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British artist collective moves into Oxygen Art Centre

Bristol Diving School is a collective of artists from Bristol, UK, four of whom are Artists-in-Residence at Oxygen Art Centre.
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Bristol Diving School performance at the Supernormal Festival in 2012.

Bristol Diving School is a collective of artists from Bristol, UK, four of whom are Artists-in-Residence at Oxygen Art Centre from June 8 to July 6.

In its initial inception, Bristol Diving School was a project that developed into a collective with the objective to erase individual authorship of an artwork through negotiation between those collaborating in its conception and production. So named for the building where the collective was formed in 2009, it operates both on and off-site as members of the 20-strong collective extend the project through national and international activities.

Within Bristol Diving School, collaboration is regarded as both method and subject, with all works accredited to Bristol Diving School: the project as the author, the artist. The group works primarily in New Media and Installation.

Bristol Diving School will use their residency to investigate the cultural heritage of Nelson as a research point and develop their findings into a body of work that questions, distorts and embellishes these historical narratives.

By researching local history, integrating themselves into Nelson’s artist community and engaging the public in their process through participatory events, they hope to cultivate an archive produced through a collaborative process that takes on an (pseudo) anthropological form.

The public is invited to attend an artist talk at Oxygen this Thursday, June 13 at 7 p.m. The centre is located at 320 Vernon Street (the entrance is off the alley).

For more information visit the Oxygen Art Centre website at oxygenartcentre.org.