PILOT: 2

“…A lesson many of the bloated arts organisations could learn from.”
(Aileen Corkery, Curator, Temple Bar)

After the success of PILOT: 1 last year, this October sees the launch of its second edition (PILOT: 2). Skimming through a pea-green PILOT: 1 booklet, the question of whether or not it is a good thing for emerging artists to struggle isn’t one I’m interested in simply because the deadline for this article is drawing near. You see, we have enough ‘Artists’ in our immediate social circle to personally know that there is nothing glamorous about not being able to meet gallery hire costs, being turned down by literary agents, or having long rants with friends about making music no one wants to listen to.

The reason why most of us are only able to comment on dirty beds and sliced-in-half-cows when someone brings up contemporary art during a cocktail party is because beyond a handful of overexposed artists there is an increasingly widening gap between support offered to artists by art education institutions and the commercial system of galleries and art-fairs within the UK. Basically, once students leave college, the majority find next to no support or direction in how to get along in the real world. As for arts subsidy -most emerging artists will laugh at the absurd notion.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned gap is populated by a large number of independent artists and curators whose work (which has matured beyond the remits of the educational environment) is not seen by the commercial system. You will merit then, that without an independent, non-profit forum to represent some of the very innovative and exciting artwork and research being produced…it was about time PILOT happened to the world.

PILOT is a non-profit project that aspires to create a platform for that wonderful thing we call networking. Its primary aim is to enable emerging artists who are not commercially represented, to show their work and to develop networks, while generating a debate with members of the public, with other artists, curators and gallerists, as well as critics, writers and collectors. Scheduled to take place in London from 21 to 24 October, PILOT: 2 will coincide with the next Frieze Art Fair making it possible to offer a wide international audience visiting Frieze this unique view of important new work being made in the UK and worldwide.
The one hundred artists selected to take part will submit work for exhibition, as well as documentation of past and future projects which is entered into an archive of dossiers that are accessible to visitors throughout and after the event, and also through an online archive regularly updated on the PILOT website. Information on the upcoming event and its participants is now available to view and research on the growing web database for PILOT: 2 at www.pilotlondon.org. From what I’ve seen so far it’s looking mighty good, and I, in an attempt to keep my cucumber-cool say: Me Like.

PILOT 2
Farmiloes Building
28-36 St John Street
London EC1 4BE
www.pilotlondon.org