‘Regrouping’ – revitalizing arts in North Midlands (UK)

Associated media

What do you get when you mix 31 artists, three counties and artistic collaboration? A festival of ideas and inspiration entitled Regrouping.

‘Regrouping’ is the latest show from art and culture champions BendInTheRiver. The show – which will include drawing workshops; photography; installation art; painting; soundscapes and site-specific work such as the painting of a disused building in Nottingham – is set to challenge our ideas of control and ‘the group’ with every artist in the show having to collaborate in some way.

BendInTheRiver co-director, Marcus Hammond, said the ideas of the show spilled into its curation upon the decision to hand artistic control to collaborating artists.

Each member of a core group of BendInTheRiver artists was asked to invite one other artist to participate in this series of shows and events. Some artists simply invited a guest, others built collaborations and this has given rise to a whole range of interactions and negotiations.

The show, taking place in venues in Sheffield, Nottingham, Lincoln and Gainsborough, is also a prelude to BendInTheRiver taking up permanent residence in the show’s Sheffield venue as of January 2013.

Marcus Hammond said he hopes ‘Regrouping’ adds to the vitalizing of visual arts in the region.

It is very exciting that the dynamic of ‘Regrouping’ has spread beyond our project space at x-church in Gainsborough to other regional venues,” he said.

BendInTheRiver has never just been an exhibition venue. We have always put energy into supporting and developing artists and arts infrastructure in our region. The size and scope of Regrouping feels like a physical manifestation of all this invasive activity.”

Regrouping is a funded by Arts Council England.

'Regrouping' can be seen at the following venues

Gainsborough

x-church, Ashcroft Road DN21 1BY
8 Sept – 6 Oct, Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat, 11a.m. – 5p.m.

Lincoln,
Lindum Road, LN2 1NN
06 Oct – 27 Oct, Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun, 10a.m. – 4p.m.