Opening soon is a project I have been working on with Open Space gallery in Vienna. The project is connected to my PhD research and is an attempt at investigating the ways in which artists, commissioners, critics, curators and funders negotiate ‘the cultural production line’. The FUNding FACTORY attempts to interrogate the desire that many artists share: to disrupt expectations of the function of art whilst fighting for the right to be paid to do that dismantling. The gallery will be transformed into a factory for the metaphorical mixing, compressing, tinkering, testing, rejecting, approving, wrapping, packaging and distributing of culture.

Found, discarded and donated material from skips, studios and galleries is recycled to build the make-shift cultural production line. Embedded in the factory are video portraits I have made of staff and associates of Open Space about their experiences of negotiating these dilemmas of survival, ideology and criticality. Students at the University of Applied Arts have been invited to intervene into the factory to reflect on their own positions as future ‘creative industry-workers’.

Participants include: Fahim Amir, Fatih Aydogdu, Gulsen Bal, Barbara Holub, Fran Hope, Domenico Mühle, Tina Raffel, Walter Seidl, Christoph Srb, Corina Vetsch and Reinhold Zisser.

image above: part of an illustration by Fran Hope for the FUNding FACTORY

http://fundingfactory.blogspot.com/

24 April, 2009, 18:30:
Book launch of Emotional Cartography - Technologies of the Self, edited by Christian Nold at SPACE, 129 - 131 Mare St, London, E8 3RH
Emotional Cartography is a collection of essays from artists, designers, psychogeographers, cultural researchers, futurologists and neuroscientists, brought together by Christian Nold, to explore the political, social and cultural implications of visulising intimate biometric data and emotional experiences using technology.

Essays by Raqs Media Collective, Marcel van de Drift, Dr Stephen Boyd Davis, Rob van Kranenburg, Sophie Hope and Dr Tom Stafford

http://emotionalcartography.net/

13 May 2009:
Council for Galician Culture, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia.
I will be doing a presentation as part of the Council’s programme, ‘Arts and Public Space’.
www.consellodacultura.org

26 May 2009, 18:00:
What is Engagement? Contesting ‘socially engaged practice’, Banqueting Room, Chelsea School of Art
I will be taking part in a panel discussion with Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre, and Dave Beech, organized by Sonya Dyer as part of the Chelsea Conversations series.
To book a place contact Sonya: s.dyer@chelsea.arts.ac.uk

1 July 2009:
Tactical Play: Playful enquiry as a tactic for change in socially engaged art and the social sciences, Birkbeck, University of London.
Fellow PhD student Elaine Speight and I are organising a symposium with the Birkbeck Institute for Social Research in July that aims to bring together artists and social scientists who are using play as a method.
More details to come soon about the speakers and booking details.

Your feedback requested on new writing!
I have commissioned two new articles for the ixia website. They are the case study report on The Blue House in Amsterdam by Paul O’ Neill and a report on ‘How people experience built environments’ by Dr Begum Basdas, Dr Monica Degen and Professor Gillian Rose. There are now 8 articles on the site and we are inviting feedback on these articles.
Read them at: http://www.ixia-info.com/new-writing/
If you would like to feedback on the writings please contact info@ixia-info.com and title your email ‘New Writing feedback’.

Ongoing project:
I am currently working on a project called Critical Friends with the arts organisation Stream (formerly Independent Photography) in Greenwich. Critical Friends is a group of people who live or work in the area, including staff of Stream, who are developing creative ways of investigating, critiquing and feeding into the commissioning of art, specifically in relation to Stream's Peninsula art programme in Greenwich. We have a magazine, workshops and blog as sites for writings, documentation, performances and presentations which we have created.

Critical Friends is facilitated by Sophie Hope and Rebecca Maguire.
Critical Friends magazine: http://en.calameo.com/books/000013925ebd57db8363a
The next magazine is due out in May 2009!

Other links:
27 April 2009: Useful Discomfort: Direct Action, Art, and the Urgency of Slowness, Presentation and discussion with interdisciplinary group PLATFORM
Queen Mary, University of London
http://www.qmul.ac.uk/artsweek2009/programme/monday/index.html

4 April – 22 May 2009: On the Origin of Wishes, SKART’s retrospective exhibition at SPACE 129 - 131 Mare St, London, E8 3RH

As part of the Networked Cultures: Politics of Connectivity session organised by Peter Mörtenböck and Helge Mooshammer, I presented a paper titled, What Ever Happened to Cultural Democracy? After introducing the paper I worked with five volunteers from the audience to present a conversation I had scripted between five ‘critical friends’.

Alex Hodby played Paulo Friere; Lee Rodney played Jacques Ranciere, Helge Mooshammer played Ivan Illich, Rachel Ashcroft played Sheila Rowbotham and Lynne Fanthome played Trinh T. Minh-ha.
The script, along with the other papers given that day, will be available on the Networked Cultures website soon.
http://www.networkedcultures.org/
Thanks to all who participated.

Nutopia. Exploring the Metropolitan Imagination, Morgan Arcade, Cardiff, 2-3 April 2009.

Jennie Savage brought together an international mix of people to present papers, lead walks and facilitate workshops during this amazing two day event that was held in a recently closed down clothing shop in one of the old shopping arcades in Cardiff. The symposium was part of a long-term project Jennie has been doing in the arcades and the centre of Cardiff, which is currently a building site as streets and buildings are cleared to make way for the large new shopping mall.

As part of the event, I contributed by hosting a drinking game with a small group of participants from the symposium as a way of writing ‘The Arcade Treaty’ which we presented back to the group the following day. We sat in The Cottage pub on St Mary Street wearing animal noses and took it in turns to suggest points for the Treaty which the group drank to if they agreed. This exercise revealed how absurd the decision-making process is, the difficulty of coming up with alternatives and the various ideologies of the individuals involved. We wondered if Barak Obama, Gordon Brown and other world leaders were using a similar methodology to solve the economic crisis during their G20 meetings.

Malcolm Miles was the Cat, James Hill was the Dog, Katy Beinart was the Duck, Karen Said was the Mouse, Vahida Ramujkic was the Wolf and Sophie Hope was the Rabbit.
Dan and Paula took the notes for the Treaty
Thanks to all who participated.
http://www.arcadesproject.org/

Science Museum writing workshop with Tony White
I attended a workshop led by Tony White as part of his writing residency at the Science Museum. We used The Listening Post installation by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin at the Museum as a starting point and used the ‘cut-up’ method to write pieces of fiction. During a launch event for Tony’s new story, Albertopolis Disparu (available for free as a beautifully designed booklet at the Museum) a few of us read extracts from our stories. Albertopolis Disparu and a selection of the workshop participants’ stories, including my ‘Saving America’ have been published on the Science Museum website:
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/about_us/about_the_museum/art/writer_in_residence.aspx?keywords=writing

Forthcoming writing:
Drawings documenting ‘Het Reservaat’ in ‘A trama rururbana. Documentos de trabajo’, edited by Carme Nogueira, published by: Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Xunta de Galicia.

‘Who speaks? Who listens?’, an essay about Het Reservaat and Critical Friends in 'The Search for the Spectator', edited by Jeni Welwin.

‘The Last Runner Wins’, a short story in a new publication edited by Amy Feneck.

‘A post-capitalist tale’, a short story in the next issue of ‘Pest’: http://www.pestpublications.org.uk/

spring activities:

SKYPE MEETINGS
Bankleer invited me to have a skype meeting with them about self-organised work, autonomy and support structures. The result is part of an exhibition at Shedhalle: http://www.shedhalle.ch/eng/presse/index.shtml

PLATO's TABLE
I am off to a symposium in Edinburgh on 14th April to discuss hospitality and participatory practice: http://www.collectivegallery.net/
While I'm in Scotland I'll be visiting On the Edge in Aberdeen and Deveron Arts in Huntly. I'll report back on my visit in my action research pages (see link on right).

THE BODY POLITIC
I'm looking forward to starting Platform's course at Birkbeck on Social and Ecological Justice, Art and Activism in April: http://www.platformlondon.org/bodypolitic.asp

NEW WRITING ON PUBLIC ART
I'm commissioning a series of critical texts on public art for ixia. Please read and comment on the texts: http://www.ixia-info.com/director/index.htm

Coming up....
Socially Engaged Art: The conscience of urban development
An essay for a new online publication on the work of Christian Nold.

A Journey in Time through leidsche Rijn - collages and drawings telling the story of my residency in Holland in 06-07, forming part of a publication about 'A trama rururbana', a project that aims to analyse the theme formed by the dialogue between the rural and urban aspects, edited by Carme Nogueira and published by the Department of Educational Activities and Projects, Galicia, Spain.

Art for Kidbrooke - framework for a community art programme. I am working with Independent Photography to write up aour recommendations for the next steps. See http://art4kidbrooke.blogspot.com/ for info on the project.

Longhouse publication coming out soon which documents the artists workshops Tim Knowles and I led last year in Stoke-on-Trent.

Alongside the reading, writing, reading, writing and the tax return, January is a month for...

The Launch of the Manifesto of Possibilities, London
An evening event to ‘test-drive’ the Manifesto of Possibilities – a manifesto relating to commissioning public art in the public environment.

www.manifestoofpossibilities.co.uk

31st January 2008, 6pm – 8.30pm,
Wellcome Collection, Conference Centre,
183 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE
BOOK YOUR PLACE: https://www2.bbk.ac.uk/business/bc.html

My Curating as Critical Practice module at Birkbeck Collegebegins:
http://curatingascriticalpractice.blogspot.com/

Hinterland: http://www.hinterlandprojects.com/
I'll be travelling to Nottingham again this month to take part in a two day walk around the Big Track transport network to discuss plans for future temporary public art projects. As part of my visit I'm also working with Hinterland to host a workshop with local residents to discuss the possibiltieis of art in the area.

Art for Kidbrooke
I am currently working with Independent Photography on developing a community art programme for Thomas Tallis School. The first event on 24 November on the Ferrier Estate brought together videos and images of past community art initiatives in the area with food and workshops. For more info go to our blog: http://art4kidbrooke.blogspot.com/

COMING SOON...
I'm building another simple web page to document my research for my PhD (on how public funding over the last 10 years in the UK has effected what it means to be political and /or critical as a socially engaged art practitioner), including links to relevant projects and articles plus theory and policy timelines, texts, diagrams and workings out.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:
'Pictures of Lily', a short story written in response to Shez Dawood's one year project Knightsbridge, West London in ARTISTS' STUDIO edited by Capucine Perrot (London: Cultureshock Media)
http://www.artistsstudio.org/flash.html

'Resource', profiles of 12 'participatory' art projects from the B+B Archive in the LUCY + JORGE ORTA PATTERN BOOK edited by Paula Orrell (London: Blackdog)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lucy-Jorge-Orta-Pattern-Book/dp/1904772757

'tenentspin' in ART OF NEGOTIATION edited by David Butler and Vivienne Reiss (Manchester: Cornerhouse)
http://www.cornerhouse.org/books/info.aspx?ID=1934&page=0

'Taking Play Seriously' in TAKING THE MATTER INTO COMMON HANDS edited by Johanna Billing, Maria Lind and Lars Nilsson (London: Blackdog)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Matter-into-Common-Hands/dp/1906155186

UPCOMING TALKS / PANELS / DISCUSSIONS:
Friday 23 November 2007, 2pm–10.30pm: Spike Island, Bristol
Hosts & Guests: A Setting in Search of a Celebratory End hosted by Paul O'Neill and Can Altay.

Tuesday 27 November, 7pm: ICA, London
Political Manifesto as Curatorial Project with Liam Gillick, Mark Nash, Will Bradley and Marysia Lewandowska.

Friday 7 December: Broadway Media Centre, Nottingham
3rd National Public Art Conference - Art in Public: The Culture of Possibilities.

Recent projects:
THE 2007 ALMANAC OF POLITICAL ART
The 2007 Almanac of Political Art is ready for you to download! Go to the news page ('this season's crop') of the Reunion website. The Almanac contains over 80 A4 contributions from artists, curators, activists and writers from around the world and offers a completely partial survey of what political art might mean today.

HET RESERVAAT
Sophie's residency in the Dutch new town Leidsche Rijn culminated in a big one day event on 15 July that attracted over 800 visitors! Sophie worked with director Daphne de Bruin and producer Joost de Groot to create a one day open air museum of life in 2007 and convince the residents of Leidsche Rijn they were travelling back in time from 3007 to 2007. Visitors could experience strange spectacles such as local politicians discussing the meaning of democracy in 2007, rare sightings of elderly people playing board games and Dutch residents practicing an ancient art called Tai Chi in amongst the trees while the infamous (local teenage) rock band EitherWay screeched up to a stage in a bright orange jeep and performed their four song repertoire every hour, among lots of other strange goings on...

See images of the day on the Beyond website: http://www.beyondutrecht.nl/

MANIFESTO OF POSSIBILITIES
The Manifesto has been re-edited and the final version now appears online at www.manifestoofpossibilities.co.uk where you can still add comments and feedback. The Manifesto will be published as a poster and distributed as an insert with Art & Architecture Journal in December 2007.

To mark two years of Reunion, an Almanac of Political Art will be edited, printed and distributed in one day to capture meanings, facts, fictions and predictions of political art in the year 2007.

See the reunion website for more details and information on how to submit a contribution to the Almanac

Editor at large: Sophie Hope
Guest Editors: Simona Nastac and others TBC (if you would like to put your name forward as an editor please email mail@reunionprojects.org.uk)
Contributors so far include: allsopp&weir, Djordje Balmazovic, Nemanja Cvijanovic, Igor Grubic and Nada Prlja

ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT!
The Manifesto of Possibilities for commissioning art in urban environments is still online and you can make your comments for two more weeks. On 1 July Cameron Cartiere and Sophie Hope will be re-editing it and publishing it in the Autumn.

ART OF NEGOTIATION publication now available!
B+B have contributed a chapter about tenantspin to the new Arts Council publication, Art of Negotiation, edited by David Butler and Vivienne Reiss. To order your copy contact the publisher, Cornerhouse: http://www.cornerhouse.org/

TAKING THE MATTER INTO COMMON HANDS publication now available
B+B have contributed to a new publication by Iaspis with a text entitled, Taking Play Seriously about notions of participation and collaboration in art. To order a copy go to:
http://www.blackdogonline.com/all-books/taking-the-matter-into-common-hands.html

NOTION NANNY in America!
Allison Smith recently traveled to Berkeley, Califronia to engage with East Bay makers, learning such skills as Arts and Crafts-style stained glass, textiles, and ceramic tiles; bookbinding, letterpress, and enamelwork. An exhibition and Day of Demonstrations took place at the Berkeley Art Musum in May.
See www.notionnanny.net for updates!

COUNT DOWN TO HET RESERVAAT!
Sophie has been going back and forth to Leidsche Rijn, a new town being built in the Netherlands, for over a year and on 15 July 2007 the project she has initiated will come to life! An open air museum will present life in 2007 to an audience from the future.

Read more...

HET RESERVAAT: BACK TO THE PRESENT
Join a voyage from the future at this one-day museum experience!

Castellum Hoge Woerd, Leidsche Rijn, Utrecht
11am–5pm Sunday 15 July, 3007

Where time stood still for 1000 years, a place of wonderment where everyday moments of 2007 have been captured in time for future generations.

This world Heritage site is the most well preserved picture of life in 2007. It has come to be known as the 16th wonder of the world. For one day only you can experience how people lived, worked and played in the Leidsche Rijn of 2007!
The beautiful town of Leidsche Rijn was built in the beginning of the 21st Century, over 1000 years ago. Opening this summer (for one day only!) is a re-creation of life as it was when the town was still being developed in 2007. Now underwater, the creators of Het Reservaat give you the chance to tour a part of the old authentic town and talk to some of the children and families who populated this amazing experiment in living all those years ago at a time of great expectations and new beginnings.

Taste the unusual food people used to eat (for energy but also pleasure!) and find out what a fluffy animal named a ‘sheep’ was used for. Visit a reconstruction of a ‘family home’ and find out what happened in a ‘kitchen’. Our experienced and professional archeologists recently excavated an ancient ‘automobile’ – one of the most revered objects in the early 21st Century. Come and learn what it was used for! Meet children from 2007 and talk to them about the strange ideas they had for the future. Discover how wrong or right they were! Listen to live performances of sounds (often called ‘music’) found on old ‘compact discs’ and ancient ‘ipods’. Discover how 'politicians' of 2007 explain 'democracy' and their plans for our future (you can judge how wrong or right they were!) and learn about how 'religion' informed the life-styles and survival of the people of 2007. And lots more!

Our wonderful guides will take you on a trip of a lifetime to the depths of the 21st Century.

For one day only you can travel in time: Take a dive down to the original Leidsche Rijn!

Het Reservaat is brought to you by Sophie Hope, Daphne de Bruin and Joost de Groot and residents of 2007 Leidsche Rijn.
Het Reservaat is sponsored by Beyond

Background / further info:

What if everywhere was like Leidsche Rijn?

The masterplan for Leidsche Rijn Utrecht was completed in 1997. By 2007, the town, still only half-complete had accumulated over 15,000 residents, make-shift supermarkets, plenty of primary schools and a Leidsche Rijn anthem. Built on agricultural land, numerous archeological sites and incorporating two existing villages (Vleuten and De Meern), Leidsche Rijn Utrecht was not merely a suburb but the largest ‘new’ town ever to be built in the Netherlands.

Leidsche Rijn was an extremely popular place to live. Houses were sold before they were built. The first families to move there experienced the urbanization of the landscape and were ready to move on to pastures new while more inhabitants kept arriving, expectant of fresh beginnings in the pristine new-builds and ordered, fenced-in lawns. This really was another, ground-breaking experiment in ‘ideal living for the 21st Century’.

What happened to Leidsche Rijn? Did its success continue? How did such ideal living pan out over the centuries to come?

Often the urban experiments of yesteryear are laughed upon today. We are in perpetual motion, inventing, responding and surviving. Het Reservaat began as a series of workshops and conversations with residents of Liedsche Rijn about the next 1000 years of this new town. Thinking about the future of a town that has just been built was a way of unveiling the different ideologies and perceptions people have of today, allowing us to imagine the future triumphs and failures of such an ideal place to live.

Het Reservaat is a snapshot of 2007 that asks us to look again at today with fresh eyes as if we have travelled in a time machine from the future back to the present. Would we change the way we live, work and spend our time? What informs the decisions we make on a daily basis? Het Reservaat is an opportunity for visitors to consider their own ideas for the future – politically, environmentally, socially and economically. This one-day museum will become a site bustling with contradictory views, ambitions and ideologies with the combination of visitors, performances, props and interventions triggering both laughter and puzzled looks. Het Reservaat is more than a fun day out for all the family.

Is Leidsche Rijn a vision of your future?

Come and discover the future of yesterday!

The Manifesto of Possibilities for commissioning art in urban environments is a working documents based on a series of seminars at Birkbeck College. The co-producers of the document, Sophie Hope and Cameron Cartiere are inviting artists, commissioners, funders, curators, residents, activists and others involved in the commissioning of public art to respond to these statements.

The Manifesto will be online until 1 July 2007 when it will be re-edited based on the comments it has garnered and published in Autumn 2007.

The Manifesto is directed at commissioners, funders and policy makers in the field of public art.

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Have a look at www.reunionprojects.org.uk for information on recent Reunion events with Skart, Nemanja Cvijanovic and Nada Prlja.

The B+B Archive has moved to Brockley where it continues to grow and develop. The archive contains material on socially engaged, activist and process-based art practices from the UK and the rest of the world. Jennifer Maddock, a new addition to the B+B team is working to make the archive more accessible. If you would like to find out more or want to view the material, contact Jennifer at B+B on bandb[at symbol]welcomebb.org.uk.

B+B are also active in carrying out evaluations and consultation. B+B are currently evaluating ‘Art U Need’ with Commissions East and Bob and Roberta Smith and ‘Peninsula’ with Independent Photography.

Upcoming B+B collaborations include a contributuion on Tenantspin for the forthcoming Arts Council England publication ‘Art of Negotiation’ and a chapter that reworks the B+B archive for a new publication about Lucy Orta's practice (published by Blackdog).

Sophie is currently working on Reunion, an ongoing programme of meetings, residencies and exhibitions between people based in the UK, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Italy and Macedonia to address the political potential of art practices in Europe (http://www.reunionprojects.org.uk/). She is also currently in residence on the Beyond Action Research Programme in Leidsche Rijn a large new housing development near Utrecht in The Netherlands where she is working with residents to co-author a play about a future archaeology of Leidsche Rijn, that charts the community's self destruction due to the heightened importance given to the individual, their private property and general satisfaction in life.

Sarah has been working as part of the Public Programmes team at the Serpentine Gallery on public events and projects.

The first series of workshops will take place in Plymouth in October at Plymouth Arts School. If you are an artist of commissioner of art from the non-art sector based in or around Plymouth and would like to find out more about this training opportunity, go to:

REUNION UPDATE
Check the http://www.reunionprojects.org.uk/ for updates. allsopp&weir, Sophie Hope and Nada Prjla will be in Croatia and Serbia in September, performing, talking and researching...
PLUS: Skart will be in London on a residency in October / November 2006.

If you'd like to contribute to the Reunion blog email mail@reunionprojects.org.uk to receive your password.

UPCOMING EXHIBITION:
The Sweetest Dream – unity and dissonance in Europe.
A Reunion project by B+B with allsopp&weir, Raffaella Crispino, Dragan Djordjevic, Nemanja Cvijanovic, Horkeskart, Tamás Kaszás, Anikó Lóránt and Nada Prlja

Location: SPACE, 129–131 Mare St, London E8 3RH
Exhibition dates: 8–24 June 2006
Opening hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 1–6pm

Preview: Wednesday 7 June 2006, 6–8pm

The Sweetest Dream focuses on the pursuit of unity in Europe. Artists in the exhibition consider collective ideals and subvert cultural stereotypes through an installation, works on video and an off-site project. At The Sweetest Dream, a cacophony of voices, languages and nationalities converge.

Go to: www.reunionprojects.org.uk for further information.

Location: Qube, Oswald Road, Oswestry, Shropshire SY11 1RB
Exhibition: 28th February – 24th March 2006
Workshop: Friday 17th March 2006, 12-4pm
Trade Fair: Friday 17th March 2006, 4–6pm
Website: www.notionnanny.net

Following her residency in Cumbria with Grizedale Arts and the Wordsworth Trust and her exhibition at Studio Voltaire in London (selected as one of the best exhibitions of 2005 by Peter Eleey in the January-February issue 96 of Frieze) Notion Nanny continues in 2006 with Allison Smith’s residency and exhibition at Qube in Oswestry (full details below).

New York-based artist Allison Smith will be based in Oswestry, close to the border with Wales in Shropshire for a month. She will be investigating and learning traditional crafts in the area that will include weaving, clog making and leather-work. Allison will be working with local makers, reconsidering the role of craft in society and creating a temporary guild of participants.

WORKSHOP: Friday 17th March, 12–4pm

B+B are hosting a discussion on the revolutionary potential of traditional skills. The event will focus on issues such as:

- Peddling as an alternative economy
- The use of history and locality in contemporary art
- Making as story telling
- Itinerancy and translation
- Social change through traditional means

This event would appeal to arts professionals engaging in socially engaged practices, rural traditions, contemporary art and craft. It would also appeal to people interested in the role of art in reviving or reconsidering local history.

A light lunch and tea will be provided.
You will also have the opportunity to view the exhibition and attend the Notion Nanny Trade Fair that will follow the workshop.

Places are limited, to book a place on the workshop contact Craftspace Touring on 0121 608 6668

A FREE coach is available from Birmingham to Oswestry.

TRADE FAIR: Friday 17th March 2006, 4–6pm

An afternoon of conversation and exchange on the revolutionary potential of traditional skills.
Come along to trade stories and share ideas!

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Exhibition opening hours: 10am-4pm Monday to Friday, 10am-12noon Saturday
Allison Smith in gallery: 10am-4pm Fridays and 10am-12noon Saturday between the 3rd March and 24th March 2006
Qube contact details: 01691 656 882, www.qube-oca.co.uk
Website: www.notionnanny.net
Email:thesmithy@notionnanny.net

Notion Nanny in the West Midlands is developed with B+B (Sarah Carrington and Sophie Hope) and realised in association with Craftspace Touring as part of the Transborder Crafts project.

Notion Nanny at Qube is supported financially by Arts Council England and Jerwood Charity and in kind by Craftspace Touring.

OTHER NEWS:

Allison Smith
Allison Smith’s upcoming projects include ‘Ahistoric Occasion’ at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts in May 2006 and a residency in September-November 2006 at Artpace, San Antonio, Texas.

B+B
Sarah and Sophie are currently teaching with Cesare Pietroiusti at IUAV in Venice. Sophie will be participating in the Collective Curating workshop at Rum46 in Aarhus, Denmark in March and Sarah will be speaking at ‘Let the People Design’, a seminar at the Architecture Foundation’s Yard Gallery in London on 10 March. Watch out for B+B’s reunionprojects website to be launched in late February!

We have a week of Reunion events coming up - presentations, food and discussions with allsopp&weir, B+B, Ella Gibbs, Amy Plant, Erzen Shkololli, Skart and WHW

Monday 21st November, 4pm – a workshop with artists Edina Husanovic, Margareta Kern and Suzana Tamamovic at Blue Elephant Theatre to coincide with their Balkan Season. To book a place call: 020 7701 0100.

Thursday 24 November, 7pm – presentations by Croatian curatorial collective WHW and Kosovon artist, Erzen Shkololli at the Austrian Cultural Forum, 28 Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge. Drinks will be served, this event is free, just turn up!

Sunday 27 November, 1–5pm – a Reunion open day at Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire where we will showcase the work of the Union members. There will be a feast and discussions on alternative support structures and modes of productive exchange across cultural and political contexts. To book a place on the free coach from London to Wysing Arts Centre, call 020 8980 4320.

Reunion is supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum, London, B+B, The British Council and Wysing Arts Centre.

For more infomation on Reunion click here.

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PUBLIC ART CONFERENCE
We're taking part in the 1st Annual Public Art Conference organised by Art & Architecture Journal at Oxford House on Thursday 10th November. The conference is titled 'The Great Artistic Metropolis: Art in the City - Creativity, Property and Cultural Regeneration'. For more info, see the Art & Architecture website: http://www.artandarchitecturejournal.com. We'll post our paper (Consulting, Branding and Distracting: The Misuse of art for Regeneration) on our website next week.

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NOTION NANNY
Go and see Allison Smith's exhibition at Studio Voltaire, ends December 4th. Notion Nanny will move to Oswestry on the Welsh border in March 06 where Allison will be developing more connections with local makers and investigating further the idea of the traditional revolutionary. See www.notionnanny.net for up to date information.

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POST YOUR FEEDBACK ON REAL ESTATE - click on comments, below...

City Escape and Escapade, ICA 30 July 2005
As a run-up to Real Estate, Sarah will be presenting a paper at this symposium about the city as a playground. See the ICA website for more details: www.ica.org.uk

NOTION NANNY with Allison Smith
We're working with New-York based Allison Smith on a touring project, Notion Nanny. The project investigates notions of craft, social histories and revolutionary making. First stop is Cumbria where Allison will spend the month of August working with local makers to exchange skills.
See the www.notionnanny.net website for more info and to join the Notion Nanny Guild.

We have moved the Reunion event to 2 June (it was going to be 21 April). During the event at the Austrian Cultural Forum we will present Reunion and invite feedback on the next steps. We will produce the first Reunion newsletter to coincide with this event. If you would like to know more about this please contact us on bandb@welcomebb.org.uk