out of place

"In the past twenty years a flood of art for public spaces has been created, yet the remains considerable tension between 'public' and 'art'."

- Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, Suzanne Lacy (1995).

out of place is an exciting festival of innovative art events which examines and develops connections between art and everyday life.

Nineteen local, national and international artists exhibit temporary installations, interventions and performances, using sites within the city; shopping malls, parks, trains - places where art is not normally found. The work subverts traditional notions of the art exhibition; taking place outside conventional art institutions and being sited without prior notice/permission such that the audience is inadvertent and 'caught by surprise'.

The aim of the project is to develop and present work that will intervene into everyday spaces and routines and which will engage directly and critically with audience and place. out of place provides a platform for debate into the notions of public/private space, the possibilities for innovative public art within the city, and an investigation of the boundaries between art and daily life.

out of place has a core group of seven artists based in the South West of England, with a wider national and international contingent: work may be developed and made on site, following site visits, perhaps in collaboration (local artist, historian, etc.) or sent in the form of instructions or ideas to be developed and made by others.

out of place aims to develop a dialogue between artists, the public (of all ages, cultures, gender and class), the city and art and to explore the potential of the city as a site for public discourse.