Library
Resources
TOMA BELIEVES IN LIFELONG LEARNING.
TOMA BELIEVES EVERYONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO ACCESS + PARTICIPATE IN ART.
TOMA STANDS FOR EQUALITY + IS COMMITTED TO HELPING END RACISM.
As an education programme outside of the traditional model we are committed to challenging systems + acknowledge that despite that white people still have more access to spaces such as TOMA. We pledge to recognise these privileges + learn + are planning some education sessions for our group.
TOMA IS LISTENING/LEARNING/READING STARTING WITH THESE ANTI RACISM RESOURCES HERE (from SADGRADS) + THIS AMAZING BLACK HISTORY LIBRARY HERE (from Charles Preston).
We are/will be using this learning to understand + evoke change.
Thanks to Southend artist Elsa James for making this downloadable poster to help show support + commitment in fighting racism, inequality + racism. You can download it HERE.
Multiple authors - Let’s Mobilize: What is feminist pedagogy?
Chris Kraus - Why art is the most enduring form of self-care
Jo Applin - There’s a Sculpture on My Shoulder: Bruce McLean + the Anxiety of Influence
Hito Stereyl - The Wretched of the Screen
Claes Oldenburg - I Am for an Art
Multiple authors - Art in the Anthropocene
Marina Vishmidt - Precarious Straits
Multiple authors - Precarious Labour in the Field of Art
Montez Press - The Interjection Calendar
Various (gathered by Institute for Applied Aesthetics) - The Artist-run Space of the Future
Morgan Quaintance - The New Conservatism
Kerri Jefferis, Rosalie Schweiker, Sophie Chapman - 500 words artists shouldn’t use this week
Brian Ashbee - How to be a critic
Kerry Campbell - Class and Curating
The White Pube - How To Get an Exhibition
Precarious Workers Brigade - Training for Exploitation?
Image courtesy of Zarina Muhammad.
PRECARIOUS STRAITS WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE TEXTs
For our exhibition Precarious Straits, we commissioned four writers to produce texts exploring precariousness more broadly, click each link below to read the respective texts.
> ‘I LIKE STONY BEACHES.’ BY ZARINA MUHAMMAD FROM THE WHITE PUBE
> ‘PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF SOUTHEND’ BY HOLLY FIRMIN
PODCAST
Working with the edges is a podcast developed as part of TOMA . Equally excited + worried by the conversations taking place with visitors to the programme about the future of education, specifically art education, TOMA founder + artist Emma Edmondson and Arcade + Campfa director Clare Charles host a series of conversations, essays + sound art shorts. We aim to learn more about practitioners’ creative education journeys, the art world, criticism and ask what makes a contemporary artist?
We speak to artists, critics, curators, arts policy makers, admin assistants, artist-led communities, politicians and everyone and anyone who makes up the art world society we live in and ask - - - > in a time of austerity + costly education fees are we all fucked? Or can we all work together to make things better? We are better if we work together, even if it is around the edges.
All podcast imagery by Emma Mills.
Episode #1 \\ Working with the edges // Everyone should go to art school
In episode one, Everyone should go to art school, we talk to Laure Prouvost about her journey as an artist through education + narratives in her work, Rosalie Schweiker about how giving tutorials is similar to being a GP + how art education saved her. There is also the first part of our series of train chats with writer critic Rose Cleary, artist Paige Ockenden + Emma Edmondson, some 5 minute sound works from Elle Reynolds + Michaela Bannon + some artists’ advice bureau stuff from Rosalie Schweiker. The podcast was conceived as part of TOMA’s development and is supported using public funding from Arts Council England.
Episode #2 \\ Working with the edges // Women who collaborate
In episode two, wo(men) who collaborate, we talk to Sophie Chapman + Kerri Jefferis about support structures, institutional critique, artists as teachers + how their experiences in art education helped them forge DIY spaces after graduation + form a collaborative practice. This interview was recorded in Spring 2018. Kerri + Sophie also recommend music, artwork + books + have given us a track from their band Molejoy’s EP. We talk to Ruth Hazel + Ruth Jones about their collaborative studio + practices + taking up space as a woman, class, dyslexia + explore their studio + the objects within it.
There is also another part of our series of train chats with writer critic Rose Cleary, artist Paige Ockenden + Emma Edmondson, some 5 minute sound works from TOMA artists reading out content from a automatic writing workshop from Lolly Adams which formed a manifesto. The podcast was conceived as part of TOMA’s development and is supported using public funding from Arts Council England.
Episode #3 \\ Working with the edges // 21st century art theory part #1
In episode three visual theorist Griselda Pollock shares her history in art education + talks about excavating forgotten histories of women artists. Griselda also discusses the neoliberalisation of the university + diversity in art schools. Academic + writer Jeremy Spencer discusses stopping making art + how critical theory can be an art practice. There is also another part of our series of train chats with writer critic Rose Cleary, artist Paige Ockenden + Emma Edmondson + a discussion walking down Southend high street about the frame + art in shopping centres.
The podcast was conceived as part of TOMA’s development and is supported using public funding from Arts Council England.
Episode #4 \\ Working with the edges // 21st century art theory part #2
In episode four Morgan Quaintance talks about his journey from music into art, how learning about group dynamics has helped him to understand art world hierarchies + the language of the institution. Morgan also discusses his New Conservatism essay + questions how we can instigate change in the art world. There is also another part of our series of train chats with writer critic Rose Cleary, artist Paige Ockenden + Emma Edmondson, a track from the collaborative project of Miss HerNia and Milky Genes + some experimental sound cut-ups from Emma Edmondson.
The podcast was conceived as part of TOMA’s development and is supported using public funding from Arts Council England.
ACE Funding Applications
Do download + read + maybe these can also be useful to others looking to apply for funding. Please note some contact details of people have been redacted in the documents for data protection.
> TOMA ACE funding app September 2017
> TOMA ACE funding app June 2019
