Inland Art Festival is a contemporary art festival founded and produced by Cat Bagg, Rosie Allen and artist Alice Mahoney. It brings diverse communities together in the historic town of Redruth, Cornwall, providing a locally rooted platform for local and regional creative practitioners and opportunities for audiences to see internationally renowned art in unusual locations. Redruth once held the title of ‘richest square mile in the world’, now the monetary wealth has all but gone yet it’s still one of the richest towns we know. The first festival took place in 2014, animating the town from 25th-28th September with an ambitious free programme. Running across 13 venues and showcasing over 90 artists, Inland delivered screenings, performances, interactive installations and events from family workshops to talks for practitioners. The success of the festival led to a second iteration in 2016.
Photo: George Meyrick CONTEXT
Inland Art Festival 2014 was Redruth’s inaugural contemporary art festival. The idea for a festival was born at a late night, wine fulled conversation, taking in everything that was exciting about the artist-led community and the things they make happen in Cornwall, and all the problems associated with temproarility, visibility, and the practicalities of being part of community spread across towns and villages throughout a peninsula county. The conversation happened at a dinner hosted by Jane and Patrick Lowry (founders of Back Lane West) with artists Alice Mahoney and Liam Jolly, and curators Rosie Allen and Cat Bagg. It resulted in Alice, Rosie and Cat, devising a structure for a festival and undertaking nine-months of fundraising to make it happen.
Inland Art Festival 2014 aimed to present some of the best recent and emerging art from the South West and further afield. It featured the works of seventy artists and took place in empty shops, community buildings and public space, as well as in Redruth’s exisiting art spaces, Back Lane West, CMR and Krowji. With an awareness that the festival needed to entice and serve a hyper-local audience, as well as a dedicated arts one, it was developed with a broad theme of play.
Here’s what we wrote to explain the context at the time:
Cornwall has always been a hub for creativity and a test bed for cutting edge artists’ activity with the front runners flourishing to national and international fame; from the St Ives Group and Newlyn School to the Surrealists’ holiday on the river Fal in 1937. With this in mind, it is of small surprise that today the largest community of artists outside of London are based in Cornwall. Within this group there has always been a need to create alternative ways of practicing, showing and celebrating contemporary art that both engages with and challenges international practices, all the while placing art production in Cornwall within this wider context.
Inland Art Festival has been organised by a team of artists, curators and producers, all based in Cornwall. Individually they have been working to establish Redruth as a centre for contemporary art and 2014 sees them coming together to celebrate the county’s extensive art history by awakening new interest and raising awareness of the stimulating art produced in the region today.
There is still a huge range of contemporary art that isn’t regularly represented in Cornwall. This festival seeks to showcase and support social, participatory art; challenging the ingrained parameters of art visible in the South West. Not only is this a celebration of the high calibre of contemporary art production in Cornwall but also an opportunity for dialogue with artists working nationally and internationally. Most importantly it is an invitation for more people to play, question what they think of as art and to reconsider whether art is relevant to them. This festival is made for people, made for an audience and is ready to be enjoyed by anyone who is willing to get involved.
Running across five strands; The Playing Fields is Inland’s curated show; The Players Club a celebration of the autonomy of artist led organisations; Assemble Now, an open call showcasing the variety of practices in the region; Play Reel a video programme supported by Regal Cinema, and Join In which invites people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved and find out more through a range of workshops and talks.
The festival’s primary theme is play; providing a platform for encounter, interaction and experimentation. With play and curiosity, we can test the parameters of where we are, what we respond to and how we build a community. The festival is both an invitation and provocation to action, interaction and collaboration.
The Playing Fields features Emma Smith and Dr Laurence White, Abigail Reynolds, Rosalie Schweiker and Jo Waterhouse, Julia Vogl, Rachel Maclean, Alexander Schierl, Pablo De Laborde Lascaris, Elisa Juncosa, Rupert White, Wil Chappell and Ben Wayman. Incorporating a sense of the absurd and futile, ideas of play and participation are expanded into an exhibition creating a temporal site for interaction and participation. With many of the works exploring communication through traditional frameworks such as language or generate spontaneous structures created by imagination and accident.
Assemble Now is a regional open call selected by a panel of festival organisers and Tate curators. This strand features regional and local talent: Shaun Badham, Oliver Udy, Helen Grant, Noel Betowski, Jesse Giudici-Mumford, Stephen Smith, Alex Goodman, Sorcha Tudor Williams, Lee Mc Donald, Stuart Robinson, Ann-Marie Fairbrother and Ilker Cinarel. Showcasing artists working in an exciting range of medias, the Assemble Now exhibition is a gentler invitation to explore play. Futuristic inventions mingle with playful subversions of recognisable references, objects and ideas
The Players Club, sees Cornwall’s artist led organisations CMR, Back Lane West, The Sketch House, CAZ, The Fish Factory, Medium Rare and APEX delivering a range of projects celebrating the autonomy of the self organised; exposing the depth of practice in the county whilst developing alternative ideas on play.
Explore Redruth and stumble across a warren of unusual exhibition venues. They are the opposite of the traditional white walled gallery. Instead, they are playgrounds for art: you are invited to explore, get involved or just watch from the side lines as art comes to life all around them. From an interactive automata telling the story of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun, a computer game which sends you back to the story of Tristan and Isolde to Twister like you have never seen it before.
Inland Art Festival 2014 aimed to present some of the best recent and emerging art from the South West and further afield. It featured the works of seventy artists and took place in empty shops, community buildings and public space, as well as in Redruth’s exisiting art spaces, Back Lane West, CMR and Krowji. With an awareness that the festival needed to entice and serve a hyper-local audience, as well as a dedicated arts one, it was developed with a broad theme of play.
Here’s what we wrote to explain the context at the time:
Cornwall has always been a hub for creativity and a test bed for cutting edge artists’ activity with the front runners flourishing to national and international fame; from the St Ives Group and Newlyn School to the Surrealists’ holiday on the river Fal in 1937. With this in mind, it is of small surprise that today the largest community of artists outside of London are based in Cornwall. Within this group there has always been a need to create alternative ways of practicing, showing and celebrating contemporary art that both engages with and challenges international practices, all the while placing art production in Cornwall within this wider context.
Inland Art Festival has been organised by a team of artists, curators and producers, all based in Cornwall. Individually they have been working to establish Redruth as a centre for contemporary art and 2014 sees them coming together to celebrate the county’s extensive art history by awakening new interest and raising awareness of the stimulating art produced in the region today.
There is still a huge range of contemporary art that isn’t regularly represented in Cornwall. This festival seeks to showcase and support social, participatory art; challenging the ingrained parameters of art visible in the South West. Not only is this a celebration of the high calibre of contemporary art production in Cornwall but also an opportunity for dialogue with artists working nationally and internationally. Most importantly it is an invitation for more people to play, question what they think of as art and to reconsider whether art is relevant to them. This festival is made for people, made for an audience and is ready to be enjoyed by anyone who is willing to get involved.
Running across five strands; The Playing Fields is Inland’s curated show; The Players Club a celebration of the autonomy of artist led organisations; Assemble Now, an open call showcasing the variety of practices in the region; Play Reel a video programme supported by Regal Cinema, and Join In which invites people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved and find out more through a range of workshops and talks.
The festival’s primary theme is play; providing a platform for encounter, interaction and experimentation. With play and curiosity, we can test the parameters of where we are, what we respond to and how we build a community. The festival is both an invitation and provocation to action, interaction and collaboration.
The Playing Fields features Emma Smith and Dr Laurence White, Abigail Reynolds, Rosalie Schweiker and Jo Waterhouse, Julia Vogl, Rachel Maclean, Alexander Schierl, Pablo De Laborde Lascaris, Elisa Juncosa, Rupert White, Wil Chappell and Ben Wayman. Incorporating a sense of the absurd and futile, ideas of play and participation are expanded into an exhibition creating a temporal site for interaction and participation. With many of the works exploring communication through traditional frameworks such as language or generate spontaneous structures created by imagination and accident.
Assemble Now is a regional open call selected by a panel of festival organisers and Tate curators. This strand features regional and local talent: Shaun Badham, Oliver Udy, Helen Grant, Noel Betowski, Jesse Giudici-Mumford, Stephen Smith, Alex Goodman, Sorcha Tudor Williams, Lee Mc Donald, Stuart Robinson, Ann-Marie Fairbrother and Ilker Cinarel. Showcasing artists working in an exciting range of medias, the Assemble Now exhibition is a gentler invitation to explore play. Futuristic inventions mingle with playful subversions of recognisable references, objects and ideas
The Players Club, sees Cornwall’s artist led organisations CMR, Back Lane West, The Sketch House, CAZ, The Fish Factory, Medium Rare and APEX delivering a range of projects celebrating the autonomy of the self organised; exposing the depth of practice in the county whilst developing alternative ideas on play.
Explore Redruth and stumble across a warren of unusual exhibition venues. They are the opposite of the traditional white walled gallery. Instead, they are playgrounds for art: you are invited to explore, get involved or just watch from the side lines as art comes to life all around them. From an interactive automata telling the story of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun, a computer game which sends you back to the story of Tristan and Isolde to Twister like you have never seen it before.
COMMISSIONS
For a full record of the commissions and projects at Inland Art Festival 2014 visit:
ENGAGEMENT
Workshops:
CN4C art fun family taster session – Friday 11.00 The Elms
CN4C childrens arts club – Saturday 10.00 – 12.00, The Elms
Drawing workshop for all ages – Saturday 11.00 – 13.00, the old Boots space
Drop in and get messy workshop with Rosie Jolly – Sunday 10.00 – 12.00, the old Boots space
CAZ presents SITE/SPACE workshop – Sunday 10.00 – 13.00
Jonathan Hayter’s drop in workshop – Sunday 13:30 – 15:30, CMR
Talks:
Jeremy Deller, Public Art Now talk screening – daily, the old Boots space
Abigail Reynolds – Saturday 4pm, the old Boots space
Artist and organisers discussion led by Blair Todd – Saturday 5.30pm, Charlie’s Bar
Art Works to Join In with:
Tarot Readings with Jo Waterhouse – Friday 15:00 – 17:00 and 7:30 – 21:00, the old Boots space
Tarot Readings with Jo Waterhouse – Saturday 11.00 – 16.30, Hatters’ Tea Rooms
Emma Smith and Dr Laurence White’s 5Hz sound experiment – Saturday 13.30 – 15.30, please book
Julia Vogl’s Wet N’ Wild – Saturday 15.00, Krowji
Julia Vogl’s Wet N’ Wild – Sunday 16.00, Krowji
Elisa Juncosa’s Choice Board and Kairos games – Thursday to Sunday 10.00 – 17.00, the old Boots space
Rupert White’s Tristan and Isolde computer game – Thursday to Sunday 10.00 – 17.00, the old Boots space
Ben Wayman’s Rise/Fall – Thursday to Sunday 10.00 – 17.00, the old Boots space
Workshops:
CN4C art fun family taster session – Friday 11.00 The Elms
CN4C childrens arts club – Saturday 10.00 – 12.00, The Elms
Drawing workshop for all ages – Saturday 11.00 – 13.00, the old Boots space
Drop in and get messy workshop with Rosie Jolly – Sunday 10.00 – 12.00, the old Boots space
CAZ presents SITE/SPACE workshop – Sunday 10.00 – 13.00
Jonathan Hayter’s drop in workshop – Sunday 13:30 – 15:30, CMR
Talks:
Jeremy Deller, Public Art Now talk screening – daily, the old Boots space
Abigail Reynolds – Saturday 4pm, the old Boots space
Artist and organisers discussion led by Blair Todd – Saturday 5.30pm, Charlie’s Bar
Art Works to Join In with:
Tarot Readings with Jo Waterhouse – Friday 15:00 – 17:00 and 7:30 – 21:00, the old Boots space
Tarot Readings with Jo Waterhouse – Saturday 11.00 – 16.30, Hatters’ Tea Rooms
Emma Smith and Dr Laurence White’s 5Hz sound experiment – Saturday 13.30 – 15.30, please book
Julia Vogl’s Wet N’ Wild – Saturday 15.00, Krowji
Julia Vogl’s Wet N’ Wild – Sunday 16.00, Krowji
Elisa Juncosa’s Choice Board and Kairos games – Thursday to Sunday 10.00 – 17.00, the old Boots space
Rupert White’s Tristan and Isolde computer game – Thursday to Sunday 10.00 – 17.00, the old Boots space
Ben Wayman’s Rise/Fall – Thursday to Sunday 10.00 – 17.00, the old Boots space
EVENTS
FUNDERS AND PARTNERS
Inland Festival 2014 was supported by funds from Arts Council England, FEAST, Cornwall Council, Redruth North Partnership and Redruth Town Council, and in partnership with CMR Project Space, Back Lane West, Field Notes and Krowji.
GET IN TOUCH:
info@fieldnotes.org.ukThe development of this website was supported by Cultivator Cornwall
