BoE

A pop-up shop run by CAS Associate Artists
25 May – 20 June 2015

Week 1. Andover Zine Fair

The Zine fair was a friendly introduction into the realms of alternative culture and self publishing. Members of the Alternative Press, a collective from London, offered screen printing and zine making workshops. There was also goods available from vast and various creative corners not normally found on your local high street. Meanwhile, Zine Fair organiser Tom Mortimer invited visitors to experiment to zine making techniques and create their own small publication. Read more…

Week 2. The Freed Market

Artist Lydia Heath led The Freed Market project within the shop inviting people to take part in a swap shop, foraging, skill sharing, financial disclosures, clothing repairs and food waste meals. It was part of Lydia’s art research project proposing alternative futures to current capitalist models. It seeks to address how art contributes to social/political change and asks the question ‘how do we want to live together?’ Read more…

Week 3. Build a cardboard city

Artist David Dixon invited Andovarian’s and visitors to Andover to answer ‘where do I want to live?’ by contributing to the creation of a 3D fictional townscape. The finished model was be unveiled on Sunday 13th June. Read more…

Week 4. Andover March for Optimism

Following a week of placard making in the shop Peter Driver led a community procession through Andover town centre featuring optimistic slogans generated by the public, music and cheering, and poetry reading at the end. Read more…

Special Events

Andover Loves Me Back

Artist Laurence Rushby walked a heart shaped route of Andover, spinning local wool as she walked and collecting stories from the people met along the way. Their stories are represented on the artists belt which carries the spindle used to spin the wool. Read more…

Broken Toys and Happy Hearts

A series of after school workshops for parents and children in which artwork was created using broken toys, modroc and drawing materials. A space for conversation and imaginative play was created. Read more…

Swap Shop Extravaganza

Think you know how swap shops work? Think again. This event allowed participants to determine the terms of their swaps by exploring their reasons for offering up what they bring, the value they hold and what they’re prepared to accept in exchange. Read more…

Skill Share Exchange

Skill Share was an exercise in communal learning, knowledge exchange, and de-centralisation. People were invited to reflect on what they ‘know’ and therefore what skills they could teach others. The aim was to create moments of encounter where people had to be with a person face to face, rather than learning through a computer screen as we so often do.Read more…

Food Waste Cafe

For one day only The Bureau of Exchange hosted a pop-up Food Waste Cafe serving delicious meals made from locally intercepted food waste to highlight the increasing issue of food waste and food poverty in the UK today, and our detached relationship to the food on supermarket shelves. This event was made possible thanks to Southampton artists Louiza Hamidi & Libby Russell.

The Heart of Andover

As part of ‘Andover loves me back’, members of the public were invited to create a pewter coin or token with jeweller Ruth Facey which can also be worn as a necklace. Participants learned metalworking techniques whilst creating a coin representing the heart shaped map of Andover town centre. Read more…

What’s It Worth?

Deborah Skinner, contemporary artist, worked with pupils from Icknield Special Needs School every Tuesday when the shop was closed to the public. The project culminated in an exhibition and contributed to the pupils gaining their Discover Arts Award. Read more…

Night Vision

Our relationship with night is a deeply personal one. Susan Francis invited visitors to The Bureau of Exchange to deposit in a black envelope in a black box, their thoughts and memories of the nocturnal world. She used this material to form a night time performance in the window of the shop. By morning, the remaining artwork held traces of this night time exchange but the words themselves will forever remain the property of the dark. Read more…