Black Lab

Elizabeth Price

2010-05-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

Hi all

I wanted to let you know about a week of screenings and events Pavilion will be putting on in collaboration with Elizabeth Price. She's a really interesting artist who draws on institutional crique, philosophy, modernism, sci-fi, pop culture and advertising to 'reinscribe and reformulate collections and archives.'

We're screening two 'epsiodes' of Price's ongoing work The New Ruined Institute - WELCOME (The Atrium) and USER GROUP DISCO (The Hall of Sculptures) - at Pavilion, which each (as Price describes) "unfolds a different room within the notional architecture of a fictional Institutional building."

Screening times: 15 June: 5.30 pm 16 June: 3 pm, 17 June: 3pm, 18 June: 5.30 pm, 19 June: 3pm

We've also got a dialogue event at 42 New Briggate at 7pm (drinks from 6.30) on Tuesday 15 June and a screening at the Hyde Park picture house at 6.30 where we'll be showing films that have directly informed the visual formulation of Price's work (Kenneth Anger, Painleve, Alain Resnais and Chris Marker).

We've just commissioned a text by Rachel Withers (Wimbledon College of Art/ Art Forum) which we're putting out as a piece of print so if anyone would like a copy just send me your address.

More info about it all here

There's an Art Monthly interview between Elizabeth and Paul O'Neill which I found a useful way into her work.

There are also some excerpts of her videos and an essay by Gilda Williams on Lux

If you'd like to book on to any of the events/ screenings just drop me a line(gill@pavilion.org.uk)

Bye for now and looking for the next lab meet.

Gill

The Lab With No Name Week One

2010-05-19T01:03:00.000-07:00

Present: Andy Abbott, Michael Burkitt, Rob Quirk, Terry Slater, Lucy Bannister, Stuart Bannister, Yvonne Carmichael, Gill Park, James Hill, Dan Simpkins, Penny Whitehead

Dan and Penny joined us from Liverpool and gave a presentation that reflected what they thought of as the theoretical and political framework for the Black Lab (from what they had gathered from the blog). This moved through an outline of global Student movements and occupations reacting against the neoliberlisation of the University and the increase in debt culture through to (post)-communist/anarchist writings by the Invisible Committee (in their small book ‘The Coming Insurrection’) which they have been reading as part of a reading group about political aesthetics in Liverpool.

Afterwards we talked a little about if and why Black Lab had consciously avoided such a directly oppositional/radical framing? For some of the participants it is/was a definite reference point and might help articulate the idea of a ‘common’ ethos but in practice we spent as much time ‘doing’ rather than ‘framing’ and often a lot of the activity was quite humble and less obviously politicised. Would the kind of framework offered by Dan and Penny (through autonomous and self-organised global movements) perhaps help articulate what the Black Lab is better to a wider audience and aid in finding connections with a broader range of ‘common’ activities?

We then began to talk about the specific issues of moving on from Black Lab. It was mostly agreed that a new name would be appropriate for whatever it becomes and a few practicalities were agreed:

- that it happens less regularly (once a week has been too much of a commitment to continue with),
- that the preceding admin and documentation/dissemination (through the blog) is rotated through a ‘steering group’ rather than one person always taking care of it,
- and that it would be a good idea to experiment with different spaces in which the meetings are held so it is not reliant or tied to spaces that Black Dogs have secured.

We spent the majority of the conversation talking over some of the issues that had arisen at the last meeting to do with renaming and also articulating neatly what Black Lab/the new project is. There is a clear tension between wanting to have clarity over what the project is so that it is open for other people (not necessarily to join but to engage in) and the potential for this to unduly ‘fix’ what the project is. Its fluidity and organic development have been key to its success and we want to leave that intact whilst being able to offer a better projection of the project to help address misinterpretations like ‘it’s Andy Abbott’s Independent Art School’.

This relates to whether we call it a ‘club’, ‘school’, ‘lab’, whether we use ‘art’ in the name and whether the name is ambiguous or attempts to be descriptive. Dan offered an observation that perhaps as long as the activity is continued to be well documented then the pressure to summarise what the project is becomes lessened. The sort of people that will feel an affinity or share common ground with a project like Black Lab are hopefully the kind of people that will appreciate the fact it can’t be easily or neatly articulated in a sound bite and will spend time engaging in a blog to get a sense of what it is. The people that can’t be bothered to do that are perhaps people that wouldn’t connect with it anyway.

Lucy suggested that we have the next meeting as a workshop in pulling out some key reflections on the past project using paper, pens, post-its etc. This might help us to find ways of articulating the project that we are collectively comfortable with. Lucy will therefore be the first in the ‘rotating chair’ and responsible for setting a date, time and venue (Saw Mill Yard should be available) and contacting potential invitees. Andy will forward around the contact list to everyone who has put themselves forward for being in the ‘steering group’ to date.

Actions

LB to arrange next meeting date TBC

Daniel Simpkins and Penny Whitehead Tues 18th May

2010-05-18T05:03:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

Just a reminder that this evening we will be joined by Dan and Penny who will discuss their practice and we can talk about future developments for the 'Black Lab' in a potential new space.

If you want to have a look at Dan and Penny's website beforehand it is http://www.disruptdominantfrequencies.net/main/contact.html.

Here is a link to a Map of the new space - go up Saw Mill Road and it's the unit opposite the Foundry restaurant

Saw Mill Yard, Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS11 5WH, UK
Link:

We will commence at 6pm.

New Space, Moving Out.

2010-05-07T02:56:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

We'll be moving stuff out of Green Sands into a new temporary space in the Round Foundry today at 2:30pm and then on Sunday afternoon if necessary. Anyone that is able to come down and lend a hand will be most appreciated. Details of the new space will come soon.

bests

Andy

Black Lab Week Twelve

2010-05-07T02:50:00.000-07:00

It was decided in the meeting that a new method for minuting and disseminating the activity in the Lab should be tested. As such these notes are intended to be less comprehensive than usual…

Present: David Thomas, Mick Welbourn, Dan Robinson, Andy Abbott, Dave Ronalds, James Hill, Yvonne Carmichael.

We used the final meeting in the Green Sands to reflect on what had happened in the space and what we might want to take from it into future developments for the ‘Black Lab’.

We discussed the activity of a fortnight ago; the music jam, performance day and meal. It was agreed that these three activities had demonstrated the range of approaches that had been applied in the Lab; from the very free-form and organic to the tightly curated and more ‘organised’. We discussed the perceived tension at the food event where it seemed there was a clash between the desire on Jayne’s part for the event to be organised and to follow a schedule and the manner in which it was embraced and ‘detourned’ by participants (particularly through the presence of children). Those that were present found it a productive tension but Andy had concerns that it might have arisen due in part to a lack of clarity about what Black Lab is and its ethos/methods. Are we in a position now to better articulate either of those?

We began by addressing the method. We talked about how the Tuesday ‘general meeting’ had provided some rhythm and momentum to the project and that it provided an opportunity for those not able to make every meeting to learn about the events. We also discussed alternatives – like alternating between ‘general meetings’ and events on Tuesday although it was felt this had been applied to some extent. We also talked about how the lab had been administrated – Andy taking responsibility for ‘chairing’ meetings, completing minutes and being a point of contact for potential participants. It was agreed after discussing alternatives including finding funding for this kind of role that a rotating chair and admin would be the best structure to share the work load and the learning.

We also talked about the name. Is it helpful that the project has been called a ‘Lab’? The consensus was that this was a fair representation of how we used the space. Perhaps the link to Black Dogs (through the word ‘Black’) is unnecessary? We talked about alternatives. Andy proposed, following Dan’s initial reflections on the project, that ‘club’ was a better descriptor of the project than ‘Lab’ and potentially more inclusive and fluid (i.e not rooted to one site). We talked about other names for the project from the problematically dry (Leeds Art Club, Critical Art Club) to the more vague (Green Sand Club). The general consensus appeared to come down on the more lyrical and open.

We tried to unpick any ‘ethics’ that might have arisen or presented itself during the project. We attempted this by going round the group and talking about what we had enjoyed the most about the project. Responses included the fact that we had made use of empty property, to the open and apparently ‘agenda-less’ nature of the project. The word ‘comfortable’ arose a few times when talking about the environment we had created. Why was the environment of the Black lab free and comfortable? Why does it feel like a safe place to attempt things? How might we articulate this better? It would be a shame if all we had to say about the project at the end was that it was good because it was vague. Yet there is something crucial and critical about the open nature of the activity and the drive behind that activity. How can we retain this whilst doing justice to the specifics of what has happened and what we might have learned?

It was clear that we weren’t going to be able – nor should we attempt – to ‘wrap up’ the Black Lab at this particular meeting and so called it a night.

Actions

All present to contribute to notes and minutes

New space for Black lab (or whatever it may now be called) to be identified

Next Meeting: decided when in new space. Tuesday May 18th is when we have a visit from Dan Simpkins and Penny Whitehead.

Free Cinema School

2010-04-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hello,

in no.w.here lab's email newsletter they include info on a Free Cinema School. It appears they'll be at No Soul For Sale too. Here's their newsletter:

[1]FREE CINEMA: THEN AND NOW WED 5 May 7-9PM Free "One of the most thrilling films to be created in Britain this year" James Norton, Vertigo Magazine, 2009 http://www.vertigomagazine.co.uk/showarticle.php?sel=bac&siz=1&id=1194 A grass roots filmmaking collective residing on the Edgware road invites you to an informal meeting at 'The Free Cinema School'. The evening is an inclusive and collaborative invitation for local residents, film s ocieties, and filmmakers to come together to screen and discuss the film that was shot on the street last summer. Alongside the film screening(s) is an open call to present new ideas, stories, texts, photographs, and personal memories of the Edgware Road with readings from the Free Cinema movements first published journal 'Sequence'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Anderson What is it to revisit the practices of Free Cinema from the complexity of individual desires, public mandates and private interests that currently shape the making of culture today? Or at a moment in which individuals produce and circulate their own media constantly? And where does freedom lie in relation to ongoing initiatives to regulate movement between countries and monitor behaviours within neighbourhoods? As the first proposition of the Centre for Possible Studies, the Free Cinema School takes its cue from the original movement, proceeding with the idea of understanding ci nema as a way of both reflecting contemporary life and inserting the poetic into its daily negotiations. This evening will take place in a relaxed atmosphere in Donya cafe. 5th May 7-9pm Donya Restaurant, 436 Edgware Road, London W2 1EG FREE but please rsvp is advised as places are limited: amalk[at]serpentinegallery.org For further Free Cinema school events in May an June please visit: http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=1&subCat=docdetail&&id=234 ----------------

[2]FILM WITHOUT FILM: May 14.15.16 Turbine Hall. Tate Modern. Free To celebrate The Tate Modern?s 10th anniversary, the gallery will host "No Soul For Sale ? A Festival of Independents". For this free arts festival, Tate Modern is inviting over 60 of the world?s most innovative independent art spaces, not-for-profit organizations and artists? collectives, from Shanghai to Rio de Janeiro, to take over the Turbine Hall. We would like to invite you to come and support no.w.here at No Soul for Sale as we launch FILM WITHOUT FILM. This context will include the launch of no.w.here's new artists film and video quarterly including articles by Maxa Zoller, Simon Payne, Rob Muellender and Nicky Hamlyn, an exhibition of the original Instructions For Films series with work by over 40 artists including Michael Snow, Yoko Ono and Maurice Lema?tre and performed works in the Starr Auditorium (programmed for Sunday 16th) http://www.nosoulforsale.com/index.php/2010 http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=1&subCat=docdetail&&id=231

No Soul for Sale participants will include: 2nd Cannons Publications 98weeks Alternative Space LOOP Arrow Factory Arthub Asia Artis Artists Space Artspeak Auto Italia South East Ballroom Marfa Barbur Black Dogs Capacete Entertainment Casa Tres Patios cneai= Collective Parasol Dispatch e-flux journal   Elodie Royer and Yoann Gourmel-220 jours Embassy gallery Filipa Oliveira + Miguel Amado FLUXspace FormContent Galerie im Regierungsviertel / Forgotten Bar Project Green Papaya Art Projects Hell Gallery Hermes und der Pfau i-cabin Intoart K48 Kling & Bang Latitudes L?appartement 22 Le commissariat Le Dictateur Light Industry Lucie Fontaine Lugar a dudas Mousse New Jerseyy Next Visit no.w.here Not An Alternative Or Gallery Oregon Painting Society Para/Site Art Space Peep-Hole PiST/// Interdisciplinary Project Space Post-Museum PSL [Project Space Leeds] Rhizome Sala-Manca + Mamuta S?n Art Scrawl Collective studio1.1 Swiss Institute The Mountain School of Arts The Museum of Everything The Royal Standard The Suburban The Western Front Society Thisisnotashop Torpedo tranzit.cz Viafarini DOCVA Vox Populi Western Bridge White Columns Y3K

Sun Burgers for Black Lab (written before the food event)

2010-04-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

My recipe is sun burgers. These are raw, vegan burgers, with all their living enzymes intact. A good choice for a Sun Day, and for the vibration of the Gold (or Sun) Energy which many associate with Jesus.
Perhaps Jesus was raw love, and his ideas have become “cooked” and poisonous – often not on purpose, but as a result of processing with heat which is too fervent.
The Black Lab has been good. I have had some really good times, and met/got to know better people whose company I’ve really enjoyed.
Maybe the limited food we have at the lab (and have the potential to make) has meant limited ideas – ideas have been pretty heavily theoretically “processed” or “cooked”. Andy’s jokey assertion that we could make “hot crisps” was an interesting variant – trying to cook something again which is already heavily cooked. This is in part due to having limited kitchen equipment, of course! But even if we did have it, I think mostly what was sought was a gas stove right? Illustrating that it’s often not really the equipment that’s lacking, it’s the idea. Or perhaps we have the idea, but because it’s uncommon to our social ideas of eating, we think we should opt for the great leveller – the bag of fucking crisps! We know everyone can stomach these – right? Right?
When I say ideas have been theoretically processed or cooked, what I mean is that there has been a lot of high theory (or at least heavy reference to it). I enjoy this sometimes, but I always appreciate it better when it is grounded in my experience and not too far abstracted. This is not the fault of theory, or of my experience. It’s just that I find theory offers highly concentrated thoughts which have relevance for me when they are touchable. I can “grasp” thoughts and abstraction well, and this comes naturally as well as being a skill I’ve been trained in, but I don’t feel the relevance of doing it anymore. I don’t want to grasp, I want to caress – to be able to engage in mutual embrace and discover complexity and depth in understanding something simple, and allow it to become part of me, and me of it. This is where I’m at. A personal sense of communion. A phenomenological “sense” of communion. Of course you can relate this feeling to theory too! But my view right now is that you can explain or explore absolutely ANYTHING with theory. Anything at all. And yet if it isn’t meaningful to you, if you don’t feel it, if you’re not drawn to it, it’s just an exercise. Yes, it can become more than that in the process, but why not begin with a connection that is felt, or, more precisely, known? It’s an indication.
After reading this last bit over, I imagine there will be some laughter at the terms “caress” and “embrace”. I’m not using these terms to try to be “risqué” (do the burgers need sauce? Ah, perhaps they do!). I think our bodies are often considered with embarrassment, tied up with cultural shame about sex, and almost always considered in relation to sex. And this is maybe why if we begin to release hang-ups about food, the body will become a little more free to be expressive and enjoyed.
It often seems that imagination runs out when dealing with food on a day to day level, and we tend to forget about the materiality of our bodies, the way they ground our ethical stances, the way they are responsible often for a lot of the activity of our minds and consciousness. To look to food to help take communion to a new level is, I believe, imperative. Not only is it the way we can commune with and help heal the earth (and thereby each other), not only is it how we can sustain life and nourish growth, not only is it how we can help ourselves to access higher consciousness, not only is it a way to experience pleasure, it is also how we can make politically active choices which can make massive differences to the capitalism we live with (and have, to a degree, chosen) and move towards a less wasteful (less packaged, less separated) and more unified and holistic (whole-y) way of life.
Cooking is only a relatively recent discovery/invention in the scale of mankind’s existence, and many people consider it a big player in the game of cancer.
But choosing raw can also be tricky – you eschew social traditions which revolve around eating together, you can be heavily mocked, and criticised more than usual.
Referring to Caravaggio’s painting, it’s meaningful that they haven’t started eating yet! Maybe the implication is that they’re eating with their souls, listening to Jesus, and have no need for physical sustenance. Anyhow, the food, while more vividly and centrally presented than in Da Vinci’s depiction, is being pretty much ignored by Jesus and friends. Perhaps they’ll eat it to appease the tensions from the discussion they’re having or perhaps they consider it an unimportant use of time faced with the preciousness of (Jesus’ last) words. It seems as if nobody wants to eat because it’ll hinder their capacity to talk (or maybe they’re waiting for Jesus to take the first bite). So, really, does Caravaggio place importance on food as communion, or on talking? It is the words that are being shared, the concept of the Eucharist, not “the body”, the realisation. “The Last Supper” painting isn’t really about material food, implying that “supper” isn’t really just about food. This we clearly know. But maybe it’s not really enough about food! “Supper” has become (apart from an antiquated term that’s often now associated with the class system in Britain) too symbolic, automatic, and not embodied enough – we think and we talk (maybe some of us don’t even do that at “supper”), but do we think about what we are eating, and how we eat it? It is matter, and it does matter.
You know how when people have that conversation about "what would you have for your last meal, if condemned to death?", rather than going home and making that a reality for themselves (and surprisingly the answer is often quite a simple meal – not generally gourmet or out of reach), and eating it as if it were their last, they probably don’t bother, losing the potential to really enjoy the moment, and replacing it instead with talking about it, describing it. Words become a (disembodied) substitute – essentially, a fetish (consider the problems caused by taking the Bible too literally).
So, I give to you all these nourishing raw sun burgers, made without loss of animal life, made from ingredients which have directly used the sun’s energy, in the knowledge that they will give you something which cooked burgers can’t. I want you to have eaten them prior to reading this, or during, so that when you do read or hear these words, you have something to embody them in.

Music on a Long Thin Wire Photos

2010-04-25T02:24:00.001-07:00

24 Hour Music Jam Photos

2010-04-25T02:17:00.001-07:00

Dave Beech Questions

2010-04-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

As promised Dave Beech has agreed to chat to us and answer our questions. Sadly he cannot be here in person but will communicate through the power of skype. This will happen on Monday 3rd May @ 18.30.

We has asked him to think about talk about his views on pedagogy within and without the institution and its cause for radicalism. He will be talking on similar themes for the Deschooling Society seminar that will be happening the preceeding weekend.

We introduced the Black Lab as being set up to 'test' autonomous self-organised ways of producing knowledge and how this can be qualified. We also informed him of the intention of the meetings to look the a geneology of Free Schools and suggested that his position on the border of radical and institutionalised cultural/educational production would provide an interesting perspective on all this.

If we can get you guys to produce a list of questions for Dave to have a look at, perhaps around the theme of what constitutes an autonomous artistic learning experience and the pros and cons of this, then we can compile these and email them to him and also ask him them on the night. Does this sound like a good way to go about it?

Here's some links to his work and writing.

www.dave.beech.clara.net
www.freee.org.uk

Best,

Rob and terry.

Last Supper Brief

2010-04-24T01:38:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

for those that have confirmed attendance at the Sunday Food Event please see below for Jayne's 'brief' for what food to bring. Things will start at 2pm and finish around 5 or 6pm.

Black Lab’s - Last Supper

Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus

Taking the multiple meanings in Jesus' final meal with his disciples (the feast that arguably sealed food's central role in religious art and symbolism), we could explore the multiple meanings of the Last Supper in a light-hearted way!

The Last Supper was a goodbye of course, but was also, symbolically, Christ offering himself so others could atone their sin. It was the first Eucharist – the bread and wine offered as atonement for sin, a central philosophy in Christian belief.

For Black Lab’s last supper, you can atone for your artistic sins or guilt and look forward to the future! I would like you to make a dish of food as part of a large feast that helps to reflect on your experiences in Black Lab; positive, negative, guilty, indulgent, confused or pleasurable.

The lunch will be a one-course feast that we all share. It could be a salad, a pie, a roast, a dish of fruit, a loaf of bread, sandwiches, lasagna, pasta, stew, fish, anything that is easy to bring to the Lab. We will create a long table for the food and will all sit around together and eat!

Please bring with your food, a knife and fork, serving spoon, plate for you and a spare, bring a table decoration if you have one and use the Caravaggio painting for inspiration. The typical biblical meal would have been simple meats, fruits, bread and wine. I suggest that we too try to think about the ingredients in some way – the simplicity and honesty of the meal.

At the feast I would like you to explain the dish and how it represents you. I see three (holy trinity!) categories:

1. Dishes that represent your experience Black Lab
2. Dishes that represent your ‘arts-sins’
3. Dishes that represents your artistic desire

How do we interpret this? As with most work, it’s all in the meaning and the context, so I think we can easily find ways to represent ourselves in food.
If I were to bring something that represents me, it would be a meat and potato pie – a good hearty northern girl – who likes to have her fingers in many pies! If I represented my work it would be a sensory feast lots of textures, and smells and strong flavours – maybe freshly baked home made bread with rare beef, onions and mustard, representing my interest in sensory place making, or maybe a cornucopia of fruits – colourful and zingy – I love market places. My sin would be my food snobbery – so it would have to be a complicated dish where I could show off my good palate and skills – probably a risotto primavera, which requires a perfect balance of flavours, good stock and perfectly executed timings (sinful food is so good!). My creative desire is to be a food curator and planner– so today’s feast represents this – thanks!
I would like you all to be able to explain your dish in this way, you can be playful with us – or seriously confess your deepest secret through the dark art of food….
In terms of a complete feast – I think we need to agree that some will bring meat dish, some a vegetarian and some will bring dessert….I would like the dishes to be revealed on the day– so don’t tell us your dish but indicate if it is meat, vegetarian or sweet. Andy can keep a check ?? Finally make enough for about 10 people then if there are about 20 we can all have a taste, better to have too much than not enough is my dinner policy….
If you want recipes, tips or advice please call me. See you all on Sunday - Good luck!
(email Andy for number)

Some Kind of Monster

2010-04-21T03:03:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

As promised Some Kind of Monster (the latest Metallica documentary) will be screened in Green Sands tonight at 7pm. I will probably be there from 6.30pm onwards.

Thought this could partly add to the discussion (that Liz M started by showing the Inspector Morse episode) about what it is to be an artist / how artists are portrayed in the media. But that it might be a nice precursor to the two music events that are happening Thurs / Fri.

All are welcome! Hope to see you there.

Kind Regards,

Yvonne

Black Lab Week Ten

2010-04-21T02:46:00.001-07:00

Present: Steven Allbutt, Dan Robinson, Dave Ronalds, Andy Abbott, Yvonne Carmichael, Mick Welbourn, Tether, Alice Bradshaw, Slice Arts, Stuart Bannister, Lucy Bannister, Michael Burkitt, James Hill, Rob Quirk, Terry Slater.

As we were joined by five people who had not visited the Lab before (Tether and Slice Arts) we began with a quick overview of what the intentions behind the use of the space had been and some of the activity that had occurred there. Although we started out with the idea of it being a ‘Free Art School’ the project seems to have floated somewhere between a learning project and how an art collective might operate, with workshops and collective works emerging. The horizon of opening up critical discourse on art was mentioned and we described some of the events that had happened over the last ten weeks including collective watching of Inspector Morse, group listening and analyses of Simon Critchley and Alain Badiou lectures and sound workshops.

We quickly reviewed the past week’s activity which included a group-watching of Chris Marker’s La Jetee. Stu mentioned that he hadn’t seen it before and enjoyed watching it despite having just come out of another quite demanding film screening. The conversations that had occurred after the screening had touched upon Marker’s use of still photographs to mimic the way we remember things; reducing a film down to this seems both cost-efficient, effective and manipulative. Yvonne mentioned that the film had been more like a side project of Chris Marker’s – something he had done as a break from another film he was working on – and so it is interesting that it has become his most well known work.

Andy, Stu, and Yvonne then described the gig at Bradford Playhouse on Saturday at which ‘The Black Lab Ensemble’ had played. This was a performance of improvised sounds by Mick, Andy, Stu and David Thomas with responsive Super 8 projections by Martha. The sounds had been ‘bred’ in the Black Lab during one of Stu’s sound muckabout days and the video projections were of shorts by Martha and David Thomas that we’d seen in Black Lab. Yvonne described the performance as very nice and not too long. They had played in the dark and the films and video worked well. We realised it was probably one of the first public disseminations of our activity in Green Sands.

Afterwards, Tether introduced them selves and showed a DVD of a work in progress. Tether are based in Nottingham and are an artist-led group whose activity includes running artist studios, a gallery and most recently the Tethervision project which is a series of podcasts that gather together artist films, documentaries and info about artists and specially commissioned work. They showed the group a series of four interviews made on a tour of UK they undertook visiting artist-led organisations and spaces. The groups were then interviewed and the footage will be edited and uploaded to create a database or archive of artist-led activity in the UK on the Tethervision site (in progress).
The groups interviewed ranged from established long-running organisations to much more newly emerging groups made of recent graduates or students.

We watched the interviews and talked about the specific quality of the filming and the editing. It was generally felt there was something humorous about them but not in a satirical way. Tether explained that they had imagined creating a series of very high quality, professional documentaries but as it was their first attempt it probably hadn’t worked out that way. The general consensus was that that might have been a good outcome as it made the groups seem less self-important. Perhaps the artist-led community needs to laugh at itself?

We talked also about Tether’s experiences as researchers – had they found any generic characteristics or commonalities between the various artist-led groups? Tether picked up on a generally felt anxiety about funding (or the relationship between practice and funding) and questions about exactly why these groups are doing what they do when sometimes audience numbers are incredibly small and there can be a general lack of public engagement. We talked about whether any of the groups saw what they do as ‘artist-led’ groups as a stepping-stone towards the more institutional or commercial art world and, conversely, whether any groups they spoke to had a more politicised position. Tether said that few of the groups articulated there activity as directly antagonistic towards the more institutional art world and that there was a lack of politicised standpoints; most just do it because it’s how they are comfortable operating.

We talked a little about what the actual Tethervision project might achieve when it draws together all these interviews into one virtual space. Might it help create a sense of ‘collective consciousness’ in the artist-led network/community (if such a thing exists)? Could it become more self-aware and confident through such projects? We talked about how people might respond to the videos; would there be room for comments like youtube or Facebook provides? Lucy mentioned that it seems difficult to get anyone to comment on material unless it is on Facebook. Also, might there be possibility for groups to upload their own interviews without the need for Tether to have met them? It could be a really vital and exciting project.

Slice Arts then talked a little about what they have done and their experiences in Leeds. They are an open-collective of individuals who are studying on art courses at various institutions in the city. They started by having lectures and meetings at one another’s houses and this has led on to their facilitation of a network that aims to build connections between the three educational institutions in Leeds (University of Leeds, Leeds Met Uni and Leeds College of Art). They recently held an exhibition at the old TK Maxx space in Leeds Shopping Plaza as part of the Art in Unusual Spaces scheme which is where Yvonne and James first worked with them. We talked about the parallels between Slice and Tether’s projects, how they both reflect a desire to know that we as artists or as people in art education are not alone. Do such projects help create a sense of belonging? Might they help reduce anxiety and insecurities surrounding artist-led activity and the kinds of competitive and sometimes frustrated actions that emerge from that?

We talked about the pressure that might be felt to be inclusive and to allow room for as many people to be involved as possible. This is common to Slice as it is to the Black Lab project and to some of the groups that Tether interviewed (in relation to audience numbers and public engagement). Does more people necessarily mean better dialogue, or more democratic or representative conversation? In our experience we have found that with larger numbers comes the pressure to look for sameness rather than to try and unpick and unearth the specific differences (and points of agreement) within a small group. Smaller groups can allow for better reflection and as such better ‘representation’ of views. Perhaps the drive towards quantitative over qualitative inclusivity is something we should be wary of.

Tether, Slice, James, Mick, Steve, Rob, Terry and Michael then had to leave for trains etc. After a short break we got back together to plan the forthcoming week’s activity. Yvonne will be showing ‘Some Kind of Monster’ at 7pm on Wednesday. Stu has advertised the Alvin Lucier and 24-hour jam on Cops and Robbers website and Leeds Music Forum and put something out on LVAF. We talked about how to split the shifts for the 24-hour music jam to make sure there was always a responsible ‘code-keeper’ in place. We got numbers for the Sunday Feast and talked about who would be coming; could we make it more open (i.e bring a guest) so that perhaps it begins to introduce the Black Lab project to people that might be interested in being involved in any future developments?

Lucy then recapped on her conversation with Eleanor at the Bradford Playhouse and that it might be good to visit as Black lab to watch the Detroit film. We finished by discussing Lucy’s offer to write something about Black Lab for the Culture Vulture blog. After discussing the pros and cons (it would be great to have something about the activity in Black Lab on the blog but it will be difficult to reflect what it is in 500 words) it was left open as to how the events might be documented. Perhaps a photo-diary or sound-bites might be a possible approach? Dan raised the question; at what point will we feel like we have something that reflects the activity or the Black lab project as a whole? Is now as good a time as ever? Is it ever likely to become more coherent than it is presently? Perhaps when our time in Green Sands is over we can make efforts to address these questions.

Then we went to the pub.

Actions

All to attend/organise activities for the coming week (including registering a place at the Sunday Feast) and advertise on Blog. See blog for details.

Next general meeting Tues 27th April at 6pm. Activity until then includes Metallica docu (Weds), Alvin Lucier and 24-hour Jam (Thurs/Fri), Performance Workshop (Sat), Last Supper (Sunday)

Of Time and the City

2010-04-16T01:32:00.001-07:00

Wouldn't normally think of advertising this kind of thing but it seems like some those of us who are interested in Iain Sinclair, Detroit & so on, might be interested in this, 'an angry lament about the brutality of post-war urban redevelopment in British Cities'...

'Of Time & the City', Thu 13th May at the Howard Assembly Rooms, tickets £4.50, dir Terence Davies, uk, 2008, 74 mins.

http://www.operanorth.co.uk/events/words-music-of-time-city/

I'm gonna go! There'd be time for a pint & discussion at the Wrens after.

La Jette this eve.

2010-04-15T06:34:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

Sorry if this is a little short notice and you miss it but as there are a couple of things going off in Leeds this eve and it's quite light in the space I'm going to say we meet at 7pm at Green Sands tonight instead of 6pm. Hope to see some of you there then,

Andy

Dan Simpkins and Penny Whitehead

2010-04-15T03:47:00.001-07:00

just to keep people up to date with the communication I've had with Dan about Penny and his visit to the Lab on 19th May please see below. What do people think about the ida of trying to use the H block for this particular meet?...

From: Daniel Simpkins
To: andy abbott
Sent: Mon, 5 April, 2010 21:46:14

Subject: Re: Black Lab Leeds

Hey Andy,

Thanks for being so flexible on the dates, Tue 18th would be good for us at the moment.

A thought just popped in to my head when reading your email... we gave a talk at Leeds Met recently and became intrigued by the disused art school building - great for a dystopian degree show and it would seem ideal for Black Dog's Free Art School, could be worth a look for a temporary venue, maybe just a one-off...

We know a few members of staff at Leeds met who might be able to help us get access to Cell Block H. Aiden Winterburn who lectures on the graphic arts course told us that he's been helping students to infiltrate the building, also I'm sure it's something that Conway and Young would be interested in, and Alan Dunn seems pretty game for a bit of subversive action... so there may be a few options for getting permission from the inside to squat the old art school.

Best wishes,
Dan

Jayne Bradley

2010-04-15T03:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

as I mentioned at the last couple of meetings I've been in communication with artist Jayne Bradley who is happy to come and facilitate a food workshop/event on April 25th. She's up for us deciding on the activity together as a group so wanted some feedback on a few suggestions. Please see below for the communication so far. Any thoughts or preferences from the group that I can feedback to her?

excerpts from email from 6th April..

As there isn't a budget for a feast I could suggest dishes that each of you could bring for us to share based on the fluxus piece - I could show slides of the fluxfeast event I did at Vivid (we didn't film it just took stills) whilst we eat? Or I could write a menu and ask you to interpret it, this is more playful and in the style of fluxus, but could be inedible! Fluxus also held a blue banquet - all food served was blue - we could do something like this? let me know how instructive you want me to be and what we could achieve - can you heat food at the studio? - I could offer recipes for the less able amongst you? Of course we don't have to follow Fluxus, if you give me a theme I could interpret a feast menu from it...

Before or after we eat I could talk about my work and aspects of food and art - I am more interested and knowledgeable on place making and food, but I can talk broadly on food and art and cover the different approaches from Adria at El Bulli to community food projects and participatory art. I also commissioned Paris based artists Lucy and Jorge Orta to work in Birmingham back in 2004, I could talk about this project too and their more socially responsible work feeding homeless people in Paris.

email from 14th April...

HI Andy

I did turn my mind to it today and looked up the Futurist Cookbook for recipes - I am a bit tied up today but will try and speak to you tonight. I don't think I have time to write recipes for this but I was thinking about setting a menu and asking you all to respond? Ideas....

1. I could do a fluxus menu
2. you give me a theme I could develop a menu
3. We could follow the futurist cookbook - my friend has the cookbook I could borrow it.
4. We could consider something along the lines of more communal ideas - Lucy Orta developed the 7 x 7 concept where a dinner was held and 7 people brought 7 people and it grew until a whole town was invited....we could do 1 x 1 - each inviting one guest - and if everyone brings some food that reminds them of their favourite artist/place/memory/journey - you know something like that.
5. Just be silly and have a Blue Banquet?

I will be staying in a hotel over that weekend so I cant cook anything but it means I will be free to help set up early in the morning.

I attach some images from Fluxfeast - yes real pigs heads, we wanted to shock!

Free School event in London - CFP

2010-04-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

I've just been sent the below link.... Looks potentially interesting.

http://fiveyears.org.uk/archive2/pages/LECTURE%20HALL%20FREE%20SCHOOL/lecturehall.html

Islington Arts Mill had something to do with it last time by the looks of things. If any of you are checking in.... What was it like? Worth bothering with?

Black Lab Week Nine

2010-04-14T03:52:00.001-07:00

Present: Andy Abbott, Yvonne Carmichael, Dave Ronalds, Bryony Pritchard, Martha Jurksaitis, Mick Welbourn, Rob Quirk, Terry Slater, David Thomas, Stuart Bannister.

We began by discussing the time we have left in the space and some of the activity planned. It looks like we’ll be in there until our original agreement ends which would be 2 weeks into May but the space could be altered in that time with partitions so better to bring any events forward into the last week of April. The calendar is looking that way anyhow.

We wondered how strongly the Green Sands building had affected the activity that happened there? We haven’t used the walls but we have been able to have open access and leave stuff set up. Has the short time-scale and the nature of the room instilled a sense of responsibility to do something there? We began to talk about how we might continue afterwards – in other spaces or perhaps just as we were previously in pubs and people’s houses.

Also, it has taken a while to get responses from some of the artists and speakers we originally had in mind to visit the Lab, many of which have been positive. This might partly be to do with the fact that as the blog has developed it articulates the project a little better to those not directly involved. We need to continue to meet, then, and find appropriate places for these talks and activities to happen. To date we have planned visits from Dan Simpkins and Penny Whitehead, a Skype appearance by Dave Beech, and interest from Simon Critchley and Ganghut, that would all fall outside of our time in Green Sands. We discussed a few alternatives in the Holbeck area.

Yvonne showed a collection of artist and self-produced publications she had brought along so we might begin to talk about the idea of a collectively produced magazine/publication again. Andy asked whether the ‘horizon’ of the Black Lab project – to engage in, open up and demystify that which constitutes critical debate on art – is still relevant to the group and, if it were, is it still a useful frame for the publication? It was agreed that it would be and that it might mean that the publication do more than simply document the discussions, presentations and activity in Black Lab – although this would also be a useful function of the publication.

We talked again about how the Black Lab project is documented, archived and disseminated – how people find out about it and how we reflect on it. Are we in a position to make a collective statement about how we have done things? Would it be against our ethos to come across as telling others how they ought to do a similar project? Although we want to share our experiences, and what we might consider knowledge, this will have to be tackled with tact. Bryony also reminded us that it would be unfortunate for discussions about the legacy of the project to undermine the project itself.

Also, Rob suggested we think about a publication as a punctuation mark, not a finality. This brought us to talk about how we might produce something with less preciousness than most critical art debate or, as Amelia crouch has written, art writing as the right to wonder. It seems that the perceived elitism or closedness of most critical writing/debate on art is that it pertains to well-informed truth. How might we exercise the right to opinioned and, potentially, contradictory reflection on art? Dave asked how might we do this without making a series of throwaway statements. Stu also reminded us that we had talked about the publication being more than just writing, or even paper based. Will including samples of work help ‘educate’ people in previously impenetrable art forms just as writing about them would achieve? It would also be a nice way of documenting and sharing some of the ‘produce’ of the lab. We discussed multimedia elements like DVDs with videos and web-links to material we have come across in the lab. It would be good to include these but without losing the tactile and immersive qualities of a ‘proper’ publication. Aspen came up again as a good example of a multimedia magazine/archive/object.

Andy and Stu talked about the Badiou/Critchley lecture from last week. Stu said that it was a good experience and that he got a lot more from the Critchley section of the lecture than the Badiou; to do with the quality of the recording, the differeing styles of delivery and the material. Stu was most interested in the ‘passive nihilism’ and ‘active nihilism’ categories that Critchley outlines; where passive nihilism is a retreat from the world as it is (through yoga, intentional communities, alternative cultural activity etc) and active nihilism is the desire to destroy the present world in order to start a new one (a la avant-garde art tactics like Situtaionist International and terrorist networks like Al Qaeda). The ‘third way’ outside of these two nihilist tactics is a ‘within and against’ strategy of finding critical distance or cracks within the world as it is to bring about change. This is an unending and infinite process. Andy also added that Critchley sees political action as born of a disappointment or lack in the world and also sees an important role for critical distance through laughing at oneself. This tactic might seem a little too close to postmodern life through an ‘ironic’ lens however, and also the ‘within and against’ tactic always sounds easier than it is (see Black Dogs Tower Works projects and upcoming activity at the Tate). It was agreed that it’d be great to get chance to talk more about these issues with critchley if he were able to make a visit in Autumn.

The whole idea of ‘critically distanced’ activity as art is also something we have been discussing within the Lab and outside of it. Andy mentioned a conversation he’d had the night previous with Harry Meadley and David Steans about what implications this definition of art might have for any activity that wholly identifies with the market-led Artworld. Can we call such activity art under this definition? Similarly what implications does it have for any productive or creative activity that doesn’t involve critical reflection? How can this critical distance be incorporated into activity without it dictating or consuming the activity?

Last we talked about some of the activity booked in for the end of April and how we would make this open. We are wary of advertising the events as something for people to come and be spectators of (for some of this activity that would be problematic) but we would like to let people come and see the space and get a sense of what has been going on there. We agreed that we could advertise the Alvin Lucier, 24-hour music jam and performance workshops (if Michael Burkitt wants to) as something people are welcome to drop in and see – almost as works in progress or open studio / open lab. How we will phrase this will have to be decided fairly quick as the activity is fast approaching.

Stu also mentioned that Lucy had been asked by Culture Vulture to cover stuff about the Bradford Playhouse (we should make a visit to The Playhouse to watch a film on Detroit) and that she might write about next week’s Lab activity. We wondered whether there might be a more collective way of documenting or reflecting on the events next week and agreed to talk to Lucy about it.

Then we went to the pub.

Actions

All to contribute something to the publication; text, image, DVD, CD etc that might document or reflect on individual or collective activity in the Lab or go someway towards ‘opening up debate on critical art’.

All to carry on inviting artists and visitors to the Black Lab.

Stu, David Thomas and Michael Burkitt to think about how to phrase public announcements of next weeks activity.

Next general meeting Tues 20th April at 6pm. Activity in lab until then includes La Jette screening at 6pm on Thursday (although we might play the film later as it might not be dark enough).

Jordan

2010-04-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Got a response from John Jordan.....

Hey dave
the email you sent was the right address but the guy who is meant to forward them from the site is ill and so has not been doing it - which is a bit of a nightmare ! must get my hands on it and sort it out ..
anyway this is best email for me ...

It would be a pleasure to come to leeds... end half of may is best for me ? suggest some dates that work for you and ill see - I cant do tuesdays in may however...

How is your own tate project going ?? what have you decided to do ?

yours JJ

.......

Which is great I think! What about dates though? What do we think? It would be good to have as many people as pos as he's making the effort.

Simon Critchley

2010-04-08T03:58:00.000-07:00

The listening session was really interesting last night. The podcast turned out to be a two person presentation with Simon Critchley and Alain Badiou. Due to Simon being a really clear and engaging speaker I got a lot more from his presentation. I could only understand one word out of four that Alain said! However we talked about some interesting stuff in relation to it. I now have a cold and the snot has replaced intelligence and memory so I can't tell you all what we talked about!

But Andy did say Simon Critchley would be a good person to get along to the lab and I just spotted this lecture in Glasgow as part of the Glasgow International festival - might be a good time to contact him Andy? Seems like he lives in New York. Also perhaps answers our question as to whether contemporary philosophers engage with contemporary art.

Simon Critchley : The Infinite Demand of Art

Mon 26 April, 11am-1pm, £5/4
Venue: Glasgow School of Art

‘The Infinite Demand of Art’ will be a Studio55 GI Symposium with philosopher Simon Critchley (Chair and Professor of Philosophy, New School, New York). This unique event will be chaired by Christopher Fynsk (Head of the School of Language and Literature at the University of Aberdeen and Director of the Centre for Modern Thought). The symposium has been co-organised by The Glasgow School of Art and the Centre for Modern Thought, Aberdeen. Supported by GI Festival.
Tickets are £5/4 and will be available beginning Monday 12 April at Glasgow School of Art Reception (0141 353 4500, cash only) and the Glasgow Film Theatre Box Office (0141 332 6535).

http://www.glasgowinternational.org/index.php/news/view/space_to_talk_and_think/

Alvin Lucier 'Music on a long thin wire' re-construction

2010-04-08T03:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I'm looking at getting the construction of this piece started next Wednesday night (14th April) and finished in time for the evening of the 22nd April for a performance.

In basic terms, the piece consists of a long wire (about 20-30feet in this case) stretched tautly across a room with an electronic drone note driving it, causing visual waves on the wire and a "complexity of evocative, ethereal chords".

Anyone interested is welcome to get involved with this. The first session will probably involve more of the construction and set-up side of things. Once this is done, we can start playing with different frequencies and volume levels, and observing the effects visually on the wire and audibly in the space, which should be really interesting.

The piece consists of:

A long piece of piano wire (generously donated by Paul at The Piano Shop in Holbeck)

Piano tuning pegs (also donated by Paul)

A large magnet (to be contributed by Daniel)

*Two wooden sound boxes - wood to be sourced, each about 60x30x10 cm, thin plywood top and bottom, hard wood sides and ends (anyone have any sheets and strips of wood knocking around?)

Two tables (Festival of passtimes tables?)

*Four G-clamps (anyone?)

A power amp (Stu)

An oscillator (Stu)

Two contact microphones (Stu)

A small PA system (Stu)

And to reiterate, we've been granted Alvin Lucier's permission to construct and perform this piece:

"Dear Stuart, Yes by all means go ahead an install WIRE. And good luck!

Cordially, Alvin Lucier"

Here's a good interview where Lucier talks about his experience of the piece:
http://www.furious.com/Perfect/ohm/lucier.html

And a more technical overview:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_On_A_Long_Thin_Wire

Stu

Black Lab Week Eight

2010-04-07T00:15:00.000-07:00

Present: Stuart Bannister, Mick Welbourn, David Thomas, Michael Burkitt, Yvonne Carmichael, Richard Ormrod, Dan Robinson, Dave Ronalds, Andy Abbott, Steven Allbutt.

We began by discussing the afternoon’s sound workshop thing that had mostly been participated in by Stu, David Thomas and Mick. They had been experimenting with close miking and contact miking found objects such as stools adorned with rubber bands and scrapyard chimes, bicycles and wine glasses. David Thomas had brought part of his analogue synth set up. Andy joined in for the last hour and a half using loop pedals, singing bowl, effects pedals and binaural microphones. The quartet repeatedly improvised a soundtrack to a video Andy had made from footage shot in Shipley Swimming pool which helped refine some of the sounds made that day. Samples and snippets were played back to the group. We discussed why the Lab was a good place for such activity; all four participants agreed they hadn’t done anything similar before and that the space was a comfortable one in which to experiment. Perhaps we should try and get another session in at some point?

Within the frame of it being likely that our time in Green sands will end in mid-May we talked about some of the other planned activity in the Lab – the music week in particular. Are we going to make these public access? It sounds like the right thing to do for the Alvin Lucier, 24 hour jam and performance day. We also reviewed the invites that had gone to visiting speakers. Andy has heard back from Jayne Bradley who is happy to do the Flux-feast/food event either Sunday 25th April or May 4th and Dan Simpkins and Penny Whitehead who would like to join us on May 18th.

Dan suggested that we should perhaps reflect on the apparently organic structure that the Lab has taken (general meetings on Tuesdays which are chaired by the same person – Andy – and include a time for the discussion of individual’s interests via 10 minute presentations with events and activity happening on other days). Are there other mechanisms that we could try – as examples; having the general meetings less structured or more open, inviting other people, putting some of the events together or, on the other hand, allowing them to splinter off more. Perhaps it is time to get some distance from what the project has become and think about its original intentions as a ‘free art school’? Is that what it is or has it become something else? Dave agreed and suggested that it is difficult to attend all the elements/events/meetings that one would like to and that as such it might be hard to pick up on the narrative of the project. Richard asked about how people were invited along. Are we seeing this as a ‘pilot’ for how a free art school might work? If so how do we ‘disseminate our ‘findings’’ without sounding like we think we know what is the right way for others to do it? It was agreed that the publication we have discussed working on would be a good space for this and individual reflections at the end of the period in Green Sands foundry which is fast approaching.

After a break Yvonne showed a couple of clips from Ghost World that portray the conventional art school crit in an uncompromising light and that everyone found funny. The ridiculousness of the situation is that the tutor is the final arbiter of taste who shapes the opinions of all the students through her (lack of) valorisation by means of seemingly whimsical decisions. Andy was reminded of a text that Derek Horton had written and sent him about similar hierarchies and unquestioned conventions in art school education.

Steve then talked about Spurn point via a slideshow of old and new photographs and postcards. Spurn Point is (according to Wikipedia) ‘a narrow sand spit on the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber estuary. It is over 3 miles (4.8 km) long, almost half the width of the estuary at that point, and as little as 50 yards (46 m) wide in places. The southernmost tip is known as Spurn Head or Spurn Point and is the home to an RNLI lifeboat station and disused lighthouse.’ Steve has been going there for the last 15 years and has seen how the residents have to respond to the changes in the sea and the landscape. He recommended that everyone visit there as the local community welcome creatives. Steve is in the final stages of completing a residency there.

Mick showed a slideshow of images of empty houses in Detroit (the subject of Steve’s presentation a fortnight ago). We talked as a group about what we each understood and had heard about the situation there. It is an interesting case study because it seems to represent the finality of the ‘cycles’ of recession and migration of capitalism. David Thomas pointed out that such huge shifts have occurred before but perhaps not in our lifetime. We talked about economics and how art can be used as a tool to facilitate the shift in subjectivity and the redefinitions of wealth and value that would constitute a ‘new paradigm’ needed in the face of the ‘triple crunch’ of peak-oil, financial collapse and environmental crisis. There were differing opinions in the room but it was agreed that it would be an interesting conversation or thread to explore in more detail. Perhaps through James Hill’s redux of Das Kapital or David Harvey’s online reading group of the same book?

We spent the remainder of the evening talking about two interlinked forthcoming projects for Black Dogs; their invite to participate in No Soul For Sale and another offer to organise a party for local residents who are friends of the Tate on the Sunday of that weekend. We talked about the ideas to date and our worries and anxieties about the contradictions within those. Stu, David Thomas and Dan commented that it seems like a difficult project for Black Dogs as there are lots of uncertainties about how it will reflect on the group. However, our main concern was that we will do something for No Soul For Sale that isn’t enjoyable for us. It was agreed that our own response to the problem we have posed ‘How Not to Sell Your Soul at No Soul for Sale’ would be ‘to make sure we have a good time’. Therefore we discussed transforming the space into a pub-like installation in which we could display the cards provided by people but also play games, chat, eat and drink. We talked about the invite to organise the resident’s party and how that seemed like a much more suitable and appropriate scenario for Black Dogs both from inside and outside the group.

Actions

All to book in additional activity in the Lab.

All to continue to invite artists/speakers/visitors to the Lab with knowledge of NAN bursary and confidence that even if it falls outside our time in Green Sands we will find a space to hold a meeting in.

All to think about the joint publication and make some contributions to this.

Next general meeting Tues 13th April at 6pm. Check calendar and blog for activity in the Lab in the interim. Next event is the second Alain Badiou listening group tonight at 6pm.

Invite

2010-04-06T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I haven't had a reply from John Jordan as yet about coming to talk - but I'm still working on it.

Just thought it might be handy for anyone who wants to invite speakers to see what I wrote to him... I'm sure you're all more capable than me of writing a decent letter and this isn't a particularly good or correct way of doing it.... But I know we're all busy and if anybody wanted to copy and paste this (with appropriate amendments) as a way of saving time and thought then thats fine. As I say, I'm not suggesting that anyone SHOULD put this - just that this can be used as a template if you are busy and want to be quick about it.

D

.................

Dear John,

It was great to hear what you had to say at the Activist Geographies event in Leeds on the 16th and to chat briefly afterwards.

Perhaps you recall the brief conversation with myself and Andy regarding our 'Tate problem' and the current Black Dogs project in which we are testing modes of knowledge sharing (or as we tentatively put it, a 'free art school') in Leeds. As we said at the time, we would be really interested in having you come and talk with us and perhaps to present as part of our 'program' and I would like to take this opportunity to see if you might be interested and to formally invite you. The initial stage of the project is continuing for another two months - if you could find time in your busy schedule to come and see us at any point during this period it would be really great I think. As we said at the time, we cannot unfortunately offer a fee - but we can pay any travel expenses and offer you our hospitality in the form of some friendly chat, a meal and a few drinks and a place to stay if you would like to.

If you like, you can gain some insight into the kind of things that have been happening and the conversations we've been having in the 'Black Lab' at http://blacklableeds.blogspot.com/ - Hopefully you will be able to see that it is very much a discursive environment rather than a place for passive 'send and receive' learning - We have found that those who choose to 'present' or share elements of their practice find the experience both thought provoking and challenging (in the most positive sense). We hope that if you were to choose to come and visit us it would be both a pleasurable, fun and fulfilling experience.

If you are unable to make it at this time or feel that it's not for you then we quite understand. In the former case there may well be other opportunities in the future and it would be great to keep that option open. In the latter - keep up the great work and thanks again for the inspiring presentation. Your refreshing observation that the left are crap at having fun has certainly stuck with me - its been a great thing to remember when I'm up to my ears in dry academia!

Thanks again John.

I'll hope to hear from you in the near future.

Very best regards,

Dave Ronalds

(on behalf of Black Dogs)

Free film online - fascinating linguistic theory about bible

2010-04-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Here's a link to a free film online (the filmmaker sent me this as I programmed it a few years ago in the festival). It's really interesting for its linguistic interrogation, and proposes a theory that the biblical story of Jesus is actually all about Caesar! I found it fascinating, and perhaps it fits with some people's interests in linguistics and other theories too (for example authorship, religion, the copy etc.).

xm

Dear Martha,

My documentary is at the moment in the holy week for free online. You were the first who selected this film. You may forward it to friends if you like.

Online:

http://divusjulius.wordpress.com/

Website:

http://www.vanfrieslandfilm.nl

Greetings from Holland
Jan van Friesland

Another evening with(out) Alain Badiou Weds 7th April at 6pm

2010-04-03T02:23:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand Alain Badiou will be making another absent appearance at the Black Lab on Weds 7th April. Not appearing alongside him will be Simon Critchley. We will be listening to a join-lecture/conversation between the two philosophers that lasts about 1hr and 50mins and is available on-line at

http://slought.org/content/11385/

Listening will start at 6pm. We might put a break in this one.

Don't feel like you have to have listened to the lecture in advance (I won't be) but, equally, feel free to listen to it 20 times beforehand. Different levels of familiarity with this and Badiou and Critchley's other writings in the room will help prompt an interesting post-listening discussion which is the aim of the evening. Therefore if you plan on coming expect to be there until 9pm - that way we won't simply be theory-consumers.

There is now a microwave in the space and coffee so feel free to bring food and drink to share. Hope to see some/all of you there.

Sound Afternoon Pt.II - Tuesday 6th April 1.30pm

2010-03-31T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hi all, next Tuesday is set for a further session of playing with sound at Black Lab.

The session will be very open but a general focus will be to create live soundtracks for film. Bring along anything you think might work for this - could be still or moving images, or even 3D objects and food... though I imagine that moving image film will be the main focus so don't be too disappointed if your fried peach doesn't have a song written for it.

This will not in any way be a high brow music jam, more a fun and experimental muck around with sound with the aim of collectively producing some kind of coherent din and thinking about how sound and image might relate.

'Instrument' wise, again, bring anything that produces a sound that you fancy using or trying out, but there's no shortage of noise-makers around the space already, including wine glasses, passing traffic and a large shed. There will be a small PA system and i'll make sure we have a couple of vocal mics too.

Any questions please get in touch, preferably on this blog so all can see.

The 22nd and 23rd of April are booked for some more performance-based sound events, which may include among other things a 24 hour improvisation and the construction of at least one sound sculpture. This is all to be discussed!

Stu

Black Lab Week Seven

2010-03-31T00:53:00.000-07:00

sorry for not getting these done yesterday - had a busy day but hopefully I've not forgotten too much of what happened..please feel free to make additions or contestations!

Present: Michael Burkitt, Jo Clark, James Hill, Dave Ronalds, Martha Jurksaitis, Yvonne Carmichael, Dan Robinson, Richard Ormrod, Stuart Bannister, Lucy Bannister, David Thomas

We now have a microwave so we can eat something other than crisps! Or, better, we can have hot crisps!

The first half of the meeting was spent revising last week's activity. Andy talked about the Badiou evening and tried to give a synopsis of the main points and the discussion that followed. We talked about the 'Western/Capitalist' and 'Eastern/Islamist' paradigms that Badiou outlines (the former being predicated on experience of death within life or 'enjoyment' and the latter being based on life in death i.e sacrifice). Badiou proposes that art (through the event and trace) can help find a third paradigm not wholly consumed by the power of death. Richard suggested that Badiou perhaps overlooks the life in life that already exists as a 'third paradigm'. Andy mentioned the book 'Death' by Todd May. Lucy and Stu both agreed that similar themes were covered in Chris Morris's 'Four Lions' which they had been watching in Bradford whilst we listened to the lecture last week. It was agreed that it was a challenging but enjoyable evening and that a follow-up event would make sense as more people would like to join in the discussion.

Martha discussed the movie marathon and the group talked about how it had been a good experience putting the night together and spending time working on something as well as enjoying the content of the films. We talked about how the Black Lab might provide a different viewing collective environment from a cinema or watching at home. People were comfortable talking during the films and responding immediately. This is something of a faux-pa in contemporary cinema-going. It was agreed that more films should be watched together in the space, even if they are ones we have seen before. Dan initiated a brief discussion about repetition and the value and problematics therein with specific reference to repeating events or performances.

We had a short break before Dave Ronalds showed a short documentary he had bought along about El Bulli restaurant in Spain renowned as the world's best and most experimental place to eat. The head chef Ferran Adria works with a team of collaborators year round in a lab experimenting with new cooking techniques, styles and ingredients.

Following the documentary we had a discussion about food as art and how the sensory aspects of it have been focused on by the Futurists and Fluxus, the social aspects by relational practitioners like Rirkrit Tiravnija and the ethical issues around food production in projects like Feral cafe which Lucy had some experience of. Andy mentioned that he had met an interesting artist called Jayne Bradley at the Placemaking conference who works in food and has organised Flux-feasts. We decide it would be good to have a food event and invite her to the lab.

We also talked about other aspects of the documentary including the collaborative nature of the lab; the commitment and fidelity (in Badiou's language) demonstrated by the team; and the perceptions of experimental cooking as elitist or intellectual but how its ultimately bodily/sensory/material/emotional nature might make it distinct or more accessible than avant-garde art. A quote that stuck out for Andy was Adria saying something along the lines of that in order to experience deeper emotions we need new techniques and technology.

David Thomas showed a short experimental film he had made manipulating found footage and sound. Everyone enjoyed it and made a few suggestions; perhaps it could be shown again to a larger group with more time for discussion?

We then began to put some dates in the diary as there are less than six weeks left in the Green Sands according to our original agreement with Igloo. We got out the big calendars and added the following events:

APRIL

Tues 6th at 1.30pm - Sound workshop muckabout

Weds 7th at 6pm - Another evening with(out) Alain Badiou

Thurs 15th at 6pm - Watching La Jetee by Chris Marker

Weds 21st at 6pm - Watching Some Kind of Monster Metallica documentary

Thurs 22nd all day (and eve) - Alvin Lucier reconstruction sound event

Fri 23rd all day (and night) - 24 hour durational music jam

Sat 24th all day - Bas Jan Ader documentary and performance event/workshop

MAY

Sat 1st 2pm - Watching Art School Confidential

Tues 4th May at 6pm - Food night

Weds 6th May - Anne Curtis film

Tues 11th May - final meeting!

There will also be the general meetings/crit sessions every Tues at 6pm.

Actions

All to organise/publicise/attend events as above

All to continue to contribute to fanzine/publication

All to book in extra events, speakers, visitors to the lab

Next Meeting Tues 6th April at 6pm. Check calendar, blog and above for events in the interim

Movie Marathon Pics

2010-03-29T02:33:00.000-07:00

Terence the Tiger gives Freya a playful mauling.

It was a really enjoyable night & many congrats should go to Martha for pulling together such an oustanding programme, as well as co-ordinating bringing all the kit in.

I think Martha is completely right to say that, in the morning, we all felt 'closer to the space' & that in some sense we had done something quite special with it. Not just creating a comfortable & workable arthouse cinema, if only a temporary one, & with some goddammed lights which don't appear to have off switches... Without sounding TOO grand, it felt like it changed us all a little bit (not just in the sense that I hadn't seen those films before, & now I have). I had some great conversations & felt closer to several people... Phil, Freya, Lee, Helen, & even some nice new people I had never met before.

I think every time I bump into those people at private views, or around town, we will both share a smile at a fond shared memory. Hopefully some of them will keep coming to the Black Lab, or we will do some work together soon.

I think the first film was my favourite, in a way. It was a good way to bring in some theory in a way which made people laugh out loud, but at the same time wasn't belittling that theory by making comedy out of it.

As for the very trippy one with the big tower in it, well, maybe accusing the director of taking too many psychotropic drugs was a bit unfair, or at least a bit of shorthand for something else that I didn't quite like about it. It was beautiful & I did really enjoy it... but sometimes I think these things ONLY have 'meaning' in the sense of a drug-induced sense of meaning which is in danger, sometimes, of having no meaning at all. Sometimes, of course, that kind of wilful bizareness for bizareness' sake can itself be quite revolutionary, if only in the sense that the film maker is revolting against the percieved need for meaning in everything. It was a riot!

There wasn't a single film on the night which I DISLIKED (although I slept through two of them). I felt more energised by the Badiou Lecture and this night than anything we have done in there thusfar, & it feels like, post the BBC break, we are starting to come up with a really good form, shape, idea for space. Can't wait for more!

Movie Marathon Recollections!

2010-03-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to everyone who made it to the movie marathon! Here’s a “synopsis” of the event.
Please add your own recollections and thoughts to this!

Stu and David brilliantly set up the PA on Thursday morning, which allowed us to have great sound quality for all the films, helping recreate a real big screen environment! Speaking of screens... Well, we had a MUTHA of a screen! David and I transported the necessary kit and some beanbags down to the space at about 4.30pm, and James, David, David’s brother (sorry I’ve forgotten your name! Alan?), Sam (David’s wife) all mucked in with transforming the space into a cinema! James had (luckily) put up screens before so could direct us on that, and David’s brother showed me how to use the data projector which was so great! I think we all shared some knowledge with each other during set up, and it was a very nice atmosphere, full of excitement about the coming night. Then David, his brother, and Sam left (to attend a gig and party).

Freya was the first guest on the scene, quickly followed by Michael and Charlotte. The first film screened at 8.30pm. I ceremoniously popped a bottle of rose cava. A riotous celebration of Wilhelm Reich’s work and ideas, mixed with a healthy dose of politics, and some full on nudity and male erections (at which point James said “cue: your boyfriend walking in” and, as if by magic, he did!). There was lots of audience reaction to some political/sexual tenets in the film. Great fun yet profound, it was to become James’ favourite film of the night (though you’d have to ask him how it fared in comparison with “Snakes on a Plane”). There was some talk of maybe playing the film silently as James performs Das Kapital one day soon. Yvonne arrived near the end of the film, and admitted that she was indeed “expecting this sort of thing” (though the film’s ending could not be said to be indicative of what had preceded it I think!) Two people arrived, a couple, the girl was called Jo I think, and I can't remember the guy's name. Helen (who works in the Town Hall with James) and her boyfriend Lee arrived after this first film, accompanied by Terence – the Tiger! A huge stuffed tiger which managed to charm the socks off each and every one of us – particularly Freya, who throughout the night remarked on all the different types of animals present in the films - this included lots of horses, a llama, and a lemur, in various films. Helen and Lee’s bed was complete with duvet, pillows, mattress thing, Terence (who doubled up as an extra pillow for people), and Helen thoughtfully brought some pairs of really comfy socks to share around – “I’m all about the comfort!” – which Michael and James gladly indulged in (for the fourth film).

I have jumped ahead! The second film was Armenian, and full of beautiful extravagance and flamboyancy, a real vision, tableaux vivants, full of mysterious rituals and movements repeated, and is certainly a “very special film” (Michael). Freya and Phill loved it too (it happens to be one of Freya’s favourite films, and she loved seeing it on the big screen for the first time). James enjoyed it too: “It’s amazing, yeah. Quite nightmarish. I’m glad I’m not asleep!” Chris headed home. The table of communal food was looking very good indeed! Lots of bread, cheeses, crisps, cakes, hummous, salad, apples, bananas etc. Kept us going and there was plenty left over.

Andy, Stu, Lucy, David and David’s brother arrived from the British Wildlife gig at the Brudenell. Next up was a great fun animation, re-telling the story of the ancient Indian text The Ramayana, and essentially recasting it as “the greatest break up story ever told”. Much laughter was enjoyed by all, and the great PA really came into its own for the brilliant music. After the end of the film, Andy and Yvonne went home to get some much needed sleep.

The fourth film was a very psychedelic and visionary film full of symbolism and rites of passage and dealing very much with the notion of expanding consciousness – it had a lot of energy. Michael and I sat on the white sofa throughout and had discussions about Catholicism, sexual repression (making links between the current film and the first film, where “fascism is the frenzy of sexual cripples”), and Charlotte woke up just before a really loud scream in the film, which must have been quite a shock! James thought the film was “a bit silly really” and the filmmaker had maybe taken too many drugs. I thought he was being reductive, and lumping psychedelia in with drugs as derogatory, rather than considering them both in the context of consciousness. Michael, James and I also marvelled at how the filmmaker had managed to get so many people involved in the film, and Michael voiced how impressed he was that lots of old people were participating in a visionary and very modern film – “Beautiful”.

The fifth film was an anarchic Czech delight with fabulous avant-garde techniques and a celebrated work of the Czech New Wave. I totally fell asleep.

Then came the sixth film, an original Swiss tale of a man’s eccentric nature and coping strategies, as well as a tender, beautiful and heart-breaking portrait of a family trying to cope with his eccentricity (and maybe breakdown/mental health issues), set against a backdrop of themes like global tourism and the romantics’ notion of the “Sublime”.

James boomed in my ear to wake up and put the next film on, which I did – and stayed awake for! A multi-layered experimental work of great beauty. Phill loved the sound recordings of nature used in the piece, and Freya spotted many animals, and concluded that some found footage must have been used (the close ups of lava flow would have probably been too dangerous to film in person unless you had an exceptionally long lens). This prompted Freya and me to discuss technical film-related stuff for a while, which I loved – cameras, film stocks, chemicals etc. By this point the room was fully light (the sun having risen) and it looked like a bright and beautiful day outside. Those remaining at this point were Freya, Phill, Helen, Lee, me, and James, and Lucy and Stu (who had been sleeping but awoke and went to catch a train). We packed up and tidied everything away, but left the PA and screen in place – the screen to be dismantled on Tuesday. The mood was very jolly, and very friendly, and I think we were all feeling closer to the space and the people we had shared the experience with. We left when it was about 10.10am.

I then went to Bradford to see a film with Chris in the cinema called “The Woman With the 5 Elephants”, a documentary I’d recommend, that’s showing in the Bradford Film Festival. My gorgeous man then took me out for lunch to the Love Apple, we came home, I had a bath, and crawled into bed. Now I am wide awake and it’s about 1am and so I’m getting all this down before I forget it! I’m going to go to bed again and try to sleep – wish me luck!

Movie Marathon on Saturday!

2010-03-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Really looking forward to Saturday! It's an 8pm (ish) start, and will run throughout the night til about 8am or so. There will be 6 feature-length films, and some info on sheets about the films that David and I have put together. We'll be setting up from 4pm on Saturday, so anyone who wants to come and help out would be really welcome! There's not too much to do, but the screen is a whopping 14.5 foot by 10 foot! Should be ok just me, Phill, David and his brother, but the more the merrier.

The general consensus about the night is that anyone can be invited, but I'm not putting it up on bit forums etc. so that it remains a bit intimate and manageable - I'm not concerned as to whether 5 people show up or 50, I just want it to feel good and fun and a nice atmosphere. So please invite whoever you want to invite!

If you're coming, please bring with you something to share - food/drink wise - so that people can keep going throughout the night. This doesn't stop you bringing things for just yourself too, but bring something to add to the "communal table" that Black Lab has lovingly cultivated over the past few weeks! I think we'll turn the shed into a bar/chill place.

James Hill - will you please perform Das Kapital after one of the films? Would be much obliged!

It's not going to be a really extravagant "do", and we won't massively transform the space aesthetically, but hopefully a really nice thing to be part of. Anyone wanting to contribute their ipods to the "in between films" music is totally welcome to plug it in - bring music! I won't list the films here, you'll find out on the night (remains mostly what I told you all at a meeting weeks ago with a few minor changes). . . some of them are very relevant to some discussions which have been occurring at the lab sessions too. I'm looking forward to spending an epic session with y'all at the Emerald Beach.

See you then,

x Marth

Black Lab Week Six

2010-03-24T03:51:00.000-07:00

Present: Mick Welbourn, Martha Jurksaitis, Lucy Bannister, Dan Robinson, Michael Burkitt, Yvonne Carmichael, Liz Murphy, Steve Allbutt, Phill Harding, James Hill, Andy Abbott.

We began with a recap on the previous night’s ‘Morse event’ where we watched an episode of Inspector Morse about the murder of an artist and then had a conversation about stereotypes and clichés of artists (in the media) and how they impact upon our individual and collective practices as well as our willingness to embrace or distance ourselves from the title ‘artist’ or ‘art’.

Liz talked about the motivation and interests behind the event: a parallel she saw between the role of the artist and the detective (both in Morse, other fiction and in life) based on their ‘distance’ or ‘outsider’ position to society which leads to depression, cynicism, boozing and (in the artists case more than the detective’s) reckless behaviour. Those of us that attended the event collectively tried to revisit some of the conversation from the previous night about whether we call what we do art or ‘admit’ or announce ourselves to the world as artists. Phil mentioned that he considers himself an artist but not (all) his work to be art. Lucy and Steve both brought up the complexity in describing what we do as art and how it can be a long or difficult conversation not always worth having. Michael Burkitt suggested the term ‘arter’ as preferable to ‘artist’ reasoning that it places it in a bracket with decorator, actor, runner, and so on rather than sexist, facist, racist or narcissist.

An interesting point for us had been that although the clichéd romantic figure of the artist still exists and is something many of us would like to distance ourselves from that ‘running away’ from identifying ourselves as artists or what we do as art only perpetuates the stereotype as there is no reform. Can we contribute towards a change in the stereotype of artist and art through our actions and by announcing it is art and that we are artists? Steve suggested that it would be a difficult task in the face of the media and commodity-producing artists that rely on a ‘personal brand’ to progress their careers.

This led to a conversation about the ‘outward facing’ potential of the Black Lab. James asked the group how we were thinking about disseminating what happens in the Lab outside of the group. We agreed that the fanzine/publication idea was still the best way of gathering/documenting activity in the Lab. The blog too is acting as an archive and a window into the activities there (Lucy brought up the fact that it has been twittered /tweeted/twatted/ ) and that perhaps we’d consider documenting after the three month period is over and to not let it stall activity in the Lab by becoming an overriding concern. Phill asked if the events that we organise can be open to the public to which the answer was yes, by invitation as we don’t want it to be perceived that we are running a gallery/event space/venue. Dan put forward that sometimes it can be unhelpful to make a too-hard distinction between ‘talking about things’ and ‘doing’. The Lab is for conversation as much as events. Andy suggested that a common project to help anchor the conversations seems to be useful and forming organically. If the ‘experiment’ of the lab is to ‘open up the forms that critical discussion about art can take and who can contribute‘ (or something like that) then the talking is the doing and, in turn, the documenting.

Yvonne showed segments of a DVD documenting the mutlipleCITIES public art festival in Panama 2003 curated by Adrienne Samos and Gerardo Mosquera. The motive behind the festival was to place art in the city (that has an absence of art/cultural history) so that ‘the city could return the ball’. We watched short documentaries of some of the works that all aimed to intervene into public space or provoke response from the audience in various ways including: placing a ton of ice in the street that people then skied down; a billboard project ‘semantically recharging’ an everyday phrase used by Panamanians; a minute of silence (dubiously) carved in public space via a radio show (by Francis Alys); simulating a fire in the city’s museum and finally a work where the artists spent a year ‘as an anthropologist’ working with two rival teenage gangs that resulted in a two-screen projection uniting the gangs in a rap-music video that was projected as a public event onto mid-rise flats in the gang’s neighbourhood.

Yvonne uses the DVD (along with other texts including Dave Beech’s ‘Include me Out!’) to prompt discussion about what constitutes a collaborative practice between students on a module she runs at Leeds College of Art. She said that most students agree that the last example (the gang piece) is the most collaborative. We talked about how on paper it would read as very problematic (almost colonial and patronising as it tries to unite rival gangs in ‘sameness’ and through dazzling technology) but, it seems on the DVD at least, that it was very well received and was genuine. Steve suggested this is because of the commitment shown by the artist and the trust developed.

We talked about how multipleCITIES as a model is less well known than other art biennials or festivals and whether there was anything to be learned from it in relation to Leeds’ events like Situation Leeds or Light Night. It appears that the coherence of the curatorial direction and the addition of artists from outside the area contributed to it being an interesting festival. Michael brought up that we have seen from things like Art Sheffield that this tactic does not guarantee interesting or provocative work. James openly asked what Light Night might look like if it were to include more of the poorer areas of Leeds or move out of the city centre. Lucy commented that the Glasgow International festival seems to be well received by both public and artists in the city.

This led to Steve talking about some research he has been doing on the current state of Detroit. Following a film that was shown on TV and an article in the Guardian Steve attended a seminar at the London School of economics where it was revealed that in the wake of the devastating economic collapse of the original Fordist city (and such the birthplace of a specific form of accelerated capitalism) houses and land are almost worthless. Communities have been drawn to Detroit due to is being perceived as a clean slate and are working with poorer (mostly black) community that have been left behind in the mass exodus from Detroit. Currently there appears to be a ‘rebuilding’ of the city using urban farming methods and radical education. Steve suggested that he will take a trip over in the next 12 months to learn more as it presents a very interesting opportunity to both document and contribute to this process. Andy brought up the fact that the ‘conditioning’ of capitalism and Fordist production methods (those of specialisation) seems to be present in some of the current recovery plans (different areas of Detroit making specialist products like honey, hay or animal produce which they trade with one another) despite their agricultural appearance. Could this just lead to a repeat of the previous disaster scenario or will there be genuine change? Would this require a more critical distance or even education about the inherent failings of capitalism?

Actions for next week

All to book in activity and event in the Lab via Calendar. Liz’s event proved that interesting conversations can arise from the humblest of starting points.

There is also a pot of money for travel for speakers/artists. Don’t wait for permission/approval to book someone in. Just do it!

All to continue to contribute material to the potential publication. Thusfar we have bits of writing and images from Andy Abbott, Amelia Crouch, Martha Jurksaitis and Michael Burkitt.

Next meeting Tues 30th March 6pm. Activity booked in before then includes Andy Abbott’s ‘An evening with(out) Alain Badiou’ on Thursday 25th March and Martha’s all night film night on Saturday 27th March (see blog for details).

21-87

2010-03-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

Apologies in advance that I won't be able to come tonight, but I will be along on Thursday and of course on Saturday for the filmic fun. I thought by way of apology I'd post a link for a short film by Arthur Lipsett which I had intended to bring a dvd of: http://www.nfb.ca/film/21-87/

It follows a discussion I had last week with Martha and is something I'm a fan of both for its 'soundtrack' and methodology. ttfn David Thomas

NAN grant

2010-03-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

We have the £500 NAN grant! Got the confirmation email and so that should kick start things for next week!

From: Emilia Telese
To: yvonne carmichael
Sent: Fri, 12 March, 2010 15:05:51
Subject: RE: Black Dogs NAN application

Dear Yvonne

Just a quick email to let you know your group have been awarded a NAN bursary. Congratulations!

I am putting together a small profile of your group and the other winners. If you have any comments following your arwarding, let me know and I could put it in the news item I am putting together today.

All the best

Emilia
APPLICATION FORM
Name and address of your group including contact email and/or website, postal address and postcode:

Group Name: Black Dogs
Contact Names: Yvonne Carmichael, Andy Abbott
44 Whitlam Street, Shipley, West Yorkshire BD18 4PE

Number of members in your group: 8

Contact names of a-n subscribers within your group:

Yvonne Carmichael, Andy Abbott

Please describe your group’s history (limit 150 words)
Black Dogs is an artist collective based in Leeds and established in 2003. Members include artists, musicians, academics, cultural workers, curators and general doers, additional members vary on a project-to-project basis. We have produced various exhibitions, events, multiples, publications, public interventions and community projects since our inception (CV attached).

The collective has of late been researching and testing methods of skill and knowledge exchange through specifically designed user-completed publications as well as an independent /‘free’ art school or peer-learning model and is actively seeking out other individuals, organisations and collectives that may operate in complimentary (and divergent) ways to Black Dogs.

In the past year Black Dogs worked through some of these concerns in the context of a public art project commissioned by Yorkshire Forward at Tower Works in South Leeds, that also demanded an understanding and negotiation of the sensitivities of regeneration and gentrification in communities.

Please describe your group’s aims:
Black Dogs operates in a self-organised manner and practices a DIY-ethos of openness, inclusion, non-profit making and thrifty use of resources. The underlying ethic of the collective is the free sharing of knowledge, skills and experience that might lead us from a passive-consumer ‘society of extras’ towards a more egalitarian, participative and engaged social set-up.

Please describe your group’s future projects (limit 150 words)
Black Dogs have secured a space in Holbeck Urban Village in South Leeds, the Green Sands Foundry, for three months (until 23rd June 2010). Black Dogs hope to use this space as a ‘Lab’ to help garner a new body of research about alternative (that is, a-market, a-capitalist, self-organised and militantly not-for-profit) methods of artistic production and organisation.

Black Dogs is also involved in the production of artist sound recordings and has been invited to represent themselves at 'No Soul for Sale' at Tate Modern in May 2010.

Please describe your NAN Go and See project in 150 words:
As part of the project in Green Sands Foundry space Black Dogs will host a of free presentations, seminars and critique sessions in which artists from across Leeds and beyond will share practice and ideas. This ‘space for debate’ fills a gap in provision in the city which has been identified by various forums, meetings, consultations, and within Black Dogs’ own experience over recent years. It is hoped that the ‘Lab’ would bring a wide and varied range of creative people from Leeds and beyond into Holbeck Urban Village and the Foundry space itself.

We would like to use the bursary to cover travel expenses for visiting artists, writers, academics and curators to the Black Dogs Lab at Green Sand Foundry, Holbeck, Leeds. The Black Dogs Lab will hold a series of invite-only lectures and intensive critiques and workshops with these invitees who have been selected because of their relationship with members of the project and their appropriate knowledge and experience to the aims of the 'Lab' as a whole.

What are the aims of your NAN Go and See bursary project? (limit 150 words)

The money will allow us to invite individuals and organisations that we would not normally be able to afford to offer a visit to Leeds. As such it will raise the quality and impact of the research project. It will allow Black Dogs as a collective to become more outward looking and to learn about different models of collaboration and collective working. It will help facilitate and contribute to critical debate in Leeds. Finally, it will help raise the profile of Black Dogs through acting as hosts for international artists who we hope to continue a relationship with.

We aim to document the project as whole (through a blog and potentially a publication) and if this application is successful we will ensure we acknowledge NAN's support of the project.

(Who you want to visit and why? (limit 150 words))
People we would like to invite to the Green Sands Foundry space include...

Dave Beech (Freee Art Collective) Dave has written numerous articles for Art Monthly which are very relevant to Black Dogs practice and it would also be of interest to the group to hear about Free Art Collective.

Manchester Based Art collective Contents May Vary suggested that we contact Intercity Mainline and The Royal Standard as we could learn from understanding both as ways of working,

Intercity Mainline a bi-monthly publication, reflecting on and collaborating with different artist-led initiatives across the UK.)
The Royal Standard is an artist-led gallery, studios and social workspace in Liverpool.

0100101110101101.org (Eva and Franco Mattes) are an artist duo that have created unpredictable mass-scale performances staged outside the traditional art venues and involving an unaware audience, where truth and falsehood mix to the point of being indistinguishable.
Black Dogs feel have an interest in their projects and feel it would be worth while to invite international artists to join the debate / critique.

Eleanor Barrett formerly involved with Shunt (London) now Director at the newly established Bradford Playhouse. Black Dogs would be interested to hear about Eleanors visions for the Playhouse as well as previous projects she has been involved with.

Encounters is a Sheffield based interdisciplinary artist collective who have devised a programme of arts projects using disused shop spaces and street based interventions, that involve participation with local residents and the collecting of urban histories.

(Other people we would invite if the above is not possible: Lombard Method, Empty Shop, Temporary Services, What, How and for Whom, Tim Etchells)

(Which members of your group will be making the visit?)
Which members of your group will be present for the above artists visit to Leeds...

As many Black dogs will be present as possible. We will also invite members of the artistic community who may find the critique/talk/seminar/debate of interest and who will actively contribute to the discourse.

An initial meeting was held for the Black Dogs Lab project on Tuesday 16th February. A broad range of indivuals from organisations, groups and collectives attended (including Lumen, PSL, Pavilion, Leeds College of Art, Leeds International Film Festival, Olsen, No Fixed Abode, Theartmarket, Nous Vous, Contents May Vary, Islington Art Academy, Woolgather). Mention NAN

Please give an Indication of the timescale for your visit

The project is proposed to span over the next three months. The time that Black Dogs has in the Green Sands Foundry Space may be extended beyond this period if there is no interest from other paying tenants to utilise the space. Talks and Seminars will occur weekly.

Please provide a budget for your project showing how the NAN bursary will be used

How the NAN money will be spent:
Dave Beech (Travel from London) - ￡65
The Royal Standard (return Travel from Liverpool) - ￡40
Intercity Mainline (return from Bristol) - ￡70
0100101110101101.org (return Travel from Vienna) - ￡300
Eleanor Barrett (Return from Bradford) - ￡3
Ruth Ben-Tovim (Encounters, Return travel from Sheffield) - ￡25

Total - ￡503

In kind support will be sought for places for artists to stay in Leeds.
There is a more extensive budget for the project which can be sent to you on request.

Please attach ONE image which you consider representative of your group or project, with caption. The image must not be larger than 1Mb in size as it will not be received by our email box and will delay receipt of your application.
You can refer to additional visual material by providing weblinks below:

Black Dogs Website
http://www.black-dogs.org/

Black Dogs Flickr account
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46952356@N05/

How To Make a Website

2010-03-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Whilst we haven't got our lovely cavern to share info in I thought I'd try and use the blog a bit more as we would the Green Sands. As some of you know I've been learning how to muck about with the Black Dogs website of late and spent a lot of time familiarising myself with Indexhibit which is the application Dan had used to get the BDs site set up. It's dead easy to use and (in my opinion) produces nice results so I have attempted to learn how to build some new sites from scratch. I've done one for Yvonne www.yvonnecarmichael.com, and turned my two into Indexhibit ones (www.andyabbott.co.uk and www.festivalofpastimes.org).

The reason I'm writing about them on here is that, whilst it was a reasonably simple process to make a website in the end, there does seem to be a lack of full step-by-step guides available online. This leaves us at the mercy of various techie-geeks (which I have now fully become) who want to charge over the odds for what is essentially being sat down and bashing away at a few keys for a couple of hours. Anyway, I've attempted to write a 'how-to guide' by way of documenting the processes I went through in building mine which you can find in the 'website' section of www.andyabbott.co.uk. Let me know if you manage to put it into practise or if you think there's bits that could do with expanding!

Jon Jordan?

2010-03-17T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Andy and me went to a good event at the school of geography yesterday called 'Activist Geographies'.

The whole day was great but there were two particularly interesting speakers. The first was Lindis Percy 'peace campaigner, founding member of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases, and long-standing activist'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindis_Percy
(though information here is pretty scant), and

http://www.caab.org.uk/

....... Not 'art', but pretty inspirational stuff (though this might not translate through the above pages). She has managed to spend most of her life causing not insignificant problems to the UK and US governments, the police and the legal system whilst holding down a job and having a family at the same time. She seemed very nice too.

More relevant....

The second was John Jordan - 'art-activist / insurrectionary art etc etc' - One of the creative strategists behind much of the recent anti-capitalist and anti-globalisation protests and actions. Some really impressive stuff and really well and entertainingly presented. He has formed clown armies and constructed giant walking dolls with big dresses that hide people with pneumatic drills so that they can destroy motorways unseen.... etc etc.

Some links....

http://www.clownarmy.org
http://www.labofii.net/
http://www.weareeverywhere.org/

The quote that stuck with me...... 'The left are crap at having fun and guilty about pleasure.' Food for thought.

Anyway....

We spoke to him briefly about the lab on the basis of him maybe coming to talk / meet us. Would this be something that would interest people? If so we'll follow it up and check his availability.

He's also had some run-ins with the Tate (apologies for bringing in BD''s business)- so may well be worth talking to more about that.

Nice one.

DV Camera

2010-03-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I know this isn't strictly a black lab posting, hope that's ok this once! Basically, I need to borrow a DV camera (a small one that will fit well on a tripod) which has the capacity for manual or variable shutter speed. The reason for this is to avoid the "strobing" when I copy from Super 8 to DV. It's really doing my eyes in! Makes films really hard to watch. If anyone has one like this, could you possibly loan it to me, and bring it to the next meeting? I would be really grateful. I'd only need it for a day or two. My number is 07935916560 xm

Date Confusion

2010-03-13T09:00:00.001-08:00

sorry guys, looks like we might not be able to have the meeting on Tues this week as the space needs to be cleared out for the BBC event sooner than we thought. I'm just in the process of trying to sort it out but I reckon we'll be shifting things out on Monday eve and then bringing them back on Thurs afternoon. Stu, if you want to do your sound session this week then perhaps Thurs/Fri pm will be best or whenever you're free? Also I was thinking we should try and shift the larger meet to Thurs eve. Or we could keep it on Tues eve but have it in upstairs of Midnight bell or Cross Keys or something? I'll confirm by email when I know for definite but thought I'd let people know in the meantime,

cheers

Andy

Tuesday sound afternoon

2010-03-13T07:15:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

Thinking about next Tuesday and the proposed sound session pt.II, i am unsure how to approach it. I am thinking it might be best not to 'run' a workshop-type session (not that the last one particularly was!) but to try out a few more focussed ideas such as creating a live soundtrack to the water-damaged/enhanced film that Martha showed at the last meeting, or any visual material that people want to work with.

What does everyone reckon? I'd be more than happy to run a further 'sandpit'/workshop/jam on the following Tuesday (23rd) but have an inkling it'd be good to use next Tuesday to pull a few ideas together. This would in no way exclude folk who weren't there last week, anyone who likes the 'sound' of this kind of activity please come along!

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome - maybe I'm just keen not to be in charge this week!

Stu

An Evening With(out) Alain Badiou. Thurs 25th March.

2010-03-12T00:53:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I'm going to organise an evening on Thurs 25th March where we listen to a lecture by philosopher Alain Badiou which is called 'The Subject of Art'. It introduces some of his ideas about art, the event, trace and the production of subjectivity. It's about an hour long (without listening to the Q and A that follows) and can be found online at http://www.lacan.com/symptom6_articles/badiou.html if you want to listen in advance. It's quite tricky in parts but I think worthy of persistence and I hope it will provide the base for an interesting conversation between those who want to come along.

I would also like to use the evening to 'test' a short presentation that I will be giving at a symposium on Placemaking which is ten minutes long and is about how socially-engaged artists might sustain the 'encounters' common to such practice (drawing on Badiou and Hardt and Negri for theoretical context). Perhaps I'll deliver this after we have talked about the Badiou.

I hope it sounds like something people would like to attend. If we start at 6pm then hopefully we won't go on too late. Bring food, booze and we'll make sure there's some coffee too!

Inspector Morse...

2010-03-10T14:06:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Thanks again for the invite for last night, it was really good to see how the space developed, sorry if it didn’t seem that I was outwardly contributing, sometimes speaking out isnt my strong point, and I think some of what Andy and Yvonne were saying later on in the session was very relevant especially in a new situation… about speaking out and been abit worried that everything you say might be deconstructed and assessed, especially when its art related…then I suppose you go through the next stage which is why would anyone bother to do that…what I say isnt that important!!! But I really got a lot out of the session and as it developed quickly saw it wasn’t like that, so I thought I would explain as I didn’t want to seem like an ignorant mancashire and as the motto seems to be ‘learn through doing’ you might not be able to shut me up next week!...Though I maintain my right not to be held to account for anything I have just said!

Anyway to important matters of art business, I have been working on a project which seems to be relevant to last nights discussion (I probably should have mentioned it at the time…see above!). I have been looking at commercial TV detective series as a format or tool to dissect/dicuss elemnets of art theory, looking particually at the role/myth of the artist, the social production of art, the slippage of roles for certain objects etc etc. Anyway I have proposed an event on 22^nd (Monday) called the artist as detective, during which I propose to watch one of my favorite episodes of Inspector Morse called ‘Who killed Harry Field?’ where they deconstruct the artists studio and practise to try and find his killer….

Episode Guide (http://epguides.com/InspectorMorse/guide.shtml)

“An artist, fun-loving drinker and raconteur, Harry Field seems like a man after Morse's own heart. But when Morse and Lewis investigate his mysterious death, they discover that he was not such a lovable character. He had few original ideas, and was a copious imitator of the style of other artists, but all his paintings seem to be of the same woman, and it is not his wife. He did a good trade in made-up family coats-of-arms with joke latin mottos, but was he involved in more serious fakery?”

And then just talk about it, nothing too forced or pressured, if people bring there favoraiite inspector morse watching brew…ovaltine perhaps, I will bring the quality street! I will prepare some readers which people can read on the night or before hand, and also there are 3 episodes of midsommer murders which are relevent which I can show clips from though this might be abit over kill (pardon the pun!...that just made me laugh for ages), I have copies of all these so am happy for them to be in the library along with all the supporting texts.

I hope this isnt too vague, it would be good if people could just drop me a quick email (elizabeth.murphyart@googlemail.com) if your interested in coming so I can plan to get over etc etc, I am going to start a research blog for this project anyway sometime this week (fingers crossed) so I will link it on here, in case you want to have a more in depth look before you commit to coming….

Thanks

Liz x

Black Lab Week Four

2010-03-10T00:55:00.000-08:00

Present: Mick Welbourn, Liz Murphy, Amelia Crouch, Yvonne Carmichael, Will Rose, David Ronalds, Martha Jurksaitis, Terry Slater, Rob Eastwood, Zoe Sawyer, Jay Cover, Steve Allbutt, James Hill, Michael Burkitt, Dick and Jamie (?) from Play Theatre company, David Thomas, Lucy Bannister, Stu Bannister, Andy Abbott.

In the afternoon Stu had initiated a noise workshop/jam/muckabout/sandpit that was attended by Dave Ronalds, Dave Thomas, Martha, Rob and Stu. We began the evening's discussions with a quick overview by Stu of how the afternoon had gone. It sounded like it had bee a lot of fun for those involved – 'like art school should have been' Dave R said – and Stu will attempt to put some of the recordings from the afternoon on the blog or we can listen to them later. It was agreed that it could be a regular thing, or that at least it should happen again so other people within the group get a chance to attend. The idea of opening up the workshops to an audience outside of participants in the Black Lab was floated but it was agreed to be probably unnecessary and potentially obstructive in that having to articulate it to people outside of the group would put pressure on the session to find a premature 'form' (as a 'workshop', 'jam session' etc when actually it is none of these). There was also a discussion about whether similar sessions could take place in different disciplines/media. Martha keen to do a film 'workshop', Michael keen to do a Performance 'workshop'. Lucy contribute the word 'sandpit' as a potential phrase for describing these sessions. General consensus seemed to be that it was a silly word but one we didn't mind using.

We then recommenced last week's 'introductions'. Dick and Jamie from Play introduced who they were and gave a brief overview of the type of work they do. It was agreed that they would be welcome to return and demonstrate or test work in the Lab.

Andy showed a few books that he'd brought for the Black Lab Reading Corner including Wochenklausur's book, and The Interventionists exhibition catalogue. These were a way to introduce his interests in political, critical, activist and socially-transformative art. Andy showed a picture of (a recreation of) the work of Saltaire's dogshit circler (an unknown individual who draws circles in pastel-coloured chalk around dog turds on the street and leaves passive-aggressive messages to the perpetrator's imagined owner) as a means by which to talk about a tension he sees between descriptive or representational critical art that aims to unmask, highlight and bring to public attention certain political issues and those more pragmatic (and potentially reformist) artistic strategies that favour direct action (ala Wochenklausur). There followed a brief discussion about the differences and relative merits of those strategies but it was agreed it might be better not to try and 'solve' the questions they posed immediately.

Rob introduced No Fixed Abode's interests through two books; one of which was Superflex's 'Self-Organisation; counter-economic strategies' and the other which I can't remember. Rob and Terry both commented on how it was surprising given the importance of architecture in lived experience that it would appear there is less critical or radical discourse on the subject and in practice (or that at least this harder to unearth) than in other artistic fields. Rob and Terry in their own practice try to explore this and as a result are also interested in the role structures and physical spaces play in 'relational' or discursive practices which tend to favour immateriality and the ephemeral. Andy commented that this was also a concern for Black Dogs and that we perhaps see the Black Lab as a foray into that territory. Will mentioned Vito Acconci's architecture practice and Lucy also gave examples of a Dutch architecture duo's work.

Will Rose described a performance he had enacted in collaboration with an American filmmaker based on a set of instructions sent to Will as a letter. The performance took place at PSL and involved Will following spoken directives that were broadcast as audio in the space specific to operating two projectors. Stu and Amelia described their interpretation and emotive response to the performance (as they were present). They agreed there was a sense of shared anticipation as it was revealed Will didn't know what was coming next and as such was quite 'dangerous' feeling. There was a discussion about improvisation and instructional works and how these have been of interest in past Black Dogs work. We also talked about how the performance might be different if Will were to do it again and that maybe that could happen in the Black Lab.

We then had a break and on return Martha showed a film she had made by burying and editing some ruined film stock. A discussion followed about the revelation of the processes involved in making what can potentially be seen as non-narrative or wholly formalist work, which we related back to the discussion about Stu's field recordings. Is it more interesting for an audience to know where such work 'comes from'. Does it add a narrative layer? What is gained and lost in making the process transparent?

We then talked about more collective projects for the group as a whole and revisited last week's suggestion that we produce a collective fanzine as part of the Lab's activity. Stu had mentioned Aspen as an example of an expanded magazine format that might be appropriate to the Lab seeing as not all our work might be suited to A4 paper. We talked about the 'principle' or 'horizon' of the publication; that being one of 'opening up' that which constitutes valid artistic discussion and critique. There was some discussion about the problematic nature of these parameters – would it lead us to a simple 'dumbing down' of discourse on art? Who is the publication for? What does it mean to be 'inclusive' or to use 'inclusive language'? Another problem highlighted is the thin line between the inclusion of samples of work as a method by which to 'expose'/'educate' audiences to potentially unfamiliar work (which was agreed to be desirable) and the publication being used as a way to 'showcase' individual's work (less desirable). It was agreed that the best way to address this was by making and contributing pieces and pages and worrying about the editing later.

Finally we talked about the visiting lecture/artist programme. There have been great suggestions on the blog and it was agreed that if people want to bring someone over to talk then they should go ahead and organise it. Stu has shown that the Wayne's World ethos of 'book them and they will come' is an effective tactic in the Black Lab. The google calendar can be used to see if there is a free date and assuming that the artist/speaker's fee's are not extraordinary then it was agreed that we can assume the group as a whole will be happy to all chip in or that we will find the funds somehow. We also talked about the 'ghost lectures' (playing of pre-recorded lectures and presentations as audio or video in the space with a group discussion following) and agreed that this should begin in the same spirit; if anyone has a lecture or video they'd like to share with the group then put a date on the calendar and something on the blog and assume that people will turn up!

As we were wrapping up Lucy brought up a few practical issues. Who is supplying necessaries in the space like loo roll, tea and coffee etc, should we start a kitty? Do we want a computer/printer in the space? Can we get wi-fi? Andy suggested that we use March 18th as a watermark for occupying the space as the BBC are holding an event on that date and the space will need clearing out. Following that we can begin to use the space knowing it won't be interrupted until the end of the 3 month term (which will be mid-May).

Actions

All to begin to book in events, 'sandpits'/'workshops' etc on the calendar and organise them.

All to work up some contributions for the 'publication'.

Next meeting 6pm Tuesday 16th March. Check calendar and blog for any activities in the interim.

Thing in Bristol

2010-03-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Saw this call for papers and wondered if anyone might be interested.... Also made me wonder if it shouldn't be one of our intended outcomes to talk about our stuff on this sort of platform - if not here then I'm sure another suitable conference / symposium / etc will come up.

Thoughts?

CALL FOR PAPERS:

‘Beauty will save the world’: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Workshop on Art and Social Change, University of Bristol, 7-8 September 2010

Hosted by the Department of Politics and sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies and the Global Insecurities Centre, University of Bristol

How does art construct, resist and contest dominant identities and social practices? How does art open up possibilities for (re)creating the world? What are the relationships between art, aesthetics, and politics? What are the power relations involved in art? Whose art, and whose values are best placed to change the world? Can engaging with art help us develop new epistemologies and research methodologies? Can beauty ‘save’ the world?

This two-day interdisciplinary postgraduate workshop is premised on the assumption that art actively constructs social ‘reality’, as opposed to merely reflecting it. Against dominant pronouncements privileging the centrality of rationalism and science as the legitimate avenues towards knowledge and social change, this workshop poses the question: what does
the ‘serious’ pursuit of ‘progress’ miss out on when it disqualifies the artist’s imaginary as superfluous, lacking impact, unimportant?

The workshop aims to bring together postgraduate students working in and across various disciplines to share research which looks at the contested meanings of art and aesthetics, explores art in different cultural and historical settings, and examines the ways in which art and its constructions of beauty, society, politics can help in understanding, and changing, the social world. The workshop will also enable postgraduate students to engage and network with more established scholars, who will be present at the workshop as keynote speakers, panel chairs and roundtable discussants.

We welcome paper and panel proposals (2-3 presenters per panel) which engage specifically with the theme of art and social change, from various disciplines, including but not limited to: Archaeology, Anthropology, Classics, English, Modern Languages, History, History of Art, Visual and Performing Arts, Cultural Studies, Geography, Philosophy, Sociology and Politics.

Papers can include think pieces or works in progress. We encourage a diversity of presentation styles, from ‘traditional’ papers to interactive sessions, involving short film screenings, musical and dramatic performances, and the display of paintings, sculpture, photographs, and installation art. Presenters will be assigned a 30-minute slot for their presentation, which can be used by the presenter as they wish, but must include at least 5 minutes for audience questions.

SEE ATTACHED CALL FOR PAPERS FOR MORE DETAILS

Please email abstracts (maximum 300 words) of proposed presentations to
both Cerelia Athanasiou (cerelia.athanasiou@bristol.ac.uk) and Shaira
Kadir (shaira.kadir@bristol.ac.uk) by 31 May 2010.
--
Cerelia Athanasiou
Department of Politics
University of Bristol
10 Priory Road
Bristol BS8 1TU

Field trip to Cornwall?

2010-03-08T04:10:00.000-08:00

Are field trips of interest to anyone? This convention sounds great to me, on the basis that it is in Cornwall and Lucy Lippard is the keynote speaker. Black Lab minibus???

http://www.thefalmouthconvention.com

Post-Soviet art world lecture

2010-03-08T01:43:00.000-08:00

Heard about this and thought it might interest some of you, not sure why but just thought I'd share it:

You are warmly invited to a Research Seminar hosted by the School of Modern
Languages and Linguistics on the Post-Soviet art world by international art
critic and curator Viktor Misiano, chief editor of Moscow Art Journal,
curator of Venice Biennale. The talk will take place on

Thursday 11 March at 5.00,
Jessop Building, Seminar room 215.
Wine will be served after the seminar.
All are welcome.

Enquiries: Susan E Reid
Russian and Slavonic Studies
s.e.reid@shef.ac.uk

Opportunity for exhibition about documentation

2010-03-08T01:16:00.000-08:00

Not sure when the exhibition is happening but perhaps Black Lab could submit our 'thing in a box' or whatever as a documentation of the Black Lab process.

Call for submissions artists / writers
Global Studio – The Bluecoat

As part of Global Studio, The Royal Standard is curating an exhibition at the Bluecoat, Liverpool’s creative hub.

This part of the show will question the meaning of documentation in today’s art practice, where networks are extending globally, forcing artists to give access to their work beyond its local and punctual presentation. The documentation of the work (photography, sound, text, etc) travels through the channels of word of mouth, websites, catalogues, limited editions, often as a representative of the work, sometimes as the work itself, or even as an evidence for a work that never happened…

We would like to hear from artists and writers whose work is directly concerned with the idea of documentation or blurs the line between work and documentation. Finished work, documentation of work, texts, and ideas in progress will be considered for entry in the exhibition.

For more information, please visit

www.the-royal-standard.com

www.thebluecoat.org.uk

www.laurencepayot.com

To apply, please send:

- a CV

- a website / web blink to previous works or up to 5 examples of previous works

- Information about the proposed work (no more than 1 side of A4 + images or other documents if appropriate)

Send your application to Laurence Payot at laurencepayot@the-royal-standard.com before midnight on Sunday 21th March.

Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss any ideas.

E-flux education issue

2010-03-07T23:56:00.000-08:00

I imagine most of us are already subscribers to e-flux but just in case I thought I'd post on here that the new issue is all about education with articles about setting up alternative academy's and the like. It would seem we are dead fashionable.

E-Flux

Headache?

2010-03-06T01:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry to post something so banal - but does anyone else get a flashing eye / op-art / migraine type thing from this white text on black? I'm only able to read it for five minutes at a time. Would anyone object if we changed the look to something a bit easier on the eye? If I'm alone on this then just ignore my grumbling - I just thought I'd mention it.

Another journal

2010-03-05T06:30:00.000-08:00

I came across the website for the magazine ‘Printed Project’ which the group might be interested in.
http://www.visualartists.ie/AP_printed_project.html

Specifically they have a back issue ‘Artistic Freedom – Anxiety and Aspiration’ which might be of interest bearing in mind some of the discussion on Tuesday.

It can be accessed online here:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=13459768

Other thoughts from the meeting.
- Following the video Martha showed I wondered about doing a kind of 'call and response' video, a bit like the activity cards black dogs have done before I guess. As I said, I noticed that the video mostly involved individuals doing actions rather than working together, then edited into a collective project - which is one form of collaboration but not necessarily a very developed one. It was more like a portrait of individuals making up a group. One step further might be everyone deciding an action that someone else then has to interpret and carry out. Now I'm noticing this is rather like the structure of the fanzine format that has been proposed anyway...

- An idea for documenting the 3 months worth of meetings: At the end of the 3 months we could stage and video a meeting that depicts and sums up the key issues that have been discussed over all of the meetings. An uber meeting!

- I really enjoyed listening to people presenting their objects/interests. I wonder if there could be some physical forum in the venue for people to further get to know each other and shared interests and practices. Maybe a wall where anyone can post up questions - "top ten favourite artworks seen this year"etc. They could be sensible or dumb questions, also in response to the thought that people are happy to post all sorts of dross on leedsmusicscene but there's a resistance to doing this about art.

Ghost Lectures

2010-03-05T01:20:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

I bumped into Will Rose on my way to Green Sand yesterday and we had a small chat that generated an idea to share with the group. Seeing as the PA is set up in the space now, and we have a projector and video also, perhaps we can begin the 'visiting speaker' series very cheaply by playing pre-recorded lectures from the internet and talking afterwards.

I have a couple of Alain Badiou lectures that I think are really good, Will has a Simon Critchley one. There's also lectures on youtube by Sophie Calle, Slavov Zizek, Judith Butler, Badiou, Baudrillard etc at http://www.youtube.com/user/egsvideo which we could watch together? I also have a Zizek documentary that's reasonable interesting and I'm sure everyone else has things. It'll be like a reading group I suppose but more about listening and watching - futuristic like.

Anyone up for this and if so, do you have anything you'd like to contribute to the programme? I suggest we have it regularly on a Wednesday and have two lectures (by different people per night).

Aspen and noise afternoon

2010-03-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I enjoyed the gathering again last night. I thought the 'presenting things' section was going to be really difficult but it was a lot of fun and led to good discussions. I didn't feel at all uncomfortable about contributing or presenting work to the group, there seems to be a very open and interested atmosphere developing that's a pleasure to be a part of.

On the publication side of things i wanted to flag this up, "Aspen", digitised on Ubu Web. I was trying to remember what it was called last night. I'm interested in it as a model because it features sound recordings and film as well as print, covers many kinds of work and comes in a box.

http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen.html

That said, I think the idea of each bringing an A4 sheet of 'something' next week will be a good start, i agree with Martha that sometimes you just need deadlines!

At the end, there was talk of having a 'sound session' next tuesday afternoon (the 9th) in the afternoon from 1ish. Anyone's welcome, i think the intention is to have a bit of a play, make some recordings, generally listen to sound in the space and try things out. I'm planning to bring some microphones, electronics and recording devices along. Anyone interested?

Stu

Links to things

2010-03-03T01:34:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share some links to things that I mentioned last night:

The Rant in Dialogue on Axis is a rich source of opinionated comment- I specifically mentioned:
Being Critical in a regional art scene by Fern Thomas and Owen Griffiths

The forum (not a Rant) on the Northern Art Prize The Value of Art Prizes

Some others that might be of interest:
Jargon and Drivel: what's the point in writing about art? by Josie Faure Walker

Is an MA worth 5 grand? by Fern Thomas and Owen Griffiths - which specifically looks at self-organising groups and independent art schools

And the current Rant - Alice and the Curious Curatoriat by Shaun Belcher

As Andy notes I showed work by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot at Barbican Centre, London - there is a you-tube video of the work (but I think in a previous set-up):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Kz8Nxb-Bg

Finally in relation to David's work Cluster was mentioned and their gig in Sunderland next week. They are playing at Sunderland Aquatic Centre as part of the AV Festival on Wednesday 10 March Tickets are going fast - swimming tickets have gone but seated are still available. The AV Festival is well worth a look as there are some really interesting things happening - more here: AV Festival Preview

Black Lab Week Three

2010-03-03T01:18:00.000-08:00

Present: Mick Welbourn, Dave Ronalds, Stu Bannister, David Thomas, Lucy Bannister, Alice Bradshaw, Michael Burkitt, Yvonne Carmichael, Martha Jurksaitis, Giuseppe Lambertino, Phill Harding, James Hill, Dan Robinson, Andy Abbott.

People brought food and drink and the library is growing into a fairly impressive collection. Stu has brought a PA for the space. There are now big calendars on the wall ready for filling.

Following Dan's suggestion (later retracted but now acted upon) from last week to begin to introduce ourselves to each other through the discussion of work, the meeting was mostly given to hearing and responding to short informal presentations by Martha, Michael, Mick, Dan, Lucy, Stu and David.

Martha presented a film by Sector Sixteen (a self-organised film collective based in Hannover) which they made as a collective. The film was made over the course of their meetings, shooting small bits of footage and then edited together by one of the members. The film acts as a portrait of the group and shows and reflects their influences and concerns but also is a (loose) document of the groups activity. The film provoked a discussion about how we should/could document the activity in the Lab; being aware that discussion and action can be affected by the awareness that things are being documented.

Michael talked about a toy shark that he had brought along and how it relates to some of his own personal history (he wanted to be a shark as a child) and his artistic interests in that they concern the gift, socially constructed narratives, attempting the impossible, the tragic and the comic. Michael also talked about Bas Jan Ader's 'In Search of the Miraculous' and some other works by the same artist as he feels an affinity with them. The discussion that was had afterwards came back to documentation (Michael only 'documents' his work through appropriated images rather than images of the events themselves) and also the idea of learning through attempting the impossible. That is, in some of Michael's work although the goal is practically unachievable (sourcing a beached whale on a given morning) what is arrived at in that attempt can be of value itself (finding out that it is raining in Cardiff for example). It was agreed that this could be an interesting thing for the lab to bear in mind.

There was a short break before Mick presented a couple of magazines by Alan Moore. Mick brought them along because they contain content that is proudly non-academic, amateurish or at least non-professional and is open to contributions from others. The discussion around the table was about the perceived 'rigour' of art writing (or even conversation around art) and how this can make art seem like a field only to be discussed by experts. Lucy related some experiences with the Dialogue magazine, Andy the LVAF-talk forum and Alice with CMV magazine. It was agreed that it would be good to address this in someway. Maybe we should make our own fanzine? Can we begin to produce something about art that gathers more open and mixed styles of reflection on art not just limited to academic or expertly-informed writing?

Dan showed a work in progress made on powerpoint. It will be used as an instrument at a gig in Paris as part of MudOrchestra (a collaboration between Dan and a Parisian artist) soon. Dan was happy to have people see it and maybe discuss it next week.

Lucy presented some footage from the recent show at the Barbican by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot in which amplified and effected guitars and cymbals are turned into the only available furniture and feeding mechanisms for a roomful of small birds.

Stu played us a recording he made as part of the contact busking project he did for Expo last year. The recording was made by two contact microphones on the weird pissing-women statue next to the rusting outdoor escalators in between the Merrion Centre and Fab Cafe. The group discussed how the revelation of the source and the recording process creates access points for people not familiar or 'trained' in listening to noise. Parallels were drawn with similar experiences with experimental film. Lucy commented that sometimes the only way to learn about something is to immerse yourself in it. Maybe the Lab can provide this experience as a form of learning as well as through explanation and reflection of those forms? A place for doing and learning through exposure?

Finally David Thomas played some music pieces created by processing sounds extracted from Barkston House which he manages. They include recordings of radiators being banged, doors shutting and filing cabinets played with screwdrivers manipulated to create ambient soundscapes ala Cluster, Oval, Autechre etc. David is interested in making a similar 'document' of the Green Sand space in which the lab takes place.

We quickly wrapped up by asking if anyone had had extra thoughts about visiting speakers. David mentioned Ian Sinclair, Agnes Denis (sp?), Tacita Dean and Douglas Gordon.

It was agreed that next week we should continue the same process so that other's not covered tonight can present. There might be some benefit to pulling out some kind of action points from this though to unearth some direction to the project.

Actions arising from this evening

We will have a sound day and night with performances and also workshops (SB and PH to decide on a date for this)

We will have a screening of more of Sector Sixteen's work (MJ to decide date) and also the Bas Jan Ader feature film (MB to source and find cost of buying as a group and decide on screening date)

We will begin to make a collective publication. Each participant in Black Lab to donate a page of A4, can be about anything and take any form (illustration, writing, etc etc).

We need to have a more focused discussion about inviting people to speak. Who, when and how are we to fund it? Let's put some dates on the calendar.

Next meeting Tues 9th March at 6pm. Everyone to use blog and check google calendar to sustain conversation and activity in the meantime.

Possible invitees

2010-02-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

An idea from last Tuesday's conversations is a symposium on artist collectives following on from conversations around Black Dog's research into what it means to be an artist and what does it means to be a collective. As a starting point it would be great to invite Tether from Nottingham to come and talk about their recent research into artist-led organsiations. They toured the UK interviewing artist groups and artists-led spaces http://www.tether.org.uk/

Alice

Some notes and suggestions

2010-02-24T05:51:00.000-08:00

Hello All
I was delighted to get my first visit in at Black Lab last night, and had a great time. Particularly thanks to Alice and Yvonne for the wine I helped consume!

So I just thought I'd add a couple of notes from my recollection of the meeting before they disappear.

What I took from the meeting was that we need to have some kind of organisation - which could quite simply take the form of a calendar. Having a big version in the space would be great, but an online google cal (which I think Andy has already sorted) will allow people who can't attend the space regularly to keep in touch with what is going on and coming up.

There was some discussion about documentation, but I have to admit I don't quite know where that conversation ended up.

It looks like some events are ready to roll (or nearly) and should be added to the calendar. Other people with ideas should get their ideas into action as there is no need to mess about with umming and ahhing.

People at the meeting gave ideas of who they would like to invite to the space. The wish list was great and also helped to spark some ideas off of what could happen in the lab. I suggested David Harding which I don't think anyone else was familiar with so here is a link to his website: http://www.davidharding.net/

I'd like to add to this with a group from Scotland called Ganghut http://www.ganghut.co.uk/ I think they'd be really up for it, and it'd be interesting to propose some kind of weekend of collaborating with them. I'll explore this idea a bit further.

The important thing I took from the meeting is that we shouldn't just meet up and talk about what we're going to do each week but start to do things, talk about other things, have screenings etc.

I didn't write anything down so that's what comes to mind just now!
Lucy

2010-02-24T03:10:00.001-08:00

Black Lab

Apologies for not attending last nights meeting, I was occupied by a prior engagement. I'm looking forward to attending further meetings and would, if I may, like to invite Conway & Young to the next meeting.

www.conwayandyoung.com/

Working closely with Zoe and being a practitioner myself - not long graduated, I'd like to make that we were referring to accessibility towards available spaces in Leeds, not there being a lack of - unless you have a specific discipline, which lends itself to contexts other than galleries and / or you have established a healthy network in the region. I'm not speaking on behalf of myself, I'm speaking on behalf of other practitioners I'm aware of have had encounters with, I'd consider myself to have had and made plenty of opportunities for myself and I'm satisfied with that. I'm interested in education and helping facilitate development of others practice as well as my own, on the terms of those interested in pursuing something. However, this isn't completely selfless, what I'm interested in developing is a sustained and expanding critical body within the region, encouraging others to get involved. To clarify a point I was trying to make, which I'm sure I didn't articulate very well in the first meeting, is what I'm personally interested in, is somewhere to facilitate conversation, without formality, without having to present something. Situations where unexpected encounters are able to occur. To my knowledge and in my experience the places that this generally happens is in a context where you have invited or advertised a certain event or happening where like minded individuals will attend.

I do personally feel it's important for activity to happen, activity that operates as a catalyst for conversation. I'm not an academic - so the majority of what I feel to be my arena for conversation and development is generally in a gallery / studio / event context. This is not to say that I think the space should facilitate or operate as any of these, because in truth, I don't. I'm interested in dialogue. As someone who is familiar with dialogue between a closed and small group of people, I'm aware of the unwitting benefits of sharing thoughts and ideas, this to my mind only helps when your perspective is outward looking or responsive.

Observing what others have suggested, I'd like to make note of the fact that most people are suggesting formalising things relating to their personal practice, which I think is a really good idea. I can't think of a better way of encouraging someone to invest in something, whilst creating a point of discussion.

I also would like to discuss other Leeds related projects and activities, as a point of conversation, with a view to developing knowledge about or responding to issues that could be resolved by a body of like minded people. Things like Art in Unsual places for example - something that's happening now which could be used as a satellite for Black Lab activity. I shared an interesting conversation over cigarettes with Dave & James, who talked about the importance of 'lack of space' in Leeds relating to art practice in Leeds. With hindsight I'd have like to have posed the thought that the only reason we'd gathered in the Round Foundry was because of an excess of space - I just thought I'd note that because I thought it was important.

I don't have much to propose at the moment unfortunately, but would like to extend the offer of getting involved helping others realise activity in the space. Drawing, designing things - whatever!

I think this is great,

see you all soon!

Jay

Black Lab Week Two

2010-02-24T01:08:00.000-08:00

Week 2 in the Black Lab

My account of this week's Black Labness may be incomplete as I arrived roughly an hour and a half into the meeting but I have Yvonne's notes to help and hope that also some kind soul will correct me or fill in the gaps with their own minutes.

This week in attendance were Lucy Bannister, Dan Robinson, Stuart Bannister, David Thomas, Alice Bradshaw, Steven Allbutt, Martha Jurksaitis, James Hill, Phill Harding, Yvonne Carmichael and later on Dave Ronalds. It was suggested people bring food and drink and as such the fodder and the drink were piled high on a makeshift banqueting table made from wallpaper pasting table covered in a red table cloth that everyone was sat around.

Looking at the notes it appeared that the meeting began by discussing some of the activity that could happen in the space. MJ has suggested a film night for 27th March. Contents May Vary would like to host a quiz (no date confirmed).. AA has suggested using space for Placemaking action research meetings, as the hub for a pilot for a Time Bank for the creative community in Leeds and also to have his big shed in there. LB suggested getting a large calendar in the space (and online? - google calendar linked to blog?)

When I arrived the conversation around the table was about documenting activity in the space with concerns being raised around the fact that this can sometimes have a negative affect on the activity itself. How can we make sure that the activity and discussions that happen in the space both leave a trace and accumulate in the physical space itself (and also on a blog) so that people who haven't been able to attend every meeting can get a sense of what has gone on there, whilst ensuring that activity remains uninhibited and experimental?

We returned to Alice (and Liz)'s idea of exquisite corpse/consequences and also that one of the goals of the project would be to identify the common points in divergent activity by individuals as had seemingly happened with the Black Dogs house-presentations that prompted the start of this project. Also the idea of starting an archive of catalogues, flyers etc relating to (art) activity we are interested in.

JH suggested there be a library/reading corner where people can leave books and print-outs or photocopies of essays for other people to read. AA proposed some protocol for writing notes or keeping a log or comments book about what has been read. Some form of collectively annotating the texts. Perhaps the big shed from the Festival of Pastimes could act as the reading room?

Suggestions that emails and conversations get printed out large-scale and used to adorn the walls so we get a sense of the accumulated conversation.

What resources would we like in the space? A PA system so there can be musical experiments and maybe even performances (let's not use the word gig because of its carpet-staining connotations). A library in a shed. An oven. A fridge (LB offered one from Axis). A projector and DVD player (projector already in place). Anything else? A photocopier or printer?

What would we like to see happen there? Things already discussed like screenings but how about the use of the space for sharing of info, place for critical debate, workshops etc. Would be great if you could just drop in and there would always be people to talk about work with and show it to. Suggested that we say Tuesdays and Saturdays are these times. Critical drop-ins.

What kind of presentations could happen? Who wants to do one. JH to do his intro to Marx's Capital (18th March?). AA keen to do one about Badiou and Hardt and Negri in next couple of weeks. Dan Robinson also keen.

What about people we might bring in as visiting speakers? A round-the-table wishlist ensued with the following individuals and groups mentioned as people we'd like to see present and have a discussion with in the space. YC to put in a grant application for travel relating to this.

Initial wishlist for visitors includes:

Dave Beech
01.org
Encounters
Eleanor from Bradford Playhouse
Red Wire
Wolsten Holme
Emily Speed
Lombard Method
Gavin Wade
Empty Shop
Book Works
Terry Atkinson
Alvin Lucier
Bill Drummond
Jonathon Mead
David Harding
Suzanne Lacy
Daniel Thompson
Temporary Services
Paul Bailey
James Belling
What, How and for Whom
Time Etchells

What about next week's activity. Dan Robinson suggested that people bring something with them that might help introduce their interests (not necessarily a formal powerpoint presentation or CV but more something that reflects there interests and could be shown to the group informally in five minutes). MJ, for instance, has suggested a film by Sector Sixteen we could watch. PH and SB keen to recreate some Alvin Lucier pieces in the space and perhaps do some La Monte Young recitals too.

Then everyone went to the pub.

ACTIONS

AA to bring shed to space, also to pick up fridge from Axis and kolintangs from Holy Trinity Church.

SB to look into sourcing a PA

AA to set up google calendars

YC to complete travel bursary application

All to forward articles, essays etc to James Hill for printing.

All to bring something to show (briefly) to next meeting as a way of introducing interests.

All to bring books they want in the Lab Shed Library.

All to put forward suggestions for visiting speakers.

All to continue to suggest activity for space and add to calendar.

NEXT MEETING TUES 2nd March 6pm.

Black Lab Week One

2010-02-21T12:09:00.001-08:00

Minutes/meeting summary for Tues 17th Feb by Michael Burkitt

In’t Lab this week, Islington Art Academy presented an account of self-initiated activity and information exchange. Recognising the disillusionment amongst art graduates leaving the art schools or universities they were identifiable with, three foundation students set up their own institution in an old cotton Mill in Manchester.

Seemingly slicing into the nuts and guts of something perhaps very often overlooked in art education, the academy investigated the question what does it mean to be an artist? Sharing resources and discussion the self-directed students of Islington invited artist’s come to their school to talk about, reflect on and expose their methods. Open to anyone wishing to enrol the academy dissolved the usual hierarchy of information, resources and experience with the attitude and commitment to the idea that there should always be a mutually beneficial exchange with the people they worked with.

After this very interesting account from Morris, Maria, Amy and Michael attention turned towards the large warm space we were so comfortably seated in, a ‘space for debate’, the Lab. Andy and Dave from Black Dogs then questioned how people who had been invited might see the function of Lab. It seemed to me it would be a place for honest discussion, a place to initiate critical debate, experiment with anomalies, probe new resources and evaluate practice. Dave asked people to perhaps begin to think about taking ownership of the space and respond via email within this initial framing.

Thus far Liz from Contents May Vary, who attended has suggested pooling catalogues from shows we don’t read anymore, bits of essays from critical journeys from past years, books from charity shops into a temporary library of all the art bumpf we all pick up at shows from around the country. In addition she thought a series of talks by artists around the place would be a grand agenda.

Liz didn’t think at this time it would be helpful trying to work towards an exhibition, She thinks that it would end up focusing too much on the show and any discussion would always have that in mind somewhere. Believing residencies would be more useful within the timescale.

Martha, International Film Festival, Exp 24 and Ma student in World Cinema at Leeds Uni wants to do 1 whole day of films, 5 feature films, lasting a total of about 10 hours. Everyone coming will be asked to bring some food or fruit or drink contribute, so people can eat together as well, and a sleeping bag or pillow if they think they might want to stay for the whole thing and have a kip. People can come at any time to watch the films, which will start every 2 hours from midday.

Stu, Lumen, sound artist and musician (Quack Quack) has given us a head’s up about a Toshimaru Nakamura Gig. The ace 'no-input' mixing desk wizard is in Manchester Next Wednesday but thinks a Leeds gig on the Tuesday would be splendid?

Please respond to these ideas and send your own. In fact Andy suggested that each person,who was there on Tuesday add their own personal minute to these minutes. In order to collectively remember or comment on proceedings.

Michael,

-----------------ends----------------------

Audio recordings from the evening can be downloaded from here.

Suggestions by Email from Stu Bannister

Here are my thoughts regarding the Green Sands space and ideas relating to the 'free art school' idea.

As I said, I'm really keen on the critique/conversation aspect, I'd like my work to be less private and to explore it in an open situation. The idea of conversation around anyone's work appeals of course, i'd consider it all valuable and beneficial.

Also, the laboratory idea appeals - somewhere to try things out, construct things, and test things with some kind of audience present. Sharing skills too, the practical side, would be a good use of that space and i'd be keen on that too.

I'm optimistic i could 'attend' at least once a week, Tuesdays are generally good. It'd generally be evenings but my work is pretty flexible so other times of day could work on occasion too. I'd be up for coming along more than once a week for extra events, sessions etc. but don't think i could commit to this every week. There's always good old email to carry on conversations between sessions i suppose!

In terms of group size for a 'crit' session, i don't really know what would work. I imagine more than 10 people could be a bit much. The idea of dividing people up into 'disciplines' (mentioned briefly in the pub last tuesday) i.e. sound, film, watercolour painting, doesn't immediately appeal for 'crit' sessions, but could be good for 'lab' sessions. I'm not really for this idea, would have to see how well things worked. The opportunity to work 'cross discipline' is something else that appeals - or at least to hear people who work with film or pebbles or whatever speak about their work. Art is Art as far as i'm concerned! (though i don't really like watercolour paintings)

I should say here that i've mostly worked with sound thus far.

In terms of people to come and speak, my mind is a bit fuzzy. I know that Phill Harding does lecturing and workshop work and i'm intrigued to be on the receiving end that - i like his work a lot and think he'd be interesting.

Apart from that, the only name is Alvin Lucier, who i recently found out is still alive, but that could cost quite a bit.

I'll send this now and continue to think about this latter bit.

Hope this is helpful, thanks for the opportunity, see you soon,

Stu

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Suggestions by Email from Will Rose

Dear Black-Dogs,

Not sure if you have a generic email but please send this to the others too. Thanks a lot for inviting me along last week. There's definitely something very interesting and necessary in the air.

The space you have is great but I don't agree with some of the comments made that places to do things in Leeds are few and far between and you should therefore open this opportunity up for as many people as possible. Personally, and you know this already from chats we've had, I'm more interested in being part of an active and discursive situation, and one which can accept and encourage experimentation and open dialogue.

The next three months is a bit mad for me. Making sure I get through my PhD upgrade, and becoming a dad again, but I want to be involved.

Some thoughts:

• For a while I've been looking for the right situation to try a few things out in my (curatorial I suppose) practice. I don't want to use people as guinea pigs but am interested in trying a few things to do with how film screening and lecture, artwork and text, might overlap, literally. It links with my PhD ultimately, and would help me loads to have a reason to invite a few people along to see whether it makes any sense.

• An idea I've had for a while is to setup a sort of film gathering. Films are expensive to get hold of sometimes and I like the idea that 2, 5, 10 people that have an interest in seeing a specific thing might commit to sharing the cost of it. Say rental and courier costs for a film are £40 and 5 people want to see it... £8 each. People watch, talk, watch again. Enjoy the opportunity to see something with others that want to see it. I'd been thinking of doing it at home but this feels like a good situation to get it going maybe.

• Just meeting up. It would be good for me just to meet and talk more to be honest. Perhaps just bringing people together is enough to begin with in some ways, and maybe from that a series of presentations and ideas could emerge. Ie interesting people to bring in and share the cost of, joint reading of texts etc...

Keep me posted. I can see you have a tricky job on your hands, figuring out what to do, how to justify not making it public. I will try to be as much help as possible so just keep me informed.

Best wishes and thanks,

Will

-------ends-------

Suggestions by Email from Alice Bradshaw

Thanks for inviting us to the event on Tuesday, I'm up for doing
something / being involved. For me the critical dialogue is
interesting/ important/ relevant and I'm also interested in linkages
with other like minded people (cross-disciplinary ) from other cities
too. I like the idea of inviting groups/collectives/ individuals to
present/perform/ discuss/socialis e/learn on a regular basis. Liz also
mentioned using the space for sleepovers and I think this could be
expanded to create a Home with a
Living Room (event performance presentation eating drinking
socialising) . It would be good to coincide with Leeds openings and
maybe do a long weekend each month or something.

Other thoughts are looking around structuring regular event based
meetings/gatherings to allow a degree of flexibility for a large group
of people to use as a platform for engagement but who may not be able
to make every meeting and also allowing for new people to be invited
eg Exquisite Corpse Events. This would involve the next person/group
to respond to the previous event so there is a connection between each
event but allowing for much variation and approaches to event based
activity. Whether the next person needs to attend the previous event
or whether documentation is enough to respond to I'm not sure..

I think it'd be great to document any process which is implemented,
both physically and online, and to use the physical documentation to
compile an end-of-residency type exhibition.

And I think I can speak on behalf of CMV to say we'd be up for doing
something; presentation/ discussion/ workshop/ quiz are the obvious
things to suggest without knowing what will be the structure/format if
any.

Look forward to hearing/talking more

Alice x

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Suggestions by Email from Martha

I have something I'd like to do.

A Movie Marathon!
They used to do these all the time in Iceland and it was brilliant! If totally illegal in "industry" terms.
1 whole day of films shown on DVD - so, 5 feature films, lasting a total of about 10 hours. Everyone coming will be asked to bring some food or fruit or drink contribute, so people can eat together as well, and a sleeping bag or pillow if they think they might want to stay for the whole thing and have a kip. People can come at any time to watch the films, which will start every 2 hours from midday. I'm thinking I'll have to only advertise on flyers because I won't be doing things above board with acquiring the rights etc. but it should be adequate. The films will be:

(discuss at meeting as shouldn't be published on internet)

Not necessarily in that order.

I'm thinking maybe Saturday 27th March.

x Martha

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Suggestions by Email from Liz Murphy

With regards to the space, I think it would be a great oppertunity to share resources. Something that always strikes me when I speak to collectives/artists is how the majority of us struggle with resources, be that money...affording materials, books, catlogues, travel to go see shows or time off work to attend lectures or more the resources we were talking about last night, critical discussion about work/ideas.

I think the lab would be a great place to try and pool these resources, everyone has catalogues from shows they dont read anymore, bits of essays from critical journeys from past years, books from charity shops that might be relevent to theory, I know I do. I think it would be ideal to create some kind of temporary library of all the art bumpf we pick up at shows from around the country, the books we dont want (or do want...this has security implications though), the essays weve read hundreds of times, abit of a knowledge sharing excersize/swop shop!

Also perhaps a series of talks, we talked last night about inviting other artists groups to give a talk, Andy asked us and we suggested intercity mainline, and the royal standard. I was also thinking about suggesting a project I have been developing over here, Whitworth a gallery in manchester runs a series of talks every Tuesday organised by the Norths now favorite art son Pavel Buchler, which involve a great programme of international artists talking about there work, I have never been able to attend one as I worked full time, neither have any of my peers as they also walk the fine line between artists and full time employment, also none of the students can attend as they are in uni, but talks are designed with us in mind, so now I have desided to attend these talks on everyones behalf, and either deliver a 20 minute synopsis of this talk verbally or send them a brief written synopsis with links to furhur reading. I think the lab would be a great platform for something like this, an oppertunity again like the library above to share specialisms or resources that others dont get chance to access for one reason or another.

Again like we wrote on the wall last night, perhaps a series of linked events where the link is almost flippant but never the less visable. Like when you mentioned you all went to each others houses for a series of crits, every talk was different it was just the inital action was the same. Last night we were saying something like exquisite corpse, perhaps one person gives a talk and the next week the person takes the last statement from the previous weeks talk as a starting point and so on.

Most importantly I just think its a great oppertunity to have such a fantastic space to house artists that all want to do the same thing, to meet and chat and talk about work and ideas, I know all these things have to have a loose framework, but I am sure something will come together. I dont think at this time it would be helpful trying to work towards an exhibition, I think that it would end up focusing too much on the show and any dicussion would always have that in mind somewhere. Plus with time scales etc it would just be mega pressure. But perhaps something like a series of residencies would be productive though?

I was going to suggest perhaps setting up a forum or some way where we would keep the discussions we have going online so they could be accessed through the week?

Sorry if this is all abit garbled, I am aware it is coming out abit like thought free running! But I am away from tomorrow so wanted to get something to you all as quick as poss before nxt week,

Thanks again for the invite

Speak soon,

Liz x

----ends-----

Suggestions by Email from Dan Robinson

thanks for the invite to come along last week. was good to hear from Islington Art Academy as a prompt for discussing what/how we might do this.
I like the idea of talking and experimenting with different kinds of event between critical debate, presentation, screening, performance, spectacle, and eating and drinking. I like the open-ended started point. I am wondering a bit about how it might work - what scale / format / how many people it should be ...

some thoughts:

* for me the 3 month nice space is a useful prompt to get this going but the fact of having a space is just part of this. as a forum, club, lab thing it could also rove around.
* but having a space for bit longer could be good in terms of moving more kit in.
* some discussion was around questions of how open/public it might be. and different sizes/scales of groups for things. or how some of this might be focused around different concerns or approaches. Will mentioned a possible idea of clusters around different ideas which could be useful, but then what Stu says on the blog about being interested in everything and inviting unexpected connections between things is also good. And then what Alice on the blog says about one-off day/night events, or a changing set of people who pick up from threads from previous events is another version

and some more things:

* Privacy / Openness? private conversations and experiments Vs. documenting and making everything widely available. getting to know a handful of people with a regular dialogue Vs. events structured to allow changing sets of people.
* Informally / formally structured events. playing with this, different versions.

* How the act of documenting changes the way events/dialogues unfold
* trust / experimentation.
* Is continuity important?
* discussing-doing. doing both and some of each.
* performing. on/off-stage?

wishlist:
projectors
amps
tools
tables
oven
music instruments
recording equipment
stage
foam on the chairs
plates
cups
other

also Andy and Dave mentioned some questions/burning issues that came up again and again at Black dogs presentations-about-stuff-in-each-other's-houses. I'm intrigued what the issues were?

For me at the moment i'm interested in playing with collapsing different event formats into each other a bit. and tensions between spectacle and dialogue. and music/art/event - seems there's a few people involved in cross-overs between formats here - and i'm particularly interested in that.

oh and maybe reading some stuff together could be good too.

best,
Dan

---ends----