Wysing Arts Centre is a contemporary artsresidency centre and campus for artistic production, experimentation and learning in SouthCambridgeshire, England. The centre was established in 1989[1] and completed a £1.7 million capital development project in 2008.[2] Across the eleven-acre site the centre holds ten buildings, including 24 low-cost artists' studios, a live-work space, specialist new media facilities, a large gallery, education facilities, a recording studio,[1] a ceramics studio[3] and a 17th-century grade II listed farmhouse which is used as accommodation for residencies and retreats.[4] The main focus of the centre's activities is the international residency programme, but it also hosts temporary exhibitions, retreats, a programme for young artists, semi-permanent sculptural and architectural commissions and works on offsite projects with many other institutions nationally and internationally.[5] It is a registered charity under English law.[6]
Wysing was created in 1989 by founders Jenny and Terry Brooks and artists Annie and Age Bunnetat.
Wysing Grange Farmhouse, Wysing Arts Centre in 2007
The group had a vision of an organisation which would provide space, time, funding and a creative environment to support visual arts practice without pre-defined outcomes. They found a suitable site at a former dairy farm in Cambridgeshire, restored its 17th-century farmhouse, and transformed old farm buildings into studios and a gallery space.[1][2]
The Mirror (2012) – including artists Ed Atkins, Nicolas Deshayes, Philomene Pirecki and Elizabeth Price
The Cosmos (2012) – Salvatore Arancio, Flora Parrott, Nilsson Pflugfelder and Stuart Whipps
The Department of Overlooked Histories (2011) – including artists An Endless Supply, Ruth Beale, Karin Kihlberg & Reuben Henry and Emma Smith
The Department of Psychedelic Studies (2011) – including artists Mark Essen, Hilary Koob-Sassen, Kate Owens, Damien Roach
The Department of Wrong Answers (2011) – including artists Rob Filby, Francesco Pedraglio & Laure Prouvost, Giles Round and Cally Spooner
The Camp For Improbable Thinking (2010) – including artists Asli Cavusoglu, Andy Holden, Fabiano Marques, Julie Myers, Emily Rosamond and Bedwyr Williams
Communities under Construction (2009) – including artists A Kassen, Folke Köbberling and Martin Kaltwasser, N55, Public Works, Townley and Bradby and Helen Stratford Wysing Polyphonic A specific annual residency was the Wysing Polyphonic also known as the Annual Music Festival, these included:
Space-Time: the Multiverse (2015) including artists: The Fish Police, Ravioli Me Away, Joey Fourr, Bamboo and stage curated by Electra.[9]
2016: David Toop with Sylvia Hallett, Elaine Mitchener & Roger Turner, Jenny Moore with Ela Barczewski, Kate Bones, Phil Brunner, Simon Clark, Mario D'Agostino, Andrew Kershaw, Sophie Mallet, Fay Nicholson, Sophie Ramsay, Heloise Tunstall-Behrens and Raimond Wong, Richard Dawson, Larry Achiampong and David Blandy
Somerset House Studios (2019)
The Ungoverned (guest curated by Anne Duffau) (2020) – including artists Maëva Berthelot, Whiskey Chow, CRYSTALLMESS, Tanaka Fuego, Hannah Catherine Jones, Rachel Long, LYZZA, mobilegirl, Coby Sey and audio research group AUDINT
Under Ether(guest curated by Anne Duffau) (2021) - including artists CAMPerVAN, FAUZIA, Ignota: MJ Harding & Nisha Ramayya, Juliet Jacques, Marissa Malik & Yeshe Bahamon-Beesley, object blue, Space Afrika, YA YA Bones and Ain Bailey.[10]
Jonathan Baldock – A Strange Cross Between a Butchers Shop and a Nightclub, 2013
Relatively Absolute – including artists Luke Abbott, Salvatore Arancio, Ed Atkins, Jonathan Baldock, Edwin Burdis, Patrick Coyle, Nicolas Deshayes, Jess Flood-Paddock, Emma Hart, Nilsson Pflugfelder, Flora Parrott, Philomene Pirecki, Elizabeth Price and Stuart Whipps, 2013
Recollect including artists Better Futures Forever, Jackie Chettur, Phil Coy, Sean Edwards, Karin Kihlberg & Reuben Henry, Una Knox, Rosie Pedlow & Joe King, 2012
The Starry Rubric Set – including artists Marjolijn DijkmAn, Ruth Beale, Nicholas Deshayes, Rob Filby, John Latham, Karin Kihlberg & Reuben Henry, Kate Owens, Laure Prouvost, Giles Round, 2012
Slipped – including artists Aaron Angell, Caroline Achaintre, Lucy Conochie, Coco Crampton, Mark Essen, The Grantchester Pottery, Lawrence Leaman, Giles Round, Phil Root and Jesse Wine, 2012
Wysing Arts Centre is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Additional financial support for the programme comes from trusts and foundations including the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Henry Moore Foundation, The Leverhulme Foundation and The Ernest Cooke Trust.
