Gasworks Residency London
Gasworks’ Residencies Programme was established in 1994 to provide non UK-based artists with the opportunity to live and work in London for a period of up to 3 months. His first time outside Asia, Risang Yuwono was invited to spend his residency in the UK from November to December 2013. During his residency Helen Marshall co-hosted him by organising a series of networking events, meetings and participative activities with arts organisations, curators and galleries in order to develop the project and introduce it to new audiences. It was the first Indonesian artist residency of it’s kind in the UK. He was given a studio and accommodation and he returned to Indonesia with many new experiences. The project participated in several events including, The Post Colonial Photostudio, curated by Alexander Supartono hosted by The North East Photography Network and exhibited at The Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, a talk and presentation co-hosted with ARTi UK and SOAS, talks and workshops with SEA Arts and with invited guest artist, Sinta Tantra, who is a British artist of Balinese descent, the Anglo Indonesian Society’s AGM at the Indonesian Embassy and a party and salon at Helen Marshall’s house in East London, with SEA Arts, Pasar Malam, a week-long bazaar of art, film, music, food, discussions and parties — Southeast Asian-style. A conversation with Professor Matthew Cohen, University of Holloway. An intimate dinner hosted by Mark Hobart Professor, SOAS Media & Film Studies with traditional Indonesian home cooking by his Balinese dancer wife. As part of the Open Studio Weekend, Gasworks’ visiting artists introduce their practice and discuss the projects they have pursued whilst in London. The residency concluded with a Gasworks Dinner Event & Goodbye, ‘Selamat Malam!’ which was an Intimate Indonesian supper, drinks and conversation event, to which a number of curators and arts practitioners were invited.
” The hosting of Risang Yuwono (through our collaboration with Helen Marshall) was a great pleasure for us at Gasworks, and felt like a monumental occasion. This partnership gave Gasworks a rare opportunity to work with an artist from a region under-represented in the UK, and one we would almost certainly never have been able to include in Gasworks residencies programme before now. Not only did the residency feel like a great success in terms of supporting networking and professional development opportunities for Risang in Europe and the development meaningful engagement with Gasworks local audience, but we hope that Gasworks can build upon this experience to develop further contacts and collaborations in South-east Asia. It will be a strategic focus to work on this region over the coming years, as Gasworks continues to reassess both its position and function globally.”
Rowan Geddis