photograms

For this open studio I have made a series of Photograms to replace all my bags that have gone to Los Gatos Museum.
The few bags I had left are all on display hanging from a line or laying on the floor accompanied by the photograms.
here are close ups of the photograms:

Open studio

this is all what's left in my studio at Aberystwyth Arts Centre

All Packed Up Ready for Los Gatos Museum!

Tomorrow is open studio's here at Aberystwyth Arts Centre but the work of  almost three months has already gone, shipped to California to the Museum of Los Gatos were they are in good company together with all the other boxes that have previously been sent mainly from Dallas.
This Box is a special one though, and I hope the work will be still the same I have just finished making when I will open it up.  For economical reason I had to reduce the volume of the bags in order to reduce the size and therefore the cost of the shipment that apparently goes according to volumetric weight, took me a while to figure that all out. It was quite a mission to squash everything into my custom home made box to contain more than 8000 bags, compressed into vacuum bags and on the verge of explosion! Which will surely happen once I'll open it next! Or the bags will shoot out or they'll have morphed into some other sculptural creature!
Here are some pics:

Another delightful news! 24th Festival Les Instants Vidéo

......My Video: 'Unseasonal Migration. Travelling Plastic Bags' has been selected to be presented by the 24th Festival Les Instants Vidéo in France, and will be screened on the 9th November in Marseille
Isn't that fabulous?

The 24th Festival Les Instants Vidéo 2011 will be in Marseille (la Friche Belle de Mai, les Grands Terrains, La Traverse, Où, Espace Culture, Art/Position, La Tengente, Bastide St Joseph, Mémorial la Marseillaise) dfrom November 4th to 13^th.

Free entrance.

www.instantsvideo.com

CologneOFF VII

I AM VERY EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT MY VIDEO: 
'Sweep and weep, Weep and sweep, Under, Over, In, Out, Away' 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KveHXlbHojc
HAS BEEN SELECTED TO BE PRESENTED BY CologneOFF 2011 AND WILL BE SCREENED IN 2 OCCASIONS:
In Beirut@ Shams - The Sunflower 

31 Aug - 3 September 2011

more info about the Lebanese art center on 

http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=198

AND

In Riga/Latvia

@ Waterpieces Contemporary Art & Videoart Festival

 8-10 September 2011

On occasion of the release of CologneOFF VII - the 7th festival edition - online and offline - a catalogue has been released which is also listing the selected videos for Beirut, Budapest and Riga. It can be downloaded as PDF
http://downloads.nmartproject.net/CologneOFF7_catalogue.pdf

MORE INFO ON COLOGNE OFF 2011:

CologneOFF VII - the 7th festival edition in sequence -
will be officially launched online on 26 August 2011.

Standing under the motto of "art & the city", 
CologneOFF VII will represent the highlight of all until now released festival editions. 
More than 150 single channel films and videos by 120 artists/directors packed in 12 thematic compilations around "art & the city" represent a magnificent manifestation of a specific hybrid type of video art, which can be celebrated in different presentation formats.
more info about the selected films and videos -->
http://coff.newmediafest.org/blog/?page_id=1686

The 7th festival edition is the most comprehenive one so far, and it's also the first time, that a festival edition is simultaneously launched online and in physical space on three different venues - Beirut/Lebanon- Budapest/Hungary and Riga/Latvia.

But CologneOFF VII is not standing alone, but will become the 2nd column of the nomadic festival project "CologneOFF 2011/ 2012 - videoart in global context" and will extend and enrich it profoundly.

CologneOFF 2011 Beirut
is a cooperation with Shams - The Sunflower Beirut/Lebanon
31 Aug - 3 September 2011
learn more about this Lebanese art center on netMAXX --> http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=198
more info on--> http://coff.newmediafest.org/blog/?page_id=1621

CologneOFF 2011 Budapest
is a collaboration with
BuSho - Budapest International Shortfilm Festival
1-5 September 2011
learn more about this festival on netMAXX -->
http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=22

CologneOFF 2011 - Baltic Sea V - Riga
is a collaboration with the cultural organisation NOASS and
Waterpieces Contemporary and Video Art Festival Riga/Latvia
8-10 September 2011
learn more about NOASS on netMAXX ->
http://maxx.nmartproject.net/?p=209
more info on--> http://coff.newmediafest.org/blog/?page_id=1568

On occasion of this collaboration in the framework of the series of CologneOFF 2011 manifestations in countries around the Baltic Sea, a special catalogue has been released for Riga as an additional venue, which can be downloaded as PDF
--> http://downloads.nmartproject.net/CologneOFF2011_Riga.pdf

On occasion of CologneOFF VII online and offline launch, an individual catalogue has been released which can be downloaded as PDF
--> http://downloads.nmartproject.net/CologneOFF7_catalogue.pdf

SHEEP TO SHEEP

New Fashion Victims

A River streaming out of my window into my studio

DRESSING UP THE LANDSCAPE

OUTSIDE MY STUDIO WINDOW

I am now slowly coming to the packing up stages here in Aberystwyth and though I have a little fun playing around with what surrounds me!

SHEEP TO SHEEP

So the next day I wake up with all my sheep and swans and poodles, and went searching for welsh sheep. I was lucky this time! I cannot tell you the experience: the welsh sheep went crazy for my plastic creatures! They started charging towards us, Steady!  Despite my expectations of them scare away and my preoccupation of the best way to chase them into my picture frame!  At the beginning I thought me and my globalized plastic herd were under attack really quite scary. I was ready to jump off the fence and run out of surprise! At some point it got so loud with their screams of joy, I suppose, that I felt embarrassed. But what can I say I was flattered by such responsive audience! Truly great appreciation. No museum nor gallery could ever compare to this welcoming experience and I could not have hope of anything better. The sheep loved my sculptures and nibbled all over them (maybe because of the salt of the sea water from the day before) to the point I had to take them away and back to were they came form: into my studio, were they have became into a river!

SHEEP ON THE ROCKS.....and they BECAME SWANS.....

 Quickly my sheep got tired of pasturing and so we went down to the sea to feed on some algae. The tide was low and by sunset the sheep turned into swans, or better poodles, more likely, even if they still felt like sheep deep down!

PASTURE

 So by 8000 bags and still going, I decided to have a little break in between. Inspired by the Welsh landscape and playing with biblical references I set off with my little herd of plastic sheep to Clarech. During my explorations I thought I had found the perfect spot to set them in, so that I could blend them into the summer grazing together with all the local sheep. I have kept an eye on that spot for a while now but when got there yesterday, of course there were no bloody sheep anymore! All gone! Not one even one sheep left for the sake of art! No sheep around that I could see. I was really bummed. I lost my mojo and considered leaving and go to the pub instead, but it had been such an effort to just get there and carry the plastic beasts over the hills that I had to stick around for a bit longer and try to make something out of it even without any imspiration.....here are some pics