This weekend, if you can't go to the Brighton thing below, and Team Gina at the Brudenell in Leeds ain't your bag, then go to this and make me jealous:
The Fat of the Land is a queer chub Harvest Festival that will take place on 3 October 2009, 2-6pm at St Anne's, Dean Street, London.
Seriously, this event is gonna kick total ass... and is in some respects like a blast for the past for me, as BJ is gonna be there; I remember writing about BJ in a women's studies MA assessed paper (on lesbian/queer beauty pageants) way back in 2002 - I was kinda obsessed at the time. Plus, Allyson Mitchell is gonna be showing art work there too (swoon). I curse being up North sometimes. Bring me back stories and jam if you go!
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Sunday, 27 September 2009
Jessica is inside my head, I'm sure of it...
Jessica Hopper 27/9/09:
FORCE FEILD OR FIELD
I think today might be the first time I have felt normal in a month. It feels momentous. Or maybe it's more like 10 weeks? After one thing passes, I think "oh after this, then things will be "normal" but there keeps being an AND THEN lately. I know it's a myth, that the "and then" is stoppable--it's all AND THEN. When I was about 25, I had this idea that if I did certain things perfect, or got my life "arranged" it would become slower and predictable and manageable and then there wouldn't be some much AND THEN AND THEN and I could be on a peaceful mountaintop of life and just spend my time painting pictures of dogs or catching up on old New Yorkers and no one would die or move away or be sick or I would have money and no one would be on crack or mad at me. I thought you could do things to prevent the AND THEN barrage.
FORCE FEILD OR FIELD
I think today might be the first time I have felt normal in a month. It feels momentous. Or maybe it's more like 10 weeks? After one thing passes, I think "oh after this, then things will be "normal" but there keeps being an AND THEN lately. I know it's a myth, that the "and then" is stoppable--it's all AND THEN. When I was about 25, I had this idea that if I did certain things perfect, or got my life "arranged" it would become slower and predictable and manageable and then there wouldn't be some much AND THEN AND THEN and I could be on a peaceful mountaintop of life and just spend my time painting pictures of dogs or catching up on old New Yorkers and no one would die or move away or be sick or I would have money and no one would be on crack or mad at me. I thought you could do things to prevent the AND THEN barrage.
Friday, 18 September 2009
good to know
I was lucky enough to contribute bits from Colouring Outside The Lines zine issues 1-5 to this zine project, created by the incredibly awesome and inspiring Amy of Pikaland, one of my favourite blogs (in fact, to call it just a 'blog' is selling it waaay short). Amy is so great at bringing creative folks together and forging links, networks, and communities - this new zine project of hers in particular is full of advice and inspiration, and I'm so pleased it exists...
We just launched the FIFTH issue of Good to Know zine, and it's our heaviest copy yet: 68 pages filled with advice + inspiration from artists about the topic of art education:
"Do you think that artists need to have degrees/qualifications from art school in order to be one? Did you study art? Does it matter?"
You can purchase the issue in PDF or hardcopy (and find out more info about the zine) directly from here
For subscriptions – PDF or a physical copies – you can head to our Etsy shop
yay!
We just launched the FIFTH issue of Good to Know zine, and it's our heaviest copy yet: 68 pages filled with advice + inspiration from artists about the topic of art education:
"Do you think that artists need to have degrees/qualifications from art school in order to be one? Did you study art? Does it matter?"
You can purchase the issue in PDF or hardcopy (and find out more info about the zine) directly from here
For subscriptions – PDF or a physical copies – you can head to our Etsy shop
yay!
Thursday, 17 September 2009
sometimes when writing is really great i feel a little bit MORE
MBS makes me feel like this.
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore on Close to the Knives...
In the early ’90s, everyone was dying—that’s how it felt, it felt like everyone was dying. We were the first generation of queers to grow up knowing that desire meant AIDS meant death, and so it made sense that when we got away from the other death—the one that meant marriage, house in the suburbs, a lifetime of brutality, both interior and exterior, and call this success or keep trying, keep trying for more brutality—it made sense that everyone was dying, because we had only known death.
Queer heroes were dykes, or they were dying—some of the dykes were dying too, but not as fast, unless it was suicide or a cancer they hadn’t mentioned, cancer like childhood sometimes you can’t say it. So when I found David Wojnarowicz, he was already dead; I didn’t find him, I found his words.
Close to the Knives: This was the first time I’d ever read something and thought: me. That rage I felt at the world, the world that left nothing but words. Words and these gestures of desire and longing and searching crazed madness. I was finally learning to say help, help me, I need help here, can you help? And there was Close to the Knives.
David Wojnarowicz wrote about a “disease in the American landscape,” the literal disease of AIDS, but a crisis caused because the people in power decided who was expendable. Close to the Knives is so intent on exposing the layers of oppression between government and God and family and the “one tribe nation” of “walking Swastikas.” One minute you’re driving through the landscape of light and dark, shadow and memory and space, so much space, and all of a sudden: “I feel that I’m caught in the invisible arms of government in a country slowly dying beyond our grasp.”
We were queer freaks and incest survivors and anarchists, feminists and whores and vegans and sluts and activists taking all these words into our ears our arms our mouths. We exchanged manifestos and zines, books, and fliers and gossip, organized direct actions and art projects, got in dramatic fights over politics, over the weather, over clothing, over who was sleeping with whom; we held each other, we painted each other’s nails and broke down, honey we broke down.
I carried Close to the Knives around like a litmus test; when I met someone new, I’d hand it off—some would turn to me and say, “Oh, this is too much, I can’t handle it.” Others would look me in the eyes with recognition, and those were the ones. Close to the Knives helped me to embrace my rage like a “blood-filled egg,” a shift in the texture of breathing, a way to further opportunities for connection rather than just the isolation we knew so well.
Close to the Knives conjured this world of bathrooms and parks and alleys and rotting piers and other public opportunities for sexual splendor, and I, like David, was “gasping from a sense of loss and desire.” Sure, “I was afraid the intensity of my fantasies would become strangely audible,” but I knew that this public engagement with the sexual could infuse all moments of hope and horror, escape and claustrophobia, landscape and longing, death and remembrance.
I carried Close to the Knives around in my bag for years and sometimes when anything or everything was too much, I would reach for the familial texture of these words: I was learning and living and giving the potential of embracing outsider status in order to create safety, love, community, desire, home on my own terms. David Wojnarowicz reinforced this drive to build my own systems for understanding and challenging the world, my own sense of morality. He knew that “Hell is a place on earth. Heaven is a place in your head.” Queerness became “a wedge that I might successfully drive between me and a world that was rapidly becoming more and more insane.” A wedge I still hold on to.
Via: here
Reading stuff like this reminds me of why it's really important to hear about what inspired those who inspire us.
And is really important in helping the blood pump furiously to my heart and brain
And how importnat it is that truths are shared
And the importance of community / network(s) / media(s) for us to do this within and with
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore on Close to the Knives...
In the early ’90s, everyone was dying—that’s how it felt, it felt like everyone was dying. We were the first generation of queers to grow up knowing that desire meant AIDS meant death, and so it made sense that when we got away from the other death—the one that meant marriage, house in the suburbs, a lifetime of brutality, both interior and exterior, and call this success or keep trying, keep trying for more brutality—it made sense that everyone was dying, because we had only known death.
Queer heroes were dykes, or they were dying—some of the dykes were dying too, but not as fast, unless it was suicide or a cancer they hadn’t mentioned, cancer like childhood sometimes you can’t say it. So when I found David Wojnarowicz, he was already dead; I didn’t find him, I found his words.
Close to the Knives: This was the first time I’d ever read something and thought: me. That rage I felt at the world, the world that left nothing but words. Words and these gestures of desire and longing and searching crazed madness. I was finally learning to say help, help me, I need help here, can you help? And there was Close to the Knives.
David Wojnarowicz wrote about a “disease in the American landscape,” the literal disease of AIDS, but a crisis caused because the people in power decided who was expendable. Close to the Knives is so intent on exposing the layers of oppression between government and God and family and the “one tribe nation” of “walking Swastikas.” One minute you’re driving through the landscape of light and dark, shadow and memory and space, so much space, and all of a sudden: “I feel that I’m caught in the invisible arms of government in a country slowly dying beyond our grasp.”
We were queer freaks and incest survivors and anarchists, feminists and whores and vegans and sluts and activists taking all these words into our ears our arms our mouths. We exchanged manifestos and zines, books, and fliers and gossip, organized direct actions and art projects, got in dramatic fights over politics, over the weather, over clothing, over who was sleeping with whom; we held each other, we painted each other’s nails and broke down, honey we broke down.
I carried Close to the Knives around like a litmus test; when I met someone new, I’d hand it off—some would turn to me and say, “Oh, this is too much, I can’t handle it.” Others would look me in the eyes with recognition, and those were the ones. Close to the Knives helped me to embrace my rage like a “blood-filled egg,” a shift in the texture of breathing, a way to further opportunities for connection rather than just the isolation we knew so well.
Close to the Knives conjured this world of bathrooms and parks and alleys and rotting piers and other public opportunities for sexual splendor, and I, like David, was “gasping from a sense of loss and desire.” Sure, “I was afraid the intensity of my fantasies would become strangely audible,” but I knew that this public engagement with the sexual could infuse all moments of hope and horror, escape and claustrophobia, landscape and longing, death and remembrance.
I carried Close to the Knives around in my bag for years and sometimes when anything or everything was too much, I would reach for the familial texture of these words: I was learning and living and giving the potential of embracing outsider status in order to create safety, love, community, desire, home on my own terms. David Wojnarowicz reinforced this drive to build my own systems for understanding and challenging the world, my own sense of morality. He knew that “Hell is a place on earth. Heaven is a place in your head.” Queerness became “a wedge that I might successfully drive between me and a world that was rapidly becoming more and more insane.” A wedge I still hold on to.
Via: here
Reading stuff like this reminds me of why it's really important to hear about what inspired those who inspire us.
And is really important in helping the blood pump furiously to my heart and brain
And how importnat it is that truths are shared
And the importance of community / network(s) / media(s) for us to do this within and with
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Monday, 14 September 2009
getting a craft on
Since the dawning of September has seen my social life crash and burn :( I shall mostly be spending my Autumn working through these 25 tutorials on how to make books & notebooks by hand.
Sunday, 13 September 2009
like another part of me
I was asked a little while ago to contribute to a zine to accompany the Seripop exhibition at The Baltic centre for contemporary art in Newcastle. This weekend was the first chance I've had to sit down and read the whole zine in full.
I'm not just saying this because he's a friend, but the piece that Michal William (of l o c a l k i d) wrote for the zine made my eyes fill with emotion. He's a bit special, for sure.
Here's part of what he writes:
When we book a tour, or hold a show, or greet each other in the street, or boil water, or take a souvenir snapshot, we control the space - our space - by means of COLLECTIVE and ORGANISATION and CARE. And when we speak of 'LOVE', these are the words we are trying to say. And the actions we make are: 'I will look out for you'.'I will treat you like another part of me', 'and when we meet, we will embrace with looks of companions and comrades'
I've been thinking a lot about 'community' recently, and how a lot of what purports to be community falls waaay short and in truth isn't community at all. But also, I've recently felt what Michal speaks of, and it's something I want to feel 24/7, comrades.
I'm not just saying this because he's a friend, but the piece that Michal William (of l o c a l k i d) wrote for the zine made my eyes fill with emotion. He's a bit special, for sure.
Here's part of what he writes:
When we book a tour, or hold a show, or greet each other in the street, or boil water, or take a souvenir snapshot, we control the space - our space - by means of COLLECTIVE and ORGANISATION and CARE. And when we speak of 'LOVE', these are the words we are trying to say. And the actions we make are: 'I will look out for you'.'I will treat you like another part of me', 'and when we meet, we will embrace with looks of companions and comrades'
I've been thinking a lot about 'community' recently, and how a lot of what purports to be community falls waaay short and in truth isn't community at all. But also, I've recently felt what Michal speaks of, and it's something I want to feel 24/7, comrades.
Friday, 11 September 2009
this is home
If home is where the heart is, where is yours? A visual exploration of the concept of 'home,' across continents, oceans and neighborhoods.
Here are your semifinalists! And now it's time to cast your vote — you have until Sunday 13 September to do so.
Viewers will vote on their favorite piece, and finalists will receive their design in a limited edition postcard pack.
Here are your semifinalists! And now it's time to cast your vote — you have until Sunday 13 September to do so.
Viewers will vote on their favorite piece, and finalists will receive their design in a limited edition postcard pack.
re/group leeds
RE/GROUP
A collection of work by Frances Bickerdike, Anna Peaker, Laura Robinson and Jessica Thomas.
At Leeds City Library Gallery, running the whole of September.
Private View on Monday 14th, 6 - 8pm
http://www.annapeaker.co.uk/
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
getting emails like this one turns me on
From my inbox...
Let's start this season with a gay bang. The Stage is Set.
R e e n a S p a u l i n g s F i n e A r t is thrilled to announce....
K8 HARDY, artist
"to all the g#$%!s I've loved before"
OPENING SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 13TH, 6-8PM
(party to follow)
Reena Spaulings 165 East Broadway NY NY 10002
SHOW: September 13th - October 11th, 2009; Thursday through Sunday, Noon to 6pm
reenaspaulings.com
On May 27th 2009 I wrote the following exciting press release:
Attention: (!!!!!_)
Reena Spaulings Fine Art
I don’t appreciate anyone trying to control my expressions and I will not let any gallery control what goes into a show of my art. I AM TAKING BACK TOTAL CONTROL! I don’t care if it won’t be any good. My work is fucking good! It’s not some minimalist anti-aesthetic don’t care about the world conceptual project, ok? It’s messy and I DON’T NEED YOU TO TAKE OVER THE PRODUCTION! I don’t want my hand taken out of my own fucking art show in order to take it “to the next level”. I am completely against that patriarchal view of success. I don’t care if my shit is unprofessional or tacky. I’ve been making art since before I ever walked into a gallery and been involved in crazier shit (LTTR) than this gallery.
ANYWAYS, All the guys my age are on their stupid Nintendo 9th show and I haven’t had one- so I got a lot of shit to show, ok? In fact I hope my shit show is really fucking bad and embarrassing for everyone in this super cool art scene. I want this to be the same as I had ten years ago in my dyke punk rock house: I’ve got something to say.
DO I HAVE ANY COLLECTORS ANYWAYS? Well you know that answer is NO. well why, why, why, I wonder why? So please just help me out this summer so this downwardly mobile “celesbian” can have her first show.
CRITIQUE THIS DADDY FUCKERS!
But before that I wrote...
“Re-working In the In-Between, Shaking It Out.”
The Process is Power conference caught my attention because it addresses two important issues for me:
Process as a foreign/other language inside one dominant language; frequently spoken by Lesbians but not limited to this Tribe; most often used outside of Patriarchal circles.
Process as a metaphor for working used most often in relation to Artists.
These are topics I am currently investigating in my new work, “Notes on Lying”.
What motivates me? I am an artist and an outsider, both simultaneously and distinctively, so a total of 3.
I studied various fruits in my education, each one sliced or deconstructed an/other way, an endless amount of variations- but not quite infinity. Yet, when confronted with “Process” I tend to let it go. As I release this grip, or hailing, there creates a void, torn open through rejection. This void is an open space, never able to be filled or closed, that which is not one. And so I stand empty-handed before myself, and before my reader. But I’m convinced this situation needn’t remain so. I think if we stretch the limits, we might find some wonderful tools for regarding Process.
In a theoretical world, there are as many ways to view a situation as there are ways of viewers. For this reason, I will use simply my own, sketch it briefly and then illustrate some results. I don’t pretend to present any ground-breaking or revolutionary ideas in this text, just to shift my point of view, and possibly yours.
Fluidity, fragmentation, and pleasure are associated with the metaphorical ground breaking. The nascent intellectual current is conceptualism, a modality that creates a structure with hierarchies, it’s symbols and signs. It gives process a rigorous, “one, two” and then falls to the floor. So it’s not what I’m looking at, it’s not the finality, but the backwards unfolding. When I say backwards, I do invoke a form of linearity, but don’t limit it within actual directions.
The focus on “Process” by which meaning has been achieved inherently reveals feminist concerns. Inherently you may ask why? Inheritance is a patriarchal mode of moving power that distinctly and forthrightly excludes women, when I use the word woman now, just briefly to make my point, it is to classify that which is outside heteronormative patterns. Here I assert that again, my concern is not much with what has been said or made or produced. I postulate a different strategy, a risk, for the inscription of Process.
If to speak is to act and I say perform, perhaps performance is a form of lying? That’s philosophy. But it’s hard to answer if you consistently question what is Real.
Objects are less important than process. Process will never earn a dollar. As related in point #2, the (O)ther Tribes, have a whole foreign language of process. Communication and dialogue create friction, a small warmness. Lying is done with language, writing, and also the space between words. Gaping holes of nothing, caverns of emptiness, the liminality of abject unknown. A preferred space to occupy, like a country. Let us not forget power.
I don’t always want to be an artist. Part of it to me is about carrying around a heavy load of ideas and an intense drive to write about them. By writing I mean making art. By writing, I like to imply the gesture of my hand so may I also call it painting? Is it controlled? Is it messy? Is it queer as a two-dollar bill?
Politics are intrinsic here, activating questions and thoughts in the world we live in today; all wars considered. It’s a load of dirty clothes for most in the United States. However, I wear dirty clothes every day. Cleaning, putting away the mess, taking the visibility out of mess, making mess invisible, belongs to the privileged. Visibility now marches into the room, on the paper.
I think of my basic gesture as the American middle finger flying in the air of defiance. We’re supposed to be rebels anyways. I will name the specificity of my stance. Two able bodied legs supported by the ground in the United States of America, foreign soil.
So who owns what and why? Who claims to own the unknown thing that dares not bare its name? If one had to live in a closet, lying out of necessity, does the closet ever leave the room?
Persona is a reaction to Patriarchy. As everyone searches for their true self, they use the fake one they have been given, or fail miserably at that effort. Authenticity is slippery. Mimicry is the tenet of femininity.
It’s easy to obsess over the little things, scrape off the top layer of eye shadow your sister’s friend gave you from her stash of samplers at the department store where they both work. She’s a make up artist. It’s another kind of great artist. I look at the scraped up dirty little pads of packed powder and wonder if the germs from all the rich ladies, because it is a nice department store, I wonder if they could seep all the way to the bottom, totally saturate the rectangle of color. No matter, I’ll let my immune system work it out.
It’s so rude when an acquaintance maybe friend says, “I’m going out with my girlfriends tonight, me and my girlfriend, I just love all my girlfriends, and I really need to have girlfriends.” The gendered friendships keep slapping me on the face with their hallowed placement. Now every time I here a sex signifier I become suspect. I feel like there must be something conservative lurking around it. And these days you can guarantee if something is called a Women’s group, it’s usually for conservative means.
It’s scary how activist terms can get co-opted to the point of innocuous. Yet still I am part separatist and have no problem with making statements about Men. Oh Power. No problem at all. Bold statements regarding the still dominant sex, but oh how those women dream that’s behind us. It’s oh so embarrassing for straight people. Ha ha ha. Must we really bring that up? Let’s just party and have a good time. tickle tickle he he. Me and my girlfriends are liberated.
Stereotypes can’t contain the people within them. It’s violent. So take me on my own terms, or lay yours out so that I can see them. Take a position. I’m wary of silent terms, unspoken, invisible ground.
I’m still not fitting in. I’m a collision. You know what I mean?
Should we decide what to do together? I’m stuck in a pattern. I want to continue. I want clarity. The emotions are muddled. I have a deep commitment. I have conceptual questions. I want to check out.
It’s time to look over all my notes and find some more meaning. I need to keep adding meaning, searching. I make no apologies. I want everything to be clear to myself, not to you.
And coffee. Why does it have to be so bad for you? Is it? Everything is bad. All the artists are sober tea drinkers eating lots of greens and staying in shape. No more drugs, we run our studios like a tight little business ship. You can’t be a mess if you want to succeed!
I’m flipping pages. I’m looking at old super 8 movies. Animals I filmed at the zoo, incessantly walking back and forth, pacing in the cage, back and forth and back and forth in black and white. It’s kinda hard to watch. I think about Guantanamo. I think about this upcoming election and I get freaked out. The elephants are out of focus. The footage from France with the topless girls on the beach makes you want to question your participation in perversity, that’s the United States at work in your mind.
My jeans are dirty. The special black jeans from Trash & Vaudeville where the punks have been making the same cut of jeans since the real deal. The ass has ripped so many times, just came back from the tailor at the dry cleaners, and I feel like I am walking around with a diaper on. It’s weird but my ass still looks good in them. I wish I could afford new clothes. Some avant-garde designer with the freakiest weird shit, who knows if they even sell it to stores even.
I still believe in the male gaze. Seems like everyone has given up on that.
Different ideas. I’d like to dress up as each of my friends and take their portrait, a portrait of me, an homage. Maybe I’ll do it but I wonder if it’s worth it.
The underwear were merely a symbol for the body. The location of the most disgusting form of abjection. I chose the underwear for the location. I buy used underwear. Everyone says they don’t do it. I mean, I check the crotch and make sure it’s not stained, and only if they are like really cool or interesting. And of course I wash them before I wear them. A friend lost my favorite pair of crotch-less panties while performing in the Miss L.E.S. Pageant. Can’t blame her for that. I got them from a Saver’s in Springfield. Now used crotch-less panties no worries. They were low-cut, black lace, from the 70s.
I like to carry around my twenty-something half finished notebooks and journals. I want to finish them because I don’t want to waste the paper. I wish I was an eco-terrorist, but I try to get close. So I try to carry around them with me wherever I go if it is a significant amount of time. I have little ones and regular too. At a certain point a journal will become so time specific that I can’t possibly add to it. Then I will tear out the unused pages and recycle them, making lists and notes and whatnot. I’m so jealous of those hyper organized people. They probably keep their lists in their journals and never fall behind deadlines.
The fancy ones are nice. I can’t afford them all the time, but then who cares. If they get too precious yr fucked because the pages’ value combat the value of your words. You see someone with those pristine perfect notebooks, perhaps in black leather? You wonder, what kind of ideas are going into that special notebook? Probably ones that are continuing to make that person richer. I digress, but details like that are always on my mind. I’m not jealous, just aware. Details, like I was saying. Signifiers as others properly note.
I look cute today and I would like to go somewhere and be appreciated for it. Guess I’d like to go thrift shopping or somewhere public or something in a cruising zone but my money is so tight I can’t even afford that, much less the cab I would need home. I suppose most people could resolve that problem on the Internet, a blog or whatever. I need immediacy, human contact, and human feelings. I need to feel desired.
I’m really pushing it now in a total new over the edge way. Credit cards are maxed out, no more savings. It’s weird to identify with what the politicians are saying, like hey that’s me. No Health insurance, no nothing, broke. hahaha. Borrowed some cash from a friend. Never done that before. Big fucking sigh. I’m freaking out about food but I still continue to look glamorous and that is so confusing. No not the looking part, that’s confusing to other people, it’s the notoriety. I’m not supposed to complain about that. It’s just alienating when you’re broke. And I’m an elitist, and educated, total cultural elitist.
Downwardly mobile they used to say and still some may say about me. It doesn’t stick though anymore. My generation can’t expect to do better than their parents, like our parents could. So there is a downward shift and then slap on being an artist, slap on fighting to be an artist, and downward the finances go. Maybe I’m just in shock cuz I was raised middle class.
Isn’t that so embarrassing for some people? Yet they don’t know what it’s like to have nothing to lose. I wonder how much my not boring life is worth. It sure is fetishized. Glamour. Is that what it costs? It feels like poetic vindication to all the boring straight people out perhaps. They’ve got the Internet, TV, and magazines but not the people.
Is that mean? I really don’t want to sound mean but then I’m afraid I couldn’t write anything down at all.
I’d like to just walk around and let my tits accidentally fall out of my shirt, or hang out. I’m an exhibitionist so it gets me off. Ask an old crotch and she still may say it’s an offense against women. I’d like to offend men and women simultaneously.
I’d like to do a performance with an amp so I could get so loud. I have so many fucking ideas like an idiot high school boy with a boner and a guitar.
Timing again. It’s weird when someone gives you flowers. Every time my dad fucked up or made me mad I would get flowers. It’s like the offense of making your girl cry, not an apology. Flowers make it all better. I like getting flowers now. Maybe it’s the city or the person sending them has better taste than carnations. Really it’s the luxury and color and gesture. Is that killing the earth?
I like to spray myself with perfume before I go to bed. Roll in it. Especially the ones I don’t wear out anymore, like CK1. I was 16 going to gay clubs in Dallas by myself. It was hot. That smell permeated the whole fucking club and that whole time period. You couldn’t turn around without smelling it. I would bring an apple to the Village Station, the three story-12 room mega dance floor gay club, and dance for hours on end. I was exhilarated. Just dancing, no drinks. The thrill of gay movement and being on a floor without being ogled or mauled by men was beyond any free space I had ever known. It was mostly men there. A separate room and bar, of course, for the drag queen shows. I was transfixed, the only white girl with bleach blonde hair in the corner. Often then I was the only white girl and I really enjoyed that.
I feel subservient to the politically righteous conceptual artists of my peers. They frame themselves in such a safe way, who could argue? If you did, if you dare to disagree, then you disagree with the politics. Sometimes I feel like that is what is put on the line, challenge me and my feminist work and that means you are ignorant and patriarchal. And I don’t know what they risked. I guess I want that. I want to feel a little passion. I want to put up a high school art show. I’m not a minimalist. I want to make a mobile, can’t decide out of what.
“I pledge allegiance to shit” is what my Born Against t-shirt said in high school. A soldier saluting a coffin. I got sent home one day for wearing it. Maybe I can find it on eBay. I almost got up to do just that as I wrote it.
I’m horny but I don’t feel like doing anything about it. It’s the end of my period. My flower pharmacy panties are ragged out. I have a thing for pharmacy panties. Especially if I am in a foreign country. I want to touch the average woman. In Austria they had thongs at the pharmacy, could you imagine? Here they call the condom section family planning. We have a language problem in this country.
It barely gets hot up here and that makes me homesick, though by now I don’t know if home could be used properly in that world. I guess there is a forever argument regarding that one and formative years.
I’m probably too old by mainstream standards to walk around with my ass hanging out of my pants like this, but I guess that’s the beauty of it. I keep having to battle my personality aka performance against my work. It’s like S says about how people decide to take things seriously or not. By now I’m not going out of my way to suntan in order to keep my skin looking nice. I’m concerned about wrinkles.
I have deep dream fantasies of places to call home. Houses on the beach left with the past inhabitants possessions including a closet of vintage clothes. Every one of these places unfolds and becomes an endless maze of undiscovered bedrooms and closets. Our parents all expected us to do better than they themselves, only this time the American dream didn’t work that way. None of us expect to do better, doing as in money having. Although we all hope for it. It leaves us in this hole of expectation without work. Not that I can compare myself too much, if I did have the same values, I would be doing “better” most likely.
So here I AM an artist and what do I have to hold on to?
Some respond RIGHT ON SISTER, I am feeling you.
Others are confused think, she’s asking me to look at her and look away at the same time. I feel compelled to look. Another says FUCK YOU TOO.
Let's start this season with a gay bang. The Stage is Set.
R e e n a S p a u l i n g s F i n e A r t is thrilled to announce....
K8 HARDY, artist
"to all the g#$%!s I've loved before"
OPENING SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 13TH, 6-8PM
(party to follow)
Reena Spaulings 165 East Broadway NY NY 10002
SHOW: September 13th - October 11th, 2009; Thursday through Sunday, Noon to 6pm
reenaspaulings.com
On May 27th 2009 I wrote the following exciting press release:
Attention: (!!!!!_)
Reena Spaulings Fine Art
I don’t appreciate anyone trying to control my expressions and I will not let any gallery control what goes into a show of my art. I AM TAKING BACK TOTAL CONTROL! I don’t care if it won’t be any good. My work is fucking good! It’s not some minimalist anti-aesthetic don’t care about the world conceptual project, ok? It’s messy and I DON’T NEED YOU TO TAKE OVER THE PRODUCTION! I don’t want my hand taken out of my own fucking art show in order to take it “to the next level”. I am completely against that patriarchal view of success. I don’t care if my shit is unprofessional or tacky. I’ve been making art since before I ever walked into a gallery and been involved in crazier shit (LTTR) than this gallery.
ANYWAYS, All the guys my age are on their stupid Nintendo 9th show and I haven’t had one- so I got a lot of shit to show, ok? In fact I hope my shit show is really fucking bad and embarrassing for everyone in this super cool art scene. I want this to be the same as I had ten years ago in my dyke punk rock house: I’ve got something to say.
DO I HAVE ANY COLLECTORS ANYWAYS? Well you know that answer is NO. well why, why, why, I wonder why? So please just help me out this summer so this downwardly mobile “celesbian” can have her first show.
CRITIQUE THIS DADDY FUCKERS!
But before that I wrote...
“Re-working In the In-Between, Shaking It Out.”
The Process is Power conference caught my attention because it addresses two important issues for me:
Process as a foreign/other language inside one dominant language; frequently spoken by Lesbians but not limited to this Tribe; most often used outside of Patriarchal circles.
Process as a metaphor for working used most often in relation to Artists.
These are topics I am currently investigating in my new work, “Notes on Lying”.
What motivates me? I am an artist and an outsider, both simultaneously and distinctively, so a total of 3.
I studied various fruits in my education, each one sliced or deconstructed an/other way, an endless amount of variations- but not quite infinity. Yet, when confronted with “Process” I tend to let it go. As I release this grip, or hailing, there creates a void, torn open through rejection. This void is an open space, never able to be filled or closed, that which is not one. And so I stand empty-handed before myself, and before my reader. But I’m convinced this situation needn’t remain so. I think if we stretch the limits, we might find some wonderful tools for regarding Process.
In a theoretical world, there are as many ways to view a situation as there are ways of viewers. For this reason, I will use simply my own, sketch it briefly and then illustrate some results. I don’t pretend to present any ground-breaking or revolutionary ideas in this text, just to shift my point of view, and possibly yours.
Fluidity, fragmentation, and pleasure are associated with the metaphorical ground breaking. The nascent intellectual current is conceptualism, a modality that creates a structure with hierarchies, it’s symbols and signs. It gives process a rigorous, “one, two” and then falls to the floor. So it’s not what I’m looking at, it’s not the finality, but the backwards unfolding. When I say backwards, I do invoke a form of linearity, but don’t limit it within actual directions.
The focus on “Process” by which meaning has been achieved inherently reveals feminist concerns. Inherently you may ask why? Inheritance is a patriarchal mode of moving power that distinctly and forthrightly excludes women, when I use the word woman now, just briefly to make my point, it is to classify that which is outside heteronormative patterns. Here I assert that again, my concern is not much with what has been said or made or produced. I postulate a different strategy, a risk, for the inscription of Process.
If to speak is to act and I say perform, perhaps performance is a form of lying? That’s philosophy. But it’s hard to answer if you consistently question what is Real.
Objects are less important than process. Process will never earn a dollar. As related in point #2, the (O)ther Tribes, have a whole foreign language of process. Communication and dialogue create friction, a small warmness. Lying is done with language, writing, and also the space between words. Gaping holes of nothing, caverns of emptiness, the liminality of abject unknown. A preferred space to occupy, like a country. Let us not forget power.
I don’t always want to be an artist. Part of it to me is about carrying around a heavy load of ideas and an intense drive to write about them. By writing I mean making art. By writing, I like to imply the gesture of my hand so may I also call it painting? Is it controlled? Is it messy? Is it queer as a two-dollar bill?
Politics are intrinsic here, activating questions and thoughts in the world we live in today; all wars considered. It’s a load of dirty clothes for most in the United States. However, I wear dirty clothes every day. Cleaning, putting away the mess, taking the visibility out of mess, making mess invisible, belongs to the privileged. Visibility now marches into the room, on the paper.
I think of my basic gesture as the American middle finger flying in the air of defiance. We’re supposed to be rebels anyways. I will name the specificity of my stance. Two able bodied legs supported by the ground in the United States of America, foreign soil.
So who owns what and why? Who claims to own the unknown thing that dares not bare its name? If one had to live in a closet, lying out of necessity, does the closet ever leave the room?
Persona is a reaction to Patriarchy. As everyone searches for their true self, they use the fake one they have been given, or fail miserably at that effort. Authenticity is slippery. Mimicry is the tenet of femininity.
It’s easy to obsess over the little things, scrape off the top layer of eye shadow your sister’s friend gave you from her stash of samplers at the department store where they both work. She’s a make up artist. It’s another kind of great artist. I look at the scraped up dirty little pads of packed powder and wonder if the germs from all the rich ladies, because it is a nice department store, I wonder if they could seep all the way to the bottom, totally saturate the rectangle of color. No matter, I’ll let my immune system work it out.
It’s so rude when an acquaintance maybe friend says, “I’m going out with my girlfriends tonight, me and my girlfriend, I just love all my girlfriends, and I really need to have girlfriends.” The gendered friendships keep slapping me on the face with their hallowed placement. Now every time I here a sex signifier I become suspect. I feel like there must be something conservative lurking around it. And these days you can guarantee if something is called a Women’s group, it’s usually for conservative means.
It’s scary how activist terms can get co-opted to the point of innocuous. Yet still I am part separatist and have no problem with making statements about Men. Oh Power. No problem at all. Bold statements regarding the still dominant sex, but oh how those women dream that’s behind us. It’s oh so embarrassing for straight people. Ha ha ha. Must we really bring that up? Let’s just party and have a good time. tickle tickle he he. Me and my girlfriends are liberated.
Stereotypes can’t contain the people within them. It’s violent. So take me on my own terms, or lay yours out so that I can see them. Take a position. I’m wary of silent terms, unspoken, invisible ground.
I’m still not fitting in. I’m a collision. You know what I mean?
Should we decide what to do together? I’m stuck in a pattern. I want to continue. I want clarity. The emotions are muddled. I have a deep commitment. I have conceptual questions. I want to check out.
It’s time to look over all my notes and find some more meaning. I need to keep adding meaning, searching. I make no apologies. I want everything to be clear to myself, not to you.
And coffee. Why does it have to be so bad for you? Is it? Everything is bad. All the artists are sober tea drinkers eating lots of greens and staying in shape. No more drugs, we run our studios like a tight little business ship. You can’t be a mess if you want to succeed!
I’m flipping pages. I’m looking at old super 8 movies. Animals I filmed at the zoo, incessantly walking back and forth, pacing in the cage, back and forth and back and forth in black and white. It’s kinda hard to watch. I think about Guantanamo. I think about this upcoming election and I get freaked out. The elephants are out of focus. The footage from France with the topless girls on the beach makes you want to question your participation in perversity, that’s the United States at work in your mind.
My jeans are dirty. The special black jeans from Trash & Vaudeville where the punks have been making the same cut of jeans since the real deal. The ass has ripped so many times, just came back from the tailor at the dry cleaners, and I feel like I am walking around with a diaper on. It’s weird but my ass still looks good in them. I wish I could afford new clothes. Some avant-garde designer with the freakiest weird shit, who knows if they even sell it to stores even.
I still believe in the male gaze. Seems like everyone has given up on that.
Different ideas. I’d like to dress up as each of my friends and take their portrait, a portrait of me, an homage. Maybe I’ll do it but I wonder if it’s worth it.
The underwear were merely a symbol for the body. The location of the most disgusting form of abjection. I chose the underwear for the location. I buy used underwear. Everyone says they don’t do it. I mean, I check the crotch and make sure it’s not stained, and only if they are like really cool or interesting. And of course I wash them before I wear them. A friend lost my favorite pair of crotch-less panties while performing in the Miss L.E.S. Pageant. Can’t blame her for that. I got them from a Saver’s in Springfield. Now used crotch-less panties no worries. They were low-cut, black lace, from the 70s.
I like to carry around my twenty-something half finished notebooks and journals. I want to finish them because I don’t want to waste the paper. I wish I was an eco-terrorist, but I try to get close. So I try to carry around them with me wherever I go if it is a significant amount of time. I have little ones and regular too. At a certain point a journal will become so time specific that I can’t possibly add to it. Then I will tear out the unused pages and recycle them, making lists and notes and whatnot. I’m so jealous of those hyper organized people. They probably keep their lists in their journals and never fall behind deadlines.
The fancy ones are nice. I can’t afford them all the time, but then who cares. If they get too precious yr fucked because the pages’ value combat the value of your words. You see someone with those pristine perfect notebooks, perhaps in black leather? You wonder, what kind of ideas are going into that special notebook? Probably ones that are continuing to make that person richer. I digress, but details like that are always on my mind. I’m not jealous, just aware. Details, like I was saying. Signifiers as others properly note.
I look cute today and I would like to go somewhere and be appreciated for it. Guess I’d like to go thrift shopping or somewhere public or something in a cruising zone but my money is so tight I can’t even afford that, much less the cab I would need home. I suppose most people could resolve that problem on the Internet, a blog or whatever. I need immediacy, human contact, and human feelings. I need to feel desired.
I’m really pushing it now in a total new over the edge way. Credit cards are maxed out, no more savings. It’s weird to identify with what the politicians are saying, like hey that’s me. No Health insurance, no nothing, broke. hahaha. Borrowed some cash from a friend. Never done that before. Big fucking sigh. I’m freaking out about food but I still continue to look glamorous and that is so confusing. No not the looking part, that’s confusing to other people, it’s the notoriety. I’m not supposed to complain about that. It’s just alienating when you’re broke. And I’m an elitist, and educated, total cultural elitist.
Downwardly mobile they used to say and still some may say about me. It doesn’t stick though anymore. My generation can’t expect to do better than their parents, like our parents could. So there is a downward shift and then slap on being an artist, slap on fighting to be an artist, and downward the finances go. Maybe I’m just in shock cuz I was raised middle class.
Isn’t that so embarrassing for some people? Yet they don’t know what it’s like to have nothing to lose. I wonder how much my not boring life is worth. It sure is fetishized. Glamour. Is that what it costs? It feels like poetic vindication to all the boring straight people out perhaps. They’ve got the Internet, TV, and magazines but not the people.
Is that mean? I really don’t want to sound mean but then I’m afraid I couldn’t write anything down at all.
I’d like to just walk around and let my tits accidentally fall out of my shirt, or hang out. I’m an exhibitionist so it gets me off. Ask an old crotch and she still may say it’s an offense against women. I’d like to offend men and women simultaneously.
I’d like to do a performance with an amp so I could get so loud. I have so many fucking ideas like an idiot high school boy with a boner and a guitar.
Timing again. It’s weird when someone gives you flowers. Every time my dad fucked up or made me mad I would get flowers. It’s like the offense of making your girl cry, not an apology. Flowers make it all better. I like getting flowers now. Maybe it’s the city or the person sending them has better taste than carnations. Really it’s the luxury and color and gesture. Is that killing the earth?
I like to spray myself with perfume before I go to bed. Roll in it. Especially the ones I don’t wear out anymore, like CK1. I was 16 going to gay clubs in Dallas by myself. It was hot. That smell permeated the whole fucking club and that whole time period. You couldn’t turn around without smelling it. I would bring an apple to the Village Station, the three story-12 room mega dance floor gay club, and dance for hours on end. I was exhilarated. Just dancing, no drinks. The thrill of gay movement and being on a floor without being ogled or mauled by men was beyond any free space I had ever known. It was mostly men there. A separate room and bar, of course, for the drag queen shows. I was transfixed, the only white girl with bleach blonde hair in the corner. Often then I was the only white girl and I really enjoyed that.
I feel subservient to the politically righteous conceptual artists of my peers. They frame themselves in such a safe way, who could argue? If you did, if you dare to disagree, then you disagree with the politics. Sometimes I feel like that is what is put on the line, challenge me and my feminist work and that means you are ignorant and patriarchal. And I don’t know what they risked. I guess I want that. I want to feel a little passion. I want to put up a high school art show. I’m not a minimalist. I want to make a mobile, can’t decide out of what.
“I pledge allegiance to shit” is what my Born Against t-shirt said in high school. A soldier saluting a coffin. I got sent home one day for wearing it. Maybe I can find it on eBay. I almost got up to do just that as I wrote it.
I’m horny but I don’t feel like doing anything about it. It’s the end of my period. My flower pharmacy panties are ragged out. I have a thing for pharmacy panties. Especially if I am in a foreign country. I want to touch the average woman. In Austria they had thongs at the pharmacy, could you imagine? Here they call the condom section family planning. We have a language problem in this country.
It barely gets hot up here and that makes me homesick, though by now I don’t know if home could be used properly in that world. I guess there is a forever argument regarding that one and formative years.
I’m probably too old by mainstream standards to walk around with my ass hanging out of my pants like this, but I guess that’s the beauty of it. I keep having to battle my personality aka performance against my work. It’s like S says about how people decide to take things seriously or not. By now I’m not going out of my way to suntan in order to keep my skin looking nice. I’m concerned about wrinkles.
I have deep dream fantasies of places to call home. Houses on the beach left with the past inhabitants possessions including a closet of vintage clothes. Every one of these places unfolds and becomes an endless maze of undiscovered bedrooms and closets. Our parents all expected us to do better than they themselves, only this time the American dream didn’t work that way. None of us expect to do better, doing as in money having. Although we all hope for it. It leaves us in this hole of expectation without work. Not that I can compare myself too much, if I did have the same values, I would be doing “better” most likely.
So here I AM an artist and what do I have to hold on to?
Some respond RIGHT ON SISTER, I am feeling you.
Others are confused think, she’s asking me to look at her and look away at the same time. I feel compelled to look. Another says FUCK YOU TOO.
Jessica: tiny, lucky genius.
Seriously, 'http://tiny.abstractdynamics.org' i.e. tinyluckygenius aka the Unicorn's Tear is my favourite blog right now. I LOVE the way Jessica thinks.
This, from a recent post, rings many bells for me; my life, my purpose, my productions & creativity...
'It's been a long summer of being disconnected from writing. Writing with actual thought about it, writing that isn't about my work, my writing, my book. My life, I know, for a while, maybe an extended while, will be the care and feeding of the thing I made. To wrest away from that feels nessecary and strange. I have barely read, barely taken in, mostly just presented and talked and arranged and hustled. I am home, a little broke, medium tired, missing the entire part of the summer that is the part where you vacate and do nothing. Where you read. Look at stuff and hatch plans that are not terribly ambitious. Like "makin' a pie" or strip mining the massive pile in yr room known as "Clothes Mountain"'.
This, from a recent post, rings many bells for me; my life, my purpose, my productions & creativity...
'It's been a long summer of being disconnected from writing. Writing with actual thought about it, writing that isn't about my work, my writing, my book. My life, I know, for a while, maybe an extended while, will be the care and feeding of the thing I made. To wrest away from that feels nessecary and strange. I have barely read, barely taken in, mostly just presented and talked and arranged and hustled. I am home, a little broke, medium tired, missing the entire part of the summer that is the part where you vacate and do nothing. Where you read. Look at stuff and hatch plans that are not terribly ambitious. Like "makin' a pie" or strip mining the massive pile in yr room known as "Clothes Mountain"'.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
future fuck all - submissions wanted
from my inbox...
Future Fuck All
"Hello friends, I am putting out a call for writing, art, comics, photographs, on the practicial and philosophical aspects of gender, sexuality, bodies, and queerness. Personal experiences (good, bad, and other), philosophies, rants, funny stories, observations, interviews, dreams of the future. Ultimately, I want to put a zine out that is a positive fuck yeah for queerness, transgenderisms, bodies, sexualityies, and ultra wave inclusive feminism. A recognition that all oppressions are interconnected, and the time is now to share our stories and deconstruct the dead ends.
Years ago I did four issues of a crudely similar zine call "Girl-Boy" with a co-editor. It was a fun and enlightening exploration, I want to do it again, this time with everybody!
After the submissions have been picked and assembled I will submit the final zine to an awesome independent publisher. I might also put it on a blog thing for the world to share. If you want to specify rights reserved in your works, write that on the work, or let me know in some way. This is not a profit venture, it is to share experience and open minds, our own, and anyone that reads.
If you have suggestions for a title, please send them in! My original brainstorm title idea "Beyond Girl-Boy" seems entirely cheesy. My new working title is" "Future Fuck All."
Deadline is November 1, 2009.
Drop me a note if you have questions." - Robert, robotearl(at)gmail.com, robnoxious.wordpress.com
x x x
Plus, also...
Nowhere 2 Be Found Magazine
is a fanzine that focses on diverse views & culture from a queer perspective. We're looking for gear heads, geeks, dorks, sci-fi/horror fans, punks, metalheads, those dealing with health, mental health, & substance abuse, doing project...to tell their stories, share their art, poetry, fiction/non-fiction, advice, how to, sites, project, events, etc. Send all submissions to nowheretwobefound(at)gmail.com. You can find more info on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace.
Future Fuck All
"Hello friends, I am putting out a call for writing, art, comics, photographs, on the practicial and philosophical aspects of gender, sexuality, bodies, and queerness. Personal experiences (good, bad, and other), philosophies, rants, funny stories, observations, interviews, dreams of the future. Ultimately, I want to put a zine out that is a positive fuck yeah for queerness, transgenderisms, bodies, sexualityies, and ultra wave inclusive feminism. A recognition that all oppressions are interconnected, and the time is now to share our stories and deconstruct the dead ends.
Years ago I did four issues of a crudely similar zine call "Girl-Boy" with a co-editor. It was a fun and enlightening exploration, I want to do it again, this time with everybody!
After the submissions have been picked and assembled I will submit the final zine to an awesome independent publisher. I might also put it on a blog thing for the world to share. If you want to specify rights reserved in your works, write that on the work, or let me know in some way. This is not a profit venture, it is to share experience and open minds, our own, and anyone that reads.
If you have suggestions for a title, please send them in! My original brainstorm title idea "Beyond Girl-Boy" seems entirely cheesy. My new working title is" "Future Fuck All."
Deadline is November 1, 2009.
Drop me a note if you have questions." - Robert, robotearl(at)gmail.com, robnoxious.wordpress.com
x x x
Plus, also...
Nowhere 2 Be Found Magazine
is a fanzine that focses on diverse views & culture from a queer perspective. We're looking for gear heads, geeks, dorks, sci-fi/horror fans, punks, metalheads, those dealing with health, mental health, & substance abuse, doing project...to tell their stories, share their art, poetry, fiction/non-fiction, advice, how to, sites, project, events, etc. Send all submissions to nowheretwobefound(at)gmail.com. You can find more info on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace.
oh, so rad
EveryBody!: Visual resistance in feminist health movements, 1969-2009 from September 11-October 10, 2009 at I Space Gallery, Chicago
Monday, 7 September 2009
rubber ring - seeking suggestions
From my inbox...
Hello,
I need some assistance with a design/illustration project I’m doing.
The project is called:
Rubber Ring: A zine of artful words as a life raft for adolescence. {The title is named after a song by The Smiths about remembering the music and the words that helped you in your youth once you’re grown and ‘laughing and dancing and finally living’}
Basically I’m creating a small self-published magazine that uses the song lyrics of music that is related to various themes such as:
Love / Sex / Death / Beauty / Fear / Alienation / Work / Fashion&Adornments / Bodily Changes&Illness
Anger / Violence / Difference / Creativity / Friendship / Inequality
What I hope to say with this is that in the world there are all of these things, and they exist simultaneously, and despite feeling it no one is alone in fearing isolation and inadequacy. That we are often manipulated and misinformed and that we have value and power and creativity. With these little pocket sized publications I intend to provide something that will do what music often does, offer comfort, recognition and inspiration; but visually. I will be illustrating and designing these words appropriately and including other things such as poems / stories / information / etc. to bolster the rich visuals and link them within a wider context. Basically harnessing popular culture and interpreting it in ways that might reassure someone when in the midst of that most tragicomic of times. I want to mix a blend of humour, mundanity and drama. I want to encourage and challenge, infusing it with the best kind of feminist humanity.
You can help me by:
* Recommending songs that you think are appropriate to one or more of the above themes. OR
* Recommending songs that you think are appropriate to one or more of the above themes that you loved when you were at that age. And a brief description of why that particular song is appropriate, was it helpful / inspiring etc? OR
* Do both of the above and tell me any anecdotes you have about things that were important to you then, embarrassing moments, love, fashion faux pas, fears, sexual encounters. Whatever you feel comfortable sharing with me really that you think might help someone going through something difficult. I won’t use any real names in the zine nor will I share the information about anyone’s identity with anyone else, not a soul.
Contact: jo_eliza_beth@hotmail.com
Hello,
I need some assistance with a design/illustration project I’m doing.
The project is called:
Rubber Ring: A zine of artful words as a life raft for adolescence. {The title is named after a song by The Smiths about remembering the music and the words that helped you in your youth once you’re grown and ‘laughing and dancing and finally living’}
Basically I’m creating a small self-published magazine that uses the song lyrics of music that is related to various themes such as:
Love / Sex / Death / Beauty / Fear / Alienation / Work / Fashion&Adornments / Bodily Changes&Illness
Anger / Violence / Difference / Creativity / Friendship / Inequality
What I hope to say with this is that in the world there are all of these things, and they exist simultaneously, and despite feeling it no one is alone in fearing isolation and inadequacy. That we are often manipulated and misinformed and that we have value and power and creativity. With these little pocket sized publications I intend to provide something that will do what music often does, offer comfort, recognition and inspiration; but visually. I will be illustrating and designing these words appropriately and including other things such as poems / stories / information / etc. to bolster the rich visuals and link them within a wider context. Basically harnessing popular culture and interpreting it in ways that might reassure someone when in the midst of that most tragicomic of times. I want to mix a blend of humour, mundanity and drama. I want to encourage and challenge, infusing it with the best kind of feminist humanity.
You can help me by:
* Recommending songs that you think are appropriate to one or more of the above themes. OR
* Recommending songs that you think are appropriate to one or more of the above themes that you loved when you were at that age. And a brief description of why that particular song is appropriate, was it helpful / inspiring etc? OR
* Do both of the above and tell me any anecdotes you have about things that were important to you then, embarrassing moments, love, fashion faux pas, fears, sexual encounters. Whatever you feel comfortable sharing with me really that you think might help someone going through something difficult. I won’t use any real names in the zine nor will I share the information about anyone’s identity with anyone else, not a soul.
Contact: jo_eliza_beth@hotmail.com
a small, potentailly setimental post about friends and community
I just got back. I've been in New York, working. I got two nights off, the only time off for the whole trip. I knew I had to spend it wisely. It was then I realised how lucky I am to have such an extended family of friends over the world; friends that have been gained through my projects and by keeping in touch with people who pass through my city. I'd been told about a gig happening in New York, co-incidently on one of my nights off...
7:30 Dibs, 8:00 Dan Fishback, 8:30 Susie Asado, 9:30 Andrew Phillip Tipton, 10:00 Nan Turner, 10:30 Horror Me, 11:00 Kat Burns, 11:30 Toby Goodshank, 12:00 Sibsi
I got to the Sidewalk Cafe and it felt like falling into the arms of the best hug ever. Nan had told me of the show, and it was *so* good to see her, both personally, and to see her solo set - now complete with rapping!! And oh, Dan... we have shared friends, and immediately after his set I knew I wanted to be his best friend, I fell head over heels. And Lisa came down to the show to say hi, and I met Yoko for the first time, years after interviewing her. And I bumped into folks that I've worked on shows with in the UK like Toby, Phoebe, and Matt. And it felt so wonderful to be alone in a strange city and wandering out into the night to this venue full of friends and love and community.
And not just for how they personally welcomed me that night, coming forward with hugs and smiles, but also the knowledge of how crazily talented they are. The awareness of this crazy-talented set of people interacting and performing and creating this music and art in such a supportive environment, in this creative community. It just felt so electric that these people who found each other in the wilds of new york and have come to work together as such a dynamic community - supporting each other, putting on shows and events, listening and collaborating. From an outsiders perspective I felt a pang of jealousy and knowledge that I don't really have that friendship community available to me 24/7. Yet so happy to be there, and feeling included and participating to the buzz of something important.
The sense of community I felt was different yet totally the same to that that I felt in San Francisco only a few short weeks before; that feeling of acceptance and love and shared worlds, and excitement and creativity, and small degrees of separation and the knowledge of how small the world can be, the sense of potential, the warmth, the wanting to forge a better sense of community in my day-to-day not just on these off-chances.
I know the greatest people. I need to stop forgetting that, cuz these connections and friends I have are just so ridiculously positive and inspiring.
7:30 Dibs, 8:00 Dan Fishback, 8:30 Susie Asado, 9:30 Andrew Phillip Tipton, 10:00 Nan Turner, 10:30 Horror Me, 11:00 Kat Burns, 11:30 Toby Goodshank, 12:00 Sibsi
I got to the Sidewalk Cafe and it felt like falling into the arms of the best hug ever. Nan had told me of the show, and it was *so* good to see her, both personally, and to see her solo set - now complete with rapping!! And oh, Dan... we have shared friends, and immediately after his set I knew I wanted to be his best friend, I fell head over heels. And Lisa came down to the show to say hi, and I met Yoko for the first time, years after interviewing her. And I bumped into folks that I've worked on shows with in the UK like Toby, Phoebe, and Matt. And it felt so wonderful to be alone in a strange city and wandering out into the night to this venue full of friends and love and community.
And not just for how they personally welcomed me that night, coming forward with hugs and smiles, but also the knowledge of how crazily talented they are. The awareness of this crazy-talented set of people interacting and performing and creating this music and art in such a supportive environment, in this creative community. It just felt so electric that these people who found each other in the wilds of new york and have come to work together as such a dynamic community - supporting each other, putting on shows and events, listening and collaborating. From an outsiders perspective I felt a pang of jealousy and knowledge that I don't really have that friendship community available to me 24/7. Yet so happy to be there, and feeling included and participating to the buzz of something important.
The sense of community I felt was different yet totally the same to that that I felt in San Francisco only a few short weeks before; that feeling of acceptance and love and shared worlds, and excitement and creativity, and small degrees of separation and the knowledge of how small the world can be, the sense of potential, the warmth, the wanting to forge a better sense of community in my day-to-day not just on these off-chances.
I know the greatest people. I need to stop forgetting that, cuz these connections and friends I have are just so ridiculously positive and inspiring.
Sunday, 6 September 2009
lily, yuka, and fumi
I've done quite enough zipping over the Atlantic for the time being, but, oh, what I wouldn't give to see this show in Los Angeles at ThinkSpace...
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
that's what i call a view!
See more about the knitted bunny on the Italian lanscape here. It took 5 years to knit and will stay in it's current location for another 15-20 years. It was created by the Gelintin collective, creators of other amazing installation creations such as this:
ladyfest edinburgh 09: what's the scoop?
Move over Edinburgh Fringe, Ladyfest is back in town. More bijou than last years month long extravaganza, but still the same great tasting feminist flavours.
The weekend events explode with the arrival of Sister Spit: The Next Generation. The tour is hitting the road again, with a whole new all-girl lineup of zinesters, fashion plates, novelists, performance artists, slam poets and fancy scribblers. Sister Spit: The Next Generation is hauling a vanload of killer underground female talent across the USA and into the bosom of Ladyfest Edinburgh. Take a peek behind The Big Red Door for this eagerly awaited pageant and fall headlong into the ramblin' roadshow.
Saturday is no day for takin' it easy either, lace up yer pussy pumps and head down to The Bowery for an afternoon of punk knitting, naked men (see Life Drawing), skill share, singing, self love dancing, stand up comedy with Sian Bevan, theatre combat, lotions, potions and commotions. To add to this heavy brew, Ladyfest have been collaborating with various young folks youth groups throughout the city in a visual arts project and some of the work will be on show for one day only before it goes on tour. The main aim of this project was to make stronger connections with our local community, debunk some of the stuffy myths of art and get young folk expressing themselves creatively through the visual arts.
Saturday leaks into night with a small pause for breath before The Bowery doors are opened again to a night of performance and music. Featuring the ultimate sticky fixative Sellotape, and the bilingual mixture of sound poetry and storytelling with megaphones of Zorras. (other acts still tbc)
"Think Kleenex or The Delta Five, with an in-built ramshackleness tempered by a vocal style betraying a smidgen of Siouxsie Sioux..." Neil Cooper, The List
"The images come so fast you sometimes feel like a Slinky falling down the stairs, yet the emotion and intention are clear, moving, and often funny" The Skinny
Our lazy Ladyfest Sunday afternoon goes for a gallery walk and coffee stop to sit with pinkies poised and napkins ready to catch spat out cake crumbs and hot liquid as all are invited to wander and talk about women in art, past present and future. The weekend finishes with a film at the brass monkey. See our website for further details.
Ladyfest has been conducting itself underground all year so a quick update on us. This will be the second Ladyfest to be organised by people living in Edinburgh, building on the heritage of over 100 Ladyfests around the world since 2000: non-profit, feminist events organised mainly by women and platforms for the talents of female artists and performers. The events are mainly focused on encouraging the talent of women and girls, but are open to everyone.
Ladyfest is an idea not an ideology. The main aim of Ladyfest Edinburgh is to create an alternative space for the celebration of female creativity. The future of Ladyfest will be built on our need to grasp this free space and continue to make women more visible in the arts, culture and society.
For further information and pictures please contact:
Fiona Watt 0131 557 5869 (Eve and weekends only) or 07891 507716 (day) or
Marylou Anderson at info@ladyfestedinburgh.com
1 Weekend listings are attached below
2 For more information see our website www.ladyfestedinburgh.com
3 There is a facebook group you can join here www.facebook.com/group.php?=7816432651
4 All profits from ladyfest edinburgh will go to local women's charities
Ladyfest Edinburgh Weekend Listings
Comedy night with Sian Bevan, Liz Ely plus guests
Thurs 24th September, Doors 7pm
Communication Union's Workers Club, Brunswick Street, Edinburgh
£4 on the door or purchase a £10 weekend ticket
Sister Spit: The Next Generation
Fri 25th September, Doors open 7pm
The Big Red Door, Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh
£5 on door or purchase a weekend ticket for £10
Youth art project exhibition and a whorl of workshops
Saturday 26th September, Doors 11am-5pm
The Bowery, Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh
Donation or free with a weekend ticket
Sellotape, Zorras plus guests
Saturday 26th September, Doors 7.30pm - midnight
The Bowery, Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh
£3 on door or purchase a £10 weekend ticket
Gallery walk and talk about women in art past, present and future
Sunday 27th September
Meeting for 2pm @ The fruitmarket Gallery
Free/
Films @ The Brass Monkey (see website for film details), From 8pm
Sunday 27th September
The Brass Monkey, Drummond Street, Edinburgh
Free/donations accepted
The weekend events explode with the arrival of Sister Spit: The Next Generation. The tour is hitting the road again, with a whole new all-girl lineup of zinesters, fashion plates, novelists, performance artists, slam poets and fancy scribblers. Sister Spit: The Next Generation is hauling a vanload of killer underground female talent across the USA and into the bosom of Ladyfest Edinburgh. Take a peek behind The Big Red Door for this eagerly awaited pageant and fall headlong into the ramblin' roadshow.
Saturday is no day for takin' it easy either, lace up yer pussy pumps and head down to The Bowery for an afternoon of punk knitting, naked men (see Life Drawing), skill share, singing, self love dancing, stand up comedy with Sian Bevan, theatre combat, lotions, potions and commotions. To add to this heavy brew, Ladyfest have been collaborating with various young folks youth groups throughout the city in a visual arts project and some of the work will be on show for one day only before it goes on tour. The main aim of this project was to make stronger connections with our local community, debunk some of the stuffy myths of art and get young folk expressing themselves creatively through the visual arts.
Saturday leaks into night with a small pause for breath before The Bowery doors are opened again to a night of performance and music. Featuring the ultimate sticky fixative Sellotape, and the bilingual mixture of sound poetry and storytelling with megaphones of Zorras. (other acts still tbc)
"Think Kleenex or The Delta Five, with an in-built ramshackleness tempered by a vocal style betraying a smidgen of Siouxsie Sioux..." Neil Cooper, The List
"The images come so fast you sometimes feel like a Slinky falling down the stairs, yet the emotion and intention are clear, moving, and often funny" The Skinny
Our lazy Ladyfest Sunday afternoon goes for a gallery walk and coffee stop to sit with pinkies poised and napkins ready to catch spat out cake crumbs and hot liquid as all are invited to wander and talk about women in art, past present and future. The weekend finishes with a film at the brass monkey. See our website for further details.
Ladyfest has been conducting itself underground all year so a quick update on us. This will be the second Ladyfest to be organised by people living in Edinburgh, building on the heritage of over 100 Ladyfests around the world since 2000: non-profit, feminist events organised mainly by women and platforms for the talents of female artists and performers. The events are mainly focused on encouraging the talent of women and girls, but are open to everyone.
Ladyfest is an idea not an ideology. The main aim of Ladyfest Edinburgh is to create an alternative space for the celebration of female creativity. The future of Ladyfest will be built on our need to grasp this free space and continue to make women more visible in the arts, culture and society.
For further information and pictures please contact:
Fiona Watt 0131 557 5869 (Eve and weekends only) or 07891 507716 (day) or
Marylou Anderson at info@ladyfestedinburgh.com
1 Weekend listings are attached below
2 For more information see our website www.ladyfestedinburgh.com
3 There is a facebook group you can join here www.facebook.com/group.php?=7816432651
4 All profits from ladyfest edinburgh will go to local women's charities
Ladyfest Edinburgh Weekend Listings
Comedy night with Sian Bevan, Liz Ely plus guests
Thurs 24th September, Doors 7pm
Communication Union's Workers Club, Brunswick Street, Edinburgh
£4 on the door or purchase a £10 weekend ticket
Sister Spit: The Next Generation
Fri 25th September, Doors open 7pm
The Big Red Door, Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh
£5 on door or purchase a weekend ticket for £10
Youth art project exhibition and a whorl of workshops
Saturday 26th September, Doors 11am-5pm
The Bowery, Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh
Donation or free with a weekend ticket
Sellotape, Zorras plus guests
Saturday 26th September, Doors 7.30pm - midnight
The Bowery, Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh
£3 on door or purchase a £10 weekend ticket
Gallery walk and talk about women in art past, present and future
Sunday 27th September
Meeting for 2pm @ The fruitmarket Gallery
Free/
Films @ The Brass Monkey (see website for film details), From 8pm
Sunday 27th September
The Brass Monkey, Drummond Street, Edinburgh
Free/donations accepted
Monday, 24 August 2009
Friday, 21 August 2009
nicole george's zine challenge
From my inbox...
Nicole writes:
2009 Zine Challenge
I just found an entire box of zines i made with a 5th grader called "My Top Five Most Embarrassing Moments".
I'll trade you one for a zine about YOUR top five most embarassing moments.
Deadline: September 1st, 2009
Send $2 with your zine submissions to receive an envelope full of zines received from the challenge (this is for postage).
THIS SWAP IS OPEN TO ALL AGES
Please specify whether or not your zine will be 5th grade appropriate.
This will determine whether your zine will be swapped with 5th graders or just other adults.
Contact via: http://nicolejgeorges.blogspot.com/
We did a Spring Break Zine Challenge in 2008, with great results! Intergenerational zine trading with everyone from gay road trippers to feminist raisins, six year old artists, lesbian poets and bike messengers!
PLEASE REPOST!
Nicole writes:
2009 Zine Challenge
I just found an entire box of zines i made with a 5th grader called "My Top Five Most Embarrassing Moments".
I'll trade you one for a zine about YOUR top five most embarassing moments.
Deadline: September 1st, 2009
Send $2 with your zine submissions to receive an envelope full of zines received from the challenge (this is for postage).
THIS SWAP IS OPEN TO ALL AGES
Please specify whether or not your zine will be 5th grade appropriate.
This will determine whether your zine will be swapped with 5th graders or just other adults.
Contact via: http://nicolejgeorges.blogspot.com/
We did a Spring Break Zine Challenge in 2008, with great results! Intergenerational zine trading with everyone from gay road trippers to feminist raisins, six year old artists, lesbian poets and bike messengers!
PLEASE REPOST!
sister spit in europe this september
SEPTEMBER '09
2nd - Brighton (Cowley Club)
3rd - Bristol (Secret Warehouse Location) *
4th - Sheffield (Cafe venue tbc)
5th - London (RampARTS Social Centre)
6th - Leeds - (The Adelphi)
7th - Bradford (1 in 12)
9th - ljubljana (Menza Pri Korito)
10th - vienna (???)
11th - munich (Kafe Kult)
12th - berlin (Wirr Warr)
14th stockholm (Hallongrottan)
15th stockholm (Högkvarteret)
16th hamburg (Künstlerhaus Vorwerkstift)
17th cologne (Kulturbunker)
18th paris (???)
19th bern (???)
20th milan (???)
22nd - Huddersfield (The Peacock Lounge)
23rd - Manchester (Yard Theatre)
24th - London (Chroma Journal workshop session)
25th - Ladyfest Edinburgh (The Big Red Door)
LISTINGS UPDATED AS OF 19/8/09
http://www.myspace.com/sisterspitnextgen
http://www.myspace.com/michelletea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Tea
http://www.sisterspitnextgen.com/fall07/michelletea.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/texta/sets/72157602455971563/
Details of performers hitting Europe
Thursday, 20 August 2009
friend zine submissions wanted
From my inbox...
Call for submissions
Instant friends, internet friends, soulmates, gangs of mates, house mates, holiday friends, friends who are more like family, family who are more like friends, friends who are lovers, friends who were lovers, old friends, new friends, school friends, work friends, ex-friends…
This is a call out for submissions for a new collaborative zine (as yet unnamed- ideas welcomed) about friendship. I want to celebrate the important role that friendship plays in all our lives and provide a space where people can acknowledge it in all its glory and gritty reality – break-ups of friendships, the strength that friends bring, the amazing wetting-your-pants laughing fun, the collaborations and creativity that can emerge from friendship etc etc etc
Submissions can be in whatever form you want – written/visual, the more variety the better! Anonymity if you like too.
Email submissions to: friendzine@gmail.com
Post submissions to: Friendzine, 19 Stockton House, Ellsworth Street, E2 0AY UK.
Deadline: 15th October 2009
PLEASE RE-POST
Call for submissions
Instant friends, internet friends, soulmates, gangs of mates, house mates, holiday friends, friends who are more like family, family who are more like friends, friends who are lovers, friends who were lovers, old friends, new friends, school friends, work friends, ex-friends…
This is a call out for submissions for a new collaborative zine (as yet unnamed- ideas welcomed) about friendship. I want to celebrate the important role that friendship plays in all our lives and provide a space where people can acknowledge it in all its glory and gritty reality – break-ups of friendships, the strength that friends bring, the amazing wetting-your-pants laughing fun, the collaborations and creativity that can emerge from friendship etc etc etc
Submissions can be in whatever form you want – written/visual, the more variety the better! Anonymity if you like too.
Email submissions to: friendzine@gmail.com
Post submissions to: Friendzine, 19 Stockton House, Ellsworth Street, E2 0AY UK.
Deadline: 15th October 2009
PLEASE RE-POST
gaycation tales
I got back from my gaycation in San Francisco yesterday and have had THE best time.
Here's a quick summary of my highlights...
Hanging out with the greatest people, meeting new friends, sunshine, ocean beach, writers-with-drinks dorothy allison reading, sutro baths, nomy lamm, santa cruz, strawberry farm, kareoke, dave end, pinball, almost- pink flamingos, tender forever, needles and pens, georgia o'keefe film at SFMOMA, haunted house/fright walk, tuna melts, mirah, charlie's, little otsu, backyard cinema film screening, hugs and cuddles, laughter, tara jane o'neil, modern times, alcatraz, dorothy allison cupping ass!, golden gate bridge at top speed, wax museum, lollipop generation, dolores park, erase errata, dog eared books, the brookdale inn, art xx benefit event, in search of margo-go screening, amoeba, bound together, valencia, michelle tea and daphne gottleib readings, back porch smoking, you tube giggles, christeene, giant robot, the lexington, silas howard, musee mechanique, photobooths -working or not!, younger lovers, queers galore, kirk read performance, lex-sally-maile-mary-iris-annah-pike, frida kahlo at SFMOMA, burning hot sand, windswept, couch-snoozing, graham crackers, grandmother predictions, burnt nose, the eagle - bear-bar extraordinare, hunx and his punx, brits-on-tour, femina potens, carletta sue kay, thee parkside, double dutchess, athens boy's choir, purple rhinestone eagle, mirah doing fleetwood mac, huge huge balloons, ketchup mustache, team gina's ode to the tiny degree of seperation, homo made merit badges, tater tots, the super-group of TJO, Melanie V, Jenny H and Tara J, maile's coolio, dog park, castro rainbows galore, valencia, smashed hope, giant pizza slices, soggy sea-jeans, mary's "duck hand" during fashion show, giant strawberry, running thru sprinklers, lex's english vocab lessons, art at SOMArts, santa cruz boardwalk, and then some!!!
Basically, learning to relax, enjoy, hang out, live and be.
Here's a quick summary of my highlights...
Hanging out with the greatest people, meeting new friends, sunshine, ocean beach, writers-with-drinks dorothy allison reading, sutro baths, nomy lamm, santa cruz, strawberry farm, kareoke, dave end, pinball, almost- pink flamingos, tender forever, needles and pens, georgia o'keefe film at SFMOMA, haunted house/fright walk, tuna melts, mirah, charlie's, little otsu, backyard cinema film screening, hugs and cuddles, laughter, tara jane o'neil, modern times, alcatraz, dorothy allison cupping ass!, golden gate bridge at top speed, wax museum, lollipop generation, dolores park, erase errata, dog eared books, the brookdale inn, art xx benefit event, in search of margo-go screening, amoeba, bound together, valencia, michelle tea and daphne gottleib readings, back porch smoking, you tube giggles, christeene, giant robot, the lexington, silas howard, musee mechanique, photobooths -working or not!, younger lovers, queers galore, kirk read performance, lex-sally-maile-mary-iris-annah-pike, frida kahlo at SFMOMA, burning hot sand, windswept, couch-snoozing, graham crackers, grandmother predictions, burnt nose, the eagle - bear-bar extraordinare, hunx and his punx, brits-on-tour, femina potens, carletta sue kay, thee parkside, double dutchess, athens boy's choir, purple rhinestone eagle, mirah doing fleetwood mac, huge huge balloons, ketchup mustache, team gina's ode to the tiny degree of seperation, homo made merit badges, tater tots, the super-group of TJO, Melanie V, Jenny H and Tara J, maile's coolio, dog park, castro rainbows galore, valencia, smashed hope, giant pizza slices, soggy sea-jeans, mary's "duck hand" during fashion show, giant strawberry, running thru sprinklers, lex's english vocab lessons, art at SOMArts, santa cruz boardwalk, and then some!!!
Basically, learning to relax, enjoy, hang out, live and be.
queer music project
From my inbox...
From: Wisdom Tooth
Date: 20/08/2009 07:17:50
Subject: ATTN: QUEERWADS!
Here's the story, homoglory.
I am currently taking submissions for a new project tentatively called Queer as Folk-Pop (Vol. 1)
The plan is to assemble a delicious buffet of singalongable queerfagdykebutchfemmetranny-centric lovejams for the pansy pop-addict in all of us.
Because don't tell me you're not sick of the same old compulsive heteroboticism harshing your tunebox. Sometimes we just wanna pine along to songs about relationships that look a little less like the ones in TV commercials, am I right?
This project aims to communicate to audiences of DIY folk/pop/whatever music that we're here, we're queer, and we dig handclaps. So if you or anyone you know has a ditty that is in any way queer-love/lust themed (interpret that whichever way you like), send it over to:
queerasfolkpop@gmail.com
The album will be available for free download once compiled, and upon request I can also make hardcopies to send to contributors, who can then do whatever they want with them (gift, sell, frame, etc). It's a great way to get some headphone-play for your hot mess of a music project, and contribute to queer visibility in the nebulous DIY music scene too.
There are no guidelines regarding the form or content of submissions. It doesn't have to be a new or exclusive song; it can even be a cover, like for instance if I did a dyketastic version of "I Kissed A Girl" where I liked it because I'm a flaming sexual deviant. The options include everything under/over the rainbow, so use your imagination. I'll contact you in a few months if I've decided to use your submission for the final product.
This is going to be sublime. Tell your friends of all queer-like persuasions and let's pitch in to make something that sissies and spinsters alike can sing, snap, stomp and swoon along to for ages to come.
Queer Lovejams for the Win,
Meagan Day aka Wisdom Tooth
From: Wisdom Tooth
Date: 20/08/2009 07:17:50
Subject: ATTN: QUEERWADS!
Here's the story, homoglory.
I am currently taking submissions for a new project tentatively called Queer as Folk-Pop (Vol. 1)
The plan is to assemble a delicious buffet of singalongable queerfagdykebutchfemmetranny-centric lovejams for the pansy pop-addict in all of us.
Because don't tell me you're not sick of the same old compulsive heteroboticism harshing your tunebox. Sometimes we just wanna pine along to songs about relationships that look a little less like the ones in TV commercials, am I right?
This project aims to communicate to audiences of DIY folk/pop/whatever music that we're here, we're queer, and we dig handclaps. So if you or anyone you know has a ditty that is in any way queer-love/lust themed (interpret that whichever way you like), send it over to:
queerasfolkpop@gmail.com
The album will be available for free download once compiled, and upon request I can also make hardcopies to send to contributors, who can then do whatever they want with them (gift, sell, frame, etc). It's a great way to get some headphone-play for your hot mess of a music project, and contribute to queer visibility in the nebulous DIY music scene too.
There are no guidelines regarding the form or content of submissions. It doesn't have to be a new or exclusive song; it can even be a cover, like for instance if I did a dyketastic version of "I Kissed A Girl" where I liked it because I'm a flaming sexual deviant. The options include everything under/over the rainbow, so use your imagination. I'll contact you in a few months if I've decided to use your submission for the final product.
This is going to be sublime. Tell your friends of all queer-like persuasions and let's pitch in to make something that sissies and spinsters alike can sing, snap, stomp and swoon along to for ages to come.
Queer Lovejams for the Win,
Meagan Day aka Wisdom Tooth
Friday, 31 July 2009
lori
Oh me, oh my! Lori Earley has announced her first solo exhibition in London; Oct 16-Nov 14th 09 at Opera Gallery.
Sorry London friends, it seems I'm gonna be descending on you again in the Autumn!!
Thursday, 30 July 2009
wave your hands
Ridiculous amounts of love to Bob and Len for showing me this at the weekend, and for spontaniously recreating bits over the next few days. Bloody amazing...
56a
At the weekend i was lucky enough to make my first visit to the 56a Infoshop in London.
I was there to check out the newly re-launched zine library that is established there. Volunteers Colette and Melissa have been working really hard to catalogue and organise the mammoth number of zines in the collection - from comix zines to perzines, music zines to spirituality zines, queer to anarchist zines, feminsm to race, and beyond - there's a huge amount of amazing work collected there, and well worth an hour or two of your browsing time! It really does capture the wealth and importance of self-publishing.
The zine library is also on the look-out for even more zine donations though, so do consider sending them yours. Melissa and Colette are always on the lookout for people to help them catalogue all the zines they have too, so get in touch with them if you have an eye for zines!
Also, it appears that there are a large amount of duplicates in their collection, so the 56a zine library are keen to send such duplicates to other (preferably UK based, for postage reasons) zine libaries, and build on the community, collaboration, and wealth of zine resources available UK-wide.
The 56a infoshop itself was dizzying and overwhelming - packed to the rafters with leaftlets, resources and information, a radical open-access archive/research library, plus zines, music, coffee and books for sale - I could have spent an absolute fortune! There's also bike maintanance facilities/workshops, advice on practical squatting, a book exchange, free cinema screenings, and a plethora of other things... Mind blowing!
Attached to the infoshop is Freeshare food co-op, a fair-trade wholefoods shop with pulses, spices, organic veg and more.
My favourite thing was perhaps the kitchen and toilet space, and not just because of the pancakes being made there on the day I went! The space is covered with posters from the 'Celebrate People's History' project (which I think I'll devote a whole blog post to an other day); just so very inspiring.
Here's to my next visit!
I was there to check out the newly re-launched zine library that is established there. Volunteers Colette and Melissa have been working really hard to catalogue and organise the mammoth number of zines in the collection - from comix zines to perzines, music zines to spirituality zines, queer to anarchist zines, feminsm to race, and beyond - there's a huge amount of amazing work collected there, and well worth an hour or two of your browsing time! It really does capture the wealth and importance of self-publishing.
The zine library is also on the look-out for even more zine donations though, so do consider sending them yours. Melissa and Colette are always on the lookout for people to help them catalogue all the zines they have too, so get in touch with them if you have an eye for zines!
Also, it appears that there are a large amount of duplicates in their collection, so the 56a zine library are keen to send such duplicates to other (preferably UK based, for postage reasons) zine libaries, and build on the community, collaboration, and wealth of zine resources available UK-wide.
The 56a infoshop itself was dizzying and overwhelming - packed to the rafters with leaftlets, resources and information, a radical open-access archive/research library, plus zines, music, coffee and books for sale - I could have spent an absolute fortune! There's also bike maintanance facilities/workshops, advice on practical squatting, a book exchange, free cinema screenings, and a plethora of other things... Mind blowing!
Attached to the infoshop is Freeshare food co-op, a fair-trade wholefoods shop with pulses, spices, organic veg and more.
My favourite thing was perhaps the kitchen and toilet space, and not just because of the pancakes being made there on the day I went! The space is covered with posters from the 'Celebrate People's History' project (which I think I'll devote a whole blog post to an other day); just so very inspiring.
Here's to my next visit!
love me a good poster/neato design
At Concrete Hermit gallery:
http://gallery.concretehermit.com
Plus, also, at London Tate Modern:
http://www.concretehermit.com/shop/tatemodern
http://www.concretehermit.com
http://gallery.concretehermit.com
Plus, also, at London Tate Modern:
http://www.concretehermit.com/shop/tatemodern
http://www.concretehermit.com
neato
PORTMAN VILLAGE GALLERIES
Exhibitions & events by emerging artists in a series of temporarily vacant spaces in Seymour Place and Quebec Street W.1. opening on the FIRST TUESDAY of each month. Open Tues-Sat 11am-6pm.
Admission Free.
For more infomation, contact info@alternativearts.co.uk 020 7375 0441
Exhibitions & events by emerging artists in a series of temporarily vacant spaces in Seymour Place and Quebec Street W.1. opening on the FIRST TUESDAY of each month. Open Tues-Sat 11am-6pm.
Admission Free.
For more infomation, contact info@alternativearts.co.uk 020 7375 0441
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
call for art...
Call for Art
Transnational Feminisms Conference
December 4-5 2009, with associated events on 6th
This 3 day event will take place at the University of Manchester.
We are putting together an exhibition to accompany the event and are looking for art in a variety of mediums that addresses the themes of this event.
We are keen to showcase original work at this event, through an exhibition, on conference publicity materials and in the conference booklet.
Themes of the conference include but aren’t limited to:
Global markets of cultural production
Religion and the nation state
Belonging and home
Feminism and neo-colonialism
Diaspora and migration
The international as the popular
Historical moments of transnational feminism
Struggle for, and violence of, borders
Postcolonial/queer intersections
Feminism and gender in a wider global political debate
Sites and voices of privilege
Historicisation and genealogies
AlliancesCultural and textual translations
Memorialisation
Feminist anti-racism
Drawing on the impact of postcolonial feminism and its enactments, this conference will examine how women are affected by political systems in a global climate, how feminism translates and moves across borders, and how feminism can be utilised as a methodology for understanding the transnational context.
Here the transnational is understood to be a complication of notions of the 'elsewhere', highlighting the challenges of fluidity, movement and instability whilst also paying close attention to locatedness.This is a feminism that is engaged with the woman-as-subject without making universalising claims regarding women's experience; it both considers how gender operates and critiques categorisation.
The purpose of this conference is to explore the vitality of feminist interdisciplinarity as it pertains to the transnational, providing space for these debates to come together, creating an interrogation of transnational feminist theory and practice from academic, activist and artistic standpoints.
We have a small amount of funding to facilitate getting artwork to Manchester, or printing good quality and well-sized images that are sent in.
Funding can also be applied for to assist artists in attending the conference to talk about their work on an artists’ roundtable.
To submit your work for the conference please send the following to humairazsaeed@googlemail.com by August 28th 2009:
An outline of the work you would like to exhibit at this event - 300 words max
A short biography
Any relevant weblinks / jpegs of your work
The style of work you would like to exhibit (eg image / AV / slideshow)
How the work would need displaying (eg size of work, if work can be emailed / posted)
Expression of interest in being considered for poster image
Expression of interest in image in conference pack
Expression of interest in attending the event
Expression of interest in talking about your work at the event
Transnational Feminisms Conference
December 4-5 2009, with associated events on 6th
This 3 day event will take place at the University of Manchester.
We are putting together an exhibition to accompany the event and are looking for art in a variety of mediums that addresses the themes of this event.
We are keen to showcase original work at this event, through an exhibition, on conference publicity materials and in the conference booklet.
Themes of the conference include but aren’t limited to:
Global markets of cultural production
Religion and the nation state
Belonging and home
Feminism and neo-colonialism
Diaspora and migration
The international as the popular
Historical moments of transnational feminism
Struggle for, and violence of, borders
Postcolonial/queer intersections
Feminism and gender in a wider global political debate
Sites and voices of privilege
Historicisation and genealogies
AlliancesCultural and textual translations
Memorialisation
Feminist anti-racism
Drawing on the impact of postcolonial feminism and its enactments, this conference will examine how women are affected by political systems in a global climate, how feminism translates and moves across borders, and how feminism can be utilised as a methodology for understanding the transnational context.
Here the transnational is understood to be a complication of notions of the 'elsewhere', highlighting the challenges of fluidity, movement and instability whilst also paying close attention to locatedness.This is a feminism that is engaged with the woman-as-subject without making universalising claims regarding women's experience; it both considers how gender operates and critiques categorisation.
The purpose of this conference is to explore the vitality of feminist interdisciplinarity as it pertains to the transnational, providing space for these debates to come together, creating an interrogation of transnational feminist theory and practice from academic, activist and artistic standpoints.
We have a small amount of funding to facilitate getting artwork to Manchester, or printing good quality and well-sized images that are sent in.
Funding can also be applied for to assist artists in attending the conference to talk about their work on an artists’ roundtable.
To submit your work for the conference please send the following to humairazsaeed@googlemail.com by August 28th 2009:
An outline of the work you would like to exhibit at this event - 300 words max
A short biography
Any relevant weblinks / jpegs of your work
The style of work you would like to exhibit (eg image / AV / slideshow)
How the work would need displaying (eg size of work, if work can be emailed / posted)
Expression of interest in being considered for poster image
Expression of interest in image in conference pack
Expression of interest in attending the event
Expression of interest in talking about your work at the event
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
nail on head over and over
my new favourite blog in the history of ever http://tiny.abstractdynamics.org
Not to state the obvious, but I think in 5-7 years, when all these pre-teen singing drummers and 15 yr old Pixies-obsessives hit able-to-tour age, and are 20 yr olds who have been playing for half their lives, there will be no doubt that Girls Rock Camps are the greatest thing to happen to rock this side of Zeppelin. There are eight year old girls who are seeking to OWN rock n' roll/punk/the world and what they are going to go on to do will make riot girls seem as duh/quaint as suffragettes. I cannot wait. I really cannot wait til these cool-as-hell 13 yr olds displace the Animal Collectives/etc. of the world with their own high concept epic amazingness.
Not to state the obvious, but I think in 5-7 years, when all these pre-teen singing drummers and 15 yr old Pixies-obsessives hit able-to-tour age, and are 20 yr olds who have been playing for half their lives, there will be no doubt that Girls Rock Camps are the greatest thing to happen to rock this side of Zeppelin. There are eight year old girls who are seeking to OWN rock n' roll/punk/the world and what they are going to go on to do will make riot girls seem as duh/quaint as suffragettes. I cannot wait. I really cannot wait til these cool-as-hell 13 yr olds displace the Animal Collectives/etc. of the world with their own high concept epic amazingness.
Saturday, 18 July 2009
whip it real good
Hang on... what? Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, and Ellen Page all in skates?!!!!
girlfriends
I'm totally late to hearing about this, but Catherine Opie's latest photographic project sounds *amazing*...
Can you tell me a bit about what you’re working on now, I heard recently about a series called “Girlfriends”.
Girlfriends is a fun body of work; it’s a bit of a play on a title of another body of work by the artist Richard Prince who did a series called Girlfriends, but they were all biker chicks, and my girlfriends are all butch dykes. They’re both famous and not famous and include: JD Sampson, KD Lang, Kate from the L-word, I think Sam Ronson is going to pose for me, and then a lot of my friends like Pig Pen and Jenny Shimizu (who we call Chicken). So to take all of these butch dykes and then to title it Girlfriends, raises all of these questions - what is a butch dyke? Is a butch dyke really a girlfriend or a boyfriend? It’s playing with a lot of things and I’m also just enjoying making portraits again.
Can you tell me a bit about what you’re working on now, I heard recently about a series called “Girlfriends”.
Girlfriends is a fun body of work; it’s a bit of a play on a title of another body of work by the artist Richard Prince who did a series called Girlfriends, but they were all biker chicks, and my girlfriends are all butch dykes. They’re both famous and not famous and include: JD Sampson, KD Lang, Kate from the L-word, I think Sam Ronson is going to pose for me, and then a lot of my friends like Pig Pen and Jenny Shimizu (who we call Chicken). So to take all of these butch dykes and then to title it Girlfriends, raises all of these questions - what is a butch dyke? Is a butch dyke really a girlfriend or a boyfriend? It’s playing with a lot of things and I’m also just enjoying making portraits again.
Friday, 17 July 2009
rightful due
I can't figure out how to do a direct link to an individual post from this particular blog, but the July 17th 'At Home I Feel Like A Tourist' post on Jessica Hopper's blog is one of my favourite blog posts that I've read in aaaages, for 101 different reasons. I feel so much better for reading it tonight
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Thursday, 9 July 2009
guerrilla girls exhibitions in the rest of the year
May 27, 2009 thru May 24, 2010 "elles@centrepompidou," First ever show of women artists in their collection by a museum that's notoriously too male, too pale. Centre Pompidou. Paris, France
May 30 - August 23 "REBELLE: Art and Feminism 1969-2009," Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem, Netherlands
June 1- Sept 4 "Then and Now: 20th Anniversary of the Center Show," The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, New York City
June 6- July 27 "MasterPeaces - High Art for Higher Purpose," DaVinci Gallery, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles, California
July 3-October 4 "Ingres et les Modernes," Musée Ingres, Montauban, France
July 7-September "On the Margins of Art. Creation and Political Engagement," Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA,) Barcelona, Spain
July 24- August 9 "KÅT A4" (Horny)," Galleri Box, Gothenburg, Sweden
September 1-December 15 Women's Studies Department and the Institue for Research on Women and Gender, Lane Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
October New Guerrilla Girls project about Art In Ireland, Millenium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Ireland
December 4-12 Galerie de l’UQAM, in Montreal (Quebec), Canada
May 30 - August 23 "REBELLE: Art and Feminism 1969-2009," Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem, Netherlands
June 1- Sept 4 "Then and Now: 20th Anniversary of the Center Show," The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, New York City
June 6- July 27 "MasterPeaces - High Art for Higher Purpose," DaVinci Gallery, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles, California
July 3-October 4 "Ingres et les Modernes," Musée Ingres, Montauban, France
July 7-September "On the Margins of Art. Creation and Political Engagement," Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA,) Barcelona, Spain
July 24- August 9 "KÅT A4" (Horny)," Galleri Box, Gothenburg, Sweden
September 1-December 15 Women's Studies Department and the Institue for Research on Women and Gender, Lane Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
October New Guerrilla Girls project about Art In Ireland, Millenium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Ireland
December 4-12 Galerie de l’UQAM, in Montreal (Quebec), Canada
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
original plumbing
from my inbox...
Share your story with ORIGINAL PLUMBING magazine::::::
Do you feel your personal identity is unique or under represented?
Do you have a hilarious, filthy or interesting personal narrative or essay you’d like to share with the world?
Do you have a trans-centric film to review?
A new band or book you’d like plug?
Have an organization, toy, technique, article of clothing, new pet or favorite place you’d like to share with the rest of the community?
Original Plumbing is currently seeking writing submissions of trans-masculine perspectives for upcoming issues!
Pitch us something today at originalplumbing@gmail.com .
xo
Amos Mac
Editor
Original Plumbing magazine
Share your story with ORIGINAL PLUMBING magazine::::::
Do you feel your personal identity is unique or under represented?
Do you have a hilarious, filthy or interesting personal narrative or essay you’d like to share with the world?
Do you have a trans-centric film to review?
A new band or book you’d like plug?
Have an organization, toy, technique, article of clothing, new pet or favorite place you’d like to share with the rest of the community?
Original Plumbing is currently seeking writing submissions of trans-masculine perspectives for upcoming issues!
Pitch us something today at originalplumbing@gmail.com .
xo
Amos Mac
Editor
Original Plumbing magazine
Monday, 6 July 2009
56a zine library benefit and relaunch weekend
56a Infoshop's Zine Library Benefit and Relaunch Weekend
Two days of bands and workshops...
Saturday 25th July
Launch Party Music & Distros at The Grosvenor in Stockwell (Stockwell/rixton tube)
7.30pm £4
Music from: jean genet, husbands, chaps and candy panic attack. all zinesters and diy musicians alike.
Distros: Cherry Bomb Comics, Ricochet Ricochet, 56a and more tbc
Sunday 26th July at 56a (crampton street, Elephant and Castle Tube)
Pancake breakfast from 12 noon
Workshops, discussions, exhibition, zine library browsing, general hanging out
(specific activities confirmed; self published comics discussion, practical
squatting and bike fixing workshops)
more workshops and discussions needed/wanted!! fans of the 56a library bring forth your ideas.
BRING YOUR ZINES to donate to the library, catalogue it youself DIY style
crashspaces available for weekenders
website for details: www.56a.org.uk
hoping and wishing for these to come soon
THE 12 WARNING SIGNS OF GOOD HEALTH*
(If several or more appear, you may rarely need to visit a doctor.)
1. Regular flare-ups of a supportive network of friends and family.
2. Chronic positive expectations.
3. Repeated episodes of gratitude and generosity.
4. Increased appetite for physical activity.
5. Marked tendency to identify and express feelings.
6. Compulsion to contribute to society.
7. Lingering sensitivity to the feelings of others.
8. Habitual behavior related to seeking new challenges.
9. Craving for peak experiences.
10. Tendency to adapt to changing conditions.
11. Feelings of spiritual involvement.
12. Persistent sense of humor.
*Adapted from a posting on a computer bulletin board in Waldport, Oregon, author unidentified. Reprinted in Whole Earth Review (Winter 1994), a compendium of brash thinking and lofty ideas.
(Found via: Bonfire Madigan Shive)
(If several or more appear, you may rarely need to visit a doctor.)
1. Regular flare-ups of a supportive network of friends and family.
2. Chronic positive expectations.
3. Repeated episodes of gratitude and generosity.
4. Increased appetite for physical activity.
5. Marked tendency to identify and express feelings.
6. Compulsion to contribute to society.
7. Lingering sensitivity to the feelings of others.
8. Habitual behavior related to seeking new challenges.
9. Craving for peak experiences.
10. Tendency to adapt to changing conditions.
11. Feelings of spiritual involvement.
12. Persistent sense of humor.
*Adapted from a posting on a computer bulletin board in Waldport, Oregon, author unidentified. Reprinted in Whole Earth Review (Winter 1994), a compendium of brash thinking and lofty ideas.
(Found via: Bonfire Madigan Shive)
gig poster
I'm in the midst of writing an article on gigposters, and wanted to take a mo to big up the following amazing gigposter artists (all of whom are being a huge help to me by currently answering interview questions on gig poster art)
xox
Graham Pilling
Cameron Steward
Chris White
Luke Drozd
Fox Fisher
Rachel Carns
Drew Millward
Alex Curtis
Dan Reeves
Leia Bell
Glyn Smith
Alice Horton
David Bailey
Lucy Jones
Kristian Jones
Carlos Ruiz
Anna Peaker
Adam Norwell
Ron Liberti
Tara McPherson
Jay Ryan
xox
Graham Pilling
Cameron Steward
Chris White
Luke Drozd
Fox Fisher
Rachel Carns
Drew Millward
Alex Curtis
Dan Reeves
Leia Bell
Glyn Smith
Alice Horton
David Bailey
Lucy Jones
Kristian Jones
Carlos Ruiz
Anna Peaker
Adam Norwell
Ron Liberti
Tara McPherson
Jay Ryan
Thursday, 2 July 2009
here here
This kinda just rocked my world. Thanks to Laura Woodhouse for pointing me in the direction of it.
If you can't sit still to watch for the full 20mins (though it is worth it), I found myself nodding along with every inch of my body at...
6.00 mins
11.30 mins
12.08 mins
13.08 mins
Sunday, 28 June 2009
free knowledge collective
From my inbox...
Hello :)
As part of the Free Knowledge Collective's endeavor to make accessible to the public multiple perspectives, otherwise-ignored voices, and radical ideologies, I am starting a portable library of independent, alternative, and radical texts.
You can read a little more about it here: http://www.freeknowledgecollective.com/AltLibrary.html
Everywhere the FKCollective goes (and for every FKCollective event) the library will come with. People will be given the chance to read, discuss, and learn from the texts at their leisure and if they want a copy of whatever they're reading, FKCollective members will provide them with info as to how to buy/obtain a copy for themselves.
Are you interested in donating to the FKCollective's radical library? I really hope so--I think this could be a great project. Send all donated materials to:
Samantha Manchester
7 Edgeclift Road
Towson, MD 21286 USA
Please include, if possible, info as to how people can procure your publication--where to write to, who to contact, etc.
Additionally, let me know if you think this is a good idea and if you'd like a copy of the FKCollective zine, or if you'd like to stay updated on Free Knowledge Collective events & news by joining our mailing list.
Thank you so much for your support in any fashion,
Samantha
Hello :)
As part of the Free Knowledge Collective's endeavor to make accessible to the public multiple perspectives, otherwise-ignored voices, and radical ideologies, I am starting a portable library of independent, alternative, and radical texts.
You can read a little more about it here: http://www.freeknowledgecollective.com/AltLibrary.html
Everywhere the FKCollective goes (and for every FKCollective event) the library will come with. People will be given the chance to read, discuss, and learn from the texts at their leisure and if they want a copy of whatever they're reading, FKCollective members will provide them with info as to how to buy/obtain a copy for themselves.
Are you interested in donating to the FKCollective's radical library? I really hope so--I think this could be a great project. Send all donated materials to:
Samantha Manchester
7 Edgeclift Road
Towson, MD 21286 USA
Please include, if possible, info as to how people can procure your publication--where to write to, who to contact, etc.
Additionally, let me know if you think this is a good idea and if you'd like a copy of the FKCollective zine, or if you'd like to stay updated on Free Knowledge Collective events & news by joining our mailing list.
Thank you so much for your support in any fashion,
Samantha
Saturday, 27 June 2009
transnational feminisms
From my inbox...
Call for Contributions
Transnational Feminisms Conference
University of Manchester
4-5 December 2009 (with associated activities on 6 December)
Drawing on the impact of postcolonial feminism and its enactments,this conference will examine how women are affected by political systems in a global climate, how feminism translates and moves across borders, and how feminism can be utilised as a methodology for understanding the transnational context.
Here the transnational is understood to be a complication of notions of the 'elsewhere', highlighting the challenges of fluidity, movement and instability whilst also paying close attention to locatedness.
This is a feminism that is engaged with the woman-as-subject without making universalising claims regarding women's experience; it both considers how gender operates and critiques categorisation.
The purpose of this conference is to explore the vitality of feminist interdisciplinarity as it pertains to the transnational, providing space for these debates to come together, creating an interrogation of transnational feminist theory and practice from academic, activist andartistic standpoints.
The conference will also engage with ideas of transnational feminism through workshops, exhibitions and a history walk.
We welcome contributions from academics, postgraduates, activists and artists.
Keynote Speakers:
Doctor Anne-Marie Fortier (University of Lancaster)
Professor Gabriele Griffin (University of York)
Doctor Amrit Wilson (Royal Holloway)
Contributions may take the form of papers, workshops, exhibitions or reading group style discussions, amongst others.
Paper presentations will consist of panels of 3 x 20 minute papers.
Topics might include:
Global markets of cultural production
Religion and the nation state
Belonging and home
Feminism and neo-colonialism
Diaspora and migration
The international as the popular
Historical moments of transnational feminism
The struggle for, and violence of, borders
Postcolonial/queer intersections
Feminism and gender in a wider global political debate
Sites and voices of privilege
Historicisation and genealogies
Alliances
Cultural and textual translations
Memorialisation
Feminist anti-racism
Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words and a short biography by Friday August 28th to transfem09@yahoo.co.uk
Conference website www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/sage/transnationalfeminisms/
All enquiries to Humaira Saeed and Clare Tebbutt at transfem09@yahoo.co.uk
Call for Contributions
Transnational Feminisms Conference
University of Manchester
4-5 December 2009 (with associated activities on 6 December)
Drawing on the impact of postcolonial feminism and its enactments,this conference will examine how women are affected by political systems in a global climate, how feminism translates and moves across borders, and how feminism can be utilised as a methodology for understanding the transnational context.
Here the transnational is understood to be a complication of notions of the 'elsewhere', highlighting the challenges of fluidity, movement and instability whilst also paying close attention to locatedness.
This is a feminism that is engaged with the woman-as-subject without making universalising claims regarding women's experience; it both considers how gender operates and critiques categorisation.
The purpose of this conference is to explore the vitality of feminist interdisciplinarity as it pertains to the transnational, providing space for these debates to come together, creating an interrogation of transnational feminist theory and practice from academic, activist andartistic standpoints.
The conference will also engage with ideas of transnational feminism through workshops, exhibitions and a history walk.
We welcome contributions from academics, postgraduates, activists and artists.
Keynote Speakers:
Doctor Anne-Marie Fortier (University of Lancaster)
Professor Gabriele Griffin (University of York)
Doctor Amrit Wilson (Royal Holloway)
Contributions may take the form of papers, workshops, exhibitions or reading group style discussions, amongst others.
Paper presentations will consist of panels of 3 x 20 minute papers.
Topics might include:
Global markets of cultural production
Religion and the nation state
Belonging and home
Feminism and neo-colonialism
Diaspora and migration
The international as the popular
Historical moments of transnational feminism
The struggle for, and violence of, borders
Postcolonial/queer intersections
Feminism and gender in a wider global political debate
Sites and voices of privilege
Historicisation and genealogies
Alliances
Cultural and textual translations
Memorialisation
Feminist anti-racism
Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words and a short biography by Friday August 28th to transfem09@yahoo.co.uk
Conference website www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/sage/transnationalfeminisms/
All enquiries to Humaira Saeed and Clare Tebbutt at transfem09@yahoo.co.uk
a photographic review of the cotl exhibition
Morwenna Catt, one of the artists exhibiting as part of the Colouring Outside The Lines exhibition has blogged about the exhibition's opening night, including lots of great photographs.
If you haven't yet been & don't want to spoil the surprise of what the gallery space has been transformed into, don't follow this link!
For those that wanna peak, check out Morwenna's blog post
If you haven't yet been & don't want to spoil the surprise of what the gallery space has been transformed into, don't follow this link!
For those that wanna peak, check out Morwenna's blog post
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
girls not chicks
The interview I once did with Jacinta Bunnell has today been added to her press page on the PM site. PM Press are the new folks who are printing up the new, updated issue of 'Girls Not Chicks' colouring book. Aceness!
It's totally spooky too that this came the day before the opening of the Colouring Outside The Lines exhibition, as Jacinta was one of the people there from the beginning, her interview featuring in issue one. It's like today it's all come full circle, or something!
It's totally spooky too that this came the day before the opening of the Colouring Outside The Lines exhibition, as Jacinta was one of the people there from the beginning, her interview featuring in issue one. It's like today it's all come full circle, or something!
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
back handed compliments to female musicians: zine submissions wanted
From my inbox...
hello friends!
so we are compiling a zine filled with our stories as well as the stories or other female musicians.
basically after touring and having the same bone-head things said to us every night, we though this would be a good way to get people thinking and talking to one another before approaching the band.
we want contributions!
send us any details you might think other people should read about. whats the most frustrating experience you've had? what do you want people to know/ take into consideration before they come talk to you.
i want to thank every dude that has come up to me after a show and said something along the lines of "whoa, you, like, play like me!"
i know it came from a place of love.
this zine is going to be a reaction to those comments and backwards compliments women in music receive night after night.
you can send your stories/comments/lovemail to purplerhinestoneeagle@gmail.com
or thru myspace
peace and also love
purple rhinestone eagle
hello friends!
so we are compiling a zine filled with our stories as well as the stories or other female musicians.
basically after touring and having the same bone-head things said to us every night, we though this would be a good way to get people thinking and talking to one another before approaching the band.
we want contributions!
send us any details you might think other people should read about. whats the most frustrating experience you've had? what do you want people to know/ take into consideration before they come talk to you.
i want to thank every dude that has come up to me after a show and said something along the lines of "whoa, you, like, play like me!"
i know it came from a place of love.
this zine is going to be a reaction to those comments and backwards compliments women in music receive night after night.
you can send your stories/comments/lovemail to purplerhinestoneeagle@gmail.com
or thru myspace
peace and also love
purple rhinestone eagle
Monday, 22 June 2009
calling those in paris &/or madrid...
Sabrina Chapadijev, American editor of 'Live Through This' is gonna be in Paris and Madrid in the first two weeks in August.
Do you want to help her out and set up shows for her?
Sabrina is available to do presentations/workshops on the issues in 'Live Through This', i.e. Creativity and Self-Destruction.
Sabrina is also a talented performer, and is available to do gigs/music performances too (see: her myspace to check out her music).
Sabrina is seriously rad, and more than wanting to spread the word about her work, she wants to meet and connect with more international/European feminists.
I highly recommend her work, and think shows in Paris or Madrid would be amazing!
You can find out more about Sabrina at her website
And contact her here: livethroughthis2008@yahoo.com
Do you want to help her out and set up shows for her?
Sabrina is available to do presentations/workshops on the issues in 'Live Through This', i.e. Creativity and Self-Destruction.
Sabrina is also a talented performer, and is available to do gigs/music performances too (see: her myspace to check out her music).
Sabrina is seriously rad, and more than wanting to spread the word about her work, she wants to meet and connect with more international/European feminists.
I highly recommend her work, and think shows in Paris or Madrid would be amazing!
You can find out more about Sabrina at her website
And contact her here: livethroughthis2008@yahoo.com
Friday, 19 June 2009
i'm lucky enough to know the rad people in renminbi
The first single from Renminbi's new EP "Surface" is available now in streaming format and also as a free download.
Please visit http://renminbi.cashmusic.org to hear "Portland" now. Just hit the "Play" button at the bottom-right to stream the track. If you want to download it (as a high-quality MP3, a FLAC, or an Apple lossless file) you'll need to enter & verify your email address. This isn't for any sneaky, evil reason -- it's just so we can send you a link to a download of the full album when it's out on July 7!
Some vital stats you need to know about "Surface":
1) It's out as a digital-only release on July 7. We are releasing it pay-what-you-wish style, which means you can also pay nothing. It will be available in several formats, all uber-high-quality for the audiophile in you.
2) It's out as a 12 inch 45 RPM vinyl in late August. Pre-orders for the vinyl will begin on digital-release day, July 7. Those who pre-order will receive lots of bonus materials when the vinyl is out, such as live tracks, demos, and other exclusives.
3) The EP Release Party is July 2 at Piano's. The cover is $8 and *includes* a free, limited-edition copy of the EP on CD on a first-come, first-served basis. The CD version of the EP will not be available anywhere else at any other time. This is a one-shot-only deal. We kick things off at 8pm, so don't be late!
4) We are releasing the EP under a Creative Commons license, which means you are free to copy it, share it, and remix it. However, we ask that you always direct people to http://renminbi.cashmusic.org so they can download the songs themselves and also gain access to other materials, such as photos, lyrics, and cover art.
Please visit http://renminbi.cashmusic.org to hear "Portland" now. Just hit the "Play" button at the bottom-right to stream the track. If you want to download it (as a high-quality MP3, a FLAC, or an Apple lossless file) you'll need to enter & verify your email address. This isn't for any sneaky, evil reason -- it's just so we can send you a link to a download of the full album when it's out on July 7!
Some vital stats you need to know about "Surface":
1) It's out as a digital-only release on July 7. We are releasing it pay-what-you-wish style, which means you can also pay nothing. It will be available in several formats, all uber-high-quality for the audiophile in you.
2) It's out as a 12 inch 45 RPM vinyl in late August. Pre-orders for the vinyl will begin on digital-release day, July 7. Those who pre-order will receive lots of bonus materials when the vinyl is out, such as live tracks, demos, and other exclusives.
3) The EP Release Party is July 2 at Piano's. The cover is $8 and *includes* a free, limited-edition copy of the EP on CD on a first-come, first-served basis. The CD version of the EP will not be available anywhere else at any other time. This is a one-shot-only deal. We kick things off at 8pm, so don't be late!
4) We are releasing the EP under a Creative Commons license, which means you are free to copy it, share it, and remix it. However, we ask that you always direct people to http://renminbi.cashmusic.org so they can download the songs themselves and also gain access to other materials, such as photos, lyrics, and cover art.
Saturday, 13 June 2009
swooning over swoon
I'm so lucky - an image of Swoon's work is to feature in COTL#5's gallery of artwork. I'm kinda head over heels!
what i wouldn't give to be at this in brussels
Maya Hayuk has an exhibition and intallation at Alice gallery in Brussels. Jealous of those who get to go!
cotl exhibition - opening night
Just a reminder that the opening, preview night of the Colouring Outside The Lines exhibition is on Thursday 25th of June 5-7pm, and you're all invited...
Gallery II at the University of Bradford hosts a new collaborative exhibition of female artists working beyond the bounds of the cultural mainstream.
Gallery II and Colouring Outside The Lines zine invites you to the private view of Colouring Outside The Lines: The Exhibition & zine launch (issue 5).
Curators and artists involved in the exhibition will be in attendance at the opening.
The exhibition seeks to open the discussion of who has access to art - in terms of both curators and artists.
Colouring Outside the Lines: The Exhibition will feature artwork and installations by Abigail Brown, Heidi Burton, Morwenna Catt, Naseem Darbey, Carolyn Mendelsohn and Helen Musselwhite.
If you've never been to the University before you are probably best to just head to Bradford and follow signs to the University. Coming up Richmond Road Gallery II is directly opposite the University Sports Centre. There is a downloadable leaflet at: http://www.brad.ac.uk/booklets/findus.pdf with proper directions on!
After opening night, the exhibition then runs for a further month, from Friday 26 June - Friday 24 July 2009. Opening times. Mon - Fri, 10am-5pm, Thursdays 'til 6pm. Or by appointment. Free entry
Also, we'll inform you about this nearer the time, but on Saturday 4 July 11am - 4pm we will be open and hosting a special opening and picnic, combined with a twisted storytelling event. More details TBC.
Hope to see you at the gallery!
Melanie & Rachelxox
Gallery II at the University of Bradford hosts a new collaborative exhibition of female artists working beyond the bounds of the cultural mainstream.
Gallery II and Colouring Outside The Lines zine invites you to the private view of Colouring Outside The Lines: The Exhibition & zine launch (issue 5).
Curators and artists involved in the exhibition will be in attendance at the opening.
The exhibition seeks to open the discussion of who has access to art - in terms of both curators and artists.
Colouring Outside the Lines: The Exhibition will feature artwork and installations by Abigail Brown, Heidi Burton, Morwenna Catt, Naseem Darbey, Carolyn Mendelsohn and Helen Musselwhite.
If you've never been to the University before you are probably best to just head to Bradford and follow signs to the University. Coming up Richmond Road Gallery II is directly opposite the University Sports Centre. There is a downloadable leaflet at: http://www.brad.ac.uk/booklets/findus.pdf with proper directions on!
After opening night, the exhibition then runs for a further month, from Friday 26 June - Friday 24 July 2009. Opening times. Mon - Fri, 10am-5pm, Thursdays 'til 6pm. Or by appointment. Free entry
Also, we'll inform you about this nearer the time, but on Saturday 4 July 11am - 4pm we will be open and hosting a special opening and picnic, combined with a twisted storytelling event. More details TBC.
Hope to see you at the gallery!
Melanie & Rachelxox
Friday, 12 June 2009
bradford zine fayre
From my inbox
On Sunday 21st June The Treehouse Café, Bradford, will become host to a glorious celebration of all things DIY and papery.
Zine synposiums are a chance for people to exhibit their creations and distros, meet likeminded self-publishers and general wander round with a joyful abandon, amazed at the wonderful things people can do with an old type-writer, some felt-tips and a prit-stick.
So we at Claptrap Zine thought it was about time Bradford played host- basically so we can coax all our favourite zinesters up/down here, whilst also showing off some Bradford-made publications.
The Bradford Centre for Non-Violence / Treehouse Cafe will be transformed into a den of DIY.
Three rooms will be full to the brim with lots of incredible zines from all over the UK. Feminism, queer issues, anarchism, music, personal experiences, crafts, art, photography, history, comics, illustration… zines can and do cover everything; you’ll have a chance to peruse through these lovely self-published tomes of joy and meet the creators too! Manifesta, Lola and the Cartwheels, BD7 Punx, Branches Distro, Subtext, Mobile Menstrual Zine Library, Claptrap, Beep! and ZNA Distro will all be there for your enjoyment, plus a load more.
Then there are the special workshops! --
All day
Footprint, a lovely printing co-op from leeds, will be making a ‘Zine on the Day’ – bring A5 submissions and see it come together through the hours.
All day
Bradford Zine Library- The Beginning. Ellie, general legend, hive housing co-op resident and publisher of one of the best new zines in ages ‘Every Text My Girlfriend Ever Sent Me’ will be taking submissions for a new Zine Library, to be based at the Café and 1in12 Club. Everyone has spare zines lying around at home, so bring yours in to be part of this!
All day
Claptrap 4 Launch- We’ll be unveiling the new Claptrap Zine to the world, as well as the results of our special ‘Photos of Bradford’ map and display.
All day-
Children’s peace library / Commonweal collection. This is a great chance to look through all the ace books in the library already at our centre… kids can enjoy the world’s only children’s peace library, whilst also contributing to a ‘Toddler Zine’, which will be made up on the day from contributors of a smaller age.
All Day-
Treehouse Café – we’ll be serving the usual fantastic vegan / vege soups, cakes, main meals, salads, teas and coffees. With the best fair trade, organic, local and volunteer-made credentials around.
2pm till 3pm
Adam and Cat- the dynamic parenting and craft duo- will be going through their legendary ‘Knitting for Beginners’ zine- with wool and needles provided.
3pm till 4pm
Adventures in Menstruating
‘Sanitary Disposal Units and you!’ Plus ‘Period Euphemisms- the colouring book!’
4pm till 5pm
An open discussion with people from mono, Beep!, Good Form Club, Claptrap and more-
‘Music Zines in Bradford- What is the importance? What are the challenges?’
5pm till 6 there will be a little bit of a rest bite for dinner and swapping tables around as we move into a poetry and music after party!
This is when we will be celebrating the first year wedding anniversary of Chella Quint and Sarah Thomasin, who are the pair behind Adventures in Menstruating, with a chance to eat loads of cupcakes and chat about the joy of love and zine making.
6pm – 7 – Zine readings.
7pm – 10 Poetry + Music evening.
Featuring Sarah Thomasin, Simon and Joel joint beatnik word and double bass pairing shocker, Garfunkle and Simon, Excerpts from ‘Slam’ the Saul Williams poetry film and probably Katie Hyatt and Jed Forward. Open mic slots aplenty too, so bring your own words or songs to perform.
It's just opposite the uni on the left as you wander up Great Horton Road.
Facebook page
On Sunday 21st June The Treehouse Café, Bradford, will become host to a glorious celebration of all things DIY and papery.
Zine synposiums are a chance for people to exhibit their creations and distros, meet likeminded self-publishers and general wander round with a joyful abandon, amazed at the wonderful things people can do with an old type-writer, some felt-tips and a prit-stick.
So we at Claptrap Zine thought it was about time Bradford played host- basically so we can coax all our favourite zinesters up/down here, whilst also showing off some Bradford-made publications.
The Bradford Centre for Non-Violence / Treehouse Cafe will be transformed into a den of DIY.
Three rooms will be full to the brim with lots of incredible zines from all over the UK. Feminism, queer issues, anarchism, music, personal experiences, crafts, art, photography, history, comics, illustration… zines can and do cover everything; you’ll have a chance to peruse through these lovely self-published tomes of joy and meet the creators too! Manifesta, Lola and the Cartwheels, BD7 Punx, Branches Distro, Subtext, Mobile Menstrual Zine Library, Claptrap, Beep! and ZNA Distro will all be there for your enjoyment, plus a load more.
Then there are the special workshops! --
All day
Footprint, a lovely printing co-op from leeds, will be making a ‘Zine on the Day’ – bring A5 submissions and see it come together through the hours.
All day
Bradford Zine Library- The Beginning. Ellie, general legend, hive housing co-op resident and publisher of one of the best new zines in ages ‘Every Text My Girlfriend Ever Sent Me’ will be taking submissions for a new Zine Library, to be based at the Café and 1in12 Club. Everyone has spare zines lying around at home, so bring yours in to be part of this!
All day
Claptrap 4 Launch- We’ll be unveiling the new Claptrap Zine to the world, as well as the results of our special ‘Photos of Bradford’ map and display.
All day-
Children’s peace library / Commonweal collection. This is a great chance to look through all the ace books in the library already at our centre… kids can enjoy the world’s only children’s peace library, whilst also contributing to a ‘Toddler Zine’, which will be made up on the day from contributors of a smaller age.
All Day-
Treehouse Café – we’ll be serving the usual fantastic vegan / vege soups, cakes, main meals, salads, teas and coffees. With the best fair trade, organic, local and volunteer-made credentials around.
2pm till 3pm
Adam and Cat- the dynamic parenting and craft duo- will be going through their legendary ‘Knitting for Beginners’ zine- with wool and needles provided.
3pm till 4pm
Adventures in Menstruating
‘Sanitary Disposal Units and you!’ Plus ‘Period Euphemisms- the colouring book!’
4pm till 5pm
An open discussion with people from mono, Beep!, Good Form Club, Claptrap and more-
‘Music Zines in Bradford- What is the importance? What are the challenges?’
5pm till 6 there will be a little bit of a rest bite for dinner and swapping tables around as we move into a poetry and music after party!
This is when we will be celebrating the first year wedding anniversary of Chella Quint and Sarah Thomasin, who are the pair behind Adventures in Menstruating, with a chance to eat loads of cupcakes and chat about the joy of love and zine making.
6pm – 7 – Zine readings.
7pm – 10 Poetry + Music evening.
Featuring Sarah Thomasin, Simon and Joel joint beatnik word and double bass pairing shocker, Garfunkle and Simon, Excerpts from ‘Slam’ the Saul Williams poetry film and probably Katie Hyatt and Jed Forward. Open mic slots aplenty too, so bring your own words or songs to perform.
It's just opposite the uni on the left as you wander up Great Horton Road.
Facebook page
seripop
My friends are curating this wonderful exhibition and weekend of events at Baltic centre for contemporary art in Newcastle. Well worth a visit!
SERIPOP 31 July - 2 August 2009
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
beautiful
"A Woolgathering Exodus" // Benoît Pioulard from Church and Steak on Vimeo.
Directed by Church & Steak. Church & Steak is a film collective founded by Josh Lowman and Rinee Shah.
driver wanted for UK Sister Spit tour
Do to ill health, I'm unfortunately unable to drive the UK leg of the Sister Spit tour this September, as planned. Excitingly though, it means that somebody else can nab the opportunity...
The UK leg will be a week long, during September, and you will be required to drive a 10-12 seater van packed with queer lit superstars.
Please get in touch if you think you could be this somebody!
The UK leg will be a week long, during September, and you will be required to drive a 10-12 seater van packed with queer lit superstars.
Please get in touch if you think you could be this somebody!
Monday, 1 June 2009
Friday, 29 May 2009
keeping it together
*********Still accepting submissions!************
Dear All,
Keeping it Together is a resource on conflict resolution and coping with personal conflicts within d.i.y. / activist communities. It is looking for contributions (words / pictures / both), including:
- recommended resources e.g. books, leaflets, organisations
- personal experiences Suggestions:
i) Frustrations encountered
ii )Managing difficult situations / people- any successful prevention tips/ coping strategies?
iii) Have you ever felt that your own behaviour may have caused conflict within a group? How did you deal with it? How did others deal with it? Did you feel the results of conflict were even positive?
NOTE: as this is a sensitive topic, all personal experiences will be edited very carefully to ensure anonymity for potentially implied contributors / and individuals and/or communities. IIf edited, contributors will be sent the edited version to ensure they are happy with it before it is published. You may wish to make your contribution anonymous before submitting it
Please send your contributions to:
kit.contributions@googlemail.com
Contributions via post to go to:
27 Cromwell Avenue, Manchester
M16 0BQ , UK
NEW DEADLINE: 31st JULY 2009.
If you cannot make this deadline but would like to contribute, please get in touch by e-mail.
Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Heena
Dear All,
Keeping it Together is a resource on conflict resolution and coping with personal conflicts within d.i.y. / activist communities. It is looking for contributions (words / pictures / both), including:
- recommended resources e.g. books, leaflets, organisations
- personal experiences Suggestions:
i) Frustrations encountered
ii )Managing difficult situations / people- any successful prevention tips/ coping strategies?
iii) Have you ever felt that your own behaviour may have caused conflict within a group? How did you deal with it? How did others deal with it? Did you feel the results of conflict were even positive?
NOTE: as this is a sensitive topic, all personal experiences will be edited very carefully to ensure anonymity for potentially implied contributors / and individuals and/or communities. IIf edited, contributors will be sent the edited version to ensure they are happy with it before it is published. You may wish to make your contribution anonymous before submitting it
Please send your contributions to:
kit.contributions@googlemail.com
Contributions via post to go to:
27 Cromwell Avenue, Manchester
M16 0BQ , UK
NEW DEADLINE: 31st JULY 2009.
If you cannot make this deadline but would like to contribute, please get in touch by e-mail.
Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Heena
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
"i'm a lesbian. would you like to punch me?"
From my inbox...
Hey friends,
Gina Young here, a.k.a. Gina Genius from Team Gina. I'm writing to you today because I'm "like so totally over" violence against queer people and the constant denial of our rights as human beings. Not only did California uphold Proposition 8 today, banning gay marriage, but Seattle has seen yet another in a string of hate crimes and I am ready to do something about it!
You can read more about the specific recent incident on my blog at http://myspace.com/ginayoung
In response to the ubiquitous threat of violence against lesbians, I am starting a public art / performance art project entitled, "I'm a lesbian. Would you like to punch me?"
If you would like to participate in this project, here's all you have to do:
1) Make a sign, on a big piece of posterboard or using any materials you would like, that says "I'm a lesbian. Would you like to punch me?"
2) Take a picture of yourself holding that sign. [For this project to have maximum impact, I would like to request that only lesbian-identified people hold the signs. Friends and allies are welcome to take the picture or appear elsewhere in the picture, but please let's only have the signs held by actual lesbians.]
3) Send pictures to gina@ginayoung.com [Please note that submitting your pictures to that address indicates consent to have them published on the internet and potentially in other media.]
For the second part of this project I am thinking of doing a series of public performances in which I will stand on a busy street corner with a sign reading "I'm a lesbian. Would you like to punch me?" to see if anyone punches me. This portion of the project will be site-specific to Seattle, to call the city out on its passive-aggressiveness. Despite its somewhat-deserved reputation as a friendly, liberal city, Seattle has seen a rash of hate crimes against queer people recently as well as threats against gay bars and other queer spaces. I personally am sick of watching my friends hide their sexuality in public places because they fear the violence that lurks just beneath the surface.
Thanks for spreading the word!
Gina Young
gina@ginayoung.com
Hey friends,
Gina Young here, a.k.a. Gina Genius from Team Gina. I'm writing to you today because I'm "like so totally over" violence against queer people and the constant denial of our rights as human beings. Not only did California uphold Proposition 8 today, banning gay marriage, but Seattle has seen yet another in a string of hate crimes and I am ready to do something about it!
You can read more about the specific recent incident on my blog at http://myspace.com/ginayoung
In response to the ubiquitous threat of violence against lesbians, I am starting a public art / performance art project entitled, "I'm a lesbian. Would you like to punch me?"
If you would like to participate in this project, here's all you have to do:
1) Make a sign, on a big piece of posterboard or using any materials you would like, that says "I'm a lesbian. Would you like to punch me?"
2) Take a picture of yourself holding that sign. [For this project to have maximum impact, I would like to request that only lesbian-identified people hold the signs. Friends and allies are welcome to take the picture or appear elsewhere in the picture, but please let's only have the signs held by actual lesbians.]
3) Send pictures to gina@ginayoung.com [Please note that submitting your pictures to that address indicates consent to have them published on the internet and potentially in other media.]
For the second part of this project I am thinking of doing a series of public performances in which I will stand on a busy street corner with a sign reading "I'm a lesbian. Would you like to punch me?" to see if anyone punches me. This portion of the project will be site-specific to Seattle, to call the city out on its passive-aggressiveness. Despite its somewhat-deserved reputation as a friendly, liberal city, Seattle has seen a rash of hate crimes against queer people recently as well as threats against gay bars and other queer spaces. I personally am sick of watching my friends hide their sexuality in public places because they fear the violence that lurks just beneath the surface.
Thanks for spreading the word!
Gina Young
gina@ginayoung.com
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