FIX09

FIX09

artists: Dan Shipsides
title: T5 Field Cinema
date: Saturday 28th September & Sunday 4th October
location: Somewhere in the Mourne Mountains

T5 Field Cinema is a project that involves getting a group of people, from various backgrounds, into the back of a VW T5 transporter and driving to various locations to watch films. On Saturday the trip went to the North Coast of the province and watched a number of films on the beach. I went on the Sunday excursion to the Mourne Mountains. After an hour long drive we reached a rocky track leading up to the mountain. It was such a rough track we all had to get out of the vehicle to stop it bottoming out on the small boulders. For the last 200 yards we even had to engage in some improvised road building; filing in large dips with rocks or rolling away larger rocks to enable the van to pass. We finally set up at the foot of the mountain with a number of precipitous rock faces looming over us. Apt, considering the first films were involved rock climbing in some way. Dan showed a recent film of his, Cioch 360, made by swinging a video camera attached to a long rope around his head whist stood on the top of a mountain. The noise and the speed of the images created a feeling of vertigo in the pit of the stomach. He also showed Underdeveloped, a Northern Irish climbing video and The Coming Race (Ben Rivers); the last being grainy black and white footage of the holy pilgrimage up Croagh Parick.

The aesthetic of showing the films in this location had an amplifying effect upon the content; for someone not remotely interested in rock climbing the urge to pick up a rope and start out was powerful. It facilitated a real understanding of the challenge and satisfaction one must feel when completing a climb.

The Final film was Herzog’s Aguirre – Wrath of God. Again considering our journey up it had particular resonance. Also the clear night sky meant it was cold and to sit through the film became somewhat of an endurance feat towards the end. Perversely though, this only added to the experience which was extremely enjoyable and an informative experiment into the situational context of engaging with film and video.

For more on the T5 Field Cinema see http://www.danshipsides.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl

FIX09

artists: MA Art in Public
title: The Anarchist Plot
date: Thursday 1st October and Friday 2nd October

I called down to the Eglantine community garden on Friday afternoon. A square of wasteland enclosed by the back of four rows of terraced houses and flats. The wasteland was transformed five years ago into an array of veg plots, flowerbeds, soft fruit tress and more by members of the local community. Unlike a traditional allotment the spaces are not sectioned off to individuals, but everyone takes responsibility of the whole space and works together. As part of FIX09 students from the MA Art in Public course at the University of Ulster realised a number of public art projects based in the garden. These included Sinead Conlon’s Ty Unnos; a freestanding shelter, which exploits a legal loophole. If it is completed between sunset and sunrise and includes a smoking chimney then the structure can legally remain and the land can be claimed as your own.

Later that Friday an outdoor meal was laid on with the produce from the garden itself.

The garden is a wonderful place in the middle of the city and mention must be made of the hard work the community have invested to make this amazing project happen. For more information on the Eglantine community garden see http://eglantine-community-garden.blogspot.com

FIX09

artists: Morgan O’Hara, Third Angel, John Byrne, Curious
date: Wed. 30th September

During the course of the festival Morgan O’Hara has been in attendance at various projects with her Live Transmissions: drawings made by tracing the movements of the hands of the people she encounters. I made note in an earlier post of a collaboration with Hugh O’Donnell and on Wednesday she held half hour sessions from 1pm until 7pm at The Crown Bar in Belfast City Centre. Situated in a traditional snug, she held conversation with the visitor while tracking and tracing the gestural movements of the person’s hand. For the later appointments Sinead O’Donnell joined her and performed an action piece that involved her painting her finger nails over and over. This resulted in two very distinct drawings being produced simultaneously.

Presentation performance was strongly represented at the Event, a format that draws upon the use of film, projected images and to some degree audience interaction. John Byrne mixed his up with an approach not unlike stand-up comedy. Third Angel used a simulation of corporate/governmental office procedural systems along with personal narrative to create a dysfunction of logic and investigation.

FIX09

artist: Phil Hessian
title: …pierced them to their tender hearts…
date: 01.10.09
duration: 20 mins

The lights are switched off. A UV darklight is left on, picking up green tape on the floor. The glowing green lines converge to a focal point where the artist sits facing the audience and facing seven cameras mounted onto tripods. The still cameras are wired to microphones and to mobile phones. When a caller rings a mobile it sets off the camera flash; its noise amplified – an electronic whine followed by the boom of the flash. The associations of mobile phones used as devices to trigger bombs and photographic flash units once used by the IRA as detonators adds a promise of threat to the performance. With a Uilleann pipe player sat to his left, Phil starts singing traditional Irish ballads. Someone calls the mobile attached to a camera flash call camera as often or as little as they like hum whine of flash attached to microphones mobile electronic uilleann pipe player traditional Irish Banks of the Bann incidental booms amplified flash electronic whine 12 seconds from phone call to flash boom down whine sitting some standing after-red of flash 4 missed calls O’Donnell Lord’s son hard to watch voice fighting through eclectro noises and flashes Lord O’Donnell sat his wife on his knee free stall in singing call the wall phone ring green arrow on screen down whine pause drone pipes turning voice into pipes boom Irish ballad Greenwood sigh all along along alonley down by fire she had a pen keen and sharp blue reflash all down the flash roll back go yer boy all blinded de de de de de de de de da da pipes from phone ringtone boom boom boom boom boom all down her pretty wood face boom she’s so free all down by the all along along so fine by the green sigh round by all flash boom flash boom a tender heart boom boom day down whine a-lonely e-minor chord did you have have applause cheers white plastic lilies on the chair in the gallery office sit read notes

FIX09

artists: Anne Quail, Elena Cassidy-Smith, Noemi Lakmaier

date: Tuesday 29th September
duration: all day

Excuse the delay in making these posts, finding the time to write-up notes among all that is going on is proving to be a task in itself. The following posts are a round-up of the highlights so far.

PS2 Open Platform

During the day various performance projects occurred at PS2, the Open Platform space for FIX09. Anne Quail gave tailor made actions to members of the public in one-to-one sessions; a interesting experiment, bringing action art into the everyday life of the visitor. Elena Cassidy-Smith had installed a makeshift tea-room and offered free tea and cake in exchange for conversation and a secret shared in a small group format. Unfortunately my companions in our shared session all knew each other and were not particularly keen to divulge personal secrets. Hideous Beast provided a polite silver/tin service. Later on, when the night-life grew livelier, Noemi Lakmaier had two ‘weeble’ balls on the street outside. Into these two participants installed themselves and attempted to kiss, oblivious to the passers-by.