Ciara Phillips
Workshop (2010 – ongoing)
2 October–30 November 2013
Preview: Tuesday 1 October, 6:30–8:30pm
The Showroom
63 Penfold Street
London NW8 8PQ
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday noon–6pm
T +44 (0) 207 724 4300
The Showroom presents a major new commission by Canadian/Irish artist Ciara Phillips. For her first London solo show, a new print-based installation will be presented alongside a temporary screenprinting workshop within The Showroom’s gallery.
Throughout October and November, Phillips will be based in the gallery producing new screen prints in collaboration with artists and invited groups. These will include designers and local women’s groups (many of whom have ongoing relationships with The Showroom) who will bring their different knowledge and experience of working collectively to the Workshop. These new collaborations will initiate conversations and actions that aren’t contained within specific disciplines of art, community action, design or activism.
Phillips’ long-term commitment to collaborative production underpins her expansive solo printing practice that makes use of screenprinting, wall drawing and photography to create context-specific installations. Collaborative work includes projects with Poster Club, a group of Glasgow-based artists that she initiated in 2010 and with which she regularly collaborates.
Workshop (2010 – ongoing) explores the relations between the interlinked strands of Phillips’ solo and collective work, and is informed by her recent research into the history of London-based print collectives. By making prints in new collaborative groupings at The Showroom, Phillips will explore the potential of ‘making together’ as a way of negotiating ideas and generating discussions around experimental and wider uses of print.
A limited edition produced to accompany the exhibition will be available for sale at The Showroom.
Ciara Phillips (b.1976) is a Canadian/Irish artist based in Glasgow. Recent exhibitions include There Will Be New Rules Next Week, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee (2013); And more, solo exhibition at Inverleith House, Edinburgh (2013); The Souls: A Twice-Told Tale, group exhibition at CEAAC (European Centre for Contemporary Art Projects), Strasbourg (2013); Slippery under pressure, OUTPOST, Norwich (2012); Pull Everything Out, with Corita Kent at Spike Island, Bristol (2012); Start with a practical idea, Gregor Staiger, Zürich (2012); The only rule is work, Kendall Koppe, Glasgow (2011); Springtime will never be the same, Deuxieme Bureau/Galerie Parisa Kind, Frankfurt (2011) and Zwischenraum: Space Between, Der Kunstverein, Hamburg (2010). Phillips was awarded the Drawing Room Bursary Award, and is undertaking a residency there during August 2013. Ciara Phillips is represented by Kendall Koppe, Glasgow (www.kendallkoppe.com).
The Showroom is a space for contemporary art that is focused on collaborative and process-driven approaches to production; be that artworks, exhibitions, discussions or publications. For thirty years, The Showroom has invested in artists to make their first solo shows in London, including Jim Lambie, Eva Rothschild, Mona Hatoum, Simon Starling, Claire Barclay, the Otolith Group, Can Altay and Emily Wardill.
The exhibition Workshop (2010 – ongoing) is realised in the framework of COHAB, a two-year project initiated by The Showroom, Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, Utrecht and Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, supported by a Cooperation Measures grant from the European Commission Culture 2007–2013.
The exhibition is also supported by Arts Council England and The Elephant Trust.
Research and work for this exhibition were developed during Phillips’ Summer 2013 residency at Drawing Room, London through the biennial Drawing Room Bursary Award supported by CASS Art.
