From Hither and Thither and Back again

Tether studios, in a room with walls and ceiling made of cardboard.

Sam: We wanted to do something that would have more benefit to more people rather than just ourselves, even though it would answer a lot of questions. 

Hither and Thither is a Tethervision project produced over the last year.  Sam and Liam describe the beginnings of the idea being born from one of the first collaborative Tether projects and tempered with a view towards what would be happening in Nottingham this year. 

Liam: We were starting to think about the British Art Show and were aware that there would probably be a Sideshow; it felt like if we could capture a sense of what was going on in the rest of the UK it might be an interesting thing to hold up against whatever come out of Sideshow and the British Art Show.

Hither and Thither involved Tether members touring some of the UK’s artist-led spaces, groups and collectives to begin to piece together a picture of what was happening. 

Sam: We contacted just over 90 different spaces… as many as we could from over the UK.”  “We wanted a mix of people who had started out, people who were 20 years down the line and people who had just finished.  In terms of what they did, not all of them were galleries, some of them were studios, some of them were project spaces and some of them were collectives.

Liam: …people that facilitated other stuff really, at times.

Sam: A lot of it was how it was defined -– some people places called themselves artist led, but when we actually met them they explained they were not actually artist-led anymore, and that didn’t actually matter, that was quite good in the context so instead of it being artist led you get it being artist-focused or artist centred.

Liam: Artist orientated.

Sam: You’ve got one set of people who are trying to become that type of space and then you’ve got other people who are trying not to become that type of space and some places that just don’t get funding or don’t do certain things because they don’t want to turn into an institution, they value the independence.

Liam: Some people gave the impression that it was an integrity of the project that getting funding wasn’t the target, it was about realising the project as they intended it; there was that question for us of where do we fit?

There is a question about why people would choose to begin an artist led group, the motivations seemingly not so multitudinous as they could be.  Two distinct, but not definitive groups, those who want to be part of something already happening in their own way and those who begin to create opportunity to show their own work, often in a place with little or no other artist led activity.

“I’m an artist, that’s what I got into it for.” Sarah Richards – Arena Gallery, episode 10

To generate a culture of gallery going, culture that I see in other places that I wish was here.” Tom Ireland, SuperCollider, episode 9

“Through an accidental conversation.” Arlene, Behind closed Doors, episode 21

“It was crying out for someone to do something.” Zoe Sawyer, The art Market, episode 6

Sam: I guess it’s a lot about exposure; for the last year or so, even though I’ve not really made any of my own work, curating a space or working collaboratively still provides enough artistic or creative stimulation, the only difference is I’m not sitting in a room trying to build something.

They move to talk about Nottingham and how it seems to fit within the project. 

Sam: In Liverpool, everyone is saying how exciting Liverpool is. Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff have this connection, so they are always talking how good and lively those places are. Nottingham has a good and growing scene of things that are happening and its good because it’s changing so rapidly and that’s what makes it exciting here. Compared to Bristol Nottingham seems like a far younger or less developed scene; in Bristol, although there are young spaces like Bristol Driving School, it felt a lot more developed and mature and people felt a lot more stable in what they were doing, whereas here, everyone else is just seeing what they can do, and that’s the exciting thing about being here.

Liam: It seems that since us seeing what Moot had done, then Backlit and Sixes & Sevens, there seems to be a group of people who think it is a credible thing to stay around and do something.  When you think about Generator based in Dundee, where graduates take on running it when they leave the art college, it seems that Nottingham is at a point now where you can begin to expect that system coming into play because there are those people around that are interested in picking things up.

Sam: When the British Art Show finishes I’m really interested to see what happens– does it fizzle out or does that bring people in and get them excited about the city?

Episode 1 (Reactor) was released on the 14th September to coincide with the opening of the re-developed Tether space.  In place of their studios will be Max Warburg (a new exhibition space), The Black Swan and a TV studio.  There will be a new episode every day until the 21st October when Twenty+3 appears as the last.  The videos will then be available indefinitely at www.tethervision.co.uk.