Link to vimeo
Just changed the link on the earlier post to '1973' on vimeo so it should send you to the correct and workable page... or you can just click here
Viewing Art & The Turner Prize
I was talking to Rosie a few days ago about one of the upcoming essays for her art history course and found the idea of having to physically view a work of art in order to write about it somewhat strange. After all, in my own education I have written at length about many artworks I have never seen exhibited, relying instead on reproduced imagery.
This thought returned to me whilst watching the coverage last night of the Turner Prize and reading subsequent reviews and comments in the papers this morning. I was becoming increasingly despondent reading the predictable criticisms of the work (especially Martin Boyces’) as cold, elitist and facile. Used as I am to considering work on its intellectual or theoretical merit, I suddenly realised that any defence I might offer would in a way be almost as ill informed.
Ok, so we can discuss what a work may or may not be about or be referencing and so on by viewing images and perhaps reading the words of the artist, curator or critic but how well can we judge a work without sharing a space with it for a while?
It made me think what a bizarre idea the televised Turner Prize is, The programme repeatedly told us of its ‘controversy’ (A view I have little time for) and then expected us to form an opinion from a few slow panning shots and slightly inarticulate interviews with the artists.
Don’t get me wrong; I did start to form opinions, such as which artists interested me enough to make an effort to view their work in the future (conveniently the two who are Glasgow based) but it confuses me that so many can appear to make absolute decisions on this basis.
I thought this could be an interesting topic to try to explore, to what extent does a work need to be physically viewed in order to be received rather than just understood?
Apologies for length.
Sam x
Thursday Evening
Anyone fancy coming to this? 7pm Thursday 1st Dec
Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha
" Tramway’s Pecha Kucha events are fast-paced presentations featuring a range of creative thinkers, artists and performers drawn from Glasgow’s rich artistic community. No two events are the same, no two presentations are the same, but speakers have to stick to the strict Pecha Kucha format: showing 20 slides for 20 seconds each.
The event will be hosted by Katy West (independent curator) & Rosamund West (The Skinny).
Speakers are:
Speakers are:
Oliver Braid
Henry Coombes
Mark Donaldson
Bob McCaffrey and Danny Saunders
Rachel MacLean
Andrew Cattanach
Ross McLean
Angharad McLaren
Joey et Camille (It’s Our Playground)
Anthony Schrag
Rosemary James
Henry Coombes
Mark Donaldson
Bob McCaffrey and Danny Saunders
Rachel MacLean
Andrew Cattanach
Ross McLean
Angharad McLaren
Joey et Camille (It’s Our Playground)
Anthony Schrag
Rosemary James
For highlights from previous Pecha Kucha events visit: www.youtube.com/GlasgowTramway "
maybe see you there
Sam
Some Drawings I've Put Up On My Own Fridge
What does one do immediately after finishing Uni? That's right you draw Prince and other crap...
 |
| Notice the wonderful spelling mistakes |
Apologies, Nathan
Title Art Prize
Hey all,
Great to see some really nice blogs posted up, I've had a little read and a look see and like anything that started with a kiss I will come back to soon.
Just thought I'd let you all know that the Awards Ceremony for the Title Art Prize was last Saturday. The Blank Media Collective with the guest panelist's announced the winner, 3 runners up and a people's choice award and the panel selected my work as one of the runners up of the show. There was some really fantastic and diverse art works shortlisted so I'm rather chuffed to be a runner up. Was also a really great night meeting other art practioners from around the counrty and getting the chance to see what they're up to and also have a good chin wag.
Here a little phone camera quality image of my piece in its current - well when the picture was taken on Sunday - state. A better quality one will no doubt appear soon...
Great to see some really nice blogs posted up, I've had a little read and a look see and like anything that started with a kiss I will come back to soon.
Just thought I'd let you all know that the Awards Ceremony for the Title Art Prize was last Saturday. The Blank Media Collective with the guest panelist's announced the winner, 3 runners up and a people's choice award and the panel selected my work as one of the runners up of the show. There was some really fantastic and diverse art works shortlisted so I'm rather chuffed to be a runner up. Was also a really great night meeting other art practioners from around the counrty and getting the chance to see what they're up to and also have a good chin wag.
Here a little phone camera quality image of my piece in its current - well when the picture was taken on Sunday - state. A better quality one will no doubt appear soon...
Kit
10/11/11 Wiki-Thursday
Already we've reached that 11 month lull (not an acronym) that always happens when you use a blogadamcurtis. So here's some links of things that have interested me laADAM CURTISadamcurtisadamcurtis
*ahem* Perhaps we can make this a regular thing?
ADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTIS
ADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTIS
ADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTIS
ADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTISADAMCURTIS
Yeah, I've only really been interested in one thing lately, Adam Curtis. You may have heard of him? Well, dammit, you should have!
Michael Daadam curtis
Re: Cinema
If sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots and rereleases are for purpose of bringing something new from an old franchise to a modern audience then why must everything used within the production be excessively modern?
The other week I set out for the cinema to find a simple evening’s viewing; there I found Fright Night (2011) was only playing in 3D. “2D in selected cinemas”. With that, the notion of a night at the cinema was hastily rejected. The next day I noticed an independent cinema showcasing Gillian Wearing's brilliant film, Self Made (2011). For half the price and the “two dimensions” I received triple the emotional experience of the last dozen commercial films I have seen in the cinema. Now I’m not at all suggesting the cliché that cinema is running low on ideas, rather I feel it’s pushing too far forward and missing the point.
Of all recent 3D films, Tron (1982) is an understandable upgrade. Revisiting a film centred on submergence within A.I. from 20years previous - Tron Legacy (2010) sure demonstrates astounding progress in technological capabilities utilising high definition, a wider aspect ratio, surround sound, CGI and “state of the art” 3D technology. It makes perfect sense. Although everything about Tron Legacy bar the audio/visuals seems to fail, I feel it a valid piece of cinema. Though the plot may be questionable, its merit and most obviously its intentions lie within the context of rapidly developing technology and more specifically, viewing experience. As the French movement “Cinema du look”, favoured style over substance, one must wonder if Hollywood’s indulgence of 3D and viewing experience is amidst a similar wave favouring visual over visceral.
Looking at the trailer for prequel, The Thing (2011), we are to understand this film is set before the events of John Carpenter’s The Thing from 1982. Clothing, technology and sets are faithfully recreated as to keep in with the time period of the original; even similar effects and makeup that defined the original have been put to use – albeit being heavily manipulated with CGI of course. The survival aspect of The Thing (1982) benefits from obscured vision through blizzards, darkness and wonderful (mis)direction by John Carpenter, each element alluding to the core factor of The Thing: not all is quite as it appears. Therefore the pairing of these two surely brings a paradox. Chronologically, we watch a modern version of older events in HD, within a wider format utilising stunning CGI, while The Thing (1982) looks dated through camera quality alone. One accepts the films are divided by 29 years, though as the basis of the alien antagonist is imitation, I feel a great opportunity has been lost for the prequel to imitate its original by utilising the same form of camera and film. Perhaps this would make the 29 year gap seamless and create a better film and overall a better series?
I'm sure a number of directors have dabbled in this area yet rarely commited to a full deskilled film. Those that come to mind are purposefully trashy films, those being Grindhouse (2007) and Black Dynamite (2009). Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds (2009) uses an archaic Paramount logo within the opening credits, immediately setting a scene without having even showing a single still of his own work. More recently with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) I often noted the camera looked somewhat dated and noisy in some respects. Looking round at the viewing audience I was clearly the youngest there by 20+years. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is evidently not a film aimed at drawing audiences through visual effects more so those who enjoyed the original novel and series back in 1970s.
More commonly in home releases, visualisation and restoration are pushed unnecessarily. I don’t quite want to argue anything over tweaking existing films to such extents as Star Wars and the fantastic spoof "re-re-re-release" more so the picture/film quality. Talking to an acquaintance he held arrogance over me for possessing the film Withnail & I (1987), in Blu-Ray format. He claimed “you can see the dirt better”. A black comedy focused on drugs and despair benefits from lacking an acute picture. If the central characters are constantly drugged, paranoid, without foresight and with delusions of grandeur, then how would high definition benefit the film? And that’s not to mention the underlying theme that is the setting in the fall of the sixties with uncertainty laying in wait. Furthermore it seems paradoxical and almost illogical to view this 80’s movie set in the 60’s, restored and formatted with the technology of the 10’s. But then, one has to ask; how else will future audiences see this film once DVDs become archaic?
Though what irony is my ignorance when of course the original release of Withnail and I would have been through VHS (I would have been much too young to notice a film like this back in the day). This led me to think; home entertainment is the adverse effect of old exploitation films. The more home releases the more improved the quality and the more screenings of exploitations films, the more the diminishing the quality. Or is that the other way around? Do we lose or improve the quality of an aged film by restoring it? One might pontificate that it is merely preservation, in a similar way priceless paintings are restored.
Similar arguments can be posed against music. I imagine many people have updated their collection through vinyl, cassette, CD and now digital downloads. Though while many would pride themselves to owning a film on Blu-Ray as opposed to a DVD or VHS, I take solace that a large percentage would much rather prefer an age old vinyl to the digital download.
Nathan
Call for Vendors!
More events looking for people to create and sell and perhaps just promote :)
http://thisiscentralstation.com/opportunities/submissions-the-winter-exhibition-at-pva.aspx
http://thisiscentralstation.com/opportunities/submissions-the-winter-exhibition-at-pva.aspx
Stephen Sutcliffe
(I was going to write more about the habit of collecting but somehow this turned more into an amateurish review for an event I attended yesterday - oh well)
You can't have everything - where would you put it? - Steven Wright
It was oddly appropriate that the Stephen Sutcliffe talk at The Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield coincided with Guy Fawkes Night. One moment you're in the company of a man who has spent 25 years amassing a highly personal and important archive of television, music, radio, film, documentaries and video on over 800 VHS tapes; the next you're brutishly burning whatever is at hand in an almost primal state. One advocates the preservation of the archaic, the other calls for the end of tradition - both memorialize the redundant, the passé. Which is more important - the trophy or the effigy? What do you choose to keep, to collect, to accumulate - and what do you dismiss, dispose of, destroy?
The Glasgow-based artist is well known for his videos that combine appropriation, comical juxtaposition and archive from an esoteric range of borrowed media. Fresh from his first solo show at Stills Gallery in Edinburgh (which a few of us attended not long ago), he presented a "lecture-performance" that was a selection of audio and video clips interspersed with spoken recollections of his history. The occasion was not without welcome; although born in Harrogate in 1968, Sutcliffe was raised in Wakefield and spent his formal young adult years there before pursuing Fine Art education in 1994.
The talk opened with this audio clip of Steve Martin - the final line of the routine being the clincher for this afternoon's presentation. Sutcliffe then spoke about how at the age of 25, he "fell out with music", realising that it didn't satisfy him anymore (presumably the process of videotaping which he begun in his teens in the mid 1980s occupied his interests more). He revealed his father had a similar revelation at 25 years old and thus justified it by getting rid of all his records; Sutcliffe admitted he kept his records for the cover art alone. The magical power of the trophy - even when an object is no longer used for its original purpose or is inferior in some way, it still holds a value to the owner solely because it constitutes part of a collection. For an artist like Sutcliffe, the watermarked, degraded image of a film taped off Channel 5 onto bulky VHS is infinitely more powerful than a pristine remastered Blu-Ray sold by the mass in a retail shop - it symbolises a personal moment in time; a memory. Besides, the VHS tape itself (much like a vinyl record) is far more fetishistic in design than a mass marketed product or non-tangible- contained in a shrinkwrapped/forbidden case like Pandora's box, the shiny black exterior recalls leather or polished latex; the industrial design uniform yet distinctive enough through labels and markings that tease you of its contents; a delectable smorgasbord of textures, orifices and mechanisms ready to be caressed, stroked and prodded; and then there's the insertion of the tape into the front of a VCR, that brief moment of the tape leaving your hand and being sucked into the void... anyway, I digress.
Speaking with a slight hesitation and reluctance from a typed script in front of him, the lecture continued on the subject of music and Sutcliffe's distrust of it through spoken interjections, sardonic quotes on the screen (sadly I didn't note them down), and archival clips - Morrissey discussing Madonna and The Smiths as the natural end of popular music, Alexei Sayle on Yahama organs and neighbours - before discussing music's potentially parodic use with film in his own work. One features a sax solo over footage of poverty in Asia that slowly reveals itself to be WHAM!'s Careless Whisper; another has Barry Manilow's Could It Be Magic synced up to Pasolini's infamous film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom that squicked the mind like the piano music from 2 Girl 1 Cup. He examined the manipulative power of music - John Barry's score to the Oscar winning film Out Of Africa saved what was an otherwise poorly tested film to screening audiences; the tempo of Mahler's Fifth Symphony synchronized to the action in Visconti's Death In Venice rather than the other way round (resulting in controversy amongst classical music purists), diagetic sound in Anderson's O Lucky Man! - and finally finished up the lecture with "the most embarrassing moment in his life" - a radio interview with the artist by an overexcited/unnamed radio DJ who, perhaps through editing by the artist, continually interrupts his answers with new questions before he can even finish a sentence. The discussion subject? Sutcliffe's obsession with taping and collecting amateurish radio talk shows. Perfect, another one for the archive.
Lasting a spritely 30 minutes - quite long by his standards judging his often short video work - and not having had a chance to talk to Sutcliffe in person (not only did I miss the presentation he gave at the University last year but he made a point of stating before his lecture that he wouldn't do a Q&A session after he finished his lecture), I left the auditorium thinking more about his archive - the key to his creativity. What else has Stephen recorded that reveals more about him? What other memories and moments remain unlocked on those VHS tapes spanning 25 years that effectively mirror my own 25 year lifetime? Mulling over his opening statements, choice videos and thoughts left me thinking about my own obsessions and why we collect, document and archive. By collecting, are we trying to prove our worth to ourselves or to others? If I've seen a film at a cinema, why do I feel compelled to keep the ticket stub regardless of whether it was a good film or not? Is collecting an effective way to channel our desires, or does it merely try to satisfy a missing part of ourselves? Why does one person continue to hold onto everything regardless of whether they use it (like Stephen), whereas another gets rid of it (like his father)?
Archiving, collecting, accumulating; it's another form of superstition, a quest for the unattainable. Watching Sutcliffe's lecture reminded me of Alan Zweig's terrific yet disturbing documentary Vinyl about record collectors; interviewing Harvey Pekar, Zweig asks him if he found a new measure of clarity in his life after he decided to completely get rid of his 5,000+ strong record collection: deadpan he answers, "Nah, I started collecting books". I wonder if Stephen Sutcliffe's father found a new form of trophy to substitute records too? Once you complete one collection, you start another - to possess something is to be possessed yourself.
John
You can't have everything - where would you put it? - Steven Wright
It was oddly appropriate that the Stephen Sutcliffe talk at The Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield coincided with Guy Fawkes Night. One moment you're in the company of a man who has spent 25 years amassing a highly personal and important archive of television, music, radio, film, documentaries and video on over 800 VHS tapes; the next you're brutishly burning whatever is at hand in an almost primal state. One advocates the preservation of the archaic, the other calls for the end of tradition - both memorialize the redundant, the passé. Which is more important - the trophy or the effigy? What do you choose to keep, to collect, to accumulate - and what do you dismiss, dispose of, destroy?
The Glasgow-based artist is well known for his videos that combine appropriation, comical juxtaposition and archive from an esoteric range of borrowed media. Fresh from his first solo show at Stills Gallery in Edinburgh (which a few of us attended not long ago), he presented a "lecture-performance" that was a selection of audio and video clips interspersed with spoken recollections of his history. The occasion was not without welcome; although born in Harrogate in 1968, Sutcliffe was raised in Wakefield and spent his formal young adult years there before pursuing Fine Art education in 1994.
The talk opened with this audio clip of Steve Martin - the final line of the routine being the clincher for this afternoon's presentation. Sutcliffe then spoke about how at the age of 25, he "fell out with music", realising that it didn't satisfy him anymore (presumably the process of videotaping which he begun in his teens in the mid 1980s occupied his interests more). He revealed his father had a similar revelation at 25 years old and thus justified it by getting rid of all his records; Sutcliffe admitted he kept his records for the cover art alone. The magical power of the trophy - even when an object is no longer used for its original purpose or is inferior in some way, it still holds a value to the owner solely because it constitutes part of a collection. For an artist like Sutcliffe, the watermarked, degraded image of a film taped off Channel 5 onto bulky VHS is infinitely more powerful than a pristine remastered Blu-Ray sold by the mass in a retail shop - it symbolises a personal moment in time; a memory. Besides, the VHS tape itself (much like a vinyl record) is far more fetishistic in design than a mass marketed product or non-tangible- contained in a shrinkwrapped/forbidden case like Pandora's box, the shiny black exterior recalls leather or polished latex; the industrial design uniform yet distinctive enough through labels and markings that tease you of its contents; a delectable smorgasbord of textures, orifices and mechanisms ready to be caressed, stroked and prodded; and then there's the insertion of the tape into the front of a VCR, that brief moment of the tape leaving your hand and being sucked into the void... anyway, I digress.
Speaking with a slight hesitation and reluctance from a typed script in front of him, the lecture continued on the subject of music and Sutcliffe's distrust of it through spoken interjections, sardonic quotes on the screen (sadly I didn't note them down), and archival clips - Morrissey discussing Madonna and The Smiths as the natural end of popular music, Alexei Sayle on Yahama organs and neighbours - before discussing music's potentially parodic use with film in his own work. One features a sax solo over footage of poverty in Asia that slowly reveals itself to be WHAM!'s Careless Whisper; another has Barry Manilow's Could It Be Magic synced up to Pasolini's infamous film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom that squicked the mind like the piano music from 2 Girl 1 Cup. He examined the manipulative power of music - John Barry's score to the Oscar winning film Out Of Africa saved what was an otherwise poorly tested film to screening audiences; the tempo of Mahler's Fifth Symphony synchronized to the action in Visconti's Death In Venice rather than the other way round (resulting in controversy amongst classical music purists), diagetic sound in Anderson's O Lucky Man! - and finally finished up the lecture with "the most embarrassing moment in his life" - a radio interview with the artist by an overexcited/unnamed radio DJ who, perhaps through editing by the artist, continually interrupts his answers with new questions before he can even finish a sentence. The discussion subject? Sutcliffe's obsession with taping and collecting amateurish radio talk shows. Perfect, another one for the archive.
Lasting a spritely 30 minutes - quite long by his standards judging his often short video work - and not having had a chance to talk to Sutcliffe in person (not only did I miss the presentation he gave at the University last year but he made a point of stating before his lecture that he wouldn't do a Q&A session after he finished his lecture), I left the auditorium thinking more about his archive - the key to his creativity. What else has Stephen recorded that reveals more about him? What other memories and moments remain unlocked on those VHS tapes spanning 25 years that effectively mirror my own 25 year lifetime? Mulling over his opening statements, choice videos and thoughts left me thinking about my own obsessions and why we collect, document and archive. By collecting, are we trying to prove our worth to ourselves or to others? If I've seen a film at a cinema, why do I feel compelled to keep the ticket stub regardless of whether it was a good film or not? Is collecting an effective way to channel our desires, or does it merely try to satisfy a missing part of ourselves? Why does one person continue to hold onto everything regardless of whether they use it (like Stephen), whereas another gets rid of it (like his father)?
Archiving, collecting, accumulating; it's another form of superstition, a quest for the unattainable. Watching Sutcliffe's lecture reminded me of Alan Zweig's terrific yet disturbing documentary Vinyl about record collectors; interviewing Harvey Pekar, Zweig asks him if he found a new measure of clarity in his life after he decided to completely get rid of his 5,000+ strong record collection: deadpan he answers, "Nah, I started collecting books". I wonder if Stephen Sutcliffe's father found a new form of trophy to substitute records too? Once you complete one collection, you start another - to possess something is to be possessed yourself.
John
Expanded Cinema
This is a book I've finally got round to reading and I know John has known about it and wanted to read it for longer then me. Expanded Cinema was written by Gene Youngblood and published in 1970. As wikipedia would attest this was one of the first books to describe video as an art form and navigates through a discussion of what new audio visual technologies are capable of, are doing, should do and how it is reshaping communication in a process of transmutable radical evolution. I've been finding it really striking how he talks about generations of change and how this relates to our generation which is in a completely different century and millennium to when this was concieved. This book was very much about being on the cusp of something truly on the edge and totally different from previous generations experiences of the world but in the context of the now with this book some 41 years old and in a moment where we are very much embedded in this world he contemplates - or doesn't - its a really fascinating read (When I read of the Global Intermedia Network I can't help think of the Internet) and I've found some parts really resonate. It's still early days into it mind but thought I'd share it with you guys cause I'm really enjoying it.
I've actually got the book but there is a PDF available on the net that you can download for free if you wish to.
Kit
Hulme Street
Hey all, here's an image of 'Hulme Street' the work that I am exhibiting for the 'Title Art Prize' exhibition at the Blank Media Collective.
'Hulme Street' (2011) print, 240 x 150cm.
'Hulme Street' (2011) print, 240 x 150cm.
For the do-ers and make-ers
Look!
Now if this is something that happens alot im going to find a good ol' grape vine and listen in to fine out where other events such as this take place as i think for those of us who make and like making and want to sell little genius creations could have a swell time :)
and this one
Now if this is something that happens alot im going to find a good ol' grape vine and listen in to fine out where other events such as this take place as i think for those of us who make and like making and want to sell little genius creations could have a swell time :)
and this one
Consequence - The Video Project
Hey guys,
Just a quick post - where is the video project at and who's taking on the next segment?
Nathan
P.S. I've not posted in a long while, so I shall make sure I post some ramblings once I've finished making my point......
.....
Just a quick post - where is the video project at and who's taking on the next segment?
Nathan
P.S. I've not posted in a long while, so I shall make sure I post some ramblings once I've finished making my point......
.....
Film on Film
As a little add on to the post bellow here's a short film where Tacita Dean talks about 'Film' and also includes 'Green Light' an earlier film by Dean which focus's on the search and attempted capture of the green little that appears with certain sunsets.
Kit
FILM
Rather excited about this and will definitely be making a pilgrimage down to go and take it in for a little while. Been waiting for the Turbine Hall to accommodate a moving image installation and Dean is an artist who while not used to making installations in such grandiose scale - rather then her usual grandiose qualities of beauty and depth that revolves around her previous more delicate work- and looks like it could be quite an immediate and captivating installation... maybe.
Own A Colour
Hey,
This is such a good odea - me, ive always wanted to buy a star but this is for charity as well as being a really great idea!
http://www.ownacolour.com/
*Jen*
This is such a good odea - me, ive always wanted to buy a star but this is for charity as well as being a really great idea!
http://www.ownacolour.com/
*Jen*
Breakfast
Hey all,
This is an exhibition of work by recently graduated artist from University College Falmouth. There are a couple of artists I know in the show and I always think its good to see what others are making or looking at from different but current art educations. If anyone's in London this weekend go check it out.
This is an exhibition of work by recently graduated artist from University College Falmouth. There are a couple of artists I know in the show and I always think its good to see what others are making or looking at from different but current art educations. If anyone's in London this weekend go check it out.
Clare Flawn. Oil on canvas
Pablo de Laborde Lascaris. Stride (2011) mixed media
Am I overexisting or over exisiting. Ryan Tercartin
Hey all,
Some of us got to see some of this guys work during the GI a good (shocked to say) 4 years ago and Paul and I got to see an installation of his work in the New Museum in New York too. Roberta Smith is rather raving about him in this review of some new work in PS1 and I think there's some interesting things at play in his video installations, which can be overly garish in visual and sound but still quite an experience.
Some of us got to see some of this guys work during the GI a good (shocked to say) 4 years ago and Paul and I got to see an installation of his work in the New Museum in New York too. Roberta Smith is rather raving about him in this review of some new work in PS1 and I think there's some interesting things at play in his video installations, which can be overly garish in visual and sound but still quite an experience.
Kit
The Title Art Prize, Blank Media Collective
Hey all, here's some information on the Title Art Prize, an exhibition which will be opening at the end of this month and will be housed at the Blank Media Collective's Blank Space in Manchester. Rather excited to say I will be exhibting in it along with a selection of some of the 'the nation’s top emerging visual artists'. Looks to be quite the show!
Kit
ARTE Creative
http://creative.arte.tv/
Think you will all appreciate this site (especially Kit and Nathan) - it's a new video sharing website run by the French/German TV channel ARTE that's dedicated to showcasing all forms of creative work, especially video art, film, new media and moving image. Quite a few European institutes and film festivals have been using it to share work, but also artists too like Roman Signer and John Wood & Paul Harrison. So far it's still in Beta mode which is why I'm guessing not many people seem to be aware of it yet (I only heard about it yesterday), but it will probably take off in time - and hey, could be another good place to upload your work...
I'll leave you with an interesting video on the site - Bad Beuys Entertainment's SICTOM (2001), which beat Guy Ben Ner's Stealing Beauty (2007) by a fair few years with the idea of using furniture stores as film sets...
Think you will all appreciate this site (especially Kit and Nathan) - it's a new video sharing website run by the French/German TV channel ARTE that's dedicated to showcasing all forms of creative work, especially video art, film, new media and moving image. Quite a few European institutes and film festivals have been using it to share work, but also artists too like Roman Signer and John Wood & Paul Harrison. So far it's still in Beta mode which is why I'm guessing not many people seem to be aware of it yet (I only heard about it yesterday), but it will probably take off in time - and hey, could be another good place to upload your work...
I'll leave you with an interesting video on the site - Bad Beuys Entertainment's SICTOM (2001), which beat Guy Ben Ner's Stealing Beauty (2007) by a fair few years with the idea of using furniture stores as film sets...
John
The Creative Act
Hey all,
The Creative Act is a short essay by Duchamp in 1957 and talks about the intuition of the artist and the importance of the audience in the validation of art work. I came across it today, it's short but sweet and I'd say worth a read. In a period when certain people were writing about what art should be, Marcel always seems to be far more radical in his thinking.
Also found it kind of interesting when he mentions how there are millions of artists creating but only a few thousand are discussed or accepted and by the spectator and many less again are consecrated by posterity. Even before the internet, the development of a variety of the academic schools of art with their degrees and the thousands of students who choose that route, we're really not very different form other periods of the past.
Also watched the 2nd episode of the film Odyssey program and it was really rather good (think Nathan might find this one rather insightful)
Kit
The Creative Act is a short essay by Duchamp in 1957 and talks about the intuition of the artist and the importance of the audience in the validation of art work. I came across it today, it's short but sweet and I'd say worth a read. In a period when certain people were writing about what art should be, Marcel always seems to be far more radical in his thinking.
Also found it kind of interesting when he mentions how there are millions of artists creating but only a few thousand are discussed or accepted and by the spectator and many less again are consecrated by posterity. Even before the internet, the development of a variety of the academic schools of art with their degrees and the thousands of students who choose that route, we're really not very different form other periods of the past.
Also watched the 2nd episode of the film Odyssey program and it was really rather good (think Nathan might find this one rather insightful)
Kit
The Story of Film
Hey all,
Watched the first episode of the epic series by Mark Cousin's that covers the history of film and is surprisingly called The History of Film: An Odyssey. Its on more 4 and its something like 12 one hour long episodes that reveal cinmea and how it came to be and evoled to what it is, including a lot films he deams as important which are generally unknown in the mainstream and wouldnt be included in the the top 100 geatest films ever ever list you find cropping up every year (Still can't believe Superman Returns is in Empires 100).
The first episode was very good, Cousin's narrated over the entirety only cutting away from scenes from films, images of sets and locations then and now with quick interviews from critics, and film buffs. Certain ways he approches the how he presents the documents reminds me greatly of Godards history of cinema, although it doesnt have the intensly annoying type writing that goes on throughout (yet). I will keep watching it and thought I'd give it a mention because I have a feeling some of you may find it really informative and useful to your practices or just as an extra way of finding out about amazing movies that need to be added to the list of films you must find and watch... There's already a load for me from just the first episode!
Kit
Watched the first episode of the epic series by Mark Cousin's that covers the history of film and is surprisingly called The History of Film: An Odyssey. Its on more 4 and its something like 12 one hour long episodes that reveal cinmea and how it came to be and evoled to what it is, including a lot films he deams as important which are generally unknown in the mainstream and wouldnt be included in the the top 100 geatest films ever ever list you find cropping up every year (Still can't believe Superman Returns is in Empires 100).
The first episode was very good, Cousin's narrated over the entirety only cutting away from scenes from films, images of sets and locations then and now with quick interviews from critics, and film buffs. Certain ways he approches the how he presents the documents reminds me greatly of Godards history of cinema, although it doesnt have the intensly annoying type writing that goes on throughout (yet). I will keep watching it and thought I'd give it a mention because I have a feeling some of you may find it really informative and useful to your practices or just as an extra way of finding out about amazing movies that need to be added to the list of films you must find and watch... There's already a load for me from just the first episode!
Kit
ooo for those who want one
studio space up for grabs : gotta apply though!!
http://thisiscentralstation.com/opportunities/studio-available-this-october.aspx
*Jen*
http://thisiscentralstation.com/opportunities/studio-available-this-october.aspx
*Jen*
Blatent Boasting
Just thought I'd let you know, I've recently been given my first paid commission as an art writer. Fabulous.
Also, I found this nice little bit of writing about blogs which some of you might enjoy reading.
Michael
Also, I found this nice little bit of writing about blogs which some of you might enjoy reading.
Michael
Companions, Magazines and Idea(l)s
Just spotted this being advertised on the weekly mailing listing for Volcanic Tongue, an experimental music boutique based on Argyle Street (not far from Jim Lambie's studio to use a familiar reference point) - it's an insider's guide and map to Glasgow's interesting buildings, attractions and curiosities published by Herb Lester Associates. Selling for about £3, A Glasgow Companion includes parks, pubs, restaurants, record shops, galleries, architecture and places to hangout amongst its 50 entries and is presented as a folded A3 poster lithoprinted on recycled paper. I've not got a copy of it myself, just thought I'd share it as a curious product...
Speaking of independent publications and kind of in contrast to the above, an artist friend I know called Jasia Little recently put together within the space of a couple of months an online blog and quarterly magazine called Anti-Body. The first issue, spanning over 200 pages (!), includes a number of interviews with creative friends specialising in painting, photography and fashion alongside accompanying photos of their work, plus some reviews of other exhibitions around West Yorkshire. It's free to read here. In addition she's also started producing a photocopied zine called Point Art Zine between herself and another artist called Eleanor - already they've produced two issues within the space of a month which they've handed out for free at local music festivals. Back issues are being posted online once their limited run of physical copies run out. She's currently been doing all this between working on her dissertation as she starts her final year studying Fine Art at Bradford College too - inspiring company and not dissimilar to where some of us were around the same time in our education...
As for us? Well, I'm glad that a new Manifesto is about to come together and that there's also plans for a video project, but I'm thinking (rather than actually doing, of course!) that we should have a bit more going on, both as a collective and as individuals. So far we've only had the loose-form project Manifesto keeping us together - a one person project that other people contribute to. The changing editor/curator role keeps it fresh but the zine has never been a serious part of what we can do, merely an occasional by-product (in a way, much like the idea of a collective). We're all completely different to each other and working together is difficult at times - we can critique, encourage and motivate each other's individual projects and ideas, but we can't always rely on others to assist or be involved in our own projects (after all it only takes one slightly resistant contributor to a project to hold it back indefinitely). We're driven by our own preoccupations and obsessions, yet still immaturely in constant need of reassurance and acceptance - do you agree with me?
So how should the collective exist then? Are we very simply a group of names listed on the left hand side of a website, or a team working together? Are we autocratic? Democratic? Laissez-faire? Paternalistic? Do we assign group projects together that are led individually, or individual projects led by groups? Are projects open-invite only or curated? Do we even have to decide anything at all?
Which brings me onto future Black Swan publications - even if it's just a sole online publication with texts/interviews from us all and a few pictures (like Anti-Body) rather than a physical object (like A Glasgow Companion), I think we need to get back onto doing this. But how to do it? Would you prefer there to be a sole editor of a project who receive submissions from others who then decides the final presentation? Should we each work together in some way or another throughout all the processes, or each assign ourselves a role (one person layouts, another person binds/prints the publication)? Should we just do our own thing as individuals, and then maybe stick all the entries together in a [figurative] box at a set time in the year?
Right now - and I'm feeling selfish when I say this, although in a way I'm only being realistic from past experience - I'm thinking the latter. I'll just get on with my own Black Swan project and do it myself. Set my own rules, projects and deadlines and just share the end result. When will that happen? Oh, whenever I feel like it...
John
NOWNESS
Hi Folks,
NOWNESS also collaborates with the world’s foremost designers, creatives and thinkers in the luxury industry. NOWNESS is an innovative space where ideas, both timeless and timely, are first and foremost.
Kit
Found this site recently and am rather taken by it. Its called Nowness and apparently is the digital leader in luxury storytelling. Each day, NOWNESS showcases an exclusive premiere of the most inspiring stories influencing contemporary culture and global lifestyle, previewing the latest in fashion, gastronomy, art, film, music, design, travel and sport.
Kit
Manifesto
The deadline for Manifesto 7 submissions is fast approaching, as yet I have not received work from the majority of you. What are you waiting for? Please send your entries now! Lets get this bastard made! Lets get the show on the fucking ball rolling, done! Shagged out! Fin! It would be a shame to have a Manifesto without you.
If you need to talk anything through last minute, you can reach me on my new number 07506050762 or send me an email.
Love you long time,
Michael
If you need to talk anything through last minute, you can reach me on my new number 07506050762 or send me an email.
Love you long time,
Michael
Website Redesign
I've had a bit of a redesign of my website, it was getting a bit complex! I'd appreciate a bit of feedback (bearing in mind the limitations of iWeb & my abilities)
sam-smith.org.uk in case you've forgotten since my last bit of self promotion
Sam
sam-smith.org.uk in case you've forgotten since my last bit of self promotion
Sam
Michael and the Artist Factory
When I came to Grizedale, being a working class boy from suburban Glasgow, I couldn't have been farther from home, in these rural Lake District surroundings of the staggeringly beautiful and impeccable Lawson Park. Thankfully I was met with a genuine acceptance and quiet assistance by the residents, the degree of which has surprised me somewhat.
I came here without particular proclivity for, well, anything useful. Fresh from art school, your eyes can still be a little dewy - because art schools aren't really schools are they? And what you learn in them can so easily, and often, amount to nothing at all. In fact it seems an absurd misuse of the word art, or artist, if one thinks it can be proscribed or created through a meagre three - four years in a non-school. What they do achieve though, in general, through provision of their nurturing time, space, framework, is capacity for critical outlook and thought, which is a powerful, vastly under valued skill, and quite ominously rare. But this capacity must be applied with rigour and insight to far more than just insular gallery exhibits.
Anyway, when I read the great modernists talking about the merging of art and life, as they do, it always seemed to me to veer tragically and slightly solipsistically back toward art. At Lawson Park, life really is an art, with even it's own type of autonomy in the form of six hundred feet of altitude and an exceedingly long driveway (much to the fury of certain members of the village people.) Indeed, if I could belligerently key a phrase: There is no art but life. That is to say, art here is an integral part of life, not that it doesn’t happen - it just isn’t as precious. In terms of use value though, besides growing much of it’s own foodstuffs, Lawson Park as a site has as strong a cathartic and revelatory spiritual affect as any of the conventional art-forms can claim. At the same time, as locus or matrix, it is able to export these values to make real social head way, creating interesting connections between disparate cultural nerve-endings - even if this is entirely lost on it’s most frequent visitor; the lesser Lake District Mountain-Biker.
I see Lawson Park as a yardstick, a benchmark, a tan line, err... it's like white bed linen that shows up all the dirt, hair and nasty bits that we all leave behind and makes them so obvious that we really can't ignore them any longer, in fact they become to clear that we can examine them in comfort and wonder at how they came to be, and perhaps devise ways of not getting so dirty in the future. The shit streaks and sweat patches that as a society we've grown so used to hiding under dark colours and deodorant that only once you see them you realise how easily they can be washed away. Perhaps I’m being a little think with simile, but simply put, they have a good life here, and eminently worth striving for. There are so many things that are lost to habituation of city life and work - most significantly the manual work of making or growing - which has dislocated so many lives with the reality of our existence. This disjunction grows greater by the day, observable through the sense of suspicion and uncertainty on the part of the ‘offcomer’ people from cities, at anything that is not qualified by the framing mechanics of consumer packaging, sell-by-dates and GDAs - an odd reversal of the stereotypical country folk’s distrust of everything technological.
I've spent my three months here a bit like a sponge, quietly absorbing and reticently retaining as much as I could. I've even washed Andy Warhol’s collection of cups, and wiped down surfaces used by some great minds. But alas, my summer not-a-holiday at Grizedale is at an end and now I must go off into the night and squeeze myself of all this juice.
So long, and thanks for all those Sophistocakes (copyright Benjamin, M. Z. 2011)
Here are some photos of things what I made, grew and saw:
Michael Davis
IRIONBRRATZ
Just seen this place advertising studio spaces which are currently available for immediate use. Theres a map which you can download off their site which shows a variety of spaces and prices. Might go and check them out sometime this coming week. They seem like a happy bunch and they are still quite a young creation at just over a year old so they seem to be quite enthusiastic at pushing the promotion of themselves and finding/giving opportunities to exhibit and more with the artists there. Its located slap bang in the middle of the city as well a short walk from GOMA.
Kit
Kit
The age of social media
Some days it really hits home how far the world has come in the digital age. For a long time now I have been working on a piece of writing concerning the rise of social media and the impact this has had on the arts and on social interaction in general. The main reason this hasn't come into fruition yet is time constraints, it is a huge subject which needs much research, and juggling this with paying work and other commitments means I haven't had the time to devote to it that I would like. However, I cannot let today pass without comment.
Today I have been humbled by Twitter and the kindness and generosity towards others shown by it's users. Like many others I spent a sleepless night watching the 24 hour news channels and trying to keep up with the #londonriots news feed. Watching parts of the city you grew up in burn to the ground is not comfortable viewing. Particularly, the images of the fires in Croydon and Ealing were haunting. The Twitter feed was crazy, there were so many updates it was impossible to keep up with. The news reports were blaming Twitter for being the tool used to coordinate the riots, but in reality it was full of people posting pictures and reports of what they could see, warnings of where gangs were gathering and, overwhelmingly, people reaching out to loved ones in affected areas to make sure they were unharmed. This week, social media has taken over from regular news reporting, the video cameras of the bigger companies could not make it into the crowds without getting their equipment damages, or assaulted themselves, so amateur videos, photographs and reports took over. Many news stations had to use these as all they had otherwise were ariel shots of the destruction.
Then, today, the power of social media really comes into it's own, organising people to clean the streets and donations for people who have lost their homes and possessions, all of which has been organised via Twitter or Facebook. It is a simple display of people utilising social media to help others, and it's beautiful. Please, if you can, help out #riotcleanup
Jen M
Today I have been humbled by Twitter and the kindness and generosity towards others shown by it's users. Like many others I spent a sleepless night watching the 24 hour news channels and trying to keep up with the #londonriots news feed. Watching parts of the city you grew up in burn to the ground is not comfortable viewing. Particularly, the images of the fires in Croydon and Ealing were haunting. The Twitter feed was crazy, there were so many updates it was impossible to keep up with. The news reports were blaming Twitter for being the tool used to coordinate the riots, but in reality it was full of people posting pictures and reports of what they could see, warnings of where gangs were gathering and, overwhelmingly, people reaching out to loved ones in affected areas to make sure they were unharmed. This week, social media has taken over from regular news reporting, the video cameras of the bigger companies could not make it into the crowds without getting their equipment damages, or assaulted themselves, so amateur videos, photographs and reports took over. Many news stations had to use these as all they had otherwise were ariel shots of the destruction.
Then, today, the power of social media really comes into it's own, organising people to clean the streets and donations for people who have lost their homes and possessions, all of which has been organised via Twitter or Facebook. It is a simple display of people utilising social media to help others, and it's beautiful. Please, if you can, help out #riotcleanup
Jen M
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