Double Agents

The recruitment process for ASP 8 2021 begins soon with the first full briefing meeting and Q&A, on: THURSDAY 12 AUGUST, 2pm (online) All BA Fine Art 2020 and 2021 graduates from CSM, Chelsea and Camberwell are invited to join the meeting to find out more about this unique initiative providing affordable studio space and a programme of studio visits by artists and curators, developed by the Art Programme at CSM, through Double agents, in collaboration with Acme Studios. More...

On Friday evening, we welcomed artist Miriam Austin for our virtual encounter in the studio. After a chance meeting at Austin’s show ‘Andesite’ at Boss and Baum in December 2020, the studio visit was a unique opportunity to reconnect and share some conversations about our practices in further detail. Sam Sockett, Ferghus Doyle and I chose to open a discussion regarding our practices with the group and review the process and intention of the works. We value the attention and care received through Miriam’s thoughtful feedback and for More...

Eleanor Wang, the co-director and press officer for San Mei Gallery, joined our virtual visit in early May. San Mei Gallery is an Artist led space based In Stockwell. Eleanor told us about the buildings past and its exciting history of salsa dancing nights. The space is a part of their local community and the gallery often have exhibitions or take inspiration from those within their community. The gallery also enjoys exhibiting people who aren’t necessary ‘artists’ More...

Continuing with the virtual studio visits; at the end of April Susanna Chisholm came to talk to us over Zoom. Susanna is Programme Development Director at Film and Video Umbrella and has a background in commercial galleries. She began by introducing herself and FVU, telling us about how they operate and how they commission moving image work. We heard what FVU look for in artist’s they want to work with, what they aim to do by commissioning and More...

Carolina Ongaro’s visit came at a moment of change and rethinking around Jupiter Woods, the space she has run with various collaborators since 2014. After running an intensive public programme in 2018/19 in an effort to legitimise themselves as a gallery in the eyes of the broader art world, the Jupiter Woods team found themselves burned out and disillusioned. Since then they’ve been working reflectively with consultant artists questioning what the More...

Sabel Gavaldon, the curator at Gasworks was the latest online visitor for the ASP 6 studio. Coming from an institution like Gasworks that mainly supports emerging artists and the development of their careers, we took this meeting as an opportune moment to ask for practical advice that spawns out of the variety of the work we are making and presenting to Sabel. Billy Sassi, Anais Comer and I provided Sabel with material to reflect on and build a conversation around the types of opportunities we should apply to and how to approach More...

With London in lockdown, Ryan Gander’s studio visit with ASP 7 took place via Zoom. During the discussion, Ryan shared his thoughts on a PDF I sent him with images of recent works by Lydia Porter and Samuel George and myself. Ryan fully engaged not only with the works he saw, but with our practice in general. He challenged our understanding of our work too, asking us some pretty tricky and funny questions such as ‘what would you rate this work out of ten? and ‘is this work better than your previous one? Through discussing our work in this More...

Continuing with the virtual studio visits, artist Abbas Zahedi was invited to talk us through his works and share his thoughts on our own practices. Abbas having graduated from CSM himself with a MA in Contemporary Photography; Practices and Philosophies, a few of us were already familiar with his works and practice. He started the visit with a brief introduction of his interdisciplinary practice which blends contemporary philosophies, poetics and social dynamics together making connections whenever possible with people involved to initiate More...

Having visited the Associates before, Borbála was familiar with the tradition of bringing an object to the space as a way to begin the discussion. This time she brought a giant seashell that has previously served as a starting point for curatorial projects. The theme of using an object as a starting point and perhaps a collaborator informed the discussions, especially when talking about a project centering around the moon by Lucie and myself. We talked about notions of unlearning, and how an object can become a holding space for something. Borbála’s most recent projects have involved working with communities, which also spurred on questions of how our collaboration with Lucie could be opened up to other artists, in forms of celebration, and how the work can be More...

With London currently in its third lockdown since the pandemic began, the first visit for the ASP 7 studio took place online. William Noel-Clarke, the director of vitrine gallery, talked with us about the importance of connection and communication, referring to the events that led him to the studio visit in the first place – that I had met him at a friend’s house earlier in the year and that he’d already done a studio visit with the ASP 6 group in January. And stressed the need for reciprocity in the art world and that we should never underestimate More...

In the midst of the third coronavirus lockdown in the UK we welcomed William Noel Clarke (director of VITRINE gallery) for our first digital studio visit. William started the discussion by retelling the tale of how he got to be talking to us; three years ago I included him in a performance event I was organising, then last summer he included me in a digital exhibition he was curating, then I invited him to give us a visit. He used this to illustrate the ways in which opportunities feed into one another and the importance of generosity in sharing networks More...

In November a panel including Alex Schady (Art Programme Leader; CSM), Sophia Phoca (Dean of Art, CCW), Jheni Arboine (Academic Enhancement Model Lead, CCW) and Lea O’Loughlin (Co-Director Acme Studios) interviewed the shortlisted candidates from the open call to select the group of 2019 and 2020 graduates to form the 2020 Associate Studio Programme and take their place in the shared studios at the Glassyard Building, Stockwell, until October 2022. More...

The Associate Studio Programme, in partnership with Acme, opened its first studio in the Glassyard Building, in Stockwell, south west London in 2013. The tenure of the current, third, group of Associates at the Glassyard studio comes to an end in November 2020. Although this year the corona virus pandemic has had an impact on the schedule applications for the next programme, running from December 2020 to September 2022, are now being invited from 2019 and 2020 graduates from CSM’s BA Fine Art course, and, for the first time, from CCW’s BA Fine Art course. The Associate Studio Programme provides a supportive environment More...

With London in lockdown due to the Covid19 pandemic the studio visits and meetings, like much else, moved online. Devised specially for a Zoom meeting Louise Ashcroft ran a brilliant writing workshop. Each of the Associates was asked to look at documentation of each other’s work and write a short piece on it. Louise’s introduction summed it up perfectly: “My aim is to make this a fun few hours of power-writing about each other’s work, so that at the end everyone has a bunch of different perspectives on their practice which they can use to reflect and maybe to inform their own writing of applications/proposals/statements. Please reply all to this email with a link to your website or any other way we can see your work online. It might help to pick out one or two keys works. Everyone will write about everyone and send the texts to each other. Sometimes it’s easier to write about others’ work than our own, More...

For our third studio visit of the year, we were delighted to have Lydia Ourahmane visit us in February, despite her having moved to Algiers. Our conversation began with an exploration of the often blurry distinctions between work and play within art practices; one may contribute to the other and, at the same time, they are not mutually exclusive. This led to a discussion around exhibition making, in which artists have to provide enough access points into their way of thinking for viewers that have no previous knowledge about their practice. More...

We welcomed artist Jonathan Baldock around a candle-lit table, where we shared some grapes and a cup of tea. Within the first minutes of him being here, we were already laughing to tears. Jonathan’s humour and sharpness made the evening extremely light and informative. We started the discussion around the state of art school, and the increasing amount of conversations around diversity and inclusivity since Baldock graduated. This lead us to speculate how the way we produce art and organise ourselves as artists was headed in the coming year. Artists nowadays seem to focus more and more on a specific audience, More...

After offering Simeon a customary brew of Yorkshire tea, I welcomed a fellow northern native into the studio. I first came across Simeon’s work in the art now room at Tate Modern a few years ago, the artists’ wall bio catching my eye as it mentioned his home town, Huddersfield, which is also my own. Not knowing a contemporary practicing artist from my own locality up until this moment, I was struck by the codes embedded in his mixed-media installation, the stripes of blue and white UV lights pulling on the homebound shirt colours of the Huddersfield football club. Witnessing his layered sculptural structures first hand, I was moved by the immense construction of the frames More...

Imran Perretta’s visit in January wasn’t confined to the studio, instead we walked from the Elephant and Castle building down to Brixton station as a group. As Imran is familiar with the area and is based in Streatham, he took us on a walking tour through South London, finding stops along the way to share anecdotes and present works.  The hour’s walk, with stops, was free flowing and open as we took turns to decide where along the route we would like to present. Anais Comer read a piece of writing just outside Kennington Park and I found myself presenting in Brixton McDonalds.  The route highlighted the immense More...

In January 2020, Larry Achiampong visited us in the studio, just after having taken his driving test. He opened his bag and took out the cardboard cover for his 2013 project More Mogya which he describes as an “ongoing project” begun several years earlier that he has yet to go back to since. Initially it was a self portrait, using audio, based on the knowledge that was readily available to him – and was acquired not by means of learning it professionally, but approaching it almost on the go, by watching other people. With Larry we talked about exploring origins and nationality, specifically his relationship to Ghana. He also More...

Ghislaine Leung visited the studio in November. It was very informal and conversational; first, we sat down in the project space to have a cup of tea – Adelaide brought some beautiful cakes from her workplace, and we all talked about issues surrounding continuing a practice after graduating and what a practice can look like – the different forms it might take whilst we’re working full time, and ways in which we might think about and use the studio space. We went on to discuss about how we approach exhibitions as emerging artists More...

In June a panel including Erika Tan from Central Saint Martins and Calum Kerr from Acme Studios, met to select the group of 2018 and 2019 graduates to form the 2019 programme and take their place this week in the shared studios at the Highline Building, Elephant and Castle until October 2021. We are very pleased to announce the selected artists: Jennifer Elvidge, Lucy McGregor, Carmen Kirkby, Rubie Green, Ava Reynolds, Maria Mahfooz, Adelaida Antúnez, Troy Roswell, Anastasia Alekseeva, Jacob Hulmston, Anaïs Comer, Jonas McIlwain. More...

Object enthusiast and story teller champion, Brian Griffiths was invited into the studio by the Associate artists based at the Glassyard Building in Stockwell. Brain started proceedings with a manifesto, that was akin to a chinwag typically experienced around a water-cooler on the 4th floor of an office block, rather than the usual hot-blooded monologue that could be easily scripted into a scene of Les Misérables. Informality was the context evidently in play right from the start, for Brian kicked things off by announcing his manifesto as he sketchily produced a stapled document from his back pocket, and which he then relished in the silence as he started to meticulously unravel his size 18 Arial cues. More...

The second Associate Studio to be developed out of the collaborative project between Double agents and Acme Studios opened in the Highline Building in Elephant & Castle in October 2015 and is now inviting applications for the 2019 round; October 2019-2021. Like the first Studio in Stockwell, established in 2013, the studio operates as a ‘transitional’ space for recent graduates from the BA Fine Art course at Central Saint Martins. Again like the Stockwell Studio it’s housed in a new UAL Hall of Residence. More...

Kate starts the visit by showing us her way of making spontaneous free-standing sculptures. By altering forms through changes in scale, shape and material, she demonstrates her interest in ambiguity and explores the blurriness that exists in reading an object in one or more ways. This leads us to engage in a lively activity, in which each of the artists writes down on a piece of paper what they consider significant to their practice, and then places it down, thus forming a physical map across the studio floor. More...

How can a ‘Fishmongers Shop’, ‘Gibraltar’, and ‘A Procession Passing Through The Cenotaph’ answer questions of how to prepare for a residency in cooking and feminist practices? How can ‘Game Keepers’, ‘System D’ and ‘The Bees’ allow us to offer up methods of altering the way that we work, in order to build sustainable practices in which not-knowing, intuition and failure allow for real experimentation? Equipped with a small box of over a hundred hand More...

In our second year of the studio programme we have begun to invite curators and programmers as well as artists, with Louise O’Kelly marking one of the first of these. Louise is the founder and director of Block Universe, an annual performance art festival based in London which is coming up to its fifth year. The conversation began with an introduction from each studio associate on their practice, which Louise expanded on by querying our intentions within our respective work. This was used to open up discussions to the whole group, covering the ethics of participation in creative practices, and the politics More...

Simeon Barclay came down from Leeds for an evening to discuss both his own practice, and talk through our current lines of inquiry in the studio. Simeon started the evening by describing his beginnings and the roots of his career. As the son of a tailor who had an early education working in metalworking and manufacturing, we talked through the importance of materiality, how the relationship between the two labour roles, of ‘worker’ and ‘artist’, is often seen as a rigid dichotomy and how this influenced his concerns as an artist. The More...

In June a panel including Alex Schady, Art Programme Director at CSM and Lottie Leedham from Acme Studios, met to select the group of 2017 and 2018 graduates to form the 2018 Associate Studio Programme and take their place in the shared studios at the Glassyard Building, Stockwell until October 2020. We are very pleased to announce the selected artists: Wes Gilpin, Micheal Taiwo, Thomas Bull, Joseph Nichol, Gillies Adamson Semple, Chi Bagas, Hannah Doucet and Yin Yi Fung.

Nigel Dunkley, who with Grace Schofield, is co-director of the east London gallery, Union Pacific, made a studio visit in September. This was the last studio visit for our group of Associates and was one of the most interesting and exciting. Neil was very generous and from the start engaged with the work presented with real enthusiasm. The discussion generated as he explored our practices, and our artworks, through his questions and observations was lively, critical and stimulating. More...

Duncan Campbell visited the studio at the Highline building in June 2018. We began our conversation about Duncan’s current practice through his interest in flip-dot displays, first made prevalent through their use in the Montreal Stock Exchange as a visual representation of the rising and falling of stock values. Duncan was interested in the format of the mechanism as both a visualisation of information which is received and then outputted by the machine, as well as his time spent with a piece of equipment with a complicated yet largely More...

Alicia Reyes McNamara visited the studio to meet the Associates in May 2018. As the group for this visit was quite small, the discussion was intense, inquisitive and attentive. It was structured first around the artist’s different practices, then by an artist talk. In all the visit lasting over 3 hours, and included a discussion of the Associates work. This began with the Tokyo based Youkobo exchange artist Yuuki Horiuchi, followed by Riah Charles, Jess Heritage and Joshua Waterson, each showing something of their practices. The discussion ranged from topics such as the play between humour and the seriousness of the dialogue More...

For our fourth artist visit at the Highline Building studio, we welcomed Shezad Dawood. Our discussion began with the logistics of maintaining our practice, and the significance of the mutual support the shared studio setting offers. A focal point was the necessity for mistakes to materialise in order for progress to be made within our practices. We then discussed Shezad’s monumental ‘Leviathan’ project, comprised of ten episodes to be released over an extended period. He spoke of the relationship between the volatile undercurrents of the More...

The CSM Associate Studio Programme, in partnership with Acme, opened its first studio in the Glassyard Building, in Stockwell, south west London in 2013. The tenure of the current, second, group of Associates at the Glassyard studio comes to an end in September 2018. Applications are now being invited from 2017 and 2018 graduates from CSM’s BA Fine Art for the next programme, running from October 2018-20. The CSM Associate Studio Programme provides a supportive environment without simply extending the ‘comfort zone’ of the college experience. More...

As part of our Associate Studio Programme, we were excited to have Rehana Zaman visit us for an extended conversation in April 2018. Given Rehana’s practice, and some of the conversations that were being had in the studio, we decided to step away from the normal ‘crit’ structure that had occurred in visits before Rehana, and instead have an open conversation without too much presentation of individual works. This lead to a lengthy, (3 hour) informal conversation in which Rehana More...

Borbála’s visit started off with presenting to the group her chosen object that would be left with the studio. The object[s] were a collection of petri dishes containing slime mould – each being at a different stage of development, some were ‘fed’ before their journey to the studio, some left empty for the associates to feed and one that was fed at the beginning of the talk and left in-situ. Whilst discussing the properties of slime mould, ideas emerged around ecological systems in relation to global structures and the wider omnipresent More...

Ewa Axelrad visited the Stockwell studios in January. Ewa introduced us to her work by explaining her background where she began by studying photography at the Uniwersytet Artystyczny w Poznaniu in Poznan, Poland. This was followed by a MA at The Royal College of Art, where she displayed a hidden work ‘Solution’ at the degree show. Ewa explained how the work was an ironic success and that forced the viewer to not only find its whereabouts but seek the graphic historical meaning, and the relation to the Second World War in Poland. More...

For our second studio visit at the Highline Building, in January 2018, we were glad to host Patrick Goddard. The visit began with Patrick addressing some themes from his work which he had asked to flag out in advance as being of particular interest to us. He began by showing us examples from his solo exhibition at Matt’s Gallery, ‘Revolver II Part 3′ from 2014 beginning with the video, ‘Free Radicals’. We discussed the way he had managed to transform the self-critical voice he encounters in his practice, to a positive and fruitful element More...

Anne Tallentire’s visit focused on extending the notion of ‘beginnings’ to the Associates. Anne began with a reading from her book ‘Object of a Life’, considering writing as a mode of ‘starting’, and within this the wider role of drawing (which remained a constant) during the production of the text. This led to an unfolding discussion on how one might articulate the beginning of a work and how beginnings may inevitably differ both within one’s practice and in relation to others. More...

Celine Condorelli began her studio visit by introducing her practice as seeking to engage with the space of collaboration, working within the location of exchange between people. Celine spoke about ideas surrounding ‘support’ in relation to how this exchange may happen in physical space, though the development of spacial devices that relate to a history of furniture design. Through speaking about her previous studies in architecture and her interest in the way we interact with others More...

Having only just moved into the Highline Building at the end of September, the arrival of Ed Atkins in December 2017 marked the first artist’s visit for us, the ASP 4 group of Associates. To begin the evening, Ed provided a close reading of new works currently being exhibited as part of Old Food at Berlin’s Martin Gropius-Bau, a generous collection of looping videos and commissioned texts that drove a lively and extensive critical discussion. We spoke in particular about the nihilism that drives much of Ed’s work, which consequently brings More...

Rowena Harris’ visit was insightful – she began with showing a video work and reading an extract of performative writing that presented the concerns of her current practice. Through conversation this extended into outlining problems that are encountered within the studio that either positively or negatively affect ‘working’ and ‘the work’ more generally. We started to discuss what it means to be [and work] in the studio, the methodologies one might employ to navigate their practice, how the role of the studio can ultimately be understood, More...

John Seth began his visit to the Stockwell studios with a performance. This consisted of two sheets of found manuscript paper, which John had drawn music notes onto, a hammer and some nails. John used this gesture to introduce how he might understand the relationship between thinking and making work. This mode of reflection was to demonstrate how there are different ways to generate how we talk about artwork. The conversations triggered by our work in the More...

In June a panel including Alex Schady and Emma Talbot from Central Saint Martins and Lottie Leedham from Acme Studios, met to select the group of 2016 and 2017 graduates to form the 2017 programme and take their place in the shared studios at the Highline Building, Elephant and Castle until October 2019. We are very pleased to announce the selected artists: Aidan Strudwick, Daria Blum, Eleanor Strong, Jess Heritage, Josh Waterson, Isabel Alsina-Reynolds, Madi Walsh, Philip Speakman, Realf Heygate, Riah Charles, Tarryn Williams, Tuli Litvak. More...

Jane Hayes-Greenwood visited the Associate Studio in Stockwell in July 2017. Jane is an artist and curator. She studied at City & Guilds of London Art School, where she met Xabier Basterra and co-founded the project space and studios Block 336 on Brixton Road. Block 336 continues to be run by Jane Hayes Greenwood, Alex Gough, Robert Bell and Thomas Groves who formed the original group when the project was initiated. Jane presented fascinating images of works that have been shown at Block 336 since they opened in 2012. More...

Rozsa Farkas, director of gallery Arcadia Missa, visited the Associates in the Stockwell studio in June. The visit concentrated on the work of the Associates with work-in-progress presented by Alice Jacobs, Andy Wyatt, Jordan Mouzouris, Isabel Cole and Fleur Dempsey. The discussion was wide ranging but included a close consideration of the means by which work is encountered in the gallery setting, the distinct transition it makes from studio to public space, and opportunities, demands, surprises and shifts in meaning that result. More...

In June 2017, Morgan visited the studios. Morgan’s visit was split into two halves, with one half specifically dedicated to concerns around his practice, whilst the second a discussion around the Associates work. We opened with Morgan with a talk about political issues in contemporary society (homelessness, housing, disability rights). Morgan spoke at length about the position of power, the privilege it was to ‘make’ and the influence this could have in creating a ‘voice’. The marrying of poetic and aesthetic became a key theme that then More...

Nicoletta Lambertucci visited in April. The discussion amongst the Associates and Nicoletta began with her curatorial work, the show Mundus Muliebris at BASEMENT ROMA and as curator at the David Roberts Art Foundation. Nicoletta spoke at length about the concerns in her practice as a curator, the consideration of audience in her work and themes that guide her practice. Nicoletta spoke about the usefulness of creating coherent press releases and catalogues as tool for framing discussions or ideas in a show. More...

Eloise Hawser visited the Stockwell Glassyard studios in April. Eloise introduced us to her practice with fascinating and detailed reports about her research into the unknown realms of London’s infrastructure. Starting off with her investigation of recycling banks, she explained her curiosity for overlooked and redundant sites. Eloise is currently a resident artist at Somerset House and invited us to participate in her upcoming educational programme called Anabasis to Dora, a trail around London looking at functionless architectonic features. More...

The second Associate Studio to be developed out of the collaborative project between Double agents and Acme Studios opened in the Highline Building in Elephant & Castle in October 2015 and is now inviting applications for the next round; October 2017-2019. Like the first Studio in Stockwell, established in 2013, the studio operates as a ‘transitional’ space for recent graduates from the BA Fine Art course at Central Saint Martins. Again like the Stockwell Studio it’s housed in a new UAL Hall of Residence. More...

In March 2017 Rob Chavasse visited the studio Associate Studio in Stockwell. After a brief introduction to some of his recent projects; including ‘Marsh Lane Diversion’, Frieze London, 2016 and More...