John Hartley

John Hartley is an artist and co-founders of Transition Sydenham, in South London, which started its activities in 2009.

He has exhibited and run art projects across the UK, in France and Spain (in French and Spanish) to a range of participants of all ages. Recent projects include 'Idiot Karaoke', a participatory dada skiffle day using homemade instruments as part of Sydenham Arts Festival and the Poundbury Robot Society (www.poundburyrobotsociety.org), a playful investigation of technology, historicism, the future, and location.

He has worked part-time for the Arts Council of England in its Architecture, Visual Arts, Interdisciplinary Arts and Arts Strategy departments, working on (among other things), the RSA Arts Council partnership Art and Ecology (www.RSAartsandecology.org.uk) and developing the Arts Council's strategy on the responsibilities and opportunities for the arts in uncertain times. He has written articles and papers for UK and international journals and networks and presented acrosss the UK and Americas.

John has a cheerful, if chaotic, family and spends enough time on our allotment to get some really good crops, although tomato blight is a real challenge, isn't it...