(Q+I) - an explanation

(Q+I) = Oliver Cloke + Patrick Loan

As (Q+I), collaborative online projects have become increasingly important in our artistic practice, and we are currently curating, organising, and involved in a number of online collaborative projects. This way of working has been a recent shift in artistic practice and seems to be opening up a lot of possibilities regarding transference of ideas/ concepts and methods and processes of working.

Our projects are interested in how ideas permeate the consciousness - how can artworks be documented and understood simultaneously? As well as how that looks visually, wishing to document the event of transference, connection and layering. Our work as artists has been in the realm of event based performances, mostly they are fixed into short durations, which has allowed for an exploration of language; and how, and why we communicate. A lot of our work has been centred around words and language, how we understand and use words. Exploring the limits of that has opened up multiple conversations. We conceive of a space in which the public can build their own narrative (either in a physical space, or as our practice is shifting in a virtual space), and feel the ability to respond to artworks in any way they wish, to enable the expansion and extension of artworks.

Individually we have had nearly two decades of coordinating and organising collaborative art and education projects in Europe, America and Australia.

Questioner

Instructor

Projects

MIDLANDS CONFERENCE IN CRITICAL THOUGHT 2024

October 2023

We have some exciting news that we want to share with you! We have been invited to take part in the MIDLANDS CONFERENCE IN CRITICAL THOUGHT 2024 at Nottingham Trent University on April 5th to April 6th, 2024. Now, this is where you come in. We will be conducting a stream at the conference about "Productivity or Process: What is the Value in Making?". If you are interested in presenting/taking part in a 20-minute paper/ performance/ Artwork on the subject, we want to hear from you. We will also be conducting round tables, as well, to get deeper discussions on the subject.

We have attached all the paperwork above and would love you to submit something. If you have any questions about it, please email us

Four Week Draw- For Weak Draw

January/February 2022

This project brought the PLD Collective together on a collaborative experimental drawing project that lasted for 4-weeks. This artists' film is composed of 4-seconds of video from each artist as a response to their experience of this project. The project started with 7 artists and each week another 7 artists were added, so in total 28 artists were making drawings at the end. A drawing prompt was given each day: interpret the word given and follow the drawing process. Each artist posted images of their drawings onto a new artist social media platform called Social ARTery. Rules formed the framework and structure that underpinned this project, but they were frequently broken, which leads to the question of how far to push, and cross boundaries within a creative process. This film is part of Q_plus_I and the PLD Collective's growing series of collaborative experimental films exploring drawing and the creative process. These are heavily influenced by Fluxus’ concepts (process over outcome), and ideas of collective creative experimentation.

(Q+I) tests 7 day Test

December 2021

Instructor

So it’s Day 3 – word for the 2-minute drawing today: U-TURN – process for the drawing today: without preconceptions. The final drawing – turning my ‘U’ …without preconceptions

Questioner

I collected ten words together. I got two people to do a drawing simultaneously, thus doubling the drawing. The words were: camera, pond, wise, country, pond, cheese, anonymous, immigrant, sunset

Example prompt

Day two of the 7-day test using Social ARTery as a platform! – here’s the word – Tabulation and the process – stand on something at least 30 cm off the floor – to make a 2-minute drawing incorporating paper – have fun!

POW - Play on Words 2 curated by Lee Campbell

December 2021

POW - Play on Words 2 was an amazing evening at the Bridgehouse Theatre in Penge. We performed as (Q+I) with the addition of +Synthesizer. It was exciting to work live again, but also the new element of music to enhance words.

The other acts were amazing especially the Curator and Compare Lee Campbell

5 DAYS Breaking down - a process of drawing

October 2021

Maria Glyka

'Responding to shadows, plants, dreams and liquids…'

Irmak Canevi

'The result of trying to bring together dreams, light, home and something to wash away'

Nir Segal

'Stage two realised I was meant to have my eyes closed. I closed my eyes and remembered an earlier dream. Drew it with my eyes closed'

Natalia Charogianni

This project was conducted on Facebook. We made a lovely short video outlining what we did or you can click the hyperlinked text below to see the full project on the platform.

5 DAYS - Breaking down a process of drawing

sevenxsevenxseven Project

August - September 2021

seven seconds, seven weeks, seven people

The group sevenxsevenxseven did an amazing seven week, 2 minute drawing a day extravaganza! As an outcome from all that work, we asked all the participants to summarize their time in the project in a seven seconds clip. This was then put together and illustrates the range of work that was done.

sonik-DRAW

We celebrated the end of the sevenxsevenxseven project online, so decided to produce an event with different parts of our network of collages. We asked some of the PLD collective to make short videos responding to sounds made by other members. This video is was shown with 'seven seconds, seven weeks, seven people'.

Tebbs Gallery workshop

July 2021

This participatory live drawing workshop, event on Zoom, was hosted by Tebbs Gallery. Each participant who registered for the workshop was given the opportunity to think of either an instruction (within the limitations of the workshop – using Zoom, a limited amount of time, simple drawing materials), or a question to give to the other participants to make a drawing of – these will be chosen randomly during the workshop. The duration for each drawing varied - no more than 5-minutes, on a sheet of paper. All participants needed was paper and drawing implements (marker pens, pencils etc).

Concordia University

Contested Imaginaries: HUMA Interdiscilinary Graduate Conference

June 2021

an image from zoom of the drawings made in the workshop

We were asked to join the graduate conference. where we performed our experimental drawing project.

This interdisciplinary conference sought to create dialogue between scholars, artists, community members, and experts in all fields, bringing them together to share their expertise and unique perspectives.

an image of the participants

'In this age of shifting paradigms, political uncertainty, and rapid development, thinkers across diverse fields are contesting ideas once taken for granted, calling for new modes of knowledge production, new frameworks of understanding, and new ways of being in the world. How do utopic ambitions intersect with worldly concerns? How are spaces of encounter and departure entangled with legacies of power? How might different domains of knowledge intersect, aid, resist, and/or challenge one another? How does the imaginary shape the possible?'

A Dogs Dinner

June 2021

This collaborative video made by 11 artists. This is an update version, with acoustic accompaniment by Anthony Kräuter. Artists are: Irmak Canevi, Nir Segal, Oliver Cloke, Sonke Faltien, Bryan Parsons, Michael Wedgwood, Sarah McLaren, Carali McCall, Temitayo Shonibare, Patrick Loan, Anthony Kräuter, Ziegi Boss. The idea was for this collaborative video project to act like the parlour game, Chinese Whispers or Exquisite Corps. Each artist was given the last 5-seconds of the previous artist’s video as the starting point of their video, continuing and then transformed that into their own interpretation of the theme we had decided on - Cycle(s). Four different artists began the project using as their starting point a nine-second video of a circle being drawn and then erased. These four ‘streams’ continued as each starting artist nominated another artist to continue their video, that artist did their video and nominated another artist and the process continued creating an expanding network. The end result is a collaborative video of vastly different approaches combined as a whole.

7x7x7 Finale

April 2021

The activity of drawing was the medium we used as a traditional way of responding to the world around us, although we questioned what drawing was and pushed the boundaries, using video, performance and non-traditional materials. We also argue that through necessity, creating digital connections and using social media platforms has created an egalitarian environment for artists located anywhere in the world to contribute to sustaining creativity.

video of the zoom meeting

(Q+I) conducted a Zoom video where we published the above video as well as asking participants these questions about performing in the 7x7x7 experiment.

What is your favourite time of day to draw?/ did you have a favourite time of day to draw?
Did you at any point get aggravated/annoyed at drawing for 7 weeks?
Did you have any realisations/ epiphanies over the past 7 weeks?
What is more transformative for you; making or looking at artworks?
How could we improve the collaboration element of these projects?
Which instruction/ question piqued your interest the most?
If you were to lead the next ‘edition’ what would you do /change about the format?

Connection - PLD Collective

April 2021

Each minute of video is produced by a different artist. As inspiration They each have only received 5 seconds of the previous video to understand what the ‘connection’ is. Each artist has their own practice and understanding of what connection means to them, which they bring to every moment on the screen. Each work builds upon a connection between the previous artist and their own. Creating a visual contemporary chinese whispers (telephone). We have shown through different formats; gallery based, online and via social media, experimenting with these mediums for the most pertinent to our particular style of project. Here we have used WhatsApp in order to communicate.

‘PAPER’ A short experimental artists’ film

April 2021

This short experimental artists’ film was made by six artists spread throughout the world who are involved in an ongoing daily online drawing project. Each artist was given a short part of the film to interpret the word ‘paper’, which is /can be a material fundamental to the process of drawing. With a diversity of ideas and interpretations of the word ‘paper’, the artists have constructed a short film that takes the viewer on an experimental journey through the uses of paper in the process of drawing. This first experimental film could be seen as just the beginning of a series of collaborative experimental films exploring drawing and creative processes.

Lines of Communication

April 2021

Human lines of communication are usually discordant, which is why we are so impressed when we actually communicate with someone. Through the immutable pursuit of drawing @q_plus_i have captured the hearts and minds of an ‘Art’ elite, so rare, so pure of soul that they will only communicate through WhatsApp. They perform their ritualistic dissection of phrases like ‘Search for news on the elections in Israel. Get updated. Next time you are in the loo, take a piece of paper and a pen and make a political drawing, be kind.’ or ‘Make your ugliest drawing ever!’ Then we asked these plaid, concoction of bones and skin to ‘draw’, using lines. To replay their strokes of genius through the aforementioned application. This built a community of people who wanted to interact on a daily basis, throwing caution to the wind and building towers made of sand, but designed beautifully.

7x7x7

May 2021

This collaborative drawing project has been made digitally by seven artists over seven weeks. The focus was on making a drawing and then sending it through WhatsApp as a medium for co-operation. It demonstrates the line of thought passing from one person to another, to subsume, digest and then excrete. They perform these daily ritualistic dissection of phrases like ‘Search for news on the elections in Israel. Get updated. Next time you are in the loo, take a piece of paper and a pen and make a political drawing, be kind.’ or ‘Make your ugliest drawing ever!’. We asked participants to ‘draw’ these. Then to replay their strokes of genius through the aforementioned application. This built a community of people who wanted to interact on a daily basis, throwing caution to the wind and building towers made of sand, but designed beautifully.Some images created below:

Irmak Canevi

His favorite Candy

Maria Glyka

Her miniature island with sun protection for toes

Matt Miller

Island in an Urban environment

Carali McCall

A portrait of her father

20 Questions

March - May 2021

A project using Instagram. Asking questions and finding the results through #2mindraw. This test is simply to start exploring the borders of @q_plus_i as an entity that invokes learning through everyday practices.

Bad Art Film Festival - Moscow

February 2021

2goodtobe2Bad

This is a conversation about how bad making and being creative can be...

Patrick's EGO I Instructor

This video is bad - it’s boring, it’s pretentious (the text at the beginning - it means nothing - the END is in French - why??? Pure pretentiousness...), the filters are badly used and there is no cohesion and has no meaning. Why would anybody waste nearly one minute of their life watching this video? I know I wouldn’t...

10x10x100

October 2020

Online, 26 Oct - 5 Nov 2020

#TEST_3 - 10 days / 10 words / 100 artists

This project is Instagram based. We (Q+I) create an Instagram post which followers of @q_plus_i or #100drawingsnetwork will receive. Anyone can then follow the instructions in order to be a part of the daily challenge, which will last for ten days.

The Core Rules are:

1) Make a 2 minute drawing responding to the given word

2) Paper has to be involved in some way (we leave it up to your imagination)

3) Each invited artist invites another person for the next day, and that invitee invites somebody for the next day, and so on - we hope that this will build a network of people drawing every day until the end when 100 people will respond with a drawing on day 10!

4) Each invited artist uploads an image of the drawing on Instagram on the day the word is given with the #100drawingsnetwork.

5) Each day a new rule will apply specific to the day's drawing.

Test 1 + Test 2

September 2020

Welcome to 10/ 10/ 100!

An experiment in drawing and networking.

You have been invited to take part in this project - follow #100drawingsnetwork

to get the word for the day to do your 2-minute drawing. Please invite another person - the new invitee joins the project the next day. @q_plus_i

Dispensary Gallery Conversation

August 2020

Dispensary Gallery Questions 16/8/20 10am GMT between (Q+I) In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, interested in how artists have adapted to the lockdown restrictions, how this has impacted studio time and if there has been a direct link in the change of the themes that you work with. They asked for a response, preferably video format

Digital Touch

Digital Touch - August 2020 - Online exhibition at Conscious Isolation

With the demand for social distancing and self-isolation in response to Covid-19, the pandemic forces us to reconsider what it means to touch. As intimacy and contact move beyond the physical space into the digital, how do we touch beyond close proximity? What does it mean to touch and to be touched-at-a-distance? And how do such actions, permeated through technology affect communication and interaction?

extract from Digital Touch

(Q+I) interview

Online - June 2020

Identity Crisis - a 20 minute video exploring identity and collaborative practice

Drawing Collaboration Project

September 2020- ongoing

A website dedicated to a project around sharing and collaborating through a drawing practice.

why ?

Video - Youtube, 2020

In formulating (Q+I) Patrick Loan and Oliver Cloke discuss ....

John Latham Archive Proposal

Proposal, July 2020

We want to activate the archive, taking John Latham’s ideas and then synthesising them. Building a video/audio based ‘choose your own adventure’ interface, we will use technology that is similar to Siri and Google Assistant, which is used and understood widely. The archive can be perceived as an abstract object. We want to overcome that, researching ways to communicate the archive outwards. Through the exchange between the FTHo team, the archive and (Q+I) we hope to investigate the complexities and nuances and then transfigure Latham’s philosophy, which is highly interesting, but dense, through game theory. Whitehead states that "In order to keep knowledge alive, it must be drawn out of the sea with the freshness of its immediate importance." The artwork lies in the synthesis of information and the specifics of how it is expressed to others. Looking for the most erudite yet accessible outcome, in order for anybody to connect and feel able to respond/ be involved with the creation of a virtual environment would be our goal.

10x10

Online, May- August 2020

Lockdown is a strange phenomenon that seems to be happening around us. The effects are palpable, yet we seem to be incapable to do much about it. To give some light relief or therapy, however you want to look at it we have been drawing everyday; to inspire, refresh, meditate. 10x10 are working across the internet to share those drawings, and now this has organically grown into a project. The idea is:

The cycle lasts ten weeks, each ten days a new participant will join in and create a new cycle. The drawing is in relation to a word and the daily word is communicated to everyone via a whatsapp message, two minutes are allocated to complete drawing around that subject matter. The person responsible for the word is in rotation within the group in the cycle. It's as simple as that!

q_plus_i on instagram

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