Blog
January 28th 2012
I should firstly start by thanking all those who attended and contributed to
the workshop, How to make a million dollar idea.
I was so impressed with the discussion, and the varying descriptions on
how we define value; what can and cannot be sold; and how we go about
defining authorship or abstract manual labour.
Some other important concerns were raised regarding self evasion in artworks;
when artists evacuate the work or its documentation and what that means in
terms of their responsibility; or how artists can be exploited as brands in ‘an
era of artist as celebrity’.
Should we be moving away from attaching singular authorship altogether to
create value, and what is the line between evading the work you have created
for the sake of the work and outright denying responsibility for the work itself,
its ethical issues and its impact on the world.
Some really fascinating concerns which are specifically important in my own
research, but also the way we look at, talk about and make art today.
January 22nd 2012
I’m currently thinking through ideas of authorship and authenticity
and why these aspects are so important in creating value in an artwork.
Why does being able to locate a point of origin in something satisfy us
that it is of value?
I’m questioning why this is so important in relation to how my work
has changed, not just with my current artistic collaboration, but generally
with regards to the nature of my process often being in partnership with
actors, technicians, editors and so on.
In this workshop I will focus on some of the issues surrounding
authenticity which is currently so intrinsic to how we firstly;
validate an artwork through its means of production, and secondly,
how assigning authorship leads to the creation of value.
How to make a million dollar idea
New Art Exchange
Nottingham, NG7 6BE
Saturday 28th January, 2pm – 4pm
Until then
Rashid Rana, et al
Secrets, Manipulation and Insider Trading
The Origins of Pleasure
What I care about is people
And for some light relief
January 19th 2012
Exhibition 1
My first post of the year comes after a slight delay due to working
towards a group show at Vita Kuben based at the Norrlands Operan
in Umeå, Sweden which opens tonight!
I have directly collaborated with Niklas Tafra on this exhibition
of audio installations along with Henning Lundkvist and
Lundahl&Seitl, all of whom have curated the exhibition.
Exhibition 1
Operaplan 5, 903 29 Umeå, Sweden
PV 19:00h Thursday 19th January
Open until 18th February
November 29th 2011
I’ve been wresting with the idea of posting this since the last entry,
and I’d like to be clear: this is not documentation but a culmination
of consequential ideas from an event which has already happened.
The event intended to swerve visual documentation.
The image you see of the Narrator is from the casting session before
An Understudy took place. My reasons for posting this report on my blog
and not in the archive bit of the site is an attempt to let the piece stand
alone, as a happening. I don’t want to add another dimension to it,
which could plunge the work further into a discourse of institutional
critique it may become confined to; and risk a disregard for the crucial
fictional and participatory aspects of the piece that embraced the
institutional framework.
Another reason is the hope that actually, when I come to edit this
blog at the end of ExperiMentor into a coherent thought process, that I
might decide this shouldn’t be available or that I would like to reserve
the right to remove the report altogether. Without further deliberation…
this is a report from the seminar in which An Understudy took place.
An Understudy Seminar Report Form 8.11.11
November 8th 2011
At which point does the attribution of a work (to an author) create a value?
What if the work cannot be authenticated because a proper author
cannot be established?
How can value or authenticity be ascribed if the author is plural or
any sense of authorship is only ever implied through another agent?
October 29th 2011
‘I’m here by but I’m really gone’
October16th 2011
“In the forthcoming novel Looking for Headless, the fictional author
K.D. tells the story of two artists – Simon Goldin and Jakob Senneby –
who initiate a collaboration with author John Barlow:
Goldin and Senneby investigate an offshore company on the Bahamas
called Headless Ltd., and Barlow writes a docu-fictional murder-mystery,
also called “Headless”, based on these investigations.
The three protagonists increasingly become entangled in the world of
offshore business…”
October 5th 2011
To kick off the CPD I will be leading a Walk + Talk guided tour of
Leo Asemota’s exhibition at the New Art Exchange on
Wednesday 5th October at 1:30pm
The talk focused on authenticity, authoritative use of the head in the
exhibited works in relation to power, worship and narcissism.
We discussed the formation of meaning and residual value of an
artwork work through translation and miscommunication, referring
to themes in Walter Benjamin’s essay ‘An Artwork in the Age of its
Technological Reproducibility’ which is referenced in some of the
works.
Other references which arose from the discussion;
John Berger, Ways of Seeing
The Otalith Group, Hydra Decapita
Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic
October 2nd 2011
I will be using the New Art Exchange as a platform
to present new work through talks and interactive sessions
via their CPD programme, ExperiMENTOR.
This blog will keep you up to date on my activity and feature new strands
of research, ideas and links informing the projects I’ll be pursuing on my
MFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths in connection with the CPD programme at the New Art Exchange.
September 30th 2011 (Backdated post)
The Panthers and Genet Symposium at Nottingham Contemporary
Emory Douglas discusses his work in connection with the
Black Panther movement followed by a panel discussion with
Alex Farquharson, Emory Douglas, Kodwo Eschun and Kobena Mercer.
References from the talk:
The Black Power Mixtape (click here for screening dates 2011)
