is an offsite OUTPOST exhibition of 30+ artists invited from the membership and the gallery's past programme. The 5,000 sq ft exhibition space is a disused electricity building in Norwich: the show is timed to run concurrently with EASTinternational 2006.

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9 July to 19 August 2006

Preview 8 July 8-10pm

10am-5pm Monday to Saturday

In the former Eastern Electricity building, 4 Duke Street Norwich NR3 3AH

OUTPOST is an artist run gallery located in Norwich. It is committed - in a region with few such venues - to the uncompromising presentation of contemporary art. From its opening show in November 2004, OUTPOST has hosted a core programme of 12 exhibitions per year; always opening on the 1st of the month. This structured core has rapidly expanded to embrace many other events - film nights, performances, critical forums, artists' talks and additional exhibitions in temporary spaces.

Now nearing the end of the founding committee's 2-year term of office, OUTPOST presents 'Off', an off-site group show of artists selected by the OUTPOST steering committee from the gallery's artist members' archive and past and future exhibitors. The exhibition's location, a vast single space in the former Eastern electricity board building, provides some practical constraints on the choice of work; the large expanse of floor relative to the limited wall space means that free standing sculptural work has been encouraged and prioritized in the selection, while the absence of electricity from the abandoned site means that many 'new media' forms have been precluded.

The final selection of work reveals a definitive focus on the 'made'; manual and traditional techniques predominate, yet sit comfortably against more contemporary production methods. The diversity of artists and their modes of practice evident in 'Off' emerges from the broad programming approach of the OUTPOST committee. The integration of locally based artists amongst more nationally recognized names also reflects the ambition of OUTPOST to raise the expectations of artists and audiences in the region. In accurately reflecting the level and caliber of activity surrounding OUTPOST - the inclusion of 50 artists in a single space - the show unavoidably flirts with the 'over hang'; and whilst many of the show's exhibits might seem to have rural undertones - perhaps emerging from its peripheral location - they are never parochial.