Coryat's Crudities: NAN-NANA Report in a-n Magazine Alison Ballard, Mirjam van Tilburg and Bruce Ayling First published: a-n Magazine June 2006 © Writer(s), artists, photographers and AN: The Artists Information Company 2006 Cross-pollination Artists from pollengroup answer questions posed by two of their colleagues that were unable to attend NAN-NANA. Three of the pollengroup members, Alison Ballard (UK), Mirjam van Tilburg (NL) and Bruce Ayling (UK) attended the NAN-NANA networking event. The other two members, Mikael Konttinen (NO/SE) and Marius Bercea (RO), were unable to attend and so set the following questions to find out about NAN-NANA: What were your expectations of the NAN-NANA event before going? Alison Ballard I didn’t realise that each artists’ group would contribute something to the event to make up all of the activities and talks that occurred. I expected it to be a lot more static and laden with facts and information. Mirjam van Tilburg My expectations were a bit vague. Obviously networking was going to be an ingredient of the weekend, and some elements of humour were to be expected too considering the title ‘NAN-NANA’. Bruce Ayling I was extremely curious to see how the weekend would function: how all of the proposals from the different groups would work in reality and how all the different groups would gel together in such an intense event. How well did the format of the weekend work? AB I feel like I know more about each group because of the events they chose to host. Also, through talking with them all throughout the weekend, I learnt more than if I had been given straight presentations. MvT The contributing artists’ groups were asked to initiate a presentation with an element of their work. This exchange stimulated interactions between the groups. BA I think that the variation of group presentations was its real strength, from the mass public artwork of the GAO Brothers Hugging performance in the park, to Plan 9’s team building task of ‘set them a task, then leave without setting an ending’, which had a very mixed reaction from the NAN-NANA delegates. What was the best thing about the weekend and why? AB Sally Dibben’s cake that was given out during the DOT presentation. MvT Watching a man pushing a toy coach around Market Square. This performance was part of a tourism-themed project by the group Discotheque. Dave Ball, the performer, pushed a toy coach around the square in Nottingham to establish a subjective measuring. Besides that it was very interesting to observe the reactions of the shopping audience. This simple gesture, connecting to the role of a tourist, fitted very well into the context of the event. BA Howard Chan and Siu Kingchung’s presentation of the Community Museum Project’s (CMP) – Street as Museum. They detailed and photographed Lee Tung Street in Hong Kong, a 9 metre wide street known as the ‘Printing Street’ or ‘Wedding Card Street’, which will soon be demolished and the area regenerated. The amount of detail that they explained is extraordinary; they identified unifying trends in the street that are visual, as well as the ecological progression of small businesses in the area. CMP also described the street, in terms of ‘Parasite Shops’ that utilise the outside of other shops because of the high rents and ‘one dimensional shops’ which exist in a shallow space against a wall. If you can, catch CMP speaking. It would be well worth the trip. How does the pollengroup function in relation to the other groups at the event? AB We do not rely on sharing a location, or similar practice. It is our connection as people, rather than as artists, that brings us together and as a result we are stronger as a group. If for example, one of us were to change our practice and move to Italy, it would make no difference to the group. MvT Whilst observing the table tennis tournament by a group called Arena, I realised that there were a few basic categories into which all of the groups could be ordered: ‘studio groups’ live normally in the same city and share (most of them) a studio building; ‘theme groups’ share ideas or disciplines in their work; ‘organising groups’ can be a combination of the two. They are mainly together to stimulate initiatives. Whilst creating this strict division I asked myself where pollengroup is situated the best. We don’t live in one city and we work with very different disciplines and ideas. The only thing we share is a personal hunger to see each other. We can also utilise each other as ambassadors for our different countries, for practical information about funding or MA studies as well as for discovering the differences in attitude in the four different art-scenes. If we could join one of the other groups, which one would it be and why? AB Community Museum Project: I learnt that Howard can’t read past the first chapter of a David Toop book either. MvT I would like to join Apartment because of my addiction to tea. BA Sports Day because they want everyone to (www.sports-day.net). What have we taken away with us from the conference? AB I have learnt more about what pollengroup are right now and of what we could be. We still have a lot to develop within our practice as a group. MvT The urge to initiate. The NAN-NANA conference was a stimulating event for networking. This format of artists bringing their own unique element to the event as generators for discussion and critical conversations worked very well. BA That the UK art scene has suddenly become a lot smaller. pollengroup is an international group of young artists who come from a diverse range of countries within Europe, and also, from a diverse range of art practices; they connect instead, through pollengroup, as a way of exploring and making work that they would not make within their own individual practice. See www.pollengroup.blogspot.com for more details.