Artscape founder speaks at Art Festival at Hay

Founding artist of the Artscape project, Hilary Lawson, has spoken at this years’ Art Festival at Hay alongside a host of artists including the prolific Gavin Turk, Jane Simpson and Eleanor Lindsay Fynn.

Over a beautifully crisp weekend in Hay, the Institute of Art and Ideas presented crunch. art in a new era - a weekend of symposiums, art exhibitions and vigorous discussions tackling how the art world will be affected by the current recession.

Covering the issues that have been plaguing the minds of many in the industry – from declining auction sales to cash-strapped galleries – Lawson engaged with other speakers including Anthony Haden Guest about how the art world hopes to re-evolve in order to survive the economic downturn. Much heated debate and an encouragingly positive symbiosis of ideas was born from the exchanges over the course of the festival.

Hilary Lawson - whose video paintings were part of the Out of Openness collection which debuted at the festival - addressed an audience of artists, critics and journalists at the Globe at Hay gallery space. Lawson tackled how the art industry will recover from the state of flux it currently finds itself in and spoke of a return to a more holistic pursuit of art.

Lawson highlighted that the bursting of the art market bubble would catalyse and reinvigorate the art scene which has, in recent years, been dominated by a focus on financial value. In agreement with the artist Adam Dant, Lawson spoke of a natural return to viewing art for its intrinsic value rather than a sensationalised monetary one.

Video highlights from the debates, including ‘Is this the End of the YBA era?’ and ‘Curating the Crunch’, are available here , where you can also read all the festival news.