People Places and things Art and the Public Sphere

RANE (Research into Art Nature and Environment ) lecture 23/10/07
Reiko Goto and Tim Collins discussed their work "Can we make art that aids the emancipation of others ?"
they talked about the projects they have done including
AQUA PURA
WATERMARK
NINE MILE RUN
THREE RIVERS SECOND NATURE
Tims projects feature water cleaning up great stretches of rivers and streams through art projects involving communities , Reiko's animals and plants ""By contemplating nature I seek to renew my own identity".
They are currently based in england . Tim is a highly articulate advocate of humans taking responsibility for the demise of the planet and working together as groups to solve ploblems . I was fortunate enough to join the MA Contemporary Art Practice group for a half day workshop with Tim and Reiko exploring People Places and Things ans discussing the potential / devising group projects to protect the things dear to our hearts like the ocean . "The demise of the commons " common ground / water that no-one owns so what do we do we dump in it and yet water is an essential to all of life . If I learned one thing it is to avoid any kind of un-biodegradable packaging when shopping as most of it ends up in the sea and is not only damaging sea life but polluting the very water that we drink !!
Thank you Tim and Reiko

Next RANE lecture 19th November ,Woodlane ,Fisher Watts for any of you who are interested in environmental issues .

first postcard 18th October 2007

As a part of my blog and in answer to my quest to discuss "What the world needs is not more products but more souvenirs "I resolved to send a postcard each week to a friend back home with whatever came up that week .here is postcard 1

.The left is the front the right the back . The view is from my bedroom window at dawn .

Notes on "Curious Boym" 20.10.07

"Combining personal expression with something that has to sell"

(Is this , this is design !)

The Boyms (Constantin and Lauren) are a fascinating duo The book "Curious Boym " is well worth a look it documents their projects which seem to arrive trhough serendipity . They were into recycling in the 80s .With their "Recycle " project they literally framed objects such as glass bottles transforming the function into vases , a plate into a fruit bowl .

"frames served to estrange the objects from thier conventional contexts . Framing was closely related to defamiliarization ,a concept articulated back in the 1920s by the Russian Literary Formalists . Their oft-quoted motto "The old and habitual must be spoken of as if it were new and unusual " effctivley describes the entire project."p24

Further projects such as "Searstyle" in the 1990s used replacement furniture parts from the Sear catalogue( a staid but popular home catalogue in America with no style )put tohether in interesting combinatuions as design statements .

"Strap furniture " came from moving studios and on their walk to work passing discarded packaging (polypropolyne strapping tape ) and using it to tensioned lightweight 3D upholstery .

"Salvation" assembled discarded cups plates and vases to create contemporary pieces reminiscent of those three tier cake thingys (cant think of the term !) seen in afternoon tea at the Ritz!

There is a sense of play in their work and experimentation . Fascinating stuff .

17/10/07"
"What the world needs is not more products but more souvenirs” Discuss
(a statement made by Constantin Boym, product designer, in his book “Curious Boym”)
Boym’s projects seem to arrive through serendipity, he often uses recycled objects in his work in new and unusual ways. My response to this was is create and send a postcard as a souvenir of my time in Cornwall that relates to my work and inspirations that arise, each week to my friend and creative muse , Morgan , from Silverdale where I used to live .
Yesterday sitting in the car in the rain I noted how the rain running down the windscreen dissolves the lanscape beyond Must remember to take a canmera with me everywhere I go !

Starpool Tremough

What are you drawn to draw ?

As part of my visual research I am going back to my "drawing a day " not worrying too much about what just following my instincts and drawing anything that I am drawn to draw as well as getting back into the drawing process which is integral to my practice .My intention is to attach drawings once or twice a week when I work out how to attach an image !!

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