Looking for ideas about how to archive your artist-run initiative in the longer-term, here is a fabulous Washington DC project (2017-2018) and thanks artist and ARI heritage aficionado John Waller for kindly sharing these links….

Help write the history of DC’s artist-run spaces!

In conjunction with the September 2017 exhibition at Washington Project for the Arts, the DC-based cultural initiative Beltway Public Works and the NYC-based art blog Art F City are collaborating on a DC-region specific edition of We Are SO Not Getting the Security Deposit Back: A Guide to Defunct Artist-Run Spaces. A zine compiling responses from no-longer-extant spaces in greater DC area will published by Art F City and launched during the fall WPA exhibition.

http://beltwaypublicworks.org/we-are-so-not-getting-the-security-deposit-back/

A collaboration of BPW and Art F City

Art F City is a non-profit publication that supports the creation of more sustainable artist-run projects through a mix of criticism, special projects and professional development opportunities. Our initiatives include an online publishing program, a project space and a diverse event program which serve to curate emerging practices, commission new art, and build IRL and online communities. We believe culture makers function best with a supportive community. To that end, we’re working toward a more socially conscious art community by facilitating the sharing of ideas, resources, and skills.

https://www.facebook.com/WPADC

Last October, we published the first edition of our zine series, We’re So Not Getting the Security Deposit Back: A Guide to Defunct Artist Spaces in partnership with Beltway Public Works in DC. Today, we’re making it freely available to all in the form of a PDF. (If you want the physical version please contact AFC directly paddy@artfcity.com)

The zine charts the history of artist run spaces in DC from the 1970’s through to the present, from garage galleries to traditional white wall cubes. It even documents the ring of sweat left in a tiny gallery after they hosted a packed Bad Brains show. It’s a thorough accounting of the artist run movement in DC and worth downloading for that alone.

But this is just the start of the project. We’re making zines that document the history of 50 secondary cities in 50 states. It’s a huge undertaking, but one that’s desperately needed. The long unpaid hours, the love, and the art all gets lost without it. So, if you live in a secondary city and think you could wrangle some folks to fill out a questionaire and make a zine, reach out to paddy@artfcity.com. We’ll make it happen together.

Making Zines

http://artfcity.com/2018/08/05/were-so-not-getting-the-security-deposit-back-dc-edition

Archive Copy

Join us for the release of “We Are SO Not Getting the Security Deposit Back; a Guide to Defunct Artist-Run Spaces” (DC Edition). This zine is the first of a series conceived by the NYC-based art blog Art F City, and co-published by the DC-based artist initiative Beltway Public Works with curator Blair Murphy. It documents spaces from the 1970s to the near present, and includes long-running entities like Market 5 Gallery and the Washington Women’s Art Center and short-term projects such as FLEX, which ran for two days in an unrented ground-floor retail space. Publishing these stories makes visible the role of artist-run spaces in the cultural fabric of the city. As Paddy Johnson writes, projects like these, “made with love and tears” are “the ones least likely to be archived — and most precious to us.”

https://www.facebook.com/events/1925920764327402/

Tagged as: We’re so not getting the security deposit back

The Irish Artist-Led Archive

The ‘Irish Artist-led Archive – Sustainable Activism and the Embrace of Flux’ is a curated archival project and touring exhibition that seeks to publicly present the rich history of Irish artist-led cultural Initiatives that have taken place over the past 30 years. The project forms an on-going investigation into artist-led initiatives in Ireland and aims to decipher the kind of cultural conditions that led to their birth, their economic independence (or lack of), their organizational structures and how all of these factors effected their activities and life spans.

The Archive is a project that was concieved and developed by Megs Morley, a practicing artist and curator based in the West of Ireland in 2006 in response to both a practial and conceptual enquiry into artist-led culture in Ireland. The project has been designed to continue to grow in a state of development and re-evaluation throughout 2007 and 2008. Through the process of diaogue with artist-led initiatives, their founders and current directors the project attempts to initiate debate and critical thinking into the sometimes contested ‘histories’ of these of organisations. In creating platforms and situations for these conversations to occur, the Artist led archive is attempting to add to the development of artist-led culture in Ireland by acknowleging past initiatives work and exposing the roots of some of our oldest cutlural vehicles thereby creating a resource tool and context for future initiatives.

Projector Collective contributed material to the archive based on their recent projects. Megs Morely invited Projector Collective to make new works for the The Archive at The Galway Arts Centre (& Catalyst Arts Centre) and The LAB, Foley Street, Dublin.

www.theartistledarchive.com