Holly Clark reflects on a Nest Residency exploring our relationship with reality TV.
During lockdown, some learnt to play an instrument, others started a new craft, I binged watched reality TV. The more I watched the more I discovered, each coming with new appeals and new ethical issues. I knew the ethics and practices on these shows were dubious, there’s been deaths connected to them, yet I and many, many others still watched.
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Ania Bas reflects on her Talking Birds residency
I arrived at The Nest with the beginnings of an idea that I wanted to explore in a new and slower way. Parenthood and precarious living gives me less time to meander and not-know when it comes to art and writing. These days in precious minutes that I can dedicate to my practice I launch myself into working on half-formed material with its final look somewhat predetermined. That way of working definitely brings results but it also makes me less adventurous as I tend to opt for safe options and stick to a way of working that I’m already familiar with.
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In London last week, Janet spent time finding green – exploring community gardens, parks, and places where people are reclaiming the city and making space for nature. Her photo essay begins on Monday with a cup of tea in the Onion Garden…
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Hannah Adereti reflects on their Talking Birds Residency, organised in partnership with MAIA
Do I know how to be with myself?
Honour all forms of creativity that emerge?
Should I always hone in or should I see what plains of the wild west of my imagination has to offer?
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Jaz Morrison reflects on her Nest Residency in association with MAIA
I haven’t been on many residencies, so I wasn’t sure what to expect during my time at the Nest. I remember asking if Talking Birds had any expectations of me, despite reading that this was about using the time as I felt best. The commute was surprisingly long – around 90 minutes from door to door – but it allowed me time to read books I’d put off, and the walk from the station familiarised me with the city centre. I even ran into an old colleague in my final week.
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This spring Talking Birds has been working with colleagues at the University of Warwick on the ‘AI in the Street‘ project, which is researching communities’ perspectives on, and feelings about, the AI-enabling infrastructure that lines our streets. The project aims to add citizen-voices into discussions about future infrastructure installation and invisible data gathering projects, whilst questioning how open and responsible the current processes are. The project has collaborative teams working in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Coventry, with the site of the Coventry Observatory being the Holyhead Road – which marks the border between Lower Coundon and Spon End.
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As followers of this blog will know, the F13 network – a broad coalition of independent artists and arts organisations, freelance creative practitioners and other interested parties convened by Talking Birds – was commissioned (on the back of its ‘Creating the Conditions for Creation‘ draft action plan) to develop and produce an event (The Future Works) to bring the creative sector back together, to move forwards after the turbulence of the last few years. (This process has been pretty extensively blogged, so if you need a catch up, maybe best to start here.)
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Julia O’Connell reflects on her Hatching Residency
In early November I was fortunate to be a Nest resident. I submitted an application previously and had sprawled out a myriad of ideas for exploration given the chance to have two whole weeks of headspace. I was excited and nervous.
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A Cultural Strategy sounds boring. And sometimes it is boring. But a good Cultural Strategy can tell a compelling story of a place – of its values and ambitions. Of its hopes and dreams. Of its direction of travel.
Some people think that our city has stalled. But we don’t think that’s true – and so we’ve invited artists and decision-makers to gather and re-set: let’s collectively re-imagine our story and work out how we want to tell it.
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Marianne White reflects on her Talking Birds Residency
Scroll down for text only version of Marianne’s blog.
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How a twitter thread from Amahra Spence and an interview with Joan Bakewell helped connect Janet’s thoughts about the collective work the F13 network of freelance and independent artists and small arts organisations is doing to devise and produce an event for Coventry’s wider cultural sector, commissioned by Culture Works:
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Corinne and Daisy reflect on their Remote Nest Residency.
I’m Corinne a disabled artist. This year marks my sixth year of spending almost every day confined to this same 2 by 1.5 metre space, my bed.
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Words from the Birds 