DIY: 2008 – Archive Y’self to Pieces

A chance for artists to become obsessively self-referential archivists of their own practice and outputs.

Led by Richard Layzell.

Saturday 13, Saturday 20 and Saturday 27 September 2008.
London (venue tbc).
Deadline: FULLY BOOKED.

The Project
Archive Y’self to Pieces is about encouraging artists/makers to become obsessively self-referential archivists of their own practice, their own outputs. The focus moves entirely to gathering material about it, about themselves and the tracing of their motivation, their outputs and how they got to this point in their artistic careers and from where. Participants will explore:

• Setting up a personal living archive, that can then become ongoing for them.
• The very detailed tracking of an artwork-in-progress by each person taking part.
• A showing of some of the resulting material in a ‘gallery’ space, in order to give the archive material an objective status in its own right.

The project will help participating artists to build a stronger basis for their own creative identities, and a different understanding of the value of archiving and documentation.

Application Procedure
Archive Y’self to Pieces is open to ‘makers’ who are ambitious, inquisitive and able to be self-referential. There are twelve places for aritsts at any stage of their career. To apply, send a brief written statement explaining why you’d like to take part in Archive Y’self to Pieces, along with a very brief cv or biog to richard.layzell@virgin.net.

About the Artist
Richard Layzell is an artist and performer. He has a diverse approach to audience, context and artform, from gallery to architectural intervention. His interactive installation Tap Ruffle and Shavewas experienced by 100,000 people in galleries across the UK, and his embodiment of the entrepreneur Bailey Savage appeared worldwide. His is the author of Enhanced Performance and most recently collaborated with Tania Koswycz on Cream Pages. Layzell makes it an integral dimension of his practice to support and mentor younger artists.

Richard Layzell is a ResCen Research Associate Artist.

Any Questions
If you have any questions about Archive Y’self to Pieces please email Richard on richard.layzell@virgin.net with ‘DIY 5’ in the subject line.