Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
BONKERSFEST! 07 VISUAL AND LIVE ART COMMISSIONS
Camberwell Green, Saturday 2 June 2007, 12-9pm
Bonkersfest! Has worked in partnership with South London Gallery to present four new visual and live art commissions at Bonkfersfest! 07. This strand of the festival programme celebrates a relationship between Creative Routes and the SLG which has developed over the last three years and represents an ambitious move by Creative Routes towards the production of new art works inspired by madness.
RAKSHANDA KHAN AND SOPHIA YADONG HAO: SPIN CYCLE
Spin Cycle is an interactive one-day live artwork and installation at a launderette close to Camberwell Green that will take place during the festival. Spin Cycle explores obsessive or addictive forms of self-expression that offer albeit temporary relief from stressful experiences and painful memories. Khan and Hao will perform a repetitious ritual of washing hands which refers to the phrase “to wash one’s hands of” as a metaphor for a cathartic process of erasing painful memories. In Spin Cycle, the audience is invited to participate in a ritual of cleansing and washing away.
Sophia Yadong Hao is a live artist based in Manchester. Her work attempts to break down boundaries in personal space through interaction and improvisation.
Rakshanda Khan is a graphic designer based in London currently working on a graphic novel aimed at the mental health sector.
LOCATION AND TIMES OF PERFORMANCES TO BE ADDED
Bonkersfest! Has worked in partnership with South London Gallery to present four new visual and live art commissions at Bonkfersfest! 07. This strand of the festival programme celebrates a relationship between Creative Routes and the SLG which has developed over the last three years and represents an ambitious move by Creative Routes towards the production of new art works inspired by madness.
RAKSHANDA KHAN AND SOPHIA YADONG HAO: SPIN CYCLE
Spin Cycle is an interactive one-day live artwork and installation at a launderette close to Camberwell Green that will take place during the festival. Spin Cycle explores obsessive or addictive forms of self-expression that offer albeit temporary relief from stressful experiences and painful memories. Khan and Hao will perform a repetitious ritual of washing hands which refers to the phrase “to wash one’s hands of” as a metaphor for a cathartic process of erasing painful memories. In Spin Cycle, the audience is invited to participate in a ritual of cleansing and washing away.
Sophia Yadong Hao is a live artist based in Manchester. Her work attempts to break down boundaries in personal space through interaction and improvisation.
Rakshanda Khan is a graphic designer based in London currently working on a graphic novel aimed at the mental health sector.
LOCATION AND TIMES OF PERFORMANCES TO BE ADDED
Friday, May 18, 2007
That which shines brightly
Having just about survived fundraising for charity in the cold, wet, unforgiving London streets, i am now gainfully employed as a gallery assistant at the Hayward. The job entails dressing in black, manning a radio mike, smiling pleasantly while trying my best to look stern, telling members of the public what not to do and spending my working hours standing amidst large scale works of art. My first week had me smugly smiling to myself in glee. What a great part time job!
The exhibition in question, which led to my timely employment, opened to the general public this week.
It is Blind Light by Anthony Gormley.
Taking it's name from an installation featuring a large, cloud filled perspex cube housed within the lower gallery, Gormley's works question our relationship with space, be it architecture or our own bodies. To quote:
'The body is our first habitation, the building our second.'...1997
The works on display startle, provoke and excite; bodies become cities, solitary figures stand tall (or small) atop buildings on the horizon, empty body spaces hang suspended amidst glistening bubble matrices, 8 life like cast iron figures stretch painfully to attach themselves to the corners of a room, a chamber punched through with holes and aluminium tubes beckons to the less faint hearted to navigate through and the starring attraction; Blind Light, envelopes visitors within its confines; rendering them blind and disoriented, groping their way through a wet, vaporous fog, lost in space.
'...you become the immersed figure in an endless ground, literally the subject of the work.'
I was struck by the scale of the exhibition, excited by the part my tiny black frame played in the gallery matrix, the cyclical movement of the gallery assistants at work, the order that must prevail for a visitor to navigate through the gallery space...I became simultaneously aware of my presence and absence.
Then, at 10, i went home.
The exhibition in question, which led to my timely employment, opened to the general public this week.
It is Blind Light by Anthony Gormley.
Taking it's name from an installation featuring a large, cloud filled perspex cube housed within the lower gallery, Gormley's works question our relationship with space, be it architecture or our own bodies. To quote:
'The body is our first habitation, the building our second.'...1997
The works on display startle, provoke and excite; bodies become cities, solitary figures stand tall (or small) atop buildings on the horizon, empty body spaces hang suspended amidst glistening bubble matrices, 8 life like cast iron figures stretch painfully to attach themselves to the corners of a room, a chamber punched through with holes and aluminium tubes beckons to the less faint hearted to navigate through and the starring attraction; Blind Light, envelopes visitors within its confines; rendering them blind and disoriented, groping their way through a wet, vaporous fog, lost in space.
'...you become the immersed figure in an endless ground, literally the subject of the work.'
I was struck by the scale of the exhibition, excited by the part my tiny black frame played in the gallery matrix, the cyclical movement of the gallery assistants at work, the order that must prevail for a visitor to navigate through the gallery space...I became simultaneously aware of my presence and absence.
Then, at 10, i went home.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Balderdash and Piffle - We're all bonkers!
It's been a while since i posted and i thought i'd fill you in on what's been keeping me busy; Bonkersfest!; a free one day arts and music festival in Camberwell Green, celebrating madness, creativity, individuality and eccentricity; combating stigma and promoting good mental health. Yours truly and a Live Artist friend shall be performing in a launderette on the Green on 2 June as 1 of 4 artists commissioned by the South London Gallery. The festival promises to be entertaining; Jo Brand is opening (by firing a banana laden cannon), Bobby Baker and Kim Noble are performing and Sound Minds is sending in the musicians.
Before that though, this weekend in fact, a dear friend opens up her studio to all and sundry for some closed eye drawings and bead making.
Do not miss Lauren Shear, her warm open studio and the seemingly endless (and o so lovely) cups of herbal teas that ensue the minute you step through her door.
Before that though, this weekend in fact, a dear friend opens up her studio to all and sundry for some closed eye drawings and bead making.
Do not miss Lauren Shear, her warm open studio and the seemingly endless (and o so lovely) cups of herbal teas that ensue the minute you step through her door.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
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