Beth Derbyshire

Course Leader: MA Art and Project Management

Birmingham School of Art

Email:: beth.derbyshire@bcu.ac.uk
Phone:: +44 (0)121 331 5960

Beth is a practising artist who has been working largely in the public realm for over 25 years. Her practice explores the diverse nature of human presence and expression within social and historical registers. Themes have been: silence in society, conflict and collective memory, nationality and identity. Recent works have investigated cultural, social and political relationships to nature through a synthesis of voice, music, words and image. These multi-disciplinary projects use the metaphors of landscape, the sea and song to explore ideas around territory, nationality, identity and language borrowing from sources such as national anthems, myths, scientific terms and place names.

More information about Beth's practice can be found at www.bethderbyshire.co.uk.

Beth’s experience of working across a wide range of contexts and on national and international platforms helps create an environment that teaches students how arts organisations, cultural spaces, visual and performing arts projects are managed in different social, political and economic environments. The course atmosphere is supportive and rich in a diversity of cultural pursuit, research and entrepreneurship.

Current Activity

Work with External Partners

Beth also works with a series of external partners to develop platforms that can take the form of a exhibitions, pop-ups and festivals to showcase research and work from students and staff. The projects reflect on diverse narratives within contemporary issues, heritage and history and function as teaching and research tools providing live platforms for public engagement activities. Students from across the School of Art and sometimes faculty gain live professional experience as well as being able to reflect and refer to the events/projects as part of their assignments and research papers. An essential component of this research is to foster an interdisciplinary cultural and public practice for the School by working and “broadcasting” across the Arts to reach diverse audiences through cultural intersections. These collaborations forge strong links across education, the cultural sector and industry to offer students and staff (from all institutions) exciting opportunities to flourish and share their research with external partners and communities.

To this end, Beth has developed strong relationships with Selfridges Birmingham, The Longbridge Light Festival, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham Museums Trust, WERK, Warwick Arts Centre and Tate Liverpool. Please see links below for more information on some of these projects.

Partnership with Tate Liverpool

BCU and Tate Liverpool embarked on an ambitious partnership that involved activities across teaching, learning and research offering opportunities for professional development for our students and staff. This involved undertakings that were identified by colleagues from both institutions on both sites such as lectures, talks, opportunities for professional development, PhD research, conferences and interventions at Tate Exchange. The third year of the partnership also saw many activities but the main focus was on the co-collaborative project culminating in the commissioning of Mikail Karakis’ film, Ferocious Love. Beth’s role was to co-ordinate all of these activities and together with Dr Jonathan Harris to develop the research for the School Wide research project. Beth also led on a Tate Exchange project SWOP SHOP and on the BICA/Tate Lectures Global Futures.

More information about the partnership activities can be found here
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/art/about-us/tate-partnership

More information about SWOP SHOP, a collaborative Tate. BCU and Tate Liverpool project can be found here.
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/art/news-and-events/swop-shop

The Shipping News

As part of the partnership project, the School of Art announced an ambitious school wide research project “The Shipping Forecast” which involved all students and staff taking part in an imaginative experiential research activity centred on the theme of ‘The Shipping Forecast”. Through exploration of this theme, students and staff were prompted to think creatively and critically about human pasts, presents and future. This resulted in many ideas and activities that were captured in presentations which embraced these key themes

The All School Project had two purposes: (1) to help build a collective and supportive identity (‘learning community’) within the school by bringing students from all levels together with staff, and (2) to help form ideas, visual representations and activities that can be taken forward by the school in its partnership activity with Tate Liverpool, which culminated in a Co-Created Exhibition Project at Tate Liverpool in Spring 2020.

From discussions with Tate Liverpool, artist Mikhail Karakis was invited to work with the school to take these ideas further in a collaboration with staff and students. This resulted in the works Ferocious Love, an audio-visual installation shown at Tate Liverpool by Mikhail Karakis made in collaboration with students from the School of Art and Birmingham City University. This work focuses on emotional responses and the need for mutual care in the face of the climate crisis.

Please see below a link for more information and to see the trailer.
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/exhibition/mikhail-karikis-ferocious-love

Invisible Cities with Selfridges and Artist Fashion designer Osman Yousefada

MA Students from the Birmingham School of Art developed projects, exhibitions and workshops in response to Birmingham-born and globally acclaimed visual artist Osman Yousefzada’s huge Selfridges exterior installation Infinity Pattern 1 as well as his Letter to Birmingham project. Taking Italo Calvino’s seminal text Invisible Cities as an inspiration point, students explored different narratives of the city. The Invisible Cities pop up provided a moment for people to collaborate and journey on creative encounters together, to explore the stories and enigmas of the city we inhabit. Shoppers and Birmingham residents joined students to create artworks, zines, and collective drawings, all recording their relationships and understanding of the city they live or work in to produce a collection of artistic work and interventions.

More information on the project can be found here:
https://www.bethderbyshire.co.uk/projects-7
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/news-events/news/birmingham-school-of-art-city-project-to-pop-up-at-selfridges-this-weekend

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Teaching

Teaching MA Arts and Project Management

On the MA Arts and Project Management course students learn how arts organisations, cultural spaces, festivals and visual and performing arts projects are produced and managed. The course is designed for those who wish to pursue a career in arts management to gain expertise in the requirements for managing, producing and promoting cultural events and arts projects. The course enables students to develop professional and practical skills, gaining advanced organisational, planning and marketing skills. Students on the course work on an ongoing project, Into the Paradewhich explores how to use technology to research, develop and plan an online web encounter/festival/magazine in conjunction with live interventions conducted in the city.

Through a combination of live projects, seminars and research modules students learn about arts policies, the civic and social role of the Arts and the delivery of public engagement and cultural value producing flexible, responsive and imaginative cultural practitioners.

The course integrated practice based learning approach, combining theoretical knowledge with process driven exercises applied in live projects. This is how students encounter academic and theoretical training whilst being equipped with professional tools to help them complete their assignments as well as equip them with professional skills for employability.

Teaching MA and BA Fine Art

Beth teaches at the School of Art on the MA and BA Fine Art Courses. She has knowledge of innovative learning and teaching methods embracing imaginative and technical experimentation with processes, methods, and materials. The teaching also involves developing contextual research and helping students develop analytical, critical and reflective skills and investigations. Beth's role involves teaching across these modules: Studio Practice, Practice and Professional Presentation, Critical Review and Analysis, Establishing Practice and Expanding Practice.

Research

Publications

Solo Exhibitions:

2016 – Surrender. Longbridge Light Festival
2013 The Ark, Ephemeral and Touring Work commissioned by Creativity Works, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Burnley Town Hall.
2012 The Rootless Forest, Ephemeral and Touring Work, Birmingham, Birmingham Institute of Artand Design. Edible Eastside, The New Gallery Walsall.
2011 Seven Seas, Commission for Selfridges
2009 Anthem, a trilogy of films at the Eden Project
2007 Objects with Secrets, commission by Hermes for Selfridges
2007 Ensemble, Tatar Gallery, Toronto
2006 Careless Talk Costs Lives, Platform for Art, Launch of Thames and Hudson publication
2005 Message, Public Event and Exhibition, National Maritime Museum
2004 God Save The Queen, Brussels Art Fair, Eric Frank Fine Art
2002 You and I, New Visions of the Sea, National Maritime Museum, curated by Barnaby Drabble
2000 Performance Works, Milch, work within a programme including Davida Hewlett, lone twin, Howard Mathew, Nononzenz, Tomoko Takahashai, Velodrome, Gillian Wylde.

Group Exhibitions

2011, Notice, Article Gallery, Birmingham
2008 Anthem, New Generation Arts Festival in Birmingham
2008 Translations, Misunderstandings and Paradox’s, Shedhalle Zurich
2008 Nothing to Declare, Triennallle in Friedrichshafen, Germany
2007 Together, Dubai Art Fair, special presentation
2007 Ensemble, Montréal Biennale, Montréal
2006 A Shelter in a time of Storm, Lichfield Arts festival, Uriel Orlow, Amanda Coogan
2005 ARCO, Madrid Art Fair, Eric Frank Fine Art
2004 Tape, 291 Gallery, London
2003 Longlife, Spacex,
2003 Sharjah Biennale, United Arab Emirates
2002 Gate, Dartmoor Heath curated by Tina Kean and Ben East, with Eija Liisa Ahtila, Chris Barber,
Emma Bennet, Stuart Croft, Steven Eastwood, Inge Lisa Hansen, Lucy Heyward, Matt Hulse, Tina Keane, Patrick Keiller,Malcolm, LeGrice, Anna Lucas, Ning Mong, Greg Pope, Emily Richardson, John Sergeant, Anna Thew, Mark Aerial Waller
2002 The Peterborough Art Prize, Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery
2002 Beach, Windsor, Florida, with John Baldessari, Robert Capa, Tracey Emin, Morris Engel, Harold Feinstein, Eric Fischl, Martine Franck,
Tierney Gearon, Mario Giacomelli, Sid Grossman, William Klein, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Annie Leibowitz, Arthur Leipzig, Lisette Model, Martin Munkacsi, Dennis Oppenhiem, Martin Parr, Paul Pfer, Richard Prince, Ben Ross, Clifford Ross, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Massimo VitaliVitali, Wegee, Priscilla Rattazzi Whittle
2001 Incorporate Four, Art in Business, London, Running Time with Vanessa o Reilly
2001 Future Perfect, London with Mats Adelman, Jeremy Ackerman, Johanna Billing, Alexander Gutke, Jonannes Maier, Mike Marshall, Derek
Ogbourne, Vanessa O Reilly Chloe Piene, Camilla Sposati
2000 Agglutinate of Pleasure, 291 Gallery London
2000 Become Like Me, Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, Arts Centre, An Tuirean, Portree, Isle of Sky, with Vito Acconci, Roderick Buchanan, Paul
Carter, Sean Dower, Kate Gray, Paul Gray, Rob Hunter, Andy Kennedy, Derek Ogbourne, SarahMcfayden, William Wegman
2000 Gasterbeiter, 2YK Gallery Berlin, with Caterina Campino/Hanno Soans, Volker Eichelmann,
Fred Mann, Howard Mathew, Vanessa O’Reilly
2000 EV+A Friends and Neighbours, Curated by Rosa Martinez, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Ireland
1999 WUNDERKAMMER, London
1999 EV+A International, Curated by Jeannie Greenburg, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Ireland
1998 Crosscurrents, 291 Gallery, London, work within a programme including with Lynne Marsh and Saskia Olde Wolbers
1998 EV+A International, Curated by Paul O Reilly, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Ireland
1998 Privy Off-site, with Kate Davies and Oliver Marsden
1998 Drawing upon Drawing, Studio 9, Fashion Street Studios, London
1997 Welcome to Paradise, Central Point Galley A.C.A.V.A., London, with Sophie Newell
1997 Mirror, Museum of Installation, London with Stav Bella, Jo Bennet, Louise Tebbs, Amanda Wilson
1997 Ideal Space, London, with Darren Almond and Gary Perkins
1997 Make Room Make Room, Milch, London, with Amy Jump and Sally Gould
1996 East International, Norwich
1996 Private Views, London Institute Galleries
1996 O to 1 Video, Brera Institute, Milan

Catalogues/Books

2012 The Rootless Forest, The Cruelty of the Classical Cannon. Zētēsis. Research generated by curiosity. International journal for the intersecting landscapes of Fine Art, Philosophy, Cultural Practice and the Wild Sciences. Article in supplementary pamphlet. Sep 2013. ARTicle Press. 2012 BIAD, MA Catalogue, Who Kicked the Unicorn.
2012 Mediating Change, BBC series on culture and climate change. Radio and Publication
2009 Translations, Misunderstandings and Paradox’s, Shedhalle Zurich, Acompanyhing publication. 2008 Nothing To Declare, catalogue
2007 Platform for Art, Art on the underground
2007 1st DIFC Global Art Forum publication
2007 A Book of Wonder, published Violette editions for Selfridges
2006 Lichfield Exhibition Catalogue
2006 Message, Beth Derbyshire published by Thames and Hudson MONOGRAPH
2004 Tape Exhibition catalogue
2003 Sharjah Biennale, three publications, main catalogue and short guide
2002 Beach Catalogue, Contributors, Robert Rosen Blum, Katherina McArthur
2000 EV+A Friends and Neighbours catalogue
1999 EVA International catalogue
1998 EVA International catalogue
1996 East International

Press/Publications

Festival of Imagination: 2 Live Broadcasts, 27 Articles plus online.
The Ark: 42 press articles, it was featured on national and local broadcast media.
The Rootless Forest: Over 60 press articles, Print online and on national and local broadcast media. 2012 Selected Press: Aesthetica Magazine, The Art Newspaper, BBC Birmingham & Black Country, BBC Midlands Today, Big Issue, Blouin Art Info, Culture 24, Design Boom, Birmingham Mail. Walsall Chronicle. This is Tomorrow. Public Art Online
2011 New York Times, The Independent Newspaper, Glass magazine, Design week.
2009 Guardian Guide, Saatchi Magazine, The Independent, Fine Art America.
2009 Design Week.2013 Television coverage Granada and ITV. Lancashire Telegraph, The Bee 2012 Selected Press: Aesthetica Magazine, The Art Newspaper, BBC Birmingham & Black Country, BBC Midlands Today, Big Issue, Blouin Art Info, Culture 24, Design Boom, Birmingham Mail. Walsall Chronicle. This is Tomorrow. Public Art Online,
2011 New York Times, The Independent Newspaper, Glass magazine, Design week
2009 Guardian Guide, Saatchi Magazine, The Independent, Fine Art America.
2009 Design Week
2007 Time Out Dubai, Arselan Mohammed, Gulf News, Vinta Bharadhi
Gulf Today - Panorama, Indrani Mishra, Khaleej Times, Zawya Modern Painters, Matthew Collins, Arte E Critica, Ilaria Valbonisi, The Metro newspaper Montreal, Modern Painters, Matt Collins 2006 The Guardian, Maeve Kennedy, Birmingham Post, Terry Grimley The Independent, Charlotte Cripps, Metro, Review, Design Week, John Stones, Profile Piece
2005 The Guardian, Maeve Kennedy, The Independent, Sue Hubbard, The Telegraph, Stephen Pile, Profile Piece, The Telegraph, Kate McCormick, The Times, The Evening Standard - two articles, The Arts Newspaper, Louise Buck Art Monthly, Radio 5, Live at the Cenotaph, BBC, BBC News Live 24, BBC News night, Sky news, ITN Networks
2004 Tape, Exhibition Catalogue
2003 The Art newspaper, Martin Sorbello
2002 The Times, Kate Shillingham
2002 W Magazine, U.S.A
2002 British Vogue, Spring Issue
2001 Art Review, October
2001 Time Out, Preview for Future Perfect, Martin Herbert, Art Monthly, Daniel Jewesbury, The Guardian, Jonathan Jones, Scotland on Sunday,
Elizabeth Mahony, Art Monthly, Nicki Bird, Preview Art, Alex Hetherton, The Metro, Gabe Stewart 1998 Art Monthly, The Independent, Hero brown, January, Creative Review
1997 Time Out, Mark Currah
1997 Art Monthly Time out, Martin Herbert
1996 Art Monthly, The Guardian, Adrian Searle, Photographers Journal