Monday, 26 March 2012

anomaly



Extract from Alastair Brotchie - Alfred Jarry: A Pataphysical Life:

"Turkestan! A magnificent subject, and fortunately one with which I am perfectly conversant. The Orient, my friends, the unfathomable Orient..." In a moment he was discoursing on the Turks, Istanbul, Pierre Loti, Aziyadé. ... Recalled to the subject at hand, he protested: "The subject! What else am I discussing? Since when is a digression out of order? Why, Cicero himself in the Pro Milone ... Seneca too was of the same opinion ... and we must not forget Quintilian, gentlemen ..." Turkestan made a reappearance for a few seconds, only to be followed by a rapid sequence of topics strung together with intricate and faultless eloquence, the terrestrial Paradise, Genghis Khan, Persian poetry, Mehmed II, Saint Sophia, the Suez canal, whatever else could be imagined. The audience was submerged, and then the bell rang. "Gentlemen, we have only managed to consider the most preliminary aspects of this vast subject, albeit not too inadequately. We shall return to the subject tomorrow, at the point where this swinish bell is forcing us to stop."

He never did return to it, but henceforth I found Jarry's mental processes disturbing. When he let himself go he seemed in thrall to words outside his control. It was no longer a person speaking, but a machine controlled by a demon. His staccato voice, metallic and nasal, his abrupt puppet-like gestures, his fixed expression and uncontrollable flood of language, his grotesque and brilliant turns of phrase, ended up provoking a feeling of disquiet. He was informed, intelligent, and discriminating; he was a good person, secretly kind, perhaps even shy beneath it all [...] but his originality resembled nothing short of a mental anomaly.

Gandilhon Gens-d'Armes - Alfred Jarry au lyceé Henri, 15 January 1922.

Sunday, 25 March 2012

assorted Dundee art miscellany from 23.03.12


Darren Banks - Bloody Dreams, Visions & Tourism: A Portmanteau


Ben Robinson - Death Paints Red Daubings


3 photos taken on a posh iPhone by my friend David Reid:

Ben Robinson - Death Paints Red Daubings


Ben Robinson - Death Paints Red Daubings


Ben Robinson - Death Paints Red Daubings


Darren Banks - Bloody Dreams, Visions & Tourism: A Portmanteau


DJ Benetti with your correspondent


L-R: Stephen Bloe, Darren Banks, your correspondent, Amy Jones, Yvonne Billimore


Assorted Zazouers


The enigmatic DJ Benetti

Saturday, 24 March 2012

Yuck 'n Yum 2012 Dundee Zine Fair 24.03.12

To Chambers East today for the first ever Dundee zine fair. Stalls were hosted by groups and individuals from all across the land, the nascent self-publishing scene was discussed by a panel of zinesters and gallerists, there was music, readings, performance, apple pie and ice cream, and the spring 2012 issue of Yuck 'n Yum was launched too. What follows is a selection of some, but by no means all, of the attractions:


&Labels
Exhibitions at DJCAD’s gallery periodical


Zug
ZUG ZUG ZUG ZUG
ZUG ZUG ZUG ZUG ZUG

A drag of a fag. A swig of a drink, a move in a game, is an ignorant translation of a word more commonly thought of as meaning train. When I found however, that hiding behind the Germans big-fast, national toy, was a tiny wee word that translated exactly everything that constitutes my life, I kind of understood the 42 thing about the universe. Perfect, a word that sounds like something out of Donald Duck. KABOOM.

BANG….ZUG The Guttural, commander of my universe. And so in that high speed sweeping under the carpet of the train, I got a grip on my anxiety, I gave name to my existential boredom, and that name was ZUG.

ZUG the great and terrible, but mainly pretty pathetic. Rejoicing in my newly named boredom I saw that the smoke exhaled from my cigarette, the booze stained air round my head, the space frozen with concentration between my own hand of cards and my opponents was not just wasted time. Not just ways of using up seconds till I die, they’re ZUG!!!

ZUG heavily on this ‘zine, if you find yourself smoking, drinking, playing or making doodles on your fone-book, realize you are not alone in your boredom and share that realization with us.


Team Girl is a collective of all-female comics creators, covering all ages and backgrounds. Based in Glasgow, they aim to contribute to the increasing presence of women and girls in the indie comic scene, producing work that is original and entertaining. But mostly, they just want to have fun making comics! The latest issue of Team Girl and other paraphernalia will be available to buy at the fair.


Rebecca Clark and Co -
It’s going to be eclectic; some screen printed zines, lots of one page zines, signs of stitching, photocopies….


Before Saw Dust
The structuralists are randomly invading the periphery but it’s mostly still spontaneous… an ongoing collective zine put together by MFA students at the ECA. Jo Priestley will be manning the stall who hails from Australia and makes zines.


Satellite Zine plus transatlantic hook up
The Satellite Zine is a DJCAD publication aimed at talking about things going on around Dundee and the University. There are articles, showcases, comix, and other fine things in this free publication. We will have our new Issue 6 ‘The Seen’ along with our back issues.
The Satellite Zine held a one-page zine making workshop at the end of February to introduce people to how easy and fun making a zine can be. We will have the 9 zines made that evening available.
We also have work from American zinesters. Anna Thoreau will have her latest zine. You can find her work here.
Dan McCloskey, founder of the Cyberpunk Apocalypse Writer Residency program, will also be contributing.


Superclub selected some of their favourite publications including comics by Malcy Duff, John Porcellino and Joakim Ojanen; zines by Nazi Knife, B.L.A.D. and Retard Riot and artist books by Lachlann Rattray, Matthew Swan, Ross Christie and C.F.


Femtyechrome
The internet is my only true friend.
I love the internet and the internet loves me.
The zine which will be on sale is a collection of images made by me, for my friend the internet.


SCREE is an arts+writing little magazine based in Edinburgh. The magazine is inspired by the tradition of hand-made poetry magazines from the late 1950s/early 1960s such as Migrant and Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. Each issue is typed on the typewriter, and is
manually assembled with scissors, glue, and much time next to a photocopier. SCREE comes with a supplementary music CD.


The Glad Rag is the literary arm of the Glad Cafe project. The Glad Cafe dream is to establish an Arts Hub on the South Side of Glasgow, based in a cafe bar venue. For some years now the South Side has been burgeoning with artistic talent: musicians, writers, dancers, sculptors and artists of all kinds. The Glad Cafe wants to provide a space where people can come together in and across different spheres of activity, philosophies, cultures and age groups to share ideas and to foster and showcase creativity.
With this in mind, the production of a zine to feature contemporary writing and artwork seemed an obvious development. The spread of work offered within demonstrates the belief that we are immersed in an artistic community that should be valued and celebrated.


Whimsical Lush!
Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Whimsical Lush! Toadstools, castles, rabbits, woolly creatures, prints, cards, mugs, stickers, t-shirts and much more… Check it out!!


UniVerse - Anthology One is the first issue, and features work from the students on Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design’s (DJCAD) Comic Art and Graphic Novels Module. Module Leader Phillip Vaughan said, “We have created an imprint called UniVerse to promote and publish up and coming work from the next generation of comic creators! This is the best of the work from the first cohort of the module, which (staggeringly!) was run over 12 weeks for one day a week during Semester 1 of Communication Design Level 3 (encompassing Animation, Graphic Design and Illustration undergraduates). This year we plan to roll the module out to other undergraduate areas of the art college. We hope you will be as impressed with the diverse and professional results as we are!”


Stuart McAdam reads.


Dutch visual artist Sybren Renema playing his sax, reading from his latest book and tinkering around with his laptop.


The Weeds playing some whimsical folksiness on guitar and accordion.

A more complete list of all the attractions: LINK

Death Paints Red Daubings - script



Death Paints Red Daubings

(Lines to be delivered very slowly. Brechtian distancing effect is encouraged over naturalistic acting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distancing_effect )

Miss X is sat at a desk, drawing doodles on a sheet of paper.

Dr Love – Miss X? Miss X? Miss X, if you stay sat drawing these scribbles on your patient notes then you’ll miss any potential benefits of this session.

Miss X – Dr Love, if that is your real name, this drawing is already worth more than you’d earn in a year. It just so happens to be the first thing I’ve drawn in a long time. Maybe I’m seeing these so-called benefits already, and maybe that’s because of simple human contact. I haven’t left my room in months. It’s so hard being on my own every day. I can’t stand it!

Dr Love – The sooner you complete your treatment, the sooner you’ll be making art again. Don’t you want that?

Miss X – Huh, my gallery certainly wants that. They can’t wait to be back decorating the walls of investment bankers’ dinner parties.

Dr Love – And so you have a problem with that?

Miss X – The sublime is a commodity to be bought and sold like any other. Just like bars of gold or pretty young boys. Just like bars of chocolate or boxes of cigarettes. I’m under no illusions. I know that’s the way the art world works.

Dr Love – Was it ever any different?

Miss X – I was born to be an artist, I know that much. But to tell the truth, I still don’t feel like I’ve made it. The fame, the money, the lifestyle… none of that means a thing to me. All my works are tiny steps on an inner voyage, a struggle for truth that I wage with materials as my weapon. Over my head is a radiant star, and the more I stretch to reach it, the further it recedes. But by the power of my spirit and my single-minded pursuit of the path, I strive to touch the living, breathing soul of the universe.

Dr Love – You’ve had some remarkable success, that much is true.

Miss X – I was lucky enough to touch the soul of the universe for a fleeting moment. Sometimes, when the stars and planets align, it’s at that very moment when success becomes inevitable. But maybe that was the problem.

Dr Love - How so?

Miss X – The zeitgeist is a slippery thing. One day I was riding it so assured of my place written in the hallowed pages of the art history books. The next I’m on my hands and knees searching for it on my studio floor. I once made artworks that captured the spirit of the age. My career was something that existed independently of me. It just needed a little tending now and then, in such moments of quiet reflection that I could ever afford. I’d wake up in the morning sweating awards and recommendations, but then something happened. I began to see this mad charade for what it really is. One day I stopped making any art at all. Nobody could understand why.

Dr Love – Miss X, it seems obvious to me that your problems can be traced back to some event in your childhood. What is your most treasured childhood memory? What is your greatest fear?

Miss X – No, no, it’s too painful!

Dr Love – Think! You must confront your past!

Miss X – When I was a little girl I used to dream of owning a horse. I would imagine riding a beautiful stud across sandy beaches. One day my daddy promised to buy me a horse and I was thrilled. It was the happiest day of my life.

Dr Love – Very interesting.

Miss X – But then a few days later I got my present and it was just a rocking horse. I didn’t want that at all. It was nothing like the beautiful horse I had been dreaming of. It wouldn’t ride across any sandy beaches. It just sat there, lifeless and inert. I cried for weeks on end.

Dr Love – And this event was revisited whenever you made a work of art. You would never create anything that came close to that dream of riding the horse on the beach.

Miss X – No, no, it’s not true!

Miss X screams. As the music swells to a crescendo, a strobe light flashes and she is murdered by a masked figure who slashes her throat with a razor.

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

THE SHAPE - behind the scenes 5

Signs being prepared and sound editing polished ahead of Friday's opening:



Friday, 16 March 2012

THE SHAPE - on location


Still from Death Paints Red Daubings
Photo by Dylan Drummond
(L-R) Scott Duncan, Catrin Jeans

Thursday, 15 March 2012

THE SHAPE - adverts



A trio of artists are preparing to delight, inspire and possibly scare Generator audiences with an exhibition of new work entitled The Shape,which examines ‘the compelling correlation between chance and determinism and its implementation in European horror cinema’; in plain English this exhibition seeks to investigate the concept of complexity and determinism in relation to horror film…think opportunity and chaos meets slasher movies with extra lashings of blood, guts and gore.



The exhibitors draw from the nauseating genius of the Giallo style of cinema, which is similar to the French fantastique genre and includes elements of horror fiction and eroticism. Giallo films are characterized by extended and ferocious murder sequences, stylish camerawork and unusual musical arrangements.



Notable directors who follow the Giallo style are Alfred Hitchcock, Mario Bava and Dario Argento. Argento’s Tenebre, a 1983 film seated firmly within the Italian horror-thriller genre, is a notable focus of the exhibition. The plot of the film sees a horror writer entangled in one of his own novels as he becomes embroiled in a killing spree while on a European promotional tour.



Artists Lachlann Rattray, Darren Banks and Ben Robinson team up to present a string of multimedia installations…through chaos, algorithms, video and sculpture, which will make for an exciting if not terrifying spectacle.



Lachlann Rattray will investigate how determinism and chaos mirror and replicate themselves in real world systems. Using music to display the effects of chaos, Lachlann’s work focuses on the ideas of chance and fate and decision making.



Darren Banks unveils Bloody Dreams, Visions & Tourism, an installation using analogue television sets and a method of selection, isolation, editing and looping which reveals new objects and allows horror themes to take on new meanings.



Ben Robinson will present Death Paints Red Daubings , a union between the elements of film and sculpture. This installation examines the shock tactics used within the genre of the horror film to create devastating cinematic illusion.
http://www.creativedundee.com/2012/03/the-shape-at-generator/

THE SHAPE - behind the scenes 4

To the Generator this evening to shoot footage for my work-in-progress titled Death Paints Red Daubings. I took a few photos and here they are:







Tuesday, 13 March 2012

THE SHAPE - behind the scenes 3




Installation continues ahead of the shoot tomorrow evening.

Monday, 12 March 2012

THE SHAPE - behind the scenes 2

To the Generator this evening to arrange the set for my artwork titled Death Paints Red Daubings, the shooting of which is scheduled for Wednesday evening. I took a few photos and here they are: