The Showroom

Emma Smith

22 Jun - 30 Jul 2011

© Emma Smith
Playback, 2011
Installation view, Photo: Mariona Otero
EMMA SMITH
Playback
22 June - 30 July, 2011

Emma Smith is undertaking a one year fellowship in the context of the Communal Knowledge programme. During this time Smith is working on a research project: Public Relations and a commission for new work: Playback

Playback explores tacit knowledge, intuited response and behavioral adaptations to environment within the locality of The Showroom. Utilising storytelling as a means of knowledge transfer this project includes a series of research and development workshops through which stories are collected and exchanged to then be developed into a series of script components: settings, scenarios and characters, that will form the basis of an installation in the gallery into which the public will be invited to construct their own playlets and embody the narratives shared.

Playback is a collaborative project led by artist Emma Smith.

Bio:
Emma Smith has a social practice that is both research and production based and responds to site specific issues. Using organized events, encounters, performance and participation her work explores the psychology of place and the resonance of historical uses of site in contemporary behaviour. A key theme within her work is that of belonging and an investigation into transient connections to place; nomadism, tourism, migration and contemporary notions of mobility.

Smith works nationally and internationally including exhibitions at Camden Arts Centre (2006), Whitechapel Gallery (2007 & 2008), Orleans House Gallery (2008), Wysing Arts Centre (2010) and Grizedale Arts (2011), UK, and working in Mauritius (2009), China (2009 and 2010), India (2009 and 2010), Lebanon (2010), and Kenya (2011) on residency and research trips with Triangle Trust, The British Council, Delta Arts and The Commonwealth Foundation.

Smith is co-founder and co-director of art collective Delta Arts supporting research, practice and pedagogy through mobility and exchange. She is a current resident in the ACME Fire Station residency programme (2010-2015) and an Artsadmin Bursary Artist (2010-2011).