Why am I doing this?
“I understand that an artist is someone who, among the silence of others, uses his voice to say something, and it is required that this thing is not something useless but useful to service people.”
— Joan Miró , October 2 1979
To do something with art.
http://www.lespressesdureel.com/EN/extrait.php?id=…
not to have a percieved outcome but go on the journey
report back after
It’s now actually 1.30am and I have finally finished writing a piece of text about Nicola Fosters lecture last Wednesday. It has taken me about 5hours but it has been a worthwhile activity.
Now what I really did today was sort out the whole camera obscura thing. I spent a while doing some desk research, making some calls etc and then I set up an online page where I can store all the info I collect.
Eventually after lunch I cycled into Bournemouth on my quest to visit upstairs in the Cafe Obscura. Before I went I’d read 4 really scary reviews of the place on Trip Adviser so the idea of making a film started to be dreadful.
I imagined myself Louis Theroux style being thrown out before I even started. I braced myself.
First i thought I’d have a look for the plaque as mentioned by the librarian at Bournemouth Library. I walked around and around. Noticed some bike racks which I noted for future use, but no sign of the plaque. I tried to imagine the place 12 years ago and began to wander over to where there was now a litter bin and a grit bucket. Sure enough in between the two was the plaque!
Crazy?
Anyhow, now that I found the plaque I had to move on to the next step which was to enter the cafe and attempt to go upstairs. I was nervous. I wondered about hiding the camera in my bag but in the end I decided to bite the bullet and just go right in there…
Wha’d’ya’know? It’s perfectly acceptable to go upstairs. i even celebrated with a beer!
The waitress said they have to close when it is busy because it takes too long to go in the lift upstairs with food and drinks. i suggested having an event with bottles of beer and a buffet – no need to be going up and down.
Anyway she left me to it. I inspected the ceiling and the view to the clock tower which houses the infamous camera obscura. You couldn’t see much but at a stretch there was a lens, mirrors and if you strained your eyes a mass of accumulated cob webs.
I had my beer, took a few pictures and thought about how easy this had been. And if it is closed in the summer then maybe this is a good time to work on fixing it?
Next step – find out who designed it and how it looked way back then.
knock knock, open wide,
see what’s on the other side
knock knock and more
come with me through the magic door…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpRD_il9s8
the artist is not an individual
the artist belongs to art
art belongs to the public
collectors and patriots of the art sustain the lives of artists but they never own the idea or the object.
it is on loan to them and eventually returns to the public with the inevitability of mortality
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/chaotic-…
some art is about being involved in the making process and is immediately in the possession of the people who choose to be involved.
this kind of art still needs collectors and patriots otherwise how will the artist eat and where will they sleep?
but how can it be valued?
artist Jonathan Shelper has opened a new venue for Gallery Soup in Bournemouth. His intention I believe is to try to answer the question of how we value art. He has invested money earned from working at Sainsburys into the running of the space and has valued the work on display at £1000 per piece, of which I have two in the current show Topsy Turvy.
In the run up to the launch party which took place on Feb 20th Jonathan has referred to the space as ‘the shop’. At first he talked about making a space for performance where he could make and show work and where people could buy work. It sounded like a good idea and Bournemouth certainly lacked a space for contemporary fine art. Now that it has opened it does not appear to be a commercial space. There was a decision made not to have a sign above the door or a price-list, names on the work or any information about who produced it. In a way it has reverted to performance. The idea that the 6 works on display are valued at £1000 each regardless of the wishes of the artist now means that in fact these objects are props on the performance stage and Jonathan’s presence as director and occupier of the property is the performative action.
It is ironic because I had fought with him about displaying a series of black paintings which I asked the students in the peer critique group to produce. In the end he chose some work I have named Paper Tears which I made at the beginning of the course for no real reason other than to produce something physical in relation to the research I had begun.
I have been invited to show work at the next show – Evidence is better, which opens on 14th March. Although I have shared an idea for a piece of work I think I will embrace the subversion of the idea of gallery space and use it to launch the beginning of my petition to reinstate the camera obscura in Bournemouth town centre.
And so this is where today has taken me. Good night.
What a difference a day makes!
I saw my supervisor today and it feels like things are falling into place. I need to do some planning before I can talk about plans but for now I can say I have a vision for action.
Also yesterday I attended an amazing lecture by the wonderful Dr. Nicola Foster.
http://www.researchcatalogue.net/profile/?person=3…
She said original art but set precedence. It must link to the tradition and then add something new. Because of this it may or may not be accepted. Whilst at university we have the opportunity to explain this link and the new thing we have added.
It makes me feel happy about this line of research I have arrived at.
Last night was also the launch of Gallery Soup’s new venue at 243 Holdenhurst Rd.
I have work in the show and hopefully I will have better work in the next show on the 9th March.
There are plans to go to Documenta 13 at the end of may which collides with BH13, I need to sort this out.
Tomorrow I am at The Gallery and working all weekend. Monday will be my planning day. I can’t wait. Things are happening!!!!!!
7.30am wake up and plan what I will do for my black painting for peer critiques on Wednesday, wonder what the others will look like and whether I will show them at Gallery Soup
8.00am dream about how Urban Sculpture Garden will look
9.12am finally roll out of bed and realise that I have to be at Gallery Soup at 10am to install work, frantically gather materials and fixings, make coffee for flash and jump on my bike
9.43am left the house to cycle to Holdenhurst Rd
10.14am arrive at Gallery Soup – it’s closed
10.16am post package as promised, buy postcard for Bella’s project
10.20am still no sign of Jonathan, cycle to Uni for research and Turkey sessions at The Gallery
11am receive reply to the snotty email I sent at mid-night, it’s pleasantly respectful, wave of guilt at being so assertive
11.10am after peppermint tea (I’ve have been banned for coffee after letting it slip that I dreamt of being an art leprechaun) settle into research on Edward de Bono whilst simultaneously researching the Situationists)
12.09pm get some nice calming tomato soup from the canteen
12.30pm begin Turkey art stories – my turn. Only a handful of us present. Thinking about it I wished I planned projects to make the most out of them rather than just making, exhibition and making again. Hopefully I can apply planning for MA to my work after the course.
1.30pm call Hannah back about writing a reference for her
1.42pm must leave to go back to Gallery Soup
2.15pm finally arrive at Gallery Soup
2.30pm start to work out what and how I am showing in this exhibition
3.30pm decide that I should clean the windows.
4pm buy squidgy
4.40pm sit looking at my work and wondering
5pm tea break, still no work
6pm try to make work, play instead
7pm Tomasz arrives, Jonathan is also here. Argue about work, try out different things, and argue again
7.45pm Tomasz and Jonathan go to get food. I finish putting up my work.
7.58pm the guys are back more discussion about what is art
8.00pm I think I’m finished here
8.15pm still not finished, Jonathan has installed his work. Tomasz is measuring. I think I’m done for today.
8.30pm after further debate and insisting that Jonathan not risk his life to adjust the lighting I cycle home
9pm bath and stew (after)
9.30pm I get an email from Simon Lee-Dicker from OSR Projects with the image from the Long Lunch – so happy!!!
10pm a-n not working
10.20pm decide to do a word doc and upload tomorrow.
