Dr. Chris A. Wright is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, writer and researcher based in Nottingham, UK. Following her practice-based PhD in Fine Art and Philosophy, she continues to explore borders, marginal areas and in-between spaces, the moment where one thing becomes another through a variety of media such as film, photography, live art, sculpture and drawing. Particular interest are sound for the way it transcends borders. Her approach is experimental and driven by a curiosity about the nature of things. Concerns about sustainability and the environment, especially water and human impact, are the focus of a current self-directed residency Watery Ways/Bleak Place which acknowledges the present global situation and its overwhelming presence whilst exploring England’s waterways by boat.
Exhibiting nationally and internationally with exhibitions such as This is the place where… in Perhaps Something, Perhaps Nothing with Rachel Whiteread and Cornelia Parker, Leeds Met Gallery (2009), Ergh mmm & Estuary English, Birmingham City Gallery (2018), Anywhere is Everywhere tAd Gallery USA (2014) although residencies are her preferred way of working. The most productive have been Winter Narratives, India (with artist talk, workshop, exhibtion 2019); In the Hole, Canada (2018) and Tou Scene, Norway (2010). Publications include Unplace in Unheard (Galaad 2022), Urban Flows and Non-Flows in Different Rhythms (Galaad 2020) and conferences such as Encountering/It is as it was, InDialogue, Lincoln (2019); Listening to Urban Space, EVA, London; Not The Hole Storyat Losing Ground, University of Warwick (2017). Curating includes Normal Service Will Be Resumed at Artcore, Derby (2021) and Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (2017).
Wright was a post-doctoral research fellow with CFAR, Birmingham City University (2013-2017), visiting lecturer at Staffordshire University (2011/13) and University of Wolverhampton (2013/14) and is a regular contributor to the symposia, exhibitions and publications of Forum Klanglandschaft (FKL), Italy with her sound research. She has a digital studio at Broadway, Nottingham and I an associate member of Eastside, Birmingham.
Recent major works are Urban Flows, presented at FKL, Sardinia where everyday recordings were made in four different countries; Encountering with recordings of womens’ stories played simultaneously. Following a successful residency in India in 2019, where subtle socio-political links were made within sound installations, three works shown together at Artcore, Derby weave together notions of time and duration in relation to the wider world and to self and were particularly important representing a leap forward in her practice. I thought everything was the same as a measurement of time, the film, Waiting as duration and the installation Interfluent, explored time as ambiguous.
In 2019, she began the multi-disciplinary, international Hatchery Artists as a lockdown response. This created an online outlet for artwork, mutual support and professional development, the group receiving Art Council England funding in 2020. They continue to meet via WhatsApp daily and monthly online and have exhibited both online and physically, presented artist talks and given workshops. Their ambitions continue through a future international residency exchange.
2023
Traversée1 Cross-cultural residency. Hatchery Artists with Le Labo des Arts The Gallery, Broadway, Nottingham
Portail at Platform Athens, Athens
Out Loud FKL, Lugano, Switzerland. (Academic paper)
Traversée2 Cross-cultural residency. Hatchery Artists with Le Labo des Arts, Caen 2023
Traversée3 Cross-cultural residency. Hatchery Artists with Le Labo des Arts The Gallery, Broadway, Nottingham
Watery Ways/Bleak Place residency. Broadway Gallery, Nottingham
April 2023 The Forgotten in A.I.T. Published in April issue
Untold Stories Workshop with Artcore Gallery
The Forgotten in Buffer Zone, International Women’s Day, Coventry
2022
The Forgotten in The Power of Ten with Jaw, Athens Platform 2022
Territory at Home symposium, University of Gloucester
Watery Ways/Bleak Place self-directed residency on the waterways of England
Pebble and Hold Me in bag.play.art at Candid Gallery, London
Unplace in book publication Unheard pub. Galaad
Artnuary Challenge with Hatchery Artists creativity month, a work a day
2021
Unplace FKL conference, Blois, France (paper)
Fold/Unfold in Soundscapes of Work and Play Essay pub. Galaad
Note Running Artfully Network conference , Fermynwoods (environmental poem)
The Melbourne Letters Melbourne festival outreach collaborative project, supported Derby Council (Sound commission)
Re-imagine schools project, Artcore with Derby Schools
Interfluent, Waiting and I thought everything was the same in Normal Service Will Be Resumed Hatchery Artists, Artcore Gallery, Derby (https://app.cloudpano.com/tours/RbQ7TmEo5E)
Interfluent, Waiting and I thought everything was the same in Normal Service Will Be Resumed Hatchery Artists, Dragonfly Gallery, Norfolk
Online exhibition: https://thewaylanddragonflygallery.co.uk/exhibitions-12/)
Small Talk included in One Minute Films British Film Institute archive
2020
Sonic Tapestry themakingway sound commission, Melbourne, Derbyshire, supported East Midlands Airport Community Fund and Melbourne Festival
Online Motivational Talk, Artcore Gallery
120 project 30 day artworks
She’d 1 and 2 Online exhibition by Hatchery Artists with Artcore, Derby www.hatchery.artcoregallery.org.uk
Profile article https://www.curatorspace.com/about/news/chris-a-wright-hatchery/164
2019
Winter Narratives Artist residency, Vadodara, India
Feather, Rice, Bamboo, Birds Flock Together Winter Narratives Exhibition, India
Encountering/It is as it was, InDialogue, Lincoln (sound installation and paper)
In The Hole Duvall’s residency, InDialogue, Lincoln (paper)
Fold/Unfold, FKL conference, Italy (paper)
Urban Flows and Non-Flows in Different Rhythms pub. Galaad (publication)
Summer Lodge Residency, Nottingham Trent University
Resonation#1 & #2, Alchemies of Research, Birmingham (sound performance)
Listening to Urban Space, EVA conference, London (paper and publication)
Performative writing for Wording in Convocations, Helsinki (site-specific writing)
Performative writing for Wording in Convocations, Venice (site-specific writing)
Small Talk in OneMinute Films, Salto TV, The Netherlands (film)
Territory at Platforms, Athens (sound/video)
Sonic Site II - cello (Sharman-Dunn) and clarinet (Wright) (project)
Diving Dreaming Drowning Poetry Sound Library (writing)
Wording contribution in Convocations, Helsinki (site-specific writing)
Wording contribution in Convocations, Venice (site-specific writing)
2018
Sonic Topologies in In Cammino verso Il Silenzio (essay)
Glorious Corruption through Interdisciplinary Approaches University of Wolverhampton (paper)
Samantha’s & It was in where-how’s, The Hole, New York (photograph)
Sur et Sous, Grenier a Sel, Honfleur (sound installation)
Dialogues Honfleur (performance with Louise Garlan
Auditour, HMS, Nottingham (sound installation)
The Icknield Way was once thought to be nearly a mile across Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (drawing)
Creative Confessional with Louise Garland, Nottingham (live art)
Here, there and Articulated Space 2 PhD takeover, Birmingham School of Art (Photographic installation and live art)
Tenuto, Birmingham School of Art. (participatory sound performance)
Ergh mmm & Estuary English Birmingham City Gallery (Sound installation & drawing)
Inside Outside, Thresholds: an adjacent possible, The Tapestry, Liverpool (installation)
Untitled 2018, Thresholds: an adjacent possible, The Tapestry, Liverpool (site-specific installation)
Small Talk in Vol. 9, Oneminutefilms, North Wales
Small Talk in OneMinute (selection Vol. 1 to 9), curated Kerry Baldry, HMS, Nottingham 2018 Sonic Site, collaborative research project with Ed McKeon, Birmingham
Meet the Artist www.cvaneastmidlands.co.uk
EVA Programming committee, London
2017
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham School of Art
Encountering/It is as it was Cagliari, Sardinia (sound installation)
In The Hole residency, Saskatoon, Canada
Not The Hole Story at Losing Ground Conference, University of Warwick (paper)
Curating the Idea (Golden, the sculptural nature of silence), Curating the Contemporary.org (essay)
A Collective Intake of Breath Listening after Pauline Oliveros Symposium, Leeds University (paper)
Drift and Untold, Art-Athina Platforms, Greece (video installation and photograph)
Urban Flows and Non-Flows, FKL conference, Cagliari, Sardinia (paper)
The Identity of the Everyday in Sound and Soundscapes pub. Galaad (essay)
2017 Small Talk, All-in-one loop projected show, Chiari, Italy (Film)
Five to Watch https://www.axisweb.org/five2watch/2017/five2watch-language/
EVA Programming committee, London
Artist talk, Central College, Nottingham
2016
2016 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham School of Art
2016 a-n Critical Writing bursary for Neon, Grundy Gallery, Blackpool
2016 Estuary English East Coast Stories, UK (sailing/art residency)
2016 The Shape of Sound and Light Prefab Lab Bath, UK
2016 Making music with light. Electronic short course, Music Hackspace London
2016 Encountering/it is as it was Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (sound installation)
2016 Under One Minute Volume 9 Directors Lounge, Berlin (Film)
2016 Under One Minute Volume 9 Cinema Experimental, Lisbon (Film)
2016 Under One Minute Volume 9 at Light Night Liverpool (Film)
2016 H2Au in Precious Little, Project-Athina, Athens Art Fair with HMS (installation)
2015
2015 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham
2015 Digital Tourism CITAR Journal, Volume 7 (essay)
2015 Sonic Topologies, SounDay University of Urbino, Italy
2015 Anywhere is Everywhere, A Virtual Traveller’s Tale, EVA, British Computer Society (paper and publication)
2015 The Identity of the Everyday, Soundscapes and Sound Identities, Italy (paper)
2015 Practical No. 4 in Hoard, Corn Exchange, Leeds (installation, film)
2015 Alone, we decide in Where to: Falmouth University. (Poster-QR video)
2015 Plot 74 Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (curator)
2015 Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (curator)
2015 In Boxes and When Words Fail with HMS Athens Art Fair (Film, text)
2015 Palimpsestuous Nottingham Castle Open (sculpture)
2015 Begin under the Flyover The Excursionist, B-side Symposium (provocation)
2015 Passage For Bees Winterbourne House, Birmingham (Sound installation)
2015 Passage For Bees Haden Hill House, Sandwell. (Sound installation)
2014
2014 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham
2014 Anywhere is Everywhere is A Circular Tale tAd Gallery, USA. solo exhibition (mixed media)
2014 University of Wolverhampton. Visiting Lecturer, Fine Art Contextual Studies
2014 The Value of Failure as a Methodology or How to Fail Successfully, Nottingham Contemporary (paper)
2014 Urban Sunrise Hanover Project, University of Preston. (Image publication)
2014 Small Talk and Play HMS Athens Art Fair (Film, sculpture)
2014 Things happen, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham. (Photographic installation)
2014 Summer Lodge residency, NTU, Nottingham
2014 Land Strategies and theCommons HMS, Nottingham (self-directed residency)
2014 What I want to say in Grey, Harrington Mill Gallery, Nottingham (Sculpture)
2014 Some Other Place (with Louise Garland) in Grey Nottingham (Performance)
2014 My Home is my Castle, Carnival of Monsters, Nottingham. (Installation)
2014 The Sound Store, Doncaster, UK (Interactive sound event)
2013
PhD Fine Art and Philosophy, (practice-led, part-time)
Thesis: The Presence of Absence and Other States of Space, Staffordshire University,
2013 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham
2013 University of Wolverhampton. Visiting Lecturer, Fine Art Contextual Studies
2013 The Narrated Present The Collection, Lincoln (paper)
2013 Column tAd Gallery, Texas, USA. (Photograph)
2013 Play series. Brewhouse, Burton-on-Trent, UK. (Sculpture)
2013 Parallel Horizons , Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London (film of installation)
2013 You are here Stoke-on-Trent (Site-specific installation)
2012
2011/12 At Home Today, 12 x 12 firstfloorunder, Milan, Italy (Photograph)
2012 Badedammen Tarpey Gallery, Midlands Open, UK. (Photograph).
2012 Grass is Greener (on the other side) Blank Media, Manchester, UK. (Installation)
2012/13 Making Place in Hoard, Leeds. (Installation)
Prior work
2011 Thinking with Hands and Eyes, Artist talk, Staffordshire University
2007-2010 Staffordshire University. Visiting lecturer, Fine Art
2010 Re-Semble (residency with Veronica West) Derby. Arts Council supported.
2010 Artist Residency, Tou Scene, Stavanger, Norway
2010 Artist talk School of Art, Stavanger, Norway
2010 Flaskepost Stavanger, Norway and internet. (Sound performance)
2010 Exchange Vault Gallery, Lancaster (Sound/light installation)
2010 Grass is Greener ZOOart, Cuneo, Italy. (Archisculptural Performative installation)
2010 Play series Waterside Open, Manchester. (Sculpture)
2010 Taking Off and Landing AV Festival Newcastle. (Film)
2010 Grass is Greener Departure Gallery, London. (Archisculptural Performative installation)
2010 This is the place where…. in Architectural Disorder, Ovada Gallery, Oxford. (Installation)
2010 Taking Off and Landing AV Festival Newcastle. (Film)
2010 Badedammen Cube Open, Manchester. (Photograph)
2010 OPEN Staffordshire University Public Art Commission. (Installation).
2010 Fly by Day and Night Bury, Lancashire. (Commercial commission)
2010 Shipping Lanes, PSL, Leeds. (Film)
2010 Lightwave Sonic Juke Box, Soundfjord, London. (Sound work)
2010 Play series Waterside Open, Manchester. (Sculpture)
2009 Place: The Future was Here OneDay Sculpture symposium, New Zealand (paper)
2009 Constellation MIC Auckland, New Zealand (Interactive light installation)
2009 This is the place where.., Perhaps Something, Perhaps Nothing Leeds Met Gallery, UK (installation)
2009 Taking Off and Landing Short Shorts, Leeds UK. (Film)
2009 Free Range , Co-curator, Truman Breweries, London
2008 Chu Unoh Conjunctions 08 Stoke on Trent (Installation)
2008 Taking Off and Landing Birmingham ArtsFest08. (Film)
2008 Play series, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield. (Sculpture)
2008 Taking Off and Landing Empire Gallery, London. (Film)
2008 Technical Assistant, Tatton Biennale, Cheshire
2007 New Significances Up The Wall, Chester. (Light interventions)
2007 A small step Commission for Creative Partnerships, Newcastle Under Lyme (Painting)
2007 Metamorph, Albert Dock, Liverpool. (Collaborative residency, public events) Supported Staffordshire University.
2006 Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn‘t have? Airspace, Stoke-on-Trent. (Sculpture)
2006 Piconectic Co-curator, University Gallery, Staffordshire University
2006 Welcome Liverpool Independents, Wolstenholme Square, Liverpool, UK (site-specific installation)
EDUCATION
2008 - 2013 PhD Fine Art and Philosophy, (practice-led, part-time). Thesis: The Presence of Absence and Other States of Space . Staffordshire University, Faculty of Art and Creative Technologies
Principal Supervisor: Professor Douglas Burnham, External examiner: Dr. Francis McKee
My research argues that absence has an underlying presence that links the territorialized space of the non-place and the interstitial space of the border zone. It is posited that disturbed areas are created that interrupt, amongst other things, placial identity. It was also argued that the term ‘non-place’ has a limited validity in contemporary society. As a fine art, practice-led study, viewing space was continually questioned both with regard to my own practice and to other, mostly contemporary, artists. This was an interdisciplinary study and referenced fine art, philosophy, social and cultural theory, geography and critical theory.
2008 Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods, Staffordshire University
Modules: Directed Study, Research Skills, Comparative Research Methodology
2006 -2007 MA Fine Art (Distinction) Staffordshire University, Course Leader: Professor Ian Brown (Common Culture)
Course Leader: Associate Professor Ian Brown
Modules: Contemporary Curating, Contextual Studies, Masters Project. Research Dissertation ‘Identity of Location’ looks at the identity of location through a dialogue between place and non-place and was a practice-based research that used light and immersive environments as a common theme.
2004-2005 BA (Hons) Fine Art (2.1) Staffordshire University
Modules: Negotiated Project in Fine Art, Self-Initiated Project in Fine art, Fine Art Personal Development Project, Fine art Personal Project Resolution, Catalogue for an Imaginary Exhibition –‘Sensuous’ which united a diverse collection of twentieth-century sculpture by the emotive term, sensuous.
2002-2004 HND Fine Art (Distinction) Macclesfield College, School of Art, Cheshire, UK
Modules: Fine Art Sculpture, Time-based artwork, Digital Imaging, Site-Specific Art, Specialist Studio Practice, Drawing in Fine Art, Developing a Fine Art Language, Developing a Fine Art Identity, Historical and Contextual Referencing, Critical Study, Visual arts Professional Practice, Drawing: Personal Development, Materials and Processes in Fine Art, Lens-Based recording Techniques, Presenting and Exhibiting artwork, Curating and Participating in Exhibitions.
Research dissertation (5000 words) ‘See the Silence’ comparing the uses of the pause or rest in music and the silence represented in visual art.
FURTHER TRAINING
2016 Making music with light. Electronic short course, London
2004 Child Protection, Community Arts Network, Manchester
2004 Health and Safety, Community Arts Network, Manchester
2004 Refugee Awareness, Community Arts Network, Manchester
TEACHING/EMPLOYMENT/FURTHER TRAINING
2013 to 2017 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham School of Art
2015 Visiting Lecturer, University of Urbino, Italy
2013- 2014 Hourly-paid lecturer, Contextual Studies, Fine Art, University of Wolverhampton
2007 -2010 Hourly-paid lecturer, Fine Art, Staffordshire University
2008 Technical Assistant, Tatton Biennale, Cheshire
OTHER
2017 Five to Watch https://www.axisweb.org/five2watch/2017/five2watch-language/
2018 Meet the Artist www.cvaneastmidlands.co.uk
2017 -2019 EVA Programming committee, London