Stories was carried out in public and with the public during the group exhibition Go Away: Artists and Travel, in the Royal College of Art Galleries, London.
Stories was the project that Tracy & Edwin carried out in public and with the public during the group exhibition Go Away: Artists and Travel, in the Royal College of Art Galleries in London in 1999.
The exhibition presented work by more than thirty artists, dating from the sixties to the time of the exhibition. For many artists travel is a core component of their practice. Since the late sixties artists have moved beyond the studio, driven by ideas about context, space and the object of art. Travel also became a material, medium or an approach that artists activated to explore individual concerns. Now, and since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, this state of being has radically altered for both makers and audiences.
Although based in London whilst making Stories, Tracy & Edwin’s collaborative practice normally involved significant amounts of travel: movement, displacement, temporary habitation, multiple encounters, rapid research, return visits.
Sometimes the subject of work they were making and sometimes a strategy in their work, the rate and pace of their own travel decelerated during Stories, while they were contained within the purpose-made public studio.
Visitors came to Tracy & Edwin, approaching tentatively or boldly stating opinions, and often coming back to witness the blanket’s progress. Aware that they could reach audiences who were unable to come to the galleries, they used the World Wide Web even though in 1999 only 9% of households in the United Kingdom had internet access. In anticipation of rapid online growth, their Stories web page was updated daily with images that showed the blanket’s progress, and the stories that were being received by fax and email, sent from around the world.
The exhibition’s accompanying publication From A to B (and Back Again) was published by the Royal College of Art. It is one possible guide to the exhibition Go Away: Artists and Travel, with a layout that offers unexpected juxtapositions.