ARTISTS TALKING

# 25 [14 August 2008]

NEXT SALON: 'Salons of Salons', Monday 25 August 2008, 8pm, ICA, London, as part of Nought to Sixty. Booking essential. www.ica.org.uk 

‘Public’ and ‘private’ conversations, and why a public conversation might be considered more beneficial than a private one.. or not.

# 24 [7 August 2008]

Salon no.9

Clarion Epic round-table discussion

The Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home, Liverpool (www.twoaddthree.org) 

Not strictly billed as a Miss B's Salon, but taking its place in the Salon monthly calendar, the roundtable discussion followed a bike ride from London to Liverpool made with Karen Breneman for our collaborative project the Clarion Epic.
http://clarionepic.blogspot.com/

These questions were formulated along the ride, and discussion at the salon:

Are cyclists inherently conformist or nonconformist –
how are they politicised by their choice to ride a bike for transport?
What is requisite for status as a 'cyclist'?
How has the economic shift in bike-riders changed the popular view of cycling since the origin of the Clarion?
How are cities best navigated, and what is the relationship between the motorised and nonmotorised?
How do people incorporate activism into their daily lives by choosing to ride a bicycle?
Should a Clarion Epic take place annually to/from the European City of Culture?

# 23 [6 August 2008]

Salon no.8 (cont) 

Christian (Mr.B)'s  generous and sincere tutorial in beer-making (see pictures) tought us about the mash, the importance of sterile tools, and patience. Blue Peter-style we bottled one he had made earlier, and also sampled an even earlier brew. We ignored the derision an attendee had received earlier about beer-making being 'very 70's' and embraced it as local, rural (think bucolic), simple and.. good for us (further reading: Traditional Beer & Cider Making by Ian Ball: "The toast 'to your good health' is a statement of fact when you drink traditional brews!""It is up to us now to make out own superb quality ale, beer and stout at home and continue the tradition of brewing excellence established by our forefathers.." The 'slow food' movement is clearly a return to artisan cooking and farming, after industrialisation - "craft labour destroyed by industrialists" - with peak oil kicking off we'll all be Digging (and brewing) for Britain. 

# 22 [6 August 2008]

Salon no.8 (cont)

Matthew's Save the Trees bangles have a wicked twist. The first set were engraved wood, which were desirable enough, then he brought out another 'luxury' brand set made from rare woods and protected trees species.. musing on how can art claim to have a moral stance and still be affiliated with luxury brands. Not done with that, he saved the sawdust from making these bangles to create his own MDF (yes, his own MDF) for the bespoke round post-box in his Limoncello show.. - www.limoncellogallery.co.uk

In a really simple way what is so admirable about his work is that it combines craftsmens skill, design (in an engineering, seeking to understand and have control over the object kind of way) with neat, concentric ideas (the tube with the limited edtion print of the postbox design, that gets posted in a tube to arrive through the postbox, but is sealed with bespoke tape in the same design as the drawing.. do you cut the tape and see the print, or keep the tape in tact and never see the print? Or is opening the tube not the point?). He talked about how the inspiring thing about art is that it can be the reason and purpose for making things that otherwise would not be made.. to do unnecessarily difficult or complex things for the sake of both the idea and the object. 

# 21 [6 August 2008]

Salon no.8

Present: Mr Statham, Ms May Marston, Ms Nunes Fernandes, Ms Chetwynd, Mr Tullis, Mr Harrison, Ms Duggal, MissB

The theme of 'The Artisan and the Everyday' for Salon no.8 was a moderately shallow attempt to find an excuse to both have Matthew Harrison round to talk about his work, and also get the chance to learn how to make beer, all on one sunny afternoon. 

"Artisans were the dominant producers of goods before the Industrial Revolution. According to Classical economics theory, the division of labor occurs with internal market development. Artisans employ creative thinking and manual dexterity to produce their goods." I was thinking Arts and Crafts, John Ruskin, William Morris.. of 'absolute architecture', everything being considered and crafted, everything becoming art.. in a contemporary sense with Matthew's highly conceptual remaking of everyday items. 

# 20 [16 June 2008]

Salon no.7 (cont)

The Moon and the Sledgehammer featured an adult family living in a house in rural England in a kind of antiquated way. There are amusing and contrived bits (eccentric elderly man wearing a gas mask and pretending to be an elephan), but also a disturcing undercurrent of a abuse, generated in part by the unusual characters.. We discussed their relationship with the camera – they seemed very aware of it, and played up to it, but not quite in the way that cameras are seen as some sort of career move now, a meal ticket that but be manipulated to the ends of the subject. The idea of them being cut off seemed to be imposed by filmmaker. Andrew had made a pilgrimage to the house and discovered it was quite near a road, not far from a village. We drew parallels with Luke Fowler’s Bog Man. Fowler found himself drawn into what he thought at first to be a barren landscape, and our relationship or observation of the ‘bog man’ is of sympathy, doubt, and voyeurism. What beauty can we see? From land that Spartacus visited in Kent – going cheap because of pylons and it’s own hermit – to tended parks and industrial wilds of East London - can we escape our own kitsch versions of nature and the rural?

The Summer Walkers again came with an imposed narrative. Purportedly the last Scottish native travelling people, there is a deep nostalgia for the ‘tradition’ and tough way of life (the woman in the film looks bubonic, never mind bucolic). There is the mix of respect and pity.. something of the noble savage. There is also a dose of dubious origin myths-  like the Blues.. an invented ‘genre’ created to encapsulate and pigeonhole.

The Legend of Boggy Creek presented a fine line between personal hell and idyll. As with all the films, there seems an intent to upset the idyll.. Despite the ‘tough’ life (none negate the strong work country ethic, so not quite the pastoral utopia of arcadia) it is seen as an simple earthly life, but one that is threatened, whether by medernity or giant hairy monsters trying to snatch the baby. It is as if we ‘all know it can’t exist’.

Who are the fraudsters? The Filmmakers?

Finally we looked for a minute of contemporary art’s relationship to the rural (see Karen magazine for a dose of the everyday mundane made everything), we liked Grizedale’s piss-take of trumped up rural arts organisations claiming to be the first, best most innovative.. bla bla. (see their newsletter for the full rant). Mythologising and self-mythologising.

Reading list: Even Dwarves Started Small, Werner Herzog; Grey Gardens; Albert and David Maysles; Susan Froemke; Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer; Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown.

# 19 [16 June 2008]

Salon no.7 (cont)

Mr Tullis’ films were a real treat. All documentaries of sorts (including the horror ‘mock-doc’ Bog Man) we came to question the position of the filmmaker within the narrative.

Victual delights of ploughmans’ suppers (with chutney made by Miss B’s mother) cider, homemade plum cake, and ginger beer floats, were followed by sharing some definitions of historical terms that go back to the very root of  the ancient obsession with the bucolic.

Bucolic itself – a pastoral poem, representing rural affairs, and the life, manners, and occupation of shepherds; as in the Bucolics of Theocritus and Virgil.
Pastoral – the lifestyle of shepherds and pastoralists. Also literature, art and music which depicts a romanticised life of shepherds, often in a highly idealised and unrealistic manner. Rustic chores are held in the fantasy to be almost wholly undemanding and left in the background, leaving shepherdesses in a state of almost perfect leisure. This makes them available for embodying perpetual erotic fantasies.
Idyll – a scene or event characterized by tranquility, serene and carefree happiness, simple beauty, and innocent charm, usually in a beautiful rural setting.
Arcadia – a Utopian vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature; unspoiled wilderness. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name, which dates to antiquity.
Unlike 'utopia', 'Arcadia' does not carry the connotation of a human civilization.
Golden Age -  a time in the beginnings of Humanity which was perceived as an ideal state.In literary works, the Golden Age usually ends with a devastating event, which brings about the Fall of Man
Rustic – Of, relating to, or typical of country life or country people; Lacking refinement or elegance; coarse; Charmingly simple or unsophisticated; A rural person.

Are there depictions of rural life that haven't been filtered through, (or for) an equivalent of the urban perspective? Is the rural just a backdrop for a commentary on urban concerns?

# 18 [19 May 2008]

Salon no.7 

Andrew Tullis has chosen three films for the upcoming Salon. He has been ruminating on the 'bucolic':

The Moon And The Sledgehammer 1971 Dir.: Philip Trevelyan
The Page Family live in a ramshackle house situated in six acres of woodland, which they own themselves, in the heart of the commuter-belt, 20 miles south of London. The trees cut the Pages off completely from the outside world, and isolated in their island-clearing, they let the 20th Century slowly pass them by.

The Summer Walkers 1976 Dir.: Timothy Neat & Hamish Henderson
The Summer Walkers is the name the crofters of Scotland's North West Highlands gave the Travelling People. These Scottish nomads are not gypsies. They are indigenous Gaelic-speaking Highlanders and they remain heirs to a vital and ancient culture. This film documents a vanishing way of life.

The Legend of Boggy Creek 1972 Dir.: Charles B. Pierce
The southwest corner of Arkansas is the scene of terrible animal killings, frightening human experience, strange sightings and strange noises. As the actual interviews with area residents progress horror and suspense mount. Could this be real or a conspiracy of a backwoods community hungering for recognition? A drama-documentary style thriller about a hulking, hairy creature that inhabits a swamp in Fouke, Arkansas.

Also, if we're lucky we might pack in some Wier's Way. 

# 17 [22 April 2008]

I have emailed the group with an invitation to collaborate. The first series of six Salons now feels like a pilot project: they will certainly continue. I’m thinking roughly once a month. I’m hoping to partner up with people for each upcoming one – so that those who would like to be more involved, can. Others can just turn up. We can also open them up more to other people – there are loads of people I think would like to come to different ones depending on what the subject is.

I really enjoyed a reading event that Spartacus did at Vilma Gold about a month ago.. It was a totally open thing, but by dressing up in a kind of inside out outfit, it injected an air of silliness that putting others at ease but also contextualised the discussion about the carnivalesque. She had everyone wearing pants on their head and reading Rabellais, but in a way that felt like it was totally cool to join in or not. A fine skill.

Eleven people made presentations at the first six Salons, which I think was a lot. But we learnt a lot, about what each other did/do, and what the Salons could be. I’m looking forward to the flexibility that can be afforded them now. They can be anything. It would be nice if some of the same people came, but also if some of the people who asked to come came, and some of the people who couldn’t make it to the first ones.

Lined up for May and June: a 'favourite bits' video night hosted by Andrew Tullis; and a beer-making workshop where we will consider the artisan in the everyday and maybe read some Morris.

A few other ideas: bring a short film club; show-and-tell research material or a piece of work that has influenced you; continue the critique of the everyday; style; rules; archives; anthropology; secret Fascist architecture fetishes.

# 16 [9 April 2008]

Salon no.6 (cont)

We reflected on the six Salons and the people that have come together. Despite differences in practices and ways on working, there was a thread that emerged running through the ‘guests’ work and projects. Karen described it as ‘structures that are flexible but have focus and rigour’. Fundamental to these projects is the objective to subvert, manipulate, challenge question and highlight existing structures for the production and dissemination of art… not just to replicate. To create something responsive. Projects that construct meaningful conceptual frameworks for making and sharing art and ideas.

Can these structures survive when they wish to operate outside traditional funding structures? Ben’s limited edition ‘shares’ sold to finance Brown Mountain Festival (part artwork, part intangible share in live art) or The Crying of Potential Estate obviously get actual money out of people who actually  have some to start with.. creative entrepreneurialism.. I've just spotted Emilia Telese's new blog on the artist as social entrepreneur..

We all relate to shoehorning ourselves into various boxes in order to get funding, or at least presenting our projects to others in a way that will appeal to funders. Community.. social agendas.. creative industries.. commercial product. Whichever way the policy is leaning. Superficial Measurements of qualitiatve and quantative meaning – is that our prerogative? Whilst wrestling off the cliche of artists as sociopathic incapables we have subjected ourselves to worries about the deadly audit? Gotta stop those artists buggering off on holiday with their arts council grants (like the hoax-holiday students from Leeds who pretended to do that but spent two weeks in a Headingly basement taking turns on the sunbed).
Perhaps initiating our own projects is a way of allowing, even expecting, for projects to change direction and become something else through the act of carrying them out.