Furtherfield Explained Further
I make no secret of how strongly bonded I am with the arts organisation and community Furtherfield. I was lucky enough to meet founders Marc Garrett and Ruth Catlow very early on in my career and have developed my own practice in close dialogue with their work. In fact I have a special role within Furtherfield that has naturally evolved through this relationship; that of Associate Context Editor, as their website explains:
“For over eight years, Dr Charlotte Frost has been engaged in researching the network of historical, critical and cultural discourse representative of Furtherfield’s practice. She supports a variety of Furtherfield projects in their conception, as well as producing relevant and accessible contextual material – such as writing articles, conducting interviews, and presenting on the Furtherfield.org radio show – to support and develop wider audience engagement with Furtherfield’s work. Her PhD thesis (Internet Art History 2.0), and related academic essays, have strongly relied upon a number of Furtherfield projects (including VisitorsStudio, DIWO and Zero Dollar Laptop) to demonstrate an emergent, alternative realm of critical enquiry operative at the intersection of arts and technology.”
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know where I would be without both Marc and Ruth and the wider community that is Furtherfield. I have been constantly inspired by their activities which sustain my faith in the deep importance of art from beyond the white cube. Having grown up – so to speak – within this culture, I understand the organisation in a way newcomers often don’t. But for some, Furtherfield’s work can appear so sprawling and interconnected it can be difficult for people to get a handle on.
Furtherfield – a Short Film by Pete Gomes from Furtherfield on Vimeo.
Just before Christmas (at a great party!) Furtherfield unveiled a new website and a short video by award-winning film-maker Pete Gomes designed to clarify who they are and what they do.
As the new website has it:
“Furtherfield was founded by artists Ruth Catlow and Marc Garrett in 1997 and sustained by the work of its community as the Internet took shape as a new public space for internationally connected cultural production. [It] is now a dynamic, creative and social nerve centre where upwards of 26,000 contributors worldwide have built a visionary culture around co-creation – swapping and sharing code, music, images, video and ideas.
“We believe that through creative and critical engagement with practices in art and technology people are inspired and enabled to become active co-creators of their cultures and societies. We can make our own world – together! Our mission is to co-create extraordinary art that connects with contemporary audiences providing innovative, engaging and inclusive digital and physical spaces for appreciating and participating in practices in art, technology and social change.”
If you don’t already know Furtherfield – or even if you do – I can’t urge you strongly enough to delve into the new site and watch Gomes’ incredible video (above) and get involved in what they are doing…Or by all means come and see the paper I’ll be giving on their practice at the CAA Conference in New York in February (session: Dark Matter of the Art World II)!