Artists exhibition will span the whole region

What do you get when you mix 31 artists, three counties and artistic collaboration?

A festival of ideas and inspiration called Regrouping - the latest show from Gainsborough-based art and culture champions BendInTheRiver.

The show includes drawing workshops, photography, installation art, painting, soundscapes and site-specific work such as the painting of a disused building in Nottingham,

It aims to challenge our ideas of control and ‘the group’ with every artist in the show having to collaborate in some way.

BendInTheRiver co-director, Marcus Hammond, said the ideas for the show spilled into its curation after deciding to hand artistic control to collaborating artists.

“Each member of a core group of BendInTheRiver artists was asked to invite one other artist to participate in this series of shows and events,” said Marcus.

“Some artists simply invited a guest, others built collaborations and this has given rise to a whole range of interactions and negotiations.”

The show launches next month at x-church in Gainsborough, The Workstation in Sheffield, Primary in Nottingham and The Usher in Lincoln.

Marcus said he hoped Regrouping would add to the ‘vitalizing’ of visual arts in the region.

“It is very exciting that the dynamic of Regrouping has spread beyond our project space at x-church in Gainsborough to other regional venues,” he said.

“BendInTheRiver has never just been an exhibition venue. We have always put energy into supporting and developing artists and arts infrastructure in our region.”

l See www.bendintheriver.co.uk for more details.