The soundtrack to my end of year DVD, I’ll figure out how to make a format of it to get it on here…

Day two at #Futr

With Dieter Moebius’ live score, supported by Polinski and the TriAngle Showcase still reverberating through our bones, day two of the festival kicked off.  Drew Hemment, Creative Director of FutureEverything, introduced the day with a nod to the successful launch of www.idhideyou.com by Brighton based, Oscar nominated, Blast Theory. He also managed to perk everyone up by questioning whether or not people shared a ride on the same player as him as he played along with over one hundred people.

Then came the incredible and passionate, self-branded Icelandic Parliamentary hacker, Birgitta Jónsdóttir. Not only did she take to the stage but she took over the #futr hashtag as more or less every word of her keynote “The Future Is You” was transcribed or paraphrased into a tweet. Her beliefs were obvious, the political system is at present too large, too corrupt, too limited - it needs to be wiped “defragged, zero’d” and “reinstalled”. She described her impression of the conference and festival beautifully, as a poet activist would, “the brave new world, the FutureEverything island.”

Ideas of co-operation and co-creation from Birgitta’s keynote dominated the day. Mark Robinson-Field from the Co-operative Membership Team led the “Co-operation - The Original Social Network?” presentation reinforcing comments made by Birgitta and reminding us of Manchester’s role as the home of the co-op movement. Passions continued to run high through the afternoon as Bilal Randeree delivered his keynote “Al Jazeera and the Arab Spring”. Bilal embodied the political and activist themes of today with references to Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘cute cat theory’, were the politically disinterested only become turned on when their access to social media is taken away by governments.

With all these experts at hand we could not ignore the fact that today Facebook went public, interviews with a host of speakers asking whether the evaluation at $100 billion is worth it, provoked interesting responses in a video which featured in the top ten most watched videos on the BBC website today.

The final day of the conference drew to a close with discussions about reasons for the London riots, social media and social change, and the importance of context in a venue which was at the centre of the industrial revolution, MOSI is on the site of the world’s first railway.  Discussions around  transferring social movements from the digital to the real world came alive in response to speeches from Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Mark Robinson-Field and Bilal Randeree, striking the political chord and affirming and expanding the role of a digital revolution.

#Futr: Day one

Following on from the exceptional buzz of Lawrence Epps’ #littleclaymen, the first day of conference opened with an explorational Keynote by Rohan Gunatillake; delving in to the role of the Buddhist faith in a tech savvy 21st century society. This was followed by an audience enamoured by the prospect of exchanging data using sound with unveiling of Animal System’s chirp.io. Today, #futr chatter on twitter really took over, all of which, wifi permitting, was then visualised live on screen in MOSI’s fantastic conference space with the ‘Revisit’ project by Moritz Stefaner. People where enthralled by the prospect of a Digital Olympics where data supplied to the audience will be managed and curated through a whole host of exciting projects.

The afternoon resumed and swiftly built up momentum with the intriguing Turing Sunflower project, throwing questions out to the crowd; how can curiosity and interest can be retained with such a long winded participatory project? Cesar A Hidelgo then took to the stage of room one immediately capturing the attention of the audience and exploring the entire global economy with the most basic of analogies. He then demonstrated the potential that remains still unreached with data visualisation as it bubbles away in the near mainstream.

The excitement continued for the rest of the afternoon as the panel: Producing A Living took to the stage, the day ended with closing keynotes by Juha van’t Zelfde and Rufus Pollock with The City and The City and Open Knowledge Foundation.  The evening activities continued with the launch of Blast Theory’s incredible real world game www.idhideyou.com and music at the Institute Cervantes’, Mutek supported Audio/Visual show by Nikka + Alba G. Corral.  The programme also includes Metropolis restored + restructured w/live a score by Dieter Moebius, supported by Polinksi with his own A/V show at St Philip’s and the evenings TriAngle records showcase at Islington Mill.

simpsonphotographics:

A few tests in to an idea about capturing the layered, random, patchwork nature of the city. Quite enjoying this circular aesthetic in architectural photography at the moment.

Managed to play around with different page sizes in my journal. Submitted it as soon as I printed it, so shall share more photos when I get it back!

Whitworth Talks: In Review

In my first year the Whitworth talks, although interesting, did strike me as a bit of a chore. I was going to talks from people focused on curating, arts management and directors of festivals and events up and down the country. The spectrum was interesting, the focus wasn’t so much. This continued in the first term, but the second term heralded a whole new kettle of fish. Turner prize winners and nominees, international personalities and common names were thick and fast. Whether or not you checked the programme in advance, you knew who ever would be talking would be inspiring and interesting, you were bound to have an opinion; positive or negative.

One artist in particular really divided my opinion, this was expected given that I’m not particularly a huge fan, or understander, of his work. When Mark Leckey presented his informal, comical and extremely convuluted talk I found myself grasping at what he had to offer. I had somewhat of a eureka moment and thought I understood his work. When I viewed his show at the Manchester Art Gallery, I realised I didn’t.

Others were less divisive, such as Georgina Starr, who has encouraged me to forego control in my work. Open it to it’s environment, it’s audience, allow it to be controlled by those that perceive it rather than those who create it. Another was Anna Barham, who really inspired me to get back to grips with my language project, her perspective really helped refresh my own; allowing me to see how developing rules governed by the text itself could allow for completely new work to evolve.

Anna Barham

ArtFeelers: Exploring London’s East End

I’ve literally sat down on the train a minute or two and want to write about how I’ve spent my afternoon in London, while it’s still fresh on my mind. I arrived in to Euston at 1330 today, 20 minutes after my planned arrival. Running late I headed straight to Old Street to the meeting point of the ArtFeelers tour I had signed up to, Pure Evil Gallery to be exact. 

The tour, said to be for those who “have an interest in outsiders on the outskirts” with regards to contemporary art (Holly Williams, The Independent) had started ahead of me. As I waited to hear of their progress I had a quick scout of Pure Evil’s current show, ‘My Dog Sighs’. The show is by an artist (whose name evades me, as well as the gallery’s leaflets and website) from Southsea, where he is the founder of Free Art Friday, a concept based on placing art in the public realm for passers-by to collect and keep, free of charge, as the name suggests.

The exhibition itself is intriguing, I was literally in there for a few minutes, but the fact that it explicitly states the work is here as he promotes the Free Art Friday’s, yet his tin can sculptures are priced around £300, strikes me as a bit of a contradiction. I’ll head back to explore the rest of the show when I’m back in London this week.

When I did hear from the tour who were in Hoxton Gallery, I quickly sped up Charlotte Road. Hoxton Gallery was your ideal contemporary space; obscure and clean, big windows, white walls. Their current show Et Cetera was curated by Tom Jeffrey, a friend of our tour guide, who upon my arrival was in the process of explaining the evident dependence on concept the artist’s contained within the show’s work shown. Again I’ll have to head back to this show as I missed out on quite a considerable amount of exploration and explanation, as well as the conversation and dialogue had by those present, something that apparently hindered me through out the afternoon as I missed out conversation after conversation as I lagged behind. There is also a selection of writing accompanying the show that I’d like to digest before returning.

We then hop scotched through the Charlie Smith London Gallery, quickly taking in the work on show by Wendy Mayer in her show, Still Life. Here, the work was quite striking, a mix of humour and taxonomy. Life like dolls trailed stuffed ducks and rabbits; dolls lay sprawled out, apparently ageing from young to old, left to right. 

Next; via Hoxton Square where Claire (our guide) explained the make up of the area, we arrived at PEER, a seemingly fantastic gallery that is heavily established in the East End. It’s Director, Ingrid Swenson, explained to us her commitments to the venue, ensuring its exploration of the public realm by supporting work outside of the spaces four walls, she also hinted somewhat at the hardships of fundraising the money required to keep the gallery functioning. 

Moving on to explain the current exhibition by Stuart Brisley, whom she referred to as the Grandfather of contemporary performance in the UK. The show, titled NEXT DOOR (the missing subject), allowed the artist to reside in the newly secured adjoined shop front, which had remained empty for a number of years. To me it felt the venue wanted to celebrate its expansion, and what better way than by handing it over to one of their most celebrated artists. Brisley is now reaching 80 years old, but this could be forgotten when you exam the vigour and quality of execution in his work.

I do love contemporary performances, physical theatre, etc., but that etc. is probably quite fitting; I love it, but I do not know much of it, nor do I always understand what I am watching. However with this show, comprising a 30minute edited video illustrating Brisley’s ten days spent dismantling the empty store front, creating what he called, and what essential is, a heap of rubbish, and then dismantling this heap as the windows remain open to the world and the public can view from the original gallery where a brick has been removed from the partitioning wall. The original gallery also hosts a series of photos, taken from outside the window of the annexed shop front. Providing an abstract to the video, these images allow you to see the reflections of passers-by, the reflections of onlookers, the confused, and the curious. 

Getting back to my point, the performance really helped me understand, well, performance. I watched the video for maybe five or ten minutes, observing Brisley manipulate and dismantle his heap; sometimes in a logical way, sometimes in quite an anarchistic manner. Regardless of his manner, his composure remained. He wasn’t just taking the work apart, he had planned his moves. He wasn’t just throwing a bit of wood from one corner to the other, there were no sighs, you never witnessed him stopping to catch his breath in the edited video, just him stopping to collect his thoughts. It was like watching a ballet dancer cross a stage; muscles taut, face still, no emotion, just commitment to his actions. I imagine I could sound awful right now, comparing the relocation of debris to the skills and commitment involved in ballet, but that’s what I took from it. The commitment and direction to each action is equal.

We next ventured to Gallery Seventeen, a fantastic artist run space further into the heart of Hoxton. Here the space’s founder explained the work on show, that of Graham Dolphin, What is the word. I loved the show, and to hear it explained by someone directly involved in some way really helped. Dolphin’s work focuses on the sentiment attached to place and objects. Perfect illustrations depicted many artefacts, artefacts viewed with incredible emotion by many people; last note by English writer Aldous Huxley given to his wife on his deathbed; the manuscript for the last poem by American writer Allen Ginsberg; the front cover of Kurt Cobain’s ultimate notebook before his suicide. Perhaps Dolphin is saying; “here is xyz, or is it?” Perhaps he is trying to attach himself to the sentiment experienced by the fans of these iconic people. Perhaps he just wants to explore the icons, and their fans. The drawings were incredible, so detailed and carried out with such conviction. 

Downstairs presented a separate space, FILL_IN_THE_BLANKS, a completely different show. The work by Spanish born, LA Based artist, Pascual Sisto came together to focus on the ideas of a ‘post-internet society’, referring to chaotic systems the works comprise four videos and two sculptures. One of the videos is that of a car park; numerous basketballs bounce up and down relentlessly, void of human interaction or control. There is a humour in these works, another video features a white plastic garden chair apparently being bullied by a poltergeist.

The tour was insightful, it showed me, in two hours, many galleries I would no doubt have only came across if I’d spent an entire weekend in the area. Meeting those involved in the venues, galleries, and spaces gave a greater insight in to their operation, whether intentional or not. As in the case of the gentleman at Seventeen Gallery; he explained why he preferred the location of the gallery, keeping away from the cool start ups of Vine Street, keeping away from the cool, as the next progression for those that are cool, is uncool. It was great to hear from a selection of people with a spectrum of experience, opinion, background, and involvement. I really recommend these tours to anyone and everyone, regardless of their interest in contemporary art. 

pureevilclothing.com
hoxtonartgallery.co.uk
charliesmithlondon.com
peeruk.org
seventeengallery.com

artfeelers.com

This made me extremely happy, picked up The Stool Pigeon from Gallery Seventeen in Hoxton today, first page I open up to and a big phat FutureEverything ad stares me out. Lovely. 

jmackerley:

http://eca-mmu-interactions.tumblr.com/

(Source: jmackerley)

“data.anatomy [civic] is a new audiovisual installation by Ryoji Ikeda, arising from a unique collaboration with Mitsuru Kariya, the development leader of the new Honda Civic. Exhibited as a 3-screen video projection, data.anatomy [civic] immerses viewers in an intricate yet vast audiovisual composition derived from the entire data set of the car.”

data.anatomy [civic] by Ryoji Ikeda – Berlin – 19 April – 1st May
creativeapplications.net