The Talent Show is a project of British artist Harry Midley, who seeks to explore and question the notion of "talent" in the context of art education.
Working remotely with a small group of students fr om the British BA Fine Art course at the Moscow School of Modern Art and the British Higher School of Design, a Talent Show project committee was formed, which then proceeded to organize a direct talent show for fellow students from the school, wh ere the winner was to have their work exhibited in a blip blip project on the U Contemporary show floor.
At the event itself, only six students ventured to perform to showcase their "talent," ranging from the satirical to the mystical, their answers further questioned and tried to redefine what we might consider talent. Ironically, the talent show committee decided to declare all participants winners, and thus a group show was formed.
A group of six students from various departments, including graphic design, illustration, and contemporary art, were selected not on the merit of their work (though of course they have merit), but on their willingness and courage to perform and participate.
The exhibition of student work is accompanied by two new video works created by Harry Midley and the talent show committee, one documenting the performative talent show event itself and the other a recording of the final talent show committee meeting.
blip blip is a curatorial program that aims to explore and strengthen the connections between contemporary art practice and art education. Student artists participate in the program, from installing exhibitions to helping artists realize work and curating projects.
During its existence in Leeds, UK, the blip blip program formed three curatorial strands: inviting curators or organizations to hold group exhibitions that explored a range of relationships with art education; a Doubles series in which a mid-career artist was invited to invite another artist with whom they had some kind of educational and artistic relationship to exhibit together; and exhibitions by past students who had participated in the blip blip program to reconnect and create The Talent Show seeks to form a new hybrid model from the three that have been implemented previously in the blip blip program.
Harry Midley is a Leeds-born and Leeds-based artist who takes a dialogical and collaborative approach to art making, often working "on-site" in galleries, art organizations and institutions in developing projects that address how art works in social contexts and the needs of its production.
Recent exhibitions include Thumbs Up, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester; But What If We Tried?, Touchstones, Rochdale; recent residencies include Jativanga Art Factory, West Java, Indonesia; Café Tissardmin, Morocco; and ISCP (International Studio and Curatorial Program), New York.
Harry Midley with Alexandra Bolshakova, Marina Koshlina, Olga Popova and Sofia Zamanskaya
With the participation of Nazira Berikbay, Alexei Bobrov, Maria Istomina, Valeria Milovanova, Albina Nezhedinova, Dora Sidorenko.
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