Follow up film / shots - The Periscope (Aleph)

I let myself get into the frustrating situation of going to document the Periscope with a camera with low battery. Oh dear. Hence this brief film:

However, I am pleased with how this shooting style this worked out, so have decided to see it as the start of a new short film work rather than a failure to document the last piece. So I'll get to work and post the next development from it.

Here are some new photos of views through the Periscope, I am also pleased with the way some of these turned out.

 

 

Rhizomatic

I am in this show, as are a lot of other people, as you can see - it should be very exciting! We are installing this weekend, the Private View is on Friday 8th. It is in Southall again and the 'Prop' show will be open for viewings in the evening on the 8th too - the hangers are around 100m from one another, so come and see both and have a drink.

The Periscope (Aleph)

 
I am hoping to bring a video to help fit the images together soon, but in the meantime, here are some pictures of The 
Pericope taken by my 
good friend Emsey Jones. 

The idea for The Persicope comes from a Borges short story in which a man finds a place in a basement from which he can see every point in time and space all at the same time. This brings
the man to despair. 

 

The idea of the periscope also came from the way in which some people with ASD (and some without ASD) relate to travel, and often experience satisfaction from travel in fast moving vehicles through busy places. My impression is that this could be because so much is visible at the same time, without an expectation that one should respond to any of these sights. Although that's just my speculation, and is certainly not to be read as fact.

Through the periscope the viewer can find objects symbolising particular aspects of the history of the world - a sulphurus-looking gas cloud (big bang/future atmosphere?), an ancient-looking 'fish', a roman coin, a knife, a tv, a bone...find the rest when you see it.

The Periscope is available to view by appointment as part of 'Prop' exhibition, details in previous post. I hope to post some more images of other work in this show soon - there were some brilliant artists in the show and it looks great. For your second chance at a private view, come to the private view of 'Rhizomatic' on the same trading estate - the 'Prop' show will be open during the evening. This will be on Friday 8th October. Invite to be posted shortly.

Prop

I am going to be in this show and have been down there setting up today with my excellent assistant. Come along to the Private View if you can.

PROP A group show of objects, images and interventions that suggest narrative or theatrical action

Matt Ager, Thorbjørn Andersen, Louise Ashcroft, Roxane Borujerdi, Floss Cobb, Blue Curry, Paul Eachus, Douglas Ebbage, Sandra Erbacher, Livia Garcia, Rebecca Gould, Toby Huddlestone, Jonathan Kipps, Ladies of the Press, Simon Linington, littlewhitehead, Janko Matic, Christina Mitrentse, Laurence Payot, Tessa Power, Matthew Robinson, Ilona Sagar, Mark Selby, Jonathan Velardi, Charlotte Young, Neil Zakiewicz. Click on the artists' names to see their websites.

Private View: Friday 17th September 2010, 6 - 9.30pm. Refreshments will be served.

Free taxi shuttle from Merrick Road (turn left out of Southall Station and wait by the sign)

Viewings by appointment: 13th September - 23rd October.

To make an appointment contact louiseashcroft@departuregallery.com

Address: Unit 8, Trident Way, The International Trading Estate, Southall, London UB2 5LF

Getting there: Take national rail from Paddington (14 mins) then buses H32, 105, 195 or 482 to Brent Road. Walk down Brent Road until you see the entrance to the estate and ask security to direct you to 8 Trident Way. Parking is available.

Departure Gallery is a nomadic platform for contemporary art. This exhibition is the latest in our ongoing series of projects in the vast warehouses of The International Trading Estate, Southall.

For more information visit www.departuregallery.com

Arcade Game - The Wheel

This was made across 2009, and exhibited in Ouroboros, a show of new work by Louise Ashcroft and myself at FinSpace in 2009. 

Instructions for Use

Hook all 6 missing conquests (another person’s shoe, the maze, the serpent, the ease of death, the infinity loop, the bow and arrow of protection and precision) onto the silver hooks of the wheel by their gold loops before play.

Adjust the height of the player piece (Beard of Odysseus) to your preference by moving the bulldog clips.

Encourage a friend to begin turning the backdrop of the game by turning the lever.

Use the handles at the sides of the player piece to open and close your grabbers. The claws can be hard to open, the game is not always easy. Persistence pays.

The Maze

 

The 'hedges' of the maze are attached with velcro, so the viewer can move tem around to create their own maze or design. This was made for 'The Fleet Rises' group show with the Departure Gallery in 2009.

Dominoes

The dominoes were begun in 2009, so far there are 15 of them. In a set of Dominoes you have 28, but I see it as a project that needs to develop over time. I showed the first Domino alone - Carter/Sebald, in 'The Fleet Rises', a group show in Farringdon curated by Louise Ashcroft of the Departure Gallery in early 2009.

I showed 3 in 'There's Something I'd Like to Tell You' in Berlin.

By the time of 'Mythical Lyrical', late 2009, I was able to show 15 together, so people were actually able to play with them as planned - building, knocking the figures down, making runs. 

The Owls

A series of drawings of some close and very wise friends of mine, overlayed with poor-quality watercolours of owls which merge to the features of the humans. This was made in 2007/8, I showed them in 'Wrecking Ball' and in 'There's something I'd like to to tell you', a group show in IMA village, Berlin in 2009. I had been watching lots of Twin Peaks around the time of making these.

Growing nails

This work is from 2007. Apologies, the images aren't great.

I showed this piece at the 'Wrecking Ball' group show in Dalston. The idea was to make a trio of pieces about time and the body - above images of a piece where the viewer can turn the images to make the nail grow, another was made but not documented - a box with a crank the viewer turns to make a hair grow out of the box (the hair was coated in black silicone gel, so the whole thing felt fairly unpleasant), the final was to be a set of teeth the viewer could grind by turning a handle, although I never made this last one.

Any relevant work made during my BA

So at the top the work I made for my BA degre show (I studied at Byam Shaw School of Art). The work was comprised of three wall-hangings that worked as backdrops for a performative space. In the 'stage' space they made were hung costumes - rough costumes to summon characters from history (such as a hat for each of Henry VIII's wives, a necklace for Cleopatra, Helen of Troy's dress, Vlad the impaler's jacket, a gillet for Oliver Cromwell, some roman sandals). Within these costumes magnets were fitted. I was playing with the idea of time and attraction within movies, trying to express these ideas in their most un-glamorous and trivial way. Alongside the show I did a number of events - a storytelling of Beowolf, historical executions (see middle image), war-time cookery. It was all quite busy. I don't think my explanation makes much sense of it, so it's a good job it's old work.

Above is a third year performance - I made my own fireworks out of sugar, sparklers, oil pastels and sparkly tape. Unsuprisingly the whole performance involved un-deserved anticipation. 

 This mask was made for a third year performance. It involved me approaching a 'wolf' who was wearing the mask, and performing several tasks to make me more able to approach the wolf, such as taking off my shoes, socks, watch, licking some raw beef before throwing it to the wolf, approaching the wolf on all fours to sniff, then howling louder than the wolf. I had heard this brilliant thing on the radio by a man who had become the leader of a pack of animal sanctuary wolves over a number of years by approaching them using some of these tactics.