How to work together is a network of London-based arts organisations (The Showroom, Chisenhale Gallery and Studio Voltaire) working together on a shared programme of contemporary art commissioning and research.
Over three years (2013–2016), How to work together is producing a series of nine major new artists’ commissions (three per year), exhibitions, events and an online Think Tank - a growing collection of commissioned research by artists, writers and thinkers in response to the question of ‘how to work together’. We are combining our knowledge and resources to discover what we can do together that we could not do alone.
For more details on the project please see the How to work together website
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2015/16
Commissioned Exhibitions
15 April - 05 June 2016
Sharon Hayes' (USA) presented a major new commission, In My Little Corner of the World, Anyone Would Love You at Studio Voltaire. This was the artist’s first exhibition in a UK public gallery exhibition.
22 April 2016 - 29 Mary 2016
Maria Eichhorn's project 5 weeks, 25 days, 175 hours was presented at Chisenhale Gallery. Highly responsive to context, Eichhorn’s work operates within the logic of institutional structures, enacting changes through precise and visually minimal gestures.
29 April - 18 June 2016
Koki Tanaka's show Provisional Studies: Action #5 Conceiving the Past, Perceiving the Present at The Showroom was a project that staged collective actions in response to the local histories of The Showroom's neighbourhood, Church Street.
2014/15
Commissioned Exhibitions
17 April – 7 June 2015:
Sanya Kantarovsky’s (Russia/US) exhibition Apricot Juice in collaboration with Ieva Misevičiūte took place at Studio Voltaire, comprising a series of large paintings and a performance by Misevičiūte and taking Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita as a starting point.
29 April – 31 May:
Ahmet Öğüt’s (Turkey) exhibition Happy Together: Collaborators Collaborating opened at Chisenhale Gallery, and brought together ten of the artist’s previous collaborators for a filmed public discussion event, which formed the basis of a film installation
29 April – 20 June:
Wendelien van Oldenborgh’s (Netherlands) show From Left to Night at The Showroom was an experimental film production, embedded in The Showroom’s neighbourhood
Think Tank Commissions
• A set of three written interviews by Andrea Phillips, with the three How to work together directors Emily Pethick, Joe Scotland and Polly Staple
• ‘The Sharing Economy: A Post-Mortem’ – a panel discussion at Bloomberg with Mercedes Bunz, Indy Johar, Helen Kaplinsky and Brett Scott, curated by Victoria Lupton and Ben Vickers
• ‘unMonastery: Relearning the Rules’ Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and ‘Code/unCode’ – a series of four transcribed interviews with representatives from monastic orders and an e-book by Ben Vickers and unMonaster
• ‘Invest in What? How to work together, the Arts Council’s Catalyst fund, and art’s contemporary economic infrastructure’ – an essay by Andrea Phillips
• ‘Poethical Readings/Intuiting the Political’ – a series of readings and a presentation by Valentina Desideri and Denise Ferreira da Silva
2013/14
Commissioned Exhibitions
2 May – 22 June 2014:
Céline Condorelli’s exhibition took place at Chisenhale Gallery, focusing on the theme of work and friendship.
11 April – 8 June 2014:
Ella Kruglyanskaya’s exhibition took place at Studio Voltaire, in which she developed a series of new paintings dealing with women in work.
30 April – 21 June 2014:
Gerry Bibby’s exhibition Combination Boiler took place at The Showroom, in which he dealt with the question of ‘how to work together’ as an infiltrator, finding a disruptive role in the workplace.
Think Tank Commissions
Each Think Tank commission was accompanied by a public live event at one of our three galleries; the commissions were as follows:
• ‘Common Good(s): Redefining the public interest and the common good’ – an essay by Anna Minton, accompanied by ‘After Ground Control’, a presentation by Anna Minton
• ‘How to refuse work altogether’ – a sound work by Bonnie Camplin, accompanied by an audio recording of the inaugural meeting of the Nervemeter Council, 31 August 2013
• ‘Source Sans How to work together’ – a typeface for the project developed by An Endless Supply in collaboration with a growing number of designers
• ‘The Company We Keep’ – a conversation between Céline Condorelli and sociologist Avery Gordon, accompanied by a ‘Bibliography of Work and Friendship’
• ‘Morning Star Rebranded’ – an open letter by Chris Evans
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How to work together is supported by a capacity building and match-funding grant from Arts Council England through Catalyst Arts, with additional funding in the third year from Bloomberg, Cockayne and Jerwood Charitable Foundation.
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