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Christopher Andrews: Retrospective

Mar 212013

How would you like to be remembered?

Christopher Andrews : Retrospective exhibition will be held at the Norwegian Church Arts Centre, Cardiff Bay from Monday 15th – Friday 19th April and Sunday 21st April 2013. Entrance is free. Opening hours are 10am – 6pm.

Christopher Andrews passed away in 2008 at the age of 38. He studied, lived and worked in Cardiff showing promise as an exceptional artist in fine art with his work exhibited locally and abroad. In 1996 Chris co-founded the Kings Road studio in Canton which is still in use sixteen years later. He was an art critic contributing to several local publications including SKIP.

Christopher Andrews : Retrospective has been organised by curator Gideon Hall with the aim to display Chris’s legacy to as wide an audience as possible. Norwegian Church Arts Centre, with its location, history and presence, is an ideal venue to present Chris’s art to the public.

Curator Gideon Hall, himself an artist says “I was fortunate to know Chris and witness the emergence of a talented and unique artist.” Professor Anthony Howell recently remarked that Christopher Andrews was “A very interesting young artist, always enthusiastic …who made perceptive comments.”

Christopher Andrews : Retrospective is free to attend and the costs are being crowdfunded through Sponsume. If you can donate to this exhibition please go to www.sponsume.com/project/chrisopher-andrews-retrospective or email Gideon Hall at christopherandrewsart@gmail.com

Find out more:
www.facebook.com/christopherandrewsart
www.facebook.com/events/205734059572140/

Christopher Andrews Art

Norwegian Church

@gideonhall0

Journalist Marc Thomas with news from Cardiff School of Art and Design

Art, Business, Cardiff Ambassador, Digital No Responses »

Dec 062012

Last month saw the announcement in Cardiff of the winner of the international Lumen Prize Exhibition for digitally-created fine art. Tommy Ingberg of Sweden collected first prize for his piece Torn which depicts a man ‘torn’ between the sky and the ground by balloons and a boulder.
The prize, now in its second year, was started by business and financial journalist Carla Rapoport in an effort to draw the world’s attention to the amazing art being created by all the new technology that has rained down on artists worldwide, from the ubiquitous smartphone to tablets to the latest computer software.

“I was really taken with all the changes happening to so many industries because of the IT revolution and the impact techhology was having on art being a huge fan of David Hockney’s work. I’ve always had an interest in art as a member of various museums, attending private views and always wanting to spend as much time as possible in front of great art. It’s such a pleasure to be in the presence of genius,” says Rapoport. “I thought it might make sense to set up a competition to provide a bar to which artists who use this genre can reach. I see the Lumen Prize Exhibition as a means of breaking the log jam of acceptability of this genre by the established art world.”

Rapoport, the US-born CEO and Founder of the Lumen Prize Exhibition, has long been a fan of art. For her, fine art is unlike any other cultural discipline because of the proximity that it allows the viewer.

“It’s such a pleasure to be in the presence of genius. While music is fabulous and the theatre is fantastic, you can’t actually stand as close to genius as you can to visual art. You can’t get that close to an actor or an orchestra,” she explains. “Attending a visual art exhibition is perhaps the most exciting cultural thing that you can do. I realised that technology was a great enabler for artists but I also recognised that digitally-created fine art had been shoved off into a corner of the art world. I think this was the simple reason that no-one knew how to sell it.”

Rapoport admits that the response to the Prize has been overwhelming. Between its launch in May 2012 and now, 1000 people have registered on the Prize’s website. When the contest closed its call for entries last summer, Lumen had received over 500 submissions of work from over 30 countries for its 2012 competition.

“The Prize was set up to recognise the very best in art created digitally and then take that art around the world on a global tour. Digital art has the unique ability to be shared and enjoyed via the web or on web-enabled devices, so it can be seen in places where traditional art is already, but also where it can’t be seen,” she says of the art prize which is unlike any other. “From the very start, I wanted the Lumen Prize to engage with a charity, so I took it to Peace Direct which enables and support local peace builders in conflict zones. The charity loved the idea and helped to give us a home so that we could get the project off the ground by providing us with strategy and logistical support. Then, thanks support from the City of Cardiff, we now have a physical home for the Prize.”

In a world that has been rendered increasingly borderless through technology and networking, the story of how the Lumen ended up in the capital of Wales instead of a major world city is a funny one.

It was on a train journey between her home in the Brecon Beacons and London, where Rapoport was working at the time, that she, by chance, sat next to Professor Terry Stevens, an expert in City and Regional Development as well as the Digital Economy.

“I told him what I was doing and he said he loved the idea and that he would be happy to introduce me to Ken Poole who is in charge of the City Council’s resurgence and regeneration activities,” she recalls. “Within ten weeks we had a deal with the City of Cardiff to partner with us for 3 years. Terry also introduced me to Gaynor Kavanagh, Dean at Cardiff School of Art & Design. I met Gaynor for a coffee and extraordinarily kindly, she accompanied me on my first meeting with Ken Poole about the Prize. That was an amazing leap of faith for her – to come along with someone she had just met.”

The judging process of the Lumen Prize is complex but through its complexity, thoroughness is ensured.

“We judge the works in two ways. First, an International Selection Committee of academics and art experts review 100 works each. We structure this so each work submitted to the Lumen Prize is seen by at least 5 committee members. The top 50 works – which make up the Lumen Prize Exhibition – are chosen through this review are then submitted to our Jury Panel of 8 top artists, gallery owners and art critics. These panel members review all 50 of the works and select the 20 works on our shortlist and our three top prize winners,” Rapoport explains. “Also, all the submitted works appeared in a Lumen Online Gallery where there was an open vote for the People’s Choice Winner. Next year, we will invite works into the Lumen Online Gallery for the People’s Choice competition.”

The judging panel of eight industry experts includes nationally-known artist Gordon Young; Ivor Davies, President of the Royal Cambrian Academy and Anne Farrer, programme director at Sotheby’s Institute. In keeping with the digital aspect of the Prize, none of the judges met in person to discuss the shortlist. It was all done online. This is just one of the ideas that makes it so special.

“Digital art is uniquely enabling. It can be created anywhere in the world without the need for canvas, oils, studio or any of those other things. It can be done with an iPad or a computer or any digital device,” Rapoport explains when asked of its importance. “It has incredible potential for what it can do, for example, in education, or in bringing people together who can’t speak, as well as the rehabilitation for the elderly, brain damaged and infirm. There’s so many ways that digital art can bring joy and uplift to people in any kind of situation. Imagine taking a brain-damaged child and trying to get them to work with oil. That would be very hard. But a brain-damaged child could put their finger on a tablet and create something very beautiful. The luminosity of our tablets creates a great effect.”

Like any advance in a traditional industry, digital art has its critics. Carla Rapoport’s response to those who dispute the value of digital art is to ask whether they believe a print made by a press to be art or why photographers like Andreas Gursky can sell their photographs for millions.

“Where the critics of digital art misunderstand is that they associate it with commercial art because dog food commercials are created digitally,” she rebukes. “The person who creates that imagery is not an artist because they are working commercially. But when that person goes home at night, what they create on their iPad could well be fine art and shown in museums. Because an artist does dog food commercials in the day, does that mean they can’t be an artist?”

Very thankful to both the City of Cardiff and Cardiff School of Art & Design, Carla Rapoport is at the head of a very exciting art prize which has the potential to showcase the work of lesser-known artists from around the world and give them a platform for praise.

The Lumen Prize Exhibition – a global tour to five cities – will be launched at Gallery 27, Cork Street, London on January 22 and run to Janurary 26 before moving to Riga, Latvia, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and returning to Cardiff in last March 2013. The 50 artists chosen for the Lumen Prize Exhibition come from 13 countries and 43 cities around the world, including Pakistan, Israel, Iran, Taiwan, and China.

Marc Thomas

Teresa Margolles wins the £40,000 Artes Mundi 5 International Art prize

Art, Film, Performance No Responses »

Nov 302012

The winner of the Artes Mundi 5 prize was announced in an evening ceremony at National Museum Cardiff. From a shortlist of 7, Teresa Margolles has been chosen as the winner of the prize by a panel of international curators and directors. With a first prize of £40,000, Artes Mundi is the largest cash prize awarded for the arts in the UK and one of the most significant in the world. The exhibition, which opened in October has already had 30,000 visitors.

The Panel of judges, chaired by curator and broadcaster Tim Marlow, commended the work of all seven nominated artists, but were particularly struck by “the visceral power and urgency as well as the sophistication of her work in confronting an on-going human tragedy”.

Teresa Margolles’ work focuses on Northern Mexican social experience where drug-related crime has resulted in widespread violence and murder. Since graduating with a diploma in forensic medicine, Margolles has examined the economics of death and her sculptural interventions and performances often bring the physical reality and materiality of death to the fore, exemplified in her artistic intervention during the 2009 Venice Biennale in which the floor of the Mexican pavilion was mopped with water used to wash dead bodies from a morgue in Mexico.

In both works chosen for Artes Mundi, death is a major theme. In Plancha, water which has been used to cleanse dead bodies in a morgue drips from the ceiling onto hotplates. Each drop evaporates on impact with a noticeable hiss. The work seeks to narrate the transition in death from present to absent, the processes of decomposition and ultimately honours anonymous lives that have been lost. 32 años Levantamiento y traslado donde cayo el cuerpo asesinado del artista Luis Miguel Suro for which Margolles has chosen to transport and exhibit the tiles from the floor on which Luis Miguel Suro, a close friend and a promising young artist, was murdered in Guadalajara, Mexico. The displacement of these tiles brings the crime and violence associated with them inside the museum itself.

The international judging panel comprises Ute Meta Bauer. Dean of Fine Art, Royal College of Art, London, Adam Budak, International Curator for Contemporary Art, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, Kathrin Becker, Head of Video Forum , nbk, Berlin, Karen MacKinnon, Curator, Glyn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Tim Marlow, Exhibitions Director, White Cube, London, Sabine Schaschl. Director, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel.

Presenting the prize, First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones said:

“I would like to congratulate Teresa Margolles on winning Artes Mundi 5. The competition continues to go from strength to strength, and is truly international in its reach. It is a great privilege to be able to host the event in Wales and it plays a major role in our nation’s vibrant cultural scene.”

In association with Artes Mundi, the Derek Williams Trust Purchase Award of £30,000, to acquire a work by one of the shortlisted artists for Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales contemporary art collection, will go to Tania Bruguera for Displacement, 1998-99.

Howard Evans, Executive Trustee from Derek Williams Trust said

“The Trust is delighted to support the Museum and its partnership with Artes Mundi by funding the Derek Williams Purchase Prize Award. Our long-term support of this initiative has been of real importance to the Museum and its development of an ambitious collection of international contemporary art. The Award ensures that the very best international art will be seen here in Wales in the years to come.”

2012 will be founding board member William Wilkin’s last year as chairman. William Wilkins conceived Artes Mundi 12 years ago and retires after helping to facilitate many great achievements for both Artes Mundi and the contemporary visual arts in Wales. It was announced tonight that Mathew Prichard would be the next Chair of the Artes Mundi Board. His wide experience of the arts in Wales and elsewhere will be a great asset in the future development of the Prize. It will also mark Ben Borthwick’s final Artes Mundi as Artistic Director and CEO. Borthwick joined the organization after seven years at Tate Modern and having delivered a successful Artes Mundi 5, will be leaving to pursue international curatorial projects.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is principal sponsor of the Artes Mundi 5 Exhibition and Prize which runs at National Museum Cardiff and Chapter until 13 January 2013. This year will also welcome the inclusion of an audience choice poll for the prize, allowing the public to vote for their favourite artist. The results of the poll will be revealed just before the close of the exhibition.

www.artesmundi.org
@ArtesMundi

Come Draw with Me!

Art, Design No Responses »

Oct 252012

Join five of Wales’ most exciting artists for a unique evening of creativity and discovery at National Museum Cardiff on 8th November. Share their inspiration in the museum’s world-famous collections and enjoy privileged access to the Impressionist and Modern Art galleries. Refresh and develop your own drawing skills in the workshop of your choice. Wind down with the artists over refreshments and collect a goody bag of top quality STAEDTLER art materials.

Brendan Stuart Burns distils an intense engagement with landscape into paint. He will invite his group to explore ‘rhythms in space’ by responding expressively and intuitively to the Museum’s grand hall and a sound-track to create a dynamic temporary installation of 3-D drawings.

Laura Ford blends humour, melancholy and darkness in her work. Inspired by surrealism, she is interested in the ambiguities and implications of looking and being looked at. She has represented Wales at the Venice Biennale and is working on a commission to create four giant animal sculptures for Heidelberg.

Marega Palser, half of the performing partnership Mr and Mrs Clark, trained in fine art and dance. Her workshop aims to capture movement by testing her participants’ dexterity and following a dancer’s pattern of movement. She hopes her group will have fun while discovering new and liberating approaches to drawing.

Stephen West uses drawing as a primary art form, and marks – drawn, painted or chiseled – are his basic elements. Alongside sculpture by Epstein, Gill and Gaudier-Brzeska, he will encourage participants to use observation and mark-making in a variety of materials to explore what they see, combining primitive, dynamic and careful drawing.

Sue Williams makes canvas, theatre and film installations and sees drawing as urgent, immediate communication. Since 2003 she has made over 1,000 drawings investigating the ‘spaces in-between’. Joined by David Alston, Arts Director, Arts Council of Wales, her group will investigate the personal dialogue informing drawings by Rodin and Gwen John before creating their own.

Sue Grayson Ford, Campaign for Drawing Director comments, ”Each artist has shown enormous enthusiasm to make this event memorable. I am sure that participants will find their enthusiasm contagious – whether beginners or expert drawers. Thanks to STAEDTLER and Fabriano, this is also an opportunity to experiment with first-rate materials.”

Deborah Wood of National Museum Wales said, “We’ve always supported the Big Draw campaign at National Museum Cardiff and hold drawing activities annually for children, so we’re delighted to host something a little different for adults. This is a wonderful opportunity for people to participate in a creative and imaginative way and engage with well-known artists in the fantastic surroundings of the Impressionist and Modern Art galleries.

Come Draw with Me!
8 November, 6.00- 8.30pm
National Museum Cardiff

£25 ticket includes refreshments, all art materials for the evening, privileged entry to the museum and a goody bag of STAEDTLER products
only available on line from www.bigdrawshop.co.uk

Digital fine art prize puts Cardiff on world stage

Art, Design, Digital, New Media No Responses »

Oct 192012

The winners of the first competition for digitally-created fine art by artists from around the world were announced in Cardiff today.

Tommy Inberg from Upplands Väsby Sweden, won US$3000 for his evocative photomontage, Torn. Runner-up prize of US$1000 went to Patrick Van Roy, a Belgian artist, with his social commentary photomontage, the church, and third place went to Stephen Hilyard, artist and Associate Professor of Digital Arts at the University of Wisconsin, USA for a time-based work called One Life.

The Lumen Prize is based in the city of Cardiff as part of a three-year partnership with Cardiff Council. Ken Poole, the city’s head of economic development, said: “This partnership is another step forward as Cardiff generates a growing reputation for innovation and as a hub for creative industries. We are looking forward to working with the Lumen Prize during their world tour when the name of the capital of Wales will be associated with this far-sighted initiative. It will certainly help to showcase the city’s business credentials and encourage more digital investment into the city, which was recently boosted by a £11 million investment in superfast broadband.”

The winners were selected by an international jury panel from over 500 works submitted from over 30 countries globally, all of which were created with a wide range of cutting-edge tools, including tablets, smartphones, digital photography software and moving-image technology.

“The extraordinary high quality of the Lumen Prize winners show that this genre of fine art is coming of age,” says Professor Gaynor Kavanagh, Dean of the Cardiff School of Art and Design, who awarded the prizes at a ceremony at City Hall.

Today’s three winners will also feature as part of The Lumen Prize Exhibition that will travel to venues worldwide starting in January 2013.

Find out more www.lumenprize.com
@Lumenprize

Creative Cardiff ready to forge ahead

Art, Cardiff Ambassador, Design, Digital, Film, Music, New Media, Performance, Welsh No Responses »

Oct 102012

Cardiff struck a chord with members of the audience for the city’s Creative Exchange at the home of Bafta in London. The event was set up to show off the creative credentials of the capital of Wales with just one year to go until WOMEX, the leading world music showcase comes to the city.

Roger Pride, managing director of Cardiff & Co, who set up the event, said speakers had praised Cardiff as a forward-looking and innovative city.

He said: “I was struck by how enthusiastic both the speakers and the audience were at this event. The movement within Cardiff is now very much in the vanguard for the development of smaller cities.

“It is clear that there is more to attracting new business to a city than bricks and mortar, labour pool and the grants regime.

“Increasingly, people look beyond those hygiene factors and seek out the inner quality of a place.

“I was struck by how closely what we are doing in Cardiff matches the way academic writers are describing successful cities. It is basically that people make places – and the quality of life a city can offer is critical in attracting investment.

“Any number of cities have the basics but it will be the creative, innovative places that attract the people to build success. Cardiff looks to be well placed to take advantage of its quality of life and the Creative Exchange was a great opportunity to let a London audience share the city’s vision.”

View the Cardiff Creates video below or click here to see the Flickr Gallery from the evening.

Cardiff counts down to WOMEX, the world music event

Art, Business, Cardiff Ambassador, Design, Digital, Film, Literature, Music, New Media, Performance, Welsh No Responses »

Oct 052012

With a year to go until Cardiff hosts WOMEX, the leading world music showcase, the city is taking the Cardiff Creative Exchange to London to show off the creative credentials of the capital of Wales.

The event, at BAFTA in Piccadilly on October 8, will attract a London-based media and creative services audience with a flavour of what’s in store at WOMEX and a panel discussion led by Cardiff-born radio presenter Huw Stephens, who also co-founded the city’s Sŵn Festival.

Cardiff is rapidly developing a strong international reputation as a cultural hub, boasting events and activities such as:

Artes Mundi – the UK’s largest international prize for contemporary visual artists, a biennial event which attracts artists from around the world, now in Cardiff for the fifth time

BBC Cymru Wales Roath Lock studios – drama village, home to Doctor Who, Casualty, Pobol y Cwm, Wizards vs Aliens, Sherlock?

Cardiff Contemporary – a visual arts exposé throughout the city in October and November 2012

Cardiff Design Festival – covering all forms of design, runs Sept 28 – Oct 14

Cardiff Music Festival – young classical singers showcased at various venues throughout Cardiff

Porth Teigr – a new Cardiff Bay development offering opportunities for businesses in the creative industries

Sŵn Festival – a city-wide contemporary music event, Oct 18-21 2012

Soundtrack Film and Music Festival – celebrating the powerful relationship between the two art forms, and has featured Danny Boyle and Gabriel Yared, Nov 14-18 2012

This burgeoning reputation provides the backdrop to Cardiff winning the bid over eight other cities to host WOMEX 13 (October 23 – 27 2013).

Adrian Clark, chairman of Cardiff & Co, the city’s marketing company, said: “Winning WOMEX for 2013 was a real coup for Cardiff. Cardiff is now one of the UK’s top centres for creative and media industries. It has shown it can attract established major international events such as Artes Mundi and has also become the city of choice for innovative awards such as the Lumen prize – the world’s first digital fine art prize.“

Daniela Teuber, WOMEX Director of Production has said: “The city offers a most favourable setting for our complex event and its 2500 delegates and many artists from all over the globe: truly professional, highly motivated local production partners; wonderful venues matching our multifaceted needs in close proximity; and Wales’ outstanding cultural wealth, hospitality and scenic beauty.”

Cardiff Creative Exchange is produced by Cardiff & Co, the body responsible for marketing the city, and takes place at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly from 6.30pm on Monday October 8.

Further Artes Mundi Exhibition details announced

Art, Digital, Film, New Media, Performance No Responses »

Sep 142012

Artes Mundi 5 is delighted to announce further details about the 2012 exhibition, including new works created especially for this year’s edition by shortlisted artists Miriam Bäckström, Tania Bruguera, Darius Mikšys and Apolonija Šušteršič, as well as a range of additional works by shortlisted artists, Phil Collins, Sheela Gowda and Teresa Margolles. Artes Mundi 5 will also feature a strong programme of artist performances and participatory events which represents a major new focus for this year’s exhibition and prize.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION AND PRIZE

Taking place from 6 October 2012, Artes Mundi 5 will feature the work of seven ground-breaking contemporary artists of growing international importance whose practices engage with social reality, lived experience and the human condition. The exhibition will take place at the National Museum of Art under the roof of National Museum Cardiff. For the first time Artes Mundi will also be in partnership with organisations such as Cardiff-based multidisciplinary arts centre Chapter, who will provide an additional venue for some of the works. The winner of the prize will be announced at a special award ceremony taking place on 29 November 2012 at National Museum Cardiff. With a first prize of £40,0000, Artes Mundi is the largest cash prize awarded for the arts in theUKand one of the most significant in the world. For Artes Mundi 5, each shortlisted artist will receive £4,000 and one of the artists will be selected for a solo exhibition, to be presented in 2014 in the lead up to Artes Mundi 6, at the recently refurbished Mostyn Gallery in Llandudno,Wales. This year will also welcome the inclusion of an audience choice poll for the prize, allowing the public to vote for their favourite artist and work in the exhibition. The results of the poll will be revealed at the close of the exhibition in January 2013.

NEW WORKS

Swedish artist Miriam Bäckström will present a new large scale tapestry Smile as if we have already won. Reflecting her practice which explores the processes of creating and recreating memory using photography, text, theatre and video, Smile as if we have already won mixes cotton, wool, silk and lurex, woven into a massive 3 meter high and 12 meter wide scene. Hung in an arc across the gallery space, the tapestry will depict figures in a room composed of mirror fragments, creating the sense that the work is simultaneously claustrophobic and infinitely expanding.

Cuban artist Tania Bruguera will be presenting Immigrant Respect Campaign, as part of her long-term art project, Immigrant Movement International (2010-2015). The work is an artist-initiated socio-political movement exploring what defines an ‘immigrant’. The campaign will feature the symbol of the Immigrant Respect ribbon and include a projection of the artist’s work on the front of National Museum Cardiff on Thursday 4 October, alongside a poster campaign throughout centralCardiff. Visitors to the exhibition at the National Museum of Art will also be invited to sign a Moral Commitment Contract promoting immigrants’ rights.

Lithuanian artist Darius Mikšys will present a new work The Code. Taking Eglė Obcarskaitė’s essay about Mikšys for the Artes Mundi 5 exhibition catalogue, the text has been deconstructed into ‘search terms’. These have then been fed into the National Museum Wales’ seven collection databases and the results of which will create a unique installation that forms a portrait of the artist and his practice through objects in the Museum’s collection. Mikšys’ practice is known to explore installation as a means to experiment, conceptualise and re-imagine the processes of making, displaying and engaging with art.

Architect and visual artist Apolonija Šušteršič will present her new work Politics “In Space”/ Tiger Bay Project, which looks at the development of the Cardiff Bay area following the completion of the barrage. This project will expand on her practice which responds to contemporary urban regeneration and the social, political, economic and environmental issues surrounding it. Presented in the form of a video installation, Šušteršič has engaged with a variety of individuals and organisations involved with and opposed to the development, to explore its past, present and future.

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL ART WORKS

Additional highlights to be displayed include British artist Phil Collins will be presenting his work free fotolab which offers the viewer a glimpse into the lives of strangers. Collins offered individuals, in several European cities, free processing and prints from their undeveloped rolls of films in return for the rights to use them. The result is a nine-minute slideshow including holiday snaps, weddings, pets and other private moments. Using performance-based and conceptual approaches to video and photography Collins’ work often explores the very essence of what it is to be human.

Indian artist Sheela Gowda’s large-scale abstract sculpture, Kagebangara, comprising tar drums, sourced from Indian road workers, alongside yellow and blue plastic tarpaulin. This is exemplary of Gowda’s sculptural and installation practice insofar as it explores how materials can make specific reference to the social and cultural context ofIndia. In this work Gowda subtly references the source materials original use, which in this case brings shelters like those built by the migrant construction workers along the roadside into the gallery space.

Having trained in forensic medicine, Mexican artist Teresa Margolles, examines the economics of death through sculptural interventions and performances. In this exhibition she will present one of her ‘multisensory’ sculptures. In Plancha, water which has been used to cleanse dead bodies in the morgue drips from the ceiling onto hotplates. Each drop evaporates on impact with a noticeable hiss. The work will seek to narrate the transition in death from present to absent, the processes of decomposition and ultimately honours anonymous lives that have been lost.

PERFORMANCE WORKS AND OFFSITE PROJECTS

Performances and offsite projects to be featured as part of Artes Mundi 5 include Phil Collins’ This Unfortunate Thing Between Us.Split in two broadcasts to be screened in retro caravans on the forecourt of Chapter Arts Centre, this work takes the format of a teleshopping channel, but instead of commodities for sale viewers have a choice of ‘fantasies at promotional prices’. Hosted by a cast of actors from a range of professions including stand up, teleshopping and pornography with a live soundtrack by Gruff Rhys and Y Niwl, viewers are invited to watch both the sale and the fulfilment of these experiences.

Miriam Bäckström will be presenting two performances of her play Motherfucker at Chapter Arts Centre. Exploring the complex roles, positions and perspectives within a relationship, a female director asks a male actor to forge a character whom she wants to meet in order to be able to leave. The use of performance mixed with live video feed will create a paradox between the real and mediated video that is simultaneously being projected.

Other artist projects include Live Talk Show, a public panel discussion as part of Apolonija Šušteršič’s Politics “In Space”/ Tiger Bay Project. It will discuss the redevelopment ofCardiffBay aiming to draw out and add to the debates raised in Šušteršič’s installation. During the five days of Experimentica 12, Chapter’s annual live art festival, 1x1x1 will feature one film, by one artist, for one day each. Screened in Chapter Gallery it will include films by Teresa Margolles, Phil Collins, Tania Bruguera, Miriam Bäckström and Apolonija Šušteršič.

Ben Borthwick, Artistic Director, Artes Mundi said:

“It is a really exciting development for Artes Mundi that so many of the international artists are creating new work for the exhibition. Through these commissions there is a direct engagement with the social and economic context ofCardiff, a reconsideration of National Museum Wales’ collections, and reflection on the complexities of individual and collective identity. And for the first time a number of projects will be presented outside the museum, accessing new audiences and activating the relationship between the artwork and public space.”

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is principal sponsor of the Artes Mundi 5 Exhibition and Prize this year. As a company serving clients in more than 90 countries, it is committed to a diverse programme of cultural support. The company’s art and culture platform is a key element of its broader corporate responsibility strategy which seeks to develop substantive solutions for social and environmental challenges.

Find out more www.artesmundi.org
@ArtesMundi

Line up for UK’s biggest contemporary art prize announced

Art, New Media No Responses »

Mar 122012

ven artists use a wide range of materials, actions, and strategies to engage with social issues and comment on society.  

The shortlist for the fifth Artes Mundi Prize was announced by Ben Borthwick, Artes Mundi’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director at the end of January 2012, following an extensive research process by the two selectors - Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Curator of Contemporary Art at Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York and curatorial agent for dOCUMENTA (13), and Anders Kreuger, Curator at M HKA in Antwerp, Belgium.  The selectors chose from over 750 nominations, including 576 individual artists from more than 90 countries, identifying artists whose work explores and comments on lived experience. 

The seven artists picked for this year’s Artes Mundi, sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch as part of its Arts and Culture Programme, and publicly funded by the Arts Council of Wales and Cardiff Council are:

Miriam Bäckström (Sweden), Tania Bruguera (Cuba), Phil Collins (England), Sheela Gowda (India), Teresa Margolles (Mexico), Darius Mikšys (Lithuania) and Apolonija Šušteršič (Slovenia).

Some of the artists look at specific cultural or historical contexts while others engage with broader themes of human experience. The range of nationalities, themes and artistic media demonstrates the scope of the Artes Mundi Prize, which will be underlined in a major exhibition of works by the shortlisted artists at Wales’s new National Museum of Art from 6 October 2012. The 14-week exhibition will be installed in almost 800 square metres of new contemporary art galleries, reinforcing Artes Mundi’s longstanding partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. 

An international judging panel will award the £40,000 prize midway through the exhibition in November 2012.  All other shortlisted artists will receive a new award of £4,000 each.  A new partnership with Mostyn, the contemporary gallery in North Wales, will also see one of the shortlisted artists present a solo show there in the 2013.

Ben Borthwick, Artes Mundi’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director who joined the team from Tate Modern in 2010 said: 

“We are delighted with the exceptional quality of this shortlist which was drawn from a very strong field of nominations. I look forward to welcoming the artists to Wales and creating an exhibition in October that will give audiences the opportunity to engage with the most exciting international contemporary art.”

Anders Kreuger, one of the selectors, added: 

"Shortlisting for Artes Mundi has been an honour - and a responsibility to be taken seriously. Almost 600 artists were nominated this year, and it was a huge challenge to whittle these highly accomplished individuals down to just seven. We have chosen seven very different but equally talented artists, of different generations and from all across the globe, to exhibit at National Museum of Art this autumn."

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the principal sponsor of the Artes Mundi 5 Exhibition and Prize this year. The company invests in nearly 5,000 arts organisations worldwide supporting all art forms with an emphasis on fostering greater cultural understanding.

Andrea Sullivan, head of Corporate Social Responsibility for Europe and the emerging markets (ex-Asia) at Bank of America Merrill Lynch commented:
“We wish to congratulate Artes Mundi for attracting a significant number of high calibre artists and for facilitating this exhibition against the backdrop of a tough economic year. Our involvement reflects the company’s commitment to supporting global arts and culture in the belief that the health of this sector boosts economies and helps societies to thrive.”

Richard Burton, the early years – at RWCMD

Art, Film, Performance No Responses »

Nov 102011

From 2 November, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama will host an exhibition that sheds new light on Richard Burton’s early life here in Wales, donated on permanent loan by Burton’s niece, Rhianon James Trowell. The exhibition was opened by Burton’s second cousin, Llewela Gibbons, who was raised with him, and his great nephew, Guy Masterson.

The College opened its £22.5 million new facilities earlier this year, naming its new 160 seat theatre after the great Welsh actor. The bronze bust of Burton, given to the College by Dame Elizabeth Taylor at the Royal Gala event at Buckingham Palace, now stands at the theatre entrance.

Richard Burton Exhibition

For the first time Burton’s school and Eisteddfod certificates can be seen together with his school cricket team photograph from 1939 and a simple wooden tray he made in for his sister Cecilia. After a brief spell at Oxford University, Burton was posted to Canada with the RAF at the end of World War II and his letters and postcards home provide an intriguing insight to a young man on the cusp of greatness. The trunk was used by Burton in the early 1950s during his many trans-Atlantic voyages and has been gifted by RWCMD graduate, Josh Richards who can also be heard reading the postcards and letters on the attached ipad.

The Burton family have not only endorsed the naming of the new theatre after Richard Burton, but have also granted the College’s resident company of actors the title of ‘The Richard Burton Company’. Synonymous with a passion and talent for acting, the Burton legacy will continue to be an inspiration to students at the Royal Welsh College.

“He was a very passionate and determined man and I know this new theatre in the capital of Wales will inspire future generations of young actors to follow in his footsteps.” Kate Burton

Richard Burton was a giant of the British and Broadway stage and one of Wales’ greatest actors. In the same month the College opened the theatre that bears his name, he was awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The first photo shows theatre design graduate, Kelly Bannister putting the finishing touches to the exhibition prior to the launch.

http://www.rwcmd.ac.uk

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