South London meeting for Artists working in Social Care

St Christopher's Hopisce is hosting a forum to bring together a broad range of artists and musicians who work in health and social care across South London or who have an interest in developing work in the area.
Although there is a special interset in end-of-life care, working in care homes and demenita, anyone using, or interested in using, the arts with any client population is welcome.
At this introductory meeting, there will be an opporunity to present your work and discuss ideas and interests. There will also be time to discuss the need for an ongoing platform to share ideas and experiences in the future.

All are welcome to attend and share your work, thoughts and ideas:

14th April between 6 and 7.30pm

St Christopher's Hospice
51-59 Lawrie Park Road
London SE26 6DZ
tel 020 8768 4500
or email info@stchristophers.org.uk
http://www.stchristophers.org.uk

Violent Flash Mobs

Interesting article about youth gatherings turned into violent rushes through civic areas:
From NYTimes:
PHILADELPHIA — It started innocently enough seven years ago as an act of performance art where people linked through social-networking Web sites and text messaging suddenly gathered on the streets for impromptu pillow fights in New York, group disco routines in London, and even a huge snowball fight in Washington.
Young people filled South Street in Philadelphia on Saturday in what officials said was the latest flash mob to turn dangerous. Seth Kaufman was injured in the flash mob Saturday, which he called “a tsunami of kids.” But these so-called flash mobs have taken a more aggressive and raucous turn here as hundreds of teenagers have been converging downtown for a ritual that is part bullying, part running of the bulls: sprinting down the block, the teenagers sometimes pause to brawl with one another, assault pedestrians or vandalize property.
Keep reading

National Review of Live Art

Finally attended the performance love-fest that's the National Review of Live Art, and it was really worth it. This was officially the last event after 30 years, though it's returning in a changed format for next year. The event manages to bring together a diverse array of artists working across performance / live art fields under one umbrella. But it true magic lies in the ability to create a level playing field where established and emerging artists can meet and mingle and just be together. Helps its in such a cool city like Glasgow, that's the real deal right there...

One person complained to me about the constant queueing for performances, but actually for me these moments were a great opportunity to chat to strangers, meet new people and spend some time together in one of those odd social moments when otherwise we would usually commit ourselves to getting to the other side of the queue with as little distraction as possible.

Highlights for me:

The gothic ritual sermon by Julia Bardsley called Aftermaths: a tear in the meat of vision, where a zombie-like pentecostal-inspired preacher rants about profits... or was it prophets...

John Byrne's presentation was excellent, especially his Border Interpretive Centre, bringing awareness of the border as object in Northern Ireland.

Frenchmottershead, who I am interviewing as one of the artists I am surverying in my PhD were very receptive as well. They were commissioned to create a one off of their piece Were you Here the Last Time, where at a designated time and space a photo is taken. I positioned my self towards the front with some friends and felt pretty ecstatic with the countdown from 30 (for each year). It created a wonderful shared moment in time, something I truly appreciate.

A low point for me was being scolded and locked out after arriving 1 minute late to La Pocha Nostra presentation, but this was incredibly remedied by sharing drinks with them at the bar!

There's ofcourse so much more, a good place to read up on the work is the NRLA blog, look for the poetic words of Mark Caffrey reviewing the work and interviewing the artists...

(photo above is an unrelated graffiti on the streets of Glasgow but I loved it)

Throw your Art in the Bin

Michael Landy transforms the SLG into 'Art Bin', a container for the disposal of works of art. As people discard their art works the enormous 600m³ bin becomes, in Michael Landy’s words, “a monument to creative failure”.

Until 14 March 2010 works can be brought to the South London Gallery to be disposed of in 'Art Bin' from Tuesday to Sunday, 12-6pm. Alternatively, artists and collectors can visit www.art-bin.co.uk to apply to dispose of works, multiple applications are welcome.

www.art-bin.co.uk

On view at South London Gallery

So I'll be bringing a triptych down to donate, if he accepts it as 'proper' trash I'll post it up....

National Identity Renunciation Bureau

http://www.identityrenunciation.org/

We are born and socialized into our national identities. We learn to belong to a community defined by claims to a common culture, language, ethnicity, history, place, and religion.

This sense of identity is not ethically neutral. If we take pride in our nation and its members, we must also bear responsibility for their moral failures.

The National Identity Renunciation Bureau certifies indi-viduals who wish to renounce their national identity and free themselves from that responsibility. The Renunciation Bureau issues identity cards to such individuals after they undergo a rigorous application process.

This renunciation does not address the renunciant’s legal relationship to their nation or state. However, it has seri-ous consequences. The renunciant must forgo all special concern for their nation's past, present and future, and all feelings of national pride, attachment and belonging.

Only those who understand the gravity of this symbolic act are encouraged to apply.

Wrestle an artist

Press Release: If you need to direct your feelings of disappointment and negativity somewhere constructive, Anthony Schrag has the answer. For one day only he will be your human punch-bag, because he wants to see you ‘smile and sweat’. Schrag is fed-up with culture that plays it safe and offers cerebral solutions. He is far more interested in making a direct physical connection with his audience, even if it means he ends up pinned to a wrestling mat.

“Violence occupies an important place within history and mythology, but all too often (and especially in this current political climate) it is relegated to being undesirable, unwelcome, and base. We sometimes forget about its cathartic ability; as a great unifier; as a mirror to the common and raw beast inside us all.”


www.anthonyschrag.com

Come along to spectate, support your friends, or if you are brave enough, take on Schrag for a round. For more information or to book your round, contact Limbo on 078 1278 0984 or email info@limboarts.co.uk giving your name and telephone number – or just turn up.


Okay I'm considering going, could use a good venting... of course it's a bit of a trek from London.... feel free to sponsor my wrestle

Revolutions in Public Practice

This is an interesting article By Clare Bishop in Artforum regarding Creative Time's summit at the New York Public Library late last year. She problematises the format of presenting socially-engaged work in this way, as well as the kinds of work produced. But most interesting is the Talkback section (link at the bottom of the article) where people can respond to her review. One specific comment to read is Harrell Fletcher's response to her criticism of selling an expensive carpet made in India as art, to then donate the proceeds to the worker/workers who made the carpet. I'll reserve judgement on that, to just say that the exchange itself is worth reading...

Artforum Article

Talkback comments

The Realities

FABLE

Once upon a time there was a reality
With her own flock of sheep in real wool
And as the king's son came passing by
The sheep bleated Baaah! how pretty she is
The re the re the reality

Once upon a time there was a reality
Who never could get to sleep at night
And so her fairy godmother
Really took her by the hand
The re the re the reality

Once upon a time there was an old king
Who got very bored as he sat on his throne
His cloak slipped off into the evening
So then they gave him for a queen
The re the re the reality

CODA: Ity ity the rea
Ity ity the reality
The rea the rea
Ty ty The rea
Li
Ty The reality
Once upon a time there was THE REALITY

~ Louis Aragon 'Paris Peasant" 1926

The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow

Just got back from this symposium performance series in Plymouth, headed my Marina Abramović, who unfortunately didn't show up but was there via a Skype video chat feed. Though the event was fairly disorganised and revealed how insular the world of Live Art can be there were still some great highlights, including of course meeting interesting people.

The Royal William Yard was a stunning venue, housing most of the events and performances. There were six artist performing at the Slaugherhouse

Davide Balliano: sharpening a knife slowly and repeatedly while facing a corner where two large mirrors created a grouping of 4 identicals. A single lightbuld illuminated the space adn the sound was quite evocative. The piece was a bit cliche, in that its use of a man in black in a black cap in a dark corner became a certain character type that would immediately be evocative.

Snezana Golubović: who stood on a stage stepping into a series of shoes...

Eva and Franco Mattes: who recreated performances in Second Life. This was mostly interesting because I had never seen Second Life in action before.

Francesca Steele: created one of the more engaging and evocative works, a one to one piece where you stood on a stage with her while she took the gestures of professional body building next to you. As a body builder herself she has transformed her body and the work made me think of gaze, obsession and body image as well as nearness and personal space.

Bill Wroath: who was slated to perform at the Market in the centre of Plymouth was moved here due to an issue with the council and his work. He sewed a full pig corpse back together dressed as a butcher/medic while behind hime the numbers of pigs slaughtered in each country per year was projected across the wall. I enjoyed this work as I've been feeling that the ecological situation on this planet has been turning my vegetarianism into something more political which it never has been. Unfortunately most people absorbed the information and the proceeded to think it was funny to order pork at the pub, I suppose this is why the world isn't going to change any time soon....

The Market in Plymouth is an incredible space, looks like you are inside a giant pool. There is a unique culture there as well between the traders and buyers and I definitely sensed that the performances were generally an intrusion. One person working the event told me the last day "They hate us by now and can't wait for us to leave". This lack of integration with the general public was something that was a bit disappointing about the event in general but then again I suppose performance art may be one of the less accessible works as it is.

One exception was Ania Bas who performed as a working vendor, selling a variety of media information and possible instructions taped up and down her jacket. The last day I chose 'Chewing gum and people watching". She took me to her favourite spot and we talked about the market and the event, we easily picked out the skinny jean black clad art goers and the overweight, pasty shoppers. She told me about the shopkeepers and how engaging them brought varied responses. Though some were not interested, some where. I felt very happy that at least someone was bringing the work towards dialogue and integrating the actual existing culture of the site. One vendor bought one of her instructions for another, while a third was going to serve as witness...

For a full list of performers click here: Pigs

Seeing Marina on Skype in bed, blowing her nose and coughing was rather humanising. She said two interesting things, she explained the title. Performance artists are the pigs of today and their work in many ways needs to die in order to be consumed as ham. This gave the entire symposium a lens towards archiving and the issues surrounding performance documentation... She also said students always ask her about entering the art market and how to succeed, she explained that she spent 30 of her 40 years making performances unpaid. Though she recognised this wasn't fair she recommended to young artists to stay true to their work and to stay true to the context...

But by far the highlight of the weekend was Tehching Hsieh... That gets a post of its own...

Conversations with Tehching Hsieh

Chatting with Tehching was the highlight of the Symposium (see prior post). During his chat chaired by Adrian Heathfield, he talked about leaving Taiwan on a freight ship to Iran picking up oil en route to Philadelphia where he jumped ship. He spoke about how he had heard tow words in Taiwan 'conceptual happenings'. He had no idea what they meant or how they would be so seminal in his work. In the US as an illegal immigrant he spent 4 years in his studio doing no work. His studio was empty and he just sat their thinking. Then he had this idea, if I've been doing this 4 years why not one more? This was the first one year performance 1978-1979. He then completed 4 more and finished with a final 13 year piece where he would complete work but not present it publicly and basically disappeared. He emerged in 2000 and released a DVD of his work.
He was incredibly humble and genuine. I spoke to him after the event on the freezing cold pier in Plymouth. Tehching apologised for his English skills and said 'I am not as educated as everyone here'. I responded that he was genuine and that this was what people responded to, for he really received a loud applause. It was a welcome relief from an overly cerebral event!

I asked him if he ever had the impetus to make work... he responded 'whats impetus?'... i said need, want... he restated what he said earlier, that he already had his great ideas, that he had no more. and even if he did more it would become formulaic. He added that he also already stated as an art piece that he would not create any more work. And if he reneged on this then all his work would be a lie.

I love this man....

He also still lives in Bed-Stuy (Bedford-Stuyvesant) area of Brooklyn. Recently the grocer in his building was pistol-whipped and robbed. But he said he's been there for the last 12 years and he's never moving again...

Speaking with him reminded me of why I am an artist why I am drawn to what I do. There was such a strong spiritual sense in his work, my friend Debbie compared it to a form of Zen meditation. This is what makes great work, perhaps avoiding a paralyses by analyses and tapping into a deep well of energy that can exist in performance as in life...

Generation Y

Check out Yoani Sanchez blogging fro Cuba, even Obama answers her call for information....

"Generation Y is a Blog inspired by people like me, with names that start with or contain a "Y". Born in Cuba in the '70s and '80s, marked by schools in the countryside, Russian cartoons, illegal emigration and frustration. So I invite, especially, Yanisleidi, Yoandri, Yusimí, Yuniesky and others who carry their "Y's" to read me and to write to me." ~Yoani Sanchez


http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/

FrenchMottershead First UK solo exhibition

This exhibition is the first solo show by artists Rebecca French and Andrew Mottershead and is the culmination of their two-year international SHOPS project bringing together a collection of intimate portraits of local shops and contemporary urban life.

21 Nov 2009 - 13 Feb 2010

Site Gallery

Frenchmottershead

Shops Project