Artist in Residence: Dominic From Luton
As part of our 24 Guildhall Road Capital programme, NN Contemporary Art has invited Dominic from Luton to be our inaugural Artist in Residence.
Dominic From Luton will develop a new body of work through a residency framework at 24 Guildhall Road, engaging with the context of creating our new site. The artist will meet and work alongside our community to offer an insight into his process and approach to making work, sharing his practice with stakeholders, delivering input into designing and producing community engagement, as the foundational cornerstone of cultural institutions.
The Artist in residency project ‘The Office for Luton Culture’ will give feedback surrounding the evolution of NN and 24 Guildhall Road in catalysing a moment of cultural regeneration across Northampton, exploring subsequent themes including:
- Domestic spheres as public sites
- Establishing stakeholder engagement (as institutional praxis) in regional towns
- Regional(real)ism
- Artist led gentrification
- Artistic practice as interdisciplinary feedback
- British iconographies and visual strategy
About the artist
Dominic Allan (b 1977, Luton) is a contemporary visual artist working across photography, sculpture, installation, performance and public art. His practice is socially collaborative, localised and direct. Throughout Allan’s practice, context is key.
Allan took up the moniker, ‘Dominic from Luton’ in 2003 in response to the new glorification of Crap Towns. His hometown coming 2nd in a national survey. Allan positions the socio-politics of his upbringing at the centre of his practice, considering autobiography, prompting a deconstruction of political ideology through performance art. Allan is interested in regionality, degeneration and art made in the margins.
In recent years there’s been a trajectory shift. Traditional studio based outcomes have been replaced by the pursuit of an experiential practice that questions who actually benefits from art. This was evidenced in Sunridge Avenue Projects Luton, 2016. A 6-month programme supported by Arts Council England realised a successful programme of contemporary art models. Its ingredients were Allan’s family home, post-punk, historical riots, John Ruskin and a complete reimagining of what public art can do in suburbia. His artist monograph was released through Cornerhouse, Manchester, 2017.
Forthcoming projects include, You Are The Arts Centre, 2021, a commission by Exeter Phoenix, Devon to celebrate 25 years of National Lottery Culture in the U.K and Mother, a one hour long piece of music created with his Mother and a classically trained musician, to be performed live in Norwich Arts Centre’s Church, March 2021.
Allan studied at Chelsea School of Art, 1995-1999. His work is held in collections including the Saatchi Collection, Paul Smith Collection and Norwich Arts Centre.
You can read more about Dominic here: https://www.dominicfromluton.com/
Artist in Residence Archive
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