Ahead of Nous Vous' upcoming exhibition at The Tetley in Leeds, we caught up with the collective's Jay Cover for the low-down on their new, less figurative approach and the plans for their residency.
Are there any themes that tie together the work you’re currently making for the exhibition?
I guess there's been a move away from figurative or representational work recently. We’ve been focusing more upon abstraction, colour and form and looking at how this can inform the image-making and object-making process. There always tends to be a subtext of ‘use and value' in our work, even if it’s through a purposeful lack of it. My toys, for example, appear to have a function but don't actually work, or an aspect of them works but to no particular end. Will [Edmonds] makes ceramics that are semi-functional, but the focus is more on the glazing and the aesthetic quality, and what throwing a pot means to him. Nicolas [Burrows] has been experimenting with limiting himself to a couple of processes (collage and traditional print-making) and seeing how far he can push image-making with those techniques. Mostly our work is about process, it's about engaging with materials, learning about their inherent limitations, and how these limitations can inform your practical and visual thinking.
How did the idea to produce work during the residency and provide workshops for the public come about?
We wanted to create an exhibition where we tried to bring together various aspects of our general practice, as an experiment. We do a lot of workshops and curatorial projects, and we feel this aspect of our working life is just as important as everything else we do. We wanted to connect them somehow. It's important for us to surround ourselves with a community whenever we get the opportunity. Working is such a large part of our lives, it's great when we can create opportunities to make it more leisurely, or to learn something new or be around people we admire. It becomes about sharing experiences with people. We wanted the show to feel alive and animated, because no matter how far we're able to go in terms of making and showing art, a space feels more vibrant when there are people in it focusing on a common goal or sharing an experience. We're also aware we don't make art that requires an awful lot of reflection from viewers and doesn't necessarily communicate things we'd like to communicate in a wider context, so there's a bit of compensation through our behaviour and the events we're planning to put across our belief system. Hopefully the workshops will be tricky, challenging but fun and people will come away feeling they've truly learnt something meaningful and made some buddies too.
Tell me a little bit about the Tetley and how you hope to respond to it.
The Tetley is a recently refurbished listed building in Leeds, which was formerly the main office for Tetley's brewery. It’s a combination of a contemporary, breathable space with a dedicated white cube and huge atrium, plus lots of rooms with the original wooden cladding on the bottom half of the walls. It's a tricky space to work with: it's not just a case of turning up and sticking things on the walls, we will be constructing lots of structures to house various pieces. We will each have a studio room, where we'll be doing a two-week residency working on different projects, so they’ll be lots going on. It's the first time we've done something on this scale, so it’s going to be a learning curve for us – hopefully there'll be lots to take away and build upon after. Nous Vous – A Watery Line
18 July – 31 August 2014
The Tetley, Leeds
thetetly.org
nousvous.eu
