I would use this bursary to support the transformation of my practice from one identified with myself as an individual, to the first public exposition of the work of the East Anglian Fine Art Study Centre. This is an imaginary pseudo-organisation that I have been slowly developing over the last few years which is focussed on the sociology of the artworld, but has so far been limited to written outputs. I have published studies of media coverage of contemporary art, histories of artist-run spaces, and of common stories such as “modern art thrown away by cleaner”.
Alongside my writing I have also been moving my studio practice in this direction, for instance with an exhibition made up of artworks borrowed from people’s living rooms. My work is generally installation, sculpture and conceptually based. I would use this award to research and create new works based on the sociology of the artworld. These would be shown under the name of the East Anglian Fine Art Study Centre – giving them an ironic authority and official gravitas.
The bursary would enable me to make various research trips to other artistic pseudo-organisations (e.g. The School of the Damned) and to collaborate with Dr Laura Harris (University of Southampton) who coordinates the British Sociological Association’s Sociology of Art group. The time and space provided by financial support would allow me to make a body of new works for exhibition as the EAFASC for the first time in Darlington, including the publication of its collected written output. This would be a unique new resource for others interested in the sociology of the artworld.
• Research visits to other pseudo-organisations in the UK
• Support for collaboration with University of Southampton
• Support for fabrication of new body of work on sociology of the artworld
• Publication of collected writings from the East Anglian Fine Art Study Centre
By presenting works that reflect on how art is seen, discussed, and circulated, the exhibition would engage the local community in a conversation not just about art, but about how meaning and value are created within the artworld itself.
Because the project is framed as a study of art, rather than a conventional presentation in art, it has the potential to resonate beyond traditional audiences. Visitors are invited to reflect on familiar narratives (such as media stories of “modern art being thrown away”) in ways that are both accessible and intellectually stimulating.
Bringing this work to Darlington would create opportunities for dialogue between local artists, arts audiences, and wider networks of critical art practitioners and researchers. It would also strengthen the visibility of Darlington as a place where contemporary art is not only shown, but critically examined. I believe this kind of reflexive, engaging project can raise the profile of the creative arts in the region by inviting people to see art and their own responses to it in a new light.
I am a mid-career artist with an established national profile at a point of change. As a broadly conceptual artist, my works tend to assume a variety of forms and have little stylistic consistency. I do not have a brand or a recognisable style that I repeat. I work with found objects and increasingly with found contexts or situations. One way that I describe my work is to say that I make “constructed situations”. The establishment of the EAFASC is a way to try to bring these works together under one umbrella. For instance, my recent project at Norwich Castle Museum and Galleries (2023-24) involved rehanging five paintings from the permanent collection upside down. This was designed to be a surprise for the audience, a challenge, a way of making you see images as historical objects once again. The audience reaction was a significant part of the work. In 2022 I curated a small three-person exhibition in an empty house. All the works were domestic in scale, and some imitated household objects such as chairs or tv remote controls. My works were simple everyday objects such as bricks or a plastic bag filled with water. Again, it was the constructed situation of encountering these sculptures within a newly refurbished house that made them work. I created a total experience for the audience. I am currently developing a work on the archetypal artistic genius Van Gogh (“The Milky Way” – a collection of books showing his painting A Starry Night laid out on a custom shaped table), an investigation of the artists behind industrial product design (who designs the patterns on drain covers?), and a history of the artists’ beret.
PhD University of the Arts London / Norwich University of the Arts
MA Fine Art Central Saint Martins
BA (Hons) Mixed Media Art University of Westminster
I have received two ACE grants for the arts awards, in 2005 & 2013.
I was a Henry Moore Institute Fellow in 2006/7
I have curated many artist-initiated exhibitions (see website for details)
I was commissioned to make a film by Picture This, Bristol in 2009 and paid a fee
Reviewed in Boletin de Interpretacion 50 October 2024
Reviewed in Art Monthly October 2015
Featured in the Guardian Guide 3rd April 2010
Reviewed in a_n magazine July/August 2008
Reviewed in Metro 22 July 2008
Reviewed in Modern Painters November 2005
Reviewed in Art Monthly September 2005
Email: markwilsher@hotmail.com
Address: 60 Beaconsfield Road, Norwich, NORWICH, Norfolk, NR3 4PW, GB
Local Authority: Norwich City Council
