Inexpert

Inexpert 2018 was a social experiment disguised as a conference. It took place on Friday May 11th 2018. A not-for-profit gathering in a sold-out 100 seater London theatre that celebrated the power of inexpertise and not knowing.

In a world pre-disposed to speaker events where we are invited to listen to those with knowledge and answers, Inexpert asked what would happen if we intentionally set out to do the opposite. To explore what happens when we gather together to listen to speakers giving talks they’ve never given before, on subjects that they have a mighty curiosity about but no expertise in. Think Portsmouth Sinfonia does TED! Where the audience experience moments of delight along with moments of confusion and dissatisfaction, leaving with more questions than answers, possibly knowing less than when they arrived.

This page is a scrapbook of what happened and will never happen again. A place for those who were there to make sense of the experiment and those that weren’t to feel like they were.

SPEAKERS VIDEOS PHOTOS EXHIBITION

BLOGS TEAM MERCHANDISE BEST OF TWITTER

SPEAKERS

The speakers at Inexpert 2018 were no idiots. They have their own unique expertise and experience but took up the rather dissonant challenge to speak from the rather unfamiliar and vulnerable place of not-knowing. We were absolutely delighted to welcome the following onto the stage…

Claire Genkai Breeze
Claire has been sitting here for five minutes wondering what to say....................................….middle aged woman with dog.

Mat Hayes
Mat is an honest and sensitive soul with a random sense of humour. He often claims to be an expert in imposter syndrome and hopes that no one will find him out. He still dresses his daughter like her Dad dressed her.

Meg Peppin
Meg is working hard to let go of what doesn't belong to her. As the load lightens she is finding that she is being freeer to live her life with grace and love. She has worked out that one of the things that isn't hers is knowing. It's hard to let go of that one...work in progress.

James Traeger
When James was younger he regularly walked away from relationships, careers, homes, without much of a backward look. Now he finds it much harder to escape and it feels like his room for manoeuvre inexorably decreases. Yet, he realises he needs to make himself frighteningly vulnerable to do anything different.

Ola Odumosu
Ola was a scientist. She now likes playing. These two parts don’t get on. She is trying to make the dance between them graceful but it mainly ends up as a jarring stop-start-salsa.

Hilary Gallo
Hilary has explored many different roles and is slowly working out who he really is. He likes asking questions and writes stuff. It's mostly the deep well of scariness that scares him.

Deborah Henley
Deborah sometimes writes her bios in the third person to make them seem more important. She is interested in true self expression but is not sure who she is in the world and whether she is truly loved, whether that matters and whether she truly loves everyone else.

Gary Aldam
Gary generally feels sick when he is put on the spot but has spent most of his career making it up as he goes along. He makes a living out of stating the bleeding obvious.

Kiran Sondhi
Kiran loves to dance and sing! She had to stop dancing. She also stopped working with the organsation and the team she loves. She doesn’t know where her life is going at the moment and it’s sort of ok but not ok! She is wondering whether the next step is the right dance step or not?

Doug Shaw
Doug struggles writing bios. He’d rather write about almost anything else than try to describe himself. As he writes this his stomach is churning, his anxiety is rising and he asks if we can please talk about something else.

Kay Scorah
Kay has spent 63 years spelling out her name very slowly for people on the phone. She has never had a job that her mum can explain to the neighbours.

John Doolan
John is 44 years old and has deftly managed to get to middle age without becoming an expert in anything. Despite this he has never failed to give detailed opinions on a variety of subjects. It took his wife several months to work out he didn't know what he was talking about. They have been married for 18 years.

Not known
Does not know. Nor do we. We will know on May 11th.

John Smith
It is hard for John to say much about himself because he doesn’t know who he is and can’t be arsed with doing biographies. He knows he can be uncooperative, sarcastic and bad tempered with the world.

Rob Poynton
Rob lives in the mountains in central Spain, off grid, in a rural community where no-one either knows or cares what he does. There are always things that need fixing or mending - which would be great if he weren’t clumsy and slow at anything practical.

–o–

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INEXPERT 2018 VIDEOS

All the speakers at Inexpert 2018 had the same brief. Come along and do a talk on a subject matter that you are passionate about but have little or no expertise in. Prepare as much as you need to in order to be totally OK with not knowing. Beyond this, it was up to them. Talks ranged from 7 minutes to 20 minutes and came in a variety of formats. Below are all of the speaker videos for Inexpert 2018 that were filmed by first-time camera person Sophie Edwards who did a remarkable job.

INEXPERT2018 - Welcome — Steve Chapman
Steve introduces Inexpert 2018

INEXPERT 2018 - James Wilson introduces the Inexpert Exhibition — James Wilson
An introduction to the Inexpert art exhibition.

The Inexpert Debate
Gary Aldam & John Doolan

Steve Chapman
Steve closes Inexpert 2018

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Note: both Claire Genkai and Kiran Sondhi were unfortunately unable to speak on the day so their talks are obviously not included here but we would like to thank them greatly for being involved.

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INEXPERT 2018 PHOTOS

Below are a selection of the official Inexpert 2018 photos taken by Steve Marshall.

Inexpert (2018)
I wonder what would happen if I did a speaker event that was the opposite of TED?

–o–

And here is a wonderful illustration of Inexpert 2018 created by audience member David Gifford.

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THEINEXPERT EXHIBITION

The foyer of the John Lyon’s theatre played host the the Inexpert Exhibition. Curated by James Wilson it displayed a variety of inexpert art pieces from the students of London’s CityLit. Each artist had their own unique perspective and story as to why their piece was inexpert. You can browse the pieces below.

Foetus Love by Kitty McTitty
“Salt pig. The only existing piece of a dinner service designed with love and executed with a pair of ham fists. Foetus love is a coil pot that suffered from too much cutting. It looked like a love heart, then I cut too much and it looked like a womb so I put a foetus in it. And now it sits impolitely on the dinner table. I love it and also hate it. Other possible additions to the series: the intestine plate and the colon mug.”

For the love of God - Colin Colin
“I tried to draw some praying hands from memory. And this is how it turned out. It doesn’t look like anything I had in mind. It doesn’t look accomplished or skilful or representative or cool or authentic."

Giraffe Behind - Alistair Ayres
“I was trying to make a giraffe’s backside for a pedestal. It crumbled and fell apart”

Untitled - Alistair Ayres
“I don’t even know what this is. I think it was supposed to be a game of sort. I don’t even understand how anyone would play it.”

Untitled - Susan Forster
“I knew nothing. It fails to convey what I wanted it to convey. There was an idea behind it which is based on a tree that I had seen in a forest. But it just didn’t work, at all. So it is an object of shame and I found it very difficult to submit. But in the spirit of inexpertise, I have.”

Galleon - Sally King
That it looks like a bone justifies the failure of this. It’s a boat, it’s a galleon and it’s a flaccid galleon. It also has a lot of strength and weight to it. So it has failed on every count – its integrity, structurally, representationally. It has failed. [Curator] If you put it in the water it would sink. It was a long process. It took all day and everyone was careful, I planned it all. And it’s a wreck.”

Failed works - Susan Forster
“This is a conceptual piece. I am in the process of moving house, so I have to get rid of a lot of rubbish. So all my failed pieces got destroyed. But not all pieces, there is one here which I couldn’t destroy because of what it is made of. But anything I could tear up, I threw away. So, this box refers to all the stuff I threw away."

Giraffe Fragments - Alistair Ayres
“This was my attempt at mass producing giraffes. They ended up looking like ancient relics.”

from "Fallen Objects" - Alistair Ayres
“These are some bits of plastic. I was trying to represent some giraffes looking out of windows in an apartment block. They all had an intention in mind, but they crumbled apart in the making, turning in to fallen objects”

Untitled - Gillian Daniell
“The idea came randomly from a catalogue. I went to life drawing class. This is not a posed shot, so it an observational drawing. I like the juxtaposition but I don’t like the drawing. I have done several of these, and I like the scale. I don’t like the drawing. It was rejected."

Seduced by lines and colours when wet - Colette London
“You are not supposed to know what it is at all. I was trying to draw a rose but giving up before even starting because my eyes can’t do observational drawing anymore. And I was very frustrated and impatient, and really not trying at the outset. It was supposed to be a dried up rose that I had but I wasn’t really committed to it when I was doing it. It turned out to be a semi-present presence and was cast aside. The text is barely legible - “Wondering eyes. Unable to draw as I see it. A struggle.”

Untitled - Pippa King
“It is a casting, based on a drawing I had done of a half rabbit half girl type creature. As you may notice the big rabbit ears, the main part of it, did not come out at all. So it’s not a rabbit at all. There are also big air bubbles from the cast, like tumours growing of its arms. It is quite far from what I intended. The original drawings of the half girl half rabbit are quite lovely, but you wouldn’t know they are the same thing at all.”

A memory I don't like to remember - Gillian Daniell
“It is a photograph I took of when I was in hospital. Although it is haunting, it disturbs me too much. Behind it is a drawing my grandson has done.”

Chair - Kathryn Davies
“It was supposed to be a photocopy of a chair, but I missed the image. The piece of paper was placed in the wrong orientation, [hence] the image is not there, apart from this bit here [indicates]. It is inexpert because the intention hasn’t been met – to replicate the image with distortion. It’s actually not there at all, which is actually in keeping with the project.”

Untitled - Collette London
“I was doing a glass fusion course and they were purely done for affect. I was out of it with tiredness. It was done with no thought or consequence whatsoever, just to see what happened when I put something down. So I was not really attached to it at all”

Untitled - Simon English
“It was made specifically for today. It was made with eyeliner. And the reason why it is inexpert and appropriate for this inexpert show is because I am letting it go instantly before it has even dried. And I have not had time to stop and stay and think about things, about whether it is any good or not. It has gone straight form my hand into something else. It is an act of giving up control which is quite powerful for me to do and that taps straight into my sense of confidence and self consciousness. It is appropriate that this is an inexpert thing for me to do. I really like it. It is supposed to be bad drawing but it is probably the best drawing I have done all year. I’m sorry its actually too good.”

Essential Collection - Siobhan Beaton
"The inexpert element comes from [the fact that] you can work quickly but thoughtfully, but that wasn’t really happening because I was very much pushed for time. That was a fact in making the work.”

Inventory - Ian Tucknott
“I intended to make an inventory of everything I owned, then photograph it all and house those photographs in boxes. I was an art student and was hungover, I think. So I didn’t get round to photographing everything I owned. I decided to hand make the boxes to house the photographs (about 30 boxes). I made them with masking tape, so they easily peeled and came apart. I then spray painted them in my living room and poisoned myself and ended up in hospital. I presented it as an installation and then documented the installation, but I’m a terrible photographer so it’s all blurred. In part, I think my inexpert approach to this stemmed from the discovery that the artist Michael Landy had documented everything he owned and then destroyed it. A project far more interesting than what I was doing, with far more expertise. Inventory is a monument to an early artistic disaster and I learnt a lot from it. As someone more expert in these things than me once said, “It is only art if it has the potential to be a disaster”. I’ve been making mistakes ever since”

Painting - Inland Crone
“We found this in a bin. We loved it. There is something weird and sexual about it, it looks like snot and bodily fluids... or an eye brow or lashes. It has always intrigued us. We think it is meant to be a painting of a flower, we don’t know. Someone deemed this inexpert, a failure, and threw it away. We’ve saved it.”

–o–

Click here to download a copy of the exhibition catalogue.

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INEXPERT 2018 VOLUNTEER SUPPORT TEAM

Inexpert 2018 would not be possible without a wiling bunch of brave volunteers…

MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Nick Parker is enthusiastically terrible at lots of things: rock climbing (fear of heights), marathon running (they'd packed away the finish line) and, most recently, trumpet playing. He says there is a zen-like calm to be found by embracing the terribleness. Other people say 'that noise is upsetting the dog'.

EXHIBITION CURATOR
James Wilson. Because James spent years working with orchestras people assume that he can play an musical instrument really well. The same is true of museums and curating. He worries about someone telling him off for making a terrible mistake he didn't know he was making.

DIRECTOR OF VIDEO OPS
Sophie Edwards. Sophie was surprised when Steve told her that her inability to master the basics of an iPhone camera made her uniquely qualified for the role of camerawoman to Inexpert. She looks forward to making a right pig's ear of it among forgiving friends.

PHOTOGRAPHER
Steve Marshall. Steve likes staring at people’s faces but doesn’t much like small talk. He took up Photography as a socially acceptable way to do this and avoid offence.

FRONT OF HOUSE
Sally Bogle. Sally always has more questions than answers, has written lots of biogs and is currently trying to ignore the desire to say something clever or witty and wondering why we do this in the 3rd person - its actually rather strange and slightly irritating…

STAGE MANAGER
Kath Chapman. Kath loves nothing more than to have complete control over something she is doing and to have it well practised and thought out. Her inexpert is good at hiding and likes to stay there. Someone has just given it a horrible shove from behind without warning and it’s out in daylight, blinking in disbelief. Roll on 12th May.

MC
Steve Chapman. Despite being 44 , Steve still finds social interaction with strangers an excruitating experience. He is embarassed at how ungracefully he moves and still can feel the burn of shame and embarassment from the 'Street Dance' class he attended 3 years ago. As somebody who is now proud of his dyslexia he has intentionally left this biog un-spell-checked.

—o—

We were also incredibly grateful to Robert Dunsmore who volunteered his time and resources to help us with the staging and branding on the day.

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BLOGS ABOUT INEXPERT 2018

A number of ticket holders and speakers are writing blogs about their experience of the Inexpert 2018 experiment. As they are written we will add them below. If you are writing a blog about the event and would like it featured then please let me know.

Tabitha Beavan: “How do you know when you know?”

Meg Peppin: “I am Inexpert”

Hilary Gallo: “The silent talk”

James Traeger: “Celebrating the power of not knowing”

James Wilson: “Relfections on a job done quite well”

Paul Stanley: “The Trip”

Emma Taylor: “Breaking the rules”

Nick Parker: “Playing with Inexpertitude”

Rowan Gray: “Not giving a fuck”

Steve Marshall: “Becoming Inexpert”

Deborah Henley: “Inexpert conference reflections”

Mat Hayes: “I’m an inexpert”

Steve Chapman: “On doing something only once – why Inexpert can never be repeated.”

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INEXPERT MERCHANDISE

Two exclusive Inexpert 2018 designs are available to buy as T-shirts and other bits of clothing via Redbubble for a limited time after the event. Click either of the designs below to preview/purchase.

All profits from the sale of merchandise go back into the not-for-profit Lab Fund and will be used to subsidise future Labs, other experiments.

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NOT-FOR-PROFIT – THE LAB FUND

Inexpertise 2018 is not-for-profit on the basis that as soon as there is a profit involved, the dynamics of the event inevitably shift towards it being ‘value-for-money’ meaning that it is more difficult to maintain the ethos of the experiment. Inexpertise 2018 is sponsored by The Lab and is only possible due to those who have come along to experiment and be experimented on since it opened its doors in 2015. The Lab is a not for profit movement to help people nurture their creative spirit and strengthen their creative communities through being playful with not knowing. The Lab has run a number of half day experiments over the last two years. The majority of the costs will be paid for by the Lab fund and the minimal ticket price for the event is to cover the costs of hiring the venue and associated promotional fees. Any profits made from Inexpert 2018 will be re-invested in The Lab fund.

If you would like to come along to a Lab, either to try something out you’ve never tried before or to simply take part in the experiments of others then all the details you need are here.

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SPEAKERS

INEXPERT 2018 VIDEOS

INEXPERT 2018 PHOTOS

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THEINEXPERT EXHIBITION

INEXPERT 2018 VOLUNTEER SUPPORT TEAM

BLOGS ABOUT INEXPERT 2018

INEXPERT MERCHANDISE

NOT-FOR-PROFIT – THE LAB FUND

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