Dark matter:Group exhibition, Workplace Foundation, Newcastle, UK

Exhibition dates: 18 September - 6 November 2021To celebrate the launch of Workplace Foundation’s new space in Newcastle, we are delighted to present Dark Matter an exhibition of recent works by our Community of Artists.The title is a reference to Dark Matter - Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture by artist, writer and activist Gregory Sholette. Sholette argues that non-institutional, self-organised and artist-led practices make up the unseen ‘dark matter’ of the artworld and are essential to supporting and sustaining the wider artistic ecology. Creative dark matter ‘displays a degree of autonomy from the critical and economic structures of the art world by moving instead in-between its meshes’. It is in these often overlooked ‘in-between’ spaces that some of the most progressive and experimental forms and ideas can flourish.This exhibition brings together and continues our journey with our Community of Artists who form an integral part of Workplace Foundation’s ecology. The events over the last year have further highlighted the importance of fostering this supportive community to enable experimentation, as well as the importance of learning from shared experience. Continuing our intention to support artists through an alternative form of non-exclusive representation outside of a commercial gallery context, the Community of Artists is a growing group of critically engaged artists that have been selected from our past programme by our curatorial team. Exhibiting artists are: Catherine Bertola, Cath Campbell, Nina Chua, Joe Clark, Noel Clueit, Claire Dorsett, Peter J. Evans, Parham Ghalamdar, Dean Hughes, Rachel Lancaster, Paul Merrick, Mick Peter, Magnus Quaife, Nicola Singh and Cecilia Stenbom. Works will be presented in a range of media including painting, sculpture, video and works on paper