'In an extraordinary art performance artist Mark McGowan is to be buried in the sand on Margate beach for an incredible 48 hours. Starting on Saturday 3rd May at 12 noon and ending at 12 noon on Bank Holiday Monday 5th May 2008. The performance is an attempt to save the Great British Seaside Holiday and the environment/planet at the same time.'

THIS EVENT IS PART OF MARGATE ROCKS
http://www.margaterocks.com/

Mark McGowan is resident artist at CRATE during April and May.

For more info:
http://savetheenviromentandcometomargate.blogspot.com/
http://www.markmcgowan.org/

THURSDAY 27th March 2008 7PM

A screening and talk based on Caroline Furneaux’s CRATE residency took place in Crate's Project Space 1 on Thursday 27 March at 7pm.

Caroline’s work Everything Around Us Is Culture (8 min 3 secs) reflects on the nebulous and politically charged term ‘culture-led regeneration’.

In 1997 the decision was taken to build a world-class contemporary art gallery in Margate to rival those in St. Ives and Bilbao. Following ten years of investment and controversy, Turner Contemporary is scheduled to open in 2010.

Caroline's project adopts a documentary-style approach to consider what this investment means for Margate. By complementing still images with sound in the form of a slideshow, she creates juxtapositions that are by turns striking, ironic, beautiful, hopeful and sad. The photographs seek evidence of ‘culture’ in the landscape, while the audio – a mixture of interviews and ambient sound – reveals the different responses from the people living and working there.

read more>>>

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2007

The second cross channel link between Crate and Lille-based organisation Artconnexion took place in Autumn 2007. Following the success of Emma Leach's residency in Lille, French artist Cécile Wesolowski was based in the Crate Project Spaces in Margate for a month. A new video work will be shown in Lille in December as part of the Réseau 50° nord 'Watch this Space' event which showcases young artists working in the Nord region of France.


For further information on the 50° nord network: www.50degresnord.net
For further information on Art Connexion: www.artconnexion.org

see more>>>

AUGUST 2007

Everything Around Us Is Culture: Regeneration In Margate

Caroline Furneaux's project is an inquiry into the nebulous and politically charged term 'culture-led regeneration'. The decision to build a contemporary art gallery in Margate to rival those in St Ives and Bilbao has triggered both investment and controversy. Using still images and sound, her work explores what this investment in culture means for Margate. The photographs seek 'evidence' of culture-led regeneration in the landscape, while the audio – a mixture of interviews and ambient sound – reveals the varied responses from the people living and working there. Caroline completed a 6 week residency at Crate in mid August 07, and will return early in the new year to talk about her project.

Emma Leach spent one month living and working in central Lille as Artist in Residence, the first cross channel link between Crate and Lille-based organisation artconnexion. www.artconnexion.org
With no specific outcome for this month, it was a period of research and reflection, of meeting people and forging possible networks for future practice. Away from the usual distractions on British soil, the artist found herself wandering the streets, somewhat like the character of the flaneur that has interested her for several years. She was situated somewhere between a resident and a tourist, with a status and feeling of place that changed as the month went on, and the work she produced during her stay reflects a highly ambivalent sense of community / boundaries, of belonging / isolation. Linked to this was her interest in Lille’s traditional stance as the socialist heartland of France.