Josh Young, who blogs at Propagandology, has sent information about a couple of projects that he's working on. The first is Manchester Artists' Bonfire this Friday where he is responding to the invitation to burn an artwork. The second involves the five person artist collective Archipelago, of which he is part. They have been commissioned to do a project by Cornerhouse which is happening in February and March.
The Manchester Artist’s Bonfire happens at Islington Mill on Friday 28th January from 7-9pm. A plethora of artists working in Manchester will join in a mass art burn. Artists, like Josh, have submitted a pledge to take part with a paragraph of writing related to their thoughts, feelings, responses about and reactions to this event. The pledges collected from Manchester artists will frame the event and provide the context in which we burn the art. The rule is that artists must burn some of their own artwork.
The intention is to join in a festival of flux and celebrate it on their own terms with this defiant symbol of dissatisfaction acting as a catalyst for change. The Artists’ Bonfire is unapologetic about the more obvious connotations such as; strike, destruction and renewal but it is also open to new interpretations, be they political or personal or both.
A collection of extended pieces of writing will be published online and in print post event ranging from new theoretical writing to reflective accounts of the experience, providing a unique cross section of Manchester’s art scene in words. All printed material will then be expected to make its way back to the bonfire the following January where they will all start again and where it will meet its end - or its beginning depending on how you look at it.
Manchester-based artist collective Archipelago are to present an exhibition that will take place both in a retail space at the Triangle Shopping Centre and in the non-gallery spaces of Cornerhouse from Thursday 24 February to Wednesday 9 March. They will set up a ‘Consulate of Cornerhouse’ - acting as Cornerstone's official off-site gallery “on foreign soil”. Exploring participation in artistic practice and its emancipatory potential, they will create a fabrication of the Director’s office, complete with programming plans for future projects Cornerhouse could or should be working on.
Archipelago will work to realise one of these plans; that of memorialising the current Cornerhouse staff with face casts, which will then be displayed in the “real” Cornerhouse from Thursday 24 February. Also watch out for the approaches of the self driven official / unofficial market researcher, as well as the chance to be editor of a screen based web link visible from the street outside.
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Maria Mckee - Absolutely Barking Stars.
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