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University of Southampton Lecturers Find their Voices in the Gallery: Introducing Many voices, all of them loved and Interruptions/Disruptions at John Hansard Gallery

Willem de Rooij, *Ilulissat* (2014), installation image, John Hansard Gallery, 2020. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Buchholz, Berlin/Cologne/New York

by Thea Hartman

Although we have been telling you about how much there is to see at John Hansard Gallery and teased you with a few snippets of what the new exhibitions within the Spring Season have to offer, we thought it’s high time we introduced these exciting events while also answering a question that I know I had been wondering about before this job illuminated me: what is the link between the gallery and University of Southampton?

The internationally renowned John Hansard Gallery (JHG) is part of University of Southampton, aiming to provide a platform for a variety of exciting contemporary artists, events and community-based research projects. Our lecturers themselves collaborate with the gallery to explore and develop ideas they have been interested in for their research in ways that go beyond academic articles – across departments, across disciplines, and across media.

One such example is one of the three current exhibitions at JHG, Many voices, all of them loved (1 February – 11 April), curated by Dr Sarah Hayden, a lecturer in the Department of English whose background is in experimental writing and the relationship between literature and visual art. The link between her research and JHG seems intuitive enough. However, the journey from her research to Many voices is much more intricate than that – so intricate that I spoke to Dr Hayden herself about it to understand it fully.

Many voices is part of the two-year project Voices in the Gallery, developed by Dr Hayden to explore how the voice operates in contemporary art. Her research, so far culminating with the carefully curated exhibition, beautifully encompasses how much more the voice represents than just people talking.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan, *Conflicted Phonemes* (detail), 2012, installation image, Kunsthaus Hamburg. Courtesy the artist

“In the works brought into conversation here, the voice is made present as rhythm, as visible pattern, and as carrier of meaning that extends form, and extends speech”, Dr Hayden explains. “The works gathered together in Many voices invite us to reflect on some huge themes: migration, displacement, legacies of colonialism, climate crisis, bio-surveillance, disability, and the role of art in resistance.”

Many Voices came out of a place of curiosity. Dr Hayden’s perception of the meaning of voice was widened by paying attention to it; and with this exhibition, she opens up the idea of voice to the Southampton audience:

“I noticed how often I was listening to voices in exhibitions—particularly in video art and installation. I wanted to understand how the presentation of the artist’s writing as an audio track rather than, say, on a wall, changed how audiences experienced the text. I was also interested in how artists were departing from the traditional format of the voiceover as we know it from documentary film and TV, and in how they were pushing vocality in a range of other directions, for purposes other than description or explanation.”

Artists Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Kader Attia, Willem de Rooij, Laure Prouvost, Liza Sylvestre and Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa all work with voice in different ways to explore a variety of themes; a voice can be a dog’s howl, a name on a screen, a person with auditory difficulties subtitling a film, a voice-over that seems to have little to do with the visual sequence of a short film.

Many voices, all of them loved, installation image, John Hansard Gallery, 2020.
Photo: Steve Shrimpton

As Dr Priti Mishra expertly summarises it, the idea of voice has a lot to say about power dynamics: “Sarah’s exhibition has enabled us to think about the ways in which dominant power is being contested by artists from different subject positions.”

Alongside her Many Voices exhibition, Dr Hayden has also worked in collaboration with Dr Priti Mishra in the Department of History, and Dr Eleanor K. Jones of Modern Languages and Linguistics, on a public programme devised to generate conversation around the themes of colonialism and its representations, as well as how states manage people by managing their voices: whose voices are being heard first, or at all?

The programme of events, entitled Interruptions/Disruptions, consists of two strands of workshops: Interruptions workshops are led by various guests with various perspectives on the aforementioned themes, whilst Disruptions is a set of creative writing workshops led by the writer-in-residence for Many voices Nisha Ramayya.

Liza Sylvestre, *Captioned: Twentieth Century*, film still, 2018. Courtesy the artist

Dr Mishra and Dr Jones ellaborate on the importance of the public programme experienced alongside the exhibition:

“We’ve recently seen a resurgence of eugenics in mainstream UK politics, an increased glorification of our colonial past and present combined with a denial of its most brutal aspects, and continued inaction on climate, so talking about these things is more important than ever – and it’s also important for us to talk about creative ways to resist them, and learn from people who have been doing so for a long time. We hope our programme can offer the space for this creativity!”

Many voices and Interruptions/Disruptions have a lot to offer to any audience, especially students. Not only do they tackle themes relevant to our political climate, they also help us to think about concepts we are familiar with and which we may have studied in a completely new setting, or, if you are not a frequent gallery-goer, in a completely new place as well.

It’s true, the thought of going to a gallery can be quite daunting for some people, but the colourful sign at the entrance of John Hansard Gallery is more persuasive than I could ever be: “You belong here.”

Asten Holmes-Elliott and Breakout Youth, *You Belong Here* (2018). Photo: Kate Briggs-Price

As with all exhibitions at John Hansard Gallery, Many voices, all of them loved is free to attend and the accompanying Interruptions/Disruptions events programme is also free of charge.

For a list of events, times, and sign-ups head to the John Hansard Gallery website: www.jhg.art.

Women Leaders South West – CALL FOR APPLICANTS

Are you interested in the arts? Do you enjoy problem solving or making things happen?

Women Leaders South West is a project run by eight arts organisations and Southampton Business School at University of Southampton. The project also involves the WOW foundation.

Women are under-represented at a leadership level across all art forms in theatres, festivals, galleries, and museums. Racism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, economic constraints and caring responsibilities also create barriers to career development. We want to understand these barriers and develop tools to tackle them.

Women are invited to apply to take part in a 10 month leadership programme that includes work placements, mentoring and training with Southampton Business School. It will take place between June 2020 and December 2021.

Click here to find out how to start your leadership journey.

Deadline for Applications – Monday 20th April at 9AM

Introducing our 2019/20 Arts Ambassadors: Kate Briggs-Price

MA Global Media Management student Kate Briggs-Price talks about her time at university, her passion for film-making, her experience with University Societies and what she brings to the team as an Arts Ambassador!

Now in my fifth year studying at the University of Southampton, I’ve spent my time trying to discover what I enjoy and am passionate about. Both in my professional and personal life, I have pursued many avenues and have ultimately come to the conclusion; art has always been something that connects the people and the decisions.

Being busy and pushing myself to achieve everything I possibly can is a major driving force of my personality. I am very lucky that my Master’s degree involves practical film making, but also gives me the freedom to shoot and direct in my spare time. The arts have given me the chance to not only to push myself creatively but given me the discipline, scope and the technical skills to create both professionally and for pleasure.

My passion is definitely film-making, whether that be a documentary film or creative shorts. I have a range of projects on the go – a short film up for release at the end of January and a documentary that will be released both as a short and hopefully a feature-length film by the end of September 2020. Being a Photography and Videography Ambassador gives me a chance to develop and work on technical skills whilst also helping to give people access to art around Southampton. Whether that be through their phones or through media, we can help bridge the gap of intimidation that people often feel about attending events in the ‘art world’.

I’ve always focussed on multi-media storytelling. As Head of Marketing for Surge Radio – live shows, podcasts, graphics and social media are all things I have been developing. The interconnections between all the different strands of media working together to create an experience is what interests me. Although not directly connected to media, I am also President of the Erasmus Student Network Southampton. This is the largest student organisation in Europe, taking care of all the visiting international students who come to the university – my interest in this came from my experience of my year abroad in Germany. This really developed my interest in people, which is at the heart of my love for art and really everything I have done at University.

As I have been involved in over 9 different societies during my time here, I have had the opportunity to learn and grow from a huge range of people. We often connected through the process of making art or through experiencing it together as a way to express something we had in common or something that was different about us. I want to make sure that students discover not only the art available to them in Southampton but also the people behind that art. The artists, often from around the world, have so much experience and perspectives that they are willing to share.

Introducing our 2019/20 Arts Ambassadors: Thea Hartman

Thea Hartman during her time as Editor of *The Edge* magazine

MA English Literary Studies student Thea Hartman talks about her passion for escapism, textual analysis, her experience of the Southampton art scene, and what plans she has for her time as an Arts Ambassador!

This is going to sound ridiculously cliché, so brace yourselves, because I really don’t know how else to say it: yes, I have loved art in all its forms for as long as I can remember. The philosophy behind this love is simple: if you’re looking to escape the real world for a bit – and I honestly bet you do – there is no better way to spend those rare spare hours than with a film, some music, a trip to the theatre, a gig, or many a good book.

As far as that goes, I am an expert fugitive. My Mum taught me how to read early because I would always ask her to read me one more story and she couldn’t catch her breath. And that hasn’t really changed (well, I did learn to read, but you get the idea) – ‘one more story’ became a BA English degree, and then an MA English Literary Studies degree, with a focus on twentieth century literature. Turning a text on all its facets, understanding it in its present and in our own – to me, there’s nothing quite like it, even if it does sometimes push my limits so much that I can’t touch a book for months… Luckily, there are other ways to keep escaping.

And because we’re in Southampton, we have loads of them right on our doorstep! I started discovering the Southampton arts scene due to The Edge, the University’s student entertainment magazine, which sends writers to a wide range of theatre shows and concerts (even after over three years of writing for it I’d probably have a hard time naming all the music venues in Southampton…), but it wasn’t until my summer internship with ‘a space’ arts that I had the chance to get to know the arts community in Southampton and learn just how complex and welcoming it is!

I’m not an artist, so I’m not a stranger to thoughts like “I’m not artsy enough to go there,” or “I don’t belong there” – but I realised I couldn’t be more wrong. And that’s what I’m most excited about doing as an Arts Ambassador – helping to spread the word not only about what the arts scene in Southampton has to offer generally, but also about what it has to offer to those who think like I used to. I’ll be found mostly on this blog and on social media, trying to put all these feelings into words as I explore Southampton’s art scene with Molly and Kate this semester – I hope you join us on this journey!

Introducing our 2019/20 Arts Ambassadors: Molly Ellis

Third year Music student Molly Ellis tells of the impact the arts have had on her life here at University of Southampton and looks ahead to the next few months in her role as Arts Ambassador.

I had such a good time working as an Arts Ambassador last year that, when the opportunity came up again, I couldn’t not apply! Last year, I had a blast reviewing theatre, art exhibitions and concerts, attending events and networking with both my peers and professionals in the industry. This last year has really opened my eyes as to what kind of future could be possible in the arts beyond university.

This year I hope to continue working to promote the arts to both my fellow students and the local community. It’s so important for students to understand that the arts you’re involved with at university could pave the way to a career, regardless of your degree. Showing that the gap between the ‘student’ and ‘professional’ worlds is not that wide is something I’m really keen to do – exploring these possibilities and networking is what university is all about!

As a third year music student, the arts have shaped pretty much my entire time at University. I’ve been lucky enough to start shaping my passions for music, theatre and filmmaking into the beginnings of a future beyond graduation- something I’m incredibly excited about.

I’m a freelance filmmaker and photographer and have had the pleasure of working with some amazing groups, such as SÓN and SUSO, and on some cinematography passion projects- one of which has just been accepted for screening at the Canadian International Comedy Film Festival!

I am also a Musical Director for musical theatre society Showstoppers after joining last year (on the advice of previous Arts Ambassador Ben McQuigg). I soon found myself stuck in with nearly every show and my first as Musical Director, ‘I Love You Because’, is coming up at the beginning of February! Getting stuck in with all of these activities across a breadth of arts topics has been an incredible experience, and has really extended the scope of skills learnt during my degree. I encourage absolutely everyone to get involved with at least one arts passion they have during their degree!

Being an Arts Ambassador for me is about both being a role model for participation and engagement with the arts, but also being a gateway to helping others access the arts, particularly those that think ‘it’s not for me’. There’s a wealth of things out there to explore in Southampton and beyond!