Stephanie Moran (Iniva, Stuart Hall Library) & Ting Ting Cheng (artist)

A conversation between Stephanie Moran, Manager of Iniva's Stuart Hall Library, and their first artist in residence, Ting Ting Cheng, who completed a three-month residency earlier this year. Stephanie and Ting Ting will talk about the artist's time in the library, her use of the library collections and library space, the artistic research she carried out and the resulting audio work that embodies the research – including themes of diaspora / migration, political and cultural representation, and the construction of identity. They will discuss what constitutes artistic research, particularly in the context of a special library collection, and the practicalities of facilitating an artistic residency in a library.

Iniva is an evolving, radical visual arts organisation dedicated to developing an artistic programme that reflects on the social and political impact of globalisation. With the Stuart Hall Library acting as a critical and creative hub for our work, we offer residencies, commission new work and promote existing practices enabling artistic ambition and development. The Stuart Hall Library is a unique, international, specialist and accessible visual arts public resource in Shoreditch, London. The collection has a focus on contemporary art from Africa, Asia and Latin America, and Black and Asian artists in Britain. It contains exhibition catalogues, many rare biennial catalogues, art and activism journals and magazines from around the world, artist and activist zines, and many rare artist films. There is also a physical archive of Iniva’s history, including files on artists and curators we have worked with over the past 23 years.

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Offering a unique way to explore Iniva’s collection, Ting’s artwork On the Desert Island took its cue from Professor Stuart Hall speaking to Sue Lawley on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in February 2000. Using the library’s UDC categorisation system that places exhibition catalogues according to their geographical location, the artist’s tour encouraged the listener to wander between Great Britain and Jamaica as if they were part of an archipelago. On this physical journey they follow Professor Stuart Hall’s conversation about identity and diversity 17 years ago in the context of Britain today. The work layers this with narratives around identity and immigration, placing the listener in the position of a newly arrived immigrant to a strange island. Revisiting Professor Stuart Hall’s commentary On the Desert Island casts a curious light on today’s political, social and cultural realities where issues of sovereignty and the rise of uncontained xenophobia are as prophetic as he imagined:

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‘Britain is facing these two possibilities as alternative futures and I want the British to consciously move towards a more cosmopolitan idea of themselves.’ Professor Stuart Hall, Desert Island Discs, February 2000

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Stephanie Moran is Librarian at the Stuart Hall Library, Iniva.