Be a Smarty – Go to an Art Party

With art subjects occupying an ever more precarious place within UK education, Bob and Roberta Smith's Art Party! campaign has been gaining momentum. With the release of his film Art Party!, we preview the art parties that are happening across the UK

Feature by Sacha Waldron | 21 Aug 2014

In 2011, the artist Bob and Roberta Smith wrote a letter to then Education Secretary Michael Gove in response to his proposed eradication of art from the UK’s school syllabus. ‘Dear Michael Gove,’ he wrote, ‘Art images, artifacts, songs, culture are the principle means by which human beings define themselves.’ The painted letter placard not only voiced Smith’s worries about the future of art education but was also a call to arms. “Arguments have to be based on evidence,” Smith tells The Skinny, “and this one definitely is.” The strength of that one letter snowballed and in November 2013 an Art Party conference was held in Scarborough, a riot of discussion, music, protest, art and a humorously hateful bashing of Gove and his policies backed up by art-world stalwarts such as Cornelia Parker, Jeremy Deller, Pavel Buchler and Richard Wentworth.

Released around the UK tonight, 21 August – the day of the GCSE results – is Art Party!, a feature film which is part road-movie, part documentary and part political theatre. In it, we hear from artists, teachers, curators and supporters who believe the current government’s policies on art education in this country are wrong and creativity is something worth saving. All this against a parody of Gove (played by John Voce) and music by Flameproof Moth, the Ken Ardley Playboys and The Fucks.

Galleries, cinemas and arts organisations across the country will all be showing Art Party! tonight alongside specially programmed Art Party afterparties. The Skinny has gone a little mad on this one and has commissioned ten writers, curators, artists and students from the Northwest and far beyond to report back on their town or city's Art Party experience. Expect tales of augmented reality experiments at FACT, a Buttercream mountain at Cornerhouse, Gove glasses in Margate, and party political popcorn at firstsite in Colchester. At the ICA, London Smith will be there to speak his, and our, cause, and bands from the film will be playing live; to the Northeast, at Crescent Arts in Scarborough, ceramic Gove heads will quite possibly be smashed.

Our writers have been invited to have some serious fun at these simultaneous parties and we can’t wait to see what happened in our September issue. We'll also be chatting to Smith on the Art Party project and what’s next on his agenda ahead of next year’s elections.

For now, let’s take a trip around the UK and see what everyone is up to tonight…

FACT, Liverpool

FACT is really pushing the boat out with its Art Party! afterparty celebrations in Ropewalks Square (outside FACT) featuring live music, screen-printing and interactive games. Liverpool International Music Festival will present a host of local bands including Mutant Vinyl, Amique, We The Undersigned, and Sub Blue. Liverpool-based designers and developers Draw & Code unveil a new augmented reality experience demonstrating the impact of arts funding on one of Liverpool’s most famous streets. Using the cutting edge virtual reality headset Oculus Rift, users can take a walk along Hope Street, but with a crucial difference; buildings that would no longer exist without arts funding – such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and Everyman Theatre – have been deleted from the landscape.

The Bluecoat will be screen-printing t-shirts and posters with protest slogans designed by local artists. Visitors will be invited to try their hand at printing and can take home some of the handmade products. And there’s more…! Liverpool Pride will be bringing along some of their protest materials for display; new artist-led gallery Model will present their first offsite project, and The Garden by LEAF will be open late, serving take away food and drinks for party-goers to enjoy in Ropewalks Square. FACT’s exhibition We Buy White Albums, featuring artist Rutherford Chang’s collection of over 1000 first edition presses of The Beatles ‘White Album', will be also be open late.

Screening: 6.30pm, £9.50 (£7.50, FACT Members), booking required.

Party: Free, no booking required.

FACT, 88 Wood Street, Liverpool, L1 4DQ

@FACT_Liverpool | www.fact.co.uk

Cornerhouse, Manchester

Stuff icing bag. Attach nozzle. Squeeze. Aim. Pipe! Head pastry chef and ‘pornicakor extraordinaire’ Charlotte O’Toole with Ben Grainger of Home Sweet Home will host an icing-slathered intervention for Cornerhouse’s Art Party entitled Squirtapalooza (2014), bolstered by buckets of buttercream for you to plunge into. Mountains of ready-prepared cupcakes, doughnuts and outsized sponges await your ornamentation with teetering piles of toppings, including an edible firing range and lip-smacking cake makeovers. Then expect a Dirty Protest (2014) from Bren O’Callaghan as those with a cast iron constitution can dare to contribute toward the creation (and subsequent consumption) of the cut-and-shunt, freak show marvel that is 'Frankenpudding' – stomachs, beware! You have nothing to lose but your waistlines! This participatory open call invites 50 members of the public to create a glorious mess. Taking place within an initially sterile room with white walls and floor, a viewing window will be installed along one length for those not brave enough. Racks of disposable overalls, goggles and masks will be available for those venturing within, where rainbow hued paints, pens, brushes, charcoal, crayons and bumper jars of chocolate spread will be provided.

The instruction-intention is simple. ‘Stage your own dirty protest,' but only upon first signing a disclaimer taking responsibility for your own dry-cleaning reparations... We look forward to seeing the photographs! Artist, writer and researcher Jack Welsh will be on hand to report on the mess and gooings on (sorry) for The Skinny. 

Art Party! at Cornerhouse is kindly supported by Home Sweet Home.

Screening: 6.20pm. £8/6. Booking required.

Party: Art Party – Party! is a free event. Unless you have already reserved your free ticket for Dirty Protest, access to this will be available on a first come, first served basis, for those with a ticket stub for the screening of Art Party. Tickets are not needed for Squirtapalooza.

Cornerhouse, 70 Oxford St, Manchester, M1 5HN

@CornerhouseMcr  | www.cornerhouse.org

firstsite, Colchester

firstsite’s after-Art Party! will include party political popcorn in your chosen colour, a ‘Never Mind the Ballot Box’ photobooth to step into and become an Art Party! political parody, a specially designed Art Party! mocktail, blatant and belligerent badge making and more art games to enjoy as you debate issues of art education.

Art historian and curatorial student Marina Christodoulidou will be reporting back from firstsite for The Skinny.

Screening + After Party: 7pm. Free, but booking essential.

firstsite, Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1JH

@firstsite | www.firstsite.uk.net | facebook.com/firstsite

The Hepworth Wakefield

The Hepworth Wakefield’s screening and after party will take place against the unique backdrop of Allan Kaprow’s YARD 1961/2014, a major interactive ‘Environment’ comprising 3000 tyres in The Calder – The Hepworth’s new contemporary art space located in a 19th century former textiles mill within the gallery gardens. Art Party! will be projected onto one side of a temporary wall in The Calder. Tyres will be set up to be used as seats and covered with blankets so it should be cosy. Actors will line the entrance – guiding visitors inside while wearing Michael Gove masks and performing monologues made from Gove quotes. Creepy!

The evening kicks off with a performance by ‘In on the Act’ theatre group at 5pm before the screening of Art Party!, and then post-screening there will be banner and sign making activity and a special performance by Yew Tree youth theatre group. Drinks and snacks will be served as visitors are encouraged to write their own art slogans or thoughts on arts education on signs made from recycled materials. The results will be displayed in The Calder and (if the weather is good) on the grass outside. Rosie Heaton from Theatre Royal Wakefield's Young Writers Group will be The Skinny's eyes and ears in Wakefield for the event. 

The Art Party! coincides with The Hepworth’s regular late night ‘After Hours’, where the main gallery, café bar and shop are open 5-9pm.

Screening: 5.30pm. Free (party events before and after the screening).

The Hepworth Wakefield, Gallery Walk, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF1 5AW

@HepworthGallery | www.hepworthwakefield.org | facebook.com/TheHepworthWakefield

Turner Contemporary (with Resort, LIMBO andCrate), Margate

Artist-led organisations Resort Studio, LIMBO and Crate are hosting an after party following the free screening of Art Party! at Turner Contemporary. Party with a gin and tonic and special guest DJs at Resort Studios with performances from local artists and a raffle with a special prize. Michael Gove glasses will be provided! Funds raised at the party will go to supporting the three organisations with their studios, programme and residencies. Charley Vines, resident artist at Crate, will be reporting on the party for The Skinny. 

Screening: 4.30pm, free.

Turner Contemporary, Rendezvous, Margate CT9 1HG

Party: 5.30pm – late, free.

Resort Studios, Pettman Building, 50 Athelstan Road, Cliftonville, Margate CT9 2BH

@TCMargate | www.turnercontemporary.org | @resortstudios | facebook.com/ResortStudios | @Limbo_Margate | www.limboarts.co.uk | www.cratespace.co.uk  

Chapter, Cardiff

Artist Richard Higlett has created the fictional Chapter School of Art, with a pub-quiz in the style of a GSCE art exam in Modern and Contemporary Art complete with a GCSE certificate, which will awarded to papers marked during the screening of Art Party!. During the quiz/exam – which will include paintings described by a seven-year-old, picture rounds (of course!), audio rounds and ‘practicals’ like 'draw the Chapman Brothers' Hell in two minutes – cheating and copying is very much encouraged.

Large posters of Michael Gove, which the audience are invited to creatively enhance, will adorn Chapter’s theatre foyer, and, post-screening, expect a 'Schools Out' graduation disco with prizes for the highest scoring team. I bet you look Gove on the dancefloor…

Screening: 8.30pm, £7.50 (£4.50) – other prices available for members etc. Check the website for details.

@chaptergallery | www.chapter.org

Glynn Vivian, Swansea

Glynn Vivian in Swansea, who are currently on-the-road and off-site due to gallery refurbishment, will be screening the film on the Big Screen in Castle Square from 5pm. The organisation's young group, Black Kettle Collective, have already been getting the party started, holding an ‘Art Party Tie-Dye Workshop’ last Friday showing participants how to make swirly rainbow patterns on fabric to wear during the celebrations.

Black Kettle Collective also have some other things up their sleeve for the evening, inviting you to dress up as your favourite artist and join in a parade through Castle Square from 5pm. Megan Leigh from the collective says, “Our celebration of Art Party! will be vibrant, swirly and one of a kind!”. A member of the collective will also be reporting back to The Skinny telling us exactly what happened on the night and hopefully sharing some of the best and worst artists (costumes) that appeared in Swansea.

Screening and Party: 5pm. Free.

Big Screen, Castle Square, Swansea

@GlynnVivian | www.glynnvivian.com   

Crescent Arts, Scarborough

Crescent Arts have a double celebration tonight – it's the art centre’s 35th Anniversary and Scarborough was also the site of Bob and Roberta’s Art Party Conference in 2013. So their Art Party should be something just a little bit special and for that reason it’s just a little more private. Invite only, so if you’re going you probably already know you’re going. Crescent Arts started their celebration a little early with an exhibition about The Art Party! opening in early August. The show features Art Party memorabilia with posters by artists including Jeremy Deller, Jeff McMillan, Cornelia Parker, Oriana Fox, Bobby Baker, Janette Parris, Leo Fitzmaurice, Silvia Ziranek, Maureen Duffy and, of course, Bob & Roberta Smith. All this is exhibited along with the Goveshy, a creation of Crescent’s resident artist Karen Thompson and a prominent feature of the Art Party film that allowed conference delegates to chuck balls at ceramic Michael Gove heads. The exhibition runs until Saturday 6 September (free). You can win one of Karen’s ceramic Gove Heads when you visit the exhibition and take up membership for Crescent Arts. Karen is also running a Gove Head ceramics workshop on Saturday 23 August 2014. Booking is essential for that one; head to the website for further details.

Artist Jade Montserrat, who is a resident at Crescent Arts and was involved in the Art Party conference in Scarborough will be writing for The Skinny.

@crescent_artswww.crescentarts.co.uk  

The Pad, Bedford

Head down to The Pad to join Mr X Stitch, the Kingpin of Contemporary Embroidery, for some pre-screening subversive socio-political needlework. Stich has made four slogans for participants to sew up depending on participants' GCSE results in an extended Stich’n’Bitch. Then stick around for the Art Party afterparty. Curator/producer Kayte Judge will be our Bedford Skinny correspondent tonight.

Screening: 8pm, tickets £5 on the door, The Pad, Lurke Street, Bedford.

@WeAreBCA | www.bedfordcreativearts.org.uk  

ICA, London

The mother of all Art Parties and the party that Bob & Roberta himself will be going to. The film comes to life in anarchic fashion with an evening of music, DJs and performances. Jessie Voorsanger will give a short speech to introduce Art Party! at 8pm, then post-screening the party kicks off in the theatre at 9.30pm with Leigh Clarke, Flame Proof Moth and The FUCKS performing with Oriana Fox acting as host for the evening. Outside in the ICA bar you’ll find Leo Liccini and a durational performance from Silvia Ziranek accompanied by Andy Holden DJ-ing throughout the evening.

The ICA are asking for portraits of the Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP, to create a collaborative display at the event. Bring your masterpieces with you or tweet them to: @ICALondon. To be part of the display, report to the Box Office on arrival and the first 20 portrait artists to arrive receive a free cocktail in the ICA Bar.

The Skinny thought it would stage a two-pronged attack on this one and so film critic Ian Mantgani and writer, artist, performer and musician (so greedy!) Emily Beber who runs the website These Lists will be reporting. 

Screening: 8pm, £5 (£3). Combo offer for screening and party: £10 (£8).

ICA, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH

@ICALondon | www.ica.org.uk   

Art Party! is also being shown across the UK in cinemas

http://bobandrobertasmith.co.uk