Friday, 26 August 2011

MAX aka muse mark 2


These are some old shots of one of my friends Max from Uni. I had just got my new SLR and was taking a few cheeky shots during coffee break at Chelsea.

USER GROUP DISCO



You enter the room into blackness. An image of a solitary abstract plastic leg lingers in the corner of the screen. Glistening objects slowly fill the darkness. The pace quickens and these mundane household objects begin to whir and gyrate across the screen. The beat kicks in, and words begin to flash up onto the projection.

We have designated this place/this place here/ a hall/ it is a hall of sculptures/ though nothing in it would deserve that name/



This is the opening scene in Elizabeth Price's recent work 'User Group Disco'. Her 15 minute HD film, shown in galleries around the UK from London to Glasgow, spectacularly highlighting a humdrum of everyday objects propelling them into a higher state of importance underlining the theme of consumerism so relavent in our society.


It feels like we only ever catch a glimpse of these glossy devices, sleek and lustrous, seducing us further into the arms of consumerism. Words reminiscent of some abstract motivational seminar feel slightly hypnotic mixed in with the mesmerizing beat of the music. Even more disturbing is the eerily post -apocalyptic quality attached to them. The amalgamation of miscellaneous objects continues to flicker and spin across the screen, a combination of artefacts and household objects both displaying equal grandeur. Left wondering how to classify these objects, you linger intrigued.


Price is particularly concerned with archives and taxonomies: ‘ I don’t want my work to be seen as institutional critique, but perhaps one of its descendents. I’m interested in working with it not as a failed project but as an unfulfilled narrative.’

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

HOLIDAYS!



So where was I? Ahhh yes... Saying I would be starting to write my thesis. At the start of this blissful summer holiday I had boldly, or naively (I prefer boldly) planed that I would write my ENTIRE thesis thus removing me from the stress of having to do my practical and theoretical work at the same time in my last year of uni. Now some scoffed at my daring plans, I however resolutely told them that they were wrong, and that it would be me laughing in then end... It wasn't. My word count currently stands at zero, but that's alright. I've had a pretty amazing summer. Ibiza, New York, The Hamptons, London, Secret Garden Party, Edinburgh Festival and soon SW4. Cannot wait. I've also started working at The Hoxton Pony in Shoreditch which has to be the most fascinating place to work ever. Since working there I have met the most interesting people, from the intensely cool dj's, dropping insane beats on the dancefloor(ayyeee), to the heroic bouncers, bravely beating away drunks away from the door, to the tattooed enigma that is Charlie the Bartender. But anyways that's whole other story... In the meantime some photographs from The Hamptons and NY..



Anna: Dress and Heels TopshopMe, left: Dress- ASOS (borrowed from a friend)
Shoes- Kurt Geiger
Bag- Zara

Me (second from left): Dress- Zara
Heels as before