Final speakers Letting Space use art to bring change

Two art curators who create temporary public art to help bring about social change were the final speakers for this year’s Spark Festival.

Sophie Jerram and Mark Amery are both curators of Letting Space, which was the focus of their presentation.

Letting Space has used vacant commercial sites to house artists’ work.

“[Letting Space is] a programme about creating temporary public art, with artists and communities which enables social change,” Amery said.

“We’re kind of curating a whole lot of great suggestions for life,” Jerram said.

During their presentation they offered an insight into some of the projects they have worked on and the people they have been able to work with.

“We are also standing for the fact that art can be sometimes it’s most powerful when it is outside a gallery,” Jerram said.

“We really want to kind of get to know communities and feel that we can actually make a difference,” Amery said.

Both said that Wintec visual art tutor Kim Paton’s Free Store was a game changer for the arts community.