Welcome to the archive of British artist and curator William Titley.
A PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University, William is also Senior Lecturer & Course Leader for MA Fine Art at The University of Central Lancashire.
In 2011 he Co-founded and Directored 'In-Situ', an artist led organisation (Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation) based in Pendle.
With a wide range of Awards, William's creative research practice involves exhibitions, performances, installations, conferences and public interventions in everyday situations with local and international communities. Collaborating with and supporting international curators, artists and communities from the UK, Europe, Pakistan, Mexico, USA, and India.
You can follow the artist on Instagram at william_titley
Before exploring the archive please see some examples of more recent work below.
The Letter - Film: 2:05 mins. (2020)
A moving image artwork made during a residency at Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery in 2020 called Kicking Down The Barriers. The film shows two neighbours in adjacent windows: Imran Ali and Cath Ford.
[birdsong] - Film: 107mins. (2019)
A film that captured the artist and his long term and intimate relations with people, place and environment. The project was initiated by asking people what they could remember about an old film called Whistle Down The Wind starring Hayley Mills (1961), which was filmed around Pendle Hill in Lancashire, UK and involved many local school children. This new interpretation followed over 60 members of the local community as they remembered old scenes and imagineg new ones, and revealed the majestic presence and power of Pendle Hill and the surrounding countryside, and the emergence of contemporary social issues in the process.
Time Machine - Interactive Sculpture. (2018)
Popular music can act as a first step to exploring and developing a sense of collective identity. The music somehow captures memories and wraps them in the cultural sound of your time, always there, in storage, and ready to come back in a flash, triggered by a few musical notes. The Time Machine sculpture utilizes these audio triggers to capture and share collective memories of space and time. Constructed from an old Jukebox, the sculpture holds a selection of community memories evoked by 50 songs on 7" vinyl. The memories are displayed on the selection panel for the audience to interact with and hear the song that triggered each memory.
Gentlemen's Wardrobe - Interactive Sculpture (2017)
Made by a handful of men who care for a loved one at home on a full-time basis, the sculpture, made from two antique gentleman's wardrobes emerged from months of dialogical encounters and playful engagement with found objects. The audio includes a recording of everyday chores and a poem about living with a loved one with Dementia. While you need to see the sculpture in person to get the full experience, this short video gives you a tiny glimpse of the work, which was just a tiny part of the project. 2018