As part of our commitment to make artistic research a public process, we also support a growing archive of research that documents and responds to our programme and wider work. You can browse our online archive by category or by using the search box below.
This is a published text from the Imagining Otherwise exhibition handout describing artworks, offering further context to a new form of experimental exhibition-making for Primary. The group show, which took place in the summer of 2024, initially comprised three existing works by artists Ashley Holmes, Jasleen Kaur, and Jala Wahid before it was transformed.
Read MoreOn 27 July 2024, a trio of events animated Primary’s Garden and Gallery 2. Imagining Otherwise Live was a collaborative series of events crafted by the artists Ashley Holmes, Jasleen Kaur and Jala Wahid, who contributed to the Imagining Otherwise exhibition.
Read MoreLooking back on Reactor’s two exhibitions Here, the Gold Ones flatter and Here, the Gold Ones meet at Bonington Gallery a text was commissioned by David Burrows released alongside a single screen edit of the flatter film.
Last night I met Max Gold by David Burrows was originally published by Bonington Gallery in July 2024.
Read MoreIn early 2024 Contemporary Visual Arts Network East Midlands interviewed FROMTHEGROUNDUP (FTGU) as part of their Meet the Artist series, spotlighting creatives based in the region. FTGU is an interdisciplinary art and architectural design studio based at Primary and formed by residents Will Harvey and Jacob Kelly. This interview was first public by CVAN EM in March 2024.
FTGU is focused on working with reclaimed and natural building materials which have a low impact on the planet.
Read MoreIn Summer 2023 Primary presented The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle Cartoon, a solo exhibition by artist Sam Keogh. During the exhibition the installation was used by Keogh to stage two performances. These live interventions will saw the artist interact with the collaged elements of the work, using them as a visual script, folding and unfolding their surfaces to guide a monologue which will describe and rewrite the history of the original tapestries. Keogh’s second performance was documented by Freddy Griffiths.
Read MoreThis is an edited recording of Sustaining Resilience: Land Rights and the Politics of Conservation, a conversation delving into the relationship between conservation and land rights, highlighting different modes of relating to land and the urgency of centring reparative approaches.
Read MoreIn celebration of Maybelle Peters’s exhibition, Attention, Absorption, this panel discussion event brought together Black women and non-binary artists and animators: Jessica Ashman, Phoebe Boswell, Mothy Muyobo, and Maybelle Peters. Chaired by exhibition curator Jade Foster, the panel focuses on the crossovers between animation and the visual arts sector.
Read MoreA conversation between Primary residents Alison Lloyd and Hugh Nicholson which took place in Summer 2022 at Barbrook Reservoir, Big Moor, Derbyshire and was first published by Livingmaps Network.
Read MorePrimary resident Dr Rhiannon Jones, Associate Professor and CEO of S.H.E.D., led the project Derby Voice with a team of researchers, cultural partners and students to co-design a public installation.
Read MoreLast summer, Primary resident Michael Pinchbeck was commissioned by Lakeside Arts to create Sit with us for a moment and remember.
Read MoreResident Will Harvey works with artist Ryan Boultbee on a creative project that reimagines the future of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station.
Read MoreThis visual design created by William Harvey maps themes, ideas and quotes from Round Table: A Meal and Conversation – and invites you to build on this through future conversations and events.
Read MoreThis practice-led thesis on women, walking and art combines a critical, analytical discussion of women artists of the 1960s, 70s and early 80s with a reflective evaluation of the emergence of walking in Alison’s art practice.
Read MoreThe Machines is a new interdisciplinary performance work by Publik Universal Frxnd (formerly known as Richard John Jones) based on physical research into the folk tradition of East-Lancashire clog-dancing.
Read MoreSHERDS is an experimental audio work based on a six-week archaeological dig which took place at Malkin Tower Farm in Pendle, during the hot summer of 2018. Performed by an ensemble of musicians, archaeologists and vocalists, SHERDS brings together spoken word, improvisation, vibrating rocks, field recordings, live audio and new compositions to form a shifting soundscape.
Read MoreA blog by Charlotte Tupper reflecting on the Build Create Play programme on Ronald Street Playground, Summer 2021
Read MorePositive Affirmations is an evolving online space to document Carmen Argote’s research, process and processing of ideas during her residency and exhibition at Primary.
Read MorePublished by Primary to coincide with Rebecca Lennon, LIQUID i, 21 May-10 July 2021, Sophie Jung's text response Sloppery Undesignation speaks in multiple voices and from different perspectives on the themes within the work.
Read MoreAn unfolding programme of research by artist Maybelle Peters for When We Worked at Raleigh: Contemporary Art Commission.
Tuesday 22 June - Thursday 15 July
Read MoreJade Foster speaks with Rebecca Lee and Ian Nesbitt about the origins of Primary’s informal talk series Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, its trajectory since Ian’s initial event during Intersections, and its continuation as a long-term programme of regular events, as part of Making Place.
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