THE WHITE PUBE

HELLOOOO everybody. This is a base for our texts about Unlimited Festival 2k16. We have written about and around the art-things within this festival that Shape Arts and ArtsAdmin have commissioned, between the Southbank in LDN and Tramway in Glasgow (yay, white pube on trains n planes, baby). The art in this festival exists and glows because of Shape and ArtsAdmin’s commissioning programme ALSO called Unlimited. We are going to be writing about Shape and ArtsAdmin’s Unlimited works, and we want to make it clear how much they help, and what their support looks like. No one really writes about that, do they. Like what about the behind the scenes, dress rehearsals. What about that time u were thirsty and the curator bought you a ginger beer. Thank you my friend.

Also, b t w, Unlimited Festival holds up work by disabled artists. The White Pube has tip-toed, positively-discriminated, and TOtally neglected writing about work by disabled artists. We are very sorry. We recently saw a tweet that said ‘art by underrepresented people is usually shit,’ and it made Gab laugh and Zarina scream. The White Pube could be a place where art writing levels identity, values it - and still, does not let identity get in the way of full criticism out of fear of othering. art criticism can be tricky n sticky. It has a tendency to deny art identity, while still getting stuck on that identity - and then never really looking at the art itself. Hello maybe we can figure out these levels in our Unlimited reviews. Maybe we wont get hung up on the fact the art is delivered by disabled artists? And other times, Maybe our tongues will get stuck on that, because that is what the artist wants - for their identity to be confronted. art is good, we’ll see. and we hope our intention to be good about this is clear in each text, (and if not, we want to know) (good friends call out their friends when they’re being problemo-atic).

We are being commissioned by Shape to review these shows. We can say whatever we want, we are jus being asked to write conspicuously about the works they support. Every 2 years, Shape funds a round of large-scale art commissions across all art forms by disabled artists n creatives (the next round actually opens october 3rd, so if u r interested, now u kno). And as well as full commissions, Shape also awards smaller Research and Development grants. The support they provide is formally monetary but also also also it is more than just giving u the mon£y n hoping u go away only to come back with a masterpiece. Shape is there for the artists they fund with advice n ears n minds n hearts n hands. They provide infrastructur-al (is that a word?) support for their artists, hook them up, support them like sisters n friends ❤. And u shout about how gr8 ur friends are, don’t u. When we were at uni, we used to sing ‘U RAISE ME UP’ to each other in moments of strife/sadness/joy. N commissions should mean more than just financial support. Support should be holistic.

So. Commissions, Shape, ArtsAdmin, Unlimited. We didn’t know about that, u might not have. Now we’re all good, we want to write about the meaty meatiness of the art. We wana get our teeth iiiin it. We wana be honest and real, from london to glasgow. Gd gd. Let’s get to it lads.

Reviews: