The John Gingell Award

17 August - 28 September 2013

John Gingell with `Power Box, Meshchip and Blue Flash`, 1992-94. Photograph: Jeff Morgan
John Gingell with `Power Box, Meshchip and Blue Flash`, 1992-94. Photograph: Jeff Morgan
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The John Gingell Award has been established in honour of an artist whose impact on art education began in Cardiff’s oldest art institution over four decades ago. John Gingell (1935-2007) was a pioneering and passionate artist and arts educator. His own work crossed many media from painting, performance, installation, to sculpture and public art. Having arrived in Cardiff in the late 60s from London’s Whitechapel Gallery to teach at the Howard Gardens art school on the revolutionary Foundation studies, John Gingell developed new teaching ‘event’ structures which combined performance alongside schooling. He established a dedicated space for exploratory film / performance known as the Third area / space workshop, which was then formalised into Time based studies – arguably among one of the first such courses in the UK.

In accordance with John’s wishes, the Gingell family and g39 developed an award that continued John’s legacy and work as a passionate advocate of art education, by supporting the career development of two artists selected via an open submission process. The family invited g39 to offer curatorial and critical support to Toby Huddlestone and Alan Goulbourne, the recipients of the award, with the intention to significantly develop their practices. They will present their resulting bodies of work together for the first time as two exhibitions at one venue.
Alan has developed new sculptural works throughout the mentoring period since January. Earlier works have been presented both in galleries and in the public realm, and his practice has echoes of John Gingell’s larger sculptural work. Toby will start an ambitious and open-ended process that will accumulate during the exhibition, examining the mechanics of putting together a solo show. It begins with an 11-minute performance lecture at the preview, at which Toby will present a brief history of his un-edited art career. His work will reach completion only in the final days of the show.

John Gingell – A legacy. Friday 30 August 6pm


Exhibition Talk with Heike Roms Heike Roms PhD (FRSA) discusses the life and works of John Gingell and the John Gingell Award. Free, all welcome.
Heike Roms is Project Director of ‘What's Welsh for Performance?’, a major enquiry into the history of performance art in Wales, which she began in 2005. She has published widely on contemporary performance practice (particularly on work emanating from Wales). She was Principal Investigator on Locating the early history of performance art in Wales 1967–1979, a research project focussing on the historiography of early performance art. Heike is Professor in Performance Studies at Aberystwyth University.

Book event Saturday 28 September 6-9pm


The culmination of Toby Huddlestone’s working processes during ‘The John Gingell Award’ will be brought together into a limited edition book that completes his exhibition.

  • John Gingell with `Power Box, Meshchip and Blue Flash`, 1992-94. Photograph: Jeff Morgan
  • John Gingell, Performance at Trafalgar Square, 1 of 3 Anti-apartheid demonstrations organised with colleagues & students from Howard gardens, 1970
  • John Gingell, <I>the walking talking standing still machine</i>, Cardiff College of Art
  • Alan Goulbourne, <i>Skin</i>, 2013
  • Alan Goulbourne, <i>Sorry Paul</i>, 2013
  • Alan Goulbourne, <i>Tree Study</i>, 2013
  • Toby Huddlestone`s editorial pod
  • Toby Huddlestone`s ramp
  • Toby Huddlestone`s editorial pod

Programme