3 Degrees of Separation - official website launch
3º of Separation is a project organised by Gateshead-based artists Jo Coupe and Catherine Bertola, and funded by Turning Point North East’s Critical Dialogue Bursary.
The project involved a series of three one-day discussion events, with each event having a different emphasis, based on commonalities identified within our own work: Materiality, Time and Site and Context.
The artists attending were selected using the principle of degrees of separation – there being apparently only 7 degrees of separations between any two people on Earth. The selection started by each of us inviting one artist from the region, with whom we felt a connection in relation to the concept being discussed. These two artists were then asked to invite an artist on the same premise, and finally that artist was asked to do the same. This chain connection created three diverse groupings of eight artists, brought together purely on the basis of their work.
The events encompassed presentations by all the artists, followed by a discussion around the work presented in relation to the focus of the event. A writer was invited to attend each of the events and then commissioned to write a critical response to the conversation that ensued.
The resulting essays by Ruth Barker, Martin Herbert and Stephen Feeke can be found on the website, along with information about the twenty artists involved;
Catherine Bertola, Tim Brennan, Jo Coupe, Fiona Crisp, Graham Dolphin, Jennifer Douglas, Peter J. Evans, Joel Fisher, Susie Green, Charlotte Gregory, Paul Grimmer, Ashley Hipkin, Ben Jeans Houghton, John Lavell, Richard Rigg, Will Scrimshaw, Alan Smith, Sneha Solanki, Miles Thurlow, Dan Wilde
It is hoped that the conversations that began at these events, will continue beyond the within the four walls of the original event, and we are openly inviting people to add comments, responses and thoughts to the essays as a way of expanding the discussions.
We hope you find the project and essays of interest, please keep checking back in to the site as more content is added over time.
If you would like any more information about the project or website, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@3degreesofseparation.co.uk
Catherine Bertola and Jo Coupe
