Thursday 19 November 2009

eleven heavy things at the venice biennale



I'm a bit behind on this, but it's worth posting anyways...



Eleven Heavy Things, created for the 53rd International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, is comprised of eleven sculptural works installed in an enclosed garden within Giardino delle Vergini. The cast fiber-glass, steel-lined pieces are designed for interaction: pedestals to stand on, tablets with holes for body parts, and free-standing abstract headdresses. A series of three pedestals in ascending height, The Guilty One, The Guiltier One, The Guiltiest One, ask the viewer to ascribe their guilt relative to the people around them. A large flat shape, hand-painted with Burberry plaid, hovers on a pole, waiting to become someone’s aura. A series of tablets invite heads, arms, legs and one finger: This is not the first hole my finger has been in, nor will it be the last. A wider pedestal for two people to hug on reads, We don!t know each other, we’re just hugging for the picture….
July assumes and invites the picture — these are eleven photo opportunities, in a city where one is always clutching a camera. Though the work begins as sculpture, it becomes a performance that is only complete when these tourist photos are uploaded onto personal blogs and sent in emails — at which point the audience changes, and the subject clearly becomes the participants, revealing themselves through the work.

Production of this work has been supported by Deitch Projects.

By Miranda July

wishing I had $550 to spare...

... For THIS!!

I *heart* Marion Peck

Saturday 14 November 2009

Friday 13 November 2009

'underground'

I was recently asked to answer some questions for a friends' PhD research. After spending hours on answering the questions I just saw this blog post by Tobi Vail that - along with input from Jean Smith - has just summed up everything I was cack-handedly trying to say and get at. I love the brainpower behind these words.

how do we change this, how do we bring "the punk politics" back or update it for the present/future? What would that entail exactly? What is our political platform? What needs to happen? What tools do we have available? What do we want to change? How can things be improved?

secret powers

How I discovered my Secret Powers (an essay in several parts)
by Keri Smith


This just blew my tiny mind! I love the way Keri attacks and approaches the world. I heart her!

Monday 9 November 2009

my mouth your ear

From my inbox...

My Mouth Your Ear needs YOU!

New queer spoken word event in London.

We are looking for queer/lgbt folk who write, be it stories, poetry, performance, rants, zine articles, blogs, fact, fiction, anything you can use your mouth and a mic for. We are interested in hearing from you whether you have done a hundred gigs or have never shown your writing to anyone. We also invite you to bring pieces of writing by others which you have found particularly inspiring and would like to read out at the event, again in any format.

We are hoping to hold the first My Mouth Your Ear on December 13th. If you are interested in performing or reading at My Mouth Your Ear please email us with a sample of writing, preferably something you would like to read at the event. Or email us for more info.

We look forward to hearing from you!

My Mouth Your Ear
mymouthyourear@googlemail.com


:UPDATE:

MY MOUTH YOUR EAR – an afternoon of queer spoken word.
3pm – 8pm, Sunday 13th December
Lift n Hoist, 1 Queen’s Row, Camberwell, London

My Mouth Your Ear is a queer spoken word afternoon where performers and writers share stories, poetry, performances, raps, rants, zine articles, blogs, fact, fiction and generally anything you can use your mouth and a mic for.

suggested donation of £1- 3

Performances, mulled wine, cake.

Performing on 13th December:

YALINIDREAM. Lankan Blood, Manchester Born, Texas bred and Brooklyn steeped, YaliniDream is a Queer Sri Lankan Tamil raised in outside lands. She conjures spirit through her unique blend of poetry, theater, song, and dance. Check out her work on www.myspace.com/yalinidream
CHARLOTTE COOPER. I've been making, publishing and performing things for donkeys years, but I've been getting into trouble for quite a bit longer. Some of this is explained at www.charlottecooper.net
HEENA PATEL (Manchester). Recovering ex-optimist. Dog-fancier. Hates wet feet. Avid Red Dwarf fan. 29, still not out.
JAY BERNARD. Currently 'editor' of Dissocia Zine, which combines dry wit, post-irony and non-existence. She is author of Your Sign is Cuckoo, Girl (2008), and was recently poet in residence on two allotments in Oxford and London, and at the Benenden School in Kent. Jay has performed at venues such as Buckingham Palace, LadyFest and Croydon library. She blogs at brrnrrd.wordpress.com.
SWITHUN COOPER. Swithun's poetry has appeared in magazines including Time Out, Magma, Chroma and Poetry London, and the anthology City State: New London Poetry. This year he won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors.
FOX. Founder of SALUTE! Design and CubCulture screen-printing, Fox is a creative who also enjoys rapping and dancing and having many fingers in many pies.
LEN LUKOWSKA. Sometimes a writer, sometimes a performer. Generally an undisciplined faggy layabout who works in a library and needs more sleep.
CHARLOTTE RICHARDSON (Wears the Trousers magazine, more info to follow!)
Compere KAT REDSTONE

NB we don’t have a running order yet, performances will be throughout the afternoon/eve.

If you are interested in performing or reading at My Mouth Your Ear please email us with a sample of writing, preferably something you would like to read at the event. We’d love to hear from you whether you have done a hundred gigs or have never shown your writing to anyone. We also invite you to bring pieces of writing by others which you have found particularly inspiring and would like to read out at the event, again in any format.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=201698148453&ref=mf

Friday 6 November 2009

the mattress

THE MATTRESS (performance at the FIAF in partnership with the WHITNEY MUSEUM)



Whitney Live, in collaboration with French Institute Alliance Française, presents one young composer in dialogue with pioneering filmmaker Alice Guy Blaché as part of the Whitney Museum retrospective of her career.Like Alice Guy Blaché, Tender Forever (aka Melanie Valera) was born and began her artistic life in France. She continues to live an intercontinental existence, artistically and otherwise, and moves between the streets of Bordeaux where she grew up and her adopted home town of Portland, Oregon. Her tender, delicate songs bring forth hidden connections between these worlds and occupy the musical landscape in which Melanie Valera became Tender Forever (taking as reference points punk rock, experimental electronica, weird visuals, and collaborations with several fellow K Records artists)

Tuesday 3 November 2009

canadian queer zine art show on-line

From my inbox...



http://www.flickr.com/photos/92537785@N00/sets/72157622390914792/

If you missed the first showing of SPEW Fo(u)rth: A Canadian Queer Zine Art Show at Venus Envy in Halifax, Nova Scotia, go to the link above to see documentary photos.


SPEW Fo(u)rth is a wheat paste poster art show of highlights from the twenty five year history of Canadian queer zines. QZAP's co-founder, Christopher Wilde, created the posters during an Artist in Residency at Anchor Zine Library and Archive in Halifax in September 2009.


This poster show will be available for touring Canada in 2010, locations and dates to be determined, although tentative plans include events in Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montréal. Please contact Christopher Wilde at QZAP if you are interested in bringing SPEW Fo(u)rth to your city.