May 2010

Image: Melanie Jackson, International Fauna, 2010

ANIMATE PROJECTS + PICTURE THIS + RELATIONAL

Melanie Jackson: International Fauna

> International Fauna
> Download 
> Essay by Stephen Beasley

Launch Event: Saturday 8 May 2010, Picture This, Bristol (UK). Free
Screening: 12.30-5.30pm
Discussion: 2pm

Melanie Jackson in conversation with Stephen Beasley (writer, architect and artist), and Gary Thomas (Animate Projects). Introduced by Zoë Shearman (Relational)

“National symbols are, supposedly, assertions of individuality. Yet there is an odd generality in these choices of animal.'” (Stephen Beasley)

International Fauna is a blast, an anti-anthem, a parade of the animal symbols designated by nation states quick change through a background of digital colour fields. The representations are matched back with their animal call, for the duration of the image - a concrete composition of the absurd. The work delights in these extraordinary attempts to project national values onto an animal form, and in the forms they have taken.

Commissioned by Relational (Bristol UK) as part of Anti-Bodies and produced with Animate Projects (London) and Picture This (Bristol UK), with support from Arts Council England. 

Picture This, Mardyke Ferry Road, Spike Island, Bristol (UK) BS1 6UU
Tel: +44(0)117 925 7010
office@picture-this.org.uk
www.picture-this.org.uk

www.animateprojects.org
www.relational.org.uk

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AMINO + SPACEX

Theo Jansen: Ventosa Siamesis

Image: Theo Jansen, Animaris Umerus, 2009. Copyright Loek vn der Klis

15 May – 3 July 2010, Spacex, Exeter (UK)
Launch Event: Saturday 15 May, 3-5pm
Public Performances:
Exmouth Beach 25 - 27 June, 11am-5pm
Exeter Princesshay Square 2 – 4 July, 11am-5pm
Free, no need to book
The 2 Materials Project:
Pick up a kit from the Spacex outpost in Princesshay Square, 31 May – 2 June, 10am-4pm, or at Spacex after 3 June. Free
Artist Talk: Friday 2 July, 7pm, Exeter Central Library
£6/£4, to book contact Spacex

Spacex presents a solo exhibition by the internationally renowned Dutch artist and engineer, Theo Jansen, together with live public demonstrations by the artist of his major new work, Ventosa Siamesis. For the last 20 years, Jansen has been working in the ?eld of kinetic art and has developed a series of mechanical, walking skeletal like creatures he calls ‘strandbeests’ (‘beach animals’) which are designed to be powered by the wind. The strandbeests are engineered from recycled scrap and can store energy generated from the pumping action of wind-driven sails. These compress air into reservoirs of recycled soft drink bottles described by Jansen as ‘stomachs’. This energy is released via piston mechanisms, used to power the device.

Inspired by Theo Jansen’s working methods, The 2 Materials Project tests the technological and sculptural qualities of two materials. Groups are invited to create structures, invent mechanisms, solve problems and adapt and improve designs. Everyone from toddlers to teenagers, families to work-colleagues can take part. The results will be displayed at Spacex.

Co-produced by amino (Newcastle upon Tyne UK) and Spacex (Exeter UK) as part of Anti-Bodies, with support from Arts Council England, Exeter City Council and Exmouth Town Council.

Exhibition open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm, admission free

Spacex, 45 Preston Street, Exeter (UK) EX1 1DF
Tel: +44(0)1392 431 786
mail@spacex.org.uk
www.spacex.org.uk

www.amino.org.uk

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KURATOR + LX 2.0 // LISBOA 20 ARTE

As the result of a viral call for viral work to infect the London 2012 Olympics, KURATOR  and LX 2.0 have commissioned two new works.

Heath Bunting: a member of Team GB map of influence

Publication: May 2010, essay by Stevphen Shukaitis, edition of 500, size A0.

> a member of Team GB map of influence
> Essay by Stevphen Shukaitis

Heath Bunting has produced a system map – flow chart that positions the individual Olympic Athlete in the wider social and economic system. The work is a continuation of Bunting’s Status Project through which the artist intends to make visible our collective regulatory systems. “The layers of micro-borders to be crossed by the Olympic athlete, to attain the feat of being welcomed as a member of Team GB, are not unique to it.” (Stevphen Shukaitis)

carlos katastrofsky: vir.us.exe

Image: carlos katastrofsky, vir.us.exe, 2009

> vir.us.exe
> Essay by Luis Silver

vir.us.exe is a windows program, communicated and spread by e-mail announcements, mailing lists and other networked (viral) press activities. The project strips down the mechanisms of a viral infection and transfers its core principles into the digital realm. “In that sense we can say it becomes a meta-virus, not threatening in itself but being perceived as a threat.” (Luis Silva) 

Heath Bunting and carlos katastrofsky were commissoned by KURATOR (Plymouth UK) and LX 2.0 (Lisbon) as part of Anti-Bodies, with support from Arts Council England, Art & Social Technologies Research, University of Plymouth and Stasis Media.

> Open Anti-Bodies

Open Anti-Bodies is an online open submission, presentation and curatorial platform, developed by Kurator for Anti-Bodies, that allows for the storage, display and selection of works.

www.kurator.org
www.lisboa20.pt/lx20/

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PLYMOUTH ARTS CENTRE + MARINA ABRAMOVIC INSTITUTE FOR PRESERVATION OF PERFORMANCE ART

Performance Portal: The Pigs of Today Are the Hams of Tomorrow

Image: Eva and Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.ORG. Synthetic Performances in Second Life, The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow, The Royal William Yard, Plymouth, 2010

> Performance Portal

The Performance Portal is a digital archive of The Pigs of Today Are the Hams of Tomorrow, a curatorial collaboration between Plymoth Arts Centre (UK) and Marina Abramovic Institute for Preservation of Performance Art (New York). The project was presented by Plymouth Arts Centre at The Slaughterhouse, Royal William Yard, Plymouth in January 2010, as part of Anti-Bodies.

Experience the whole event through recordings of the Live Laboratory Symposium on Ustream. Keep an eye out for further uploads on vimeo of the Sunday at the Royal Marine Barracks Globe Theatre and the videos made by the Live Documentation Lab. Listen to a podcast on issues of legacies and generation by Hans Ulrich Obrist. Watch the Youtube video of the performance in Second Life by Eva and Franco Mattes, I know that it's all a state of mind. Access the tag cloud, an archive of words created through the Reading Room, and read a blog by Sarah Gray (part of the Live Documentation Laboratory by Dartington students). Facebook carries on the discussion of this event.

In light of his current research project Documenting ?Durational Live Performance Art Using Social Media, Sven Goyvaerts oversees the Performance Portal, which is intended to provide a virtual archive and forum to discuss topics that have been raised during the Live Laboratory Symposium

Supported by Arts Council England, Plymouth City Council, Henry Moore Foundation, Anti-Bodies, FRAME, Manchester International Festival, Arnolfini, Urban Splash, Prestel, University College Falmouth and University of Plymouth.

www.plymouthartscentre.org

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ARNOLFINI

Young Anti-Bodies: Deaf WEX

Image: Elmfield School, Young Anti-Bodies - Deaf WEX, Arnolfini, 2010

Launch Event: Thursday 1 July 2010, 6-8pm, Arnolfini, Bristol (UK), free

Following Arnolfini's work in 2009 with Australia’s Back to Back Theatre as part of Anti-Bodies, Interaction/Live are working with a group of Deaf teenagers from Elmfield school in Bristol to develop exchange and engagement with Arnolfini’s programme. The students are taking part in an intensive work experience programme led by Sandra Barefoot (Deaf performance specialist); Matthew Jenkins (Deaf artist); inspirational Deaf arts professionals; and Nisha Duggal (hearing artist) whose work investigates gesture and non verbal communication. 

Deaf WEX is part of a series of Arnolfini projects related to the idea of Lingua Franca: looking at intermediary languages, linguistic translation and the subjectivity of language.

The project is part Young Anti-Bodies, a youth initiative run with and for young people, offering opportunities to contribute to the programme.

Supported by Arts Council England as part of Anti-Bodies, Bristol City Council and Elmfield School.

Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol (UK) BS1 4QA
Tel: (0)117 917 2300/01
boxoffice@arnolfini.org.uk
www.arnolfini.org.uk

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Anti-Bodies: beyond the body ideal is a rolling programme of contempoary art projects curated by a network of organisations based in the south west of England, and produced in collaboration with a range of international partners.

The programme explores different attitudes to the body, contrasting the particularity of the artist’s body-concept against the ideal body-machine, so revealing underlying idealisations of the body as they are reproduced within everyday social contexts.

Anti-Bodies is co-ordinated by Relational, with support from Arts Council England, and is granted the London 2012 Inspire mark as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

www.anti-bodies.net
Contact: zoe.shearman@relational.org.uk