Anonymous, group work, Prison Life, detail, Acrylic on board, 880 x 1200, cm., HMP Parc, Photograph, © Marcus J. Leith, 2007, Courtesy the artist and ICA.

Howard Patience, The Lodge of Taste, Paint on canvas, 1300 x 1200 cm., HMP Buckley Hall , Photograph, © Marcus J. Leith, 2007, Courtesy the artist and ICA.

Anonymous, group work, Madonna and Child, 2007, Recycling, HMP Dovegate, Photograph, © Marcus J. Leith, 2007, Courtesy the artist and ICA.

Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall
+ 020 7930 0493
London
Insider Art
Art from the Koestler Awards Scheme
July 12-September 9, 2007

The Koestler Trust is an independent charity that was founded by the Hungarian­born writer, activist and philosopher Arthur Koestler in 1962 to support the creation of art in prisons. Koestler (1905­83) is best known as the author of the prison novel Darkness at Noon (1940) and was a leading figure in the campaign against capital punishment. Koestler served time as a political prisoner in Spain and France, spent six weeks in HMP Pentonville in 1940 where he was sent as an illegal alien, and likened the experience of prison to a “death of the spirit.” He believed that giving prisoners the opportunity to create art would restore confidence, encourage communication and inspire a positive means of expression, which in turn would aid the rehabilitation process and transition to life outside.

Insider Art is a special exhibition of work by prisoners and others in confinement in Britain — including inmates of young offender institutions, high security psychiatric hospitals and immigration removal centers.

The work has been selected from the Koestler Awards Scheme, an annual open submission competition that promotes art and design across the criminal justice system. Firmly established as a major annual event, 2007 has seen a record 3,100 entries in the art and design categories. Submissions are sent to the Koestler Arts Centre at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, and a quarter of entrants receive certificates and financial prizes (ranging from £20 to £100) awarded by a panel of judges who also give feedback to the entrants. This is the first year that works from the awards scheme will be shown in a major public institution and it is also the first time that some of the work will be exhibited under the artists’ own names.

The ICA exhibition will present approximately two hundred artworks drawn from the 2007 submissions. The exhibition was specially selected for the ICA by Zelda Cheatle (photography consultant and Koestler trustee), Grayson Perry (artist), Dr Mike Phillips (author and curator, Tate) and Mark Sladen (Director of Exhibitions, ICA). Works on display will include painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, textiles and other media. Many of the pieces will be for sale, with proceeds from the sales divided between the artists, the Koestler Trust and Victim Support.

Mark Sladen, Head of Exhibitions, ICA: “In Britain in the last few years contemporary art has become very fashionable and the commercial art scene has massively expanded. With all this money and glamour it is perhaps easy to forget that people make art for a very wide range of reasons, and that many of the most amazing works of art are made by non­professional artists. The ICA is very proud to host an exhibition of work drawn from the Koestler Awards Scheme, a scheme which reveals the artistic talents contained within some of Britain’s least public institutions.”

Tim Robertson, Director of The Koestler Trust: “Every Spring in prisons across the country you can hear inmates asking each other, “What are you putting in for the Koestlers?” This year there has been a huge extra buzz — because the artworks they submit may be selected for a nationally prestigious gallery. The ICA will bring offender art to the widest audience it has yet had. If the experience of our past visitors is anything to go by, people will be blown away by the sheer power of the work. And the timing is ripe for debating the value of the arts in criminal justice, as the Government has just decided to cut all its funding to us.”

Since its foundation, the Koestler Trust has developed a unique national role and is recognized across the criminal justice system for supporting and rewarding the creative activity of offenders and for showcasing their arts to the public. 2007 will see the launch of Koestler Mentors — artists trained to support award winners to continue their arts activity after their release from prison. The Trust is funded by individual donors and other sources, but has also relied on a Government grant. Sadly this grant (which constituted a fifth of its running costs) is being cut entirely this year.

Insider Art offers an important insight into both the vibrant artistic culture within the criminal justice system and the work of the Koestler Trust in fostering it.