VANE98
Louise Wirz

My first contact with ‘VANE98’ was through receiving a small flyer in May inviting me to the Head of Steam pub in Newcastle. The flyer was both a call for ‘all artists working in or connected to Newcastle’ who were keen to participate and perhaps more significantly a call to ‘help build a lasting infrastructure and network for the exchange of ideas and resources’. It was clear from the outset that a group of people were getting together to make something happen (as had been the case with ‘VANE97’ the previous year) and also to question the status quo. The result of these pub meetings involved a mushrooming of momentum of over 100 artists exhibiting and performing in around fifty events in over twenty venues during October. The series of previews and parties (in wonderful venues such as the Assembly Rooms) was so unceasing that I only know of one person who stuck the course and attended every single event.

Being asked to write about ‘VANE98’ in general, about what struck me and what struck those I talked with, immediately brings about a list of questions that no sane person could attempt to answer (or read) in one short article. What was the motivation for those participating (exhibiting artists, artist organisers, funders, venue owners and visitors)? Was it political and/or experimental? Why did Vane happen in the first place – was it about setting the agenda or just getting on with it? Was there really strength in numbers and was there room within this for individual development and gain? How did the broad church approach work in practice? Amongst the wide range of practice and career stages represented was there really a sense of a lack of hierarchy? What about the future – can Vane maintain its openness and flexibility? By its nature, will it become a victim of its own success and – like trying to catch a butterfly with a brick – will the very process of trying to pin Vane down to a definition alter it beyond recognition?

To make sense of what it was that did happen during and through ‘VANE98’, I think it is important to establish why Vane came about in the first place. From talking to William Heard (a co-organiser of ‘VANE97’ and ‘VANE98’), it seems that Vane evolved in 1997 out of a desire that was not being satisfied in the existing infrastructure of exhibition opportunities for artists based in the region. James Bustard (Head of Visual Arts at Northern Arts) views the Vane initiative as important due to the very fact that it is an expression of self-determination, independent of an institution. Why Vane came about in 1997 and not 1996 can in part be answered by the perceived opportunities expected by artists in the region during Visual Arts UK. Both institutions and artists openly acknowledge (1) that the experience of many regional artists of Visual Arts UK was that of ambivalence; on the one hand there was a celebration and profiling of visual art per se and on the other there was a feeling that existing structures did not deliver the exhibition opportunities that were expected for and by regional artists. An example of an expected yet undelivered opportunity was the open that never was, ‘Northern Scene’ in Sunderland, criticism of which spawned ‘On the Corner’, organised by and involving over forty Sunderland artists outside of the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art space (subsequently ‘Connected’ was organised by both artists and the gallery involving over seventy artists in 1997). I am sure that this is not the only example of existing structures letting artists down during 1996 and beyond but on the positive side it is also an example that illustrates the effect of artist-led challenges to institutions which can lead to a mutually beneficial non-‘us-and-them’ collaborative result. One could argue therefore that Vane has its origins in both protest and empowerment.

Continues