The Rural Assembly: Day 1

Panels and seminars on themes ranging from embedded artistic practice in the rural, translocal networks, decolonising the rural and rural representations. Featuring artists Fernando Garcia-Dory, Richard Saxton (M12 Studio), Studio Morison, Grace Ndiritu, Rhine Bernadino, Katerina Seda and Myvillages; curators Fulya Erdemci, Katya Garcia-Anton and Adam Sutherland, alongside researchers Pelin Tan, Michael Woods, Bige Orer, Rosemary Shirley and Nicola Bishop.

The Rural Assembly draws on a series of public programmes and research that developed throughout 2018. It looks at contemporary artists and creative practitioners who are challenging the assumptions made about rural life and culture, providing a new vision of the countryside grounded in everyday experience and a critique of the rural-urban binary.

This culminating assembly considers how artists respond to the established and imposed divides between the rural and the urban. From re-imagined farming practices and food systems to architecture, community projects and transnational local networks, this three-day assembly brings together artists, curators, historians and critics to discuss the role of art in a rural context, inviting a critical outlook at our relationships with the rural today.

DOWNLOAD FULL ASSEMBLY PROGRAMME HERE

Keynote Lecture: Wu Mali

Thu 20 Jun, 7pm

A leading practitioner of socially engaged art in rural areas. For over thirty years Wu Mali has developed a distinctive approach to working with communities across Taiwan.

The Rural Assembly Day 2: Wysing Arts Centre

Sat 22 Jun, 11am – 7pm

With a focus on artistic practice and experience in the rural, the second day provides a slower pace with walks, a collective lunch and performances, screenings and seminars.