Jerwood Arts salutes the power of the collective

Jerwood Arts is launching a major London show featuring four pieces by artists working in collaborative and collective practices, across the UK.

Launching during Frieze Week 2019, 'Jerwood Collaborate!' responds to research about the challenges faced by artists working in collaboration and provides a dedicated platform to support outstanding artist groups at a pivotal moment in their career.

Array is a collective based in Belfast which that collaborative actions in response to socio-political issues affecting Northern Ireland. The group comprises of artists Sighle Bhreatnach-Cashell, Sinéad Bhreatnach-Cashell, Alessia Cargnelli, Emma Campbell, Mitch Conlon, Clodagh Lavelle, Laura O’Connor, Grace McMurray, Stephen Millar and Thomas Wells.

Their new installation 'As Others See Us' is centred on three fictional characters drawn from the pre-Christian myths and folklore of ancient Ireland. Representing the past, present and future, and cross-bred with contemporary anxieties and fixations in the North of Ireland today, they have shape-shifted through the crowds at Belfast Pride to the banks of the River Thames in London.

Also on show is work by Keiken + George Jasper Stone: a collaboration between Keiken, founded in 2015 by artists Tanya Cruz, Hana Omori and Isabel Ramos, and CGI artist and content designer George Jasper Stone (based in London, Oxford and Penzance).

'Feel My Metaverse' is a CGI film, AR and immersive installation about a hyper-fictional future. The trans-authorial narrative – a story made by multiple people – explores the daily lives of three characters ‘Pando’, ‘O’ and ‘C’, and how they cope with multiple bodies in various virtual and physical realities.

Languid Hands, meanwhile, is a London-based artistic and curatorial collaboration between DJ, filmmaker and programmer Rabz Lansiquot, and writer, facilitator and live art practitioner Imani Robinson.

Their single screen film, 'Towards a Black Testimony: Prayer, Protest, Peace', considers the ontological status of Black people as objects, as commodities, as raw material. Referencing seminal black texts and artefacts alongside instances of contemporary anti-black violence, this work examines testimony as obscured, ignored and undermined.

Finally, Shy Bairns is the collective practice of artists, designers and curators Izzy Kroese, George Gibson, Eleanor Haswell and Erin Blamire based in Manchester. Their new work 'Shy Bairns Fill The Void: Developing Our Creative Practice' looks at the often hidden process of artistic progression and makes it visible within the exhibition itself.

Located in the heart of the gallery, the installation is centred around a new publication which documents the process of the group working together on various small development projects including learning new skills from each other, peers, and fellow practitioners across the UK.

Jerwood Collaborate! takes place from 2 October to 15 December at Jerwood Arts, 171 Union Street, Bankside, London, SE1 0LN.