Author: MK

26-28 JULY 2007
For Turnstile – Single Use, Interval presents a series of 3 single day exhibitions, an innovative format developed around the idea that most people only visit an exhibition once. With the context of ‘Single Use’, each day sees different artists responding to themes of Successful Failure, Outside of Parallel and Portable Rest.

Successful Failure sees artist Marisa Olson’s performance of The One That Got Away, the fictional reenactment of an American Idol audition, alongside Katherine Behar’s (de)bugging Loop (de)Loop, a performance of the repeated logical errors of computer viruses. These are contrasted by Ruth Pringle’s Forever Free, an installation of portable record players playing pre-defined sound loops. Curated by Karen Gaskill and Michelle Kasprzak.

Outside of Parallel presents a series of screen-based work referencing strangeness. Rose Butler’s Box utilises prints from a 1920’s box camera, creating an animation including all the mis-prints and imperfections. Brass Art present Interpostition, a looped projection in which the shadow forms of the artists inhabit a terminal link at Manchester Airport. Works also include Rebecca Lennon’s Looking for Something, Jenna Collins and Jane Brake’s Flighty, and a new work by Joe Duffy and Eimer Birkbeck, Coin Operation. Curated by Karen Gaskill.

Portable Rest considers how artworks can represent rest, relaxation and passiveness. Neil Grant presents his new work Sitting Here, a changing panorama of ten Mancunian scenes taken from the cities public benches. Neil Webb’s audio-visual installation Heaven up Here, captures the quiet of the skies above the clouds as a means of delivery from the noise of the earth. Raven present Diorama, a manipulated Möbius loop of footage of a barge journey. Curated by Karen Gaskill and Steve Swindells.

lnterval is an independent artist-led organisation established in 2005, offering collaborative exhibition opportunities to both emergent and established practitioners using technology as a key component of their practice. Interval is co-directed by Karen Gaskill and Gary Peploe.

For further information contact Karen Gaskill on +44 (0)7980 924422 or email karen @ interval.org.uk, or go to www.interval.org.uk for more information.

Dates: 26 July to 28 July
Venue: The Holden Gallery
Address: Grosvenor Street, Manchester. M15 6BR
Telephone: +44 (0)7980 924422
Website: www.interval.org.uk
Opening Times: 26/27 July 5-8pm, 28 July 2-5pm
Admission: Free

Top left: Nina Levitt. Top right: Kelly Richardson. Bottom: Nelly-Eve Rajotte.

I have recently curated Otherworldly, a short programme of videos for the public screen in Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia. The programme screens daily from now until 3 August 2007. Featuring the work of Nina Levitt (CA), Nelly-Ève Rajotte (CA), and Kelly Richardson (UK), Otherworldly takes viewers on a journey through spaces that are at once familiar and alien. Nelly-Ève Rajotte’s piece, Valo, explores a mysterious interior which is reminiscent of a sterile control room. In Comrade Valentina, Nina Levitt considers not only the bravery but also the charisma of the first woman in space. Kelly Richardson’s Exiles of the Shattered Star is a contemplative piece in which we witness the beauty that results from destruction. The screen itself is in a sweeping public square which rises above street level and offers views of the Yarra River and the city, and is surrounded by futuristic buildings clad in a fractal façade of zinc, glass and sandstone.

Initiated by Robert Labossiere, Blogumenta is a response to the confluence of super-sized art events taking place in Europe at the moment: the Venice Biennale, the Muenster Sculpture Project, Art Basel, and of course, Documenta.

I call it a response, but Blogumenta is more than that – it is a different kind of art event entirely. It has no physical gallery to visit, but there is an image repository on the website and in Facebook, one of the most popular social networking websites. It has no curator, but it was initiated by Robert and he is also the “Admin” of the Facebook group. The work itself is not for sale, but in the “Shopumenta” online store, you can purchase a Blogumenta ringer tee.

From the Facebook group page:

Blogumenta may be Facebook’s first art gallery/art fair. Anyone can join and submit an artwork by uploading a photo or writing on the wall or any other way you can think of to contribute. Everything is subject to moderation by admin. Please be courteous.

Blogumenta has approximately 7 days to assemble an online exhibition comparable in scope to Documenta XII, arguably the most prestigious art fair in the world, held only every four years in Kassel, Germany. But enough about them! join, contribute, blog like you ment a.

Today is the opening ceremony of Blogumenta, and Facebook users are asked to change their profile picture to acknowledge this. A selection of images have been made available to Facebook users (example below), and slowly but surely, I’m witnessing the Blogumenta-fication of profile photos. If you’re on Facebook, join the fun – and if you’re not, visit Blogumenta.com to comment, submit images, or browse the Shopumenta store.

Taking cameraphone images at Pope John Paul II’s funeral, “Lynetter”, 2006

Dubious Views is a bilingual online exhibition funded by the Virtual Museum Project of Canada, and produced by Gallery TPW. Dubious Views interrogates institutional representations in tourism, surveillance, and cartography, and is divided into two halves: “Subversive Souvenirs” and “Subversive Cartography”.

Both sections of this project address the role of the “institution” in terms of its effect on the understanding of place. One examines it in terms of its relationship to the tourism industry, and another examines it in the context of mapmaking and geography. In both cases, the artists involved look at and play with creating alternatives to the institutional view, and attempt to challenge its singularity, its authority, and its monolithic profile.

I curated and wrote the essay for the “Subversive Souvenirs” section. The collection of images features the work of Michelle Teran, David Rokeby, Janet Cardiff, Roger Minick, Jin Me-Yoon, N.E. Thing Co., Shelly Niro, Surveillance Camera Players, Mitch Robinson, and Louise Noguchi.

The site is accessible in several formats from the Gallery TPW website. There is a wealth of information contained within the exhibition, so take time to click on images and links to learn more about the artists and the terminologies used.

This project has been ongoing for some time, and it must be said that the efforts of the indefatigable Gallery TPW team, especially Kim Simon, were essential to keeping it on track. It was also an immense pleasure to work with the other talented members of the team, who are too numerous to name, but are (mostly) all represented on the credits page of the site.

Enjoy the project and please don’t hesitate to leave your feedback.