Double Agents

Joseph Constable, previously Programme Curator at l’étrangère Gallery, London and Projects Assistant to producer and curator Jacqui Davies, recently took the post of Assistant Curator at the Serpentine Galleries. Joseph visited the Associate Studio in September and began by reading an extract from Chris Kraus’s ‘I Love Dick’. From this prompt the discussion was wide ranging and moved through presentations of work from each of the Associates.

In July Katrina Palmer visited the Highline Studio. Her show at Void in Derry had just opened and she talked about the process by which that work had been developed. In particular ‘Now Landscape’ a new work produced specifically for Void. Inspired by Ash, the gravedigger character from her 2015 Artangel commission ‘End Matter’ it considers, through the thoughts of the gravedigger, the present day as the stone of the future and as a material full of artificial and highly processed substances. More...

In May Anna Barham visited the Highline studios. Anna began by showing a number of works each involved in the complications, vagaries and slippages of language manifest through the technologies of speech recognition – the translation of spoken words into text. Taking the form of video works and live readings/performances the processing and re-processing of one ‘medium’ to another creates elaborate mergings of units of sound and language – “insight is quick” / “inside the squid”. More...

In 2013, out of their collaborative project Double agents and Acme Studios, created a ‘transitional’ studio space for recent graduates in the UAL Hall of Residence; the Glassyard Building, in Stockwell, south west London. The first group of eight CSM BA Fine Art graduates will be moving out in October 2016 and applications are now being invited from 2015 and 2016 graduates for the next programme, from October 2016-18. The CSM Associate Studio Programme provides a supportive environment without simply extending More...

In April Eddie Peake made a studio visit to the Highline Building studios. He began the evening by explaining that he didn’t want the session to replicate a typical art school crit. and instead to approach it as something more open, as a conversation rather than a review. He showed videos and images from very early work when he graduated himself, along with images of his White Cube show, the Barbican show and his most recent performance at East Side Projects in Birmingham. More...

Prior to Sylwia Serafinowicz’s visit in March 2016, Sylwia wrote to the Associates asking them to prepare a small presentation of one recent artwork. She asked them to introduce their field and to say what value they added to this field. The challenge was to support this by explaining the idea behind the piece, the technique used and the components of the work. Sylwia set this task, saying it is a challenge all art professionals face when communicating their practices to other More...

Yuri Pattison made the first studio visit to the new studio at the Highline Building in Elephant and Castle. Yuri began by showing images of some recent works and discussing their evolution. The notion of an on-going and contingent, rather than final, finished and definitive material outcome was explored in some detail. Digital technologies offer considerable scoop for revision, re-editing and re-purposing; what might be thought of a process of continuous deferral (of the “final version v09” file name type) More...

Hannah Rickards visited the Associate Studio in July, in the midst of her Leverhulme Award for Visual and Performing Arts and work on a new piece at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) in Troy, New York. The studio discussion centred around the work that many of the Associates were involved in using printed matter, either as its source or final form. Work discussed included Piotr Krzymowski’s photo-montage work unsing Polish film magazines More...

In October Morgan Quaintance visited the Associate Studio Program. Morgan gave an in depth introduction to his practice as both a writer, broadcaster, musician and curator and an insight into the thought process behind his upcoming exhibition at Cubitt Gallery, ‘Smile Orange’. The discussion began with a focus on some practical considerations of working as an artist, and how to develop and curate projects collectively. The associates had prepared a staged presentation of works as a context to further the conversation. More...

The second Associate Studio Programme opened at the Highline Building, Elephant and Castle, in October 2015. A panel including Alex Schady, Mick Finch from Central Saint Martins and Heather Deedman from Acme Studios, met in June to select the first group of 2014 and 2015 graduates to form the programme and take their place in the shared studio at the Highline Building until October 2017. We are pleased to announce the selected artists: Adeeb Ashfaq, Oliver Coltman, Nina Davies, Helena de Pulford, Abbi Jones, Daniel Kan, Suzy Lawlor, Lewis Tizley, Anna Pickles Harvey, Eleanor Turnbull, Charles Verni, Joe Moss. More...

Presenting ongoing dialogue between affordable studio provider Acme Studios and London art and design college Central Saint Martins, ‘Studios for Artists’ takes a detailed look into the changing form and function of the artist’s studio in relation to contemporary art practice, as revealed through an extensive program of research, studio visits and interviews. The form, function and future of the artist’s studio is the central focus of the collaboration and of this publication. More...

Artist Philip Lai’s visit occurred during the Associates preparations for their group show ‘Juice’ at the Acme Project Space. The Associates’ ideas for the format of the show became of focus of the discussion. Of interest was the evolving works and their arrangement in the space during the course of the show, and the inversion of the opening hours half way through the show, from daytime to night time, and the differing kinds of spectatorship that that might prompt. Philip discussed his own practice, one based very much on spending time More...

Paris based artist Neil Beloufa focussed entirely on the work of the Associates but drew in themes of narrative in common with his own practice – both the narrative capacity within the work and the narrative of the work, or the stories that the work tells and the stories that the artist tells. In particular; the delicate balance between what is true and what is false More...

In partnership with Youkobo Art Space Tokyo, and Tokyo Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts) the Associate Studio has provided an opportunity for two Associates to spend six weeks based at Youkobo in their own work/live studio, while the Associate Programme hosts two Tokyo based recent graduates. The two Associates, selected through open submission who were based in Tokyo from 1 May – 15 June, and 16 June – 31 July 2015 respectively, are Lydia Davies and Chris Ifould. More...

This is the second Associate Studio to be developed out of the collaborative project between Double agents and Acme Studios. Like the first Studio in Stockwell, established in 2013, this operates as a ‘transitional’ studio 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; the Highline Building, this one in Elephant & Castle, south east London. More...

Lindsay Seers’s visit to the studio was characterised by the presence of one of her ventriloquist’s dummies; Billy. As well as joining the Associates for a series of staged portraits (which then became Lindsay’s gift to the studio) Billy exercised an influence over the discussion; ranging as it did from the sometimes vague boundaries between fact and fiction, synaesthesia and neuroscience. Billy’s role; as a conduit through which to speak, More...

Sculptor Laura White’s studio visit began with her reading a short text describing her ongoing project which involves her undertaking short training courses in a range of specialist manual skills, not necessarily those associated with the skills of an artist, sculptor or maker. These included butchery, fish knife skills, brick laying and sushi making. This emphasis on the material qualities of things, stuff, tools and processes formed the basis of the discussions with each of the Associates offering some response to Laura’s prompt. More...

Curator, and co-director of Hollybush Gardens, Lisa Panting visited the Associate Studio Programme in August. The visit coincided with the Associates preparations for their group show at the offices of the architects John McAslan Partners. The discussions centred on this and the balance of the opportunities it offered and the constraints it was subject to. It was noted that as a space that served both as a gallery and the lobby of a busy architects practice there were some More...

Having been in the studio for almost a year the first Associate Studio Programme is well established. The eight Associates have maintained the open plan layout allowing each other to expand and contract their activities within the shared space as their work demands. In addition to the studio visits by artists, writers and curators, the studio has been visited by other studio providers and academics, and most recently by artist/photographer Hugo Glendinning. More...

In June artist Redmond Entwistle visited the Associate Studio Programme. He began by showing his film ‘Monuments’ prompting a discussion of both the ideas of the three artists; Smithson, Graham and Matta-Clark, and the film’s interweaving of fact and fiction through their relocation to the contemporary outskirts of New Jersey, where their works had first been made. In particular the stylistic combination of artists’ film, documentary, genre (zombie) movie and dead-pan comedy, provoked the discussion. More...

In March artist Adam Chodzko visited the Associate Studio Programme. Adam’s visit coincided with his show at Marlborough Contemporary ‘Room for Laarni’. Adam offered his thoughts on the studio and the processes that occur there, “what aspects of making are necessarily done in isolation – in private, even from ourselves! – and which develop from an interior dialogue; an immediate anticipation of them being shared with another”. More...

In January artist Marie Lund visited the Associate Studio Programme. Marie presented documentation of a number of works, across sculpture, installation and performance. The work raised issues regarding the shifts and tensions between the work as a thing in the studio and the work as an exhibit in a gallery – in particular Marie’s collaborative performance works ‘One Hour Long Exhibition’ in which the work, artists and audience all arrive at the gallery at the same time for the work to be unpacked, installed, dismantled and re-packed. More...

Jamie Hosegood, recipient of the first Helen Scott Lidgett Studio Award and a graduate of the MA Fine Art course at Central Saint Martins has now taken up the opportunity. The award, initiated by Acme Studios with Central Saint Martins, provides a large studio space at Acme’s Warton House studio building, shared with a 2013 graduate from the MFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths. More...

The first of the Associate Studio Programme studio visits was made by Stephen Melville in December 2013. Stephen Melville is an Art Historian and Theorist, is Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University and has published widely on contemporary art as well as on issues in contemporary theory and historiography. More...

A panel including Alex Schady, Mick Finch and Elizabeth Wright from Central Saint Martins, with Heather Deedman from Acme Studios and Kate Cooper from Auto Italia, met in June to select the first group of 2012 and 2013 graduates to form the programme and take their place in the shared studio at the Glassyard Building in Stockwell. More...

The Helen Scott Lidgett Studio Award is a new initiative developed in collaboration with Acme Studios, through the research project Double agents, exclusively for graduates of MA Fine Art, MA More...

Developed out of their collaborative project Double agents and Acme Studios have created a ‘transitional’ studio space for recent graduates in the new UAL Hall of Residence; the Glassyard Building, More...

The collaborative project between Acme Studios and Double agents began as a series of conversations between Graham Ellard and Acme’s Chief Executive, Jonathan Harvey, about current and emergent practice in More...

For the Double agents exhibition ‘The Trouble with Talkies’ in 2005 a table and set of stools and benches were designed and built to act as a focal point for More...

The collaborative project between Acme Studios and Double agents has now been underway for ten months. The project is examining the role, form, function and future of the artists’ studio in a context of changing art practices and economic conditions. It brings together the work of Acme Studios with that of Double agents. During this period a number of the project aims have been achieved including More...

Commissioned in collaboration with Blip Creative artist Graham Gussin created ‘Film film’ for screening in the Window of the Charing Cross Road site of Central Saint Martins. “The work ‘Film Poster’ first existed as a poster for an exhibition in Portugal. It consists of 380 lines which were written over the course of a week. I wanted to make a work which existed as a kind of More...

Gail Pickering; the seventh in a series of studio based seminars with invited artists. The specific emphasis of these sessions is the methods of investigation and processes of production in More...

Ruth Ewan; the sixth in a series of studio based seminars with invited artists. The specific emphasis of these sessions is the methods of investigation and processes of production in More...

Acme Studios and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, have secured a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), a part government-funded programme which helps More...

Uriel Orlow; the fifth in a series of studio based seminars with invited artists, exploring methods of investigation and processes of production in and beyond the studio, addressing issues of More...

A lecture by artist Benoît Maire and Jonathan Lahey Dronsfield Presented in collaboration with Hollybush Gardens. ‘Differend’ commonly refers to a debate between two or more people about (among other More...

Graham Gussin; the forth in a series of studio based seminars with invited artists, exploring methods of investigation and processes of production in and beyond the studio, addressing issues of More...

Adam Chodzko; the third in a series of studio based seminars with invited artists, as in previous sesssions as part of this programme – exploring methods of investigation and processes of production in and beyond the studio, addressing issues of collaboration, negotiation, dialogue, economic conditions and contexts. More...

Through a series of readings Yve Lomax discussed the specifics of writing as a form of art making. It has been a longstanding concern of Yve Lomax to include writing within the repertoire of visual art and place emphasis on writing as a practice not only in relation to writing as art but also the ‘art’ of writing of theory. More...

An afternoon symposium, in collaboration with Camden Arts Centre, examining the historical context and artistic legacy of the emergent art scene on the west coast of America in the 1950s More...

Jaki Irvine and Will Holder; the second in a series of studio-based seminars with invited speakers exploring methods of investigation and processes of production in and beyond the studio, addressing issues of collaboration, negotiation, dialogue, economic conditions and contexts. More...

Emily Wardill; the first in a series of studio-based seminars with invited speakers exploring methods of investigation and processes of production in and beyond the studio, addressing issues of collaboration, negotiation, dialogue, economic conditions and contexts. More...

The inclusion of documentation of Double agents projects based around the paper ‘Friends of Art’ and the notion of ‘the studio as a verb’, the exhibition ‘Space to Think’ to accompany the conference Space to Think: Our Teaching, Learning and Making Spaces in the 21st Century, at Chelsea College of Art and Design. More...

Johanna Billing, round table ‘in conversation’ with undergraduate students, BA Fine Art, to coincide with the inclusion of Johanna’s video work ‘Project for a revolution’ (2000) and ‘Missing Out’ (2001) in ‘Here We Dance’ at Tate Modern, London. More...

Jaki Irvine and Michael Newman ‘in conversation’. A joint venture with Chisenhale Gallery on the occasion of Jaki Irvine’s solo exhibition ‘In a World Like This’. More...

A new book ‘Look Behind Us, a Blue Sky’ on the work of Johanna Billing, supported by Double agents, and published to accompany her major exhibition at Kunst Museum Basel and Dundee Contemporary Arts. More...

A talk by Vito Acconci, to present an overview of his practice, and a round table studio discussion with under-graduate, Post-graduate, Research students and invited guests in Studio G01, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Charing Cross Road. Vito Acconci’s visit was made possible through the support of the AHRC funded Research Project ‘Curating Architecture’ at Goldsmiths College and The Henry Moore Foundation. More...

This issue features a discussion of the work of Knut Henrik Henriksen between Lisa Panting and Malin Ståhl; a work for the page by Anne Tallentire based on commissioned a More...

This issue was produced to accompany the exhibition ‘Sounds Like Drawing’ in collaboration with The Drawing Room, and includes an essay by curator Anthony Huberman (SculptureCentre New York), a transcription of a public ‘in conversation’ at the gallery with the curators, exhibitors Kaffe Matthews, Steve Roden and Conor Kelly, and chaired by Ben Borthwick (Tate Modern), and a new work by Yve Lomax commissioned for the printed page. More...

An exhibition exploring the trajectory between sound and drawing. 13 October – 20 November 2005 at The Drawing Room, London. Double agents collaborated with The Drawing Room to stage an event with Anthony Huberman, curator, and artists Kaffe Matthews, Conor Kelly, and Steve Roden, chaired by Ben Borthwick, Curator, Tate Modern. More...