What _Matters?

Emma Bakel from Leeds University talked to us about the upcoming Fine Art show, _Matters…

What _Matters?

The University of Leeds BA Fine Art programme is renowned for its course structure; the equal weighting of practical and theory attracts great young thinking and making talent from across the world. Within the realms of The Arts and beyond, the university has a reputation for producing critical thinkers and theorists who are also talented art makers.

It should come as no surprise, then, that as students we relished the opportunity to take the reigns when it came to organising our own degree show. In terms of launching careers whether as artists or otherwise, degree shows are a terminal from which futures can take off. A recent visit by the head of sculpture at UCL’s The Slade School of Fine Art, Melanie Jackson made it ever clearer how much of the onus is on us as artists, curators, publicists and fundraisers to create an exhibition which demands the right attention and stands us in good stead for what lies ahead.

We are 32 multidisciplinary artists addressing a multitude of issues and genres through extensive experimentation with methods of production, various mediums, assessments, observations, materials and questions, all with very different agendas. For this reason the decision to create a show that embraces the diversity of interests shaping our practices whilst also affirming the importance of making art facilitated bringing our work together.

_Matters as a title was conceived to address the idea of matter as a noun in itself, and yet also as physical substance which occupies space and to simultaneously question what does matter. Inevitably there are 32 very different answers to this question, and as we move through the process of putting together the show, these will change dramatically and will eventually fill the gap represented by the underscore in _Matters, to give a definitive overview of what actually _Matters now to those who choose to study fine art in Britain in 2014.

Over the next two months interviews with our publicity, fundraising and curation teams and the artists involved will give an insight into the technicalities and reality of putting together a degree show. _Matters will open to the public on 18th June 2014 and our official website will launch in a matter of weeks. Until then we will be posting previews, updates and information on our Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook.

http://mattersleeds.tumblr.com

https://twitter.com/MattersLeedsUni

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Matters/426321824164656?fref=ts