Art Surgery projects 1997 - 2007

The ongoing aim of Art Surgery is to establish a platform for performance and avant-garde art forms in the region. Intrinsic to this is the development of projects from a theoretical basis with the aim of dissolving the boundaries between theory and practice and opening up an expanded, communicative realm where key concepts such as the ‘real’, ‘poetic’ and ‘site’ can be explored through challenging new work. Art Surgery’s activities include a wide variety of curating, commissioning and project work with a diverse range of artists including past and present collaborations with over 100 hundred artists, many well-established practitioners such as Bobby Baker, Andre Stitt, Alastair Maclennan, Roland Miller, Kira O’Reilly, Helena Goldwater, Richard Lazell, Phil Collins, Adam Dant, Helen Sear, Katie Holten...(see full list!)



Art Surgery is an artist led initiative set up in St Ives in 1998 by Andy Whall and Pat Finn. Initially the momentum for the project came from an underground magazine called `start”. which had a run of five issues in 1997. It was edited and written by a loose collective of writers and artists who had identified a need to distance themselves and establish a discourse distinct from that of the traditional St Ives art scene. Currently Art Surgery is Andy Whall and Delpha Hudson.

Throughout Art Surgery’s development, the context of St Ives has remained important. Live art and video had been little exhibited in Cornwall previously and the town is a perfect site for testing innovative strategies and concepts in the arts – particularly since the opening of Tate St Ives. Few places in the UK have such a thoroughly developed infrastructure for the promotion and sale of the tired, modernist (and now thoroughly commercial) aesthetic that completely relies on the worn concepts and understandings which Art Surgery seeks to critique.

Art Surgery works in a dispersed, discoursive and conceptual way. There is no base or exhibition space, we work collaboratively using the internet, and technology, making temporary interventions in commercial and public spaces, Art Surgery is flexible and hydra-headed; slippery and elusive, ready to catch unsuspecting audiences unaware, and kick-start ideas, concepts and dialogues. Fluid, flexible and grounded in a variety of theoretical and cutting-edge concerns, Art Surgery has uniquely collaborated with a huge number of artists, and brought their work to West Penwith: Alaric Sumner, Ken Turner, Andy Hughes, Joe Jordan, Ken Turner, Bruce Gilchrist, Helen Sear, Sheila Nadimi, Sue Harris, Miranda Whall, Adam Dant, (Donald Parsnips), Nick Lewis, Ian Elliot, Tom Baxter, Richard Makin, Jorn Ebner, Max Factory, Athena Constantine, Rupert White, John Redhead, Chris Short, Katie Holten, Olga Alexopolus, Jonathon Allen, Ana Benlock, Michael Booth, Marcus Coates, Michael Cousin, Angela Darby, Hal Ekousy, Tamzin Foster, Werther Germonderi, James P Graham, Tony Hill, Stuart Lee, Susan Macwilliams, Sheila Nadimi, Predrag Padjic, Kevin Reid, Matteo Rosa, Karl Ingar Roys, Stuart Tait, Miranda Whall, Lynne Williams, Julie Bacon, Roland Miller, Tim Brommage, Angela Praed, Justin Mckeown, Elusive Camel Productions, Steven Hodge, John Dummet (Otiose), Maxine McCarthy, Art Department, Ryya Bread, Kira O’Reilly, Ruth Way & Russell Frampton, Amanda Lorens & Tessa Garland, Maxine McCarthy, Nicola Donovan, Richard Biddle, Rupert White, Eva Weaver, Roddy Hunter, Sara Jane Pell, Matt Hawthorn, Millgrim, Misha Myers, Polly Hudson and Florence Peake, Aileen Lambert, Melissa Longenecker, Richard Layzell, Jordan Mackenzie, FrenchMottershead, Slippery Fish, Helena Goldwater, Amanda Couch, Fran Cottell, Lucille Power, David Brinkworth, Victoria Melody, Gino Sacconi, Alastair Maclennan, Caroline Morris.


SLAP, St Ives, 1997
In 1998 the St Ives Live Art Platform (SLAP), was organised by Alaric Sumner, Ken Turner, Andy Hughes and Andy Whall .

It was the first cohesive staging of a live art event in the region. Live art works in St Ives and at the Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance.
Artists; Alaric Sumner, Ken Turner, Andy Hughes, Andy Whall


The Questioning Office of Art, St Ives, June1997 - images
After SLAP’s successful evenings with large and enthusiastic audiences, Andy Hughes, Andy Whall and Ken Turner staged an ambitious and unfunded project called The Questioning Office of Art. This was a programme of 19 live art artists at diverse venues including The Tate Gallery St Ives, Porthmeor Beach Huts, Porthmeor Beach itself, The Salt House Gallery and The New Millennium Gallery.
Artists;
Joe Jordan, Ken Turner, Bruce Gilchrist, Helen Sear, Sheila Nadimi, Sue Harris, Miranda Whall, Adam Dant, (Donald Parsnips),Nick Lewis, Ian Elliot, Tom Baxter, Richard Makin, Jorn Ebner, Max Factory, Athena Constantine, Rupert White, John Redhead, Chris Short.


(Real Art) and a sense of place, November, 1999



The project took place at The Tate Gallery St Ives, The New Millennium Gallery, Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance, and other public spaces. This ambitious project commissioned work from André Stitt, Bobby Baker, Rona Lee, Dr Francois Courbe, Paul O’Neill, Frank Lusing and Chris Short. Bobby Baker’s performance at Newlyn Art Gallery, drew the largest attendance figures (for people in the gallery at one point in time) in its history. The gallery spaces acted as site and base to distribute, assimilate, document and record the events and performances, some of which took place at other sites around West Penwith.
(Real Art) and a sense of place attempted to present work that challenged and examined the state of art in a contextualised local sense (or frame) and on a wider theoretical level. Curated artists responded and contributed in different ways to ‘real art’ and ‘place’, developing dialogue with historian/theoretician, Chris Short, as well as taking part in a symposium.



Artists;
Paul O Neill and Frank Lusing, Circumnavigate, New Millenium Gallery, and various sites
Rona Lee, Tending to Shadows, Newlyn Art Gallery
Chris Short, Writing Art and Institutions, Tate St Ives
Andre Stitt, The Elements, Newlyn Art Gallery
Doctor Francois Courbe, Artiologue, Newlyn Art Gallery and various sites
Bobby Baker, Table Occasion No 17, Newlyn Art Gallery


Art Surgery and Temple Bar Gallery and studios international exchange programme. 2002
Real Art (and a sense of place) was in many ways a watershed for Art Surgery and Andy Whall. As a sad postscript Pat Finn had become very ill and died in December 1999. At her request Andy Whall put together an artists’ exchange between Temple Bar Gallery and Studios in Dublin, and St Ives. During November 2000 Andy Whall spent a month in residence in Dublin and in 0ctober 2001, Katie Holten spent 7 weeks in St Ives staying and sharing her work from Pat Finn’s house. The resulting drawing and installation work traversed different media and different representational forms, producing challenging work, and was shown at The New Millennium Gallery. Art Surgery is currently trying to ensure that this exchange continues into the future.
Artists;
Andy Whall, Katie Holten


Videoteque, Ten Gallery, St Ives, September, 2002 - images
Dealing with notions of poetry and theory in video art, Videoteque was an international showcase co-curated with Delpha Hudson. Ten, an independent gallery space was positioned in the centre of St Ives with window frontage onto a busy street, enabling projections inside and onto the window of the gallery to be seen on a 12 hour cycle. The projected video images challenged the object-bound nature of most art from St Ives, conceptually encouraging a more transient and ultimately poetic encounter with moving images.

Artists;
Olga Alexopolus, Jonathon Allen, Anna Benlock, Michael Booth, Marcus Coates, Francois Courbe, Michael Cousin, Angela Darby, Hal Ekousy, Tamzin Foster, Werther Germonderi
James P Graham, Tony Hill, Stuart Lee, Frank Lusing, Susan Macwilliams, Sheila Nadimi, Predrag Padjic, Kevin Reid, Matteo Rosa, Karl Ingar Roys, Stuart Tait, Miranda Whall, Lynne Williams.


Videoteque II, Newlyn Art Gallery, November, 2002
After the success of Videoteque, a selection of artists’ work and video work from curators Andy Whall and Delpha Hudson was shown in a contrasting gallery space, juxtaposing a group of work that used sound and a selection of silent video.


Live Platform, Newlyn Art Gallery, September, 2003 - images
In collaboration with Newlyn Art Gallery, Live Platform was set up to provide a context for artists based in the South West, to present their own work, to see work, and discuss performance and live art in the context of the SW region. Unlike many other artforms performance has not often been systematically documented and represented, nevertheless histories do exist. Roland Miller, who has worked in performance since the 70s, returned to Penwith to perform The Paper, and Julie Bacon, an important contemporary performance practitioner also returned to the SW to perform Act-Archiving Works.

The platform provided opportunities for artists within the region to present and discuss their work , as well as present video documentation of examples of performance, and live works that have been previously made. All the artists were invited to provoke and answer questions about performance; its historical and contemporary contexts, its possibilities within the region, and what remains of performance after the event.

Artists;
Julia Bacon, Roland Miller, Tim Brommage, Angela Praed, Justin Mckeown, Elusive Camel Productions, Steven Hodge, John Dummet (Otiose), Misha Myers, Maxine Mcarthy, Art Department.
Video programme additional artists: Ryya Bread, Kira O’Reilly, Ruth Way & Russell Frampton, Amanda Lorens & Tessa Garland, Maxine McCarthy, Nicola Donovan, Richard Biddle, Rupert White, Delpha Hudson and Andy Whall.


Tract Live Art Programme 2 0 0 6



A programme of Live Art events over three weekends in July, August and September in Penzance, Cornwall. Using a variety of non-art sites in and around the coastal town, national and international artists were invited to respond to site and locality.
tract......
take a look at the website www.tract-liveart.co.uk

Artists;
Eva Weaver, Roddy Hunter, Sara Jane Pell, Matt Hawthorn, Millgrim, Misha Myers, Polly Hudson and Florence Peake, Kira O Reilly, Aileen Lambert, Melissa Longenenker, Amanda Lorens, Richard layzell, Jordan Mackenzie, FrenchMottershead, Slippery Fish, Helena Goldwater, Amanda Couch, Fran Cottell, Lucille Power, David Brinkworth, Victoria Melody,
Gino Sacconi, Alastair Maclennan, Caroline Morris.

Tract is a programme of site specific live art and performance during the summer of 2006,
co curated by Art Surgery and Newlyn Art Gallery. Tract will take place over three weekends in July, August and September.
Each weekend Tract will feature international and national artists and a platform of emerging artists at diverse sites in and around Penzance.
This dedicated website will feature project details of all performances and events.The site will also act as a point of reference and dissemination throughout the project for the artists taking part.
Tract is the third collaboration between Newlyn Art Gallery and Art Surgery, St Ives based curators/artists Andy Whall and Delpha Hudson.