DISABLED ARTISTS TAKE OVER 30 MUSEUMS & GALLERIES ACROSS THE UK TO CELEBRATE THE JOY OF DADA “IT’S SUCH A CRAZY IDEA!”
By Mark Westall • 6 May 2022
To mark the 102nd anniversary of the 1st Dada International Exhibition in Berlin, 31 d/Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent artists will stage Dada inspired interventions in 30 museums and galleries across Britain and Northern Ireland on the same day on 2nd July 2022.
The interventions cover a wide range including performative; time based; ephemeral; quirky; unusual; minimal; solo/duo/group; digital and much more. The project asks the question – What if the Dada movement had started in 2020 in lockdown? What would they have done? Is now a timely moment to resurrect the spirit and essence of Dada?
The event with the title We are Invisible We are Visible (WAIWAV) is presented by DASH, the disabled led visual arts organisation, and was awarded the 2021 Ampersand Prize.
The museums and galleries include: Arnolfini, Baltic, Centre for Contemporary Art, Firstsite, Focal point, Golden Thread Gallery, Grizedale Arts, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Home, The Hepworth Wakefield, Ikon Gallery, John Hansard Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Liverpool Biennial, Manchester Art Gallery, MIMA, MK Gallery, Modern Art Oxford, Newlyn, Nottingham Contemporary, The Pier Arts Centre, Site Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate Modern, Tate St Ives, Towner, Turner Contemporary and VOID.
The Artists: Stav Meishar AIM (Art In Motion); Tony Heaton /Terry Smith; Bel Pye; Kristina Veasey; Chris Tally Evans; Porcelain Delaney; Nicola Woodham; Grace Currie; Alice Quarterman; Dora Colquhoun; April Lin ??; Lisette Auton; Caroline Cardus; Jenette Coldrick; Ashokkumar Mistry; Cheryl Beer; Sonia Boué; Christina Lovey; Alex Billingham; Luke ‘Luca’ Cockayne; Andrea Mindel; gobscure; Jo Munton/Stephanie Finegan; Mianam Bashir/Emma Powell; Aaron Williamson; Sam Metz; Hayley Hindle; Anahita Harding; Chisato Minamimura; Alistair Gentry.
Mike Layward, DASH’s Artistic Director said:
“To be awarded the Ampersand award for this surreal intervention will not only have a massive impact on Disability arts but will show that the visual arts institutions are now open and willing to change. DASH has a long history of producing provocative interventions that continue the legacy of Dada, Absurdism and Surrealism into the 21st century.”
The WAIWAV selection panel: Lois Keidan: ex-Live Art Development agency director; Ryan Hughes: Director of Coventry Biennial; Linzi Stauvers: Head of Education at Ikon Gallery; Ashokkumar Mistry: Disabled Curator/artist; Aidan Moesby: Disabled curator/artist; Heather Sturdy: Head of National Partnerships at Tate; Ceri Barrow: Plus Tate Coordinator and Mike Layward: DASH Artistic Director.
DASH
DASH is a Disabled led visual arts charity. It creates opportunities for Disabled artists to develop their creative practice. These opportunities take many forms, from high-quality commissions to community-based workshops, the work it creates is centred around its vision and mission.
With a history of work including visual arts, dance, theatre, live arts and festivals in Shropshire since the mid 1990’s, DASH became a limited company and registered charity in 2001 and in 2004 secured revenue funding from Arts Council England. In 2009 DASH took the decision to specialise its work in visual arts, while expanding its geographical boundaries.
During the last ten years DASH has undertaken truly ground-breaking work – projects that have challenged perceptions, fostered and mentored new Deaf and Disabled artists, encouraged professional development and helped to engineer change in the sector.
The Ampersand Foundation was founded in 2011 by businessman, collector, and philanthropist Jack Kirkland to support the visual arts. The Foundation supports high-quality exhibitions and projects, provided they are free to the public at least one day per week. It also supports public collection expansion. The Foundation is focused mainly on supporting institutions and projects within the UK.
The Ampersand Award is open to the 48 members of the Plus Tate network. It aims to enable the winning institution to realise its dream project in the form of an exhibition, new commission, public space intervention or any other kind of project. There are no restrictions on the subject or format of the proposal except that it must be delivered by a curator, director or a team of curators working within the institution. The winner is awarded £125,000 to realise their proposal, and an additional £25,000 to produce a related publication. The remaining shortlisted institutions each receive £5,000.
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