Radical Nature at the Barbican

It’s great to be in London again, there is so much to see.

I spent last Thursday and Friday installing my work in the basement hallway on Wilson Road at Camberwell. It was great to finally meet Andy Stiff and some of my colleagues- Julian Jans, Ayhan Oensal and Brain Morris, as well as some of the full time MA students. After I got a longer white power cord and transformer for the small digital frame I put up- I think it looks great.

Yesterday I went to see  Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet at the Barbican. It was interesting to see that much work focusing on environmental issues and the recreation of old ‘environmental art’ projects but it was also disconcerting to see that much green plant matter artificially lit and growing indoors. I enjoyed seeing Hans Haacke’s Grass Mound from the late 60s, and I liked Henrik Håkansson’s Fallen Forest from 2006, but despite an elaborate root watering system the leaves were dying.

I particularly liked Heather and Ivan Morrisson’s twin geodesic shingled domes outside on the terrace. It was a great shelter from a sudden rain storm.

53rd Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale seems slower this year. It is interesting to see the country pavilions in the Giardini and the choices the various curators have made. Great Britain’s Steve McQueen made an interesting two channel film Giardini set in the Biennale gardens in the off season. Macro photography- details of trees, the gravel, bits of debris, fixed camera, dogs, a night encounter.

Overall remarkably similar formally to John Cale’s 45 minute, five channel audio/video Dark Days shot is Wales- his reflections on remembering his childhood growing up there.

We spent a day in the Giardini and then a second afternoon walking through the disappointing Arsenale. I can’t figure out how two parts of an exhibition could be so dissimilar. Where the Giardini was thoughtful and considered- with certain strains of Daniel Birnbaum’s curatorial thesis running throughout the exhibition, all that was lost in the vastness of the Arsenale.

It was fun to be in Venice again. My favorite project was Scotland’s Martin Boyce No Reflections. He installed a beautiful multi-room installation in the Palazzo Pisani. For my money it was the best work we saw there this year.

getting ready for travel

We’re getting ready to leave for Europe on Monday and I’m finding as I get older that it takes more time and better organization  to travel. I don’t remember it being this complicated. I’ve been focused on finishing up nonsite before we leave as well as my Unit 3 written report, as I’m not sure how easy it will be to connect to the internet while traveling. We’re flying into Paris, then taking the train down to Venice to see the Biennale on Thursday.

Working on nonsite, I’ve been thinking a lot about when I went to see the 1976 Venice Biennale. I was still an art student and I didn’t really know what to expect, but I arrived in Venice for the opening. I found a pensione near the train station (single bed, 7500 lira) and  once I got to the Giardini it was very exciting to see that many people coming to see contemporary art.

Highlights for me in 1976 were mostly in the Germano Celant curated the Aperto part of the Biennale. I remember the Jannis Kounellis horses that were led into the converted gallery space every day for a couple of hours and the clean tile floors.

Dan Graham installed his amazing two rooms. Joseph Beuys installed Tram Stop in the German Pavillion. I’m trying to remember, but I think Greg Curnoe was in the Canadian Pavillion.

u3w53 coloured backgrounds

I had a big breakthrough this week on my nonsite project, based on an excellent idea of Andy Stiff’s from my tutorial several weeks ago. Andy suggested that I take the colours that I used as grounds behind the text in the video I made for the symposium and do something similar with the nonsite entries.

I chose thirty colours and Jeff Werner helped me with the programming. I’m very pleased with how the site now looks- and even better, with the dated entries all on coloured grounds, I can now use the white ground to my advantage- if I want to make further comments adjacent to specific entries.

u3w52: final month, wrapping up

A month from today I will be arriving into London for a week installing in the Camberwell Summer 2009 exhibition. Today’s chat was mostly technical. There was not really any feedback from last week’s symposium, other than that Andy said our presentations were great- which is nice to hear.

The symposium was really focused on the students who were at Camberwell, and were there to present their videos. Personally, I was disappointed that there were no mechanism for questions to be directed towards online students. In hindsight it feels like I sent a video off into the ether.

We’re in our final month. Everything is now focussed on exhibition details and wrapping up loose ends. I’m trying to decide how much to hyperlink the entries from the 1970s on my nonsite project. I’ll continue to do some experiments.

PAT Testing and ‘official boarding up date’

I started getting these emails from colleagues and course leaders at Camberwell about PAT Testing?

PAT Testing Locations:
3/4th June PR Ground Floor Meeting Room WPN G04c, 9am-5pm
19th June PR Foyer 1, 9am-1pm
19th June Wilson Road Common Room WIW G09*, 1pm-5pm
2nd July Wilson Road Common Room WIW G09*, 9am-5pm

I had no idea what they were talking about until I did a google search and discovered that it is a safety test for small appliances that happens in the United Kingdom. Here’s the scoop:

The Electricity at Work Regulations (1989) requires “All electrical systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any danger”. This is interpreted as covering the fixed electrical installation as well as portable and transportable equipment connected to it. The Regulations also state “It is the duty of every employer and self employed person to comply with the provision of these Regulations.”

British law (the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 in particular) requires that all electrical systems (including electrical appliances) are maintained (so far as is reasonably practicable) to prevent danger. Guidance from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET, published under the IEE brand) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggest initial intervals for combined inspection and testing that range from three months (for construction equipment) to five years for inspection and, in many cases, never for testing (certain types of appliance in schools, hotels, offices and shops).

I was also told that specific dates have not been allocated for boarding. Now I’m trying to figure out what the ‘official boarding up date’ which will be announced soon is all about!

u3w51: Colour Chart

I’m looking forward to being in London for the first week of July. I haven’t started to look at what’s on in the galleries. A friend just sent me a link to the exhibition: Colour Chart: Reinventing Colour 1950 to Today currently on at the Tate Liverpool, which includes Elsworth Kelly’s Spectrum Colors Arranged by Chance II from 1951.

Thursday, July 2 is Late at the Tate: Fool Spectrum. I think it would be worth the trip.

Ian Skedd: Sign-Signing, Love Will Tear Us Apart

Ian Skedd will be presenting is latest project Sign-Signing, Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division 1979, Deaf Choir 2009 at the Western Front May 23- June 27.

“For this project, Skedd worked with a deaf choir to create a signed interpretation of British post-punk band Joy Division’s 1979 single Love Will Tear Us Apart, matching the cadence of the original song to sign motions that capture its emotional meaning. This song, which became a brooding anthem for the post-punk generation, was written by the band’s vocalist Ian Curtis, and was the band’s first chart hit.

In Skedd’s Sign Signing, sound is expressed through an ‘inaudible’ form of communication. Visually, the choir’s hands, bodies and facial movements become the only “readable” aspects of the song. Silence rather than sound is emphasized, yet when engaged with the motions of the choir, the familiarity of the song takes hold.”

Ian Skedd is a Vancouver-based artist currently residing in London, England.

Digital Arts Symposium ‘09

u3w50 tutorial

I just had an excellent tutorial with Andy Stiff, course leader for MA Digital Arts Camberwell. It’s great to get such insightful feedback on my nonsite project. He had a number of good observations- most related to finding ways to enhance the spatial qualities of the project: space and time. He thought colour and image were ways to emphasize the abstract qualities of memory. I’m not sure about colour as that is complicated with hyperlinks- visited and not visited, rollovers- maybe a yellow hover bar. I need to explore that further.

He also confirmed my thoughts that it makes sense to use present tense. He had good ideas about the length of entries and shorter twitter-like entries. Good idea, I will try that.