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Bataille and the Goblin Market, performed on 28th November 2014.

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London 6/11/14

HAYWARD GALLERY - Mirrorcity

This show got pretty bad reviews, so I was a bit sceptical before I went. I thought the curation maybe let it down, but I loved some of the individual pieces as standalone works. The ones I found most interesting were:

Tai Shani, Dark Continent. I interpreted Tai's installation as a somewhat dystopian utopia. There was some serious cognitive dissonance going on with the comparison of the beautiful, shimmery, pink aesthetic and the post-apocalyptic words being spoken. A couple of snippets I managed to jot down were "forever night, I am the vision, I am the flesh and I am the touch"; "the milk that flows against all the laws of nature from my breast is galactic, silky" and "-animalistic sex noises- she says". The sensual descriptions of fluids and materiality mirror exactly what I want to do in my own performances. Tai made the text sound inviting and beautiful yet sinister and disturbing, for example juxtaposing descriptions of orgasms with descriptions of reptiles. It seemed to me to be about femininity and how it is a multi-faceted beast, soft and sensual yet with a powerful dark side.

Laure Provost

Lindsay Seers, Nowhere Less Now4 (iamnowhere). Consisted of two films projected onto two circular plains, one above the other, in a dark, black replica of the hull of the HMS London. The films were about Seers and her father, and how they both suffer from schizophrenia. I found them incredibly emotional and personally relatable, as my father suffers from mental illness. The use of dance, CGI and abstract shots paired with a beautiful score came together to create an intensely moving piece. My favourite moment was an image of two signs in a ship saying SHELTER and INTERNATIONAL BREATHING APPARATUS whilst Seers talks of her father, it really conveyed the feelings of having a mentally ill parent in my opintion. 

Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, Hold Your Ground. Inspired by the occupation of Tahrir Square in Cairo, this piece uses the words for "Egyptian", "homeland" and "strike" to create a phrase which means "hold your ground". The disembodied sounds the woman in the video is making is echoed by the way headphones are distributed throughout the space hanging in mid-air. I found the piece to be incredibly emotive, even though I did not know what the woman was saying. The final word sounding like 'ha', which sounded like a noise associated with pain when repeated accompanied by a sharp intake of breath, and whilst the woman was enunciating, she touched her heart. It is amazing how a monosyllabic noise can pull at your heartstrings. 

CHISENHALE GALLERY - Ed Fornieles: Modern Family

Some really interesting dialogue came out of this exhibition, and I very much enjoyed participating in the seminar with Alun.

MATT'S GALLERY - Revolver II and X Marks the Bokship.

The roof installation was great, I was really glad we visited at night so we could see the illuminated London skyline from the windows of the installation. 

I also attended four first Thursday private views around the Bethnal Green area:

'Lake Island' at DegreeArt, heard the artists talk about their six week residency, interesting project in which they had built a log 

Project Space

Sean Pines 'Ladyscapes' at Gallery320

Sara Davidmann 'Ken. To be destroyed' at Lime Wharf

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aDDICTION; COMPULSION

I’m never really sure what you’re meant to do with coffee grounds when you’re done with them; they’re okay when they’re wet and you forget they’re a solid as they disappear down the plughole. He held her in his arms as she died, it took a whole night, and it always stuck with me that he said the blood she coughed out of her lungs looked like coffee grounds. I smoke, you know. My father always said “don’t do what I did”, but I always follow in his footsteps. The apple never falls far from the tree and the same worms crawl through them both. Not even nice cigarettes, but I like the way the smoke from the nasty ones billows, like you can see every mistake you’re making curling before you, it’s luscious. She wasn’t even far into her sixties. I remember celebrating with Greek food even though she was a fish and chips girl, and she cried from happiness, I guess it was from surprise that we actually cared. I was coughing and trying to turn my head away but it didn’t do anything. When the adults are all doing it, it must be okay. You can say no a million times, but inside you’re screaming YES YES YES, and it’s bound to slip out of your mouth sooner or later.  – inhale – they used to play this stupid game, actually they used to play a few, it was all a game to them. We were standing in the park, it was dark and I was quite scared, but in an excited kind of way, it gave me a rush. – exhale – it just, it ruined him, he was so lazy… I was lying on the floor and they tried to convince me that I’d just decided to lie down but it was so obvious. Making coffee for him was exciting, it was something I could do that I couldn’t fuck up. Instant coffee. Water. Black. It’s not a social thing, there’s nothing relaxing about it at all. Really, really hot, like scalding. Ah it hurt so much, and they all just laughed, and in fact it was their fault. I’ve had so many, and it’s strange to think about the fact that I didn’t really want the majority of them. 

- K. B.

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Photography and lighting workshop with Angus

I learnt that, when photographing a 2D artwork:

Lights of equal brightness should be positioned at the same height as the centre of the piece, at each side at 45 degree angles. If one light is brighter than the other, move the brighter light back and use a pencil placed in the middle of the picture to see the intensity of shadow until it matches on both sides.

The lights should be the same distance away and height as the camera.

The centre of the camera should be exactly in the middle of the picture 

Using a self-timer is a good idea to avoid shaking or moving the camera.

Always set the white balance using a white piece of paper.

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Fig manifesto, a collaboration with Laura Nicholson for the CARNAL KNOWLEDGE zine. 

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CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, 15th October 2014

I co-curated an exhibition with Natika Burt in the Central Gallery titled CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, aiming to showcase all the work being made about sex and sexuality by us and our peers.

After all the initial stress involved in trying to organise all our artists and the logistics of the Private View, I would say it was a success. Our PV had an astonishing attendance, and the space looked well filled. 

I showed a video that I have recently made (see above), and myself and Laura Nicholson developed a performance for the exhibition, in which we devised a ritual using figs.

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THE BALANCE series, 2014.

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PUTRID series, 2014.

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First version of 'Ripe'.

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First version of video for Ripe and Ruin, this part is Ruin.

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Youtube videos used for the soundtrack to my installation 'Ripe and Ruin'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTqPlhE25Sg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqLWVRgZ418

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFNkcNkZ_fA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtvDb3L16Sg

A search also revealed this gem of an erotic film from Hong Kong called 'The Fruit is Ripe': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNhs1Ud-AlY

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Marina Abramovic - 512 Hours at the Serpentine Gallery

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Breaking the Waves, 1996, Lars von Trier

This film was highly relevant to my artistic interests, both in subject matter and execution. Focusing on the relationship between Bess, a devout Christian who has saved herself for marriage, and Jan, a Scandinavian oil rig worker, we see Bess descend into madness with delusions of grandeur, and Jan slowly start to manipulate his naive and mentally ill wife into carrying out his sick sexual fantasies. Jan is paralysed in an oil rig accident and coerces Bess into sleeping with other men and describing the incidents to him, and as his condition coincidentally improves, she begins to think she is responsible for his recovery.

Breaking the Waves is a study into the dark side of Christianity, which is something I am interested in looking at. Christianity and sexuality is also a dichotomy I wish to explore, and want to push the project I briefly dabbled in about the phrase 'Oh My God' further this year. 

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Rome, Florence and Venice, Italy, 15th - 25th June 2014

In June I travelled in Italy, and saw various artworks and inspiring sights along the way, most notably:

Michelangelo's David - As with all famous works of art, I was preparing to possibly be disappointed, but David was breathtaking: monolithic in size yet perfectly carved. It was also interesting to see some of Michelangelo's unfinished work, as it gave real insight into the carving process.

Tuscan vineyards - I was slightly obsessed by the ripe grapes in vineyards, and it inspired my recent works using fruit. Hanging downwards in the evening sun, the heavy bunches of grapes were a picture of fertility. Round, firm and voluptuous, I started to make comparisons between ripe fruit and the curves of a woman, as I have explored in my films and photography. 

Awe-inspiring churches - I am very interested in religion, particularly Christianity. I was surprised to find that some of the churches I visited awarded me a pretty spiritual experience, moving me almost to tears at one point, despite not being religious.

The Capuchin Crypt - This underground crypt contained several chambers decorated entirely using human bones. A plaque in one of the chambers morbidly stated 'What we are, you will become, what you are, we used to be', and definitely made me feel contemplative about my own mortality. I was also very interested in some of the devices the Capuchins used to punish and self-flagellate, drawing a similarity between these and modern day sex toys used in sadomasochism, something else I would be interested in exploring and something that inspired my dissertation topic. 

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The video playing in the basement of the Test Run exhibition at Modern Art Oxford: The Biters, Harry H'atchiampong (Larry Achiampong) and Bobby Bland (David Blandy), present their first video, 'Son of Song'.

I really enjoyed both this video and its presentation within the gallery. As part of Modern Art Oxford's Test Run exhibition, the viewer approached not just the video, but also everything used to make the video, with the gallery space still set up with a green screen, lights, and audio equipment, all ready for The Biters to take the stage.

Satirical of music today, Achiampong does not speak during the video and provides the beats used for backing by remixing pre-existing tracks.

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Exhibition in Oxford