Somewhere in the industrial town of Indentine an email notification pings on the smart phone of collaborative applicant No.3245.
Sofia scanned the notification to applicants and noticed the word ‘successful’ preceded by the heart sinking ‘un.’
Dear Steffan and Sofia,
Many thanks for your proposal. We had a great deal of high quality interest in the Vaconsofia Offsite exhibition opportunity, which made our selection immensely challenging. Unfortunately, on this occasion your proposal was unsuccessful. We will provide individual feedback to a maximum of three artists so please get back in touch if you require this – our time is stretched here on The Parcway and the feedback may not be immediate.
Pegosa Space has a series of opportunities for artists throughout its programme, including more commissions for our exclusive Offsite projects. If you haven’t already, we’d endorse you joining our mailing list to keep up-to-date with them as they are made available.
Thanks again for your interest in this opportunity, and for the time you spent on your proposal – and the best of luck with your future endeavours.
Kind Regards
Esme
Esme Hallertone
Pegosa Space
An article in the cultural section of The Pointesian Times.
Jonathan Ridgeon reports.
A new craze among artists based in The Battery Row area of Pointeso is causing a minor stir at present; parody and appropriation is the name of the game.
Huyton Marrini spends countless hours hanging around Vaconsoft Parkway inventing partially fictional narratives by using his own experiences of the galleries, clubs, and observations in the cafe and executive quarters. He also combines this with web – based research by nicking what he sees as ‘hollow press releases from galleries and the banks of so – called artist opportunity websites.’
Erica McGregor from A45 Magazine: ‘It’s a well – worn path taken by many of those artists who feel a sense of isolation from the cultural centres and institutions that propel the multi – faceted discourses forward. Marrini and the like are in fact operating in cynical, nonsensical and introspective bubble, thus failing to add anything constructive to the sublime works that have been coming out of Pointeso for a number of years now.
I know that many of these appropriation artists haven’t done their homework…lots of cutting and pasting off the web and altering photographs just doesn’t cut it. It’s a lazy way of working which says more about their individual insecurities than any meaningful addition to the intelligent, discursive and rigorous canon of Pointesian artists who take the professional time and care to research their subject matter. Simply pressing the ‘publish’ button on their blogs in the hope of saintly gallerist or curatorial intervention will single them out from the over-saturated proliferated pile of text and image.
It’s critical that in our current contemporary digital climate, editing is employed via the fine web – based tooth comb.’
We endeavoured to contact Marrini at his studio and quoted statements from the above interview via the intercom system. Refusing to answer the door he uttered the following words:
‘Parody schmarody and satire schmatire.’
