This is the first of many art exhibitions, organised and curated by As Art Co, celebrating collaboration as an integral part of creativity and art making.
What is As Art Co?
As Art Co is a Community Interest Company founded by Filip Kramarsic, a BA Fine Art and MA Curation graduate from Norwich University of the Arts. As an international student and developing artist, when looking to participate in exhibitions he came across the same limitations many other artists face, such as: belonging to a certain age group, as well as adhering to a specific practice, topic or location.
From those aforementioned reasons came the need to create a genuine artist-benefiting, legitimately inclusive and truly sustainable model of organising art exhibitions.
A huge source of inspiration, that would encapsulate all his ideas, was found in a book by Ellen Mara de Wachter called ‘Co-Art: Artists on Creative Collaboration’ in which twenty-five leading artist pairs and groups offer valuable insights and have dismantled the historical notion of genius individual artist’s (typically white male) struggle for self-expression.
Reading those interviews, Filip found a resemblance between collaborative working and marriage. Therefore he decided as a curator to marry artists, metaphorically speaking, into a short-term collaboration. With no pressure or limitations, their love of art would be the sole driving force and would spark authentic creative relationships: bringing out the best of each artist as they develop and expanding their personal and professional interests and skills.
Simply put, As Art Co facilitates and exhibits creative collaborators’ workings and artworks on a first-come, first-serve basis. The more diverse the practice and people are, the better the work and the richer its context!
In this exhibition, we are proud to showcase two ‘married’ artists couples and four ‘single’ artists who have signed up. These are:
• Arianne Waterlow & Zana Baban
• Sophie Banks & James Coy
• Travelling Crayons – Iga Szymanska
• Yuyu Tse
• Anya Bliss
• Emily Foster
The exhibition opening will be on Tuesday 22nd November from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Shoe Factory Social Club at St. Mary’s Works. Open between Wednesday 23rd and Sunday 27th November from 12 p.m. until 6 p.m.
For more information, visit our Social Media accounts @asartco_ or write to [email protected]
