The private view / final event of the graduate residency at The Lombard Method happened on friday! Despite it being -8 in the building it was well attended and people seemed to like the work!
I showed 5 identical A1 prints; this repition was refrencing the Copy + Paste / file sharing culture through which they were created, the repitition also enforced the idea of networks and in a more general way they provided a backdrop to the proformance. I also had some neon a little away from these prints which extended the idea of a backdrop but also acted as a remote method of thinking about the studio group as a node in an extending network of (young) artist led activity. The final thing I showed was 9 scripts positioned on a quickly assembled table.
Despite all the refrences to performance there was no performance happening. It will be performed at another artist led space at some point in the future which will enforce the idea of studio groups constructing a network. In place of the actual characters (whom were all lombard studio holders, myself and winston) I will use other artists so that they become avatars for the original cast.
Cardall Collection wise I have started collating my research on Lilley Smith and have made an appointment with what is now a hotel but was once his eye and ear hospital where I will document various things that refernce his work, particually a large plaque on the front of the building!
I have also made a new body of work titled 10 Commandments, it consists of 10 animated GIFs and I’ve put them all up online @ www.ryanhughesprojects.tumblr.com I’m now developing how they will exist in a gallery context and will give more information on that soon. In the mean time I have written this text to further explain the work:
10 Commandments provides a newly conceived version of the religious notion of the 10 commandments; less concerned with worship than they are with politics. They are a series of quotes, from authors, artists and musicians, by which to live your life as well as to contextualise my practice. They provide an alternative to capitalism. They provide an alternative to organised religion.
The show contains 10 animated GIF’s; each piece of work has an image as its base on top of which the Commandments are animated. The images are taken straight from Google and the text straight from books; this making process enforces 2 of the commandments; namely, Decriminalize File Sharing and Collaboration is the Answer. The American anarchist Hakim Bey has discussed this approach to production by saying “we are the thieving magpies or the hunter/gatherers of the world of CommTech”.
