1 World 100 Lonely, a new film by Brian McGuire
...the two greatest tragedies in life are getting what you want, and not getting what you want: this is a paradox that lies at the heart of Brian McGuire’s 1 World 100 Lonely... Review
It has been said that the two greatest tragedies in life are getting what you want, and not getting what you want: this is a paradox that lies at the heart of Brian McGuire’s 1 World 100 Lonely, a wonderfully heart-breaking film that explores love and human relationships from a fresh perspective.
McGuire portrays a variety of experiences that many of us will be able to empathise with – the realization that someone may not be all that you had hoped, or may be more – that the ones you love have the power to plunge you into or pull you out from the depths of internal turmoil; through two interconnected storylines, we follow five characters as they try to figure out that elusive little thing called love.
Shot entirely on a mobile phone, the action feels natural and spontaneous with a gritty, documentary-like edge; although the frequent, shaky close-ups can be jarring at times, 1 World 100 Lonely is the perfect antidote to the clean-cut, mass produced romantic flicks churned out by mainstream media. The film’s emotional undulations are perfectly underscored by an original soundtrack (free to listen to and download on SoundCloud), courtesy of LA electro mellow punk group Haxsaw & Dugin, of which Brian McGuire is also a member.
Lead actors Robert Murphy, Lara Heller, Farah Moans and Mark E. Fletcher are so relaxed in their roles that the fictitious nature of the film is easily forgotten. The dialogue feels natural and unrehearsed in the best possible sense of the word, understandable yet impressive considered in light of the fact that there was no script.
A particularly noteworthy exchange takes place early on in the film between RexMen (Robert Murphy) and his long distance love interest Nosaneen (Lara Heller). We watch a head on collision as conflicts of interest and cultural differences become increasingly evident; a mesmerising train-wreck, each character tries in vain to express what they had hoped from the other. Metaphorical expression “we’re jumping on a bridge before we get to the river” is interpreted literally as “bungee jumping and a sense of adventure” – “I’m crazy for coming here” is met with “I’m crazy about you too”; Murphy and Heller exemplify the sad reality that the way we see or hear things is often clouded by our own hopes and desires, and that other people are flawed vessels into which we often place fragile and misguided expectations.
The film’s universal appeal lies in its acknowledgement and interpretation of the idea that to love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence – ultimately, we are all just lonely hunters looking for a connection to help ease our days away. Whether you are lucky enough to have found your significant other, continue to search, or exist blissfully in singularity (like me!), this film is definitely worth a watch.
4/5
1 World 100 Lonely premieres on Monday 28th September at the Raindance Film Festival, available to view again on Friday 2nd October.
Fashion Week Showrooms: Xu Zhi SS16
London Fashion Week - Our picks
It can’t be denied that there was elegance in the air in Xu Zhi’s SS16 lookbook, but it’s that of such fervency one must touch it to know it. Hand weaving is the long-serving charm in fashion that Xu Zhi keeps coming back to. Inadvertent grace is ever-present borne by his at-ease handcraft, while the knitted satin poetry glides along vivid saturation. With craft in the most tangible sense, this fresh-out-of-Saint Martins graduate is handing out a reassuring answer to how he may grapple a thread-bound intrigue for London.
Xu Zhi SS16, photography by Theresa Mar
Patternity: A New Way Of Seeing
“When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge”
Patternity is publishing a book that will make every visual obsessed creative crave for. Their extraordinary book launch kicked off a 5-day pattern celebration festival that sets the tone for their ‘out of the box’ book ‘Patternity: A New Way Of Seeing’.
In 2009, designer Grace Winteringham and art director Anna Murray decided to merge their talent and passion to create inspiration driven platform ‘Patternity’. Not answering to the newness of things but rather focusing on the chemistry between the old and the new, Patternity proves there is inspiration in every corner of our surroundings. Gathering all their research, designs and patterns they present us with ‘Patternity: A New Way of Seeing’. The collector’s item is a feast for the eyes, as well as a source of expertise and notion. Murray and Winteringham describe the book as the core philosophy of Patternity existent of 3 chapters: Curiosity, Collaboration and Connectivity. Acting upon these words, they transformed an image archive into a worldwide inspiring phenomenon in just five years. Holding the heavy book full of visual delight, impactful quotes and though-provoking theories in my hands, there was no doubt in squeezing it between the cherished hardcovers oF my bookshelf.
London Fashion Week: Show Highlight Day 1-3
Image gallery
BFC Show Space SS16 (Agnese Sanvito, British Fashion Counil)
Ten Designers in the West Wing
London Design Festival presents ‘Ten Designers in the West Wing’, the work of an impressive list of renown designers, exhibiting in collaboration with their best clients.
Alphabeta, Luca Nichetto for Hem
Located in the Somerset House, the festival has selected ten major designers from various fields to showcase their design stories in a contemporary and innovative way. Reserving the newly renovated rooms at the west wing of the building, the designers get full freedom to make their story as complete and convincing as possible.
As for the English Drawing Room, designer Faye Toogood will be handling renovations herself. Creating the illusion of an abandoned country house, she uses charcoal and translucent plastic sheets to enhance space between four walls, reinforcing the idea of walking through a whole house.
Covering film and set design, award-winning designer Tino Schaedler joins forces with virtual reality director Nabil of United Realities, sending us on a trip to space by fusing vanguard technology aspects of storytelling.
For the keen book lovers amongst you, British designers Edward and Jay Osgerby will lure you into their intimate Reading Room where their furniture will be showcased, alongside their new book ‘One By One’.
Tabanlioglu Architects & Arik Levy Render
Faye Toogood
Optimist Design & United Realities
Many of the rooms will be interactive, transforming design into a creative experience. Industrial designer Arik Levy takes this a step further by not only creating interaction between the viewer and the room but also between art and architecture. Collaborating with architect duo Tabanlioglu, the artwork will let you explore the theme of transparency.
Other talent attending the exhibition will be Alex Rasmussen, Luca Nichetto, Jasper Morrison, Nendo, Patternity and Ross Lovegrove.
Mon-Wed & Sun 10am-6pm, Thu-Sat 10am-9pm
FREE
@L_D_F
5 emerging designers we love…
Stumbling on new design talent in the fashion industry is always exciting, especially when those designers can change the perception you have on fashion. Curious about what you might be wearing in a couple of years? Keep a close eye on these talents and you’re ought to find out!
Moses Gauntlett Cheng
Designer complex Moses Gauntlett Cheng, consisting of David Moses, Esther Gauntlett and Jenny Cheng, is challenging the status quo. Known for pushing the boundaries from material choices to gender roles imposed by society, MGC has caused quite some controversy in the sometimes static world of fashion. Brilliantly shocking and oh so fun, their 2015 A/W collection was a non-stop party, starting off by models flaunting an adult baby look down the runway before jumping out of an RV. They explain their cutting-edge collection as a reaction to the piling stress and exhaustion in a rushed life. “We wanted to capture the vibe of going home and embracing comfort a little bit too much; reverting to this ‘adult baby’ stage and being looked after in a way that you’re kind of in love with and also embarrassed by”. Offering not only comfort but also a voice to a new indefinable generation; we expect them to occupy a permanent spot on the fashion radar.
Images via lucillagray.com
Lucilla Gray
In barely two seasons Lucilla Gray has already earned her place at both London Fashion Week and New Zealand Fashion Week, where she just presented her latest collection. Voicing an intelligent, strong woman, she merges conceptual fashion with ready-to-wear ideals as if they were made to synchronize. Although equally mesmerized by the otherworldly digital prints and versatility in her designs, we are mostly impressed by the level of sophistication she implements in every collection piece.
Ashley Kang
All eyes drawn to her remarkably detailed layering at Central Saint Martins graduation show, it is not a surprise knitwear graduate Ashley Kang learned her embroidery skills by working at no other than Alexander McQueen. Top that with a serious dose of glitter, metallics and heavy knits and you have Sporty Granny. Inspired by her own grandmother, her love for flowers and adventure, she created an overwhelming feast for the eye out of materials that couldn’t be more different but somehow fit the picture perfectly. Modernised granny glasses with beaded strings balanced out the outer space sneakers and futuristic silhouettes. Although we have only her graduation show to judge from, it is safe to say we will be seeing more from this young mastermind.
Image via leparadox.com
Quoï Alexander
Another Central Saint Martins wonder, Quoï Alexander, is taking over the fashion industry with his ‘anything but ordinary’ knits. Characterized by strong silhouettes and killer weaving techniques, his latest collection exists of laced armours, intertwining ideas and references together. The inspiration behind his complex collection came from Xu Bing, the writer who tricked Chinese readers in thinking he mastered the language, while in reality his words meant nothing. Obscurity through abstraction, a concept Quoï executed by bold opulence. A choice he had to make, as he could have gone for a minimalist approach. Instead he went for the maximalist route, a choice that definitely launched his career and made us admirers of his work.
Isabel Helf
As maximalism was the former designer’s main strength, Austrian accessory designer Isabel Helf is all about practical minimalism. Her multifunctional handbags have led her to wining the top price at this year’s ITS Accessories Award and a steady future in the fashion industry. Not only are we amazed by the options that come with these handbags, performing as accessory, furniture and storage, the impeccable quality these handbags radiate is truly remarkable. Aiming to give our eyes and minds a break from cluttered reality, she was inspired by compulsive orderliness, a disorder she recognizes herself in. Her inner urge to create a balance between objects within her surrounding area translates itself in the functional value of her bags, solving the on-going issue of space saving. Having brought a truly unique product on the market, we are curious how she is going to translate the combining function and aesthetics in other concepts.
Depictions of the Empty Bed in Contemporary Art
We are delighted that Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’ (1998) sculpture is back on show at the Tate Modern in London, and here's why.
As of May 2015, Tracey Emin’s Turner Prize nominated ‘My Bed’ (1998) sculpture is back on show at the Tate Modern in London. Bought in 2014 for £2.5 million, the bed is now on a ten-year loan to the gallery. In honoUr of this, I decided to look at other depictions of the empty bed in contemporary art, and the way it is used to represent vulnerability and the artist’s ownership of their own insecurities.
‘Messiness and despair’: Tracey Emin’s My Bed back on display at Tate Britain. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA via The Guardian
The bed is a frequent and poignant image, recognizable by all and incredibly personal to whomever sleeps in it. Most are born in a bed and most will die in a bed. It is a place for making love, and periods of illness are spent in its warm embrace. It is a sanctuary, and it can be a cage. Marcel Proust famously spent most of his life in one, sick and incessantly writing, neglecting all other aspects of his life.
Because of the strong emotions a bed can signify, it makes it an evocative subject for artworks.
The bed is a space of solace that we can if we choose, share with those we love. It is an incredibly intimate place and one which is unseen by all but a select few. It signifies regeneration, and is somewhere we go at our most vulnerable moments. We love in a bed and it is where we go when we are ill. Perfectly designed for the human body, beds differ very little throughout history and across continents. Any differences are mainly aesthetic, and there has been very little change to the fundamental elements of the bed since the first recorded use of one in Homer’s The Odyssey. The bed is a place we are most ourselves, we are vulnerable and unguarded, and where we are most human. Sleep is a thing that no human can do without, and the forced abstinence from sleep is a common form of torture.
The bed is a personified representation of the person who uses it, much like Yves Klein’s Anthropometries paintings, it is the human body is what creates the abstract shapes. The bed is a mold that records the movements of the night; all of a person’s dreams are represented in the folds of a blanket. For this reason, artists utilize the bed to show the unguarded subject at their most exposed.
Cai Yuan and Jian Jun Xi, on Tracey Emin’s Bed, 1999, Tate Gallery, London. via www.madforreal.org
In 1999, two Chinese artists, Yuan Cai and Jian Jun Xi, decided to climb into the bed, an act that breached not only the gallery rules of not touching artworks, but also the social norms of never entering another's bed without invitation. This artistic rape was an attempt to demystify the object, under the illusion that they weren't really doing anything wrong.
Emin's bed is an unmade and dirty double, complete with all the detritus of her life strewn about it. Filthy knickers, condoms, cigarette butts, vodka bottles, and dirty slippers surround it. The colour of the sheets exemplifies the weeks of grime that has built up, and nothing has been cleaned before she placed it in a gallery for all to see. This literally ‘lived in’ bed was Emin’s home for a few days during a bout of suicidal depression after a breakup, and one from which she thought she would never recover. Amongst this array of refuse is a stuffed seal. A solitary figure of hope and innocence amongst the chaos.
Untitled (Lesbian Bed #3) via tammyraecarland.com/lesbianbeds
In 2002, artist Tammy Rae Carland created the work ‘Lesbian Bed #3’, which was above-view photograph of an unmade bed. The bed is skinlike in hue, a fresh pink like that of blushing cheeks. Shadows dissect the bed, thrown from a window that is situated out of frame, above the head of the bed and to the top of the photograph.
One pillow is creased and appears used, whilst the most forefront and prominent pillow seems unused. The crease created by long periods of being folded is still clearly evident. This suggests that the couple to whom this bed belongs slept tightly interwoven, either sharing one pillow or one nestled cozily in the crook of an arm or the neck.
The main shadow thrown from the window takes the form of an inverted cross, conjuring up images of religious persecution towards homosexuals and playing with the suggestion that homosexuality is ‘against god’. The point at which the head would sit upon the cross is the least creased area on the entire bed, suggesting clarity of thought, which contradicts and nullifies this earlier point. The bed is unmade and quite literally ‘uncovered’ without quilt or blanket.
The smaller shadows that crisscross the surface resembles the bars of a tightly meshed cage, an idea that resonates with the feeling one has when repressing true emotion, something that many homosexuals still have to do today. The creases across the surface of the bed form the ‘greater than’ sign (>), and are chevrons that naturally bring the eyes towards the right of frame, leading us forwards, suggesting a progression of thought.
This photograph is beautiful in its loaded simplicity, it’s openness and honesty make us question homosexuality and how it is perceived. This work calls into focus the emotions of a socially ostracized and sometimes repressed individual, showing us that they are no different than the rest of the world’s population, and that they need to sleep in a bed like we all do. Shapes that hint at religion make us remember the turbulent past that homosexuals have experienced at the hands of religious ideology.
All of this has been cleverly hidden inside an inoffensive image, which makes it an accessible comment on sexuality. It works as a Trojan horse, accessing out subconscious and showing very plainly that homosexuals are nothing special, for this could be my bed or your bed or your parent’s bed. We are all the same and we have the same needs, to be loved, to sleep, and to sleep with whom we love.
‘au naturel’ (1994) by Sarah Lucas © The artist, courtesy Murderme and Sadie Coles HQ, London via designboom.com
In 1994 Sarah Lucas made Au Naturel, a sculpture utilizing decaying readymades to personify a Male and Female character from a sheet-less mattress.
The mattress is dirty and torn, and it looks well used. Bent at what would be the waist, the orangey tint and the folds created in the bending give it the appearance of a flabby unwell belly with many rolls. A bucket and two melons depict the female, whereas two oranges and a stiff cucumber represent the male. The bucket is comically large, and its size is greatly exaggerated in relation to the size of the cucumber, suggesting sexual failure and the inability for the woman to perform.
This artwork is at its core an artwork about gender, but more than that it is an artwork about sex and sexual inadequacy. The signified vagina is much too large for the penis, which is roughly in scale with the breasts, testicles, and stomach rolls in the personified mattress. The vagina is represented by an object that is used to carry water, and is dry. The barrenness of the bucket contrasts with a virile cucumber comprised of almost entirely 95% water.
The organic objects in this work will decompose with time, the liquid in the breasts will dry up, and the cucumber will wilt, having never spilled its seed. The way that the mattress is folded creates stomach rolls, which are more prominent on the 'female' side of the bed. This artwork speaks to us on an incredibly intimate level, and one of a sexual nature. It exposes how we make ourselves vulnerable in order to fully love another, and some of the possible worries people may have in doing so.
Rachel Whiteread Untitled (Air Bed II) via Tate.org.uk
In 1992, British Turner Prize winner Rachel Whiteread made the sculpture Untitled (Air Bed ll). Cast in polyurethane rubber, the surface resembles the skin of the recently deceased. This air bed is stood at a perpendicular angle to that at which it would be suitable for sleeping on, something that bizarrely suggests that it is being stored like this rather than let down. A temporary object made less temporary, both in this method of implied storage, and the fact that it has been cast and placed in a gallery. This method of placement inside the gallery also suggests that it is not a space for rest, but an object for contemplation. To invite someone to see our bed is a privilege. It is a space for deep contemplation, and a place where we dream.
To expose to the world your bed is a bold statement, you are exposing your very being. 'Laid bare' is the most apt description of these artworks, and the one that seems to sum them all up.
Emin's bed may not be pretty, but the act of exhibiting it is an incredibly beautiful thing, and the regeneration and solace that this bed signifies is an inspiration to us all. For the period that she spent in that bed was spliced with unrest, she contemplated suicide. The real beauty in this bed is that she beat this particular bout of depression, and her exposition of it was her way of purging her soul, it was a method of cleansing that she allowed the whole world to see.
By signifying this with such a recognisable and universal object, Emin makes the work instantly recognisable and easy for all to identify with.
She demystifies both the art object, and by association, the artist. This work is unpretentious in its representation of the artist, nothing is gilded and nothing is sugar coated. She is showing how the artist is the same as the rest of us, with her own fears and problems.
Were Emin's suicide to happen, the bed is the most likely location. In Britain the most common form of suicide in women is overdoses of medication or poisoning, both likely to occur in a bed. Emin’s bed signifies the strength of the human spirit, the suicidal feelings she was battling were beaten, and she refused to let them win. The bed is empty, and forever it will remain so.
The stuffed seal, and all it represents, has won.
Artists and Scientists at Music Tech Fest
The exciting formula for championing future creative and technological collaboration in music. We interview Andrew Dubber, Music Tech Fest's Director.
Soft Revolvers by Myriam Bleau
Andrew Dubber, Music Tech Fest’s director, explains to me the freedom Music Tech Fest fosters in joining creative musicians and technological minds in an all-inclusive environment – the aim is to ultimately liberate the music technology scene and revel in the mayhem that ensues.
How and why was 'Music Tech Fest' conceived and what developments has it gone through to make it the internationally-reaching community it is today?
I wasn’t there for the first Music Tech Fest. It was something that came out of the European Road Map for the Future of Music Information Research. Michela Magas was the scientific director for that project - and was the founder of the Music Tech Fest. The idea was to bring together artists and scientists, academics and industry in a ‘hands on’ experimental environment - rather than just a conference. I came along to the second one and, like most people who now work for MTF - I basically just never went home. I was asked to take on the role of director of the festival, and we have had invitations - sometimes through some of my own professional connections - to bring the event to different cities. It’s different everywhere we do it, and we learn a lot by doing each one. But what makes it work is the fact that it brings together such a diverse range of brilliant and interesting people. It’s not a matter of controlling the outcome. You put them together in a room and watch what happens.
Why do you think it is important for musicians working with technology to meet face to face in a world saturated by online ‘music technology’ content?
I don’t think it’s necessarily important for musicians to meet each other face to face. It’s nice, just as any personal human interaction is nice. But there’s a lot that can be done through online collaboration between people who have the same language and mode of working. What’s important is that they meet *other types of people* with different skills and frames of thinking. People who aren’t musicians, but bring something else to music. And to make that work, people need to build something together. If you want to innovate in music, you need creative technologists, designers, hackers, musicians, artists, product designers, music industry people - a whole range of different minds. That’s what the face to face stuff is for. You get people working collaboratively and it opens up all sorts of unimagined possibilities.
‘Music Tech Fest’ seems different in that you pride yourself on being ‘a community with a festival, not a festival with a community’ - why is it important to 'bring down' the hierarchy that a lot of creative ‘festivals’ have and somewhat ‘level the playing-field’ for musicians working with technology?
There are a few important things here. First - we want to remove barriers to participation. Anyone who wants to play music, make technologies, hack, research or find out about music technologies should not be prevented from doing so because of financial restrictions. Second, it’s important to us that things that happen at Music Tech Fest have a life beyond the festival. New projects begin, new businesses are formed, new art installations are imagined, new performances planned - that sort of thing. That’s what Music Tech Fest is for. It’s a catalyst for the community. Where people come together, get exposed to new concepts and experiences, meet new people, have interesting discussions, make new prototypes and so on - but then go off to develop those further and maybe come back and showcase those things on the main stage at a later Music Tech Fest.
A lot of the creative developments in the ‘music tech’ world aren’t solely to do with music anymore - how and why is cross-collaboration in artistic mediums important and how does ‘Music Tech Fest’ foster these concepts?
The edges where music stops and other stuff starts has always been blurred - but now more than ever. We’re interested in music for its own sake, because music is amazing - and we’re also interested in music as a tool for other things (social change, industrial innovation, education…). Music is something pretty much everyone has a relationship with in one way or another. It’s the bit that connects the tech-heads with the artistic people, the academics with the industry. We’re working with Volvo trucks and Philips lighting. Those organisations might not be thought of as music related, but they see the value of a transversal approach to innovation, and music as a galvanising force that gets young people interested in technology and engineering. The cross-collaboration in the arts is especially important in an age of computing because the artificial barriers between storytelling, music, film, visual arts - even taste and touch - are broken down in our increasingly synaesthetic and multi-modal world.
The improvements and accessibility of technology in general is something that is obviously allowing more people to engage with it. How has the festival engaged with the issues of inaccessibility to technology to allow a wider engagement with music tech?
It’s a really important strand of what we do. For instance, we’re working closely with a number of organisations who are focused on using technology to remove barriers to participation for people with disabilities. We encourage our hackers to keep accessibility in mind when developing any new projects and we showcase projects that are about making music available to more people in more places - for instance, the One Handed Musical Instrument (OHMI) Trust, Drake Music and Human Instruments. It’s also a key part of our #MTFResearch network principles. The Manifesto for the Future of Music Technology Research, which came about as a response to the Music Tech Fest we held at Microsoft Research in Boston. See: http://musictechifesto.org
All images courtesy of Andrew Dubber
Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts has just opened its doors to Ai Weiwei's major exhibition in the UK - check out the preview photos by Nick JS Thompson
The Royal Academy of Arts has just opened its doors to Ai Weiwei's major exhibition in the UK, presenting some of his most notable works from the time he returned to China from the US in 1993, right up to present day.
Photos by Nick JS Thompson
Ai Weiwei – Creating Under Imminent Threat
Ai Weiwei at The Royal Academy of Arts
Saturday – Thursday 10am – 6pm
Friday 10am – 10pm
Main Galleries, Burlington House
Music Premiere : Makeshift Happiness, a new EP by Christa Vi
Inspired by origami and paper craft, Christa Vi’s new EP, Makeshift Happiness, creates something beautiful and bright out of the ordinary, futile optimism, and fragility of the existentialist everyday.
Photo by Jon Enoch. Origami by Papershake
Inspired by origami and paper craft, Christa Vi’s new EP, Makeshift Happiness, creates something beautiful and bright out of the ordinary, futile optimism, and fragility of the existentialist everyday. The record is resplendent with a peppy positivity as vibrant as the redhead the song lyrics were spurn from. Contemplative, reflective lyrics and Florence Welch wispy new romantic vocals hook onto a driving, electronic melody; reticent of Oh Land and the like. The moody Germanic undercurrent and Australian optimism of her two home countries have blended with the flux, grit and shift of new base London to create a unique brand of lyric-driven, synth-centric, electronic indie pop in a record preoccupied with making the best of life’s hard knocks.
Headed up with the eponymous title track, the EP also includes a radio edit and remixes by L.A. dweller Small Pyramids (Glasgow Underground) and renowned beat-master DJ AMTRAC who brings textured, sizzling and liquid layers to his evocative remix.
Released on her own record label, Tangelo Records, Vi often handpicks guest producers to pepper her music and has spent years honing her sound with Box of Wolves, Ben Salter and AIMES. This time she has teamed up to co-produce with the multi-instrumentalist mastermind Andrew McDonnell (Crystal FIghters, Petite Noir, Suns). This collaborative interest in crafting feeds into her video and album artwork with pastel-toned illustrative cover art by Erin Greer a video by Chris Turner / Favourite Colour Black.
It may be making music makeshift, but it is certainly not make do.
Makeshift Happiness, EP by Christa Vi, will be released 25th September on Tangelo Records. It can be preordered here:
Liggers & Dreamers : a new book by Josie Demuth
Artists are doing it for themselves – or are they?... Tales from the London Art Scene
IT’S EXHAUSTING! Keeping up with three very resourceful artists at the same time for a Q&A session. Three of the creative arts' liveliest talents. First, Josie Demuth; a prolific author and the founding editor of La Bouche Zine. Second, Jason Gibilaro; a contemporaneous artist and the cover artist of Josie Demuth's new book; Liggers and Dreamers. And our third musketeer is illustrator extraordinaire Ian Wright whose visual art work has spanned four decades.
Liggers and Dreamers by Josie Demuth, Cover artwork by Jason Gibilaro
Unusual combinations often produce the most interesting read, as you’ll see in this article. Now, we are gathered in the basement of the famed unconventional Vout-O-Reenees Art Club and gallery The Stash, to share their unique insights on preparing for their major test yet, of their life’s work and more importantly to talk about Demuth’s manic short story book titled Liggers & Dreamers; Tales from the London Art Scene. To complement, and celebrate, the book launch, there is an exhibition of Liggers and Dreamers art by Jason Gibilaro, and Ian Wright’s photos from his collection of Arts Herbert’s on show at The Stash Gallery. Josie Demuth’s new book is innovative with no time for baloney. She goes for the jugular. A very tongue in cheek, tickling and fiercely observed manuscript on an extraordinary scale about liggers (derrière -licking persons) and dreamers (groupies & sycophants) of the London art world. A well written story on how they make their way through London’s elite art scene as well as the ruthless behaviour of a gang of intriguing and flamboyant personalities, as they diligently make their way all around London’s most fashionable gallery private views and bashes for the sole purpose of freeloading on champagne, decent wine and canapés “like a flock of seagulls”. Josie alleges that there are these individuals, “uninvited freeloading party goers”; for who it’s the art of being seen and accepted at art exhibitions rather than a passion for the often hollow modern art on show.
Demuth said: “We are having the unveiling of Liggers & Dreamers on a Friday so that all the liggers can come, after all there wouldn’t be a book and exhibition without them”. In harmony with Demuth, the proprietor of Vout-O-Reenees Art Club Sophie Parkin affirmed: “I will be making extra canapés knowing how Liggers swoop in on any free food and drinks”. Liggers & Dreamers is a fascinating work of creative writing by someone with tremendous imagination. However, some very identifiable famous individuals from the worlds of music and art also make an appearance in the novel. J. D. disputes strongly that any similarity is thoroughly accidental. Yeah right! We believe you Josie Demuth. Also, there’s a wry, shrewd narrative to her story that throws-up constant parallels with pale imitation celebrities and thespians, who regularly gate crash occasions for that chance to take a selfie and share via social media to prove that they have arrived...
Now welcome to the discussion with the three musketeers – oh yes, artists.
This is a very audacious and highly speculative book with some mischievous narrative, which could easily attract extreme dislike towards you. Why was it important that you write this book?
Josie Demuth: Whoa! That is severe. It is not an attack on freedom of expression. It is important for me to write this novel because it focuses on some very interesting characters. And being somebody that has been gallery hopping myself in the last few years, I found these characters to be very worthy of note in the gallery world. I felt and believe they must be documented. I initially started by writing short stories about them in The International Times, then when the list got produced in Cork Street gallery in a covert operation to blacklist these liggers – I thought right away this will be a great narrative for a novel. And my novel only focuses on about a dozen liggers for now. There are a lot more characters that I might report on in another book. A ligger is a freeloader. They go to parties and functions or corporate events with the view of getting freebies. I think everybody loves a freebie. But then again, liggers come in categories; there are some mild liggers and there are chronic liggers and there’re some arch liggers too. In my book you will find all sorts. And yeah, there are those who do gallery hopping that have substance, no doubt about that. So I don’t see how anyone would direct any hate towards me.
I love Charlie by Jason Gibilaro. Acrylic on canvas, 118cm x 153cm, 200
Jason Gibilaro is the book cover artist of Liggers and Dreamers. How did that come about?
Jason Gibilaro: let me answer that. I met Josie way back at an exhibition I staged and I am very interested in the team of liggers and dreamers. I did a small experimental drawing piece and sent it to a mate of mine and he ended-up sending it to Josie and others, and everyone liked it. One thing led to another and Josie liked the drawing and it ended up as the cover of the book. I am very proud of the cover.
Collaboration can be a tad tricky. Was it easy working with Josie or would you rather not work with her again?
Jason Gibilaro: Oh yes, she was nightmarish. (Just kidding!). I will work with her again if the opportunity arises. The final drawing on the cover was a consensus. Yes, we had several meetings with others, but at the end everybody decided that my painting was the one for the book. Initially I was for the image I did for the I love Charlie thing, but what the heck? This cover is very artistic. I am an artist in my own right and it’s just a coincidence to work with an author. It’s an opportunity to do some exploring and add to my repertoire. I see Josie as an artist who personally engages.
Is Josie Demuth shrouding as one of the characters in this book?
Josie Demuth: Yes someplace. The book mirrors and captures the spirit that I believe in. I have been gallery hopping myself for years, so I am in there somewhere and I have witnessed these sort of quirky little scenario situations, so to tell this sort of story, I have to be a part of the story. I implicate myself in things I do. For Liggers & Dreamers, there was no way I could have written it just standing outside saying look at this; this is good or this is terrible or whatever.
Is it fair to describe J. D. as an eccentric, provocateur or just ridiculously over-dramatic with tremendous imagination?
Ian Wright: Let me answer that question. (Why are you guys taking it in turns to answer for Josie, is hilarious) I know that to write this book took a long time and, of course, some imagination. It was a work in progress and I can also understand why some persons would conclude – especially the press like you, that she is being provocative and over dramatic. We are living in interesting times as far as the arts or creative arts are concerned. I think this is just a segment of the arts that she has hit upon and it’s interesting to inform the wider public what is going on in the art world. She is brutally honest about what she thinks, not at all over dramatic. I wouldn’t say she is provocative and dramatic. But if she provokes a debate or a response about freeloaders, great. We all like a bit of drama. I like a bit of drama too.
The Collector by Jason Gibilaro. Acrylic on paper, 17.50cm x 27.00cm, 201
How does this ménage à trois work – professionally?
Ian Wright: We are eccentric in different ways. We all have our different interests but also have similarities too. It is fair to say that our eccentricity works greatly for us. And it is fair to say the book and the art exhibition is kind of a celebration of eccentricity. At the end of the day, be you a writer, painter, architect or poet, we are all artists in the creative arts. So why can’t we work together. It’s something we should see more and more and these boundaries will become very fluid.
Photo by Ian Wright. The Painter and the Poet from The Art Herbert Series, 2009. 6x9 inch
Photo by Ian Wright. The all star Hackney Wick sand gang, 2015. 16x12 inch
...
This threesome Josie Demuth, Jason Gibilaro and Ian Wright seemed destined to be both notable polemicists and visionary creators. An avant-garde underground art movement of the modern era. They have been able to transcend the rather claustrophobic boundaries of the art world. About Liggers & Dreamers, I find it thoroughly frenetic and fresh - highly recommended. Read it and I bet, you will see freeloaders and hangers-on in a totally different light. And it’s not pretty.
An exhibition of Liggers and Dreamers Art by Jason Gibilaro & Ian Wright’s photos is on show at The Stash Gallery, 30 Prescot Street, London E1 8BB
September 11 - September 27
Liggers & Dreamers – Tales from the London Art Scene by Josie Demuth
Cindy Rizza – The Beauty of Nostalgia on Canvas
Has a painting ever been so realistically close to your memories, it reminded you of your own past?
When it comes to setting a mood, American based contemporary realist painter Cindy Rizza knows how to get your mind wandering. Evoking the feeling of nostalgia by depicting memories of her own, Cindy takes us back to the little moments in life she cherishes, as if we’ve experienced them ourselves.
The award-winning artist is known for playing with the power of collective memory and identification in a truly remarkable way. Arousing a human presence lingering throughout every canvas, she creates a certain intimacy between the (un)seen subject and the viewer, even if that painting portrays a door, a shadow of a house, or a clothesline of linen drying in the garden.
Fascinated by the influence a single object can have on the human brain, Cindy’s most recent work consists of nothing but chairs. A chair in the garden facing the sun, three on the terrace, one with a quilt draped over it. Besides the fact that these beautifully painted canvasses resemble photographs, when skimming past them it seems there is not a lot to glance at. However, when giving it a closer look and some thought, comfort and past memories overtake.
Even though our mind is set to treat everyday objects as ordinary, by treating those mundane things with carefulness and an open mind, Cindy provokes a surprising sense of otherworldliness as if there is a second layer to her paintings that lures us into a story we can all identify with.
In My Shoes: Switchst(d)ance
An interview with Marco Antão resident DJ’s at Lux Frágil, Lisbon.
Photo by Tiago Reis
My name is Marco Antão, I was born and raised in Lisbon and I am one of the resident DJ’s at Lux Frágil. As a producer I am associated with the German music label Beachcoma. I am something of a collector of synths and admittedly it’s been a growing obsession of mine over the years. The name "Switchst(d)ance" came from my longtime love of skateboarding. If you remove the letter “d”, it’s the name of a trick that i spent my teen years mastering. When you add the letter “d”, the word gains new meaning and symbolises the start of something new, a game-changer as it were, when I started DJ’ing.
I started spinning records at a friend’s party almost ten years ago, basically to keep the thing going. The feeling I got once I was behind the turntables was a turning point (excuse the pun) for me; it was a wicked experience, watching people dance to the music I was playing. After that night, I began playing in the bars of Lisbon and five years ago I became a resident DJ at Lux. I consider myself very lucky, since it only took me a couple of seconds to realise what I wanted to do with my life.
Photo by David Tutti dos Reis
Of course, it wasn't always easy. Looking back, the most challenging phase for me, artistically, was around 2008, when I was having a hard time finding gigs. This was because the kind of music that was popular in Portuguese nightlife at the time was really different from what I was playing. However, the pursuit of new and original sounds always kept me going. And it was rewarding because now I have the privilege of playing for and connecting with some really great crowds, which for me is, hands down, the best part about making music. The beauty of music is that it is very communal, yet at the same time a hugely unique experience. Transmitting emotions and feelings through sound in a way that every single person can feel and interpret into their own private experience is a totally unique way of communication. It leaves me both proud and humbled to enable this and it is a big part of what inspires my style.
For me the most important element to making music is creating something intelligent and, above all, something sensory. I like music that gets inside your head because it has unique textures like interesting synth sounds, twisted arpeggios, off-key notes, that kind of thing. I like rhythm patterns that don’t sound like they were rigidly quantised to a grid, but help distinguish a track from your straight up "four-to-the-floor" dance floor fodder. Personally, I don't really rationalise my music and I try not to overthink it. Instead, I focus on mixing sounds that come together in a good way and I like to think I am always pushing the boundaries of what is already out there in order to create something distinctive and different. Even though the general opinion is that everything has already been created, composed, written, spoken or sung, I believe that the possibilities to create and grow remain infinite. And that's the really exciting part about doing what I do.
Real Fear for Safe Experience
On the 30th anniversary of the death of Ana Mendieta, I decided to take a retroactive look at one of her most shocking and poignant works – People Looking At Blood (1973). A review by Benjamin Murphy.
On the 30th anniversary of the death of Ana Mendieta, I decided to take a retroactive look at one of her most shocking and poignant works – People Looking At Blood (1973).
Perhaps a precursor to the (now-waning) Shock Art phenomenon of the nineties, Mendieta is undoubtedly a cult hero, and an inspiration to many. Tragically, Mendieta died in September 1985, the aftermath of which echoes one of her most shocking works - People Looking At Blood.
Whilst at home in her thirty-fourth floor apartment with her artist-husband Carl Andre, an argument was heard by the neighbors and Ana ‘went out the window” (Andre’s description). Accident, suicide, or murder, this form of death is eerily similar to what appears to have happened in People Looking At Blood, an artwork she created twelve years before.
The work is, as its name would suggest, a series of photographs of unwitting members of the public walking past a pile of blood and innards on a New York City sidewalk. The people in the photographs do not know that they are part of an artwork, and they do not know that the blood is from an animal. The fear they experience is very real, and their reactions are honest.
Mendieta often worked with feminist themes in her work, and for that reason her use of blood can’t be ignored. Rape and murder scenes are things that she often recreated, heavy with blood and gore, and often using her own body. These works force themselves upon the viewer, often unsuspecting, in a bold and aggressive way often utilized by feminist artists.
(For simplicity from this point on I will use 'Subject' to describe the people depicted in the photographs, and 'Viewer' to describe the museumgoer viewing the photographs)
When looking at the photographs that make up the work People Looking At Blood, one cannot help but feel empathetic towards the subjects depicted in the images. Going about their daily lives they were unprepared to deal with such trauma. Who knows how such scenes will affect these people? Perhaps one of them witnessed a bloody murder and this will bring them back to that traumatic day. Whatever the subjects of these artworks felt at the time, we will perhaps never understand, the extent of which could quite literally be catastrophic.
People go out of their way to experience art in order to feel heightened emotions in a safe environment. Art that is shocking or promotes fear creates adrenaline that in the non-threatening environment of a gallery can be enjoyed without worry of actual threat. Theme parks are a popular attraction for much the same reason; people enjoy feeling fear when they are confident that they are not facing actual physical trauma. The people in these photographs however, aren’t looking at an artwork; rather they are forced to become a part of one. The photographs are then displayed in the safe gallery environment for a complicit viewer. Real fear is created in the people looking at the blood in order that their real reaction can be enjoyed by the viewer in the form of a safe experience.
People Looking At Blood goes one step further than just making the work exist in a real (non-depicted) way, as it forces people to become a part of the work. It brings the work out of the art setting entirely and places upon unsuspecting victims. When creating work in this way one is playing with real emptions and fears, and one must be very careful. When entering an art gallery one already has a set of intentional and unintentional ideas and preconceptions of what to expect, and therefore how to act. The viewer is a willing participant, and is on his guard.
Oscar Wilde expressed this notion perfectly in The Critic As Artist:
“..art does not hurt us. The tears that we shed at a play are a type of the exquisite sterile emotion that it is the function of art to awaken. We weep, but we are not wounded. We grieve, but our grief is not bitter.”
This artwork however, is somewhat different. The viewer has consented to view artwork, which is a decision refused the subjects. They are free to weep real tears, and their emotions will be anything but sterile.
Once art moves out of the gallery and is thrust upon the unsuspecting public (as in this work) the adrenaline cannot be enjoyed by the participant in the artwork in the same way. They are not in the safe gallery environment and are therefor facing (in their eyes) a very real threat. Real fear is created in these unwitting participants so that the gallery visitors, at the subject’s expense, can experience ‘safe fear’.
Another brilliant example of this, but in a more exaggerated and threatening way, is Chris Burden’s TV Hijack (1972). Created on a live television broadcast on which Burden was asked to create a live work, Burden held a knife to the presenter’s throat and threatened to kill her. The ethics of these are questionable, but the artworks wouldn’t be successful if this weren’t so. For these artists to create these works without the forced participation of uninformed people the works would not be as powerful or as challenging.
One can’t help but wonder; what did the people do immediately after the photographs were taken? Were they informed of the origin of the blood or the reason for its placement on the sidewalk?
This kind of work exists because people demand to be shocked in the most vicious way possible. What was deemed shocking 100 years ago is tame and tepid by today’s standards. Once the bar has been raised in terms of shock-value, anything that falls below it is then made less shocking by its comparison.
The horror of Goya has moved from the two-dimensional depicted world (i.e. painting) into the real, tangible world of Mendieta. Depictions of horror can never be as powerful as real and unexpected horror encountered in the real world. Although this blood was from an animal and was placed intentionally upon the sidewalk, the people photographed knew none of this. For them the horror was real. Mendieta successfully created real horror without having to commit a particularly horrific act. In this case, the carefully constructed instance of artificial horror, presented in this way, creates real and recognizable horror.
Artists when creating artworks are essentially intending to create a real emotion in the viewer with their work. Fear, Disgust, and Revulsion are relatively simple emotions to convey as there are many images and scenarios that when viewed will create such emotions with little effort from the artist. The Young British Artists utilized this technique to great effect and gained themselves many tabloid inches as a result. These works were successful in creating these intended emotions, but in a looser and more diluted way than achieved by Mendieta in the subjects of her photographs. People viewing these works are aware that they are viewing an artwork and not the real thing. These artworks are merely representations of horrific things, as opposed to actual horrific things, and for that reason cannot create pure emotions devoid of a level of understanding about the artwork that alters its effect.
Perhaps the most shocking and disturbing artwork to date is Zhu Yu’s ‘Eating People’ (2000), in which the artist is shown in a series of photographs cooking and eating a stillborn human foetus. The work is obviously and understandably shocking, but it lacks the delicate balance between the real and artificial present in much of Mendieta’s work. Eating People is a very extreme example of an artist deciding to create the most controversial work possible, with no other intended function other than to shock. And it is for this reason that the artwork fails to be interesting, or successful as a work of art.
This work also begs the question, ‘Where can we go now from here?’, as any artist that wants to take the ‘most shocking artwork’ mantle from Zhu is going to have to commit some pretty heinous crimes. Something expertly mocked in the satirical essay ‘On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts’ by Thomas De Quincey.
In her work, Mendieta hasn’t resorted to using real human blood; her artwork is more intelligent in its approach. She has managed to create real, honest and drastic emotion, without having to resort to using drastic measures. For this reason Mendieta’s work is most powerful in its subtlety.
Mendieta’s work is as important today as it was when she died thirty years ago, she aggressively forces us to view uncomfortable images, and her poignant message is delivered unapologetically. Today too many artists are simply looking to shock the viewer, and in this they are taking the easy way out, avoiding having the laborious task of creating works with meaning.
Ana Mendieta may have helped to pave the way for the shock artists of today, but it is doubtful that she would approve of some of their lazy tactics and essentially vapid works.
Works that exist only to shock are simply not enough, and will not prove to have the longevity that Mendieta’s work undoubtedly will.
A preview of Judy Chicago's Star Cunts & Other Attractions
The Riflemaker Gallery will play host to Judy Chicago once again with work both acquainted and un-introduced. Meet her Star Cunts & other attractions; a feminist-fired suite of her historic sculptures, paintings and archival pieces.
Image credit - Judy Chicago at work in her china-painting studio in 1974. Courtesy of Through the Flower Archives
By Suzanna Swanson - Johnston
From 14th September - 31st December 2015, the Riflemaker Gallery will play host to Judy Chicago once again with work both acquainted and un-introduced. Meet her Star Cunts & other attractions; a feminist-fired suite of her historic sculptures, paintings and archival pieces.
Artist, writer, educator, pioneer and artistic-punk-rocker, Judy Chicago created the feminist art movement; reacting to to social and political injustice during the revolutionary times of the 1960s and 1970s that she rose to prominence in. The history of art was the history of the white bourgeois man, till it was remoulded in the hands of Judy Chicago. Her art is dry-witted, dirty-talking, socially-pointed, intricate, fecund, frank, kick-ass-colourist abstraction. It dresses up in a history of representational feminine imagery in order to draw on the historical associations, and subvert them. Rifle-maker offers us a peep-show of the elements unseen.
In their exhibitive debut, on show are porcelain test plates which chronicle Chicago’s studies of china painting in preparation for the Dinner Party. In her key note work, Chicago created the symbolic history of women in Western civilisation and brought the diminished voices of 39 historical and mythological female figures to the table…literally. Using her distinctive multi-disciplinary-multi-media style, Chicago incorporated subject matter into the method by drawing on the traditionally feminine applied arts for the place settings. Along the 49ft triangular table sits embroidered runners, ceramic flatware, embroidered gold napkins, 2000 inscribed tiles and china plates with hand-painted vaginas; the studies for which are on show. Also featured are a series of steel dome sculptures and the eponymous Star Cunts - a set of prismacolour and pastels on paper - that lean towards her earlier minimalist style but still carry the prevailing feminist and feminine forms that characterise her work.
2015 marks quite the year for Chicago; she will simultaneously carry seven shows across Europe which stands as quite the testimony to her continuing influence, impact, relevance and status as ’America’s most important living artist’; this is one dinner party invitation I wouldn’t pass up.
‘Star Cunts & Other Attractions’ : Riflemaker Gallery, 79 Beak Street, London
14th September - 31st December 2015
All images courtesy Riflemaker Gallery
Like Father Like Son.
In conversation with Seun Anikulapo Kuti, son of the renowned and fearsome Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo Kuti .
An Intuitive tête-à-tête with Seun Kuti, the second and youngest son of that 20th century icon/super star, the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, at the UK’s flagship live jazz music venue – Ronnie Scott’s. Soho’s home of jazz welcomes Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 in a rare intimate outing with his band, celebrated as Seun Kuti & Egypt 80: FELA/AFROBEAT. I was not sure if Ronnie Scott’s will be able to withstand the Afrobeat power, fury and constant swear words of Seun Kuti and Egypt 80, but it was fun finding out. Boy-oh-boy, it was absolutely mental. The audience was blown away by the power and the ferocity of the fire-raising Seun Kuti and the legendary EGYPT 80 band – one of the greatest live acts sound ever. What would his father think of him performing at Ronnie Scott’s? Read on!
In 1997, Nigeria and Africa, and certainly it would not be a hyperbole to affirm that the music and political world lost a music legend and fearsome Afrobeat innovator Fela Anikulapo-Kuti; simple known as FELA and still rightly acclaimed as one of the 20th century most incendiary live acts. On the other hand a young man lost his father. It cannot be pressure - free being the offspring of a music Giant, nonetheless, Oluseun Anikulapo-Kuti (known simple as Seun Kuti) the youngest son of the Nigerian legend of Afrobeat and political protester extraordinaire, seems to have no worry stepping into the big size puffy unusual shoes of his father Fela Kuti. Five years after their inception, following the death of the legend – Fela’s original band EGYPT 80, made-up of a quarter-century of Afrobeat musicians now headed by Seun Kuti continues to travel musically forward and find themselves more and more loved by fans of Fela Kuti and fans of Seun Kuti. This just shows Seun’s ease with his inheritance. But Seun exclaims otherwise.
“It’s been a battle to get to where I am now”, said Seun. “There were those naysayers and detractors alike who denounced my choice to front my father’s band as both lead vocalist and saxophonist; (including the British press amongst others) who said it was shockingly arrogant of me and that I have a speck exaggerated pride or self-confidence to try and fill Fela’s boots. This was never my intention or ambition or aspiration. While my father’s influence cannot be underestimated, nobody can walk in Fela Kuti’s boots. No one can beat Fela Kuti. No one can replace Fela Kuti. Full stop. And who cares what critics’ think anyhow? Just kidding!” he sighs. (Laughing hysterically) He adds: “The British press are cool with me these days. I love the British newspapers. I believe everything in them about me, good and bad. You have to work hard to remain in this business.” Seun is been scripting and singing live in concert with Fela since he was a child. He maybe the son of a music icon but was and still is determined to do it his way, he tells me. He disputes any idea that he might need to intensify either his fury or racy moves on stage or with his soundtracks to stand out in the world of Afrobeat music still dominated by his late father.
When it comes to Afrobeat hopes are high and this is an unwelcome distractions I think Seun could do without or take on as a challenge. It’s a proverbial situation for kids from musical families. “Yeah. I’m definitely used to it. It’s f**king cool. I don’t mind it.” he tells me. “Fela will always be number one”, Seun said, letting the thought follow. “I do accept who I am considerately. You cannot be the son of Fela Kuti, a truly inspirational person without feeling that huge shadow over you. A renowned protest vocalist who orated against immeasurable suffering in his home country of Nigeria and across the continent of Africa, he asked? A multi-instrumentalist, human rights activist, a revolutionary and political rebel for the less privilege the world over, he asked? “Nonetheless, it has not stopped me from doing my own thing while carrying the baton. Really and truly, if you be yourself, fans and critics alike will accept you for that” he enthused. Furthermore: “Afrobeat is more than just music. It’s a movement. It’s about politics, economics, social welfare, culture, anti-corruption – all of that and more besides in musical form. I grew up believing in good old African values set by my father: hard work, equality and freedom. I am never led by money or headlines grabbing regardless”. More than anything Seun wants the youths and followers alike to always do what makes them feel better about themselves. “You have to love what you do in other to be successful, he opined.
“What I want is for young people in Africa to believe in Africa, to come together for Africa. It’s horrible to hear about these stories of Migrants dying like mammals in the seas. African migrants in particular escaping to Europe with all the risks involved to come and build Europe more than anything else”. Seun is a strong contender for the angriest musician on the planet. He still rages and talk wildly and utter profanities profusely on stage like his father. And he brought it on full throttle to the Ronnie Scott’s show. And the audience approved at every word. Once he was known for colourful costume trousers and funky boots just like his father, that were just as wild as his music, and a lifestyle of wide-eyed partying that rivalled any rock band in the western world. Seun (Angry) “I am just like you yeah! You are a journalist/reporter, observing, looking for breaking news and highlighting and analysing news worthy stuff and then put pen-to-paper. As a musician singer/songwriter I put the message out there in my lyrics to raise awareness about the untruth and the s**t propagandas politicians and big businesses do in Africa and if truth be told in the UK and the US put out there too”.
“The vision of the Afrobeat movement is to challenge the way people think about the mainstream news they read by offering them different, wholesome and productive perspectives”. Seun believes that no matter what you do or who you are, you have to give back and his way of giving back is to educate the people, be it in Africa. UK or far-flung Australia. “We become teachers to the masses via our music-words. We’ve definitely been affected and continue to be affected by a lot of s**t in the world at the moment. I feel more comfortable in telling it as it is. We deliberately set out to challenge the governments in Africa for their ill-treatment of their citizens, however, we note and deliberately set out to challenge global perceptions of Africa and its people, because we recognise that Africa is misrepresented and underrepresented in global affairs and in global media because its stories continues to be largely told by the non-Africans who have never lived and research the continent properly. Africans are very resilient. What I want to do as a number one priority is to show young transnational Africans that their homeland is beautiful”.
“Yes, there is poverty-stricken people in Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia and England. Yes, there are Somalia’s that are struggling. F***k it. That story has been written in Western newspapers and broadcast on BBC-TV and Radio and American TV, over and over. It’s about time we talk about Africa’s growth rates. The economy may not be at a galloping pace, but they are surely better than those of many other regions of the world. Africa is going through remarkable changes. I challenge you to print this. We aim to educate the masses that there are different ways of taking in the news - more productive rather than the negative sensationalism news that is delivered currently in the western mainstream”.
There’s no doubt that SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80 is one of the guiding voices of Nigeria’s and indeed Africa’s contemporary instrumental music scene. They are a band that deftly searches for untracked and thrilling musical spaces to occupy. But will Fela Kuti not turn in his grave if he is aware that his almighty radical youngest son (inheritor to the throne) performed at a mainstream/British establishment music venue – an avant-garde venue - welcoming the Mothership radical son to planet Ronnie Scott? Oh JMJ!
This Liverpool university music graduate, described as ‘frighteningly intelligent’ said: “This is not just about music, I reiterate. Everything I write is personal. Topical lyricism. I’ve got to feel something, fundamentally, I’ve to have something to say. I have to have experienced it before I go down that road to that stage, any stage for that matter to perform live". “People always ask, what’s the difference between Western audiences and audiences in Africa? I always say it’s not about the country. It is about the venue. I believe my father will part me on the back”.
Seun first began performing with Egypt 80 at the age of nine, warming up audiences in Africa, UK and North America included with performances of his father’s songs. Though, Fela Kuti passed away over twenty years ago, his Afrobeat vibration is unbelievable booming as never before, thanks a lot to Seun and his brother Femi Kuti. Seun was 15 when he lay to rest his father in Lagos-Nigeria and also took over his band at age 15. His half-brother Femi was 20 years older, had already established a distinctive musical path of his own, but over the past 13 years Seun has cut his own unique musical path, incorporating contemporary influences into the traditional Afrobeat approach. And the older guys in the band (average age 60) help keep his ego in check. “The one thing I am is very humble. This is not the be-all and end it all. I still have a lot of work to do and that keeps me grounded”.
Grounded, perhaps, but unquestionably on the way up. Regrettably Seun finds himself challenging many of the same injustices his father battled in his glory days, from corporate self-indulgence chiefs to pugnacious leaders to the ever-futile battle on corruption and human rights.
Overture: Idris Khan’s figurative translation of language
Idris Khan presents his upcoming solo exhibition Overture, revealing further interrogation of language through his practice.
London based artist Idris Khan exhibits in New York this September with some ambitious and exciting new work. Khan uses photography and digital images in his work but does not consider himself a photographer. He repeatedly layers these images, often text, to create a new piece, which is distanced from the original through the process of abstraction.
One of his more known work involved scanning every page of the Qur’an and layering the text into an image, bringing a figurative element to the writing while remaining almost readable.
Khan’s work reaches for a new perspective or a re-appropriation of an already existing visual cultural significance; he explores and interrogates language by working with text in this way. His work simultaneously addresses society’s shift on how photography as a medium is used. Khan has previously encountered the work of two German photographers and closely duplicated their photos, giving the new images new context and meaning. With the widespread use of smart phones as a photographic instrument documenting culture, the question of amateur/professional continues and images are easily available for hijack.
In his upcoming exhibition there is set to be a large-scale sculpture using panes of glass to overlap layers of text, casting an image onto the gallery wall. Khan will be exhibiting a wall drawing derived from what is cast by the glass, adding a performative element to an already complex multimedia body of work.
Overture Is opening at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York on 10 September 2015 running until 24 October 2015.
Idris Khan at Sean Kelly Gallery
‘Internet Recycling’: From Screen to Reality
Translating data into design, artists Rachel de Joode, Katja Novitskova, Julia Crabtree, and William Evans offer a new perspective on icons and images familiar to the majority in the developed and developing world alike.
Translating data into design, artists Rachel de Joode, Katja Novitskova, Julia Crabtree, and William Evans offer a new perspective on icons and images familiar to the majority in the developed and developing world alike.
It is only when taken out of context that one realises the mild absurdity of scroll bars, stock photos, and 2D web ‘pages’. First selecting images from the screen, rendering them tangible, and then exhibiting them as art objects, these four artists challenge viewers to question the ‘normality’ of things we have grown accustomed to seeing in their traditional two dimensions.
Hailing from Berlin, Dutch-born artist Rachel de Joode uniquely interprets online paraphernalia most notably in some of her earlier works, such as The Imaginary Order (2012); a performance piece exploring the border between the physical and the imaginary, the artist utilised a physical rendering of Google’s instantly recognisable search page through which a woman peered intensely, licking the page and contorting strangely at times in what seem to be efforts to push herself through it.
Illustrating the impenetrable divide between man’s often fictional online persona and his ‘true’ physical being, de Joode’s work can only have increased in relevance when considered in light of the rise of social media and the smart phone since the works conception, phenomena that has resulted in an unprecedented surge of people turning the camera upon themselves, projecting desirable ideas of their lifestyle and appearance for their online ‘followers’ to contemplate and envy via a plethora of platforms.
Using photographs to make sculptures (and vice versa) in her most recent work, de Joode has developed her study of dimensions, creating absurd and unusual objects that continue to blur the boundaries between 2 and 3D.
Featured as part of the playfully titled ‘#nostalgia’ group show, Katja Novitskova’s 2014 performance of text and image at CCA Glasgow (available to read and view on her website) is a wonderfully sharp satirical monologue based on a generic stock image representing ‘growth’.
With special focus on the jargon typically associated with business practises that involve technology and globalisation, Novitskova’s monologue highlights the vague and mildly Sisyphean aspects of the financial and technological modern world, distorting the image’s original intended meaning and purpose.
Ideas that the growth arrow signifies have recurred in her work since ‘#nostalgia’, notably in 2014 installation ‘Pattern of Activation’ – modelled out of semi-translucent polyurethane, Novitskova transforms the arrow into a tangible 3D object, juxtaposed alongside a startlingly ‘real looking’ image of an albino stallion, a digital print also originally sourced from the world wide web. Visually representing of the effects of man’s demographic and technological advancement on our planet’s ever-increasing extinction rate, ‘Pattern of Activation’ exemplifies Novitskova’s unique awareness and dexterity as an artist.
‘Antonio Bay’ is Julia Crabtree and William Evans’ most recent exhibition, the result of a continued examination by the artists on the relationship between the body and the screen. A product of their time as the Nina Stewart Artists-in-Residence in the SLG’s Outset Artists Flat, ‘Antonio Bay’ was shown at the South London Gallery in 2014, occupying the first floor with curious and immersive abstract shapes and textures.
Unlike Novitskova and de Joode, Crabtree and Evans’ work is not directly linked to the internet: in their attempts to investigate the imagery of our collective conscious, the artists focus instead on ‘the high artifice of B-movies’ and ‘the spatial logic of cartoon physics’, rendering their own interpretation of these things in physical form.
2D transformed into 3D, viewers were given the opportunity to contemplate previously flat ‘horizon lines’ sculpted into thick, undulating structures; in a mind-bending materialisation, an image of theatrical atmospheric smoke was flattened onto carpet, simultaneously indistinguishable and distinguishable, tangible and yet as impenetrable as it would be on screen.
Crabtree and Evans have worked collaboratively in an experiment in shared subjectivity over the past nine years; their most recent endeavour as part of group show ‘Back to the Things Themselves’ recently exhibited in new London artist-run space Assembly Point was a continuation in their exploration of the boundary between virtual and real spaces, involving the playful manipulation of interfaces, objects and imagery into placeless, immersive scenarios.
The human race is hurtling toward a dystopian and mechanised future at an alarming rate - as our reliance on screens and the internet increases, all aspects of life, including the way we communicate, look, and eat are changing at a rate incomparable to any other period in history.
With some of the world’s most significant and memorable art movements conceived in reaction toward rapidly changing social, mechanical, and political structures, one cannot help but wonder what lies in store for the art world – if the work of the aforementioned artists is anything to go by, then perhaps it is safe to say we have seen the future, and it works!
Julia Crabtree and William Evans
A Gentle Misinterpretation, curated by Andrew Nicholls
INTERVIEW: Andrew Nicholls delves deep into the ‘Chinoiserie’ culture in his curating of ‘A Gentle Misinterpretation’ which discusses the impact and influence of appropriated Asian cultures in art.
Andrew Nicholls’ latest collaborative project, entitled ‘A Gentle Misinterpretation’, brings together a group of Australian artists for two separate exhibitions at the Brighton Royal Pavilion inspired by the cultural effect and meaning behind the ‘Chinoiserie ‘ tradition from the 17th century, up until the 1920s in the Western world. The first residency took place in July and now, busy in preparations for the second residency taking place during August and plans for an exhibition in Perth next year, Andrew Nicholls answers my questions regarding the issues surrounding the ‘Chinoiserie’ culture.
How did your personal interest in a project revolving around the topic of ‘Chinoiserie’ begin to form?
This project has been in the making for 11 years, since I first visited the Royal Pavilion and fell in love with it. It’s my favourite building in the entire world, and I spent a decade waiting to find the right group of artists to take there. Last year I approached the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery with a request to undertake a group residency there, and thankfully they agreed.
However, my art practice has always been concerned by histories of decoration, and how they reflect their social context – the way that seemingly-innocuous aesthetic traditions actually grew out of quite nasty historical circumstances. British ceramics have been a major influence throughout my career – in fact, the first time I visited the Pavilion was when I was in the UK undertaking a residency at the Spode china factory in Stoke-on-Trent - and yet that entire industry was formed by appropriating techniques from Asia during the 18th century in quite an aggressive way, so the idea of cultural theft has been a major interest for a long time.
The Pavilion is the perfect symbol of all this, because it is so seductive. It is spectacular, and opulent and beautiful, and yet so many of the cultural references are so clumsy…and then at the same time it comes with all of the glamour of George IV who is remembered as one of England’s most self-indulgent, decadent, scandalous monarchs. So it is the ideal location to talk about the decadence of imperialism, and how this fed colonial expansion.
As a curator for this project, how did you go about finding or choosing appropriate artists for this residency? What qualities did you look for in the work of these artists?
I have a core group of artists I like to draw from in my freelance projects, all of whom enjoy taking inspiration from historical research, or in response to heritage sites. For this particular project I selected a number of artists from this group whose recent work has focused either on the relationship between Asia and 'the West', and the cultural and aesthetic legacies that this has inspired, or more broadly on tensions surrounding colonialism, nationalism and the crossing of national borders. The residency artists, Abdul Abdullah, Casey Ayres, Nathan Beard, David Collins, Thea Costantino, Travis Kelleher and Pilar Mata Dupont, have variously explored Eurasian identity, the experience of migrant communities in modern Australia, the marginalisation of minority groups within nationalism/colonialism, the plight of the refugee, and the legacy of colonial pillage.
Along with the eight residency artists, there are also four amazing senior Western Australian craft makers involved in the project, Sandra Black, Tanija and Graham Carr, and Marianne Penberthy, who will create works to complement the residency outcomes (in ceramics, leather and textiles, respectively). Each of these craft makers has drawn upon Asian tradition in one way or another in their works, and the objects they create will provide added opulence to the final exhibition. Given the George IV was such a significant patron of the arts, it feels appropriate to be commissioning new works by master craft-makers for this project.
You describe how ‘the sentimental’ is a ‘force driving mainstream culture’, which I find interesting. The concept of ‘Chinoiserie’ is almost the sentimentality of ‘Westerners’ between the 17th century and early 20th century for an ‘Asian’ aesthetic and culture. How do you feel this translates to artistry in our 21st century and why do you feel it is important to address this concept of ‘Chinoiserie’ now?
Chinoiserie was incredibly sentimental. It grew from an age when any international travel was difficult and dangerous, so the majority of designers, artists and writers who produced it had never been to Asia and probably had little desire to do so. Hence it was largely based on often-fanciful, second-hand accounts, and it often ended up being culturally insensitive or portraying Asian culture as primitive or brutal. But at the same time it was escapist, particularly for women who were largely tied to the domestic realm during that era. There is a lot of writing about the way that Chinoiserie provided escapism for women who would most likely never be able to travel the world themselves. From that sense it wasn’t ever really meant to be authentic in its portrayal of foreign cultures…not that that makes it alright!
In the 21st century I guess there’s a lot more movement between cultures, particularly in relation to materials and techniques, but I tend to be of the opinion that a lot of cultural content isn’t appropriate to reference. Non-Indigenous Australian artists are maybe more aware of this than most, because we sit alongside an incredibly rich legacy of Aboriginal art, that is absolutely not something we can appropriate or borrow from…but it will be a challenge with this project to walk that line between cultures.
One of the residency artists, Casey Ayres (who is of Chinese-Malay descent) compared the Pavilion to Disneyland, as he had expected the cultural references to be a little bit ‘off’, but wasn’t prepared for life-sized iridescent dragons and pillars in the form of palm trees. I think he felt there was an affinity there to his own cultural identity, but I’m not sure yet exactly what it was. He spent a lot of time filming himself in various parts of the building, so I’m excited to see what he comes up with over the next few months.
As well as being curator for this project, you yourself are a multi-disciplined artist who will exhibit work in this residency. The aesthetics of your work with paper and ceramics display an Asian influence most immediately to me, but I wonder how you feel the Asian culture or aesthetic influences your installation and photography - if at all?
In terms of my broader work, I think the Chinoiserie influence will be realized more in relation to decadence and luxury the movement represented, rather than a specific Asian influence. During the first residency in early July I filmed a model in the Pavilion who was meant to represent a sort of spectre of Regency decadence, mixed with a character from William Beckford’s Vathek, (an incredibly lurid Orientalist-Gothic novel set in a mythical version of Saudi Arabia). I’ve challenged a composer I work with, Ewan Jansen, to write some Regency-inspired music for it that somehow points to a kitschy ‘Orientalist’ influence. I’m not sure how that will work out, or if it’s even possible to make it clear that the cultural appropriation is ironic. Probably it’s not, and we’ll have to abandon the idea, but that failure in itself may trigger something interesting.
A Gentle Misinterpretation. Australian Artists and Chinoiserie - Opening in 2017
The von Bartha gallery hosts Bernhard Luginbühl and friends
The works of one of Switzerland’s best known sculptors, and a few of his fellow contemporaries are erected in all their glory at the von Bartha gallery.
The works of one of Switzerland’s best known sculptors, and a few of his fellow contemporaries are erected in all their glory at the von Bartha gallery.
If you live in Zürich, there’s probably no doubt that you’ve heard of Bernhard Luginbühl. And if you’ve walked down Mythenquai road you definitely would have seen De Grosse Giraffe (1969) – a great iron sculpture, with its magnificent curved beam looming over Zürich like a watchful sentry.
The sculptures of Bernhard Luginbühl (1929 – 2011) can be seen erected not only in Zürich, but in Hamburg and Muttenz too. He was an expert craftsman – who had a particular penchant for producing sculptures from scrap metal. Aside from Eduardo Chillida, he was one of the first to pioneer the iron sculpture from the 1950s, which is arguably what raised him to prominence in the art world.
A large portion of his earlier work no longer exists – due to Luginbühl destroying or burning some of them. This ‘creative arsony’ rekindled itself in his later work, from the mid 1970s, where he burned several of his wooden structures in ceremonious artistic fashion.
But of particular note were his fascinating collaborations with contemporaries Dieter Roth, Jean Tinguely and Aflred Hofkunst, who feature in this upcoming exhibition. Sculptures like HAUS (1979-94) are comprised of iron and wood, brushes and bone – showcasing his playful yet masterful ability to combine media into something to marvel at.
While some of the collaborative sculptures such as Schluckuck (1978 – 1979) look like condensed, complicated rube-goldberg machines, the exhibition displays some of his solo works too. Expect to witness his ink drawings as well as the fantastically mechanical, yet abstract Kleine Kulturkarrette II (1975) – which is more than just a colourful cabinet on wheels.
Bernhard Luginbühl and Friends will run from 4th September – 24th October 2015 and the preview will be on September 4 from 5-8pm.
Address:
von Bartha, Kannenfeldplatz 6,
4056, Basel, Switzerland
Opening Hours:
Tuesday to Friday 2-6pm, Saturday 11am – 4pm or by appointment.