"We live in an era where it takes less than a day to travel to almost anywhere in the world and different cultures offer diverse views on the history and discourse as we know it. As we know there is a history of adherence to particular cultural understandings of contemporary art. International residencies can be a means of globalising the curriculum and broadening the understanding of the context today by having culturally diverse artists-in-residence participating in the programme and producing art and interacting and revealing their processes and theoretical approach. The aim is to enhance the learning environment and to establish links across the world."

He has secured numerous public funded residency opportunities and exhibitions worldwide, including several from the British Council, the Abbey Scholarships and the Wingate Foundation among many others. The inspiration gathered from these experiences committed him to the transcultural. 

The importance of the transcultural is now widely acknowledged as being central to the development of Contemporary Art.

There has been a history of ‘western discourse’ focused art practice in the UK. The key intercultural influences on British Art in the past has been between the UK, Europe and the USA. Asia Africa and the Middle Eastern traditions and influences have often not played a significant role in the western idea of contemporary art. (there are obviously some exceptions). Why is this very important? Sharing of ideas and discourse was always important for the development of art. Now that contemporary travel is so easy between the UK, Europe and the USA their discourses are integrated. East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and African art has not been considered in the past to be that relevant. When Japan lifted its isolation policy in 1854, despite some degree of awareness of printmakers such as Hokusai, they were regarded as being inferior to western artists - Hokusai prints were even used in Europe to wrap commercial goods.

Methodology

Residencies

This research has involved both curation and Andrew Stahl's personal art practice which reflects the transcultural. He has used a variety of approaches to this, one has been to invite Artists in Residence to the Slade from all over the world. During the last 30 years he has also participated and established artist residencies, exhibitions, and international collaborations often with public funding and has been frequently astounded by the enrichment to contemporary art practice they have provided through artists working in new environments with artists from different cultural backgrounds. In the last 12 years he has arranged Artists in Residence at the Slade from Guangzhou, China; Palestine; Japan; Texas; Uganda; Beijing China; Indonesia; Thailand and Hong Kong.  There are plans for two more artists to be invited in the next couple of years from Africa and East Asia, with £10,000 raised to facilitate this.

He has recently been guaranteed £10,000 by CAT (Contemporary Art Trust) to fund two further incoming residencies at the Slade from 2023.

Exhibitions

Andrew Stahl has also curated a series of exhibitions in both Thailand and UK called the Monologue Dialogue series predominantly funded by the British Council (details below). Artists were able to create work side by side in wonderful exhibition spaces in both the UK and Thailand. The artists originated from Thailand, UK, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beirut, UAE, Korea and the US. These exhibitions provided the artists with the opportunity to make work in the exhibition space where they could interact creating new approaches and dynamics enabling them to challenge preconceived structures and perceptions and create strong cross-cultural ‘out of box’ understandings. Often in the collaborative exhibitions, the atmosphere of discovery and experimentation and making work together in situ was highly original with outstanding results.