AID & ABET

During this semester we were told to do a placement. It can either be working in a gallery, teaching in any art school or taking experience under any artists. I was mainly interested to work under some artist so that i can expose myself to a real workplace. I along with 3 other friends of mine decided to work together. We got in contact with an artist DAVID KEFFORD. He was with us during our first year holding an installation workshop. He is basically a Cambridge based artist and a co-founder AID & ABET along with Sarah Evans and CJ Mahony. AID & ABET is an artist run contemporary art space (warehouse) founded in 2009. It is just next to Cambridge station. 

We were shadowing David Kefford. He warmly welcomed us in his warehouse and gave us a tour around. Its a huge warehouse. Over many days to aid & abet, i realized that its just not a place where they hold only contemporary art exhibitions but also where they have their discussions, talks and meetings. So its kind of a multi-purpose place where you see a continuous collaboration between the artworks, the artists and the audience. 

First exhibition of 2013 was WE OBJECT! It was curated by Benedict Drew featuring the artworks of Nicholas Brooks, Rebecca Lennon, Beth Collar, Angus Braithwaite, Benedict Drew and Heather Phillipson. For this exhibition Benedict had gathered lively group of artists, focusing on body’s intersection with objects and how text and speech can open up the space where the world and the body disagree. This exhibition was all over the warehouse.

SOME OTHER PICTURES FROM THE EXHIBITION:

Eat The Art (Performance for Mirror)
Vinyl on Mirror, A0
REBECCA LENNON

The Concha Institute HD video
BENEDICT DREW 

Amongst the exhibition the work i like the most (below):

Offering for Tesco (Where wings Take Dream)

Cargo Cult reenactment in Tesco Car Park

REBECCA LENNON

This artwork of Rebecca Lennon impressed me a lot. It was a small cargo. The way it was developed in an artwork was truly eye catching. It was totally dark inside and there were 3 screens and 1 mirror which indirectly serves as a screen. So all together there were 4 screens. At a time 4 people can sit inside comfortably. The video being played in the cargo takes you from the warehouse to space around the galaxy and back to warehouse. It was really interesting and on top of everything it was so warm inside. I just wish to have one like this in my room during extreme winters.

A night of 'NOISE, IMPROV and SOUND'. This was another exhibition as a part of WE OBJECT!. It was a trio played by Paul Abbot, Daichi Yoshikawa and Seymour Wright. They were kind of bending the contemporary music to involve the gathering. This was something i heard for the first time. It was really weird but interesting and original. 

The reason i did not went back home for placement and decided to stay and work here was i can make new contacts, meet new people and the working environment defers a lot for sure. All together it was a great experience and would stay in contact with David Kefford for future work.