This is an archived page from the Website Archive of British artist Ellie Harrison from Version 3.0 (active 2008 - 2015). New website: www.ellieharrison.com

last updated
15th July 2015

The Other Forecast

26th October 2013 onwards

The Other Forecast is a new project by Ellie Harrison and John O’Shea made in response to the MediaCityUK site at Salford Quays (home to the new BBC and ITV studios). On Friday 25th October, six artists - Richard DeDomenici, Ellie Harrison, Shona Macnaughton, Kim Noble, John O’Shea and Yuri Pattison - were invited to MediaCityUK to create their own take on the familiar ‘weather forecast’. Recorded LIVE in front of a greenscreen in one single take, they each explained to camera the interconnectedness of a variety of local and global systems - not just meteorological, but social, political or financial - presenting a different ‘worldview’ from their own personal perspective. Each of the short films resulting from The Other Forecast were premiered at a special event hosted by Ellie Harrison and John O’Shea at the University of Salford’s Digital Performance Lab on Saturday 26th October. They were then broadcast on the Big Screen at MediaCityUK on Monday 11th November (13:30), Tuesday 12th November (15:00) and Friday 15th November (15:00), and released to a global audience on the project’s YouTube channel.

The Other Forecast YouTube channel

The Artists’ Bond

2011 - LIFELONG PROJECT

The Artists’ Bond is a new collective venture for UK based artists looking for a lucky break. It was established in 2011 by the forty members of the Artists’ Lottery Syndicate (1st July 2010 - 1st July 2011), who chose to reinvest their annual prize money in a new long-term speculative funding scheme based on National Savings & Investments ‘Premium Bonds’. From 1st April - 1st July each year, The Artists’ Bond will open its doors for up to 40 new artists to join and will continue to expand annually up to a maximum of 1,000 members.

Project website

Artists Anonymous

28th February 2011 - 11th December 2012

Artists Anonymous was a support group for Glasgow-based artists co-founded, coordinated and attended by Ellie Harrison over the course of two years. It took place every three weeks at the CCA in Glasgow and aimed to provide a ‘safe space for its members to speak candidly, honestly and confidentially to others about the anxieties and stresses of their professional lives’.

More information

Work-a-thon for the Self-Employed

2011 - ongoing

Work-a-thon for the Self-Employed is a new world record classification initiated by Ellie Harrison in 2011. It aims to encourage isolated freelance workers like herself to come together to attempt to break the record for ‘the most self-employed people working together (on their own individual projects) in the same place at the same time, over the course of a normal 9-to-5 day’. The world record of 57 self-employed people was first set at Toynbee Hall on Monday 13th June 2011 as part of Artsadmin’s Two Degrees festival. On Thursday 3rd November this record was bettered to 70 people at a second event at Newcastle’s Lit & Phil Library as part of Wunderbar festival.

Project website

Artists’ Lottery Syndicate

1st July 2010 - 1st July 2011

On 1st April 2010, Ellie officially launched the Artists’ Lottery Syndicate forming a forty-strong collective of UK based artists to join forces to play The National Lottery over the course of a year, with the hope of hitting the jackpot. The Syndicate ran from 1st July 2010 - 1st July 2011 and was a fun and social group activity, which operated as a gentle critique of artists’ relationships to the economy, as well as a potential money-maker.

Project website

Hen Weekend

2007 - ongoing

In 2007 Ellie devised and founded Hen Weekend - ‘the seminar by the sea for female artists, writers and curators’. The project aims to facilitate discussion and encourage collaboration between its participants, and to begin to create a unique support network for talented female practitioners working within the contemporary art sector. Hen Weekend events take place in collaboration with seaside art centres around the UK. The pilot event took place at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea from 30th March - 1st April 2007.

Project website

Day-to-Day Data

2005 - 2006

Day-to-Day Data - ‘an exhibition of artists who collect, list, database and absurdly analyse the data of everyday life’, was Ellie’s first major curatorial project. It developed as a way of further exploring the ideas at the core of her practice, and as a way of bringing together a group of artists who shared similar interests. The project featured newly commissioned works by twenty artists and comprised a gallery-based exhibition touring to three UK venues, a publication and a website.

Project website

Sports Day

2006 - ongoing

Sports Day was founded by Adele Prince and Ellie Harrison in 2005. Over the last few years they have created a number of one-off events such as the Bouncy Boxing Championships, the Olympic Ring Doughnut Eating Contest and the Desk Chair Parade, which have aimed to bring together the worlds of art, everyday life and physical exercise in fun and unexpected ways.

Project website

Union of Undercover Artists

2006 - ongoing

The Union of Undercover Artists was formed in summer 2006 by Ellie Harrison, Elizabeth Kearney and Joanna Spitzner in response to the project Part-time, which they had each been commissioned to take part in. For Part-time the three artists were required to spend four weeks working undercover in low-wage jobs and to make work in response to their experiences. As well as drawing attention to the lack of support or representation for individuals working in the visual arts sector, the Union of Undercover Artists formed one of the artists’ major responses to the Part-time project.

Project website

The Quotidian Factor

3rd October 2005

The first collaborative project between Adele Prince and Ellie Harrison was this artists’ workshop based on the popular UK TV series The Krypton Factor. The day-long workshop took place at Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth as part of the ARC programme, which accompanied the Day-to-Day Data exhibition in the gallery. The Quotidian Factor featured a series of four rounds in which participants competed in challenges designed to get them inspired by the little things in life.

Project website

Zero Point

2006 - ongoing

Zero Point is an experiment in collaboration - it has no objectives, no outcomes and no material form, but instead manifests solely in the discussions which take place between its members online, via email and through regular physical meetings. Current members include Ana Benlloch & Stuart Tait (a.a.s), Ellie Harrison, Matt Lewis, Niki Russell, Pamela Wells and Dan Williamson.

More information

NAN-NANA New Adventures in Networking

28th - 30th April 2006

NAN-NANA was a networking event attended by over sixty artists from groups across the UK, Europe and China who had previously received NAN (Networking Artists’ Networks) bursaries from a-n The Artist Information Company. The event took place in a variety of venues across Nottingham and was coordinated by six Nottingham based artists Bruce Ayling, Dave Bond, Ellie Harrison, Niki Russell, Jonathan Waring and Dan Williamson.

Project website

Notts on Tour

7th - 12th September 2007

In September 2007 Ellie coordinated Notts On Tour - a group road trip to Germany combining visits to Documenta 12 in Kassel and Sculpture Projects Münster 07. The trip was attended by 40 artists and curators from Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, Sheffield and Derby. Notts On Tour aimed to provide an important shared experience, which would strengthen the art community in Nottingham and its surrounding region.

Project website