Cultural Connection: ArtAttack Gets the Inside Scoop on the Incredible National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan

‘…At the National College of Arts (NCA), we imagine a world. Not one world, but many. One for each of us, one from each of us, with these we write the autobiographies of our times, in objects, in lines, in mortar, and in perishable clay. In tracing ourselves, we leave traces. These are the traces that make our cities. Turn us inside out like pillowcases with that remembered smell, like shed skins. These are the traces that populate our nights, and from these traces we dare to dream again…’ – Excerpts from NCA teacher-students conversations

The National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan is a global centre for creativity, talent and artistic tradition. Originally founded as The Mayo School of Art in 1875, and rebranded the NCA in 1958, debate and discourse are encouraged amongst the students and faculty here, and this leads to a culture of understanding, individuality and tolerance. The art that comes out of this incredible place is some of the best in the world, the training exceptional and the diversity of the students in background, identity, ideology and language a major strength.

Teachers at the NCA nurture and push their students so that each one rightfully values his and her creative ideas and pushes their artistic practice to reach its height.

All this happens in a country who’s value is often overlooked by the international community; a country who’s goodness is glossed over for its’ bureaucratic corruption and troubled political history. It is easy to forget, if your only connection to Pakistan is watching the news, that this country, one of the cradles of civilisation, actually has an astonishing cultural and artistic history practically unmatched in the world. The NCA connects all their students with this rich history, as we hope the following interviews will connect our readers with it as well.

We are honoured to have had the chance to speak with three outstanding female NCA alumna, Class of 2016, Amani Iqbal, Sameen Agha and Komal Tufail, about their time at this esteemed institution, their artistic practice and their future goals within the art world. Suffice to say, these are powerhouse women and we can’t wait to see what incredible strides they take!

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ArtAttack Launch Exhibition Artists Announced!

 

Massive congratulations to the 7 artists officially chosen for the ArtAttack Launch Exhibition from our #HangInChelsea competition.

The artists are:

1. Massimo Agostinelli. American-Italian, but London-born artist, Agostinelli, is known for his ‘Word Play | Text Art’ works which have been exhibited in galleries in London and New York and are held among collections in major cities across 5 continents.

2. Samin Ahmadzadeh. This Iran-born artist and CSM graduate’s background in street       photography is combined with a passion of expressing her personal views on sociological and cultural matters of her country. Her practice continues to evolve with a specific focus on archival collections of her family’s cultural history.

What happens when an Art Student ‘breaks up’ with technology? ArtAttack Interviews Caley Holmboe.

Chelsea College of Arts student, Caley Holmboe, has a flip phone and no Instagram profile. When I fell in love with a sculpture of hers at last year’s 2nd year show, I had to tweet at the Chelsea student union to get her contact information. When Caley receives an email, it comes to her laptop only. When Caley sends a text, she has to use the numbers as letters just like you did on your old Nokia circa 2004.

Her complete lack of online presence in an increasingly digital world, is something that makes Caley stand out immensely, and I wanted to know how and why she made the practically unheard of choice to be almost totally offline.

It turns out that the lifestyle choice started an experiment and a work of art. I like to call it ‘The Unplug Project,’ but the formal name of the piece is ‘I Want to Break Up.’

I had the chance to speak with Caley about this fascinating project, which ended up extending into her daily life. You’ll notice this is a much longer interview than those we normally publish, but I encourage you to read every word as it really is a supremely interesting look into a very non-traditional choice.

‘I want to show society’s excess through a surrealist and dystopian view of what we could become’ – ArtAttack meets Henri Charreau

ArtAttack meets one of London’s most exciting emerging artists, sculptor Henri Charreau. Brought up in Paris, Henri graduated from Chelsea School of Art and is currently doing an MA at Kings College London.

I had the chance to speak with Henri about his artistic practise and current projects.

Attention Artists: The SOLO Award 2016 – Call for entries!

The SOLO Award is an annual contemporary art prize established by WW Gallery in 2012, which recognises independent thinking, going it alone and taking risks.

 

It is open to artists of any age, working in any medium. The winner receives a cash prize (£2,000) and a solo exhibition at the London Art Fair. 2016 sees the prize money doubled and the award open to international artists for the first time.

‘Who says a mathematician can’t be creative?’ ArtAttack interviews ‘Metamorphosis’ co-curators Olivia Bladen & Alice Procter

Last year, for their annual exhibition, the UCL Art Society, put on a fantastic show entitled ‘Escape,’ which left ArtAttack impressed and inspired. So with this year’s show, ‘Metamorphosis,’ just a few days away, we jumped on the opportunity to interview exhibition director’s Olivia Bladen (ArtAttack’s own!) and Alice Procter to gain some insight into the curatorial process and what we can expect from this exciting emerging art exhibition.

ArtAttack: So ‘Metamorphosis’ is the theme for this year’s show. Can you tell me how this idea came about and what it means to you?

Alice Procter: As strange as it sounds… We were eating gnocchi in a park last summer, throwing words at each other in the hope that something would stick. I don’t remember who said Metamorphosis first, but it just made so much sense. We wanted something open, that anyone could look at and say, ‘okay, how can I relate this to my work?’, because every artist is always making a change or transforming something. It felt like a way of encouraging our members to step back and look at the process behind their work.

Olivia Bladen: We went through a long list of words it could be! Previous exhibitions had names such as Alchemy and Escape, and we wanted to keep the theme true to those vibes; something that was open enough to be accessible to anyone, but would still provide direction. As the curators, it helps to have a unifying aspect, obviously. But as Alice said, the process of change is inherently an artistic one, so none of the submissions felt really out of place.

‘A big goal would to be able to create a change in the diversity and representations of race in fashion imagery.’ – ArtAttack meets Jazz Rakkar.

ArtAttack have had the privilege of recently meeting Nottingham Trent arts graduate, Jazz Rakkar. This young photographer specialises in fashion, beauty and commercial imagery. Jazz’s approach to photography commonly has themes surrounding form, the pose and classic photography styles. During his time at university, he also explored and researched themes regarding race and identity in fashion. Having studied with Jazz myself, I have had first hand experience watching his passion and talent develop.

I have had the chance to ask Jazz some personal questions about his photography for everyone to gain an insight into his process.

And the 2015 HIX Award Goes To…

It’s official, the 2015 HIX Award has been won!

The recipient of this year’s exciting art prize is Allyson McIntyre who has just completed an MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, and in fact applied for this award whilst finishing up her degree.

Allyson McIntyre poses with her winning painting, ‘Moon Cries for Ferdinand’

Founded in 2013 by famed restaurateur Mark Hix alongside CNB Gallery director, Rebecca Lidert, the award is designed to provide young, emerging artists a platform to show their work, in hopes of giving them that first boost they need following graduation. In a sense, the prize works to set artists off in the right direction post-university, which of course, gives it a special place in our hearts here at ArtAttack, where we strive to help student and graduate artists jumpstart their artistic futures.

ArtAttack Interview: Westminster Graduate Pascal Colman on Meditation, Experimentation, and Documentation

There’s something about the Art Student community in London. Although there are thousands of you, it’s so easy to get to know familiar faces, perhaps mainly because the free alcohol at most private views tends to bring everyone together, but also because it’s the kind of environment where collaboration across schools is one of the best ways to survive the pressures of making in this city. Not too long ago, this ArtAttacker was involved in one of these projects, ‘You Have Got my Bone‘, a collective exhibition in Soho that was many months of work in the making and encompassed works from students at the Slade, Westminster, Goldsmiths and Central St Martins. During this long process, I had the pleasure of getting to know one of the main brains behind the operation, then Westminster student Pascal Colman (who graduated just a few short weeks ago, and has my sincere congratulations). When he wasn’t nursing the massive headache that arose from organising rental costs and an intimidatingly large-scale clear-up mission, Colman was setting up his own piece, entitled ‘Presence’ (2015), which he since has reformatted as an installation at both his degree show and a one-night only exhibition at Austin Forum. At ‘You Have Got my Bone’, the soundscape existed in its own sunny room in the disused bookshop space (pictured). Although overlooking the mania of Charing Cross Road and those troublesome building works at Centre Point tower, you would never have known it once you sat on the floor and closed your eyes. It was a tranquil oasis where visitors could slip into a meditative space, both psychical and metaphysical, as cassette players hummed around them – if called to, you could enjoy that ancient ritualistic effect of turning over a tape, something I personally haven’t done since circa 2001. The same effect was achieved at the Westminster Show, only this time there was a pilgrimage involved, because of its location in a 4th floor seminar room far-flung from the rest of the exhibitors. ArtAttack was so impressed with it that night, we immediately decided an interview was in order, particularly keen on his insights into remaining so cool under pressure –  thank god, Colman has kindly obliged and shared some of his secrets with us.

‘Presence’, Pascal Colman, 2015

ArtAttack: Did you always know you wanted to be an ‘artist’? What made you decide to go to art school?

Pascal Colman: My interest in being an artist started young, although my definition of what an artist was didn’t stretch far beyond batman illustrations. What I enjoy doing now -I guess – still rests within the expanded definition of what a contemporary artist is although I’m not sure I like the term ‘artist’…seems a bit stuffy and self-conscious – artists all read overly intellectual books and wear silly hats. I think the decision to go to art school was largely on account of my inability to come up with a better alternative.