"Processes of making, exhibiting, and removing art from its situation of exhibition"
What does art
do for you?
[DB] The best art always jolts me into thinking about something
beyond what I’m looking at. I want an adventure from art, not
to be told what to think. Also, being an artist has allowed me to
attain a relatively high quality of life on a low income. This is an
accomplishment that I’m quietly proud of.
[MC] Art gives me a something meaningful to do with my time.
I like having ongoing projects to think about and work on.
Beyond the art object, art brings me into many conversations,
from the practical to the theoretical to the social. It’s this aspect
of having an art practice that I’ve come to value the most.
[SK] Art sharpens my attention to what is already there. I
think of it less as producing objects but more about opening
situations. Even small shifts can make a familiar space feel alive
again. For me, art is about relationships—between bodies,
materials, architecture, and action. It’s a way of thinking through
experience that keeps things in motion, allowing meanings to
remain open, rather than fixed.
How does your art
happen?
[DB] Making art is the process by which I understand reality
and myself within human existance. My work is conceived,
created and can be understood in the same way that a hermit
chants, a musician rehearses, or a pilgrim notices things along
the way. My art happens as a ritual nomadic practice based on
experiential wisdom. Try explaining that to a tax inspector from
HMRC!
[MC] To begin, making or finding a reason to make a new work
usually has something to do with a specific context, out of
which emerges thoughts, which form into ideas to be worked
through using drawings, photographs, and words. The making
and material processes is dynamic and open to change, from
taking photographs to working with sign makers to ordering
bespoke marble slabs.
[SK] My work begins on site. I notice what is present—traces,
habits, overlooked details—and work with these conditions
instead of imposing a fixed idea. My process is physical and
situational. Materials carry their own histories and tendencies.
The work grows through negotiating a line between intention
and response, often through shared action, where meaning
forms gradually in the act itself.
Why make an
exhibition of it?
[DB] I’m losing faith in exhibitions. I worked for four months on
my last show and didn’t sell a thing. At the opening everyone had
money. It was obvious. They were lovely people too. Afterwards,
I regretted not having presented a totally uncommercial project
and charging a fee for all the entertainment I provided. As a
payment arrangement this would have been closer to the truth
about what actually occurred.
[MC] Because art needs an audience to be complete. Not that
I often have much idea what the audiences think about the
work I’m involved with making. Crucially, it’s the interaction
between the art (whatever it may be) and the audience were
new thoughts can happen, that’s why art needs to be in the
world.
[SK] An exhibition is a temporary situation where processes
become visible. It activates space and brings work, audience,
and architecture into a shared field. I’m less interested in
presenting finished objects than in creating encounters.
David Blamey | Matthew Cornford | Schirin Kretschmann press release
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