The Other Kwai

Well my art residency at the Sura Medura is into it's last week and nearly up. I'll be exhibiting my work in an out door cinema space just off the beach at the Sunbeach Hotel in Hikkaduwa this Saturday and will be followed up by a Q&A Discussion.



Kit

[Untitled]

A few days ago, I belatedly put out a call for submissions for issue 2 of [Untitled], well here it is, the online version anyway.

Craig

p.s sorry if it slows the blog down.

[Untitled] #2 by Craig Allan

Ich mag Deutschland und Deutschland mag mich

As some of you may know, I spent the weekend at the Scooterist Meltdown at Kalkar in Germany. 1500 Scooterboys/girls & skins partying at a decommissioned nuclear powerplant cum all inclusive Vegas-kitsch holiday park was well worth the 14 hour drive each way so I’ll start with a couple of photos of that…

Ok, but this is an art blog, right? By happy coincidence, on the other side of town is the Schloss Moyland.

The castle holds the archives of local boy done good, Joseph Beuys. The gallery holds around 4,000 works and letters dating back to the late 1940’s and in addition to a permanent collection runs themed collections of Beuys work. The current exhibtion is Joseph Beuys and the Swan (This starting to feel like an omen!)

Unfortunately I couldn’t get any pictures inside but I think we all have at least a working knowledge of his oeuvre (if not click here) so I’ll just leave you with my thoughts and reflections.

1, I’m not super interested in his drawings, too many look like pages torn from sketchbooks. I can see some value in exhibiting them to trace the development of his personal iconography but that’s about it. I got the feelings that the drawings go a long way to making up the 4,000 works!

2, I realised that I am far more interested in the idea of Beuys/the ideas of Beuys than any particular work he made. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the exhibition. Maybe this fits in with his ideas of social sculpture?

3, I was reminded of something that Matthew Collings said in conversation with Bob & Roberta Smith,

“His things only seemed to work if he was there in person, being a shaman”

I felt that the exhibition had more of a museum vibe than a gallery feel. The works were presented more as artefacts (a felt suit hanging like a suit of armour for example) than as artworks in their own right.  Maybe this is an inherent consequence of presenting a record of transient performances or actions? Maybe it’s that I don’t very often go to see the work of dead artists?

4, I really wish I could read German.

I've just realised that a lot of the above sounds a bit negative which isn't really true, I very much enjoyed seeing that much of Beuys' work across his whole career collected in one place and the setting was stunning too. Well worth a visit if you ever happen to be in Nord Rhine-Westphalia.

I'll leave you with a picture I drew a while ago for Manifesto...

Sam x

Limerent Objects

Happy new year/February everyone,

So after a year or so of relative inactivity I'm trying to be a little more self-productive with my time...

I've started a new project called Limerent Objects that's dedicated to organising film/video screenings in Leeds centered around underground music culture - the first event is taking place on February 14th 2013 at Wharf Chambers where I'll be screening some little seen videos made by the sound art project Nocturnal Emissions. Here's all the info for it:

Limerent Objects is proud to present a Sterile Records double bill screening of:

BLEEDING IMAGES (1982, 46 minutes, VHS)
THE FOETAL GRAVE OF PROGRESS (1984, 34 minutes, VHS) 

Perhaps THE quintessential audiovisual statements of the post-industrial music scene. Provocative in content, prescient in style, these medium-length videos captured the subversive interests and activities of the pioneering sound art project The Nocturnal Emissions against a contextual backdrop of the UK between 1981 and 1984; a time rife with mass unemployment, civil unrest, media hysteria, political indifference, terrorism and war overseas. Burroughsian cut-ups reveal subliminal imagery hidden in exploitative mainstream broadcasting; shocking images of real-life violence against living beings are critically employed to expose our complacency in everyday cruelty; the thunderous soundscapes and ritual performances of The Nocturnal Emissions awaken the viewer’s senses to our undermining culture controlled by fear and repression… 

Rarely viewed since their initial home video releases and screenings at the Tate and ICA in the UK as a result of the imposing 1984 Video Recordings Act, both videos remain impressive today as early influential examples of the extended music video and key moments of the British independent video art movement. Countless artists and broadcasters have emulated or outright stolen the ambitions, aesthetics and techniques used in the videos of The Nocturnal Emissions, either directly or through watered-down copies - few however can match the tremendous power of the original works which are long overdue public and critical reassessment in these increasingly pertinent times. 

This screening is taking place at Wharf Chambers Co-operative Club in Leeds on February 14th 2013. Free entry with small donations welcomed. Doors open at 19:30. A short talk and introduction by the organiser will precede the first video at 20:00 - second video will be shown after 21:00. Please be aware that these videos contains flashing images and some footage that may disturb those of a sensitive disposition. 

Special thanks to Nigel Ayers/Earthly Delights and Piitu Lintunen for making this event possible.
Facebook event page 

*Wharf Chambers Co-operative Club is a members’ club, and you need to be a member, or a guest of a member, in order to attend. To join, please visit wharfchambers.org. Membership costs £1 and requires a minimum of 48 hours to take effect.*

You can find Limerent Objects on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter if you want to like/follow/stalk me...

John

(Not bad for something I quickly knocked up in Paint!)