Friday, 25 February 2011

17th.Feb.2011 - Exhibition Documentation

FRONT DESK - EXHIBITION GUIDES, BANNERS, POSTCARDS, REFRESHMENTS




AMY'S WORK - METAL FRAME & UNDER PLASTIC SHEETING



NIALLS WORK - "Preliminary Elements for an Instituation."




MATTS WORK - C10H5ClN2


MATT AND AMYS WORK IN GLASS CORRIDOR
MATTS - "Sturm und Drang"


NIALLS BOOKCASE - POLITICAL LIBARY



AMYS WORK


KATIE :)

Reflection

I think as a group we were all fairly pleased with our exhibition, but we were mainly thinking about it in the context of a university project, and competing with other exhibitions that were also created by first years. We need to think more about how successful our exhibition was in a professional context: does it compete with other Birmingham galleries for example? I don't think we could honestly say that our exhibition was as high enough standard to compete with professionally curated exhibitions. Firstly, our biggest problem was that we chose an outside courtyard space within University grounds, but with it being a Grade 1 listed building we were really restricted in how we could display work. We couldn't really use the walls at all, and any ideas we had with more creative ways to hang work were later thrown out due to health and safety. We also didn't really have enough work to fill the space, we'd chosen quite a large space. Nearer the exhibition date we encountered some problems with the artists such as Matt destroying 2 large-scale paintings we were planning to show, and Niall last-minute telling us he didn't want to display work that he originally said he would. We tried to get in touch with another first year student who created large billboards which tied in with our theme and also thought would help fill up the space, but couldn't get in touch with him/ find him anywhere because he hadn't been into uni for weeks. 


The idea of our exhibition being outside I think was successful - as a group we tended to feel that a 'white cube' space can be quite intimidating, almost like a library in that you feel like you have to be quiet and act in a certain way. The outside space was working around the idea of an exhibition that was really accessible to all, rather than white cube spaces where maybe only a certain type of people from the public go. With our theme being 'anarchy' we really didn't think the idea of a white gallery space was appropriate, with the idea of destruction or protest. Obviously our exhibition was flawed in that it wasn't fully accessible to the public anyway, with it being inside a University space where there are no public passing through. If we could have chosen anywhere in Birmingham to create an exhibition we all thought an outside space in Digbeth could have been a good idea - as it's quite industrial and there's an up-and-coming art scene starting to happen there.


Also, Mona mentioned to us about where being an artist stops and where being a curator begins. Does what curators do completely change the artwork? With one of Amy's pieces we displayed it under a plastic sheet that was covered in rainwater, which she liked the idea of. But we also left leaves on the plastic that she wanted to remove, so in a way we were then changing her art or how people see it. 






Kiri Smart

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Exhibition Critique...

On the 17th Feb, the date of our exhibition we had a meeting in the exhibition space with Mona.
The overall review was positive, Mona mentioned a few things we needed to tidy up and we all agreed with her comments.
Critique comments:
  • Because the space was so big we had to stretch the artists work out along the entire outside space to make it look "fuller." However this meant that the work was a little too broken up and it was hard to distinguish what was a piece of work and what wasnt, for example, Amys piece underneath the plastic sheeting.
  • Mona also said, (about Amys piece underneath the plastic) were we as curators manipulating this piece of work to be displayed in a way it normally wouldnt be, meaning that we were in control of what goes where or was the artist in control deciding where her work went in relation to the outdoor space given? Our Answer = we chose the outside space for the artists to fill, we gave them specific areas to work with and they chose work they thought suitable.
  • The "Tomorrow Belongs to Us"  tags. We placed the cardboard tags on string next the Amys work so that people knew it was a piece of work for the show. However we also used them in Nialls space where we hung his collection of flags "Preliminary Elements for an Instituation."  Mona said, the tags in Amys piece were to identify her work, however in Nialls the tags actually become part of the piece, becoming art as well as tags. So were they art? Our Answer = we admit that we got carried away with the tags, hanging them anywhere, but we honestly didnt mean for them to be included as an art piece.
Overall I think our exhibition was successfull. I think the nearer it got to the exhibition deadline everything become a little rushed and frantic but we pulled everything together to produce a professional first year curated show. I've enjoyed the experience and working with my tutor group. We all took our roles in the exhibition seriously and I think our hard work paid off.

I cant remember what else was mentioned in the meeting so if there's anything else to add then do :)

KATIE :) 

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

ideas.

As part of Niall's work includes giving out hand made patches, i suggested each member of our group wears one at the exhibition, i thought this would unite us, make it obvious that we were the curators and also in a way, make us part of the exhibition. I also thought that as we aren't using the bookshelf piece because of the attention it's already had, we could make some of the documents from the piece available to the people that attend the exhibition; it might be a nice way to make the exhibition more educational.

Ash.

Back track- Feb 1st- poster ideas

I created some design ideas for the posters using collographs.
As they are just test pieces I decided to keep them fairly simple and just use images mentioned in my previous post.

Ash.

Exhibition Guide...






A5 size
Photocopies - Black and White
20 copies (if we need more then say)
Includes Exhibtion Intro, section on Nialls work, Amys work and Matt's work
Section on them as a group "The Distractionists"

KATIE :)

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Final Press Release

Tomorrow Belongs To Us
Featuring artists: Matthew Springer, Amy Wallis and Niall Singh
17th February 2011

Birmingham School of Art,
Margaret Street
Private View and live performances: Thu 17th Feb
Open all day Thursday for public view.

Matthew Springer, Amy Wallis and Niall Singh are all advocates of anarchism: producing art that expresses themes of politics and war, and anti-government beliefs. Their work will be exhibited in an outdoor space within Birmingham City University.

Fly-posters, paintings, manipulated images and performance pieces are all ways which Springer, Wallis and Singh showcase anarchy.  

Matthew Springer expresses themes of violence, politics and war, and highlights corruption in governments. His paintings question recent events in Egypt, where ‘tear gas’ was used to disperse crowds; depriving civilians of their basic human rights to protest. Springer uses a painterly language and is influenced by Expressionism and by the German movement ‘Sturm und Drang’ (meaning storm and stress).

Amy Wallis produces large images, based around photographs that have been taken through windows, looking through the glass pane onto the outdoors. Wallis uses reflections in the glass, which add another transparent dimension to the image. The cumulative effect of layers begins to abstract the original image, resulting in an almost surreal outcome. Wallis uses grids to divide space, referring again to the idea of window panes.

Live performances by Niall Singh will be happening during the private view, which will feature poetry readings and acoustic music. The performances will embody themes of protest, anti-art and vandalism. One of Singh’s previous performance pieces included the eating of items to highlight consumerism in modern society.

Springer, Wallis and Singh are all Fine Art students studying at Birmingham City University, and have formed a group named the distractionists. They believe in fighting for human rights, and strive to expose corruption in governments.





There are also images of the artists' work down the right handside, but I can't seem to put them on the blog with the text. I've managed to open a screenshot though, so here's what the layout looks like:
Will get them printed tonight, and post them around uni tomorrow.
Kiri Smart

Bits and Bobs

Firstly the great news is the post cards have arrived and they look very cool. Asked a friend for umbrellas from her events company but they are being used this week so we need to pool umbrellas - please ask friends at uni - I will send message to cheesemans group. Will bring labels so we know who to return them to!
Sam Shopping list for Wednesday cups, cable ties, white tack and safety pins
Shopping list for Thursday pm private view booze.
Hannah please remember spot light.
Everyone remember Umbrellas.
Sam Pooley

Admin/ health and safety etc

Lots of back and forth with Ana over the last two weeks as there are some difficult logistics having this exhibition outside - the main one being that we only own one half so would have to negotiate any hanging on rails with the council buildings required permission in writing. We finally have a run down of all the work having seen all three artists this afternoon and have sent proposal to Ana and Mona so that risk assessment etc is in place. see below:


Proposed Exhibition:
Tomorrow Belongs to Us
An exhibition of work by three artists Matthew Springer, Amy Wallis and Niall Singh including paintings, prints, flags and performance.

The positioning of work:

Matt – Lerge painting is to be placed in the glass corridor above the exhibition space leading to the spiral staircase.
Amy – Large prints to be stuck on the inside of the glass of the spiral staircase using white tack, these will be stuck up so that you can still open the door in case of fire emergency.
This work is to be lit with a single spotlight on the inside of the glass stairwell, with one cable (using cable ties on the banister) this wire will be plugged in at the top of the stairwell from the mains socket in the print room (we have checked with Justin about this)
A second piece of work will be placed in the metal open sided box near the doors of the exhibition – underneath the plastic
Niall – Flags are to be positioned on the day.
A performance piece will take place, Niall will make sure that there is still access to the fire exits if needed. Stewards are on hand to guide people to the fire exits. We request a member of staff to be on site for the private view.

Proposed Date: 17th Thursday February 2011
Open 9am to the public.
Private View 5pm – 7pm
Expected guests: Margaret Street Art School residents and staff, a small number of the general public. No more than 50 people are expected to attend the private view.
Set up on Thursday morning.
Cold Alcoholic drinks will be served at the private view, these will be served on a table at the entrance to the exhibition. The private view will end at 7pm and all guests will be escorted off the premises.

For the duration of the day we will be on call if there is need to access the storage areas.

Contact numbers:
Sam Pooley; 07969 55****
Hannah Potter; 07850 63****
Katie Eccleston: 07581 26****
Rachael Norton-Voysey:
Ash Moore: 0795474****
Beccie Bubalo: 0785301****
Kiri Smart: 0777 262****

The following people are responsible for the door of the exhibition and in reception on rotation will limit the number of people who are allowed in at one time to thirty people: Hannah Potter, Sam Pooley, Ash Moore, Katie Eccleston, Kiri Smart, Beccie Bubalo and Rachael Norton-Voysey. All guests must leave at 7pm escorted by stewards. Strike exhibition 9am Friday 18th February. 

We will meet at 9pm on Thursday to set up.
Sam Pooley

Monday, 14 February 2011

Exhibition Guides

Today I've made an exhibition guide to be finalised tomorrow by us as a group and the artists. I need a little more info about the artists work and i need to make sure the photos I've chosen are OF THE WORK thats being exhibited because everything seems a bit up in the air at the moment.

Hopefully all will be sorted at the meeting tomorrow at 2pm! x

KATIE :)

Saturday, 12 February 2011

Meeting on the 10/02/2011

We had a meeting today about the work the artists were producing and where it should be placed. Also about lighting and health and safty.

We decided that Matt's painting would be hung of the railings on the far side by the glass tower with one spot light on it.

Amy's work we want to putin the glass tower use the two glass peins at the top and the glass doors. We want to light the tower. She was also maybe wanted to use the rusty metal thing the oppersite side of the court yard.

I believe Niall is making us some flags, posters and some prints. His flags are going to have some politcal slogans and writing. Were still not cirton where we're going to put them or how many were going to get.

We are trying to get hold of another artist called Lloyd who does work with billboards. Other ideas we had were maybe a cardboad structure for visitors to write on. Were going to hang the work at 5 on wednesday.

Sorry if this is a bit breif.

Monday, 7 February 2011

Met up with the artist

Well Hannah, Rachael and myself all met the artists today in the space to discus what pieces they wanted to  include and where they had in mind to position them best. Also to try and find out how they would recommend hanging their work.

We had to change our plan and meet them today at 3pm instead of tomorrow as they have since made alternative plans and could no longer meet us. this meant that only the three of us could make this meeting.

Niall mentioned that he could do larger versions of his prints as screen prints and use the ones that went wrong to litter the surrounding area. He also mentioned that he wants to build a structure to put his work on and possibly put it inside by the doors so people have a bit of literature to carry around with. He suggested hanging his flags from the drain pipes along side the exhibition space above the bins.

Matt has brought the sheet that he plans on covering his work with and suggested that if he leaves it out over night that he perhaps could wrap his work up in it to try and protect it from the elements. He was thinking of attaching wooden blocks to the back of his work so that he can suspend the work from the bars using cable ties and perhaps ropes or fishing wire. Unfortunately when we visited him in his space he had just had an assessment back and in a fit of rage painted over two of his paintings, leaving us with only one finished painting.



Matt's work















Matt's Working Progress
















Upon talking to Amy about her work she said that she could fill the stairwell and that if we needed any more work to fill the space more then she could provide us with more images to use. She suggests hanging her work with just double-sided tape around the edges of her pieces so she can crop it off again afterwards. She also suggested that she could use the rusted metal frame thats near the main doors.




 
Some of Amy's work.





































We've arranged to meet up again on thursday at 1 in the exhibition space so that we can talk again about what work they plan to bring to the space.

Becki