Would Like to Meet: Artist reflections

“I never imagined having such an opportunity to reflect as an artist at this point in my life… to cast myself back 20 years, and also somehow, forward 20 years… The residency was like a tidal water mark… I sense in a few years time I will be able to trace decisions, senses and feelings back to it” – WOULD LIKE TO MEET Artist, 2022

In November/December 2022, Quarantine hosted Would Like to Meet (WLTM), a series of week-long exchanges for pairs of artists with a minimum 20-year age gap, who were interested in bringing their practices together. We had a significant number of applications, and from these we curated four pairs who spanned a mix of ages – from their early 20s to late 60s – and artforms – including DJing, visual art, performance, choreography, painting, poetry, and Islamic illumination. Their residencies were framed by the provocation ‘what questions do you have for each other?’ and the invitation was to spend a week together in a determinedly open-ended way, engaging in conversation and shared experiences without the need to produce anything as a result. At the end of each residency we invited the artists to reflect on their week together. The videos here are a small insight into what each pair explored, what they found out about their practice, each other and themselves, and what’s next.

WLTM: Fynn Galloway and Ginny Koppenhol.

Both DJs, Fynn and Ginny’s initial questions to each other looked at the impact and importance of Kanteena (the Lancastrian independent music venue they met at) and the experiences of people who form the community there. What is happening in the dance music scene now that’s as important as it was 30 years ago? What are people still needing/craving from a dance floor? When they met in November 2022 they explored why for them, vinyl was important in a digital age. After their week-long residency together (which ended with a DJ set at HOME) they sat down to reflect on the conversations they had about music, community and what makes a good night out.

@fynngalloway | @ginnykopmusic

WLTM Hannah Buckley and Kevin Lycett.

Asking questions around their bodies and relationships to their chronic illnesses to draw connections, dancer and choreographer Hannah and visual artist Kevin wanted to explore how their artistic practices – Kevin’s ritualistic approach, and Hannah’s somatic ways of generating movement – could come together and inform each other. With seemingly very different practices, they entered the residency together exploring how they might find commonality by starting with the body and using the lens of health within their practices.

@hannah___buckley | @kevin.lycett

WLTM Hafsah Bashir & Maryam Hussain.

As artists that both use their art as a spiritual tool to better understand themselves and the world we live in, Maryam and Hafsah want to ask each other what is gained from embarking on individual quests and at what cost, when belonging to a collective. They reflect on exploring the roots of themselves at different stages of their lives through spirituality, faith and their artist practise.

@hafsah_a_bashir | @the_yamwise

WLTM Rhiannon Armstrong and Sue Palmer from Quarantine.

As the climate crisis escalates, and they move through milestones of age, Rhiannon and Sue found themselves questioning whether art making can hold them any longer as the primary way that they make meaning in the world. Through living in a shared domestic space, they came together to think about where they find meaning in the margins between artistic practice and everyday life. Whilst reflecting on being artists making work in this moment, they also took time to honor the space they’ve been given to reflect on their milestone birthdays and life as artists so far.

@armstrongtactic | @suepalmer_23

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