Kaleidoscope Network: Conversation and dialogues in social practice

Jenny Richards’ research focuses on the politics of work, health and the body developed through collaborative and collective practice. She is a doctoral candidate on the KTD programme at Konstfack and KTH. Her project ‘Against the Outsourced Body’ examines the effects of, and resistance to, the expansion of commercialised, individualised, and outsourced care. She has previously been co-director of Konsthall C, Stockholm, where together with Anna Ahlstrand and Jens Strandberg they developed Home Works, an exhibition programme exploring the politics of domestic work and the home. Following this, she worked at the art space Marabouparken Konsthall, developing the two-year exhibition programme Acts of Self Ruin. Alongside Manual Labours, she collaborates with Johnny Chang to develop the platform ‘Gathering Against’, an online and physical tool library that gathers against individualised modes of cultural and political production, broadening access to tools and resources for collective practices.

http://manuallabours.co.uk/

Sophie Hope is a practice-based researcher and teacher. Her work is often developed with others through the format of devised workshops exploring subjects such as art and politics, physical and emotional experiences of work, stories of socially engaged art and the ethics of employability in the creative industries. She was an independent curator for 10 years, working locally and internationally to develop a collaborative, socially engaged curatorial practice (2000-2010). Sophie carried out her doctorate at Birkbeck, University of London in cultural democracy and the commissioning of art to effect social change from 2006-11. On completing her PhD she worked as a full-time academic, developing her practice-based research and teaching on the MA Arts Policy and Management at Birkbeck from 2010-2023. She has been in post as Lecturer in Socially Engaged Practices at Guildhall School of Music and Drama since February 2024 where she is co-developing the Guildhall De-Centre for Socially Engaged Practice and Research and teaching on the MA Collaborative Performance Making. Alongside Manual Labours, Sophie is working on the collaborative projects Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse podcast and Cards on the Table. She is also a Trustee on the Board of Take a Part.

https://sophiehope.org.uk/

This event is presented as part of Co-Act, our artist development programme for socially engaged artists, supported by Jerwood Foundation.

Co-Act creates space to explore the process-led and relational work of organising with groups of people and working within communities.