Call & Response

12-part exhibition series
August 14, 2020 - January 30, 2022

Artists: Beatrice Bromley (UK), Stefan Bakmand (DK), Chris Woodvine (UK), Lise Haurum (DK), Blythe Taylor (UK), Lise Tovesdatter Skou (DK), Rebecca Davies (UK), Aysha Amin (DK)

Partners: The Demo Room at Galleri Image (Aarhus, Denmark), AirSpace Gallery (Stoke-on-Trent, UK)

Funders: Statens Kunstfond, Aarhus Kommune, Arts Council England, Stoke-on-Trent City Council

Special thanks to Glen Stoker

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Call & Response is an experimental project that activates two window galleries as sites for collaborative exhibition making.

Eight artists from Aarhus and Stoke-on-Trent were divided into pairs based on shared interests: Stefan Bakmand and Beatrice Bromley are drawn to otherworldly phenomena; Lise Haurum and Chris Woodvine explore the flexibility and limitations of language; Lise Tovesdatter Skou and Blythe Taylor investigate gendered labour issues; Aysha Amin and Rebecca Davies ground their work in community engagement. 

The artists were invited to learn about each other’s practices and larger research interests through long-term dialogue with the curators (Pamela Grombacher and Glen Stoker) and between themselves. Through this process the artists and curators collectively identified thematic focal points for back-to-back solo exhibitions in The Demo Room. Conceptualized as “call” and “response” exhibitions (inspired by call-and-response patterns in music and political chants), these solo shows can be understood as forming a kind of visual dialogue, where each exhibition was made in direct response to another. The artists then continued their respective dialogues through a series of duo exhibitions in AirSpace Gallery’s window venue.

This flexible and responsive process steered the exhibition series in unexpected directions. Please use the following links to learn more about Call & Response parts I, II, III, and IV.