ARTISTS TALKING

# 34 [3 January 2007]

http://www.artsjournal.com/man/

The Walker Arts Centre blog asked Tyler Green to nominate his Top Ten art shows in 20006.
Interesting but, you've guessed, all American.

# 33 [2 January 2007]

Eagle chick (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJTCfmwRA4A )
Just found another comment about my video on the 8 week old European chick owl. Uploaded 4 months ago it has had 1,412 hits. It never ceases to amaze me about the kind of stuff that folk like to view on YouTube.  It is as if this video sharing site offers an opportunity to view an hitherto unrecognized area of our lives that is neither personal nor public.

# 32 [1 January 2007]

Digital video sculpture: Alan Rath

 www.alanrath.org/DVSculptures/index.html

Wanted to check something on a painter friend's web-site only to discover she's not kept it up to date! however, did stumble across this fascinating web-site of digital video sculpture by Alan Rath. He's a graduate of MIT - that Holy Grail of all things digital/cutting-edge so its not surprising that his work has an edgy new feel about it.

# 31 [1 January 2007]

Season of "wee feelies"

A Happy New Year to one and all!  in Scotland this is known as the "season of wee feelies" when men of all ages are free to kiss and cuddle all women - and believe me they make the most of the opportunity!

Now recovering after last night's Hogmanay party so decided to share with you my latest favourite video on You Tube. Enjoy!

It's a black and white animation made by a 27 year old guy from the States.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bApGUyo_NAs

PS  yesterday's I watched the video on You Tube  of Saddam Hussein being hanged.  And I wish I hadn't. Shocking, sordid and a blot on humanity. The image of his last few moments of life, the abuse thrown at him by hooded figures and his defiant refusal to wear a hood, will remain with me forever.

# 30 [31 December 2006]

AN Editorial  http://www.a-n.co.uk/

It is appropriate to end 2006 with a look at the editorial in the current issue of AN magazine for it signals an awakening in the art world of the great opportunities now available to artists through the internet and digital technologies.

The editorial talks of the" seismic shift that's taking place in how information is generated and shared," and they point out that the mass democratisation of the media through the internet offers unheralded opportunities for artists."

This web-site is quoted as an example.

As a former journalist I am only too aware of the way that old media has been decimated and I view the current change as exciting, challenging and providing a platform for everyone .

The music industry has been changed out of all recognition by the internet - think Ipod and ITunes.  Need I say more. Mass media television is quaking in its shoes as it fights for viewers as more and more young people turn away from it and top the internet as the primary source of information, entertainment (and culture?).

E-publishing looks like being hot news in 2007 as the Observer carries a story about a machine that electronically stores 2.5 million books that can then be printed and bound in less than seven minutes. It prints in any lanaguage and costs 1p a page. On Demand Books will be launched first in several US libraries.
Where does this leave the art world?  In this new world that awaits us how will art be produced, marketed and curated? Who will be the new gatekeepers in the future? Will we still have the current Holy Trinity of curator, dealer and art critic/historian-those people who decide who or who will not succeed as artists?
2007 looks like an exciting time...

# 29 [30 December 2006]

Immersive art

The Guardian says in an article on" The Year in Art 2006" that :
" For many, though,the artistic event of the year was not looking at art- but sliding down it in Carsten Holler's huge slides in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall."

The slides are a brilliant idea in immersive art...loosing yourself in the moment. ( But how does it differ from a fairground except that it is in a gallery?...)

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern

# 28 [29 December 2006]

Digital Native or Digital Immigrant?
We had a young art student from Shanghai with us over the festive season and I took her to the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.
We stopped in front of Douglas Gordon's wall text:"Everyone I have ever met". At first she was intrigued asking what was the context of the work.
"You mean its just everyone he has ever met?""Yes."She shrugged. "But it's just like an e-mail address book. No different."And she walked on, clearly disappointed.Looked at from the perspective of a 22 year old Chinese artist Gordon's work seemed curiously dated; so 20th century.I realised with a jolt that digital natives automatically collect the names of everyone they have ever met in their e-mail address books as soon as their fingers are able to touch the computer.
Digital immigrants like myself are running to catch up.

http://www.nationalgallleries.org/

# 27 [29 December 2006]

Well, I guess I may not have been on the web for the past couple of days but I can see from checking my site that plenty of people have been viewing my videos, including a woman from New Zealand who added a comment which left me nonplussed.( Singing Ghost video). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYBE2saRm7M

# 26 [22 December 2006]

Fractals
Some of the stuff on You Tube is awesome! just take a look at this one on fractals ( OK there's a lot of junk too).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAx4WmMlljY

# 25 [22 December 2006]

Just had some feedback from a friend who thought my latest video ("The Lost Dog")"old fashioned....(http://www/youtube.com/watch?v=EauXUpmxtI) like a Lowry painting".

Well, I was a bit gobsmacked at first. Old fashioned is not a word I like to hear used about my work. But I could understand the reference to a Lowry painting because I remember thinking that as I was filming the children and adults playing in the snow.