This summer I've been working as part of the Art Everywhere UK project team. This role has included copywriting, securing artwork clearance and carrying out artwork research - so far I've learnt lots of new things and it's been a great experience!
Lucian Freud, Man’s Head (Self Portrait I), 1963, Whitworth Art Gallery (MOCK-UP)
Launching on August 8th, Art Everywhere is a new project founded by innocent smoothie co-founder Richard Reed & his wife. With the central aim of taking British art to the people, tens of thousands of billboard and poster sites are going to be transformed into iconic works of art (as chosen by the public) for a fortnight this August.
The team has been bought together by a collaboration of partners: Richard Reed, Tate, Art Fund, ArtsMediaPeople (the project's producers), Easy Art (responsible for building the website & making artwork editions), 101 (designers of the artwork posters), Blippar (developing the Augmented Reality app) and most importantly - Posterscope (the UK's poster industry). Working on the producers team, what has been interesting is to understand the challenge faced in co-ordinating a charitable project with partners who are all working for free. With this in mind, what has driven the project forward has been the partners joint love of art & subsequently a joint love of the project.
Starting the project was a selection day held at Tate, inviting a range of experts from the creative industry (Maria Balshaw, Gus Casely-Hayford, Penelope Curtis, Stephen Deuchar, Bob and Roberta Smith, Gilane Tawadros and Richard Reed) to form the exhibition longlist. Each selector was asked to bring a list of artworks which had to be both British and in a public collection. After a fun day debating art, exhibitions, gender equality, regional equality and much more - the longlist of 100 artworks was finalised! Requiring me to embark on the very quick-speed process (!) of attaining artwork clearance for every artwork, in order to get the artwork longlist live on the website & ready for the public to choose the final Top 50.
With the Top 50 now under-wraps, come August 10th the public's favourite British art will be plastered on billboards and poster sites hopefully near us all!
It's been a mad experience, but a really good one.
With this year being the project's first, the deadlines have been fast. If all goes well and the project turns into an annual cultural event, I would love to see the decisions of where artworks are placed around the UK turn into a more curation-focused exercise.
Francis Bacon, Head VI, 1949, Arts Council Collection (MOCK-UP)
Edward Burra, The Snack Bar, 1930, Tate (MOCK-UP)
Let me know if you see any! Rosa
