Art and Faith Lab (Part One)

Tasawar Bashir

Wednesday 7 - Friday 30 December 2011

Two late nights: Tuesday 13 December and Wednesday 14 December until 7pm

Launch Event: Saturday 10 December, 3pm - 5pm

Tasawar Bashir is an architect and artist. In his work he strives to explore the notion of the sacred in dazzlingly strange ways. So far this spiritual enquiry has been realised through documentary film, music production, graphic design, and architecture.

During December, in the run up to all things Christmas, Tasawar will be running an Art & Faith Lab at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham where he will explore how the local, in this case, areas such as Hyson Green and Forest Fields, can inform his on-going projects.

Art and Faith lab is not a standard exhibition; instead the artist is using the main gallery as an experimental ‘lab’ space. The Lab is intended to be an informal space to present and test ideas, gain feedback from friends and colleagues about overcoming the difficulty of talking about God and how the history of this search tells us something important about the human condition and nature of our aspirations. During his time at NAE Tasawar will present some of his artistic concerns which explore ideas of art, faith and inner city realities. Most importantly, whilst he is with us, Tasawar will engage members of the public and local artists to contribute to the work on show in the gallery. Tasawar will be recruiting participants from 7 December.

To start off the lab Tasawar and his collaborators will present preliminary research, interview material, photographs, and data about the local context. They will also present some work in progress. As the lab progresses each day there will be a number of guests and artists who will come along and share their ideas and work too. After dark, when the NAE is closed, Tasawar hopes to explore the surrounding shops, cafes, and interesting spaces, animating them with art, music, film and lively discussion. When Tasawar is not in the space, the gallery will remain open so visitors can view his work so far.

Tasawar will be using Saturday 10 December, 3-5pm as an opportunity to introduce his project to visitors. He is also using this as an opportunity to recruit participants who he will engage with over the remaining period of the project. Those who are interested in Tasawar’s practice are encouraged to come along to this key introductory session.

Please note: the programme is a lab and therefore subject to slight changes. You can follow everything and find out about the latest developments at the website: http://www.cultural-intelligence-agency.com.