2014

Participants: Shelley Theodore and Brian Chalkley, Organised by Monika Kita, Date / Location: hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

Boussieux Looks

20 March 2014

title: Digital Art Salon

participant: Chelsea Alumni & current MAFA Chelsea organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo date / location: 20th March Chelsea College of Arts

comments:

The digital art salon was put on during the Lumen Art prize. The Lumen Art Prize Exhibition developed out of a proposal Laura brought to the college that was originally intended to be a salon but became a college event. We hosted this salon during the Lumen PV to intervene in to the event.

Digital Art Salon

March 20th 17:30

29th April 2014

Title: Chelsea Salon Film Club ScreeningLooking for Langston and She

Participants: Hui Hui Liu and David A. Bailey

Organised by Monika Kita

Date / Location: 29 April 2014, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

Artist: Stewart Hall, Leo Koivistoinen, Nazanin Moradi, Ronan Tuite, Parul Sharma, Billy Ward, Sandra Wroe, Joshua Y'Barbo

Student Union Gallery (A Block, next to the canteen) Chelsea College of Art, London, UK PV & Drinks, Thurs,

1 May 2014

title: Passport to Pimlico Proposal: Drawing Workshop / Roy Ascott: Ground Course Drawing (unrealised)

participant: CCW Pg Community & residence of Churchill Estates

organised by: Lana Locke, workshop/food by Chelsea Salon

date / location: 1 May 2014, Churchill Estates, Pimlico

comments:

The drawing workshop was based on Roy Ascott and meant to be in two parts. The workshop was set up but instead of leading the workshop, Chelsea Salon made quesadillas for everyone and left the visitors to use the drawing materials as they wanted. The drawing station was utilised but the proposed workshop was not actually realised. On the other hand, everyone was fed and enjoyed the free food. The recipe was included in the publication.

CHELSEA SALON FILM CLUB PRESENTS

To Hell with Culture (2014), a film about Herbert Read, art and anarchism. Followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Huw Wahl.

DATE/PLACE

27 May 2014. Chelsea College of Arts, Lecture Theatre

6:00 PM

Co-founder of the ICA, Herbert Read (1893-1968) was an influential art critic, poet and anarchist. In his 1943 essay, To Hell with Culture, Read laid out his ideas for a civilisation based on cooperation in which culture would no longer be a commodity, separated from society, but an integral part of everyday life. In this film Huw Wahl engages in conversations with artists, poets, curators, historians and Herbert Read’s own children, to ask how we can apply Read’s ideas and approaches to the commodification of culture in our contemporary society. Including unseen archival material of Herbert Read, his poetry and the North Yorkshire landscape where he was born, this is an immersive portrayal of Read’s life and work.

27 May 2014

Title: Chelsea Salon Film Club Screening, To Hell with Culture

Participants:

Huw Wahl, Chelsea Salon Film Club

Organised by Monika Kita

Date/Location: 27th May 2014, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

“One of the most sensitive and intelligent evocations of an important individual that I have seen in a long time.” Professor Anne Douglas, Gray’s School of Art.

“A great film...really wonderful to connect with Herbert Read again.” Gregor Muir, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA).

May 2014

title: Bold Tendencies / Hannah Barry proposal (unrealised) participant: MAFA Chelsea organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo & Laura Carew date / location: unrealised Comments:

Dear Hannah, Thank you for your time last week. Laura and I are really pleased to be working on this salon evening at Bold Tendencies. Here is a list of the logistics in regards to our proposal as you requested.

1. The film(s): We have a short feature film (approx 50mins) that would be preceded by a series of 2-5 min moving image pieces that we will select from current students’ works. We imagine the entire screening to be 1.5 hrs.

2. Performances: we’d be most interested in doing these in the ‘reserved space’ that is being added on to Frank’s. Alternatively, they can be done in the auditorium. We have sent out a speculative email to students requesting details.

3. Auditorium: we expect up to 100-120 people for the screening. We would only need special equipment if we were to do performances in the space and potentially would need a microphone & speakers (we can source these if it is not something that is easily provided). Are drinks allowed?

4. Because you are short staffed, we will bring student volunteers to help on the day.

5. Private space: reserved for 100 to 120 people. We’d like to make a fixed menu available and optional for people who are attending. Ideally, we’d have the performances here. Is music possible?

6. Prior to the event, Laura will be guiding a tour of galleries in Peckham that will end with the film screening at Bold Tendencies.

7. The itinerary would be as follows:

12:00 -18:00 Gallery Visits throughout Peckham ending at Bold Tendencies

19:00 - 20:30 Film Screening

19:30 till close - Performance / Dinner, Reception & Drinks in the Private Space

Yours sincerely, Laura Carew and Joshua Y’Barbo

17 June 2014

After Beuys: Chris Wainwright in conversation with Richard Demarco and Beuys Keep Swinging Group Exhibition of alumni work in the Landing Space, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

20 June 2014

title: Chelsea Salon at CONS Project participant: UAL Pg Community organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo date / location: CONS Project (former Hannah Barry Gallery) comments: This salon was funded by the Postgraduate Community fund. It included artists of all practices. Barbara Steveni stopped by and discussed some elements of APG with eager and knowledgable participants.

24 June 2014

Screening: Mysteries of the Organism with special guest: Sadie Murdoch, Chelsea Salon Film Club organised by Monika Kita, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

Aug 2014

title: Proposed Workshop Salon (unrealised)

participant: UAL PG students, John Hill, Cadence Kinsey, and Joshua Y’Barbo

organised by: John Hill, Cadence Kinsey, and Joshua Y’Barbo

date / location: unrealised

comments: Chelsea Salon was given funding in 2014 to develop to projects for the Pg Community at UAL. The first was the CONs project salon (above) and the second was this digital / post-internet workshop.

The Proposal:

In this three part workshop art historian Cadence Kinsey (UCL) and artist John Hill (LuckyPDF) will look at contemporary image production and the boundaries between artistic, commercial and automated processes.

Session one will present a broad range of contemporary image production processes, from artistic practices, advertising campaigns, commercial photography and social media. This will be followed by discussion of how these diverse forms can be related to each other.

Following this initial presentation, participants will be asked to collect five images over the course of the day to be submitted after lunch. The submitted images will be processed in an image production workflow developed by Kinsey and Hill especially for the summer school.

In the final session the newly created images will be presented for discussion, inviting contributors to analyse the content, form and process in relation to the practices discussed in the introductory session and other ideas brought up over the course of the week.

At the end of the workshop, we’ll have an exhibition of works created and shown on a series of projectors.

The Cost: £150ea for Cadence Kinsey (UCL) and artist John Hill

Location: SU Gallery Space at Chelsea College.

Target Audience: Current MA, PhD and recent graduates

2014 -2015

During this academic year, Chelsea Salon focused efforts on working within Chelsea College of Arts and centred on exploring ways to build participatory frameworks using common pedagogical strategies and techniques, such as setting aims and objectives for extra-curricular modules and collaborating on series of talks, film screenings and on-site exhibitions. Our integration and occupation within the sites of Chelsea College allowed us to open a space for ourselves, invited alumni, and members of staff. From these spaces, we intervened and contributed to the postgraduate community, while simultaneously instigating outside of the college and beyond an immediate academic experience.

Our extra-curricular and academic efforts combined the previous year’s introduction to Chelsea Salon in the Not Knowing Salon with a series of studios, gallery, and museum visits Carew organised for the Pg Dip Fine Art course in 2013.

This year all Chelsea Salon activities took place on the physical site of Chelsea College and mark the first year we did not ourselves seeking out new locations for salon events or organise learning encounters off the site of the college. Instead, we set-up a standard pedagogical tasks asking students to create their own maps of gallery spaces, museum, and artist-run spaces in London. Our occupation within the physical location and curricular workings of the postgraduate community came with new institutional confrontations and disputes about the allocation of resources at the college. During this time, Carew’s talks and Kita’s film club sustained Chelsea Salon and drove our involvement with the students and art-teaching further. This year would see the end of Kita’s film club.

4 Nov 2014

Screening: A Song of Love with special guest: Benjamin Sebastian, Chelsea Salon Film Club organised by Monika Kita, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

Nov 2014

Laura’s Gallery Project

11 Nov 2014 –15 Feb 2015

Watch the Second Hand, solo exhibition by Bill Ward in the Landing Space, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

12 February 2015

Conrad Shawcross in conversation with Rachael Campbell-Johnson, Chelsea Salon Artist Talk organised by Laura Carew, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

December 2014

title: Postgraduate Community Social participant: UAL Pg students organised by: Joshua Y’Barbo & Laura Carew date / location: comments:

The socials are part of a series of proposed salons where UAL Pg students engage in discussion and discourse around their own practice. This first event focused on artist publications.

Through the pairing of Chelsea Salon and Pg Community, funding has been secured for events that bring UAL students together and present their practice, experiment with ideas and meet in locations outside the UAL. Through these events, a return to the original aims of Chelsea Salon to remove students from the institutional setting is made but with additional institutional support.

19 March 2015

LANDING SPACE

The Landing Space is located on the first floor landing of E block at Chelsea College as part of Chelsea Salon, run by Joshua Y’Barbo and Laura Carew. The Landing Space is dedicated to presenting of exhibitions of recent graduates from Chelsea College of Arts. Located in a building that is most associated with administration and research and holds base rooms for MA Curating and Collections, and CCW PhD students. Chelsea Salon aims to provide a platform for interaction, dialogue and exchange between these groups, the rest of the college and alumni.

R/E Collective

Is a curatorial collaboration between Ravian van den Hil and Emily Purser, which was born out of studying together at Chelsea College. We are now situated between Rotterdam and London. The main aim of our collaborative practise is to deconstruct the curatorial structures and trying to understand what might be behind the understanding of the curator’s position. The main tools that we use to discover this is to create a conversational sphere, an open construction to be able to reinterpreted elements of form, space, context and necessity. www.recollective.org.uk

June 2015

Landing Space proposal by RE Collective (unrealised)

Timeline Exhibition 1

Autumn Term Dates Monday 5 October - Friday 18 December 2015

Title: Chelsea Box: Part II

Exhibition 2 Spring Term Dates Monday 4 January - Friday 18 March 2016

Title: Landing Space Exhibition 3 Summer Term Dates Monday 4 April - Friday 9 September 2016

Title: “Work B#$” Exhibition 4 Sept - Oct??

Title: Chelsea Summer Show

Cornelia Parker in conversation with Andrew Nairne, Chelsea Salon Artist Talk organised by Laura Carew

2015-2016

During this stage of Chelsea Salon, personal loss and competing obligations between practice-led research on the salon and devoting time to produce salon events led to considerably fewer activities overall. Carew found her time in establishing Penarth Studios in Bermondsey, while her series of talks would end. Kita’s film club did not happen this year, and we lost the use of college space to exhibit alumni work in a dispute over resources allocated to postgraduate courses.

The gallery visits and introduction to Chelsea Salon remained popular with the student. We were asked back to repeat the module this academic year but would not be invited the following year again. At the end of 2015, Chalkey introduced us to his former student, Daniel Devlin, who hosted his series of salons in 2006-2006. Our efforts remained positions within the course (timetabled) and on-site (using college spaces), but our efforts were few and stretched thin. This year saw an attempt to return to the performance and critique of the previous salon but within the spaces available at the college.

This academic year saw our final efforts at timetabled into the curriculum of the course and a final departure as we hosted a salon pavilion at a farcical international art biannual.

Alison Jackson in conversation with Simon Baker

28 Oct 2015

Alison Jackson in conversation with Simon Baker, Chelsea Salon Artist Talk organised by Laura Carew

6.15pm Wednesday 28th October 2015 Chelsea College of Arts Lecture Theatre SW1 4JU Places Limited BOOK NOW at chelseasalonseries@gmail.com

Chelsea Salon presents

2015

Chelsea Salon: Gallery Project

21 Oct 2015 - Intro

28 Oct 2915 - update

02 Nov 2015 & 03 Nov 2015: FT Salon Presentations, 10-4pm

04 Nov 2015, 1.30 - 3.45 PT Salon Presentations

About:

This introduction to Chelsea Salon is a two part project that includes visiting galleries and responding through the creation of a publication. This gallery project is primarily focused on building a group dynamic and providing the opportunity to practically engage with the galler-ies and museums in London.

Aims:

The aim of the project is to work with a group and visit a list of galleries in a selected area of London. Each group is asked to devise and produce a ‘publication’ & give a presentation on their gallery visits. Whether based on text, images, or any combination; hard copy or digital; collaborative or a compilation of individual works, the ‘publication’ can be anything your group decides.

Additionally, the aim of the project is to introduce students from outside London and re-introduce London based students to the varying and shifting gallery landscape.

Outcomes:

By taking part in discussion and working creatively with others you will exchange different interpretations of galleries and museums in London, clarify how each individual and the group as a whole responds to these spaces and so develop your own position around your practice and research.

Through the project, students will engage with varying types of space that include: artist-run spaces, non-profit spaces, commercial galleries, government funded institutions, each that operate on varying scales. Through this engagement students will consider how their prac-tice could respond to different types of gallery space as a reflection of how their work is made available to the public.

Presentations and publications will be presented as listed above.

9 Nov 2015

Laura’s Gallery Project

9 Dec 2015

Art Droppings Salon

Curated By Natalie Anastasiou,Chel Logan & Kagweni Micheni

Chelsea Salon Programme 2009-2016

10th Dec 2009 – Auto-Italia Salon I, hosted at Auto-Italia, Old Kent Rd, London

18-19th Feb 2010 – Auto-Italia Salon II, hosted at Auto-Italia, Old Kent Rd, London

25th May 2010 – Flat Time House Salon I, hosted at Flat Time House, Peckham, London

1st Aug 2010 – The Woodmill Salon, hosted at the Woodmill, Bermondsey, London

3rd Dec 2010 – Social Mixer, hosted at the Woodmill, Bermondsey, London

21st Feb 2011 – New Gallery Salon, hosted at the New Gallery, Camberwell, London

25th – 29th July 2011 – It’s Been One of Those Days, All Week, alumni project and exhibition at Wimbledon College of Arts, Wimbledon, London

1st – 5th Aug 2011– Club Paradise, alumni project and exhibition at Wimbledon College of Arts, Wimbledon, London

18th Aug 2011 – Chisenhale Gallery Salon, hosted at Chisenhale Gallery, Tower Hamlets, London

14th Nov 2011 – Brunswick House Salon, hosted at Brunswick House, Vauxhall, London

26th April 2012 – Round Chapel Salon, hosted at the Round Chapel, Hackney, London

19th – 22nd June 2012 – FOR DISPLAY PURPOSES ONLY*, Chelsea Salon alumni exhibition at the Bussey Building, Peckham, London

18th – 21st July – Painting in Conversation: An International Exhibition of Paintings Made by Artists on Chelsea’s MA in Fine Art, Chelsea Salon exhibition at the Bussey Building, Peckham, London

3rd Aug 2012 – Harts Lane Salon with Whitty Gordon Projects, hosted at Harts Lane Studios, New Cross, London

9th Nov 2012 – Core Arts Salon, hosted at Core Arts, Homerton, London

15th May 2013 – Flat Time House II, hosted at Flat Time House, Peckham, London

4-7th November 2013 – Not Knowing Salon: Introduction to APG / CCW / Chelsea Salon, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts, Millbank, London

25th Feb 2014 Richard Deacon in conversation with Nicolas Longsdail, Chelsea Salon Artist Talk organised by Laura Carew, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

4th Mar 2014 – Screening: Touch of Evil and Madame Boussieux Looks with special guests: Shelley Theodore and Brian Chalkley, Chelsea Salon Film Club organised by Monika Kita, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

29th April 2014 – Screening: Looking for Langston and She with special guests: Hui Hui Liu and David A. Bailey, Chelsea Salon Film Club organised by Monika Kita, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

27 May 2014 – Screening: To Hell with Culture with special guest: Huw Wahl, Chelsea Salon Film Club organised by Monika Kita, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

17 June 2014 – After Beuys: Chris Wainwright in conversation with Richard Demarco and Beuys Keep Swinging Group Exhibition of alumni work in the Landing Space, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

20 June 2014 – Chelsea Salon at Cons Project, Peckham, London

24 June 2014 – Screening: Mysteries of the Organism with special guest: Sadie Murdoch, Chelsea Salon Film Club organised by Monika Kita, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

4 Nov 2014 – Screening: A Song of Love with special guest: Benjamin Sebastian, Chelsea Salon Film Club organised by Monika Kita, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

11 Nov 2014 –15 Feb 2015 – Watch the Second Hand, solo exhibition by Bill Ward in the Landing Space, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

12 February 2015 – Conrad Shawcross in conversation with Rachael CampbellJohnson, Chelsea Salon Artist Talk organised by Laura Carew, hosted at Chelsea College of Arts

19 March 2015 – Cornelia Parker in conversation with Andrew Nairne, Chelsea Salon Artist Talk organised by Laura Carew

28 Oct 2015 – Alison Jackson in conversation with Simon Baker, Chelsea Salon Artist Talk organised by Laura Carew

6-16 May 2016 – Chelsea Salon Pavilion at 10th Anniversary of Susak Expo, hosted by Susak Press at Susak, Croatia

COLLABORATIVE MEMBERS:

Amanda Dennis (formerly) at Auto-Italia, Anna Baker

Barbara Steveni; Cheryl Papasian & Alex J Wood

Daniel Devlin at Susak Press and formerly at Sluice Magazine, Edward Cotterill

Eilidh Short

Emily Purser & Ravian van da Hil of RE Collective

Fiona Whitty & Jenny Gordon Flora Robertson Hui Hui Liu

Ikjung Cho

James Gardiner (Gaz)

Jamie Stevens formerly at Chisenhale Gallery, Jeeti Singh

John Hill

Kate Cooper at Auto-Italia

Kate Ross

Katriona Beales

Liang Wang

Leo Koivensonen

Lucy Alper formerly at New Gallery, Mei Homma Michal Cole Monika Kita

Naomi Pearce at the Woodmill and formerly at South London Gallery Noel Hensey

Peter Bennett formerly at Core Arts, Rachael Daniels at the UAL Postgraduate Community; Rafal Zawistowski

Richard Hards

Ronan Tuite, Rufus Epp Scott Walker, Tom Trevatt Vanessa Mitter

And all of the artists-students on the postgraduate fine art courses at Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Colleges of Art 2010-2016 who participated in some way, shape or form in the aforementioned salon activities and events.

INSTITUTIONAL HOSTS:

Auto-Italia Brunswick House

Bussey Building, Peckham

Camberwell, Chelsea, and Wimbledon Colleges of Art

Chisenhale Gallery

Church Hill Estates, Vauxhall

Core Arts

Flat Time House

Harts Lane Studio

New Gallery

Penarth Studios

Round Chapel South London Gallery Susak Press/Expo UAL Postgraduate Community

The Woodmill

Joshua David Y’Babro

Chelsea Salon (20092016)