[ISEA2011] Panel: Julie Pen­fold – Lab­Cul­ture and the Lim­i­nal

Panel Statement

Panel: Travels Through Hyper-Liminality: Exploring the space where digital meets the real

Lab­Cul­ture is a unique, ded­i­cated Artists’ space for R&D where ex­per­i­men­ta­tion and ex­plo­ration can take place. This paper will dis­cuss the his­tor­i­cal, con­cep­tual and func­tional stu­dio prac­tice as an ex­am­ple of lim­i­nal space in ac­tion. Using ex­am­ples of Artists’ process and prac­tice, the paper will demon­strate Lab­Cul­ture’s ‘birth’ and his­tor­i­cal role as go be­tween, the con­cep­tual link­ages be­tween cre­ative process and in­sti­tu­tions, and the Lab’s phys­i­cal/dig­i­tal func­tion. It posits that con­tem­po­rary being and self-aware­ness is al­ready dis­tanced from ‘re­al­ity’, “falling through the cracks, in the in­ter­stices of so­cial struc­ture” (Turner). Lab­Cul­ture is a viral struc­ture. It pops up wher­ever favourable, often hosted by part­ner ‘or­gan­isms’. It is du­ra­tional, tem­po­rary, ca­pa­ble of mu­ta­tion. It oc­cu­pies di­verse spaces and sit­u­a­tions. It of­fers phys­i­cal and vir­tual plat­forms for meet­ing and ac­tion. It works at the in­ter­face be­tween in­ter­dis­ci­pli­nary prac­tice, ar­chi­tec­ture and the en­vi­ron­ment. This paper aims to map the ‘nei­ther here nor there’ of in­di­vid­ual artist’s process and sen­si­bil­ity and offer it as a modus vivendi blue­print for the fu­ture.

  • Julie Pen­fold has over 20 years ex­pe­ri­ence of work­ing across the arts and cul­tural sec­tor lead­ing and man­ag­ing or­gan­i­sa­tions, and de­liv­er­ing pro­grammes. Since 1991 much of her work has taken place within artist led ini­tia­tives li­ais­ing at na­tional, in­ter­na­tional, county and dis­trict lev­els. Julie was co-founder in 1996 of artist group PVA. She is the cur­rent pro­ject di­rec­tor and co­or­di­na­tor of PVA Me­di­aLab over­see­ing, pro­duc­ing and fa­cil­i­tat­ing process based, re­search-struc­tured ac­tiv­ity with artists whose prac­tice spans many dis­ci­plines. She is in­stru­men­tal in the sup­port and de­vel­op­ment of artists and their work through the lab’s com­mis­sion­ing and bur­sary pro­grammes. She is work­ing on a va­ri­ety of part­ner­ship pro­jects, lead­ing com­mis­sions and out­reach pro­grammes with AONB/South Dorset Ridge­way, Juras­sic Coast Arts, B-Side Fes­ti­val, Big Pic­ture Con­sor­tium/Ex-Lab.  Julie is the co-cu­ra­tor of a num­ber of new media re­lated events and ex­hi­bi­tions in­clud­ing: Lab­Cul­ture Res­i­den­cies; Coast to Coast Sym­posia; Uni­ver­sal Value Com­mis­sions; B-Side Fes­ti­val; Re­Think – Re­Think­ing­Time [Sub­sta­tion Sin­ga­pore]. Julie is a Di­rec­tor of Lab­Cul­ture Ltd and is Dorset’s core con­tact for ALIAS Arts CIC. She rep­re­sents PVA Me­di­aLab at the Big Pic­ture. pva.org.uk