Dr. Chris A. Wright is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, writer and researcher based in Nottingham, UK with a focus on sound.  Following her practice-based PhD in Fine Art and Philosophy, her concerns are the cultural, political, societal and environmental aspects of borders such as the ambiguity of the river as boundary. These are explored through sound, film, installation and performative drawing to create multi-dimensional proposals with myriad interpretations. Other recent work includes improvised music and sound for dance/drawing performances; slow running with an emphasis on listening and an art, science, environment project about the global and local politics and nature of water. and a paper about the sound of protest due to be published in 2024.

Exhibiting nationally and internationally with exhibitions such as This is the place where… in Perhaps Something, Perhaps Nothing with Rachel Whiteread and Cornelia Parker, Leeds Met Gallery (2009);  Ergh mmm & Estuary English, Birmingham City Gallery (2018); Anywhere is Everywhere tAd Gallery USA (2014) and residencies such as Traversée in Nottingham, UK and Caen, France (2023); Winter Narratives, India (with artist talk, workshop, exhibtion 2019); In the Hole, Canada (2018) and Tou Scene, Norway (2010). Publications include Unplace in Unheard (Galaad 2022), Urban Flows and Non-Flows in Different Rhythms (Galaad 2020) and conferences such as Out Loud, FKL, Lugano, Switzerland (2023); Encountering/It is as it was, InDialogue, Lincoln (2019); Not The Hole Storyat Losing Ground, University of Warwick (2017). Curating includes Normal Service Will Be Resumed at Artcore, Derby (2021) and  Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (2017).

 Wright was a post-doctoral research fellow with CFAR, Birmingham City University (2013-2017), visiting lecturer at Staffordshire University (2011/13) and University of Wolverhampton (2013/14) and is a regular contributor to the symposia, exhibitions and publications of  Forum Klanglandschaft (FKL), Italy with her sound research. She has a digital studio at Broadway, Nottingham and I an associate member of Eastside, Birmingham.

Major works and projects are …waits for no-one, drawing on links between Derby and the twin city of Osnabrück in a participatory exhibition about the measurement of time, Urban Flows, presented at FKL, Sardinia where everyday recordings were made in four different countries; Encountering with recordings of womens’ stories played simultaneously. Following a successful residency in India in 2019, where subtle socio-political links were made within sound installations, three works shown together at Artcore, Derby weave together notions of time and duration in relation to the  wider world and to  self and were particularly important representing a leap forward in her practice.  I thought everything was the same as a measurement of time, the film, Waiting as duration and  the installation Interfluent,  explored time as ambiguous.

 In 2019, she began the multi-disciplinary, international Hatchery Artists as a lockdown response. This created an online outlet for artwork, mutual support and professional development, the  group receiving Art Council England funding in 2020. Following a series of e exhibitions and international residencies with French artist group le Labo des Arts, the group has now built upon this legacy to pursue their own individual directions.

I am part of the Near Now Studiio, Broadway, Nottingham; Axisweb and Forum Klanglandshaft, Florence  with whom I have been included in several publications concerning the aural.

I would like to thank Arts Council England, Near Now, Broadway Gallery, Nottingham and Artcore Gallery, Derby as well as the City of Caen and other French organisations for their support on a variety of projects.

2024

Building Bridges Residency and exhibition, See Hear, with Artcore Gallery, Derby and Osnabrück, Germany

Small Talk in One Minute Films at Close Up Film Centre, London

Reveil Online sound recording

2023

Traversée1 Cross-cultural residency. Hatchery Artists with Le Labo des Arts The Gallery, Broadway, Nottingham

Portail at Platform Athens, Athens

Out Loud FKL, Lugano, Switzerland. (Academic paper)

Traversée2 Cross-cultural residency. Hatchery Artists with Le Labo des Arts, Caen 2023

Traversée3 Cross-cultural residency. Hatchery Artists with Le Labo des Arts The Gallery, Broadway, Nottingham

Watery Ways/Bleak Place residency. Broadway Gallery, Nottingham

April 2023 The Forgotten in A.I.T. Published in April issue

Untold Stories Workshop with Artcore Gallery

The Forgotten in Buffer Zone, International Women’s Day, Coventry

2022

The Forgotten in The Power of Ten with Jaw, Athens Platform 2022

Territory at Home symposium, University of Gloucester

Watery Ways/Bleak Place self-directed residency on the waterways of England

Pebble and Hold Me in bag.play.art at Candid Gallery, London

Unplace in book publication Unheard pub. Galaad

Artnuary Challenge with Hatchery Artists creativity month, a work a day

2021

Unplace FKL conference, Blois, France (paper)

Fold/Unfold in Soundscapes of Work and Play Essay pub. Galaad

Note Running Artfully Network conference , Fermynwoods (environmental poem)

The Melbourne Letters Melbourne festival outreach collaborative project, supported Derby Council (Sound commission)

Re-imagine schools project, Artcore with Derby Schools

Interfluent, Waiting and I thought everything was the same in Normal Service Will Be Resumed Hatchery Artists, Artcore Gallery, Derby (https://app.cloudpano.com/tours/RbQ7TmEo5E)

Interfluent, Waiting and I thought everything was the same in Normal Service Will Be Resumed Hatchery Artists, Dragonfly Gallery, Norfolk

Online exhibition: https://thewaylanddragonflygallery.co.uk/exhibitions-12/​)

Small Talk included in One Minute Films British Film Institute archive

2020

Sonic Tapestry themakingway sound commission, Melbourne, Derbyshire, supported East Midlands Airport Community Fund and Melbourne Festival

Online Motivational Talk, Artcore Gallery

120 project 30 day artworks

She’d 1 and 2 Online exhibition by Hatchery Artists with Artcore, Derby www.hatchery.artcoregallery.org.uk

Profile article https://www.curatorspace.com/about/news/chris-a-wright-hatchery/164 

 2019

Winter Narratives Artist residency, Vadodara, India

Feather, Rice, Bamboo, Birds Flock Together Winter Narratives Exhibition, India

 Encountering/It is as it was, InDialogue, Lincoln (sound installation and paper)

 In The Hole Duvall’s residency, InDialogue, Lincoln (paper)

 Fold/Unfold, FKL conference, Italy (paper)

 Urban Flows and Non-Flows in Different Rhythms pub. Galaad (publication)

 Summer Lodge Residency, Nottingham Trent University

 Resonation#1 & #2, Alchemies of Research, Birmingham (sound performance)

 Listening to Urban Space, EVA conference, London (paper and publication)

 Performative writing for Wording in Convocations, Helsinki (site-specific writing)

 Performative writing for Wording  in Convocations, Venice (site-specific writing)

 Small Talk in OneMinute Films, Salto TV, The Netherlands (film)

 Territory at Platforms, Athens (sound/video)

Sonic Site II - cello (Sharman-Dunn) and clarinet (Wright) (project)

 Diving Dreaming Drowning Poetry Sound Library (writing) 

Wording contribution in Convocations, Helsinki (site-specific writing) 

Wording contribution in Convocations, Venice (site-specific writing)

2018

 Sonic Topologies in In Cammino verso Il Silenzio (essay)

 Glorious Corruption through Interdisciplinary Approaches University of Wolverhampton (paper)

 Samantha’s & It was in where-how’s, The Hole, New York (photograph)

 Sur et Sous, Grenier a Sel, Honfleur (sound installation)

 Dialogues Honfleur (performance with Louise Garlan

 Auditour,  HMS, Nottingham (sound installation)

 The Icknield Way was once thought to be nearly a mile across  Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (drawing)

 Creative Confessional with Louise Garland, Nottingham (live art)

 Here, there and Articulated Space 2 PhD takeover, Birmingham School of Art (Photographic installation and live art)

 Tenuto, Birmingham School of Art. (participatory sound performance)

 Ergh mmm & Estuary English Birmingham City Gallery (Sound installation & drawing)

 Inside OutsideThresholds: an adjacent possible, The Tapestry, Liverpool (installation)

Untitled 2018Thresholds: an adjacent possible, The Tapestry, Liverpool (site-specific installation)

 Small Talk in Vol. 9, Oneminutefilms, North Wales

 Small Talk in OneMinute (selection Vol. 1 to 9), curated Kerry Baldry, HMS, Nottingham 2018 Sonic Site, collaborative research project with Ed McKeon, Birmingham

Meet the Artist www.cvaneastmidlands.co.uk

EVA Programming committee, London

2017

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham School of Art

 Encountering/It is as it was Cagliari, Sardinia  (sound installation)

 In The Hole residency, Saskatoon, Canada 

 Not The Hole Story at Losing Ground Conference, University of Warwick  (paper)

 Curating the Idea (Golden, the sculptural nature of silence), Curating the Contemporary.org (essay)

 A Collective Intake of Breath Listening after Pauline Oliveros Symposium, Leeds University (paper)

 Drift and Untold, Art-Athina Platforms, Greece (video installation and photograph)

 Urban Flows and Non-Flows, FKL conference, Cagliari, Sardinia (paper)

 The Identity of the Everyday   in Sound and Soundscapes pub. Galaad (essay)

2017 Small Talk, All-in-one loop projected show, Chiari, Italy (Film)

Five to Watch https://www.axisweb.org/five2watch/2017/five2watch-language/

EVA Programming committee, London

Artist talk, Central College, Nottingham

 

2016

2016 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham School of Art

2016 a-n Critical Writing bursary for Neon, Grundy Gallery, Blackpool

2016 Estuary English East Coast Stories, UK (sailing/art residency) 

2016 The Shape of Sound and Light  Prefab Lab Bath, UK

2016  Making music with light. Electronic short course, Music Hackspace London

2016 Encountering/it is as it was Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (sound installation)

2016 Under   One Minute Volume 9 Directors Lounge, Berlin (Film)

2016 Under   One Minute Volume 9 Cinema Experimental, Lisbon (Film)

2016 Under   One Minute Volume 9 at Light Night Liverpool (Film)

2016 H2Au in Precious Little, Project-Athina, Athens Art Fair with HMS (installation)

 

2015

2015 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham 

2015 Digital Tourism  CITAR Journal, Volume 7 (essay)

2015 Sonic Topologies, SounDay  University of Urbino, Italy

2015 Anywhere is Everywhere, A Virtual Traveller’s Tale, EVA, British Computer Society (paper and publication)

2015 The Identity of the Everyday, Soundscapes and Sound Identities, Italy (paper)

2015 Practical No. 4  in Hoard, Corn Exchange, Leeds (installation, film)

2015 Alone, we decide  in Where to: Falmouth University. (Poster-QR video)

2015 Plot 74 Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (curator)

2015 Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know Harrington Mill Studio Gallery (curator)

2015 In Boxes and When Words Fail  with HMS Athens Art Fair (Film, text) 

2015 Palimpsestuous   Nottingham Castle Open (sculpture)

2015 Begin under the Flyover   The Excursionist, B-side Symposium (provocation)

2015 Passage For Bees   Winterbourne House, Birmingham (Sound installation)

2015 Passage For Bees   Haden Hill House, Sandwell. (Sound installation)

2014

2014 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research,  Birmingham 

2014 Anywhere is Everywhere is A Circular Tale   tAd Gallery, USA. solo exhibition (mixed media)

2014 University of Wolverhampton. Visiting Lecturer, Fine Art Contextual Studies 

2014 The Value of Failure as a Methodology or How to Fail Successfully, Nottingham Contemporary (paper)

2014 Urban Sunrise  Hanover Project, University of Preston. (Image publication)

2014 Small Talk  and Play HMS Athens Art Fair (Film, sculpture)

2014 Things happen, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham. (Photographic installation)

2014 Summer Lodge residency, NTU, Nottingham

2014 Land Strategies  and theCommons HMS, Nottingham (self-directed residency)

2014 What I want to say in Grey, Harrington Mill Gallery, Nottingham (Sculpture)

2014 Some Other Place (with Louise Garland) in Grey  Nottingham (Performance)

2014 My Home is my Castle, Carnival of Monsters, Nottingham. (Installation)

2014 The Sound Store, Doncaster, UK (Interactive sound event) 

2013

PhD Fine Art and Philosophy, (practice-led, part-time) 

Thesis: The Presence of Absence and Other States of Space, Staffordshire University,  

2013 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham 

2013 University of Wolverhampton. Visiting Lecturer, Fine Art Contextual Studies 

2013 The Narrated Present  The Collection, Lincoln (paper)

2013 Column  tAd Gallery, Texas, USA. (Photograph)

2013 Play  series. Brewhouse, Burton-on-Trent, UK. (Sculpture)

2013 Parallel Horizons , Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London (film of installation)

2013 You are here Stoke-on-Trent (Site-specific installation)

 

2012

2011/12 At Home Today, 12 x 12 firstfloorunder, Milan, Italy (Photograph)

2012 Badedammen Tarpey Gallery, Midlands Open, UK. (Photograph).

2012 Grass is Greener (on the other side) Blank Media, Manchester, UK. (Installation)

 2012/13 Making Place  in Hoard, Leeds. (Installation)

 

Prior work

2011 Thinking with Hands and Eyes, Artist talk, Staffordshire University

2007-2010 Staffordshire University.  Visiting lecturer, Fine Art

2010 Re-Semble (residency with Veronica West) Derby. Arts Council supported.

2010 Artist Residency, Tou Scene, Stavanger, Norway

2010 Artist talk School of Art, Stavanger, Norway

2010 Flaskepost Stavanger, Norway and internet. (Sound performance)

2010 Exchange  Vault Gallery, Lancaster (Sound/light installation)

2010 Grass is Greener  ZOOart, Cuneo, Italy. (Archisculptural Performative installation)

2010 Play  series Waterside Open, Manchester. (Sculpture)

2010 Taking Off and Landing  AV Festival Newcastle. (Film)

2010 Grass is Greener  Departure Gallery, London. (Archisculptural Performative installation)

2010 This is the place where…. in Architectural Disorder, Ovada Gallery, Oxford. (Installation)

2010 Taking Off and Landing AV Festival Newcastle. (Film)

2010 Badedammen  Cube Open, Manchester. (Photograph)

2010 OPEN  Staffordshire University Public Art Commission. (Installation).

2010 Fly by Day and Night Bury, Lancashire. (Commercial commission)

2010 Shipping Lanes, PSL, Leeds. (Film)

2010 Lightwave  Sonic Juke Box, Soundfjord, London. (Sound work)

2010 Play  series Waterside Open, Manchester. (Sculpture)

2009 Place: The Future was Here OneDay Sculpture symposium, New Zealand (paper)

2009 Constellation   MIC Auckland, New Zealand (Interactive light installation)

2009 This is the place where.., Perhaps Something, Perhaps Nothing  Leeds Met Gallery, UK (installation) 

2009 Taking Off and Landing   Short Shorts, Leeds UK. (Film)

2009 Free Range , Co-curator, Truman Breweries, London

2008 Chu Unoh   Conjunctions 08 Stoke on Trent (Installation)

2008 Taking Off and Landing Birmingham ArtsFest08. (Film)

2008 Play   series, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield. (Sculpture)

2008 Taking Off and Landing Empire Gallery, London. (Film)

2008 Technical Assistant, Tatton Biennale, Cheshire

2007 New Significances Up The Wall, Chester. (Light interventions)

2007 A small step  Commission for Creative Partnerships, Newcastle Under Lyme (Painting)

2007 Metamorph, Albert Dock, Liverpool. (Collaborative residency, public events) Supported Staffordshire University.

2006 Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn‘t have? Airspace, Stoke-on-Trent. (Sculpture)

2006 Piconectic  Co-curator, University Gallery, Staffordshire University

2006 Welcome Liverpool Independents, Wolstenholme Square, Liverpool, UK (site-specific installation)

 EDUCATION

2008 - 2013 PhD Fine Art and Philosophy, (practice-led, part-time). Thesis: The Presence of Absence and Other States of Space . Staffordshire University, Faculty of Art and Creative Technologies

Principal Supervisor: Professor Douglas Burnham, External examiner: Dr. Francis McKee

My research argues that absence has an underlying presence that links the territorialized space of the non-place and the interstitial space of the border zone. It is posited that disturbed areas are created that interrupt, amongst other things, placial identity. It was also argued that the term ‘non-place’ has a limited validity in contemporary society. As a fine art, practice-led study, viewing space was continually questioned both with regard to my own practice and to other, mostly contemporary, artists. This was an interdisciplinary study and referenced fine art, philosophy, social and cultural theory, geography and critical theory.

2008 Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods, Staffordshire University

Modules: Directed Study, Research Skills, Comparative Research Methodology

2006 -2007 MA Fine Art (Distinction) Staffordshire University, Course Leader: Professor Ian Brown (Common Culture)

Course Leader: Associate Professor Ian Brown

Modules: Contemporary Curating, Contextual Studies, Masters Project. Research Dissertation ‘Identity of Location’ looks at the identity of location through a dialogue between place and non-place and was a practice-based research that used light and immersive environments as a common theme.

2004-2005 BA (Hons) Fine Art (2.1) Staffordshire University

Modules: Negotiated Project in Fine Art, Self-Initiated Project in Fine art, Fine Art Personal Development Project, Fine art Personal Project Resolution, Catalogue for an Imaginary Exhibition –‘Sensuous’ which united a diverse collection of twentieth-century sculpture by the emotive term, sensuous.

2002-2004 HND Fine Art (Distinction) Macclesfield College, School of Art, Cheshire, UK

Modules: Fine Art Sculpture, Time-based artwork, Digital Imaging, Site-Specific Art, Specialist Studio Practice, Drawing in Fine Art, Developing a Fine Art Language, Developing a Fine Art Identity, Historical and Contextual Referencing, Critical Study, Visual arts Professional Practice, Drawing: Personal Development, Materials and Processes in Fine Art, Lens-Based recording Techniques, Presenting and Exhibiting artwork, Curating and Participating in Exhibitions.

Research dissertation (5000 words) ‘See the Silence’ comparing the uses of the pause or rest in music and the silence represented in visual art.

FURTHER TRAINING

2016 Making music with light. Electronic short course, London

2004 Child Protection, Community Arts Network, Manchester

2004 Health and Safety, Community Arts Network, Manchester

2004 Refugee Awareness, Community Arts Network, Manchester

TEACHING/EMPLOYMENT/FURTHER TRAINING

2013 to 2017 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Centre for Contemporary Art Research, Birmingham School of Art

2015 Visiting Lecturer, University of Urbino, Italy

2013- 2014 Hourly-paid lecturer, Contextual Studies, Fine Art, University of Wolverhampton

2007 -2010 Hourly-paid lecturer, Fine Art, Staffordshire University

2008 Technical Assistant, Tatton Biennale, Cheshire

OTHER

2017 Five to Watch https://www.axisweb.org/five2watch/2017/five2watch-language/

2018 Meet the Artist www.cvaneastmidlands.co.uk

2017 -2019 EVA Programming committee, London