AISH: Impact
Art is Still Honest specialises in developing public-facing grassroots practice and research. Whether writing papers for academic journals, working with indie publishers to release experimental texts, or collaborating with DIY organisations to share their latest projects, AISH is committed to unusual and impactful methods of disseminating ideas.
Difficult Art and Music
Difficult Art and Music is a record label and small press dedicated to releasing public-facing artefacts from creative research projects. Working with academics, independent researchers, as well as grass-roots musicians, writers and artists, the label has curated a broad range of experimental practice. From the cerebral synthesis of J.Lynch (senior lecturer, popular music, Falmouth University), to the electro-acoustic compositions of Chelidon Frame (Asychronous Drone Orchestra, Italy), the label is home to a host of cutting-edge contemporary artists.
At the same time, DAAM focuses on experimental community art projects: the archival work of rave pioneers Polygone, the site-specific field-recordings of Scolpaig, supporting self-defined ‘outsider’ zine Neverwork, and curated compilations exploring everyday witchcraft and modern feminism. The label’s goal is not to compete with larger, better-resourced outlets, but to actively support cutting-edge, conceptually-weighted music and art that might otherwise not find a home.
MEANS community magazine
MEANS is a community-led project aimed at supporting grassroots art, music, and writing through the publication of a physical magazine. With each issue dedicated to a unique, socially minded theme—such as Power, Privilege, and Politics—the magazine explores real-world issues that affect grassroots artists while simultaneously serving as a vehicle by which to share and promote their work.
The magazine is first and foremost a ‘means’ of fostering community, well-being, and social inclusion. With a recent study showing that 73% of independent musicians suffer from mental ill-health - a number that rises exponentially for those in poverty or with a disability - a supportive community for grassroots artists is more vital than ever. The role of MEANS is to foster meaningful connections between an often disparate array of global grassroots artists, offering a non-hierarchical, economical, and community-led means of sharing their practice.
MEANS has covered topics as broad as the Ukrainian musical underground’s response to war, the effect of sanctions on Iranian composers, philosophical discussions on composition and spirituality, alongside interviews with contemporary artists, label profiles, photography and artworks from the UK, USA, Europe and beyond.
Brexshitting: the portmanteau of tautological research
Funded by the Sussex Learning Network, Brexshitting worked with HE and FE students from an inner-city college to explore the language used by the media and politicians during the EU withdrawal negotiations.
Merging Musique-Concrete, technological decay, and rigorous academic socio-political research, the project juxtaposed the degradation and latent noise of the political sphere with the caustic timbres and limited fidelity of the lathe-record press. Exploring what linguist Michael Halliday terms the ‘functional grammar’ of the Brexit debate – its tone, timbre, rhythm, and frequency - participants constructed new compositions based upon such linguistic research, which was later presented as a custom record player and lathe set, and exhibited at SOAS gallery.
Cronework: A compilation of spells by self-identified women and gender-diverse artists
Cronework is a feminist curated compilation where every song is a spell, celebrating the unique cultural contributions of self-identified women and gender-diverse artists.
Engaging with both traditional folklore and modern interpretations of esoteric magical practice, Cronework invited practitioners across music and visual art to provide materials for an album and accompanying spell book. Based around a series of community workshops funded and led by Magnetic Ideals, the project sought to give a voice and a sense of community to marginalised groups through the still stigmatised practice of political magics, a practice Sylvia Federici described as ‘re-enchanting the world’.
I Don’t Know Where We’re Going But It Sure Sounds Nice
A radical rethinking of approaches by which to disseminate practice-based research, I Don’t Know Where… consisted of over 30 guerrilla participatory performances across Brighton city centre. Involving impromptu choirs of drunk revellers, children’s nursery readings outside corporate offices, all-night concerts in empty churches, street performances in bank lobbies, and interactive pop-up exhibitions, the project sought to take artistic engagement directly to the social spaces that we all share and inhabit.
More concerned with real-world engagement than abstract data metrics, the project located creativity in the day-to-day lives of ordinary passersby, encouraging them - through open-ended prompts, ethical propositions, and humour - to respond in ways far beyond the ideas and pre-conceptions of the artists vision.
Contact us
Interested in finding out how our research experience might support your project? Get in touch!