The first national UK Young Artists event took place across Derby from Thursday 21 until Sunday 24 October 2010. Following an open call for submissions from artists aged between 18 and 30, 75 artists were selected from approximately 400 applications. Although all were based in the United Kingdom, they came from twelve different countries as well as from all across the UK - from Inverness to Penzance, County Down to East Lothian and Derby itself. They were all cross-art form, including: choreographers, ceramicists, dancers, musicians, video artists, installation artists, painters, performance artists, photographers, sculptors, storytellers, writers and poets.
Trojan was placed tilted forwards and by the gallery entrance to be an imposing presence. It's size and scale are not what you expect of a birdbox and it evokes thoughts of b-movies with 'super-sized' protagonists. There is an element of mystery to it, why is it so large? what may be inside and what are it's intentions. It was accompanied by photos of it lurking in the surrounding street which as a process became a performative element. The object is meant to be sinister, but also a little fun and this interplay is quite important to the work and my work in general. Ideally if the work were to be chosen i would like to take photographs of it in the surroundings of the exhibition and have these displayed alongside it. This gives the work an extra element of site-specificity.
