Artist / Research

Pete Clarke studied at Burnley Municipal College, Bristol Polytechnic and M.A. in Fine Art Chelsea School of Art. He is Senior Lecturer in Fine Art and MA Course Leader at University of Central Lancashire, Preston, England. Clarke lives in Liverpool and is the principle member of Eight Days A Week, the artists' initiative and international exchange programme between artists in Liverpool (UK) and Cologne (Germany).

Research
Pete Clarke’s research question investigates how a sustainable regional practice can be validated by challenging the centralised ‘British metropolitan model’ of cultural discourse and authorship by exploring new strategies for exhibition and creative dialogue. The research project explores the determining influences on creative practice questioning history and education within a European context. The research project proposes a new conceptual understanding and repositioning of ‘International Practice in the Regional’ and how this impacts on the developing cultural infrastructure of the North West of England.

Outcome 1
Developing new possibilities through artists’ initiatives and contemporary practice facilitating new concepts for exhibition by expanding the creative opportunities in the North West.

Bluecoat Design Team Artist
Pete Clarke was appointed the Design Team Artist in January 2003 for the redevelopment of the Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool from a competition of invited artists. The research project developed the artists’ creative input into the Design Team working with the Architectural team of Biq Architecten from Rotterdam who won the architectural commission from an international competition.

This Bluecoat Arts Centre redevelopment project calculated to be £10 million including design and rebuilding includes funding by the Liverpool City of Culture, Arts Council, Heritage Lottery Fund and North West Development Agency. This research role was to re-evaluate the role of contemporary artists in developing the historical infra structure of the Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool, proposing initiatives to maximise the use of creative spaces and develop new ideas for artists’ participation in the studio and gallery programme. The Design Team Artist participated in generating concepts and creative functions for the development of the Bluecoat new gallery extension building. The research process aims to significantly increase the creative ambitions of the Bluecoat to widen participation and to develop the audience for innovative contemporary arts.

The building project goes on site in January 2005 to be completed for 2007 for the historical anniversary of Liverpool and to lead up to European Capital City of Culture 2008. Pete Clarke’s role as Design Team Artist will continue during this development process throughout the RIBA architectural stages of construction and development to completion and celebratory launch.

Outcome 2
Pete Clarke is Lead Artist and Chair of the Steering Group for Eight Days A Week, the artists’ initiative that explores strategies for creative dialogue between the cities and regions of Liverpool and Cologne, Germany through an ongoing cultural exchange programme that promotes the new understanding of ‘International Practice in the Regional’. He has led the project to develop cultural festivals in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

Eight Days a Week seeks to open up artists’ practices to new audiences and new communities within Europe, to generate informed and critical public debate around the social role of contemporary art and culture.

Liverpool City Council highlighted ‘Eight days a week’ an inclusive collaborative project linking Liverpool with Cologne as a major part of the successful European Capital City of Culture submission for 2008. Pete Clarke explored the cultural dynamics between Liverpool and Cologne through an invited Tate Gallery Lecture in 2004 to contextualise the Cologne exhibitions ‘Rhinegold’, Tate Gallery, ‘Drawing Exhibition ZG’, Bluecoat Gallery and Liverpool Art School ‘Accidental Lines and Red Splashes’.

‘In exposed areas’ at the Kulturbunker, Mülheim, Köln and Atkinson Art Gallery Southport were the most recent reciprocal exhibitions, Pete Clarke was exhibitor and lead curator giving a gallery lecture and editing the exhibition catalogue with a critical essay by Dr. Martin Turck, Cologne and Philip Wroe, exhibition curator, ISBN 0-9552820-1-2. In exposed areas explores the social and cultural climate for contemporary practice where different attitudes to painting can be seen as a form of critical and engaged dialogue. ‘In exposed areas’ was reviewed in the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger by Jürgen Kisters, May 2006, featured in the Guardian June 2006 and Pete Clarke was invited by A-N for Artists magazine to write a piece with photograph for October 2006.

‘Eight days’ projects were funded by The British Council in Germany, The Cities of Liverpool [Liverpool Culture Company] and Cologne [Stadt Kulturampt]. Recently Pete Clarke has written successful grant applications to the Liverpool Culture Company [£5000] and the Arts Council [£15000] and the PH Holt Charitable Trust to develop projects for 2006 and 2008.

In October 2006 Pete Clarke was editor of ‘Eight Days A Week’ 3rd edition newspaper, ISBN 0-9552820-4-7, 978-0-9552820-4-1 which was launched as part of Independents, Biennial Liverpool. Pete Clarke chaired the artists’ forum and gave a contextual introduction to lead the discussion.

Outcome 3
‘Collaboration’, Paintings & Projects by Pete Clarke, Liverpool & Georg Gartz, Cologne.
Research exploring the determining influences on artists’ practice questioning history and education in a European context, exploring collaborative strategies, challenging concepts of originality, individuality, history and authenticity through dialogue and experimentation. The Project interrogates the practice of painting through the methodology of challenging the notion of a single fixed authorial point of view. The process of applying paint to canvas becomes a discursive act, not a series of composite impressions of the urban landscape but a kind of visual meditation on the city, an amalgam of differing perspectives.

‘Crash 1’: Artists’ in Collaboration, curated by Georg Gartz and Pete Clarke,
VHS Köln-Lindenthal 2004.
Crash 1 explored how artists’ work in various forms of collaboration, challenging concepts of originality and authenticity through dialogue and experimentation from formal painting, painting and poetry, interactive presentations and photographic installations, contemporary printmaking and textiles.
The Exhibition was formally opened with speeches by Helga Blömer- Frerker, Bezirksvorsteherin Lindenthal, Andrea Pohlmann- Jochheim, Head of Department of Culture, Stadt Köln and an introduction exploring concepts of collaboration within the European cultural context by Georg Gartz.

‘Crash 2’ New Painting from Liverpool curated by Pete Clarke, VHS Köln- Nippes 2004
The Exhibition was formally opened with speeches by Bernd Schössler, Bezirksvorsteher Nippes, Andrea Pohlmann- Jochheim, Head of Department of Culture, Stadt Köln and a presentation exploring Liverpool within the cultural context of the International by Pete Clarke.
The Exhibition and catalogue ‘Crash’ had an introduction by the Lord Mayor of Cologne and was funded by Liverpool Art School, The University of Central Lancashire, Preston and the P.H. Holt Trust and Stadt Köln, 20/10 Kulturhauptstadt Europas and DOM Kölsch, Germany. Reviewed in the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger, ‘Ausstellungen von Kölnern und Liverpoolern sind in VHS-Galerien zu sehen’.

Outcome 4
Discourse and Dialogue: writings, conference papers and gallery talks and presentations.

Impact Kontakt, International Printmaking Conference 4, Berlin & Poznan,
Poland September 2005.
Paper: ‘Developments in contemporary printmaking, Liverpool/Köln cultural exchange Project’, Session 3, 'Kultur Kontakt’,

Thursday September 8, 13:30-15:30, at the Academy of Fine Arts, Solna Building Hall, Poznan, Poland

Pete Clarke and Neil Morris were invited as Keynote speakers at Impact – Kontakt Conference to make a research presentation exploring graphic arts traditions within the contemporary practice of printmaking. The Research Paper explored the collaborative nature of contemporary printmaking, international and cultural exchange projects within the European context of a diverse range of work produced as part of the international festival Eight Days a Week: Liverpool/Cologne Cultural Exchange. This research paper will be published by the University of Tennessee, USA.

The Conference paper developed from the Printmaking Residency Project ‘Injured Text’, facilitated by Pete Clarke and Neil Morris at Liverpool John Moores' University. The graphic arts work from ‘Injured Text’ by invited international artists was exhibited at the Victoria Gallery, University of Central Lancashire, Preston in March 2006, the Graphikwerkstatt, Cologne September 2006 and then Liverpool Art School as part of Independents, Biennial Liverpool October 2006 and was featured in the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger.

Indicators
Pete Clarke was featured in ‘The Treasures of Liverpool’, Five Arts Cities, Channel Five & Arts Council of England, Published by FiveArts 2004,
ISBN 0-9544208-3-7.

Pete Clarke was an invited artist to make a site related work for ‘International Kunstausstellung’, Simonskall, Germany 2003 www.hoehenart.kulturserver.de.

Invited Tate Gallery Lectures

‘American abstraction’, Tate Gallery Liverpool, 2000.

‘Formal Situations’, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, 2003.

‘Rhinegold Art from Cologne’, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, 2004.

‘In Conversation with Mark Wallinger’, Tate Gallery, Liverpool, 2005.

Invitations to Publish Essays
‘A-N for artists’, commissioned article Liverpool Biennial 2002.

‘A-N for artists’, 6 commissioned articles, guest preview writer for August Edition 2004.

‘A-N for artists’, Past Modern, Amrit and Rabindra Singh, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, commissioned review 2005.

‘Belonging and Beyond, Collaborative Installation’,
Commissioned catalogue essay, Catholic Cathedral, Liverpool 2005.

‘A-N for artists’
Guest preview and commissioned essay writer for August Edition 2004.

‘Interface 2: Artists working in Collaboration’
Exhibition catalogue, contributor of introductory text and co-editor (with Morris N.), 2004.

‘Von Zufalligen Linien und Rotlichen Flecken’
Exhibition catalogue, contributor of introductory text, exhibitor and co-editor (with Morris N.), ISBN 0-9547306-1-5.

‘Malerei aus Liverpool’
Exhibition catalogue, author of introductory text, curator, exhibitor and co-editor (with Morris N.) 2004.

‘Eight Days A Week: Liverpool/Cologne a Cultural Exchange’
Refereed conference paper presentation ‘Developments in contemporary printmaking, Liverpool/Köln cultural exchange Project’, at Kontakt, Impact 4, International Printmaking Conference, Universitat der Kunst, Berlin and Kunst Akademie, Poznan, Poland published by the University of Tennessee2005. Conference Website:
web.utk.edu/~imprint

‘Eight Days A Week: artistic strategies within a devolving centre’
Invited conference speaker with Neil Morris, 6th International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, Xavier University (Sheraton Hotel), New Orleans, USA 2006.