modularmirroring

Exploring the idea of mirroring – some digital images captured within the 3D building software – some thoughts – the images are reminiscent of the cell division that occurs at the point where life begins within the body. The folds resemble the physical paper structures that I was working on a couple of years ago. Chelsea College of Art have been digitising some of the work in their Artists Book Collection – I have some in the collection and they have digitised a couple of them – it’s a great resource if you are interested in ideas around the book. https://digitalcollections.arts.ac.uk/collection/?code=CAB Meanwhile onto screens – catching up with the hysterically funny and cleverly written Cleaner on BBC. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – unfortunately adding time travel to the saga doesn’t make it any more interesting.

wearingthinyetbreathingin

Today in 3D printing exercises I’m looking at mirroring as a methodology. A breathing in exercise - a trip to London to see some stuff. First up Japanese aesthetics of recycling at The Brunei gallery at SOAS – just glorious, mainly Boro but some wrapping papers and ceramics and on till the 23 September. While there check out the Japanese Garden on the roof. Milk is a fascinating exhibition at The Welcome Collection full of objects, advertising and government information. The right wing white supremacists intervention into a live stream was shocking. Connect. Reveal. Conceal at Hauser and Wirth has the beautiful work by Celia Pym.  https://www.hauserwirth.com/make/42103-connect-reveal-conceal/ Lagos, Peckham, Repeat: Pilgrimage to the lakes has a couple of stunning films – Entitled has Adeyemi Michael’s mother riding a horse down Peckham High Street referencing European conquerors and No Archive Can Restore You by Onyeka Igwe contains poignant filming of abandoned, crumbling film canisters in the colonial film unit, a propaganda film organisation of the British Government. Meanwhile onto screens - Big Night was sweet yet had several troubling male role models. Spiderman was energetically exciting. Red, White and Royal Blue was unexpected until it wasn’t. John and the Hole wasn’t what you thought it was!

wallofthinkingwithsometattoos

Continuing to work on the 3D prints – currently they are ‘spawning’ over a wall in my house – transferring their hanging from a table/plinth context to a wall obviously changes them dramatically. I used to give a presentation around this which culminated in Vogels Net. Which was a paper based on Susan Vogel’s work Vogels Net: Traps as Artworks and Artworks as Traps. https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/contex-203695210 The references to the earlier work were basket and vessel now growth, nest/home and fruition come to mind. Many of them are derived from a similar starting point, thus they feel like an exercise in taxonomy. Each one referencing another, looking at them as a whole, connections are made, both within the work but also they give clues as to what to do next. Meanwhile more tattoos have been added. These are a continuation of the ongoing inter generational collaboration, mark-making project I am having with @jims__skins I love the freedom of the thread-like lines alongside the perfect placement – thinking about systems for more that might relate to the 2 ‘elastic band’ ovals I have on my shoulders – created my dropping elastic bands and drawing around their position where they land and then tattooing the shapes. Duchamp has a piece called 3 Standard Stoppages which involving string which when dropped determined the configuration of the work. https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78990 Onto screens – BBC’s Champion was a hard watch, so much anger.  Sisu was a hard watch, but also so funny. Blackface was a hard watch, but so informative. Painkiller was a hard watch but tells an important story. Not as good as Dopesick. Barbie was not a hard watch it was glorious.

everythingyouthoughtwasatruthwasalie

Spending 7 days in what was East Germany was an eye opener in so many ways. There is something about the history of East Germany that results in two modes of what feels opposing behaviour – walking the streets holding bottles of beer feels de-rigour. As does waiting endlessly at pedestrian crossings for the walking man to turn green even if there is no traffic. Something about control and release! A full 7 days of art, museums, cycling and walking - first up was Dresden – there was a Biennale that centred on the Robotron Kantine a space occupied by artists promoting it as an art space with other work in the OSTRALE – Center for Contemporary Art, which itself is a statement of intention, a place just outside the city where artists have created a collective vibe. Every piece in the show was underpinned by political positioning. Old Dresden is spectacularly excessive, the architecture category is fairy tale on acid, great use of gold leaf and Baroque doesn’t cover it. The Zwinger a totally over the top excessive experience of a building in the center of old Dresden has a beautiful display of old technical instruments including globes, maps, telescopes and tools for measuring space, stars and even melting metal. Another highlight was The German Hygiene Museum, especially the excellent cafe. There were some extraordinary objects, including a see-through woman, sculptures of defecated baby’s nappies and lots of unusual cross sections of bodies. The revelation that hygiene in this context has its roots in cultural cleansing rather than cleaning was a little shocking. The formal parks are stunning and endless, cycling through them joyous. On the way to the station, I popped into see the Folk Art collection at the Museum for Saxon Puppet Theatre Collection. It houses some of the most bizarre objects which have echoes in my childhood tv watching. The train to Leipzig was with all European trains exemplary. Leipzig has Forum Leipzig Contemporary History, a museum that starts with a newspaper detailing the death of Hitler. What we know of this part of the world is shockingly slim. The shifting politics and contextual existence are mind blowing. The contents of the museum should have been shown to every potential voter thinking about Brexit. There is a huge out of town space called Spinnerei. It was once a cotton spinning mill but is now home to Contemporary art spaces and galleries. Again, the politics of the artists were to the fore, and again another great space to eat. The Monument to the Battle of the Nations is so big. It’s difficult to document the immensity of the thing itself. A monument to the defeat of Napoleon against Germany who were supported by Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden built 100 years after the event and 2 years before Germany went to war against the world. To say there is a real complexity to the history of this area of Europe is an understatement. A Museum of printing is housed in an old printing works and has so many machines. Its collection has some very old examples but focuses mainly on ones that I have worked on as a student at LCP! Ones own lived experience becomes history. There is so much to see – other highlights include Panometer GmbH is a huge gasometer that has a 360 experience, this one focused on 911 but was really an antiwar protest piece, widening its focus to all acts of terrorism. GRASSI Museum for Applied Arts is huge, and I only managed to spend time in the musical instrument rooms, truly excellent. G 2 K U N S T H A L L E: has a fantastic contemporary collection alongside temporary shows. Finally, I highly recommend cycling everywhere, German cities enable and seem to celebrate easy movement on two wheels, again lessons to learn.