Scaffold podcast 53: William Scott & Sarah Calendar Meyer, 5 January 2022
Scaffold is a podcast hosted by Matthew Blunderfield, featuring fortnightly interviews with architects, artists & designers. For this episode, Blunderfield discusses the work of William Scott, a self-taught artist based in Oakland, California. Scott works out of a gallery and studio called Creative Growth that advances the inclusion of artists with developmental disabilities.
William Scott: Praise Frisco, 21 December 2021
The Cultural Meaning of the City and The World and the City
Studio Voltaire and The Architecture Foundation presented a series of talks which take the work of artist William Scott as a starting point to discuss wider concerns in architecture, including the role of biography and cultural memory in citymaking, and the relationships between power, policy and place making. With Shawn Adams (PoOR Collective); Michael Maltzan (Michael Maltzan Architecture); David Ogunmuyiwa (Architecture Doing Place); and Akil and Seth Scafe-Smith (RESOLVE Collective). Chaired by Nana Biamah-Ofosu (Studio NYALI).
Open House, 10–11 December 2021
A two-day programme of open studios, workshops, talks, screenings, DJs and special events, including:
Thompson Hall in conversation with Dr. Mark Sealy
Thompson Hall was joined for an informal conversation with curator, cultural historian Dr. Mark Sealy to discuss the artist’s work, intentions and forthcoming residency at Autograph, from March 2022.
Hall’s intricate, large-scale paintings and drawings respond to the artist’s experiences, art history and his life in London. His recent work has shifted to explore inequalities in society, politics, the impact of Covid, social change, and his own personal history.
Ain Bailey, Nabihah Iqbal and Nadine Noor Ahmad
An evening of music from Ain Bailey (sound artist and DJ), Nabihah Iqbal (Ninja Tunes, NTS Radio, BBC Residency) and Nadine Noor Ahmad (Pxssy Palace, LESBIENNALE).
Workshop: RESOLVE Collective Emotional Mapping
‘Emotional Mapping’ was a workshop led by design collective RESOLVE, responding to the work of Studio Voltaire’s current exhibition by artist William Scott. William Scott self-identifies as an architect as well as an artist, reimagining the social topography of his hometown of San Francisco which re–emerges as the utopian ‘Praise Frisco’: a safe and gleaming neighbourhood. In this spirit, participants were invited to build a new, collective narrative of the local area: one that focuses on people and neighbourhoods, aiming to strengthen community ties and build resilience – much needed priorities in our rapidly changing cities. RESOLVE is an interdisciplinary design collective that combines architecture, engineering, technology and art to address social challenges.
Film Screening: Medicine For Melancholy, written and directed by Barry Jenkins
A special screening of acclaimed director Barry Jenkins’s first feature film, Medicine for Melancholy (2009). A love story of bikes and one-night stands told through two African-American twenty-something’s dealing with issues of class, identity, and the evolving conundrum of being a minority in rapidly gentrifying San Francisco — a city with the smallest proportional black population of any other major American city.
Djofray Makumbu: Lonely Tears, 1 December 2021
Djofray Makumbu staged Lonely Tears, a new performance and audiovisual work commissioned as part of the public programme accompanying William Scott’s exhibition. The work combined illustration, stop motion animation and sound — including music composed by the artist — with an intersecting performance. The piece enacts a looping conversation between the artist and an antagonist, who represents a personification of his inner voice.
Claudia Williams, NOON NOON NICE NICE, 23 November 2021
This public event followed a month-long period where Claudia Williams had been working in residence at Studio Voltaire, as well as leading workshops with One Trust and Lansdowne School. Williams’ unique drawing language makes reference to her love of Reggae, Soul and R&B music — including Bob Marley and The Wailers and Al Green. Her works on paper include self portraits, depictions of family members including her sister Dionne and mother Elaine, and London. This event is part of the public programme accompanying our current exhibition by William Scott and is produced in collaboration with ActionSpace.
William Scott Exhibition Tour with Tom di Maria, 7 October 2021
A special tour of William Scott's exhibition led by Tom di Maria, Director of Creative Growth.
Tom di Maria, Matthew Higgs & William Scott, 10 February 2021
Tom di Maria, Director of the celebrated Creative Growth Arts Center, was joined in conversation with Matthew Higgs, Director and Chief Curator of White Columns, to discuss the work of William Scott in anticipation of his forthcoming exhibition at Studio Voltaire. Di Maria and Higgs discussed the artist’s work ahead of his first–ever solo institutional exhibition outside of the USA, as well as the wider work and importance of Creative Growth, where Scott has practiced since 1992. The event also included a pre-recorded studio visit with the artist, in which Scott discussed recent work with di Maria and Creative Growth’s Studio Special Projects Coordinator, Kathleen Henderson.
