IC3 GL5 is a collection of new works by Dan Guthrie which investigate historical and contemporary Black presences and mis-presences in his hometown of Stroud.
Arts University Plymouth
16/08/22–20/08/22
IC3 GL5 - Give and Takeover Commission
Dan Guthrie
“There the Boy has stood ever since, doing the duty of turning his head, lifting his club and striking the hours of day and night as often as they come round; and there, it is hoped, he will for many years continue to perform his automatic exercises, to the wonder of strangers passing by, as he did to the admiration of boys and girls of old.”
Paul Hawkins Fisher, Notes and Recollections of Stroud (1871), p. 42
IC3 GL5 is a collection of new works by Dan Guthrie which investigate historical and contemporary Black presences and mis-presences in his hometown of Stroud.
These works draw from Dan’s experiences of being a part of a council-led panel set up to review local streets, buildings, statues and monuments in Stroud. The panel gained nationwide media attention for a consultation they ran last year that, amongst other things, asked for people’s thoughts on what they think should happen to an object in the town called the Black Boy Clock that was built in the midst of the transatlantic slave trade.
Dan has been developing new moving image works and a research library in response to some of the conversations surrounding the consultation for a week-long takeover of the Plymouth Arts Cinema space, to be staged in dialogue with Huma Mulji’s exhibition, Your Tongue in My Mouth in the MIRROR gallery.
Dan Guthrie is an artist, researcher and writer whose practice often explores representations of Black Britishness, with an interest in examining how they manifest themselves in rural areas. In the last year, he has been a participant in East Bristol Contemporary’s Day School programme, a panel member for Stroud District Council’s review of streets, buildings, statues and monuments, and a part-time librarian.
His work has been screened at Exeter Phoenix, Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Focal Point Gallery, Obsidian Coast and the ICA, and he has previously worked as a submission viewer for London Short Film Festival and Glasgow Short Film Festival.
To launch MIRROR’s Give & Takeover programme strand, MIRROR has commissioned three South West based artists to respond to the 2022 exhibitions programme. Give & Takeover’s can take any form with the one rule that they must not disturb the exhibition they are responding to and intervening in.
The Give & Takeover commission series has been funded by Arts Council England with the support of National Lottery players.
