During my time at Chelsea College I will be developing a project in and about Millbank, where the college is located, to bring together people who live, work and study in the area. The college is next to the River Thames, Tate Britain and the Millbank Estate and close to Parliament and government ministries. The college was previously the Royal Army Medical College, built on the site of Millbank Prison, traces of which are visible on the site.
For me as an independent artist, part of the appeal of AA2A is the contact with other artists and researchers and access to a fantastic library.
My first day at Chelsea College was the usual round of meeting people, getting passes and exploring the library. I also went to a presentation by Dr Zane Berzina of Kunthochschule Weissensee in Berlin about her research into textiles and static electricity.
I was delighted to meet Caryn Simonson, now course leader of B.A. Textiles, who I worked with nearly 15 tears ago on "She hasn't switched it on yet…", a series of women & technology workshops held at Backspace in London.
I will be putting my research into Millbank online through Delicious, Google Maps, Flickr etc - you can follow the links from my site. I will also be posting to the Chelsea textiles students blog: the students are also doing projects based on Millbank's history through a collaboration with Burberry whose headquaters is nearby.
Next up is a visit to the Tate Britain library, a meeting with the Millbank Estate manager and next week a presentation to Chelsea staff & students with the other AA2A artists, Jonathan Baldock, Laura Carew and Tope Tijani.
