From one end of Scotland to the other, I attended the first Frameworks event last week down in Cove Park, an artist residency retreat located on the Roseneath peninsula about an hour west of Glasgow. 

Jan Verwoert was fresh back from band practice in Berlin and engaged in an afternoon’s discussion on the values and obstacles of working in the arts. From collaborations to power plays, divine wills to managing expectations, the crisis of art and life we all believe to muck about in is also the criteria from which we can begin to critique ourselves, each other, and the system that we have embroiled ourselves within.

The afternoon was engrossing, and refreshing in actually assessing the collapse of work and life as an artist (critic, curator) in an isolated retreat. Certainly more geographically isolated than Cove Park, though operating with all the amenities of a self sustaining market town, residencies in Huntly end up with an inseparable life and work schedule, but one that is quite different from Verwoert’s disposition. 

While I cannot yet distinguish these differences, I now know there are palpable. More thoughts to come, but for now, here is my first response.