Books in Common and Olympia: works from the Kenneth Armitage Foundation Fellowship, 2011 - 2013

‘Books in Common’ and ‘Olympia’ are two ‘newspapers’ that address different aspects of Gunning’s Kenneth Armitage Foundation (KAF) Fellowship 2011-2013. They are published and distributed by Matt’s Gallery, with support from the KAF.

During the residency, Gunning lived and worked in what was the house and studio of the sculptor Kenneth Armitage (1916 – 2002). Living in what was Kenneth Armitage’s domestic and professional space, her activity was in relation to a living museum and archive. The two newspapers focus on the specificity of the artist’s studio/house, which Gunning used to explore ways in which the social, cultural and political values from the past both inform the present and are radically altered.

The overall project title ‘Anvil Gantry Vice’ was Gunning’s response to the somewhat obsolete, although defining, equipment in the studio. Ideas of an artists’ studio are negotiated as our relationship to materiality changes. Armitage and the previous residents of the studio had a relationship to sculpture that privileged the ‘object’ with no consideration of its ‘expanded field’ – in contrast, the studio for Gunning is ‘subject matter’ as well as a space for making, a testing ground, a gallery, a performance space and a platform for exchange.

Gunning’s residency was the subject of an article ‘In the Studio: Lucy Gunning, artist’ in The Independent 10 May 2013. Further outcomes from the residency were an event/performance for ‘Outside Outside’ 2013 and an event for ‘Offshore’ as part of their contribution to Artlicks w/e 2013.