Derbyshire Arts Development Group was established in 1999 to pool the expertise of all the arts development organisations working within Derbyshire. The visual arts group of DADG started to look at ways to raise the low visibility of contemporary visual arts in the county – which is primarily due to a lack of venues – back in 2003, and commissioned London based Proboscis to research the potential for touring and showing visual arts across Derbyshire. The initial research included the commissioning of two site-specific works, Out of Curiosity by Lothar Goetz in Ashbourne, and Memories of the Little Things by Hannah Carvell at Erewash Museum & Gardens in Ilkeston, in order to explore the potential for site-specific commissioning as an alternative to gallery exhibitions.

Curator David Gilbert began a wider research and development process in 2006, which resulted in securing funding from Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Arts Council England for a two-year programme of site-specific commissioning. Over the two years there will be at least four major site-specific commissions of national significance, and a programme of up to eight curatorial interventions across Derbyshire.

Proposals are now being sought from artists, curators and arts organisations who would like to develop innovative proposals, with further information available at www.re-place.co.uk.