PHO703 Week 6 Food for thought

My project at the moment is at a crossroads with 3 intrinsically  linked routes.One common factor is community another is pubs.I have exhibited several times in pubs in the past,using the space as an alternative to a conventional gallery that suited both the audience and the subject well.

I exhibited my project on Mods in the back room of a pub once,it’s a space that is familiar to that scene with many such clubnight’s and gigs being held in similar places.I also purposely chose it because often the opening  night is the most important night and I feel where possible it is a good thing to reflect the subject matter,be it people or objects and to allow that event to become part of the work.In this case the sitters and their friends were invited (of course) and the music provided by “scene” dj’s.  I got very positive feedback from the ‘non scene” people I invited who were mostly art directors,picture editors or those aligned with mainstream media,who told me it achieved what I wanted and despite it being a simple series of images on the wall the venue and setting was an immersive experience adding to the understanding and enjoyment of the work.

I’ve used the same technique several times another being showing work in a shop gallery setting in collaboration with drinks and clothing sponsors and is something I would recommend when looking for funding.It takes a while but if you can pair up your subject with a brand most will have a budget for this sort of thing in this case it was for an exhibition  showing the work I had done over 20 years with a record label specifically around dance music and clubs,so for the brands its was perfect and for me I got the funding.Again on the opening night we made it an immersive experience around clubbing with a good DJs and the work this time displayed as installations,prints and as light boxes,we even had images stuck to the floor !

For this project because it started out as a series around exploring football and community and as now morphed into a not unlinked study of pubs,working men clubs and my relationship with them. I think maybe a localised pub crawl may be in order with traditional prints on the walls  or perhaps given the covid 19 situation outside where maybe menus would appear or possibly where the traditional pub sign would appear,with clues or a map to where each set of images would be,an art route.Alongside this I like the idea of beermats having the images on them enabling the audience to participate and collect,with only certain ones in each venue,something that reminds me of collecting football stickers as a boy,maybe a card game ,Top Trumps maybe to be played whilst enjoying a drink. (i’m actually teetotal by the way ).