2/2
The day ended with a Whirl in Tescos. 15 participants descended on Tescos to push an empty shopping trolley around the store for an hour. Using a highly sophisticated covert surveillance technique (a camera in a bag with a hole) I set out to document the event. Dodgy footage aside we independently walked into Tescos the idea being that we would begin to find other people with empty trolleys and follow them around the store until we had a long chain. Whilst doing this we would be in a meditative state and casually browsing. After about fifteen minuets the chain had formed creating a visual spectacle down the aisles, with people say things such as ‘Are they all out on day release’ and taking a double look. There was the odd occasion when one of us accidentally cracked a smile but on the whole we were calm, especially Chris as I kept accidentally walking my trolley into the back of his heels. After thirty minuets security realised some thing odd was a foot and asked us to vacate the premises for causing obstructions to other shoppers, and not shopping properly. That’s what Buy Nothing Day is all about!
Although Anges highest figure for Whirling is 26, we were all exceptionally happy with the experience of 15 which warranted further discussion down the pub. This series of activities across three days has really bought people together in Lincoln, as they have followed the three day marathon and made connections from it, so much so that there is now in motion an Action Lincoln group that has been initiated from this, which I will be eagerly following and supporting. There is also a rumour that the challenge of beating 26 has been set, so Lincoln may see more activity to come.
MDSC were a risk to present to a Lincoln audience for a new organisation, but I am really glad that we went through with doing so, from feedback we have received people are really refreshed to see art that addresses politics and speaks its mind, that isn’t safe and cosy, and from this we have engaged a large core of people who are now instigating their own activities, I don’t think I could ask for more. Its defiantly a high to go out on for 2009, and I have loved every moment, warts and all.
See http://www.breathingplanet.net/whirl/ for information on Whirl Mart’s and http://www.ecolincs.org/ for more information on Lincolns green activities.
MDSC can be found on http://www.mydadsstripclub.com/ , and it seems like Lincolnshire maybe seeing more of them with a few offers in the pipe line from the few days activity.
Amelia 2/2
1/2
What a way to end the 2009 programme than with a crescendo from My Dads Strip Club. Although not everyone’s cup of tea the events over the 26-28th November have provided an exceptionally immersive experience for some.
We began on Thursday with an event in the Dog and Bone pub, which I may add is a wonderful venue who are really keen to support art and have a fantastic book exchange scheme. The event saw MDSC present an event which I have dubbed as a stand up comedy style presentation of art and activism and the work of MDSC. Chris’s no frills attitude had the pub filled with laughter at regular intervals, exploring the exploitation of the public through corporations, particularly focusing on coke. MDSC show cased Coke Fuck and other works that highlighted the issues that are often left behind the scenes of large corporations.
The evening ended on a high with pub filled of conversations about creating work with human left over’s and the politics of presenting art that perhaps is a little risky for a Lincoln audience.
Friday’s event was made to tie in with the Mini Wave hosted by Critical Mass in Lincoln. The Mini Wave was a sibling event to the main event in London next week which is a climate protest aiming to raise awareness of the UN Copenhagen conference. After participating in the Mini Wave and narrowly avoiding blue face paint I went alongside a large crowd of protesters and some other found audience members who had assembled en route to the Healthy Hub to be entertained by MDSC presenting an event in support of the days events. Dirty Cash To Clean Green showcased Chris’s drawing whilst Ange animated it live and narrate the evening with tales of the Titanic and other nuggets of information.
The nice thing about Friday was that the event was made almost for the Mini Wave people and they really seemed to enjoy it, after Chris had finished MDSC allowed members of the audience to play with the tools, and various people rose to the challenge creating their own animated art works, on the X Box style tool kit.
The grand finale to a thoroughly entertaining and exhilarating few days finished with two happenings. The first saw Chris peddling deer shit, to willing punters in Lincoln. The premise of which was instead of buying cheap shit for Christmas you should buy deer shit, and so it came to be Chris stood in his flasher jacket in the middle of Lincoln train crossing overtly opening his coat to reveal pouches of glittery laded deer shit to sell to willing punters for £4000, unfortunately he had no takers, but many a puzzled expression. I know what’s going on my Christmas list.
Amelia (1/2)
Last weekend saw Feng-Ru Lee’s performance take place in the Collection Auditorium. The performance began with a film that saw Milee the Sheep and her Animal Orchestra preforming in a forest from dawn to dusk, which felt like the animals were contributing to the natural sounds of the forest and making it come alive. This added to the already set atmosphere and flowed into performance with Milee and the Orchestra taking to the floor to preform a live ensemble to the audince, a concofany of noise and shadows as Milee the Sheep swung a light bulb at her drum skin, vibrating the atmosphere. The performance concluded with a 60 second count down of audince participation, where each person was given a sheet of A4 paper to create a noise with whilst Milee the Sheep counted down via tearing off numbers from a paper pad.
The general reaction from the audince was that the disjointed nature of the work played on the strengths of the atmosphere and created an all encompassing event. After the performance I interviewed members of the audience with out video camera to gage their reactions, my favorite feedback came from a little girl who was talking to the camera with her mother saying how the rabbit from the orchestra was her favorite character and that they enjoyed scrumping the paper to make noises with. I am certainly keen to carry on the participation elements that some of our programming has as I feel there is more to engage with that way that having something presented to you. I am hoping that this will come across in our development day next week. We are finally going to sit down and have a presumably long discussion on our future programming and current evaluation.
A couple of weeks time will see the My Dads Strip Club events in the city, which I am very much looking forward to. A lot of the decisions have been relatively last minuet due to the nature of the work and the activities to co-inside with eco-groups in the city. My Dads Strips Clubs work will tie in with two national / international events that are politically and socially relevant, Buy Nothing Day on the 28th and the Mini Wave event on the 27th; http://www.ecolincs.org/, we are releasing some information with a couple of days / hours notice which I find exciting and intriguing, although the main event is being publicised as normal.
Amelia
