09 March 2010

Gallacher & Warren | Future Proof: Ambition, Optimism

Location:

The Glasgow Science Centre / BBC courtyard - railings of the river Clyde
50 Pacific Quay, G51 1EA
Find this on the Map !

Synopsis:

The words Ambition and Optimism are taken from the essay by urban theorists David Parker & Paul Long will be attached to the railings of the river Clyde. The letters of these text works will be constructed from recycled wooden boards and clad with aluminum foil. The shiny silver foil will, quite literally, reflect the building in the surrounding area.

“... The skyline of a city traces the visual signature of its identity. It offers an immediate reading of its ambition, modernity and novelty through which economic, social and aesthetic meanings are signified...both as its is and how it might be.” Extract from essay by urban theorists David Parker & Paul Long


Artist Statement:

Brought together by the curatorial team PLACE Projects, Gallacher & Warren is the creative collaboration of Glasgow based artists Kate Gallacher and Ric Warren. With a shared interest in architecture and town planning, we were asked to research and make artwork collaboratively for the 2009 New Work Scotland Programme (NWSP) at Collective Gallery, Edinburgh. For this project, entitled FUTUREPROOF, we began to explore current trends in the revitalisation of urban landscapes, heavily focusing our research on the redeveloped areas of Glasgow’s river Clyde. In addition to exploring the ‘language of regeneration’, we created drawings and small sculptures inspired by architectural models, clad with various reflective silver materials, such as aluminium foil, in order to reference a vernacular of contemporary architecture associated with ‘urban reform’. These we then exhibited using a method of display associated with architectural trade shows.

Artist Contact:

Ric Warren  [replace -at- with @]
www.gallacherandwarren.blogspot.com
www.ricwarren.blogspot.com
www.kgallacher.blogspot.com

08 March 2010

t s Beall, Ben Dembroski, Ben Rush |
A Stone's Throw Away: The Graving Beacon

Location:
Govan Graving Docks  (Dry Docks)
viewable from in front of The Millennium Tower, Glasgow Science Centre, 50 Pacific Quay, G51 1EA  Find this on the Map!
Follow us on Twitter @GovanBeacon
Project Website: www.astonesthrowaway.co.uk
Synopsis:

Employing the outmoded technology of Morse code this project connects the Govan Dry Docks, Glasgow’s historic industrial centre to the facing Pacific Quay redevelopment.


Description:

The Graving Beacon is an automated light placed on the Govan Graving Docks which flashes messages in Morse Code towards The Glasgow Science Centre and surrounding area. Messages can be sent to the Beacon via SMS text and will be archived via Twitter @GovanBeacon. The beacon will be visible online at www.astonesthrowaway.co.uk using a webcamera installed in the Glasgow Science Centre.



The most recent image from the beaconcam!

Text messages (SMS) will be sent by the community surrounding the Graving Docks in Govan and by vistiors to The Glasgow Science Centre who view the Beacon in front of The Millennium Tower. Invitations to text the Beacon will also be given out during some GI Festival events.

A Stone’s Throw Away is a two part project, each employing outmoded or 'dead' communication technology from the turn of the last century. The other half of A Stone's Throw Away is The Govan Armada.

 












Artist Contact:
astonesthrowaway-at-gmail.com [replace -at- with @]

www.astonesthrowaway.co.uk
Project website will host information on the entire project (including The Govan Armada), a live webcam feed of the Beacon, and a link to the Beacon's Twitter account @GovanBeacon

www.tsbeall.com
www.dembroski.net
www.orionrush.com

Gallacher & Warren | Future Proof

Location:


Foyer of The Glasgow Science Centre
50 Pacific Quay, G51 1EA
Monday-Sunday 10am-5pm
Find this on the Map!

Synopsis:

This is a newly interactive variation of the previously exhibited "Town Planners Table", (Collective Gallery, 2009). A small table will hold sheets of aluminium foil and a monitor. The monitor will display a new film work, which will take the guise of an educational science video showing the audience various methods of creating models from the aluminium foil. This will hopefully encourage viewers of all ages to interact with the work by making there own models and placing them on the large table.


The work is intended to create a platform for the simulation of a prototype cityscape. The viewer is invited to explore their notion of a future urban utopia by taking on the role of architect and town planner. Drawing inspiration from the Russian Constructivist’s ‘laboratory phase’ this piece is concerned with the generation and working through of hypotheses. There is an emphasis on experimentation and not towards the creation of a functional end. In playing out the scenarios the viewer is encouraged to question their aspirations for the city and to consider the future a product of choice rather than progress.


Artist Statement:

Brought together by the curatorial team PLACE Projects, Gallacher & Warren is the creative collaboration of Glasgow based artists Kate Gallacher and Ric Warren. With a shared interest in architecture and town planning, we were asked to research and make artwork collaboratively for the 2009 New Work Scotland Programme (NWSP) at Collective Gallery, Edinburgh. For this project, entitled FUTUREPROOF, we began to explore current trends in the revitalisation of urban landscapes, heavily focusing our research on the redeveloped areas of Glasgow’s river Clyde. In addition to exploring the ‘language of regeneration’, we created drawings and small sculptures inspired by architectural models, clad with various reflective silver materials, such as aluminium foil, in order to reference a vernacular of contemporary architecture associated with ‘urban reform’. These we then exhibited using a method of display associated with architectural trade shows.

Artist Contact:

Ric Warren  [replace -at- with @]

t s Beall | A Stone's Throw Away:
The Govan Armada

Location:

Sunday 2 May: Launch of The Armada from the Govan Graving Docks (Dry Docks)
Friday 16 April - Saturday 1 May: Glasgow Science Centre IMAX reflecting pool
--> see events page for details on Sunday 2 May Launch Party

Synopsis:

An armada of small 'mailboats' containing messages in bottles will be launched from the Govan Graving Docks on Sunday 2 May. Prior to the Launch and during the GI Festival, some of The Govan Armada will be 'anchored' in the Glasgow Science Centre's IMAX reflecting pool.

The Govan Armada will follow the historical model of the St. Kilda mailboats, sent from the island of St. Kilda initially by those in distress and afterwards by tourists at the turn of the last century. Construction of the mailboats will consist of a simple 'boat' structure, a message in a sealed container, and a floatation device. The boats will be made primarily from wood and other detritus floating in the Govan Dry Docks and surrounding Clyde River (redeveloped rubbish).

Initially, The Armada will be constructed by and with the local community in Govan. Workshops will take place at nearby Clydebrae Studio, and will be organised with Riverside Community  Hall. Construction of the mailboats and collection of messages will be open to members of the public (including GI festival-goers - please contact t s Beall via email below for details). 

The Armada will be launched from the Govan Dry Docks during a 'Launch Party' on Sunday 2 May which will include an exhibition opening at the new Govanheim on Clydebrae Street, Bike-So-Cool art bike caravan, and other events. Burgers and hot dogs will be for sale provided by Riverside Hall.

The Govan Armada and The Graving Beacon are part of a larger work titled A Stone's Throw Away. Both The Govan Armada and The Graving Beacon employ 'dead' communication technology from the turn of the last century in an attempt to connect the Govan Graving Docks to the nearby Pacific Quay redevelopment.

Artist Contact:

astonesthrowaway.govan-at-gmail.com [replace -at- with @]

Project website will host information on the entire A Stone's Throw Away project (including The Graving Beacon).


07 March 2010

Andrew Sunley Smith | Generators: Nontypicals (Fundamental Encounters)

Location:

Various locations along the Atypical Public Art Trail
View see the full the Atypical Root on the Map!

Synopsis:

An instructional artwork where names of 'significant cultural producers' are painted by volunteer contributors onto found objects, which are then distributed along the Atypical Root.

Description:

An instructional artwork -– On found objects, a series of names are to be painted and inscribed by volunteer contributors. The names will be of significant cultural producers; generators and individuals of great creative and/or inspirational influence. Where possible the names should be 'researchable' - providing further access for peoples curiosity. Each object is intended to operate as a secret art work that when placed along the trail and left to its own devices will create encounters between the audience and the cultural producers and thus, the cultural influence spreads.

Artist Contact:

sunleysmith-at-hotmail.com [replace -at- with @]
www.sunleysmith.com

JD Hollingshead | The Catalogue of
Narrative Alleles: Volume 3

Location:

Various locations along the Atypical Public Art Trail
See the full Atypical rout on the Map!

Synopsis:

In this ongoing body of work, JD has generated a list of every possible version of the phrase "You're either with me or against me" by replacing each of the pronouns with each of the 6 functioning pronouns: I, We, You, He, She, They. This produces 216 possible phrases. For Atypical Root, JD will install each of the 216 phrases in the catalogue somewhere along the trail, from flyers on poles, to stenciling on walls or the ground. In addition, he will run the entire length of the trail every day, wearing a shirt with one of the phrases written on it. The intent is to repeatedly impress the nature of this phrase upon the psyche of an individual walking the path. Taken individually, each phrase may not register to the walker, but in succession the phrases gather strength in the unconscious mind, germinating and creating an aura of paranoia or mystique in the minds of those walking these pathways.
Artist Statement:


My practice is based on an interest in psychology; in cognition (the relationship between thought and action), memory (and its relationship to history), and symbolic psychology (and the ways in which we adapt to and invent our own constructs of archetype).

Artist Contact:

JDHollingshead-at-gmail.com

Kate V Robertson | Meeting Space


Location:

BBC & Glasgow Science Centre Courtyard
Glasgow Science Centre, 50 Pacific Quay, Glasgow, Strathclyde G51 1EA
Find this on the Map!

Synopsis:

A new public sculpture outside the BBC, that provides both a literal, physical, public space and a conceptual exchange between science, art and media.

Description:

A triptych of latex replica walls taken from the BBC, The Glasgow Science Centre and the Centre of Contemporary Art, Glasgow. Connected to form a triangular enclosure, Meeting Space provides a literal, physical, public space but also a conceptual space of exchange between the fields of science, art and media. The work seeks to create a new public space within an existing one, whilst suggesting a different use for the area. The fact that the walls are false and unstable undermines their original function and renders them symbolic. This space will either succeed and become a space for congregation, or fail to be used by its public – either way presenting a microcosm for the actual space it occupies.

Artist Statement:

I am concerned with ideas of the existential or futile, particularly in relation to ideology, communication and progress. My work addresses failure and disappointment in a variety of ways, often referring to cultural or political history. Sometimes the work performs failure by deliberately malfunctioning or miscommunicating, and other times it has a metaphorical or allegorical relationship to the subject matter. The tone of my work usually rests between humour, melancholy and pathos, and often requires a level of observation or interaction from the viewer.

Works are often temporary, ephemeral or temperamental, often demanding some level of engagement or observation from the viewer, and are always developed in response to their respective contexts – whether that be a gallery or public space. The inherent political and social situations of the gallery and the street become integral to the meaning of the work.

Artist Contact:

kate-at-katevrobertson.com [substitute -at- for @]
www.katevrobertson.com