“Who needs me?’ is a question of character which suffersa radical challenge in modern capitalism. The system radiates indifference.”

Richard Sennett, 1998The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism

“Without this year of having some direction I think I'd be completely lost.”

“We’re all passionate about art and it’s scary walking into a world

where you have no idea and you need to create your own path.”

“You’re again trying to reinvent yourself or have people having a clear idea of what you do. “

“After doing lots of different things and not really being

able to pin myself down about

what I was about…

how then to project that out and try and communicate

that?”

“We see the site as more a sort of training…, well no not a training ground, …a testing ground.

One of those things that we want to work out for ourselves almost.”

“…we weren’t an established group. We’d never worked together and we were like, we’re not going to pretend that we’ve got a coherent approach

We just wanted to do what we were going to do and see what happened.”

“I mean his work has a certain kind of aesthetic signature,

which is quite cynical in some ways.

That’s not really about exploring your creativity. That’s about distilling your creativity into a

product.”

“…maybe I’m quite competitive,

…other people are much better at networking and have more focus or whatever,

they make work that’s pretty good

and it gets everywhere because …they have an identity.”

“I think it’s maybe a vicious circle I’ve been in where maybe a lack of contact with other practitioners

and lack of networking and all that type of thing –

lack of visibility leads into lack of confidence…”

“I haven’t developed friendships through the Associates.

…I can see from the outside that there are kind of friendship groups within the bigger Associates group, that work together, and for new members that could be kind of difficult.”

“It felt from the outside like it was a group of mates just having laugh, and I didn’t really feel a part of that so I didn’t enjoy coming.”

Clare Thornton – still from Pleats and Folds cello case video

“I guess that thing of trying to apply for things and getting to know people through the Internet network and these different institutions has almost totally destroyed my senseof playfulness or practical play.”

“I would say that was the best thing about being involved in artist-led activity is that just sitting around with like-minded people talking an idea through.I’ve had some of the most exciting times doing that.”

“I think the young people I know, my friends and me, we’ve generated this world around us, but I think actually this world’s quite conservative and it’s difficult to see that whilst you’re involved in it.”

“I think because I was so flat for a year I wasreally craving more face-to-face time,

and just to be stirred up and challenged…”

“I was keen and said maybe these tensions could be quite interesting (…)

So I learnt a lot about myself aswell. So that was a good collaboration. It does move you outside your comfort zone…”

“we disagreed quite a lot aswell, but in a very positive way

we ended up developing a very clear language between us…”

“it would kill me if someone said they hated something I did.

It’s so weird because I guess you try to set up a bit of a safety net.”

“There’s a general feeling that people

are behind an idea or they’re not

so we tend to amicably, for the most part,

come to an agreement.”