My work has woven a deeply engaged, experimental path that has people and places at its heart. Two earlier projects exemplify my approach and it’s on these that I would like to build:
2017 Poplar Pavilion, a large structure constructed in a neglected civic space over 5-months. Re-designed daily in response to the behaviour and needs of its users. A place of respite, play, entertainment and education, connected to local public health, housing and community initiatives.
2022 Walkabout, a walking project in a socially isolated neighbourhood community. Weekly ‘conversation piece’ events – absurd, unexpected visitors encouraged interaction, appearing and disappearing without warning.
STEP CHANGE
These projects surpassed my intentions but failed in their broader legacy, prompting the question ‘what happens when the artist leaves and the money runs out?’. I want to use these experiences to shape a socially engaged project around artistic sustainability and greater longevity, and impact.
• to employ the power and potential of places and people to activate a community, by combining
strategic thinking with local knowledge
I want to learn from and be inspired by others I admire who are supporting experimental work in the UK and internationally [e.g.: Clare Cumberlidge & Co, The Theaster Gates Rebuild Foundation, Chicago], to research examples of socially integrated arts practice to:
• develop methodologies, ideas, approaches and tools that can be shared.
• connect into other professions [e.g.: public policy, public health, education, planning], individuals in cultural strategy and interdisciplinary working.
• understand the potential of media and technology to support project legacies: how artists can better capture and communicate their impacts, to inform public policy, increase creative autonomy and encourage collaboration.
THE LIBRARY a project proposal informed by over 2 decades of social practice in cultural institutions, through public commissions and autonomous projects. A ‘living library’ that is
not dependent on a library building, will honour and expand the concept of a library through people, and place; interactions, events, objects and site interventions [not traditional library holdings].
It will begin with an exisiting site and community, build a collective record, a model of knowledge exchange, and repository for memory and imagination.
The site for my project will be selected and negotiated according to specifically defined criteria and collaborative relationships. This process will start in Darlington, by working in partnership with a Darlington-based contact: a retired lay-vicar.
In making a live ‘Library’ project, I want to test and develop creative ideas that can support future iterations of the project which are informed by parallel experiences and conversations in other places. This strategic and experimental approach is dependent on diverse local knowledge. Darlington’s creativity, knowledge and ideas are essential to this approach, whether or not the final project is made there. It is important that Darlington is a key voice in the mix and any resources, ideas and information generated by the project will bear the tag: ‘It started in Darlington’.
The final event in Darlington will showcase and document the development of the project in a collaborative event and display. It will be both a celebration and an opportunity to discuss the trajectory and outcomes of the project. Most importantly it will mark the beginning of the next steps and revisit my initial question: ‘what happens when the artist leaves and the money runs out?’.
I am interested in making art that catalyses public interaction, deepens creative thought and promotes conversation. I aim to create experiences that are open-ended, unexpected, profound and surprising, by creating interventions or disruptions that activate a space or situation. I am interested in the idea of public places as sites in which ideas, histories and experiences are contained, but also where potential can be released. My studio practice in drawing, collage and sculpture supports these site-specific and public-facing projects, that in turn promote experimentation and support diverse practices and perspectives. These projects manifest as constructions, events, walks and architectural interventions. By working outside the limitations of the gallery space I can make a more direct connection to and with the public, while simultaneously developing an unmediated artistic voice. My extensive experience in gallery and museum learning [Tate, British Library, V&A etc.] has convinced me that creating high quality artistic exchanges in public spaces is both possible and important. I approach every project as a unique set of opportunities that sit within my interests and curiosity.
My interests in public and architectural space, social history, research, performance and material culture have led me to develop numerous collaborative relationships. In so doing I have been able to achieve more rigorous, ambitious and surprising outcomes. I am experienced in making creative partnerships with communities, local councils, NPOs, and other professionals such as architects, performers, curators, archivists, researchers and scientists. I see creative collaboration as an opportunity to explore processes and languages, and to find points of crossover and divergence. My work: ASSEMBLAGE – transforming everyday and discarded materials. Includes sculpture, constructions, drawing and collage.
SITE-SPECIFIC – installations, collaboration, multi-disciplinary performance, actions, walks and conversations. From one-to one exchanges to whole-building takeovers My work is underpinned by: RESEARCH – understanding sites, contexts and communities, history, memory and meaning
CREATIVE REFLECTION – writing, film, podcasts, public presentations, teaching and mentoring I have co-created work with numerous cultural and public institutions and multiple external organisations, groups, individuals and sites, including public spaces, schools, neighbourhoods, GP surgeries, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters.
Do you have a degree in visual or applied arts at undergraduate and/or post-graduate level? Please provide details. (200 words)
1980 -81 Chelsea School of Art Foundation 1981-84 Chelsea School of Art BA Hons Fine Art My undergraduate degree is in painting, during this time I was already building collaborative relationships in installation, photography, theatre and textiles. Further independent short courses 2002-08:
Punchdrunk Theatre – site sympathetic directing
Theatre de Complicité – performative interpretation
Arts Council England – site specific projection
1980 -81 Chelsea School of Art Foundation
1981-84 Chelsea School of Art BA Hons Fine Art
My undergraduate degree is in painting, during this time I was already building collaborative relationships in installation, photography, theatre and textiles.
Further independent short courses 2002-08:
Punchdrunk Theatre – site sympathetic directing
Theatre de Complicité – performative interpretation
Arts Council England – site specific projection
2019 Exeter University Arts and Culture Fellowship
Working with professional and public health researchers to experiment with new creative methodologies around citizen research and its applications in public engagement.
2017 Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Grant
Awarded to support on an ambitious design-build project in Poplar, London. This construction project was built as a disruption in a bleak urban space and activated only in response to local need. It was made entirely in collaboration with the local community by a flexible team of architects, artists and local volunteers. Over 5 months the structure became a site of respite, learning, entertainment and conversation.
2014-17 Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fellowship
3 years of funding and support for research and ambitious creative projects exploring the impacts of the built environment on health. Including work with GPs, architects, developers, local authorities, policy makers, volunteers, scientists, film makers, academics and the public. London, Venice, Alabama USA.
1998 George Butterworth Award for Innovative Work
Awarded for an ambitious collaboration between music composition, art and performance at the ISCM Festival. Marking a important professional transition into interdisciplinary work. This experimental event processed visitors through an absurd bureaucratic experience in takeover of Manchester Town Hall.
Artist-led urban garden since 2020
Location: West London
A project to revitalise a neglected public traffic island and encourage horticultural activism. I started this garden as a personal ‘guerilla’ project during the pandemic. After 18 months I negotiated with the local council for the right to continue and I have been given autonomy over planting and managing the site.
The project’s focus is on self-elected interactions, wellbeing and enjoyment; education and exchange, experience and memory. I have deliberately instigated a fluid and informal approach to involvement, rather than electing a fixed volunteer workforce. This fluid approach draws on a vast variety of skills, knowledge and exchanges, which are contributed on their own terms and in their own time.
The location of the garden at the conjunction of two busy, wide streets has formed a ‘village green’. It has become a popular place for exchange between residents who straddle a wide income demographic and do not normally interact. This seasonal flower garden is supported by neighbours, visitors and passers-by through practical help, knowledge, plant donations [and encouragement]. The ‘Traffic Island Garden’ featured the London Festival of Architecture 2022.
2023 Orleans House Gallery, Surrey – project development
2022 Ethox Centre University of Oxford – project content development
2022 Milton Keynes Arts and Heritage Alliance – a socially engaged neighbourhood project
2009-17 Wellcome Collection, London numerous public programme commissions including live whole-building events,
bespoke projects, research-based events
2016 Francis Crick Institute, London live performance
2012 ENO, London – live public event
1997 + 2004 BBC Symphony Orchestra Barbican Arts Centre, London – live public event
2003 Turner Comporary, Margate – new sculpture
2003 BBC Proms Festival – multi-media installation
2002 Shire Hall Gallery Stafford – new sculpture
2000 Year of the Artist, Cambridge – site-specific / socially engaged performance
1999 Helix Arts & National Probation Service, Sunderland – multi-media, whole building installation
2022 Museum of London – Collecting the Pandemic – handprinted posters
A unique collection of curator-selected items made by individuals using limited resources during the pandemic lockdowns. My submission was accessioned into the Museum’s collection.
• A set of eight handprinted posters and a hand-made alphabet printing set. The posters wryly alluded to pandemic-focused government directives and public responsibilities. They were originally displayed weekly in a window facing the street.
2009 Leicester Artworks Collection [sculpture] – Held in the Hand
As part of the historic Leicestershire County Council Artworks collection, I was commissioned to make a work that could be held and appreciated in the hand. The cardboard sculpture I made was reminiscent of an defunct gadget, rattled when shaken it made the handheld experience interactive. This artwork formed part of a collection that toured Leicestershire communities and was subsequently accessioned into the main collection.
1995 Cable and Wireless
A commissioned cardboard sculpture subsequently purchased for the collection.
2017 Countercurrents podcast: conversation with surgeon, Prof. Roger Kneebone
2015 Wellcome Trust Spotlight Blog – article on interdisciplinary practice
2013 John Cage Was publisher: Wesleyan – commissioned essay on artistic influence
2012 Times and Guardian, 4 star review for ENO Musicircus
2002 Time Out, feature: Contemporary Art Society ArtFutures featured artist
2000 Crafts Magazine, feature: new sculpture
Not currently
Formerly Represented by England and Co [London], 2002 – 2009
Formerly Represented by the Contemporary Art Society 1999 – 2002
My practice shifted into the public realm and site-specific work in 2000
2024 University of Houston, Texas
artist in residence 1 month [invited]
A collaboration between the College of Architecture and the School of Music. Exploring urban themes in weekly, experimental ‘Call and Response’ sessions that informed the construction of a large-scale, installation and live music performance.
2022 Buinho Creative Residency, Messejana, Portugal.
residency 1 month
included access and visits to local industries.
Exploring the fixed and ephemeral, I documented abandoned artefacts in the town’s abandoned anthropological museum and created discreet, temporary works around the town.
2023/4 New Forest National Park artist in residence
hosted by SPUDworks arts organisation https://www.spud.org.uk/alexjulyan
artist in residence 1 month [open call] I combined experimental building with archive research and public engagement. A final exhibition reflected on concepts of temporary shelter, exploring forest traditions, migration, impermanence and autonomous construction.
2017 Horniman Museum, London / Artquest
artist in residence 6 months [open call]
Access to curators, archives and stores. I focused on invention and materiality in musical instrument development. The residency culminated in a series of drawings, made objects, a walk and an interactive talk and music performance.
2017 Martyrs Gallery, Sussex, UK
artist-in Residence 1 week [open call]
A gallery based residency culminating in a whole-space collage
Email: alexjulyan1@gmail.com
Address: 21 Stanley Crescent, London, W11 2NA, GB
Local Authority: Kensington and Chelsea
