Between the period of late September 2004 and end July 2005 the Independent Art School curated a programme of events and commissions funded by Arts Council England, Yorkshire, Hull City Arts Unit and d:CODE.

The project centred around the conceptual recruitment of a team of lecturers and staff for the Hull Independent Research Centre. Artists were invited to respond to the commission brief by developing a title for themselves that reflected upon their artistic practise and concerns. They then proposed an artwork or workshop to be undertaken under the banner of the Hull Independent Research Centre.

Alongside the commissions, six monthly forums and two exhibitions took place.

The Monthly Forums

28 September 2005: Art, Site and Intervention took place in collaboration with the 54N exhibition brought together artists who interacted with public spaces in a panel discussion. The seminar was set up in the Old Parcel Office exhibition venue and speakers included artist Justin Mckeown who had also come down to do a performance for his 'Lecturer' role, Anna Pharoah 'Inauguration Engineer' and RED gallery exhibitor Gavin Peacock.

21 October 2005: Blurred Boundaries celebrated the conclusion of a project led by Canda-based artist Rachelle Viader Knowles. A live video conferencing session was held at Hull Time Based Arts between the artists from Hull and the artists in Canada.

16 November 2005:Becky Shaw's Inaugural Lecture at the Ferens Art Gallery where she presented the outcomes of her research as a performance lecture.

30 March 2005: Trial and Error marked the closure of the Robinson Row studios in Hull City Centre. The IAS worked with studio holders and made an open call for other hull-based artists to join them in showing work in progress. The open studio was for one day only and was based around a crit about all of the works. Artist/writer/curator Dave Beech lead the discussion.

26 April 2005: Concluding Performance: Intuitive Sextet 2645 took place at the University of Hull. Jez Riley made an improvised performance with Gisele Bone. This presented the outcomes of his long-distance discussions and collaborations with other improvised musicians around the world. Following the performance, Peter Elsdon, a Lecturer from the Music Department and a specialist in Jazz Improvisation lead a discussion with Jez.

21 May 2005: Brian Gilson presented a performance talk about The East Riding Institute of Creation Research at the Ferens Art Gallery. This performance explored the interactive whiteboard as an artistic tool through the presentation of a fictitious institution.

The Exhibitions:

11 October to 15 October 2005. Near and Far at Hull Time Based Arts: As part of Rachelle Viader Knowles lecturer project emerging artists from Hull were linked up with art students at the University of Regina, Canada. They exchanged artworks through dialogue and negotiation and the Hull-based artists made the work specified by their Canadian collaborator for exhibition at Hull Time Based Arts gallery space (a corresponding exhibition organised by the University of Regina took place in Canada at the Fifth Parallel University Gallery showing works by the Hull artists, realised by the Canadian artists).

14 July to 23 July (with a workshop by Michael Branthwaite on 7 July and an event by Aminah Borg-Luck on 23 July): Faculty Exhibition: This exhibition took place in the former Music Library at Hull Central Library. It aimed to showcase the lecturer project and to present installation works by three of the artists who had taken on 'Lecturer' roles. In addition to the exhibited works an archive area was set up that presented the project so far and provided documents on past IAS events and presented a contextual picture of the project with books and information about similar projects elsewhere.

IAS intervention into the Music Library at Hull Central Library for the 'Faculty Exhibition' July 2005

The Lecturer Projects:

- Justin McKeown, Performance Artist and graduate from Dartington College of Art spent four days in Hull presenting his action 'Drinking Blindfolded in Hull' at the Monthly Forum and in various locations around the city centre.

- Rachelle Viader Knowles, an Artist and University Lecturer based in Regina, Canada took on the role of 'Lecturer in Home and Away Studies'. Her work is concerned with displacement and long-distance communication. This project involved 11 emerging artists from Hull who were linked up with 9 art students in Regina to develop a dialogue about their art practices and create collaborative works that questioned notions of authorship. Two exhibitions were organised. The Hull artists made the work conceptualised by the young Canadian artists for Hull Time Based Arts exhibition space and the Canadian artists did the same for the Hull artists at the University of Regina's gallery 'The Fifth Parallel'.

- Anna Pharoah, Hull-based emerging artist developed the role of 'Inauguration Engineer' for the Independent Art School. This role expressed her research interests in public intervention and developing ways to engage a chance audience. Through her role she developed a series of imaginary societies, which she sought to inaugurate through performance actions. www.edible.karoo.net.

Anna Pharoah 'The Centre for Cracks in the Pavement' video and a scroll listing imaginary societies, 'Faculty Exhibition'

- Jez Riley, Hull-based musician and artist is using the title 'Lecturer in Intuitive Composition' to develop an ongoing composition through collaborations with artists based locally, nationally and internationally. Jez will be continuing this project on a long-term basis as a way of promoting himself as an artist and developing strong contacts with the international intuitive composition community.

-Aminah Borg-Luck, London-based writer. Aminah has developed a conceptual writing project that crosses the boundaries between experimental writing and contemporary art. Through the 'lecturer' project she has taken on the fictitious role of 'Universe Student' and has conceptually created her own University Course.

Aminah Borg-Luck, Universe Student installation, 'Faculty Exhibition'

- Becky Shaw, London-based artist and co-director of Static, Liverpool. Taking on the role of 'Consultant in Serving the Agendas of Others', the Independent Art School commissioned her to explore the notion of 'Ambition'. Becky interviewed 25 artists in Hull, and developed a Performance-Lecture that considered art activity in Hull.

- Brian Gilson, Hull-based artist and director of Ondoloop projects. In response to the concept of the Independent Art School, Brian developed the fictitious The East Riding Institute of Creation research (ERICr). In collaboration with the University of Hull's Computer Science department he used their facilities to develop an interactive work for the whiteboard.

- Michael Branthwaite, Lecturer in Art and Artifice developed a collaborative sculpture/installation through a workshop with other practicing artists. The traditional structure of the Artists' Crit was put into question as the dialogue around artistic production and inspiration became a direct result of the making process. The discussion was recorded and edited and formed part of the final installation shown during the Faculty Exhibition at the Central Library. The intention was to show a carcass or remains of a creative activity.