Falkirk Visual Art Residency

Live Art Falmouth

2008-05-13T04:43:00.000-07:00

Following last year’s huge success, Live Art Falmouth (LAF) is back Friday 6th and Saturday 7th of June 2008. The annual, two-day festival features an innovative program of live/performance art, interactive video installations, cutting edge technology, video screenings, sound/sonic art performances, at Wellington Terrace and around town.
More than 70 international, national, regional, and student artists (University College Falmouth incorporating Dartington College of Arts) will contribute to this year’s live art platform.

Artists include Alex Hetherington, Lynn Lu, Charlotte Eatock,Claire Blundell Jones, Dorte Strehlow and Christiane Obermayr,Evangelia Basdekis, gilbertandgrape, Jeff Cloke and Mike McInerney,John Dummett, Jon Fawcett, Katherine Hymer, Kathy Rose, Ken Turnerand Jane Whitaker, Misha Horacek, Nathan Walker, People in Pieces,Rachel Parry, Rupert White, Stephen Cornford and Matthew Appleby,Tom Marshman, and Vana Gacina.

Guest artist Richard Layzell will present ‘Key Notes’, a work first performed at this year’s NRLA in Glasgow. There will also be a special launch event of 'Cream Pages', the brand new publication by Tania Koswycz and Richard Layzell, incorporating a live dialogue specifically created for LAF08, which encompasses five years of debate, discourse, disagreement and dynamism.
LAF08 closes with an open discussion for artists, curators and members of the public on Sunday 8th at 2pm.

For more information and full program see
www.liveartfalmouth.com
www.myspace.com/liveartshow

Village Voice pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

2008-05-09T08:47:00.001-07:00

Village Voice pages 6, 7, 8

2008-05-09T08:46:00.001-07:00

Film screening in London

2008-05-09T04:42:00.000-07:00

Another Roadside Attraction Gallery’s regular artist film screening returns to The Griffin on Wednesday 28th May.

Starts at 8pm
The Griffin
93 Leonard Street
London
EC2A 4RD

Nora Adwan
João Biscainho
Christophe Bruchansky
Emily Candela
Disinformation
Christopher Hall
Anton Hecht
Alex Hetherington
Alexander Kelly and Christopher Hall
Robin Kiteley
Claudia Mateus
Claire McArdle
Richard O Sullivan
Camilla Robinson
Mikio Saito and Youngho Lee
David Sherry
Marianne Templeton
John Younge

Stills, Photography, Jennifer Beaton

2008-05-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

Leishman Tower screening, with artist Megan Faye, photographs Jennifer Beaton,

2008-05-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

High Rise Cinema - more images

2008-05-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

Mika, from Fool for a Pretty Face, photographer Jennifer Beaton

2008-05-06T01:50:00.000-07:00

Images from the performances, photographer Jennifer Beaton

2008-05-05T19:06:00.001-07:00

Sunday 4th May Meddle with the Devil events at the Park Gallery

2008-05-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Jim Colquhoun Reading

Jim Colquhoun and Voice Like Bones performance "Weasles"

Alex Hetherington House/Lights performance with Laura Cameron Lewis, Lorna Shields, Carrie Urbanic, Lisa Hutchison and Finn Hobson

Saturday 3rd May Events at Big In Falkirk

2008-05-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

Music Events at the Park Gallery :
Fool for a Pretty Face

Tut Vu Vu

Tut Vu Vu

Video Screenings - High Rise Cinema for the Residents of the High Flats

Screen for Video Screening, Saturday and Sunday evening 7.30 onwards. !

2008-05-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

Screen for High Rise Cinema video screening, for the residents of the High Flats, during Big In Falkirk, 3rd and 4th May 2008. 7.30pm 'til late.
There will also be a screening in Leishman Tower Community Centre, between 6 and 9pm, refreshments will be served.

Stills with the performance with Lisa Hutchison

2008-05-02T02:55:00.001-07:00

Potrait of the artist as exhausted drunken wreck, rehab? no. no no.

2008-05-01T15:59:00.001-07:00

This one's for Anne

Photo Jennifer Beaton

More from the venue site, projection 3 and 4 May, kicking off at 8.00pm now

2008-05-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

We tested the projection today; the scaffold with the screen and back projector will be built tomorrow. It's a 10k lumen projector, some of the work looked truly amazing even in the bright evening sun.

However we do kick off some time later and it will probably run until 10.30/11.00 now to take full advantage. Paul from Metro Ecosse is a star. Thank you.

The screening installation site, test tonight with Metro Ecosse

2008-05-01T15:08:00.001-07:00

Meddle stills, Alex Hetherington, Photographer Jennifer Beaton

2008-05-01T15:05:00.001-07:00

Weekend events at Big In Falkirk.

2008-05-01T03:43:00.000-07:00

All readers are invited to the 'Meddle with the Devil' events over the weekend at Big In Falkirk.
Saturday 3 May at 4pm in the Park Gallery, music event featuring two Glasgow bands, 'Tut-VuVu' and 'Fool for a Pretty Face'
Sunday 4 May also at 4pm in the Park Gallery, a performance event featuring Jim Colquhoun and Voice like Bones; and a performance of House/Lights by Alex Hetherington and others.
Please contact the gallery to reserve tickets. It’s free but ticketed. 01324 503789. The Park Gallery, is at the Stable block next to Callendar House.

There will also be an outdoor Video Projection for the Residents of the High Flats, from 7.30 pm until late on Saturday and Sunday. (The programme for this is featured earlier on this blog.) The screen will be situated in the garden behind the Park Gallery and Tearoom and should be viewable from Maxwell, Symon and Paterson Towers at least. For those unable to see the screen, there will be a special screening in Leishman Tower Community Centre from 6pm - 9pm on Saturday and Sunday. Refreshments will also be provided.

Gallery stills

2008-04-28T05:35:00.000-07:00

The Sparky Show, New York City

2008-04-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

Schroeder Romero / Winkleman Gallery Project Space
637 West 27th Street (btw 11th and 12th Ave) NYC
May 15-June 28, 2008
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 15, 6-8 pm

David B. Abbott / Derrick Adams / Alex Aleixo / Meredith Allen / Stephen Andrews / Marina Ancona / Dominick Avellino / Thomas Bellof / Barton Lidice Benes / Kermit Berg / Dennis Bergevin / Vanessa Boer / Elizabeth Bonaventura / Joseph Brajcki / AA Bronson / Mary Button / Mark Carter / Janice Caswell / Niccolo Cataldi / Cat Celebrezze / Mark Chamberlain / Vincent Cianni / Chris Clary / Jon Coffelt / Albert Crudo / Megan Cump / Erika deVries / Marta Dell’Angelo / Danielle Dimston / William Donovan / Angela Dufresne / Neil Farber / Rachel Farmer / Sarah Farsad / John Findysz / Teresa Fogard / Martin Freeman / Milton Garcia-Ninja / Joy Garnett / Paul LeRoy Gehres / Laura Gilbert / Eric Ginsburg / Jeffrey Graul / Max Greenberg / Magalie Guerin / Kim Hanson / Jan Harrison / Michael Harwood / Alex Hetherington / David Humphrey / Derek Jackson / James Jaxxa / David King / Scooter LaForge / Aldo Lanzini / Lou Laurita / Jennifer Lehe / Marc Lepson / Serge J-F. Levy / Tim Lonergan / Gina Lovoi / Preston McGovern / Reyez Melendez / Toma Miller / Joe Monroe / Michael Muller / Stefanie Nagorka / Jeanine Oleson / Laura Sue Phillips / Drew Pisarra / Catya Plate / Amy Jean Porter / William Powhida / Carol Radsprecher / Richard Renaldi / Eric Rhein / Daniel Roberts / Nelson Santos / Joel Seah / Emily Severance / Frank Sheehan / Ethan Shoshan / Oren Slor / Clifford Smith / Thomas Somervile / Clare Stein / Stanley Stellar / Sur Rodney (Sur) / JD Talasek / Sam Tan / Steed Taylor / Tom Teebe / George Towne / Alexander Vasiljev / Alberto Velasco / Glenn Walls / Barbara Weissberger / Michael Werner / Robin Willis / Noel Wynn / Rob Wynne

Exclusive, film programme for High Flats Residents, during Big In Falkirk

2008-04-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

The installation

2008-04-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

This installation, Meddle with the Devil, combines and synchronizes materials that attempt to simulate memory loss and fake memory syndrome employing a series of graphics, The New York Times newspaper logo, a large-scale mirror, black-out curtains and performance materials, as both live re-enactments and on video, which also explore and stage exaggerated public behaviours, personal relationships to the press and exchanges based on wealth and desire. These works make reference to and synchronize an array of materials, including Mike Kelley’s works Memory Ware and Day is Done, the video work of Catherine Sullivan, House/Lights by The Wooster Group, The Idiots by Lars von Trier, The Tenant by Roman Polanski, email scams, hazing rituals, newspapers quotations, marbled paper, explosions and biker gangs. It also references the town motto: Better Meddle with the Devil than the Bairns o’ Falkirk and an ongoing body of research into memory stimulated by working at the House and the High Rises, principally archives, recollections, mementos, etc.

For this installation I have produced a new film: Falkirk Voodoo King Kenny, with email scam and dog jokes (2008). The basis of this film is personal and public transactions, primarily the exchange of money, the exchange of ideas, news, power etc. It uses a scenario from a re-enactment of House/Lights, an experimental theatre work by The Wooster Group, the texts for this work commingles Gertrude Stein’s libretto Dr Faustus Lights the Lights and Joseph Mawra’s film Olga’s House of Shame. In Stein’s text Dr Faustus sells his soul for the power to create electric light while in Olga’s House of Shame, a drug and narcotics ring kidnap a jewel thief, Elaine, to bring her into alliance with the gang’s leader Olga. The second part of the film sees the text from two email scams, suggesting the accumulation of massive wealth from bank accounts from deceased millionaires, which are in fact attempts to steal the identity of anyone who falls for the con, as well as the contents of their bank accounts. The two fictional authors of the emails, Ken Morgan and Emma Bambara appear as absurd characters in a performance to camera filmed at The Park Gallery, 18 April 2008, with the photographer Jennifer Beaton. (Further forms of transactions appear as FOR SALE or FOR RENT signs). The characters also allude to King Kenny and George Washington, two identities from Falkirk’s past. These two men displayed extreme forms of public behaviour based primarily on religious zealousness, mental health issues and financial hardship, they appear in momentary recreations on screen based on a system of absurd interpretations. The work also includes the personality of Jayson Blair, a New York Times journalist who was forced to resign from the paper when it was discovered his news stories were either plagiarized or fabricated, his scandal is used in the film to develop a relationship to his imagination, his false memory syndrome, here re-enacted as a display of the psychosis but not the (traumatic) false event, since the ‘original’ events never took place or were radically different from their ‘public’ presentation. Meanwhile this form also extends my interest in interpretation of events and their siphoning, deterioration and corruption through memory and its imperfections.

The “Bairn o Falkirk” is seen in an image of a female child taken from a Mike Kelley work, she mimics my performance material (make-up etc) as well as displaying a premonition of aging. She also alludes to a character in House/Lights and Dr Faustus Lights the Lights, Marguerita Ida and Helena Annabel, a female split identity who is created by the Devil to deceive Dr Faustus and to the Devil’s promise in the text to reverse time, allowing the old to become young.

An artist edition has been made for the show, which appears in the form of a playing card: one side is the Queen of Spades, the other the Ace of Spades. The card shows some of the absurd characters in the film and the other is a specially-commissioned knitted felt drawing by Lorna Shields which shows the word Heroin in display cases, another form in the show referencing the psychotic, hallucinations, desires, addictions, downfalls. (The felt is my Joseph Beuys moment in the work, we all have them.)

Lars von Trier’s work The Idiots appears as a connection to the email scam as well as the presentation of faked behaviours, the film sees a commune of individuals pretending to be mentally disabled in order to challenge social acceptance and tolerance of the spectrum of modes of public behaviour.

The installation is accompanied by references to gold, a colour and material which appears frequently in Callendar House. This explores further notions of wealth, transactions and value. The work is supplemented by a number of old jokes about dogs, the kind of thing you’ve heard before, a set-up-joke-set-up-punch-line scenario again looking at constructing fictional mental narratives and their surreal outcomes. It also relates to the character of a dog in House/Lights whose only line is “thank you” (a receptive, accepted/acceptable transaction) and the policy of barring dogs in the high rises (a prohibited, unaccepted transaction).

The final character in the film is Roman Polanski (no stranger to scandal himself and still wanted as a fugitive from justice by the US authorities) from the motion picture The Tenant, here his male identity assumes a female one (the previous tenant who died in the apartment) as his mental status deteriorates, mirroring her decline (and the fugitive status of criminals Olga and Elaine). This connects the work again to my live performance of House/Lights which sees, through the use of computer and sound technology, my voice delivered in a feminized pitch. This completes a cycle of traumas and scandals whether real or imagined that commingle through this project.

Of course I also think there is something interesting about gender in all of this.

Film, reel and security cameras

2008-04-19T04:23:00.000-07:00

Falkirk Voodoo King Kenny, with email scam and dog jokes, 17 minutes 14 seconds, silent

The characters in the film:
Jayson Blair, journalist
King Kenny, deceased Falkirk resident
George Washington, deceased Falkirk resident
The Banker, Ken Morgan
Director of Private Accounts, Emma Bambara
The Tenant, Roman Polanski
Elaine
Olga

(Jayson Blair is a journalist who was forced to resign from the New York Times in May 2003, after he was caught plagiarizing and fabricating elements of his stories.)

I’ll be adding more on this soon. I am putting together the reel today and shot some slides from Isabel’s collection, which I will transfer to video and add in Dan Mailer’s anniversary video. And then the VHS tapes. Then we’ll place in the artists’ video. I’ll upload the full program this week; we had an idea to put the reel in the community room too and are investigating piggy-backing the reel onto the security channel that runs through the apartments. Janie discovered the security door system is viewable on the residents’ TVs so they can see who is visiting. We are looking to see if there is a back-up channel that we can use, so the reel might appear through this, so it becomes a private TV station. I don’t know yet if we can pull this off.

As I was filming Isabel’s collection one of the slides fell into the mechanism and projected this interesting shot, which I’ve added here, accompanied by a still from the film for Meddle…

By the way Isabel’s collection is great; it’s a whole lifetime in there, someone in her family was a prolific photographer. I think it was her husband.

Untitled (sexyback, foley artist), (2008) my film about Justin Timberlake, silver foil, Olga’s House of Shame and a whole load of hellish noises is screening in Brazil in August, it’s at File 2008.

The reel for High Rise Cinema, I’ve added San Francisco-based Scottish artist Anne Colvin’s piece Cracked Actor (2006) as a connection to the first edition of The Village Voice magazine and to relate its title to the performances in my film. It’s also a great rock and roll moment, and will have resonance with the music event at BiF.

The final program for the reel will be here shortly.

Photoshoot/performance with Jennifer Beaton

2008-04-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

Photoshoot from performance at The Park Gallery 4/17/2008. The security CCTV cameras came down. This is a Falkirk Voodoo scenario, meddle with the devil, invocation of George Washington and King Kenny

The Tenant

2008-04-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Artist in residence/Roman Polanski The Tenant