91福利社

Artists awarded placements to work with Creative Archive

The 91福利社 and Arts Council England have announced the names of the two artists who will be given access to archive material in order to produce original works of art. Vicki Bennet and Chris Dorley-Brown will both take up four-month placements which will be funded by Arts Council England and hosted by the 91福利社.

Vicki will be given unrestricted access to the entire 91福利社 archive, whilst Chris will be working with material released by the 91福利社 and other members of the Creative Archive Licence Group. Both will be given free reign to manipulate, mix and rework the material to create a series of artworks.

Vicki has been working with remixing video for the past 15 years under the name People Like Us and has had work exhibited at the Tate Modern and Sydney Opera House. The results of her placement will be shown within the 91福利社. If the material can be cleared, it will be exhibited more widely.

Commenting on her placement, Vicki said: “As an artist working with found footage, my interest lies in the appropriating and collaging of media in hope of gaining some kind of insight, reflection and evaluation as to where we stand in relation to when the original material was made. By taking something apart and putting it in a new location it can shed new light on both where we have come from and where we stand and should go next. This is why it is so very important that archives should be accessible, in the way that libraries are.”

Chris, who works almost exclusively with archival film, audio and photographic material has recently won the Prix Italia Award. The results of his placement will be exhibited and available for download though this website

Chris said: "My work is reliant on interesting archive sources. The 91福利社 archive is probably the one I fantasies about the most, so for me the opportunity to undertake this placement is one I value highly. The opening of this and other archives by the Creative Archive Licence Group goes against the grain in these days of commercial monopolisation, but I feel that the 91福利社, its audiences and the creative community can benefit in new and wonderful ways from this gesture."

The aim of these placements is to highlight and stimulate the inspirational possibilities of the Creative Archive Licence, a collaboration between the 91福利社, the BFI, Channel 4, the Open University, Teachers’ TV, the Community Channel and MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives). Under the licence, the public can download moving images, audio and stills and rework them creatively for non-commercial use.

John Willis, Director of Factual & Learning 91福利社 explains: “The calibre and volume of applicants for these placements has been extraordinary. Both Vicki and Chris are hugely talented artists and have championed this field for quite some time, we are very lucky to be able to welcome them to the 91福利社. We hope that their work will both help inspire new thinking in the artistic community and demonstrate the creative possibilities of the Creative Archive Licence."

Kim Evans, Executive Director, Arts, Arts Council England, commented further: "The overwhelming response shows just how engaged many of today's artists are with issues of ownership, downloading, distribution, remixing and the public domain. The visionary new approach to culture marked by the Creative Archive License has clearly captured their imagination and we look forward to seeing the results of Vicky's and Chris's placements."