Phantom Limn

The output was an exhibition at Dovecot Gallery, Edinburgh, 6 – 10 July 2017. It was the result of a one-week group residency at the gallery, conceived as an experimental, collaborative practice based research inquiry into drawing as a method of thinking. The residency brought together eight international, university-based artists: Stuart Bennett (University of Edinburgh), Dean Hughes (Northumbria University), David Mackintosh (University of Central Lancashire), Kelly Chorpening (University of the Arts London), Rebecca Fortnum (Royal College of Art), Chloe Briggs (Paris College of Art), Mark Nagtzaam (Sint Lucas, Antwerp) and Veronique Devoldere (Paris College of Art). The research interrogated the nature of drawing as a form of enquiry, observational tool and end in itself. It also explored the idea of a collective work. The artists – all teachers of drawing within different University settings – were particularly interested in exploring instructions for drawing as a means of prompting reflection on the often implicit values entailed in the pedagogy of drawing. The residency was presented as a live studio environment, structured to encourage public engagement, and this semi-public, collective and participatory nature of the research space sought in part to recreate the environment of the art school. The gallery was used as studio, a conference room, a social space and an exhibition space. The artists designed, and Bennett constructed, a large scale, flexible framework that received the collaborative work as it was made, and functioned as the focus for dialogue and public engagement.