ports

Originally uploaded by artsite

A still image from a new piece I’m working on. The film and photo-series is an exploration of stasis, depicting the point of arrival to or departure from several Mediterranean ports, a series of lacunae during a meditative journey whose destination i never articulated, nor anticipated.

No title as yet –!

“Postindustrial Baroque” will be part of the  Optica Festival review at Cultural Center San Martín  in Buenos Aires (Argentina) November 5th and 7th .

My god, next time I will most certainly go!  It’s inspiring thinking that this  film we made is being shown in places all over the world.

I was invited to be part of the TINAG (This Is Not A Gateway) Festival this past weekend. My good friends Hilary and Dan, who are “Optimistic Productions” put on a great music and films event for the festival closing.

Hilary and Dan are making a wonderful film called

How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire!

which you can find out all about on http://www.myvodkaempire.com/

It’s a great story: hidden family secrets, Russian Revolution, travels to deepest Ukraine in winter – and vodka…

The bonus of the film is that it’s not only about Dan and Hilary making a film about how to re-establish a vodka empire, but they are actually creating a vodka empire, with the marvelous  “Zorokovich 1917″ vodka  - hopefully available near you soon! Watch for the film on More 4 in 2010.

The event itself, “Optimisitic Immigrants” had an overall theme of east-west migration. I showed Mosti: The Bridges of St Petersburg, and Europa: Days in Berlin.  I’d forgotten how dark Europa is – it’s been a while since I watched it on the big screen. Somehow I feel more optimistic about life than I was when I made it: at that time I was musing on the way we move blindly through history, weak and vulnerable yet wilfully ignorant. Hmmm. It’s not really that disagree with that now,  it’s just that I feel a bit less apocalyptic than I did back then.

Europa, still

Below please find an article by Manick Govinda regarding the new British Home Office rules that are greatly restricting the opportunities for artists from outside the EU to visit Britain for any cultural purposes.  As an artist who has participated in many cultural exchanges, and recently curated a show of Canadian artist in London, I am seeing these rule from the inside and they are unfair on both the visiting artist and the wider British public.

The petition against the home office’s ludicrous restrictions preventing non-EU artists and academics from participating the UKs cultural life is getting closer to our target of 10,000 signatories. When we reach our target we will send a delegation to 10 Downing Street with the petition. We’re nearly there, but I’m writing to you for your help.

The points based system which replaced the far more flexible work permits will be a year old on 27 November. We want to hand the petition in by that date to mark that moment when our freedom to invite artists, writers, poets, dancers, musicians, academics and intellectuals – professionals and amateurs – were taken away from us.

Very recent examples of barred entry included:

US artist Cristina Winsor detained and deported for allegedly intending to sell 2 small paintings at a local arts event in east London;

US artist MP Landis, his wife and 4 month baby detained and deported for not having the correct paperwork; Glenfiddich Distilleries invited him for a summer residency;

Indian artist Anirban Mitra refused a visa for the same residency opportunity after waiting for 4 months for a decision at great expense;

The home office and the UKBA need to get a sense of proportion. Hundreds of community, amateur and cultural groups are being affected as well as big national arts institutions.

We need to send a loud message to the Home Office that these ludicrous regulations need to be seriously reviewed and reconsidered. This petition has collected a huge breadth of voices from all walks of life, nationalities, political and religious persuasions.

If you haven’t signed it, PLEASE do so. If each of you can persuade a friend, colleague or family member to sign the petition then we’ve more than reached our target.

The petition link is: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/MCvisit/petition.html

Thank you.

Manick Govinda, Visiting Artists Campaign Co-ordinator, Manifesto Club

http://www.manifestoclub.com/node/485

The film continues to tour, courtesy of Optica,who’ve been organising a fantastic touring programme taking in Latin America and Europe. The film has just been screened in Paris at the Sala Luis Bunuel (how wonderful) at the Collège d’Espagne, and is about to screen at the Centro Huarte in Huarte, Navarra.

The film also had its German premiere at the gallery Loophole in Berlin, in a programme running alongside the Art Forum and other seasonal art events. The premiere night also featured live performances by Agnes Domke and Natasha Mayran.

Cordoba, Spain 10 – 12 Sept 2009 at the Filmoteca

At the Art Factory and at Biblioteca Nacional, Buenos AIres, Aug 27 – Sept 01

I wish I could have been there! Argentina stirs my imagination mightily.

The film will be shown at Optica Festival La Paz (Bolivia), Cinemateca Boliviana August 20-26, 2009.

THE IRRESISTIBLE DISTRICT is an art festival in Helsinki, Finland celebrating the emergence of a new cultural area in the city. I will be screening films related to locality and urban change.

21st, 22nd, 23rd of August 2009.
Place: Building Number 5 (see map) of Suvilahti area, Kaasutehtaankatu 1, Helsinki. Metro stop Kalasatama.
Friday and Saturday from 18:00 to 03:00, Sunday from 16:00 to 22:00.

“If it’s true that “100 years of history and change in Suvilahti area represents well the transformation of Helsinki into a metropolis” (architect Sari Schulman), then by observing its development as part of the plan for the new city we can probably foresee Helsinki’s future. With this event we want to participate in the collective process related to the metamorphosis of Suvilahti area into a new cultural centre, at the heart of Helsinki’s new core (Emerald Plan).” (Manifesto, The Irresistible District, http://irresistibledistrict.com/). Curated by Egle Oddo & Namastic Collective.

As anyone in London knows, for the past few years we’ve had a lot of free newspapers given out in the street every weekday. While many people welcome these as a quick read for a dreary tube or bus journey, the papers do clutter up the city, especially in terms of paper piles left around bus stops. But they are par tof the landscape now, like it or not.
Free Papers Project is a platform showcasing artworks, films and design pieces inspired by the relation between London and the free newspapers.
Last year I was involved in doing film and photography for the Newspaper House an installation by Sumer Erek. I designed a photoshoot for the ident of the project and on the same shoot I did these other photos which I have made into an animation, which you can see here:

http://www.freepapersproject.com/gallery.html