The Future of the Zine...

So I've been talking to Craig, John & Geoff about the zine over the last few days..

Craig was really keen to get started on the next issue asap and suggested that each member of the collective took a turn at guest editing. John has already volunteered to get started on the next one.

So I've been thinking and come with a structure for how we'll do this and Geoff agrees with me;

• Each member to guest edit an issue
• Guest editor responsible for submissions, compiling & either producing the cover or inviting someone to design it (logo remaining the same)
• I will continue (at least for the time being) to write the editorial page
• Geoff and me to be 'editors at large' from now on
• Format to remain A5, B&W, Photocopied, Non Digital
• To continue to try and involve artists from outside the collective, use your own contacts!
• Possibility of including a DVD/CD with short films at some point?
• Photocopying will have to remain ad hoc (unless John gets the job!)

Any thoughts?

Who wants to go after John, probably April/May time?

Sam

Dutch Alpha 60,2010, print. Kit Mead

David Sherry

 I have to share and say I am particularly loving this guy (not so much his drawings though) - especially http://www.dave-sherry.com/performance_12.htm

Nathan

Good news and Bad News

The good news is that the zine will be posted out to you all at some point next week.

The bad news is that I no longer have access to the Universitys photocopier so I am unable to make the next installment of the zine!

Thanks
Craig

Polemic Epidemic

        Something I wrote a little while ago. I was more or less writing for the sake of arguing. My thoughts to the budget cuts and protests aren't necassarily what's written here. Don't be offended or anything. I guess I'm just writing in character...

Protests! Unity. Together. Marching. We. Them. Signs. CAPITAL LETTERS. Imperatives. Vandalism. Rebellion, Rio-Aw screw it, either way it all spells defeat. They may as well be holding signs that read, “Today I’m going to embrace my ankles and just try to enjoy the fucking ride”. One holding such a sign by them self would be a better demonstration than brainlessly walking in the same direction, wearing matching shirts and moronic slogans. Am I the only one that thinks protests are cliché? As art students protesting about budget cuts couldn’t we be a little more creative than silly puns? I’m sure I saw (through a picture) a Kings of Leon reference. People do “fun runs” in fancy dress to better credit, and running isn’t that fun! Especially hauling arse with ridiculous obstructions that charity favours one to harness.

Look at Banksy, vandalise creatively. There’s little difference anyone’s going to make through climbing a bus shelter and throwing stones through a window. While this may have worked for connected men in hats; in the real world a broken window is doing nothing but leading to bad press of a good cause.

So paint a better fucking picture you whiny artists. Give them reason to keep you creative. If all you can do is walk in the same direction, wearing the same shirt, maybe you do need to work harder for your education. Clearly you are taking it for granted. Never, or will I ever open a history book and read “solved through a march and throwing stones”. Is this all plain ignorance? I would imagine that if a march ever meant anything, the feedback I hear from a protestor would not be, “yeah, it was a good laugh”. 

Nathan

Zine!

A wee update on the progress of the zine. 

All the pages of the zine have now been photocopied, at the moment I have created 50 issues enough for ourselves and to hand out in a few areas in Brighton and Carlisle. If anyone else has any ideas where they zine can be distributed in your area give me a message about how many copies you will need. (I am doing the photocopying on the fly at the uni so it may take a while for you to receive your copies). 

I am currently saving up the massive £23.99 to purchase a long arm stapler which I will be able to buy next thursday hopefully you will receive your sparkling new zine in the post in two weeks! Actually I will see if I can borrow the long arm stapler we used the last time from the uni tomorrow and get the zine sent off before then.

I think it may be a good idea to get the next zine started soon as this one is finished, I know that a few of us have work ready to go into a new zine already, will be good to keep the momentum up. I will send a proper message asking for works of art next week. Speaking with Sam earlier we think it would be cool if we had a free dvd of video work to accompany the zine (just a thought at the moment).

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas for the zine comment on this post. Thanks

Craig

Idea for a text piece

                      Marcel makes it all possible
                      Donald makes shelves
                    Salvador makes me angry
                        Kurt makes barns
                      Robert makes love
                      Damien makes millions
               Bob & Roberta makes me smile
                     Rirkrit makes dinner
                    Maurizio makes books too
                      Joseph makes everyone an artist




Sam

Another!

Rosie this would be wicked!

Project description
Magpie Market aims to showcase the finest art, craft, design & indie businesses from across Scotland.
We are seeking innovative, high quality craft, design & vintage sellers to set up shop with us at our upcoming fairs - 9th May & 17th July.

This year we have moved to a new venue - The Hub, Edinburgh and will have over 30 stalls available.

Submission instructions
Please email magpiemarket@gmail.com in the first instance with the subject 'Magpie Market 2011' and we will send you out an application pack with all the relevant details & stall cost.
Project Posted by: lostintheforest

Opportunity:

http://www.thisiscentralstation.com/opportunities/lightworks-2011.aspx

Project description
We are looking for videos of up to five minutes and sound works of up to 10 minutes.

In addition, there is a special video category called Video Haiku. This is for films that have a total of 17 images or sequences – equivalent to the use of 17 syllables in the Japanese poetry form Haiku. Please tag your film 'video haiku' if you enter this category. The film should be no more than 2 minutes long.

There is also a linked call for entries for a mini print exhibition organised by our media partners Cutclick:

Call for submissions for a mini print exhibition to be shown as part of Lightworks 2011.

Prints must be A5 & glow in the dark. Theme and subject matter must be suitable for a family audience. 

*Jen*

Exhibition Space

Hey guys,

It seems I have finally found a new exhibition space in Carlisle. Westwalls Studios. The catch is that rent is £130 a month. I understand the offer is still there, should I be able to manage the rent.
I discussed with Craig earlier the idea of paying the first month myself and then funding the next month through exhibitions. With the venue being Westwalls it seems sensible of a 1 night opening per show - which could mean 3 shows a month. I'm just wondering if you guys can think of anyway to keep the space open. Fundraising is obvious - though with the degree show I would imagine interest would soon die out from constant pub quizzes - not to mention exhausting myself funding two things at once will maintaining all manner of work. Charging viewers I would think is questionable? Donation boxes may generate some dosh, but I wouldn't imagine much (I had to include "dosh" for some reason).
One advantage is that the space will most likely be harrassed by myself for media attention - so giving the artists in Westwalls publicity and a space to exhibit. But, I do wonder how this can be worked to pay the rent?
Any ideas/thoughts? Take it? leave it?

Nathan

Ap-pli-ca-tion (n)

I was searching for jobs the other day when I found an advertisement on the Glasgow International website for a vacancy of programme coordinator. I thought it would be an amazing opportunity, not to mention fairly paid, so I decided to put in an application. I downloaded the PDF and told the programme to start printing, but as I watched it slowly unfurl, revealing itself line-by-line I felt myself stiffen unexpectedly. Instinctively I worked myself hard, and with concentration, I began to masturbate furiously with both hands. Within minutes I'd screwed myself vigourously to a roaring climax, bellowing at the top of my lungs as my primal fluids spattered across the not-yet-dried ink of the GI application form. Body quivering and head spinning from the glimpse of ecstasy, I watched in a daze as the inky text blotched and slowly bled out into little clouds, mixing gradually, chaotically, with my own matter. A sudden pathetic guilt overcame me, la petit mort perhaps, as the worthless, insignificant, futility of my actions dawned; guilt like painful death inside, crushing me down, and tears poured from my eyes, dripping like a tap with a dodgy washer on the GI application form. I don’t know how long I sat there curled up and dripping, but eventually I awoke with a spasm, and looking up, wiped the dribble from my mouth. Realising it was all I could do, I quickly gathered up the now sodden pulp of GI application form and slid it tenderly into a stamped, addressed envelope. Blinking away my tears as my eyes slowly reddened, I nipped out to the post box on the corner. I think the interviews will be held next month, so keep your fingers crossed! It says on the website that the deadline for applications is Monday, but if any of you fancy it, it could be worth applying.

Ever faithfully,

Michael

ADCESSIBILITAS ET SIGNIFICATIO

I’ve been thinking about this subject for some time, it is a dynamic which has been criticised in my own work in the past, and I would like to get a bit of discussion going. I was prompted into writing this today after going to Cast from Nature, an exhibition by Christine Borland at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios. It was the most confused I’ve ever been at a contemporary art exhibition, and, although this is not necessarily a bad thing, despite my best efforts the only meaning I gleaned was from the commissioned texts which accompanied the show. Going to a visual art exhibition, in a sculpture studio, you expect certain things: something to look at, probably in a visibly three-dimensional form. I was surprised to find an empty gallery space, with only two live video feeds in a side room, showing the casting of an anatomical model, which sits in the studios in the back of the building. Although there was ostensibly nothing happening, of course Borland holds a deep meaning. Purportedly the work “reflects on the historical aspects of the anatomical process, the relationship between the early anatomist, his subject, and his ‘audience’ bearing witness to a process presented as ‘educational’.” Don’t misunderstand me here, I do think Borland is an interesting artist, and I know that this was merely one point in a changing exhibition – and it got me thinking…

What I ask is, as artists how do we mediate between accessibility and meaning? Of course all encounters are dictated by relative levels of knowledge and awareness, so is there any point thinking about how many audience members will understand you? Or should we compromise our intention in order to facilitate and lubricate general comprehension? We all draw that line somewhere, but where and why?

Michael

Gabriel Orozco at Tate Modern

Better late than never..... I saw this last weekend with Kit and now I've done a little write up

My Hands are My Heart, 1991

Orozco was one of those artists that I was only dimly aware of, and as it turns out was mostly acquainted with his less interesting work.

Well not any longer, the Tate Modern retrospective showcases work from almost the last twenty years and introduces us to a thoughtful, playful artist. Orozco has a real gift for transforming simple materials or processes into complex thought provoking artworks.

Personally the highlights of the show were his recent obituary series (nameless strap lines taken from newspaper obituaries), both absurd compositions and a reflection on the futility of summing up a life in three or four words; Chicotes a collection of burnt out tyres collected from Mexico’s highways with pools of aluminium, evoking a very real sense of both violent memory and pathos; Lintels, sheets of lint collected from industrial clothes driers hung across the gallery, composed of fabric, skin and hair this work being both beautiful and faintly repellent whilst containing the organic detritus of countless individuals.

Chicotes, 2010

 Lintels, 2001

 Other works left me unimpressed, for example the geometric drawings and paintings, yes I understood the logic behind them but ultimately didn’t care. Still, perhaps this is to be expected from an artist who works across so many mediums and genres.

Part of the charm of Orozco’s work, when it works, is the very human and accessible scale, (Think of the lift cut down to his own height or a ball of plasticine rolled through the streets that weighs as much as the artist) and the simplicity of the gesture employed.

Yielding Stone. 1992 , Plasticine

This show covers a range of emotive responses, from the preoccupation with destruction and decay mentioned earlier, to the joy of a game with no rules in Carambole with Pendulum or the simple need for companionship evident in Until You Find Another Yellow Schwalbe.

Carambole with Pendulum 1996

 

Until You Find Another Yellow Schwalbe (detail). 1995, Forty chromogenic color prints

 

On balance a very impressive exhibition and one that I cannot recommend enough.

Sam

Beginning of a Thesis

So, my dad emailed me this the other day and said he wanted to share it with the collective.

''Much of the art which inspired me as a young man was not made in Paris, London or 

New York but in the cultural backwaters of rural france. From impressionism onwards 

these artists did not come from the peasant communities they adopted but chose them 

as a both a retreat from the restrictions imposed by the academic art establishment 

of Paris and as a source of inspiration. 
 

Over 100 years later France has changed very little. There is still an insular and 

restrictive elite in Paris, and there is still space for an artist to reflect upon 

and develop his work in the still reputably backwards countryside. As a practicing 

artist in rural france, I appreciate the pace of life, and the lack of distractions, 

but I have no desire to become the stereotypical struggling artist whose value is 

only recognised after his death. 
 

Looking at history, this post mortem recognition is very much a phenomenon of late 

19th century artists working in France and yet it has become a modern myth which is 

still part of the popular imagination of an artist starving in the garret  only to be 

appreciated when the rest of society ‘catches up’. In this sense we are still labouring 

under that 20th century concept of the avant garde (notably a french expression).
To study modernism however is to see the artist in a very conventional role as an 

entrepreneur - the initial struggle to find an identity followed by a degree of 

success which enables them to create and develop a ‘brand’.''
 
I can't see that post modernism has changed anything really

the artist who calls himself padi 

A blank space in Manchester?

Just saw this on line. Its a space that is open to exhibtions by individuals and groups and is located in Manchester so thought it might be useful to know about

http://www.blankmediacollective.org/news/comments/opportunity_host_your_exhibition_event_at_blankspace

Kit

Noir

This isnt any thing like the film noir i saw at Uni! Heres a link for those are wanting to get interested in the genre.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9385000/9385164.stm

Craig.

Current drawing that I'm working on at the moment, thought the idea of Mothra being caught in a giant fly trap was pretty funny. Trying to think of a stupid caption to go along with this image, any ideas?

Craig

Update

Thought id post up this drawing that I just done as I haven't actually posted any new work on here yet. As you can see I am still interested in making absurd jokes by combining pop culture and recent events.

Update on the 'Zine everything is now ready to be photocopied hopefully I will be able to get it photocopied by the end of next week.

Jambon Arts Group

Yo!

If yours friends with Supercollider on face book you may have got a message that links you to this group blog. Its a group of 5 artists working in Newcastle so is an interesting comparison maybe? Also look out for a piece of text about one of the artist's by Iris Priest!

 http://jambonart.blogspot.com/


Kit

Google Art Project

I think I may be experiencing some issues with the blog as I don't appear to be able to view all posts plus can't seem to comment on any of the posts.


On a plus note I have received the zine (thanks Sam) hopefully it should be completed by next week and sent off to you all.


Kit - Since you sent your work as an A4 I'm thinking about having your certificate as either a fold out or something that is just placed in the middle of the blog so that it can be taken out as I don't think it would look as good scaled down to A5.  (hope that makes sense). A free art certificate with every issue! What do you think about this?


Craig (Arts Ambassador for Falkirk) haha I had to put it in!

Art 2.0

http://www.googleartproject.com/