Meeting - Two Queens - Leicester

Informal Conversation 

Two Queens - Leicester 

27/10/17

I travelled to Leicester to meet with Dan Kelly, co-director of Two Queens, regarding their volunteer placement programme. Distance from Stoke to the gallery posed a problem during conversations. The gallery has a very small budget for travel expenses for volunteers; it wouldn't be possible for me to take part in the programme placement for a lengthy time scale. 

However I noted my keenness to be involved in the gallery. I negotiated writing reviews/critical pieces for their exhibitions as an alternative to gather experience in this field. I mentioned it would be ideal to meet the artists to gather more material to write with. The pieces could then be published on their gallery website and beyond. - Evaluative writing experience is an essential skill to take into arts research, it demonstrates an ability to contextualize contemporary arts practice and offer interesting concepts that can be applied to arts practices. 

Dan mentioned Leicester lacking a writer for the arts in the city - here I see an opportunity to perhaps publish things I write in Leicester's wider cultural 'arts and entertainment' magazines. - This would provide physical evidence of my work being used for printed publications, more essential experience to take into future of arts writing. 

I queried opportunities the gallery offers for creative projects to take place in-between exhibitions; to this he responded that they like to have projects in their spaces in the interim between shows. I suggested that perhaps I send a creative project proposal to him to utilise some of the space for an investigative project exploring human perception and attention. - I mentioned that I'd like to work with  psychology or philosophy students to develop a test of sorts to collect data for my interdisciplinary practice. - This experience would help me develop these strands of practice to enhance my CV for my future as an interdisciplinary arts practitioner.

The Cooperation Show- Simon Buckley & Hardeep Pandhal; 14th Oct - 2nd Dec 2017 - Image Amy Foster.