Juan delGado’s Living Room: Crossing Thresholds in Wakefield

 

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Image: ‘Living Room’, Juan delGado 2017

Venue: Art House, Drury Lane, Wakefield WF1 2TE

Date: 7 March 2018

Time: 2:30 – 5:00 pm

A Learning Lab focusing on the participatory and social engagement work of Juan delGado – as seen through the lens of his two-stage ‘Living Room’ project set in the cultural and social landscape of Wakefield and at Art House.

Juan conceived Living Room as a ‘welcoming’ space within Art House aiming to open up access to different groups from the local community. This resulted in the establishment of a Sanctuary Studio (at Art House) dedicated to supporting artists seeking sanctuary or whose status is currently defined by ‘no recourse to public funding’.

Living Room incorporates a range of conversations between civic agencies and individuals in Wakefield including the accommodation centre, Urban House, City of Sanctuary, Wakefield Council and AxisWeb, among other groups. Living Room also questions the concept of ‘validation [for artists] outside the gallery…system’ (Validation Beyond the Gallery, AxisWeb).

Learning Lab will critically re-frame the Living Room project, bringing together a range of artists, activists, curators, programmers, evaluators and policymakers to listen and feedback to Juan as he reflects and maps out the second and crucial stage of this work.

Living Room is commissioned by Counterpoints Arts as part of a Paul Hamlyn Foundation ‘Explore and Test’ grant.

Respondents: Artists, Brian Weston Temboman Mucheriwa and Mohammed Barrangi; AxisWeb Director, Mark Smith; Evaluators, Chrissie Tiller and Susanne Burns.

Moderator: Co-Director Counterpoints Arts, Áine O’Brien