Artist in Residence: Charlotte Andrews

ART CONVEYED

LIMITED COMPANY

Dear ladies (though not exclusively, all are welcome),

I am doing a project in Belfast from August 22-29 at the S.H.A.C. flats which are on Writers Square opposite St Annes Cathedral. It is part of Residence and will run in association with the Capitalyst Arts at Catalyst Gallery.  I plan to turn the little flat into a sweat shop with a bunch of sweaty artists working as if on a conveyor belt, each making their own mark on the paper which moves down the line and so on, producing at the end of the line a multiple original art work. You will of course be paid for your labours, in line with the basic sweat shop pay scheme, which after tax, national insurance, pension and devaluation is 2p per day, 1p for half a day. Hours will be 1000-1500 with I hour for lunch. Split shifts available. A rota will be set up, please clock in and out on arrival. The work which is now owned by the company will be put up for sale. Seconds will be sold in the factory shop outlet at a reduced price. The best work will be packaged and exported to the Catalyst Gallery. Profits from sales will go to the Managing director (me) and probably be spent on expenses such as large lunches with the board (you). Applications for factory workers will be assessed on grounds of equal opportunity disregarding race, colour, religion and sex. All applications to charlotteandrew@mac.com, please mark the form S.H.A.C.

Charlotte Andrew Managing Director and Head of Recruiting

ART  CONVEYED

A factory set up on the lines of William Morris. A collection of people (people with special talents), making beautiful and creative work  accessible to the general public. This is achieved by making multiples as inexpensively as possible and combining the mechanized process where it is possible with hand craftsmanship. The process incorporates an appreciation for the intellectual as well as visual realms. The theme of the S.H.A.C. event is capitalism and it is in conjunction with a national capitalist week. I ask the question “Do you service capitalism and does capitalism reward you?” My aim is to ascertain from the assembled group, which will be a different mix on all 7 days of the residency, what it is they share? If they are mainly artists then the question of investment refers to the group of artists: “Does capitalism invest in art, If housewives, then does capitalism invest in them and so on.  The session is divided into a two hour morning and a two hour evening slot. I have sent out a flier outlining in general terms how this particular factory will work. The participants are asked to draw on a certain section of the paper which they will have some time at the beginning of the session to design for themselves in keeping with the creative spirit of William Morris’s ethos. An egg timer will be in continual operation and at each drop of the last grain of sand, the paper will move on to the next person in line along a conveyer belt. The next in line will make their design in the appropriate slot much in the way wall paper is decorated. In this way the overall art work will grow and become complete, and so to the next mutiple. Within the design my hope is that the individual will work in their response to the proposed question. In this way each day will produce a work quite different from the other and yet with a similar layout, much like a colourway. Factory work is inherently boring because of its repetitive process, therefore I suggest we follow up the colourway theme by choosing a particular colour and using it for 15 minutes and then all change colour. Using one particular colour unifies the overall design of the finished product, which is in this case a drawing.

  

The Factory workers clock in and start their shift

sorting out the seconds

        

Seconds are sold in the factory shop and workers are given staff discount. The best products are exported for sale. Exports arrive at Catalyst and a price is agreed they go on Sale sight unseen before getting exported on to London to be sold at an inflated price