about us
Image: Henna Asikainen's Future Pasts. Photo: Simone J Rudolphi
We are D6: Culture in Transit. We are visual arts producers working with extraordinary artists, intrepid partners, communities and policy makers.
Our vision is world in which the arts and culture play a major part in creating a fairer, kinder and well informed society.
Our mission is to develop exceptional collaborative arts projects that challenge polarising cultural narratives and contribute to social resilience and environmental consciousness.
Our work explores some big questions around the value and ethics of artistic production and engagement – for whom, by whom, with whom and in response to societal and environmental issues that both unite and divide us.
In a world ravaged by COVID-19, these considerations are even more prescient, exposing the need to move away from the more people less time paradigm - and do things more slowly, more deeply and more meaningfully: to have impact by doing things at a slower pace in order to be kind to each other and our planet and to use our resources more resourcefully; to make real connections and do things well we need to deepen the experience of the artists and the participants and to make it more meaningful we need to listen, to question and respond.
Through research, commissioning, and presentation we work across borders to promote the value of the arts in the sustainable development of neighbourhoods, our communities and our planet.
Our vision is world in which the arts and culture play a major part in creating a fairer, kinder and well informed society.
Our mission is to develop exceptional collaborative arts projects that challenge polarising cultural narratives and contribute to social resilience and environmental consciousness.
Our work explores some big questions around the value and ethics of artistic production and engagement – for whom, by whom, with whom and in response to societal and environmental issues that both unite and divide us.
In a world ravaged by COVID-19, these considerations are even more prescient, exposing the need to move away from the more people less time paradigm - and do things more slowly, more deeply and more meaningfully: to have impact by doing things at a slower pace in order to be kind to each other and our planet and to use our resources more resourcefully; to make real connections and do things well we need to deepen the experience of the artists and the participants and to make it more meaningful we need to listen, to question and respond.
Through research, commissioning, and presentation we work across borders to promote the value of the arts in the sustainable development of neighbourhoods, our communities and our planet.
AT A GLANCE
Founded in 1991 D6 has run an international programme of commissions, residencies and events for over 31 years. In the past ten years we have delivered:
OUR ANNUAL REPORT 2020 - 2021
our history
D6 began in the early 1990s as ISIS Arts, set up by recent arts graduates coming together to produce an exhibition for International Women’s day. We shared an interest in the political role of the arts and its ability to draw threads between artists and communities at home and abroad.
As early adopters of the digital, we set up the region’s first digital studio in 1994 training artists and creating art works. By the Millennium we had long decided that we did not want to run a permanent gallery, preferring instead to present work in public spaces and with partners in neighbourhoods. In 2000, to resolve the issue of local resources, we created the Big M, a mobile inflatable venue for artists’ film and video, touring festivals and events across Europe.
From our corner of the UK we looked out to the rest of the world and began creating projects beyond our borders with partners who shared our ethos. Starting with the local, our programme looked for the international in our everyday, often working with communities at a point of change. From Home (1999-2000) which considered the impact of migration on our cultural identity to At Home in Europe and the arrival of the Polish community (2005-10) to Homelands and the Roma community (2011 – 15), to the impact of Brexit (Corners, Young Europeans 2016 – 19) to refugee and asylum seekers and our shared colonial histories (There is Beauty in This Journey, Contested Desires 2018 - 2021 ).
From our studio space in central Newcastle we welcomed artists to come and explore ideas, taking forward artist-led proposals that resonated with partners locally and internationally, initiating 64 artist’s commissions and working across 31 countries, directed by co-founders Sharon Bailey and Clymene Christoforou. Our research residency programme remains strong to this day, contributing significantly to the development of contemporary artists’ practice.
As early adopters of the digital, we set up the region’s first digital studio in 1994 training artists and creating art works. By the Millennium we had long decided that we did not want to run a permanent gallery, preferring instead to present work in public spaces and with partners in neighbourhoods. In 2000, to resolve the issue of local resources, we created the Big M, a mobile inflatable venue for artists’ film and video, touring festivals and events across Europe.
From our corner of the UK we looked out to the rest of the world and began creating projects beyond our borders with partners who shared our ethos. Starting with the local, our programme looked for the international in our everyday, often working with communities at a point of change. From Home (1999-2000) which considered the impact of migration on our cultural identity to At Home in Europe and the arrival of the Polish community (2005-10) to Homelands and the Roma community (2011 – 15), to the impact of Brexit (Corners, Young Europeans 2016 – 19) to refugee and asylum seekers and our shared colonial histories (There is Beauty in This Journey, Contested Desires 2018 - 2021 ).
From our studio space in central Newcastle we welcomed artists to come and explore ideas, taking forward artist-led proposals that resonated with partners locally and internationally, initiating 64 artist’s commissions and working across 31 countries, directed by co-founders Sharon Bailey and Clymene Christoforou. Our research residency programme remains strong to this day, contributing significantly to the development of contemporary artists’ practice.