John Dummett essay in Nine Trades of Dundee

We commissioned the writer and artist John Dummett to write about the Nine Trades of Dundee project for our publication. He has looked to contextualise Nine Trades of Dundee within the wider art spheres the project functions within.

Here is how he opens his essay:

“We will never be able to know what we give”, I begin with a quote, from a letter exchanged between two artists Lygia Clark[i] and Helio Oiticica in 1968. This line caught my attention during my research for this essay, as it voices one of the recurring characteristics of participatory artworks, namely that the artist will never be sure of the extent and effect of their actions upon others.

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[i] Lygia Clark and Helio Oiticica, were Brazilian artists who founded in the 1960’s, along with Ivan Serpa, the Neo-Concretist group.