A little disclaimer, I haven’t checked back through this week as it’s
late and I’m tired. Enjoy.
So, it’s been two
weeks and a load of stuff has happened, from the magazine’s open call ending to
the show at Chelsea being a success, alongside deciding to start a digital distribution
platform on isthisit? and going to a few shows. Let’s begin.
I’ve realised no new
work has been made for a little while, what with the show, dissertation
proposals and isthisit? flourishing.
After everything is finished at uni however, I intend to get back into it, with
various amounts of time over summer being solely devoted to making new work!
Let me cast my mind
back a few weeks and attempt to remember what happened, mainly clearing out of
the studios, tying up loose ends, adding bits and pieces to old and new work…
Ah yes, I made the bean bag pieces, getting a friend of mine to sow the fabric
together to utilise in the Chelsea show. They came out incredibly well, looking
great and being very comfortable. This was a success.
I also turned the
model of the building into a charging port, looking to the future and how
things are progressing regarding housing and the syncing up of our devices with
spaces and our relationship to that.
This week was mainly
focused around installing the show which was relatively easy; laying down the tarpaulin,
drilling in a few screws and gluing the sculptures to the wall. I’m slowly in
the midst of editing the pictures, so expect those either later today or
sometime in the next few days.
The date for my solo
show at Dollspace was also set, the first of June, so in just a few days! I
still need to make the tiny prints for these and lay down some extra carpet.
Apart from that it should be exciting and I’ve learnt a few things from the
past few shows involving the VR piece, so maybe I’ll make the decision to stand
by the VR so that the cables don’t fuck up. Alternatively, I’ll let them get
out of hand again, but that does get slightly annoying.
So yes, the Chelsea
private view went well, lots of people looking at my work, engaging with the VR
and sitting on the bean bags. We had a crit with Lucy Beech, who is always very
good, both at talking about the work and giving you contemporary artists to
look at who she’s friends with and are incredibly awesome. I wanna be friends
with Oliver Laric… Anyway, the main takeaway for me was her picking up on the
anxiety within my work, anxiety for the future and the state of things to come,
as well as the idea of waiting spaces or resting spaces. Areas that you sit in
and wait, airport terminals or video game spaces, areas that I’ve looked at in
my work, and the prevalence of the tarpaulin in that, being an object that
covers things but also used as a stopper of time, you cover over a motorbike to
stop time in that sense. My immediate thought was to cover airport terminal
seats with the tarpaulin or something similar, maybe I’ll work on this. As I
also said last week, I want to start making video game spaces again, so will
maybe look into building waiting room environments or something similar.
Last week on
isthisit? was me again with a group show, with one of the works being my own.
How problematic of me. These are the curatorial notes from that, which ended up
being fucking long:
The sun flickers on the horizon, just visible over a mass of artificial
light emanating from a perfectly sculpted cityscape. As you shift your focus,
narrowing your eyes and squinting into the distance, you manage to identify a
police helicopter hovering above one of the skyscrapers, the pilot preparing to
land after another successful assignment. You’ve been watching this hyper-real,
seemingly autonomous scene play out for the past few minutes, only now
realising that you have a life to get back to, regretfully tearing your eyes
away from the beautifully rendered copy of Los Angeles being displayed on your
television screen, back to the reality of the situation. This weeks exhibition
on isthisit? was named ‘an artificial edifice’ and features three works, each
dealing with artificial space and the overwhelming nature of the network,
reflecting on the present in relation to our past and future selves. Larry
Achiampong and David Blandy’s collaborative film ‘Finding Fanon 2’ utilises the
Grand Theft Auto V in-game video editor, appropriating and building on the lost
plays of Frantz Fanon. As the piece unfolds we’re introduced to the two artists
as avatars within the video game space, exploring the seemingly deserted
environment, patrolling dockyards and climbing mountains whilst a woman’s voice
is heard over a subtle soundtrack. As the post-colonial condition is being
considered and discussed by the unseen voice, you begin to understand that, for
all its beauty, the seemingly perfect virtual world that’s being presented is
as imperfect as the physical realm, due to the creators of the video game
residing in the real, steeped with bias and hidden vitriol. Towards the end of
the video the voice states ‘if I am guilty, it would be that I am guilty of
dreaming of emancipation’, summing up the escapism that players wish for when powering
up their console or donning their virtual reality headset, only to find that
these worlds are becoming more real than the reality you’re attempting to
escape. This leads to my own piece in the show, ‘Zo’, a film that continues to
interrogate the escapism that one seeks from their apparent real life. Various
moments of down time from the science fiction video game franchise Mass Effect
are observed in the background whilst in the foreground a text based
conversation occurs between myself and an internet bot, first chatting about
inconsequential moments, eventually leading to a discussion on what it means to
be human and what ‘real’ intelligence reflects. The final work in the show is
from Aylwin Greenwood-Lambert titled ‘Glyphs IV’. Serving as a background for
the other works, the digital print depicts an array of images that are garnered
from Google’s vast database, arranged to phonetically spell out the lengthier
version of the artworks title ‘RheaDinS can nerFur BeakOm DiscOnNeckTed FrOM
anY inDIvyDUelS nowLedJ aw EggsPearEyeAnts’. As the internet and various
virtual realms continue to affect and distort the language we speak and the
actions we take, where and what is the end game?
Anyway, this week Jim
and Sid took the helm with a bunch of great works from Eva and Franco Mattes,
Lawrence Lek, Max Hollands and John Kannenberg. See the show, titled Red Handed, by going here - www.isthisitisthisit.com/red-handed-john
After looking at a
bunch of stuff online and (as always) thinking about my future and how I’m
going to make money after I graduate in a years time, I decided to set up a ‘shop’
portion of the website to sell limited edition digital artworks, much like
Daata Editions. I’ll gain a commission from the works sold, ranging from 0 -
£300 and the amount of editions being between 5 – unlimited. I’ve begun the
slow process of setting all this up, contacting artists, making a certificate of
authenticity and drawing up contracts. It’ll hopefully all be set up in a month
or so, ready to launch!
This months resident
finished too, with a fairly interesting page, more like a diary than an art
piece, but fun all the same, being made up of various videos and images of
glitches. Next month is an artist called Luke Smith who makes some interesting
work using New Hive, so maybe he will actually make some virtual work rather
than using it as a diary. Obviously this isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a lot of
the artists seem to be using the space as a diary or a platform to show work
rather than making the website the work within itself…
The open call for the
magazine also finished, turning up a bunch of really great work actually and some
amazing essays. It’s definitely going to be far better than the last mag. Here’s
a little sneak peak of all the artists involved before I officially announce
everyone on the social media accounts. Such good people…
A couple of things
that I’ve been invited to do, which is always so cool. The first was a panel
discussion that occurred the other day with some great members of a group
called Keiken Collective who create and commission artworks. It was organised by
a group of students from LCC, with the audience being made up of mostly students
too, so it was a fairly relaxed introduction to being on a panel. It was filmed
too, so hopefully I can watch back, cringing and hating myself lol.
I’ve also been
invited to give a short talk at Goldsmiths as part of a conference, on my
practice and my role at isthisit?. The event is here and sounds very exciting -
www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id=10771
I’ve also been
talking with a few people about curating shows over the summer, one with Adeeb
at some point and another with Compiler. Jonny has also invited me to curate a
show at The Muse Gallery in July so that will also be something to look forward
to and send emails about. Lots of emails to write!
Oh isthisit? was also
named in the Hot 100 list that was created by a guy called Kevin Hunt in
association with A-N, it features a bunch of amazing spaces like 12o and Serf.
It’s an absolute honour to be a part of it and I’m really looking forward to
what the future holds.
I’m still interested
in putting together a book with the curatorial notes and promotional pictures
from the last year or so, but every week there’s another image and another set
of arguably better curatorial notes, so who knows!
Hmm what else? I got
into wotisart?’s third magazine publication. It seems like an okay magazine.
I also got into
Scaffold Gallery’s exhibition ‘A Show About The Show’ which will be happen in
Manchester in August. My contribution will be a bunch (around 20-30) fake CCTV
cameras positioned throughout the space, eerily looking at the art and the
people watching the art.
I was also selected
to be one of the first round of residents for WUU2 MATE?, a new residency
project founded by Emily Simpson and Agil Abdullayev. So the proposed project
surrounding my old Facebook data will come to fruition after all, how exciting!
I’m also going to be
a part of another podcast for Artists and Friends, specially made for the
magazine about memes and stuff. I also may be a part of a new podcast being run
by Kristina Pulejkova, one of the artist that’s been featured on isthisit? and
I got chatting to last night at 12o Collectives award ceremony/party, which was
very fun.
Oh and USB drives
continue to be sent my way by the invited artists, which is super exciting!
They’re all looking really nice. Here’s a few of the new ones:
What else, what else?
I think that might be it for things that are going on with me. I have to write
a dissertation proposal in the next few days, then do a presentation in a weeks
time, finally having a tutorial on the 20th. I’ll then be free for
the summer, how exciting.
Now, if I can remember
them, shows that I’ve visited from the past few weeks including a bunch of
degree shows and a fair amount of commercial galleries. Let’s begin with the
Slade which featured a bunch of fairly exciting work. Ernie Wang had created a
large installation of works, incorporating a toy train, a huge carpet hung from
the wall, a bunch of videos and a few prints/sculptures. Plus, their business
cards were stickers. I will definitely be stealing that idea next year.
Another fun room by Siobhan
Coen involved a colour morphing/changing wall with the help of colour changing
lights and carefully painted squares. This was accompanied by a soundtrack
taking inspiration from ‘There are known knowns’, a phrase from the United
States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2002. This was enough, although
for some reason they had decided to create a side room featuring a whole crazy
colour changing experience, so psychedelic man…
Jake Elwes had some
nice ideas about artificial intelligence and other things. The idea was nice
but the outcome was kind of dull.
The final interesting
piece was by Rhona Foster featuring a video installation with the actors and
actresses wearing cardboard cut outs of keyboards and computers. This was fun,
although I have no time for long videos at a private view which is always a
shame.
Another degree show
private view that I went to was at CSM. From the start it was a little weird,
having to obtain a ticket, although that was made up for with free alcohol
which Chelsea and other university degree shows sorely lack. Like, come on, it’s
the classic, why pay £9,000 a year when there’s no free alcohol at the degree
show. It was okay, nothing was there that I overtly enjoyed, it was all so
tightly squeezed into various floors of the monolithic building that I was
slightly overwhelmed. I don’t know…
So, non-degree show exhibitions
included Real Lives Half Lives: Fukushima,
a duo exhibition at Arts Catalyst featuring Eva and Franco mattes project Don’t Follow The Wind which involved the
artists curating an exhibition within the Fukushima blast zone. You view this
exhibition by donning make shift virtual reality headsets created by the
citizens who had to abandon their homes. These ranged in size and shape, at
times being incredibly annoying to interact with. I loved them and hope to see
more VR headsets like this in the future, walking away from the design of the
thing and moving towards making it into an actual piece of art rather than a
readymade object.
I also went to
Furtherfield for the first time, which is a lovely little gallery buried within
Finsbury Park, a fairly interesting space for a private view to occur. Although
I think if you journey all the way to Finsbury Park you should at least serve
free beer! The show, unfortunately, sounded more interesting than it actually
was! It was basically a load of artworks centred around the blockchain, the
system that all digital currencies like Bitcoin go through. Each transaction
made with bitcoins can be seen by going to the Blockchain. See, something I’m
incredibly interested and invested in, but the show was kind of dull. A video
of people explaining what the blockchain is or a forest that grows as more
money is donated to it. It sounds cool but wasn’t, it actually felt a little ‘hippy’
to me.
Lisson had two boring
as fuck shows on, painting.
Hannah Barry however
had two pretty exciting shows on, one about flat land BMXing and, as a former
BMXer myself, I was very intrigued. Especially when I turned up to the gallery
and a guy was riding around the space on a BMX, doing tricks and enjoying
himself. The floor was painted as if it was a school gymnasium, various
coloured lines affecting one another, as well as a few prints on the wall of
spaces like this used for tournaments. Solid fun work from Oliver Griffin.
Upstairs was a fairly
subtle show from Nick Jeffrey in celebration of a new publication from him,
which actually seemed very exciting. I may have to take a look on Amazon or
something… Anyway, the show consisted of various flowing material, opaque and
not really wanting to be there. A few sculptural works on the floor, a video
piece, some paintings and a speaker that was unfortunately inactive when I
visited. An interesting fluctuating layered space.
From there I went to
Arcadia Missa for a solo show by Ann Hirsch, who’s always been an incredibly
exciting and interesting character to me. She’s made some amazing work in the
past, creating YouTube characters and game show contestants, all created from
her own narcistic personality. This show consisted of paintings and wall based
drawings alongside a series of videos featuring pornography with subtle
animations overlaid. The drawings were fragile, not in their content but in
their form, and a stark contrast to the slightly overwhelming video works. It’s
a good show.
South London Gallery
had an exciting show on downstairs, a bunch of video installations by Erik Van
Lieshout that were very long and very layered. One was about the cats that live
under a museum to catch mice, another was a series of interviews with his
family. It was fun and you should go.
Upstairs was a less
interesting show featuring Alicia Reyes Mcnamara. Kind of aesthetic-y
sculptures and a boring video. I dunno, felt very weak.
Ida Applebroog at
Hauser and Wirth was boring.
Philip Guston on the
other hand was quite fun, a bunch of drawings of Nixon from the 70s. It is what
it is I think, but very fun.
Pace was super dull,
coloured blocks by Joel Shapiro.
I went to Morguefest, a day festival of
performances basically, all very fun, from a ceremony by Sid and Jim to an
intriguing performance involving dildos and ghosts. Weird but great, it surprised
me.
Another performance event
was La Ribot at The Place. This involved a very big room with a central structure
in the middle covered over by a big black tarpaulin. This was used as a stage
of sorts, to be manoeuvred around and interact with. The performers danced and
swayed with the crowd who were continually following them, ebbing and flowing
like a music concert. It was great.
And the final show of
the week (I think, unless I have missed some out, which is very likely) was Maeve
Brennan at Chisenhale Gallery with an exhaustive video piece The Drift, running for around 50
minutes! The film itself was beautiful, charting comparisons between drifting cars
and excavating spaces. I can’t really do it any justice, so I’ll simply say
that it was a beautiful film with crappy chairs, so do prepare yourself to be
uncomfortable.
That’s it I think,
now onto films and TV. I watched Mindhorn,
which was ‘fine’. Funny at times but overall a kind of boring experience with
no real jokes.
Sahara, an animation about a snake who is discriminated against for
the colour of his skin, was actually quite cutting for a children’s TV movie.
Actually, fuck that, children’s TV and films are amazing. If you’re looking for
a sophisticated animation then this may interest you.
T2 Trainspotting was painfully disappointing. It felt a little
contrived, although I do have a soft spot for these characters and the journey that
this film took me through as someone who adores the old film. I guess it was
nice to be in these people’s company once again but other than that it was a
bit ‘meh’.
Speaking of sequels, Alien: Covenant was not very
interesting. It was another Alien film, sure, something I’ve wanted to have for
a while, but it was basically Prometheus 2, and who actually enjoyed the first Prometheus
for anything other than its visual aesthetic. I don’t know, disappointing would
be the word to describe this I think. Disappointing.
The Boss Baby was fine, sweet, nice. Not that interesting.
War Machine was fine, a vaguely interesting drama about the Iraq
war starring Brad Pitt as a disgruntled army man. Yeah, it passes the time but
isn’t going to win any awards I don’t think…
The final film of the
two week period was Raw, an
incredible watch. You’re first introduced to a young woman going to a
prestigious university to be a veterinarian. Due to being made to eat meat for
the first time she begins to have urges, specifically to eat human flesh. It
slowly gets more and more fucked up as the narrative continues and I did feel
like throwing up multiple times. It’s incredible though, very well shot and amazing
acting from the lead actress Garance Marillier. It’s a must watch really.
I’ve also been
watching a bunch of TV. I got really into Chef’s Table for a little while, a
show about famous chefs, their lives and their technique. I slowly questioned why
I was watching this shit and abruptly stopped.
From there I moved
onto Avatar: The Last Airbender, a fun cartoon with no real narrative structure.
Most of the episodes could be randomly watched, probably created to be indulged
in after school or something, but it does the job of small little injections of
enjoyment every now and then.
I obviously watched
the first few episodes of the new season of Twin Peaks and obviously have no
idea what the fuck is going on already. I think that probably explains that!
That may well be it I
think… Maybe? For the next week I need to concentrate on dissertation proposal and
presentation alongside isthisit? stuff. For this version of the magazine I
think I’m going to have all the work as if it’s been inserted into a 4chan
forum post. I think this would work quite well with the overall theme of memes
and such… Now, what to put on the cover…
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