Melanie Stidolph

The Photographers’ Gallery, London in collaboration with The Pin Projects, Beijing OCT-LOFT, Shenzhen and with support from the British Council present Work, Rest and Play: British Photography from the 1960s to Today, until 12 July 2015. Also on display is The World in London, a major public art project initiated by The Photographers’ Gallery in 2012 to coincide with the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The project presents 204 photographic portraits of 204 Londoners, each originating from one of the nations competing at the Games. I was one of the 204 commissioned artists and the exhibition includes my portrait of Corina Armel from Mauritius (shutter triggered by Dot the cat).

Installing exhibition with Mandy Lee Jandrell at Solent Showcase Gallery. Joint exhibition, which comes from a desire to reflect the separate but simultaneous change in our practices and emphasise the recurring elements and new formal concerns of the work. Blindingly bright vegetation bursts into the space and there is an overlap of visual and voiced reflections on making art and life. Includes new videos She is already here, a homage to artist and photographer Nadège Mériau and collaborative work Exhaustion with Max Catterall. Exhibition runs until 20 June. //connectseverything.tumblr.com/

Filming in the studio this week, working on a new moving image piece for the forthcoming exhibition Eventually Everything Connects at Solent Showcase gallery with Mandy Lee Jandrell. Working title The Assistant, filming in Russian Club studios (thank you Matt Golden) around the idea of the slippage between a directed and accidental moment, conflating the role of Photographer / Assistant and the studio as a site of installation and potential dwelling.  Thanks to Nadège Mériau for her assistance and consulting.

Talk yesterday with Alice Walton at Format Festival for the Except The Mirror exhibition which I curated and features the work of Sophie Clements, Annie MacDonell, Tom Lovelace, Richard Paul, Melanie Stidolph and Alice Walton. Alice and I talked about and invited audience participation into the concept of The Double in artist’s practice.  Our starting point for the talk was this quote from Emma Cocker ‘An action is begun before knowing what it might enable. A conversation is initiated in the absence of intention; attention given to the pauses and durations breathed between the words.’

PIGDOGANDMONKEYFESTOS is an exhibition curated by Shaun Doyle & Mally Mallinson, exploring contemporary artists’ manifestos and works inspired by the manifesto format. I’m showing a new collaborative work made with Max Catterall, artists include; Dean Kenning, David Blandy and Larry Achiampong, Mathieu Beausejour, Clunie Reid, Oona Grimes, Richard Paul, Frank Wasser, Katie Schwab, Jenny Moore, Dominic from Luton, Alice Walton, Tanja Ritterbex, Benedict Drew, Doyle and Mallinson, Shane Bradford, Cedar Lewisohn, Patricia Ellis, Harriet Murray, Neil Taylor, Peter Lamb, Ami Clarke, Sarah Lucas, Leigh Clarke, Jessica Voorsanger, Emma Hart, Melanie Stidolph and Abigail Lane. Touring show, first iteration at AirSpace Gallery in June 2014. www.exeterphoenix.org.uk

Very pleased that Except the Mirror, my proposal for a group show has just been accepted for Format Festival 2015: Evidence.  It explores the movement and positioning of objects and found images in relationship to an evidencing and externalizing of artists’ thought. Included artists; Sophie Clements, Annie MacDonell, Tom Lovelace, Richard Paul, Alice Walton and myself.  More information available on the Format Festival – www.formatfestival.com. Evidence will run from 13th March to 12th April 2015 in Derby, UK.

Showed 4 short films on Thursday at the Whitechapel Gallery Open Screening. Recent works including Studio Noises from collaborative series with Max Catterall produced over the summer. Five emerging and established artist filmmakers presented their short film work and discussed it with the audience and Adjunct Film Curator Gareth Evans. Part of quarterly Open Screenings at www.whitechapelgallery.org.

New publication – Photosoup An Imperfect Choice – features new work by existing Photosoup contributors – including Gianni Forte, Carlos Saladén-Vargas and Eti Wade and new artists selected through the ‘early birds’ open call.  I have contributed new work and an introduction – ‘This form of interaction and group presentation that Photo-Soup is interested in pursuing suggests itself as a temporary alongsideness; creating and sustaining connections that enhance collaborative enquiry.’ Purchase hard back or download from photo-soup.org.