also from
Suzanne MacLeod
Lecturer
Department of Museum Studies
University of Leicester
0116 252 3759
[log in to unmask]

--- Call for papers - offsite programming ---


Fabric
Gallery art in alternative spaces.

The City Gallery and Leicester University Department of Museum Studies 
extend a call for papers for a symposium exploring offsite gallery 
programming and its future.

We are calling for papers for a symposium exploring 'offsite' 
programming. By offsite programming we mean gallery managed events or 
interventions that take place within the fabric of the built or natural 
environment.

Galleries across the United Kingdom are developing offsite programmes 
from The John Hansard Gallery in Southampton to The Baltic in 
Gateshead. In different institutions these programmes fall under briefs 
varying from education and audience development to marketing and 
curatorial. These burgeoning programmes have come into being for a 
number of reasons but there are two key motivations that Fabric will 
explore.

Firstly offsite activities have been driven by an outreach agenda to 
take the art to potential audiences whom would otherwise not be exposed 
to it. A good example of this kind of programming will be Peter 
Doroshenko’s promise to establish an arts programme on the video 
screens of St James Football ground in Newcastle.

The second motivation for offsite programming is large capital builds 
at established art galleries that have meant their space is unusable. 
To ensure continuity during the transition period alternative display 
methods are utilised. The best-known and biggest example of this kind 
of offsite project would be MoMA Queens whilst the Museum of Modern 
Art, New York was being rebuilt.

We are looking for papers that explore the development and consequences 
of offsite programming from a variety of angles but with a particular 
emphasis on their social impact and systems for evaluating this. For 
instance examining how these opportunities affect local artists, how 
diverse communities respond to these projects and their value to the 
regeneration of the built environment.

Though some of the issues associated with offsite programming have been 
explored through discussion of art in the public realm there has been 
relatively little analysis of its unique results.  It is high time some 
questions were asked about this expanding sector, what ties these 
dispirit projects together and how we can assess the impact they are 
having on artists and the communities they serve.

The symposium will take place at the end of a major two-week festival 
of offsite artworks in Leicester.

There will be a speakers fee of £100.

For further information or to submit abstracts electronically please 
contact Hugo Worthy on [log in to unmask] or visit 
www.fabricsymposium.co.uk

Postal address: The City Gallery, 90 Granby Street, Leicester, LE1 1DJ

For further enquiries please call Hugo Worthy on (+44) 0116 223 2063

Abstracts to be received no later than 17:00, February 10, 2006

Fabric symposium, May 5, 2006. The City Gallery OFFSITE at Leicester 
University.