Degree Shows Guide 2016

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FIRST THOUGHTS
“Degree shows are this
oddity that work for some
people and not for others”
Bedwyr Williams is an artist known for his surreal sense of humour, his
celebration of the outsider, and a deep suspicion of the contemporary
art establishment. So what’s his take on degree shows?
For my degree at Central Saint
Martins in 1997 I was in a group
with two other artists called Finger
de Buffet. We almost had our degrees
taken off us because we took the walls
down between our spaces and painted
everything purple. The paint wasn’t my
idea; it made all my things look shit!
What I got from being part of that
group was the irreverence. We were
quite cocky – we wound up the other
students a little bit.
The video work I made then was
done really quickly in the few weeks
before the show. It’s closer than
anything else in that show to what I do
now; it’s got me in it, it’s got me talking
about my past, it’s funny, it’s low-tech.
I’m still quite proud of it.
In my last year at college I think I
was on to something with the work I
was doing. We had a great degree show
party, we got sponsorship for booze and
free peanuts from some silly company. It
was the best place to be that night...
I guess students should take the
degree show seriously but they
shouldn’t fuck up their time
beforehand worrying about the thing
– that’s stupid. You get some students
worrying in their second year that
they’ve got to reach a certain point
to hit their stride in the third year –
it’s bonkers.
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Bedwyr Williams, The Starry Messenger,
2013, installation view. Courtesy the artist
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Bedwyr Williams, Bard Attitude, 2005.
Courtesy the artist and Limoncello
Gallery. Copyright the artist
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