Brixton Calling!

Radical Print Day, 26th November 2011

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Artists at Brixton Art Gallery were involved in making their own exhibition posters, exhibition catalogues and leaflets. This was very much in the kind of creative radical printing practice taking place at the time amongst many community groups and collectives concerned with politics, self direction, creativity and self expression. After a conversation with Charlie Rose who was involved in Radical Print Collectives, Union Place in the 1970's and Black Ink in the 1980's at the Lambeth Country Show in the summer, the Brixton Calling! team thought that it would be good to explore the Radical Printing Practices of the 1980's. The event at 198 explored the work of radical print collectives of the 1980's and also invite participants to create works in response to the presentations.

A podcast of the presentations will be available to listen to shortly.

Presented by Barby Asante and Eamon Andrews with

Sally Mould is an artist, interactive designer and lecturer. She was Brixton Art Gallery exhibiting
artist and a member of the CopyArt Collective.

Charlie Rose was involved in Union Place Community Resource Centre in the 1970’s and the Black Ink Collective Publishing Project

Jess Baines’ PhD research maps the emergence of DIY radical print collectives, involved in non-
heirachical, anti-capitalist and non-discriminatory practices in the UK from 1968 –1998. To find out more about her research http://www.radicalprintshops.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=start

Daisy Wake is the founder of The Curse fanzine, published in Brooklyn from 1994-2000

Jess Baines and Eamon Andrews looking at extracts from Johnathon Zietlin's Print: How to do it yourself

Jess Baines

Charlie Rose with Knuckle a Union Place publication

Daisy Wake and her Fanzine The Curse

Sally Mould CopyArt

Brixton Fairy's Night at 198 November 25th 2011

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Brixton Fairy's Installation, Guy Burch

Fairy Tales Manifesto

The Lesbian & Gay shows at BrixtonArt Gallery were the first British nationally advertised exhibitions selectedon the basis that the artists were queer. Like other Brixton shows, their realimportance was perhaps not just the space to exhibit but as venue for debate:between lesbians & gays, between their straight fellow artists (bothsupportive and hostile) and with the public. We had very vibrant, sometimesover heated, debates amongst ourselves as well. About lesbian and gay separatism; aboutboth black and white homophobia and racism; and about S&M and the degree towhich sexuality and sex identity should define us, or if it is, in fact,immutable. Those exhibiting included Hamad Butt, RotimiFani-Kayode, Isaac Julien, David Medalla, Mandy McCartin, Rosy Martin (workingwith Jo Spence), Rod McRae, Sandra Lahire, Ull Holme and Tina Keane. Photographers who showed either in thegallery’s other shows or were connected to debate there include DellaDisgrace (now Del Grace), Sunil Gupta, Adjamu X and Ingrid Pollard.

Many battles for lesbian and gay rights in Britain have been largely wonbut, whilst merely being 'queer' does notexclude us today from taking part, in art it is still largely considered'unimportant' or incidental in a way that would absolutely not be the case whensurveying say, the gender of an artist, their racial origins, or the mediumthey work with. The sensuality of any number of heterosexual artists’ workcontinues to find applause and surveys by country are commonplace.

Lesbian and gay artists aremetaphorically from another country and Imaintain that in some form or another our sexuality, just like skin colour orgender, as part of the artist is part of our medium. The very first L&Gexhibition in the Gallery sought to make this sensibility an issue: bothartists and their subject were self 'outed'. But, in a curious way, becausemerely being LGB&TG it is now supposedly 'not an issue', it has dropped offthe radar. The Tate, partners in Brixton Calling!, to their great credit,along with many other British galleries, no longer use labels that refer todepictions of euphemistic 'friends' or 'long term companions' of gay andlesbian artists as they once did. However, progressing further than that isoften still hedged with caution,decorum andcaveat. We are still subject to being told by theorists what our work shouldbe about and how best to interpret it, to sublimate some themes and highlightothers in order to ‘pass’. The era of AIDS gave us a moment on the stage, in asad and angry spot light, but not anymore. To quote from a review by WaldemarJanuszczak of the 2008 Derek Jarman retrospective held at the SerpentineGallery: "OK so you’re gay, now move on". That is (still)often the prevalent attitude.

As part of the exhibition I wasspecifically tasked with attempting to record and give context to the Lesbian & GayArtists Group’s shows at Brixton Art Gallery between 1983 and 1986and the queer presence within the Gallery until 1992. The Archive curators wereasked to do so as artists but not with work which was primarily egocentric. Theexpectation was that it should reflect the Collective at Brixton, not solely myown personal experience. But, when focusing on the issues raised by the Lesbian& Gay Group, to quote the title of a famous paper by Carol Hanisch (1970),for me the ‘personal is political’. Her paperbegan as a memo in response to Dottie Zellner, who “contended thatconsciousness-raising was just therapy and questioned whether the newindependent Women’s Liberation Movement was really ‘political’. As a gay artist,I cannot entirely divide theory from expression of my sexuality; so (toparaphrase) count myself not a‘friend of Dottie’. Being apracticing homosexual is central to my practice as an artist. Like Hanisch,consciousness-raising is what I am about with my contribution to Brixton Calling! I hope it is not justabout the past however, but also the present, as are the other aspects of theshow, and it draws parallels with other contributions.

Included with myinstallation is an idiosyncratic Lesbian & Gay Timeline.

The modern lesbian & gay rights movement grewalongside those of black consciousness and women’s liberation and all wererepresented in Brixton Artist Collective. The full Brixton Calling! Timeline tries to make apparent that none happenedin a vacuum. The movement of which Hanisch was a part has a direct line ofconnection to The Lesbian Art Project and the Great American Lesbian Art Showof 1979/80. But whilst the other strands, black artists and women artists, arenow woven into the mainstream patchwork of the art establishment, overt lesbianand gay themed art (as opposed to the artist) is still a patch of cloth thatsits in the needlework box of scraps but never get woven in to general arthistory. They are occasionally pulled out as flags if a bit of colour and campis needed but usually only attached by tacking stitch. The Nazi identificationof ‘antisocial’ lesbians by atriangle of black cloth and gay men with a pink one for ‘sexual degeneracy’ was used on the first Brixton exhibition’sinvitation (Oct-Nov 1983) and is still what we are basically stuck with.

With a few high profile exceptions weare detached and compartmentalised; if we are straight acting and pick up mainstreammediums or concerns - if we ‘pass’ - we are most welcome.

Except that we are not illegal anymore, littlehas changed.

I am not arguing that we have gotnowhere. Queer Studies have produced a multitude of stories and manyinteresting publications. Brixton artists are represented in the Books that feature heavily in my display asone concrete record of LGB&TG arts. But I have to point out that nearly allwere published by either queers university departments, often by queer friendlyor queer run presses, and usually by gay or lesbian authors. They show that wehave a vibrant, multifaceted history that could and should nourish us. My modelof Brixton Art Gallery, ‘The Model Library’,in its original position under Brixton Station, is similar to those used byexhibition planners to devise an ideal hang. The book covers pasted to it, alibrary of sorts within and without, about the work of lesbian and gay artists givesome idea of the heritage we could, as artists and curators, be mining. Howthey are arranged reflects my memory of the second Lesbian & Gay Groupexhibition (‘No Comment’ 29^th Dec - 28^th January 1984/5).One arch lesbian, one men, one art historical. In those fairy halls arecompelling stories but largely ones which are still confined to a twilightghetto.

The mainstream still don’t get us. A scholarly heterosex biography of Caravaggiocan still dismiss as nonsense a gay reading and assert that images ofeffeminate boys are just 'musical' in subject (see Helen Langdon, 1998). More recentlyanother discusses a naked boy flaunting both his anus and his genitals (Cupid Victorious) as probably 'gay' insome way and 'said to depict' his boyfriend but ultimately that this isunproven. That would be perfectly factual and alright if the author did notdevote pages to a clothed and chaste Reformation St Catherine of Alexandra as 'simmering with violent sexuality', assertingshe was his bed mate despite no more solid evidence that they actually had sex(see Andrew Graham Dixon, 2010). The indexes of books on pantheon accepted gayand lesbian artists are, still, weirdly as if by scholarly convention, devoidof the headings ‘sexuality’, ‘homosexuality’ or ‘lesbianism’.

With the exception of Michael Petry'sbrilliant male perspective HiddenHistories (2004 - he is also a Brixton exhibited artist by theway) we are still awaiting a survey that properly engages with how sexuality isnot divisible or separate, but a sensibility that runs, like text in a stick ofrock, through personality, thinking and expression. Straight or gay that isimportant because it is a powerful motor of engagement with other human beings.That engagement is subtly present between any work and the viewer. You flirtand fuck with the audience too. Since Emmanuel Cooper's pioneering book 'The Sexual Perspective' (firstpublished in 1986) is anyone other than those of us who are gay or lesbianactively asserting that there is a story here to tell? In fact I would gofurther and say we ourselves have lost the plot. We have become content withwork hedged in by de-personalised theoretical gender studies (hedge-mony is soover) or straight-acting obsession with medium. We are back to straightacting, keen to attend in civil partnered in white dress and pink tux, justlike normal people; or we are still obsessed with glamorous air-brushed sexual fantasy.The crass remark in Januszczak’s review points to boredom with our story. If wewant to catch readers we need a new imagination: to ‘move on’ yes but not shutup, to tell new tales, to big up and bring to light old ones filtered through arainbow prism.

It seems to me that if we want the Fairy Story in art to be told we still largely haveto do it ourselves. Our subject matter and sexuality rarely gets seriousexamination aside those who share it. Sure we are useful as camp fillers or ‘outthere’ for shock value, but not insiders, on a par, equally valid andacceptable. Curators’ and gallerist’s acknowledgement when it comes is of whatis normative and 'respectable' about us; it is not too detailed or too explicitand usually incidental to other more ‘mainstream’ factors they deem important.I believe being perverse, in the literal sense, is actually why we have aperspective: an alternate view which should be valued. Like the fool we have acertain liberty to entertaincontrary views. We are not the same and always will be a minority.Genetically speaking, our incidence in the population points to a beneficialtrait, one with purpose and function: our difference is necessary. We are the Image on the Edge - the different council.

We have come far in terms of rights butprogressed little in terms of visual inclusiveness or understanding. Lesbian artists are occasionally visible but their subjectsstill largely invisible. Whilst researching what happened to BrixtonArtists I heard of the work of a lesbian film maker that languishes because herestate will not acknowledge her sexuality. Another transgendered photographertold me that the lesbian and gay arts community excludes and sidelines workwhich is not sufficiently disguised by postmodern theory. If it is too ‘in yourface’ we ourselves step away from it just like early gay rights activistsdistained the drag queens and leather men. The mantra that we don't want to bedefined by our sexuality, often quoted privately by established but closeted artists in the 1970s, to the irritation ofthose who showed at Brixton, still self-censors us. We don’t need to inflatereality but in my view we are often still colluding with such dissembling in orderto be taken 'seriously'. We are more seriously considered by soap opera thangalleries.

LGB&TG artists themselves are morevisible but if anything the examination of LGB&TG subjects and perspectivesin the gallery context has diminished. It has in general. To give one exampleof the wider effect of this, with the exceptions of Dolce & Gabanna andJean Paul Gautier (I wonder why?), when did you last see a queer couple featureunambiguously in a television advert? In the 80s we appeared even if just toprovoke (the ‘act on impulse’ adverts and others) but not now. HIV/AIDS gave usa moment of relevance but, along with many of the artists concerned, it diedaway. For fear we don't sell or taint, we are back to being not included, notinvited if we are 'blatantnot latent', or popped in a corner as token queers. We ourselvesoften don’t have the transgressive value because we have become dull.

We are often welcomed only in the fieldof pseudo pornography and our own community still backs a strain of glamorouseroticism that is pretty, decorous and unreal. Burlesque and Tom of Finland arepart of the story but they are a distorting one. There are any numbers ofimaginative Tales to be told but the same old dull or slick monographs are allthat’s available in the ‘library’ of both our own art and other view of us. Theidea of contributing a new ‘volume’ to the Tate Archive was what got meinvolved with the Brixton Calling!project and my archive installation tries to reflect and acknowledge thecontribution made to a very rich, but little mined, vein of art history.

Art historically, pioneers such as Simon Watney, Bea Cambell, Camille Paglia, PeterAdam, Emmanuel Cooper, Edward Lucie Smith, and dare I say it (at least he calls acock a cock) Brian Sewell, are old school. But we need to wake upto the fact that, just as Black and Women artists have championed and minedtheir heritage, and been given space, we could and should as well. It stillseems a very long way off that, aside from a skilled use of medium and visualbeauty, Gilbert & George, John Craxton,Prunella Clough, Joan Eardley, Rainer Fetting, Michael Craig-Martin, RomaineBrooks, Gluck, Keith Vaughan, Edward Burra, Wolfgang Tillmans, Leonora Fini orDavid Hockney might one day be seen as intrinsically, inseparably,important to art history mostly because they werequeer. Not despite it or incidental to it, not marginalised by it, butbecause their sexuality was indivisible from what compelled them, makes theirwork compelling, and gives them mainstream appeal. I would contend in mostcases, putting aside the quality with which they handle their mediums(something any number of artists can claim), it is the sensibility within theirlife story which makes the work engage and enchant. We need to make that pointbecause others don’t get it. They would if we chose to tell the story well andwith relevance to the mainstream.

Could it be that a major retrospectivereassessment of, say, Rosa Bonheur subtitled 'lesbianold mistress' would be possible without affecting the ticket take?And might not an assessment of ‘Lucien Freud &Picasso - Homo Lovers’ specifically point to affinities with sexual 'outsiders'. The debt owed to, and curiousaffinity with, gay men who were teachers, friends, companions and models maynot be simply technique and motif? Why should that fact be lost amongstforensic examination of every female lover? One could argue that many of thearchetypal images of male American art, its prized icons from Eakins to Haring,via Warhol and Johns, owe their status more to the artists being gay than toany other reason. Yes I know they are ‘known homosexuals’ or ‘rumoured’ samesex indulgers, but never mind the artists, who says clearly and loudly thatthose images of the mainstream, are inherently gay; constantly de-sexed,normalised by ‘schools’ and style they are redacted of queerness. Queer artis not a curious sideline, a tale to be consigned to a cul-de-sac of LGB&TGstudies. Why should it be unthinkable to conceive of an exhibition that wascalled 'GayExpressionism: Twombly, Johns, Rauchenberg, Hartley, Indiana, Kellyand Warhol'? What Dorothy Hepworth termed her ‘hybrid sexuality’ is common to Larry Rivers, Eric Gill,Patricia Pierce, Duncan Grant, Gwen John and Salvador Dali and could easily belinked to, for instance, Del Grace or Svar Simpson. We need to start writingourselves right into the centre, pointing out that all these artists, like itor not, get some or all of their potency from queerness. Whether out, in, orshaken all about, it is not in spite of but because of.

As artists we see with our eyes butfilter the interpretation through our own particular make-up. My contributionto the exhibit is admittedly no different. In the context of Lesbian and Gaythemed art did we livehappily ever after? In the1980s it was often said that a work was 'too gay' to show;today the put down is 'that's sogay'. What has changed really? Why should our references be ‘coded’; whyare we so happy to engage with a selection that separates the queer from theserious. We demure when our own Square Pegis still whittled to fit a round hole. Why do we accept that a straight arthistorical take on a homo icon, de-sexed and edited to fit, is fine? Are we notproud of our history and our story?

The titles of the Brixton L & Gshows were: ‘Work by Gay Women & Men’, ‘No Comment’, ‘Against all theOdds’, ‘Passionate Tongues’ and ‘Spirit’. Feel free to play Scrabble with the words and make your own story. Ifound in writing mine, that specific lesbian and gay shows are still, like theBrixton ones, only expected or given consideration during events like Pride,and often still only by gay friendly venues, or because curators are gay orlesbian. We are still historically relevant only as pornographers or as symbolsof illness. The fairy halls are beautiful and I’m a bit tired of having mywings clipped.

Photo's from Brixton Fairy's Night

198 Contemporary Arts and Learning

25th November 2011

Photo's from Guy Burch

Womens Lens Based Media Showcase, 198@45 Brixton Village, November 10th., 11th. and 12th 2011

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Embodies ‘ownership‘ of personal herstories

A three day screening of lens-basedand photographic discourses by (Brixton Art Gallery) BAG WomenArtists, from 1983-1986. This 1980s retro-historicexhibition of short films and ‘stills’ are pivotal to today’s concerns andpolitical ideologies including: the Anti-Apartheid movement, Soweto Artists,Greenham Common, Occupation of South London Women’s Hospital and the Minersstrike. Concise interviews champion, examine and explore the 'experience' ofquintessential issues relevant to women and women’s art. The Showcase included work frompractitioners, film makers, teachers and performance artists was a collaborationbetween: Jini Rawlings, Gail Pearce, Bruna Fionda, Rhona Harriette, MarilynRogers and Sue Edwards.

Shown were works from the 'Womens Work' Collective relating to 'Womens Work' exhibitions 'Women in View' Bruna Fionda Aphra Video, ' Love Sex 'n Romance' Jini Rawllngs and 'Labyrinth'Gail Pearce Annie Pfingst from 'Our Territory' exhibitions performed and shown in Brixton Art Gallery between 1983 and 1987. and 'Grounds to Act ' performance by Francoise Sergy and Gail Bourgoise and 'Fish and Bicycle' performance by by Francoise Sergy

Curators Talk Saturday 19th November 2011

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Brixton Calling! Artists, Teri Bullen, Guy Burch, Francoise Dupre, Rita Keegan and Stefan Szczelkun gave a talk about the Brixton Art Gallery and the exhibition at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning.

To listen to podcasts of this talk. Click here for Part 1

Click Here For Part 2

Brixton Calling! Revisiting the Brixton Art Gallery 1983-1986 continues until December 21st 2011. For more information about the exhibition opening times and events Click Here

There is a Brixton Calling! Exhibition Catalogue costing £5 available from 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning. for more information contact info@brixtoncalling.org or info@198.org.uk.

Photo's from Curators Talk

Photo's by Andy Martinez

BAM BAM

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With Rita Keegan and Keith Piper

Tate Archives

Modern Photocopier

Production


Workshop

BAM BAM! is a fanzine created by artist Barby Asante with members of Tate Collective. Exploring Black Art in the 80’s and exhibitions at the Brixton Art Gallery, the title of the fanzine comes from the name of a reggae song by Sister Nancy popular in the 80’s which is also the double initials of the Black Art Movement. (Also a reference to Double Captain Shit and the Legend of Black Stars by Chris Ofili). Created in a limited edition of 100 copies the fanzine was made using good old fashioned cut and paste techniques and a photocopier, which was probably much more hi tech and difficult to use than those from the 80's! It drew on the influence of the black art movement in the UK from the 1980's to now. Keith Piper, Rita Keegan and Marlene Smith shared their experiences of making work in the 80's, exhibiting work and political climate of the time. Each participant made their own individual page drawing from these testimonies, visit to Tate Archive and their own personal research. The Fanzine is available at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning for £2. If you can't make it to 198 but would like a fanzine email info@brixtoncalling.org to arrange.

Artwork From BAM BAM!

Ewuraba Hama Lansiqout

Gaby Sahar

Megan Pickering

Raymond Brown

Samantha Williams

Barby Asante

Brixton Calling! Exhibition Opens

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The Brixton Calling! Exhibition Opening was held at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning on Thursday. Here are a few photo's from the opening. More to follow.

All photo's by Barby Asante

Brixton Calling! Exhibition Opens

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Brixton Calling!
Revisiting the Brixton Art Gallery 1983-1986
An inspiring celebration of 80s radicalism through art
Mixed media exhibition about the 80s Brixton Art Gallery & Artists Collective, includes archive installations and contemporary responses through cross-generational community projects.
A collaboration between Brixton Artists Collective Archives group and 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning

Venue: 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London, SE24 OJT
Dates: 27th October -21st December 2011
Telephone: +44(0)207 978 8309
Location: Junction between Railton Road and Hurst Street.
Train: Herne Hill
Tube: Brixton
Buses: 322, 196, 3, 37, 201, 68, 468 to Herne Hill
More information: e-mail: info@198.org.uk
http://www.198.org.uk

Access: Two parking bays for the disabled less than 10 metres from the building on Hurst Street. Building accessible to wheelchair users. Disabled and baby changing facilities.

Opening days and times
Monday to Friday, 11 am to 5 pm
Saturdays, 12pm to 5pm only on 12, 19 and 26 November, 10 December

Brixton Calling! Free Events at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning

Saturday 19 November, 2–4pm: Curators/artists talk
Friday 25 November, 7–9pm: Brixton Fairy Night
Saturday 26 November, 1–5pm: Radical Printing
Saturday 10 December, 2–5pm: Black Art

80s Women Lens Based Media Event, a 3 day event
198@45,
45 5th Avenue
Brixton Village
AKA Granville Arcade
Atlantic Road/ Coldharbour Lane
London
SW9 8PS

Thursday 10 & Friday11 November: 7–12pm,
Saturday 12 November: 10am–9pm

for more information e-mail: info@198.org.uk

Other Brixton Calling! Free Events

Women Artists Feminism in the 80s and Now symposium in collaboration with the Women’s Art Library, 3rd December, 10am–5pm
Goldsmiths,University of London
New Cross
London
SE14 6NW

for more information on this event contact: a.greenan@gold.ac.uk

Brixton's Queer Pulse

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By Nadia Attura

Most of the participants had no knowledge of using slr cameras. So at first we learnt basic photography the principles of light, what is a lens, focusing the camera settings on flash and daylight portraiture. We will looked at the work of 8 leading photographers from Martin Parr to Annie Leibowitz. Looking at composition, style, format and personal approaches through fashion, editorial and fine art portraiture. In the studio I demonstrated how lighting creates mood and reveals texture and how different lenses can work. Using a two light set up, reflectors and various backgrounds the participants photographed each other using the techniques they learned.

The following LGBT artists from the Brixton Artists collective whose work was at the forefront of LGBT visibility during the 80’s came into the studio to have their portraits taken, applying the studio lighting techniques the participants had learned. Eamon Andrews, Svar Simpson, Rosie Martin, Vanda Carter, Birgitta Hosea, Guy Burch and Bruce Currie.Participants took the opportunity to ask questions and learn about the rich history of lesbian and gay artists in Lambeth, recording their oral history to illustrate our portraits.

The participants learned basic Photoshop to enhance the portraits they had made. Learning how to work with Photoshop from old wet darkroom techniques like dodging, burning and grade filters to the wonders of modern digital manipulation.

Brixton's Queer Pulse was a Brixton Calling! Community Archiving Project that took place at 198 over September and October. A book of photographs from this project will be available from mid November on Blurb.com.

To Find out more about the LGBT experiences of artists at the Brixton Art Gallery and in the 1980's join us for the Brixton Fairy Night at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning on the 25th November 2011. 7-9pm.

Looking Back, Moving Forward.

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Looking Back, Moving Forward was one of The Brixton Calling! Community Archiving projects which explores the Brixton Art Gallery's relationship to the political campaigning against apartheid in South Africa. The gallery was inherently political and therefore it was an ideal space for dissident South African artists to gather and connect with other like minded people. Monti Wa Marumo! meaning Boomerang to the Source brought together black and white artists in an exhibition that was described as a "Celebration of Azanian/ South Afrikan Arts and Kulture- Bringing together black and white artists in a quest to smash apartheid."

The exhibition brought together a variety of different art forms with the central theme being that at the source there is no separation or hierarchy between art forms. Eugene Skeef one of the contributing artists wrote of the experience "Boomerang To The Source granted us the rare opportunity to give our diverse audience a lasting taste of the richness of South African culture in all its variety. I believe also that one of the most significant effects of the exhibition was the creation of a democratic platform for South African artists living away from home to celebrate the beauty of our creativity as a metaphor of the bountiful expanse of our collective dream."

Another really significant exhibition involving South African Artists was a Patchwork of Our Lives, an exhibition of Textile Arts by the Zamani Soweto Sisters. Curated by Teri Bullen the exhibition centred not just around the work created by the Zamani Soweto Sisters Council but around active participation of Brixton Art Gallery visitors in workshops and events with the Zamani Soweto Sisters that enabled people to share the skills of their self help organisation. The workshops not only covered the basic skills of quilting, applique and patchwork, but also the richness of motif's, symbols and designs from the Zamani's South African heritage. There were also event's sharing music and poetry from Soweto and Brixton. Teri wrote of her experience of meeting and working with the Zamani Soweto Sisters "Their need for a project which gave them some kind of income and dignity. How they developed, making quilts & patchwork which also gave them expression, their development in producing newsletters, writing poetry, giving their work a political identity. I remember when they rushed out of the underground, shaken because the smell reminded them of being teargassed. Their courage and their love was & is an inspiration."

Using these exhibitions and conversations with Teri and Eugene as a staring point I devised the Looking Back, Moving Forward project with three teachers (Micheal Graham, David Gibbs and Nicholas Bull) from Burntwood School in Earlsfield. Wanting to create a project that would give the girls a deep understanding of what living under apartheid was like, we began the project with a visit to the Rhodes House Library the home of Oxford University's Commonwealth History Library (The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House) the keepers of the archives of the Anti Apartheid Movement. Archivist Lucy McCann gave as a talk and presentation of material from the archive. She gave a brief history of apartheid and how it came about outlining key events that lead to the development of the anti apartheid movement in the UK. The group we're fascinated by all the campaign posters and letters to the various authorities who could influence the government of South Africa. On reading a letter addressed to Margaret Thatcher concerning the imprisonment of activist Oscar Mpetha one member of the group commented that she was "touching history" which prompted a conversation about the fact that history was all around us. While in Oxford we also visited Pitt Rivers Museum, where there was an exhibition of photographs by Brian Hesletine. People Apart: Cape Town Survey photographs of townships in Cape Town in the 1950's including the District 6 Area which was declared a whites only area in 1966.

Anti Apartheid Archives in Oxford

On their return to school I asked the group to further research apartheid and the anti- apartheid movement and to write short speeches, poems or prose that we would use in a multimedia performance at 198 with myself and 198's then Artist in Residence Gary Stewart. Their teachers arranged film screenings and supported their research. One girl interviewed her neighbour who was involved in youth protests in South Africa in the 1980's for her piece.

I took Teri Bullen to Burntwood one Wednesday morning to meet the group and share her experiences of working with the Zamani Soweto Sisters. it was amazing to see the eyes of young women glued to Teri as she told them about the Zamani Soweto Sisters and the exhibition at Brixton Art Gallery. She told them what the Zamani sisters had told her about their lives and how difficult if was to live in Apartheid South Africa and it was so moving that I felt myself well up and saw a couple of the girls wipe tears from their eyes. Teri told them how her experience of working with them had given her strength and confidence. She showed them the quilt that she had worked on with the sewing group at 198 and how she had shared what she had learned from the Zamani Sisters with the women in the sewing group. Each element of the quilt had a particular meaning and the group picked up on the symbolism of colour, something that a few brought with them to the workshop/ performance.

Teri Bullen visits Burntwood School

Before the workshop and performance we visited the Tate Archive and looked at their collection of material from artists who were involved in political campaigning including their collection of artists posters for Amnesty International and Donald Rodney's sketchbooks, Rodney being an artist whose work often referenced the injustice of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Tate Archive looking at artists postcards

Outside Tate Britain with the group

The finale of this project was a workshop leading to a performance installation on Saturday 1st October. The group were told to arrive at 10.30am and we were to work till 3.30pm before opening the gallery for the presentation of the work.

Group writing words and phrases from what they had learned from the visits to the archives and their research

The day began with the girls, writing words and phrases from their poems and what they had learned over the weeks about art and the anti apartheid struggle. These were photographed by myself and Gary Stewart for use in the performance installation. We were joined at 11.30 by Eugene Skeef and while Gary and I sorted out the images and loaded up the computers with the material that I had collected from the girls and also sourced for them to use in the vision mixing part of the workshop, including some wonderful photographs from the Anti- Apartheid Movement's Archive, kindly donated for our use by Cristabel Gurney from the AAM Archives Committee, Eugene spoke to the girls telling them animated stories of his life in South Africa and experiences being Steve Biko's driver. There was lots of noise and laughter and when I returned to the room where they were talking it was good to see the interested faces of the group as they got lost in Eugene's oratory.

We had a short lunch break then divided the group into two groups. Eugene and I worked with the groups on the performance and delivery of their poems and Gary and Remi (our volunteer on the project) worked with the groups to develop quick visual performances using the material we had sourced. With the conversation with Teri in mind they referred to what she had said about the symbolic colours of RED symbolising blood, GREEN land, BLACK being skin and used some of these colours as masks over some of the images they used in their visual work. The poem's the girls wrote varied from re appropriating nursery rhymes like Ba Ba Black Sheep and changing the words to haiku's. Myself and Eugene worked with them to hone their performances so they would compliment the visual performances. They also worked with music and song with one girl teaching a group of them the traditional South African song Shoshloza and Ndebele folk song that originated in Zimbabwe but became popular in South Africa and is often referred to as South Africa's Second National Anthem. Another girl brought had been working on her own rendition of Bob Marley's Redemption Song and brought her guitar to perform it. She also worked with one of her friends to provide a musical accompaniment to her poem.

Working on putting together their visuals with Gary

Working on their poems and songs with Eugene

After two hours of working on the visuals and performances we came together at 3pm to look at everything we had and to bring it together into a coherent performance for the audience that would be arriving at 4pm. We mixed visuals with performances, sorted music for performances that were just visual and decided which performances would be better without visuals.

The audience arrived at 4pm and at 4.30pm they were treated to an amazingly moving performance installation. Comments included "wow my daughter is art" and "what a brilliant way to teach history". I personally was very moved by the whole experience and the fact that the group had absorbed so much from the archive visits, meeting the artists and their own research and the end result although the performance was about half an hour, you could tell it was well thought through, and that they had gained a lot from the experience. Even girls that weren't so confident had been able to shine and show their talents. It seemed that somehow we had evoked some of the spirit and energy of that time in the Brixton Art Gallery, where art interspersed with performance, politics, learning and most of all an inclusiveness that allowed for a variety of different artists to have a platform for their work and to have their voices heard.

Shosholoza

Clips from the performance will be posted on 27th October for the opening of Brixton Calling!

I would also like to thank Lucy Mccann for showing us material from the Anti Apartheid Movement Archive and suggesting that we also visit Pitt Rivers Museum for the Brian Hesletine exhibition (and of course the Shrunken Heads!). Gary Stewart for being a brilliant partner in crime in delivering this project, being a group leader in Oxford and for teaching the girls to use Resolume Avenue VJ software in about 20 minutes and presiding over them while they remixed visuals for the performance. Remi Stewart for being another group leader in Oxford and another Resolume Avenue teacher as well as our sound man. Teri Bullen for visiting the school and inspiring the girls so much with her story of working with the Zamani Sisters. Eugene Skeef for coming to the workshop, telling his stories, inspiring the girls with his experience in performance and oratory, helping me to give the the confidence they needed to perform. Tate Archive. The Burntwood teachers Nicholas Bull, David Gibbs and Michael Graham and lastly Cristabel Gurney for the use of the photo's from the Anti Apartheid Movement Archive.

Brixton Calling! Out of Uniform Exhibition at 198@45 Brixton Village

2011-09-27T20:11:00.000+01:00

The show was a great success. The launch party had some tremendous poets - Dave Osgerby and Chris Gryce - reading their original work. Ben Langham was the DJ for the night. And we even had a 71ft long embroidery of the Bayeaux Tapestry as a last minute addition unveiled — not to mention the amazing posters showing the work of 15 staff. One of London Underground's senior managers - Howard Collins - came to the launch and was very impressed by the efforts and dedication on display and will see how The Out of Uniform group can be permanently integrated into the company's operations of promoting the talented work produced by its staff. Another manager - Tyrone Tudor has invited myself and Rita Keegan to the next Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff Network Meeting. This same invitation has been given to myself and Guy Burch for the next Gay and Lesbian Staff Network Meeting. So this all shows that the group has started to make itself recognised within London Underground and with departments that share a common ethos with the BACA project which could develop into an interesting artistic relationship in the future.

David Nevin

Rebecca Snow, artist, who is a volunteer with BACA

2011-09-27T19:48:00.000+01:00

As a collector, or more precisely, a hoarder, whose own practice centres around archiving and cataloguing, I jumped at the chance to become involved with the Brixton Calling! Archiving project, back in June. Now, as the half way mark of the project has approached and having been asked to present my viewpoint of the collective as a member of ‘the younger generation’, I thought this an appropriate time to reflect on the happenings so far. Well, of my own experience in any case.

The fact that I have been invited to write for the collective is demonstrative of their embracing nature. As I have already mentioned, I have only recently become involved with Brixton Calling!, yet from the beginning have felt welcomed, even though my involvement up until this point has been quite limited, given that I have been based outside of London. Aside from a friendly demeanour, which you would perhaps hope for from a group whose founding motives were to expel exclusion within the arts, particularly those who were subject to prejudice and discrimination, a point that remains clear throughout the history and workings of BC! In turn, this is what concerned me most about the task, or more appropriately daunted me. How could I ever hope to comment on such a vast and dense mass of work, which culminated such politically liberating and challenging work of the time, without seeming contrived or pretentious? The then young artists of BC! who confronted the extremely prevalent, yet tabooed, social issues of black liberation, homosexuality, as well as addressing and giving women artists a platform, suddenly seem to make their modern day contemporaries seem rather tame and conservative. So here, I will not attempt what would certainly be a foolish analysis, or dare to project on to you my assumptions of the groups dynamics. Instead, this shall be an observation. Until I’ve swotted up on my Feminist theory at least.

Back in June, I readily took up Françoise’s invitation to meet with the collective and participate in an induction at the Tate Britain, where an archive of Brixton Art Gallery is to be held for public access. At this point, knowing very little about the collective, other than it had been set up in the eighties, I was intrigued by what I found. There was a mix of people: those who had been originally involved in the project, as well as new comers; those who had been newly enrolled following various events in conjunction with the anniversary celebrations of Brixton Calling!, as well as those who were now connected with the collective through space. The 198 Gallery has replaced the old Railway Arch as an exhibition space, which ironically has now been reverted to its pre- gallery occupation of a carpet shop. Already I was getting a feel for the unending nature of the collective- this was not simply a group that had run a space for a few years then disbanded. Nor is it limited to the modest time frame set out by the Time Line.

Indeed, this feeling of infinite work and ideas is perhaps better demonstrated, and most impressive, in quantative terms; over the few short years the gallery existed in a formal sense, the sheer mass of artists and performers that passed through and exhibited under the Railway Arch that composed Brixton Art Gallery, totals over 1000. This sense has been furthered by my time at the Women’s Arts Library, where I was let loose on the hundreds of slides from the Women’s Work exhibitions and took part in the meeting hosted there to discuss Women’s Work in relation to Brixton Calling. As plans for the symposium materialised and the discussion turned the work of young artists in institutions today, I felt the emphasis and impact that this work stood for, not only in it’s own time, but now.

Together with this, what I was struck by at Tate was the necessity for projects like this, but more than this, the necessity for awareness about projects like this. The work that has stemmed from and continues to grow from Brixton Calling is nothing short of aspirational.

Rebecca Snow has been integral in supporting the BAG women's contributions to the Brixton Calling! project.

Womens Work Update: Visit to the Women's Art Library/ Make

2011-08-07T21:32:00.000+01:00

On 22 July, Brixton Calling! Women artists group visited the Women’s Art Library/Make at Goldsmiths University of London. The visit was hosted by curator Althea Greenan. Thanks to volunteers Sara Toso and Rebecca Snow for cleaning and scanning our slides, making tea and coffee! and joining in the debates!

Fantastic day at the Women’s Art Library, We checked Women’s Work and Black Women in View slides. Great to see some old favourite artworks!

Brixton Calling! team meets regularly at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning.

2011-08-07T13:46:00.000+01:00

Thanks to 198 wonderful hospitality and Rita’s lovely biscuits!! (sorry product placement here!)We are progressing really well.

Present at the meeting on Tuesday 26 July 2011 were:

Françoise Dupré, project manager and administrator for BACA + exhibition curator

Barby Asante, 198 freelance curator and co-project manager+ leading artist for Community Archiving and Engagement projects: Black Arts Movement and Anti-Apartheid Movement

Guy Burch, BACA member + editor Brixton Calling! Booklet + exhibition curator

Rita Keegan, BACA member + leading artist for Community Archiving and Engagement project: Postcard project + exhibition curator

Stefan Szczelkun, BACA member + leading artist for Community Archiving and Engagement project: Oral History project + leading artist for Community Archiving and Engagement project: Resistance in the 80s + exhibition curator

David Nevin , ‘Out of Uniform’ one of the Community Archiving and Engagement project, London Underground artists group

RS -Rebecca Snow, W’s W volunteer

MR - Marilyn Rogers, W’s W researcher/curator

Fascinating and passionate debates about archiving the Brixton Art Gallery and its many stories! October is approaching! We are half way through the project and are already discussing the exhibition. Lucy Davies 198 director joined our first planning session .

Brixton Calling! At The Lambeth Country Show

2011-08-07T13:44:00.000+01:00

Brixton Calling! had a marquee at the Lambeth Country Show in July (16 and 17 July 2011) in the Cultivate area.

It rained throughout the 2 days, but our spirits were uplifted by friends who visited and 198 Oral Histories team who came to interview Guy Burch. Many visitors made postcards! They remembered the Gallery. Many were in Brixton in the 80s doing amazing stuff!

Charlie Rose came by chance and it was great to find out that he had worked at Black Ink, Union Place and Fly Press. And knew many of the South African artists who exhibited at the Brixton Art Gallery!

So altogether very successful and lot of new postcards to add to our collection!

Check our Brixton Calling! banner

Françoise Dupré and Marilyn Rogers at MR’s home archive digging

2011-08-07T13:30:00.000+01:00

Fantastic discoveries! Original artworks for Women’s Work III Our Territory catalogue (November 1984), leaflet advertising Women’s Work Life Drawing group. Also we found archive materials for later exhibitions still connected to the spirit of the Brixton Art Gallery! A leaflet for the exhibition Light a Candle for Peace at the Diorama in London, Amanda Sebestyen curated this exhibition against the Gulf War, in 1991 Françoise and Marilyn contributed.

Womens Work Update

2011-08-07T13:25:00.000+01:00

Rita Keegan and Françoise Dupré are reconnecting with the women artists who exhibited at the Brixton Art Gallery in the 80s. This include Women’s Work , the women artists group that was very active at the Gallery.

The Brixton Calling! Women artists group is a network that is supporting Rita and Françoise in their research and development of their Archives Installation for the Brixton Calling! exhibition at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning (28 October-21 December 2011)

On Friday 8 July 2011, the group visited Françoise exhibition autres mers (other seas) at the Women Art Library.

The visit was followed by a visit to the Women’s Library’s reading room .

The visit was organised with Gail Cameron , Women’s Library curator.

We talk about Feminist timelines and looked at books and magazines about women history in the 80s as well as feminist publications like Spare Rib.

Amazing day as we progressively became aware that we are part of the history of the 80s!

Photo's: Rebecca Snow


Jini recognised one her photographs in an old issue of Spare Rib Magazine!


We also looked at Jenny Linds' water colour designs for the suffragettes banners

Women's Art Library Visit 20th July 2011

2011-08-07T13:13:00.001+01:00

On 20 July, Rita Keegan’s 198 Stitching group visited the Women’s Library in Whitechapel. Curator, Gail Cameron showed the group some of the Library’s collection of amazing suffragette banners. The visit was part of the group project Women, Art and Politics with Teri Bullen, one of 7 Brixton Calling! Community Archiving and Engagement projects.

Oral Histories Project: Daniel's Photo's

2011-08-07T13:10:00.000+01:00

Brixton Calling! Oral Histories project, Andy Martinez and talented 198 team interviewed Francoise Dupré on Wednesday 20 July 2011, outside the carpet shop at 18-21 Atlantic Road, where the Brixton Art Gallery was located between 1983 and 1988.

Photos: Daniel and Rebecca Snow

Photos: Rebecca Snow and DAniel

Daniel from the group wanted to send you a couple of pictures from the shoot. hope you like them.

Brixton Calling! Womens Work Research

2011-07-19T16:29:00.000+01:00

Francoise Dupre and Roxanne Permar in Sheltand Sorting out slides from the Womens Work exhibitions

Brixton Calling! Out of Uniform

2011-07-19T16:10:00.000+01:00

David Nevin by Stefan Szczelcan

Out of Uniform is a group of London Underground workers who are also artists, poets and musicians that has been brought together by David Nevin in 2010.

I first met David at 198 and then we arranged to talk some more at the launch of Brixton Calling! in Brixton Village, which is the part of the famous Brixton shopping arcades between Atlantic Road and Coldharbour Lane. The Out of Uniform group seemed an ideal contemporary formation that echoed the ethos of BAG in the Eighties. If Out of Uniform had existed in the Eighties it would have been a prime candidate for a show at Brixton. At the opening I met a member of the group John Hannay, who is a filmmaker.

Following that David Nevin and I met in my office in University of Westminster W1. We talked about David’s life and Brixton Art Gallery in the Eighties. David told me about when he had been a bus conductor on the 2B bus route in 1985 - 1992. On occasions he had read his poems to the bus passengers. I found this quirky performance at work really inspiring and look forward to see the film that was made of it at some stage. The other memorable story he told was of being with two other people working in the ticket office of an Underground station. In a slack moment they got talking about what they did out of work and David discovered that one of his colleagues was a biochemist and the other was a lawyer, and of course he was an artist...

He also described his project plan which was to imitate the large paper public notices that LU often display at stations. He also had an idea of using cushions with words printed on them. This idea was from a cushion he had got a birthday present from his brother. Asked what he was interested in he said ‘Carravagio’, expecting his brother would buy a book. Instead he got a cushion with the name of the artist emblazoned across it!

As he was leaving I took a photo of him by a wacky LT poster that happened to be in the corridor.

Our next meeting was at the London Transport museum in Covent Garden. He brought along a mock-up of the poster project and it seemed very successful in terms of quality of print and scale - the posters were A1 size. However the cushions idea was dropped. The LT Museum has taken an interest in social history and they have a art gallery space; so I suggested the David contact them about his project and invite them to his group show which opens in the 198@45 in Brixton Village from 5th to 10th September 2011. David also reported on discovering ‘London Underground Networks’ set of liberation groups that also echoed Brixton Gallerys interests. Later this mock-up was shown to the Brixton Calling management meeting at 198 and received with general enthusiasm.

We next met in Brixton Village in The Agile Rabbit cafe, and later in David’s studio which is above a shop in market. It turned out that a colleague of David’s, Tyrone, was the convenor of the Black and Asian section of the LU Networks. After talking to Tyrone, David had the idea of inviting Rita Keegan to talk direct to this group about Brixton Calling! Francoise Dupre may in future speak to the Women’s group and Guy Burch to the Gay and Lesbian group. This is an exciting extension of the original project. David has also discovered a London Underground Choir based at Euston Station, that he is thinking of asking to perform at the opening. David also spoke of his plan to make an A3 brochure for the Out of Uniform show in September.

Stefan Szczelkun June 2011

Brixton Calling! Oral History Project by Stefan Szczelkun

2011-07-19T15:42:00.001+01:00

This project was intended to capture oral histories of selected participants in Brixton Art Collective 1983 - 87. These recordings would be made by the young people that work at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning and go on to be archived at Tate Archive. They would form the basis of an edited programme that would be exhibited and published by 198 as a DVD at the end of October 2011.

A group of us started off on the Oral History project with a days training in video based oral history from the excellent Roger Kitchen who had been recommended by the National Sound Archive. Everyone really enjoyed Roger's lively and respectful enthusiasm. He was particularly keen of making short films which was a new approach for me.

Then I had the job of finding a list of people who took part in Brixton Art Gallery 1983 - 1987 that would agree to be interviewed. These had to be a range of people who would probably be good interviewees and represent all the multivarious aspects of BAG. A tall order but somehow it fell into place. 198 bought a 1080 Panasonic camcorder and a couple mics which Andy Martinez took charge of while Kareena Williams 198's Creative Learning manager, was working with the young people on researching the upcoming interviewees and getting the young people to develop story boards of their ideas for a short film based on their own lives.

We had planned to start the interviews in June 2011. To get used to interviewing, the people facilitating the young peoples group (Kareen with Elisha and Andy) started off by interviewing Marilyn Rogers at her home/studio. Then on the first Wednesday in June the young peoples team, brilliantly facilitated by Andy, who was also dealing with some stressful issues with Panasonic AVCHD files not behaving themselves on the 198 iMacs, interviewed me. I was impressed how the young crew worked together as a team: camera, sound, interviewer, and note taker, with Andy directing and coaxing them to achieve professional standards.

The next Wednesday the interviewee as the ebullient South African musician Eugene Skeef who was full of amazing stories. In the afternoon a chance encounter in the street by one of the young people led to a short interview with local legend the renowned poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. The next day they interviewed Brixton Art Gallery stalwart and 198 regular Rita Keegan at her house. The young people really enjoyed that as, apparently Rita has a wonderful garden.

The following Wednesday it was the turn of Kevin O'Connor in the morning. He was an initiator at the very formation of BAG in 1983. He is now in his seventies and really seemed to enjoy talking to the young people and visiting the gallery. He had come down all the way from the north of England. In the afternoon the painter Mandy McCartin came down from north London. She immediately hit it off with Miya and her mate and they chatted for half an hour before the interview. Beforehand Miya and her friend had been adamant that they were too shy to do interviews, but after chatting to Mandy they were at ease and carried out their first interview with ease. This was the highlight of the process for me.

The final week had Eamon Andrews who brought in some strong graphics championing gay rights that had been used in the Brixton Art Gallery window. I heard the young people coming out from his interview saying 'what an interesting bloke he was' and that they'd enjoyed listening to him. Eamon and Mandy had been central to the gay and lesbian shows at BAG. In the afternoon Chila Burman came in, but I missed her.

There remains three other members of the organising artists from Brixton Art Gallery to interview - Teri Bullen, Francoise Dupre (who led the project and the arduous grant applications) and last but not least Guy Burch.

Kypros Kyprianou, an experienced professional editor has been contracted to get on with the complex post production. This entails making DVD copies to send to each interiviewee; preparing archive edits for Tate Archive, producing a rough 'cuts' edit for an editing workshop with the young people and, of course, preparing an edit for showing in the 198 exhibition and a version for a DVD which will be published to accompany the show catalogue.

198 have agreed to send the final edit to some of the young peoples film competitions and festivals in the UK and abroad.

The young participants were:

Daniel Icha Muhammad
Aaron Oniri
Aaron McKenzee
Joshua Sheriff
Miya Bailey
Stephanie Yates
Shani Williams
Elijah Icha

Interviews directed by Andy Martinez supported by
198 Youth Director Kareen Williams
with Elisha Carrington

Editing: Kypros Kyprianou with help from Andy Martinez

Project design: Stefan Szczelkun (for BACA)

For more on the artists mentioned and Brixton Art Gallery 1983 - 86
go to: http://brixton50.co.uk/artists/

Stefan Szczelkun July 2011

Research on Lesbian and Gay exhibitions at Brixton Art Gallery

2011-07-19T14:23:00.002+01:00

Guy Burch in his studio 1983

No Comment! 1984, Brixton Art Gallery Poster

Guy Burch, Brixton Calling! Curator of the Lesbian and Gay Group’s shows has been doing online research on every artist that exhibited in the first three shows.

One of the poignant aspects is revisiting artists who died too soon, before their careers were properly established. Some of these are none the less well known names. For instance photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode who died of AIDS but is increasingly seen as a seminal figure and had a excellent retrospective recently at Autograph. Jo Spence, who pioneered feminist approaches in her photographs, particularly documenting cancer (and with Rosy Martin who still does similar work on women and aging) also showed at Brixton. Sandra Fahire died of anorexia but made a number of harrowing video pieces about it. 'Arrows' her first listed one was made in 1985 the year after she performed in a feathers costume at Brixton. Hamad Butt showed his very early etchings but went on to make his name with austere installation pieces before his death from AIDS in 1995 (an annual prize at Goldsmiths was named for him).

There have been surprises too. The name Ull Hohn is distinctive enough to make Guy hopeful he might be traced especially if you are looking for an artist who is gay. We think he is the Ull Hohn (1960 - 1995) who was just beginning to study art when he sent work to the first Lesbian & Gay show and went on to study with Gerhard Richter. Recently his work was shown in London’s Between Bridges gallery and we are grateful for Wolfgang Tillmans for pointing us to the Neu Gallery in Berlin who manage his estate. Guy added two catalogues of both Hamid and Ull to the archive he is building for the exhibition in November.

Guy has been having a rummage around and has found photographs of himself and artists from the exhibitions.


The 'Village People' are Nick Balaban, Guy Burch and Geraldine Walsh taken in 1984 at Byam Shaw where they studied at the time of "No Comment"

Nick Balaban and Kim Waiyaki

The pictures behind Kim Waiyaki and Guy Burch are Kim's homoerotic African influenced lithographs and silkscreen prints which he showed in the "No Comment" exhibition.

Eamon Andrews, Guy Burch, Mandy McMartin, Andrew Hurman, Annie Bungeroth and Lindsey Agnew at Brixton Art Gallery during the "No Comment" show in 1984, You can just make out the gas heater in the gloom used to make a corner of the gallery tolerable for meetings.

Art in Brixton 12th June

2011-07-19T14:05:00.002+01:00

On June 12th Francoise Dupre, Rita Keegan, Barby Asante and Marylin Rogers braved heavy rain showers to promote the Brixton Calling! project at the Brixton Society's Art in Brixton event on Windrush Square.

Despite the rain this was a great opportunity for us to talk to people about the project and to get people to make postcards about what they remembered about the gallery and Brixton in the 80's. if people we're not around in the 80's we got them to make postcards about they're experiences of Brixton and Brixton's creative communities. We also got to meet artists that had exhibited at the gallery and also find out more about where some of these artists might be now.

If you are one of the artists or if you know any of the artists that exhibited at the gallery please let us know.

You can view the list of artists that exhibited here

Also thank you to Daniel and Sofia Wennerstrom for your help with this event and thank you to the Brixton Society for putting on this event and enabling local projects to promote they're work.

Archiving Brixton Art Gallery 1983-1986

2011-07-19T13:52:00.001+01:00

Visit to Tate Archives

A big part of the Brixton Calling! project is about archiving the first 50 exhibitions at the gallery from 1983-1986. We are developing the archiving strategy through visits and training from our archiving partners. Please watch this space for more on the development of the Brixton Art Gallery archives.

Thanks to Adrian Glew and the team at Tate Archives

Brixton Calling! is Launched

2011-04-10T20:04:00.001+01:00

The Brixton Calling! Project was launched on March 3rd 2011, in the 198@45 space in Brixton Village AKA Granville Arcade.

There was a display of the posters from the first 50 exhibitions from June 83- December 86. We also had a list of all the artists that had exhibited in the gallery in that time asking where are they now! It was great to see many of the artists who had exhibited at the gallery and to hear their experiences of being involved in the gallery and also it was really great that they came out to support this project on one of the coldest nights of the year. I'm sure I speak for all in the BACA and 198 team when I say it was wonderful to have them there, we really appreciate their support and look forward to their support or involvement in the next phases of the project.

In the spirit of Brixton Art Gallery Brick Box, who also had an opening that night and entertained us with some impromptu performances around the market. To warm us up on that cold night we had a great DJ set from our guest, the legendary Jerry Dammers, who we also thank for his time and support of the project. & in true Brixton style after the 10pm curfew, the hardy went on to the Effra!

To see more photographs from the launch please visit our Flickr site.

You can see the posters and view the list of artists on Andrew Hurman's Brixton 50 website, and if you do know where any of the artists are who exhibited in the Brixton Art Gallery at that time we'd really like to know email info@brixtoncalling.org

Photo: Francoise Dupre

Photo: Barby Asante

Photo: Kareena Williams

Brixton Calling! Bags designed by Guy Burch available at 198@45 or contact info@brixtoncalling.org

The Community engagement projects have begun and I will be posting some photographs of the Oral history training and more information about the project in the coming weeks. Also Terri Bullen has been working with 198's Stitch and Bitch group to produce a new art work which explores some of the idea's and ways of working of the Women's Work Group. Photo's of these workshops and works will be posted on our blog and flickr site soon, please look out for them.

Also did you or someone you know exhibit at the gallery between June 83 & December 86? Did you visit the gallery? Tell us what it was like! Send us a postcard! Click the postcard link to download a postcard template and return it to us at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning (for the price of a 1st or 2nd class stamp), or email it back to postcards@brixtoncalling.org. Send your memories in collage, stitch, paint, write, draw, whatever you like. Your postcard may be exhibited and become part of an archive of Brixton Art Gallery that will be kept by Tate Britain, Lambeth Archives or one of our other partner archives. If you want more information on the postcard project email postcard@brixtoncalling.org.

Also don't forget to join our Facebook page. Brixton Art Gallery.

Celebrate the Beginning of Brixton Calling!!!

2011-02-24T14:20:00.002Z

Brixton Calling! Launch

Thursday 3^rd March 2011 6-10pm

At 198@45, Unit 45, Brixton Village aka Granville Arcade, Atlantic Road, London SW9 8PS

close to the site of the original gallery


Revisiting Brixton Art Gallery by Dane

Join us to celebrate the launch of the Brixton Calling! project at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning space 198@45 in Brixton Village. Part of the LATE NIGHT THURSDAYS in Brixton Village.

There will also be an opening of Non/ Fiction at Viewfinder Photography Gallery and a grand unveiling of Brian Lobel's Carpe Minuta Prima at Brick Box at 7pm. From 8pm 198@45 we will have music and dancing to celebrate Brixton Calling! with a DJ Set from Jerry Dammers.

Brixton Calling! and Brixton Artists Collective

2011-02-24T13:32:00.001Z

21 Atlantic Road, Brixton Art Gallery frontage by DEVIOUS CAN ARTISTS, Doni, Yogo, Dime

Brixton Calling! 50 Reasons to Celebrate: Brixton Art Gallery, a collaborative, participatory project and an exhibition that connects contemporary Brixton to its past – through exploring the history of Brixton Art Gallery & Artists Collective during the 1980s.

The Gallery was an integral part of the London art scene from its establishment in railway arches below Brixton Station in June 1983. As a collective, it showed more than a thousand artists, tackled issues and promoted media that others would not. In an extraordinary climate of cultural and political change it made a significant and unique contribution to the arts in London.

Brixton Calling! is a collaboration between 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning and the Brixton Artists Collective Archives group (BACA). This inter-generational project will bring together artists and communities to explore some of the Gallery’s collaborative artistic approaches to social and political issues and create new artworks that are relevant to Brixton today.

Between March and November 2011, 198 and BACA will lead a series of Community Archiving and Engagement projects. Memories of the gallery will be collected through Postcards and Oral Histories. Other projects include Out of Uniform, Black Arts Movement, Brixton’s Queer Pulse and Women Art and Politics, providing creative opportunities for local people to get involved creating new artworks will be showcased throughout the year at 198@45. A final project exhibition of original BACA archive material and new artworks will be held in November and December 2011 at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning.

BACA is constituted of 5 individual members of the Brixton Artists Collective: Teri Bullen, Guy Burch, Françoise Dupré, Rita Keegan, Stefan Szczelkun. They were part of a significant group of artists: The Brixton Artists Collective and were instrumental in the foundation, development and running of the Brixton Art Gallery 1983-86.

Brixton Calling! is funded by Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund and is developed in partnership with 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, Lambeth Archives; Tate Archive; Women's Art Library (Goldsmiths); Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture, (University of Westminster).  

For more information about the Brixton Art Gallery and the first 50 exhibitions that are being considered in this project you can look at Andrew Hurman's Brixton 50 website, which lists the exhibitions and artists that showed at the gallery in that period.