Original Projects visit
The DOVER Urban Room
On 5/1/24, as part of their ACE funded ‘Lifting the Horizon’ research project, 18 artists from Original Projects, our sister organisation in Great Yarmouth, visited DAD HQ. Original Projects, run by the partnership of Kaavous Clayton and Jules Devonshire, has a continuous multi-platformed program centred around their huge space, PrimeYarc, a former department store. DAD was one of a group of South East coastal contemporary art sites they visited gathering data on models of cultural infrastructure. Kaavous wrote:
Simon Bill, a Director of Dover Arts Development, gave us an introduction to their work as well as an impromptu lecture about his own work (which explores the potentials of visual perception to create optical illusions and effects.)
DAD was founded by Clare Smith and Joanna Jones. Joanna has been joined by Simon, Charles Holland, Edda Salander-Jones and Richard Bundy as Co-Directors. They have no public space beyond their office (which is in Joanna’s home) which they use for meetings and planning. They recently presented a festival across the town which was called ‘You Can Reach the World From Dover’ , and consisted of walking tours, public presentations of artworks (including some of Simon’s) and various events.
Discussions with Simon in response to his talk included subjects and topics such as ownership (of space), vandalism, the culture of vandalism, public art and custodianship, neuroscience, optical illusions, stereoscopy, depth perception, filling in, moiré, strobing, motion detecting modules, Bridget Riley, the brain, AI and more.
Simon completed a series of optical illusion paintings on the wall behind Merrivale Model Village in Great Yarmouth in 2022, and we visited one that he has completed in Dover.’
