Simulacra And Simulations

I’ve been working on a number of things, as outlined in my blog:

http://helend-blackbird.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-final-animation-has-been-uploaded.html

Please “like” my Apparatjik animation here: http://vimeo.com/36575379

I was invited to take part in this auction http://www.afterdarkgallery.co.uk/

I asked from the outset what benefits this would give me, whether I would receive money, but it seems there is no financial benefit for artists involved. As such, I’ve submitted a copy of the comic, as the comic has already been covered now, and costs £2-3 where sold, so if it makes more than that, it would be interesting to see!

I’m taking part alongside a mix of top artists, including Jon Burgerman, Julian Opie, Sally Sheinman and Bill Drummond, and I’m participating, because I hope it’ll gain free publicity for my work, and I hope to gain some commissions from it. If I don’t get any commissions I’ll be disappointed, as I really need some at the moment.

I was really hoping to go down to Brighton to attend and take part, but single parenthood has thrown up another challenge typically at a really inconvenient time – always when I plan something elsewhere, and it would cost £91 in train travel, not covered by the organisers, so it reminds me how lucky everyone was that I made it to Colchester at all!

I’ve been following other people’s blogs about Open AIR: Effecting Change, http://www.counterwork.co.uk/index.php/article/belated_openair_response/

And I felt that a lot of what is being said is also how I felt, that not enough is happening for us. I wanted to clarify and expand a bit on my initial thoughts. I felt that it would’ve been good if AIR council members spoke on our behalf to get our message across to larger influences like ACE and the government in order to make it known that we don’t feel a part of the decision-making process, and that we should be. I also thought, when I saw cameras filming, that it would be great if it was televised – BBC?? I, like others, feel that I just want to make work and want less of the bureaucratic nonsense and trying to explain or justify what I’m doing. I really want it to be simplified. I think it was Emily Speed (forgive me if I’ve forgotten) that demonstrated the French / Danish model, where artists are subsidised to create work, and I really liked that idea as a possibility.

I was expecting more, but that isn’t to say the day was disappointing, just that we need to figure out how to move forward and implement some things that were discussed, and sometimes they can be quite tricky to nail down!

Myself and Sally Lemsford braved the snow and ice to drive down to Colchester for OpenAIR: Effecting Change last weekend. We unfortunately had slightly misjudged travel times from AA and arrived an hour late, missing some of the keynote speeches, however, we both took part in workshops and networking, and it was exciting and inspiring to see some projects that are going on and to be involved – we both agreed that we need to know about what’s going on so that we can participate and support them, and that there should be wider events taking place in a variety of locations across the UK at the same time in order to raise the profile for what we’re working towards.

We met some interesting people, and when I dropped by Mum’s on the way home, I came across an article in the local newspaper that seemed to highlight the very issues that we face. The article is about some Network Rail workmen that were criticised for building a snowman instead of “working”. Of course, we all know those workmen are most likely artists themselves, and that the kind of nimby attitudes of non-artists out in rural Lincolnshire inhibits the ability for artists to create, or. more importantly for artists to be considered as “working” and not “doing something for fun that everyone else expects to be given on a plate” so as such, inhibiting ordinary people trying to get to work by building snowmen at roadworks is a dynamic action as protest.