Axisweb Award Winners Announced

Published: 04 March 2020


A massive thank you to everyone that applied: the quality of the applications we received was incredibly high which made the decision-making process very difficult.

Sophie Bullock is the recipient of the Project Commission. The £1,000 award will be used to fund the production of ‘The Perfect Programme’, a satirical performance/video exploring self-improvement culture.

As the recipient of the Project Commission, Sophie Bullock commented:

“I'm delighted to accept the Axisweb Project Commission Award. This has come at a pivotal point for me where I'm developing new video, performance and music work which is ready to be made after a deep period of research. I will be making work about the parallels between the neoliberal faith of free-market data to fix society, and the rise of self-tracking technologies to quantify our bodies and minds in order to improve them. I’m wondering why we feel the need and pressure to be constantly ‘optimising’ ourselves, and who is benefiting from our inadequacy? These feelings of competition, insecurity, success and failure are common feelings we have, and I’m keen to use this work as a tool to talk about how we might positively reframe what success looks like to ourselves and peers with the support of Axisweb.”

Sophie Bullock on Axisweb >


Due to the outstanding quality of the Research and Development Bursary applications we have decided to award three bursaries of £500 each to Sophie Bownes, Lady Kitt and Sunny Vowles & Inari Hulkkonen.

Sophie Bownes will be using the £500 R&D Bursary to take a FA Level 1 course in Coaching Football which will enable her to build on her ongoing research into gender, representation and football culture.

"I’m beyond excited to receive this bursary. It will provide me with the resources and some much needed financial freedom to dedicate to developing my practice. I can’t wait to dive into acquiring the fundamentals of football coaching, learning from the practical and critical frameworks to develop my research and collaborative work."

sophiebownes.co.uk

Lady Kitt will be using their award to host a series of ‘Social Practice Surgeries’ for socially engaged practitioners to help them develop strategies and professional resilience in social practice.

"To say I'm delighted is an understatement! The support offered by Axisweb through the bursary means I can start work on a research project which has been on my mind for several years. I anticipate that the research will have a massively positive impact on my own practice and wellbeing as a socially engaged artist. Through sharing resources gathered during the research I also aim to create tools to support other social art practitioners. I can't wait to get started!"

Lady Kitt on Axisweb >

Collaborative duo Sunny Vowles and Inari Hulkkonen will be using their award to undertake a self-initiated residency in order to develop a performance work that combines dance, sculpture and sonic art.

"We are thrilled to have been selected for the Research and Development Award with Axisweb. This opportunity will give us the means to explore the common interests that intersect our separate practices, such as poetry, sculpture, installation, and the potential of analogue mechanisms. As a newly formed creative duo, we intend to create work that sits somewhere between the worlds of choreography and visual arts. This bursary, support and exposure will propel our process, allowing us to share our work with the public and give us feedback along the way. We are grateful to Axisweb for their continuous support of creative practice, especially within the artist-led scene in Leeds where we are primarily situated."

cargocollective.com/sunnyvowles


We will be working closely with all of our award winners as they undertake their respective projects and will share any developments and outcomes as they happen.

The next round of Axisweb Awards will be announced at the end of March.


axisweb.org/awards

Author: Axisweb

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