NORWICH.- The innovative exhibition Build Your Own: Tools for Sharing at
Norwich Castle Museum, which ends on January 3, provides a fascinating insight into todays making revolution and features four newly commissioned works. Included is Homework by Will Shannon and architectural collective Assemble, the recently announced winners of the world renowned Turner Prize 2015.
Whilst commissioned as part of Build Your Own: Tools for Sharing, Homework has been an integral part of the ongoing work currently taking place in Granby, Liverpool, for which Assemble were nominated for the Turner Prize. Indeed, Shannons proposition to turn one of the houses in Granby Street into a domestic workshop to produce furnishings for the neighbouring homes, is the very idea developed by Assemble into The Granby Workshops, showcased as part of this years Turner Prize. It was the genesis of Shannons ideas and the result of his collaboration with Assemble and the Granby Four Streets Community Land Trust, which saw a domestic factory produce bespoke and beautiful fireplaces made from building rubble, which can all be seen in the exhibition at Norwich Castle.
Turner Prize Judge Alistair Hudson said Assemble were "part of a long tradition of art working in society".
Shannon and Assemble highlight the potential for us all to work with our neighbours and communities and utilise our domestic environments to change our living conditions, themes, which are also explored in the Build Your Own exhibition through the work of Rachel Rayns with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Linda Brothwell and Norwich Hackspace with DoESLiverpool.
Norwich Castle Curator Hannah Higham said: Build Your Own is about sharing ideas and celebrating making, using both old and new tools. In combination, they can be used to solve problems and establish new creative processes. This is clearly demonstrated by Will Shannon and Assembles Homework, together with the other featured artists.
Co-produced by FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) and the Crafts Council, in collaboration with Norfolk Museums Service, the exhibition is jointly curated by two highly regarded curators, cultural programme director Lauren Parker, together with Clare Cumberlidge, from Thirteen Ways, a creative communications company. Build Your Own is a must see exhibition for everyone interested in the common ground shared between craft, technology and community and how it affects us all.
The exhibition, Build Your Own: Tools for Sharing also sets the scene for British Art Show 8 (www.britishartshow8.com), which opens in Norwich at both Norwich Castle Museum and Norwich University of The Arts on June 24 and runs until September 4, 2016.
Similar themes are shared between the two exhibitions namely the exploration of the real and the virtual, contemporary artists pre-occupations with disappearing traditions and skills, objects being used as vehicles for narrative, and collaboration and co-production as a means of exploring and enhancing creative potential.