NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL ART 3

FRIDAY 7TH JULY - SATURDAY 22ND JULY 2023
OPENING TIMES: THURSDAY - SATURDAY
12 - 4PM

This might be the third Now That’s What I Call Art, but it is its first time in Middlesbrough. It is the collaboration of Spaghetti Factory and System Gallery, two North East artist-run projects.

This group exhibition features one artwork (or set of artworks) from 74 artists at all stages. Rather than an open call, where submissions are selected through some potentially arbitrary selection process, exhibiting artists responded to an ‘open invitation’ and were welcomed on a first-come first-served basis.

This approach was born from the understanding that culture is a public commodity and so all people deserve the opportunity to engage with it at all levels – including artist, curator, critic, etc. Similarly, this exhibition works with the assumption that ‘genius’ does not come from great minds working in solitude, but rather creativity is always to some extent a collaboration.

That is to say, it is the result of a mind connected to other minds - this includes new or outsider perspectives. Therefore, to be valuable is not necessarily about how talented you are, but instead is about what you can contribute — the ideas you share, the connections you make, and the conversations you start. Now That’s What I Call Art aims to foster the conditions for this rather than necessarily create an excellent exhibition – that’s just a potential incidental by-product.

systemgallery.co.uk
IG: @system_art_gallery
spaghettofactoro.weebly.com
IG: @spaghetto_factoro