Open call for photobooks to be displayed as part of the exhibition On Landscape #1 in London in March

Constructed Landscapes, 2013 © Dafna Talmour. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Today’s post is a heads up on an open call for (photo) books – short-run, handmade, self-published, book-dummy one offs – to be displayed in London in March during the exhibition On Landscape #1.

On Landscape #1 seeks to instigate a series of discussions, raise questions and incite debate on representations of landscape. A central element of the project will consist of an open call for self-published, handmade or short run books relating to the exhibition framework. The publications, on display throughout the exhibition, will provide a platform for wider debates around landscape whilst presenting an opportunity for emerging practitioners to showcase their work.

I will be on the book selection panel with Self Publish Be Happy founder, Bruno Ceschel.

Deadline for submissions: 3 February

Book call submission form/guidelines here.

The exhibition On Landscape #1 will take place at Guest Projects Bethnal Green London from 7-30 March 2014.

On Landscape # 1, which is the first of a series of exhibitions based on conversations between artists Minna Kantonen, Dafna Talmor ,and Emma Wieslander, aims to challenge pictorial representations of landscape. The exhibition at Guest Projects will feature photographic work by the three artists and a site-specific installation by invited artist Minna Pöllänen. The exhibition aims to engage with landscape in its widest sense by inviting theoreticians and practitioners working in the field of landscape to contribute to the show through a series of events.

On Landscape #1 Facebook Page
On Landscape #1 Crowdfunding Page

Photo Stroll – INSIDE OUT at Photofusion London with Anne Vinogradoff, Jocelyn Allen and Myka Baum & In Conversation: The Skin Within tomorrow

Tri-pod’s second exhibition Inside Out is on show until 29 August at Photofusion gallery in Brixton, London featuring the work of three emerging visual artists working with photography, film and object-based works: Anne Vinogradoff, Jocelyn Allen and Myka Baum.

The photos below are from the Launch Party on 8 August before we had to swap the work inside the gallery around. Why? Because there have been complaints about the nature of the work: “nudity” “not suitable for children” “funders” “born-again Christians” “someone walking in then straight out”. There is already a Warning Sign re; nudity (see photo below) but it appears that this is not sufficient for the parents of 7-11 year-old children who have been walking through the front gallery to do activities in the other spaces in the gallery, nor for those who are seeing nudity/women’s bodies and religion combined in large-scale works. I received a call from Photofusion director suggesting that Anne Vinogradoff’s work be moved to the back gallery space and Jocelyn Allen’s to the front gallery, which the artists have agreed to.

I have written to Photofusion to request information on exactly which works have been cause for complaint, who has complained, why, how many people have complained and how they made the complaints, plus I have asked Photofusion about its policy on showing such works. I need to let the gallery respond before I write a blog post in response, though I have speculated on what the possible problems could be and to what extend an artist can express themselves freely, that is without forms of censorship, especially if the work/space is funded/part-funded by the Arts Council or other bodies that have ideological beliefs that may be at odds with the works created. To be continued once I have some answers.

For now, do try and see the show and come along to The Skin Within: A Conversation with the artists tomorrow evening in the gallery and let us know what you think.

Inside
Inside the gallery, Vinogradoff (Women: A Curvy Journey) and Allen (Your Mind & Body Is All That You’ve Got) explore themes around women, self-image and identity. Together these bodies of work can also be seen as a dialogue between Vinogradoff and Allen, as well as between the artists and audience. Visitors to the gallery are invited to engage with some of the object-based works and become active participants in the show.

Out
On the Photofusion Outside Gallery wall, Baum (Miss Havisham’s Larder) explores the minutiae of growth and decay inspired by the cycles of nature and transformation.

Gallery Event: The Skin Within: A Conversation with the artists
Tuesday 27 August, 19:00 | Free for Members (£3.50 Non-members)
Anne Vinogradoff, Jocelyn Allen and Myka Baum will be discussing their work in the exhibition and the benefits of supportive creative workshops such as Tri-pod, facilitated by Miranda Gavin and Wendy Pye.

OUTSIDE

MYKA BAUM
For her new series, Myka Baum uses a variety of painstaking processes engaging both natural and mechanical reproduction to create abstract photographs of the process of decay of common foods such as bread and cheese.Time plays an integral role within the work and traces of a collision between calculation and chance are made visible. The macro images on show are also a manifestation of the various processes used by Baum and are inspired by and call into question the current status of nature to which urban civilization has become largely oblivious.

INSIDE

ANNE VINOGRADOFF
Anne Vinogradoff draws on work from six series created over the past two years. Vinogradoff offers both a personal, autobiographical perspective, as well as a global viewpoint, as she explores the trajectory of womankind throughout history. In creating these works, Vinogradoff asks the audience to consider ancient ideas and their relevance to contemporary society while seeking to challenge commonly-held dogmas relating to female identity. The result is a multilayered, interactive installation of analogue photography realised as 3-D objects.

JOCELYN ALLEN
Jocelyn Allen’s series of self portraits are the result of forty sittings that took place over the last six months of 2012. What started out as a few images, documenting Allen’s reaction to the changes within the skin of her body, evolved to become a highly personal journey of acceptance, self reflection and realisation. The self portraits reveal and chart moments of playfulness and self confidence alongside those of shyness and self doubt.

ABOUT TRI-POD
Tri-Pod is a creative initiative cofounded in 2010 by Miranda Gavin and Wendy Pye to support lens-based artists working on Projects in Process. Tri-Pod has developed a model for facilitated peer-to-peer group feedback that also encourages individual artists to develop and maintain networks of support facilitated by Tri-Pod.

As well as holding weekend workshops to help with the research and development of personal projects, Tri-Pod works in association with galleries to provide a space for workshop participants to exhibit their work and allow for feedback and engagement with wider audiences.

INSIDE OUT was initiated and devised by Tri-Pod to provide an opportunity for three visual artists, who have attended a Tri-Pod workshop in 2012-13, to develop a body of work for exhibition. The exhibitors were chosen from an open submission offered to all workshop participants; the two artists presenting work inside the gallery, Anne Vinogradoff and Jocelyn Allen, were also exploring similar themes around women, self-image and identity.

All the artists exhibiting are working on ongoing series that they have developed with the assistance of Tri-Pod and are showing bodies of work in various stages of development and experimentation. Anne Vinogradoff is showing prototypes, or ‘primitive forms’ of objects, in their early stages of development; Jocelyn Allen experiments with the effect of scale in relationship to individual photographs, while outside, Myka Baum exhibits images that are the result of numerous photographic and biological experiments. The individual artists have curated their own space allowing them to test new ideas in a supportive environment.

Tri-Pod’s first group exhibition Nine Point Perspective: Ways of Seeing was held at Hotshoe Gallery, London in August 2011, and featured the work of nine lens-based artists and photographers who had participated in Tri-Pod’s first ongoing research and development group. This was followed by a further group exhibition Is That It as part of the Brighton Photo Fringe 2012.

Miranda Gavin and Wendy Pye will be talking about Tri-Pod at an arts symposium Academic Dogma: Intuition vs. Education, organised by members of the London College of Communication MA Photography course. It will be held on a Tuesday in early to mid-October with the exact date to be confirmed. If you want to know more or you are interested in participating in one of Tri-Pod’s future workshops, please get in touch at info@tri-pod.co.uk.

Brighton Photo Biennial 2012 – Trevor Paglen’s Geographies of Seeing show podcast with Lighthouse director Honor Harger

Lighthouse director Honor Harger. Photo © Wendy Pye

Social scientist, artist, writer and provocateur Trevor Paglen uses photography to explore the secret activities of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. For me, Geographies of Seeing was one of Brighton Photo Biennial’s to-see shows, not least for Paglen’s multi-dimensional approach to his subject matter. Who could resist taking time to look at the work of someone who is described as a ‘provocateur’, especially as I first saw some of this work at Frieze art fair a few years ago and was intrigued back then.

On the press tour of the show I got a chance to discuss the work with Lighthouse director Honor Harger who provides an informed and articulate insight into Paglen’s work in the audio podcast below. Click on the link below and then again on the link, it goes green as you rool over it, in the next page. It is 17mins 26secs long.

HonorHarger_discusses_TrevorPaglen_show

Trevor Paglen Geographies of Seeing Photo © Wendy Pye

“The Other Night Sky uses data from an international network of amateur satellite watchers to track and photograph classified spacecraft. Echoing the efforts of historic astronomers, Paglen documents astral movements that don’t officially exist.

Trevor Paglen Geographies of Seeing Photo © Wendy Pye

“In the series Limit Telephotography Paglen adapted the super-strength telescopes, normally used to shoot distant planets, to reveal top-secret U.S. governmental sites, sometimes 65 miles away from his camera; covert bases, so remote they cannot be seen by an unaided civilian eye from any point on Earth.

 Show photos above. Photo © Miranda Gavin

“Paglen coined the term “Experimental Geography” to describe practices coupling experimental cultural production and art-making with ideas from critical human geography about the production of space, materialism, and praxis. His work, such The Other Night Sky has received widespread attention for both his technical innovations and for his conceptual rigour. He is also author of three books including Torture Taxi (2006), the first book to comprehensively describe the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me (2007), which is a look at top-secret military programmes, and Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World, which is a broader look at secrecy in the United States.

Honor and I at the show. Photo © Wendy Pye

“Paglen (born in 1974) is an American artist, geographer, and author, currently based in New York. His work deliberately blurs lines between science, contemporary art, journalism, and technology to construct unfamiliar, yet meticulously researched ways to see and interpret the world around us. He has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; The Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams; the 2008 Taipei Biennial; the Istanbul Biennial 2009, and numerous other solo and group exhibitions.” From press release. Presented and curated in partnership with Lighthouse.

Colombo Art Biennale 2012 Schedule of Talks and Conversations 15-19 February

Beware of the critic whose reputation depends on the power to impress the public with a semblance of knowledge, and the artist who attempts to do the same with skill and technical swagger. An artists’ perspective, see Gallery Talk 16 February Critique versus Criticism

This looks like a timely talk topic and one that’s sure to get us all thinking about our roles – as both critics/reviewers and art producers. It’s also important to challenge the taste makers and gatekeepers in the arts, especially those who like to dazzle and, sometimes, befuddle with language games and (apparent) knowledge. Also, to the artists who place technical virtuosity above all else.

As part of Hotshoe Blog supporting the Colombo Art Biennalee (CAB) 2012, the Roaming Eye (tRE) – who has been travelling off shore looking at all creatures great and small – is delighted to share the talks and conversations scheduled for the festival. It’s an exciting and interesting line up with international and local artists and curators contributing to a diverse range of topics. The schedule is still evolving, so keep checking in as relevant updates will be posted. However, The Roaming Eye will be at the biennale for the 18 and 19 February and will be reporting from the festival, talking to some of the photographers and visual artists and attending a couple of the talks on those days.

Of particular interest to readers of this blog is photojournalist, activist, writer and curator Dr Shahidul Alam from Bangladesh. The Roaming Eye hopes to do a short interview with him for the blog, so look out for it as a short podcast especially if you’re unfamiliar with his work.

It’s always good to discover new things and search for fresh perspectives – one of the hallmarks of Hotshoe and its tagline. But we’re also aware that it’s easy to say we do it but the proof is in actually getting out there and doing it – not just saying we do. Otherwise, we’re just blowing hot air. Plus, in an increasingly global world, a global approach is needed to stave of Eurocentrism and Northern-America bias in the photography and arts worlds.

See more for details of some of the scheduled talks.

VIP Art Fair 2.0 returns for a second year online from 3 to 8 February

Enter the Art World online from tomorrow, preview day today.

VIP Art Fair online discussion with Catherine Opie 3 February 10:00 EST

For the second year, the VIP Art Fair 2.0 (Viewing In Private, not Very Important Person) goes live to the general public from tomorrow 3-8 February and further expands its geographic footprint, with over 115 galleries representing 33 countries. New for the fair is the Editions and Multiples hall, where museums and art institutions will offer multiples and editions for purchase during the fair.

There are a number of online discussions including:

VIP Art Fair online discussion with Ai Weiwei 3 February 10:00 EST.

The Art Market with Michael Plummer today at 10:00 EST as well as Catherine Opie: ‘Girlfriends‘ with Diana Nyad and Ai Weiwei: ‘Surveillance Camera’ tomorrow at 10:00 EST. You need to sign up to take part.

VIP 2.0 is available on all browsers, iPad, and all major mobile devices. See last years’ post about the Gagosian Gallery at the VIP Art Fair.