Katie Patterson Artist Talk

"Vatajokull" (the sound of)

Patterson is a London based artist who explores connectivity by way of moonlight, melting glaciers and dead stars. In this piece of work she placed a microphone with mobile-phone connection underneath an Icelandic Glacier. Whilst in the gallery space a neon number invited the audience to call the number and connect to the glacier. While this work looks very much gallery based the implications pull the audience in all directions. I liked that she made the art piece accessible to any audience with a mobile phone allowing virtually anyone anywhere to access the work and listen to the sounds the glacier creates as it melts. Her work is really interesting pushing the boundaries and working with a variety of people to realize her ideas, these range from icelandic locals, atronomers,astro-physicists, supernova hunters and specific manufacturers this she calls "collective authoriship".

Group Tutorial with Louisa...

We had a tutorial today in which we all discussed our ideas and work we were creating for the audience brief and explaining how our work was linking with the core brief "practice and materiality". The things I noted from the tutorial were:

• Think about the different ways of engaging with an audience.
• Communicate and document ideas as well as the "experience" of the work.
• Consider perhaps discussing a series of tests rather than a final piece.

I spoke about my idea and difficulty with materials in trying to create a pod like structure. In the main brief I aim to put these wax pods which has some sort of substance inside the pod possibly ink within a clear container filled with warm water, the was would dissolve and hopefully the ink would then be dispersed throughout the water. However I have to adapt this idea to fit within an environment in Leeds City Centre. The suggestions for my idea were:-

• Think about the materials of the cocoon pod structure.
• Practicality in hanging or placing.
• Audience, if I want to place the cocoons in the dark arches (my proposed space) then I would need to think about the people who would be driving through or walking past and the effect this has on the response.
• Permission?
• Time and environment such as pollution, does this effect the art piece?
• Documenting and lighting?
• Scale?

These are some things I need to think about and develop before placing or proposing to place.

Leeds Met Gallery and Studio Theatre
"Perhaps Nothing, Perhaps Something"
27th February- 4th April 2009

"My Father once asked me if I knew where yonder was. I smiled I thought that yonder was another word for there. He smiled and said.."No Yonder is between here and there". That little story has stayed with me for years as an example of linguistic magic. It identified a new space- a middle region that was neither here nor there- a place that simply didn't exist for me until it was given a name" Yonder- Siri Hustvedt.

Perhaps Nothing , Perhaps Something presents the work of six contemporary artists working in a variety of media including sculpture, video, sound and light. The exhibition asks the viewer to contemplate the non-visible the in between moments and spaces that exist only in the periphery of their vision, to give value to those gestures often overlooked.

I like the idea of imagining the non visible, using materials to suggest a gesture which is sort of what were trying to do in the materiality brief. The idea of absence and present is very interesting, this exhibition is asking the audience to do a very complex thing and look beyond the seen and imagine the unseen. This similarly reminds me of Doris Salcedos work in which she uses chairs to fill a gap between 2 houses where a house should have gone at the Istanbul Biennial. The use of a chair an object which with no one sat on it suggests an absence, a lack of presence.

In Cornelia Parkers Neither From Nor Towards, the brick have been retrieved from beneath the white cliffs of Dover they are the remnants of an eroded house. The bricks symbolize a passage of time and a memory of the previous life. It questions the notions of the existence of the house in its whole state.

She has hung and arranged them in a simple house shape, returning the bricks to a semblance of their original purpose. Whilst aping the house they once were, they no longer perform any function related to a house.


Rachel Whiteread- "Untitled" (6 Spaces)


It was created by casting the space between six unidentified seats. As with much of Whitereads practice this work brings to our attention a negative space inherent in any form. Giving light to a space not often considered we question why the artist has chosen to create this work from domestic nothingness. I asked the exhibition assistant what the casts were made out of and she thought they were made from resin, but i don't know how she created the amber type colours as usually resin is clear?.


Paul Rooneys sound piece "Words and Silence" comprised 4 headphones hung on a protruding piece of wood with 2 seats placed at opposite ends enticing the audience to sit and listen to the work. Although I didn't really like the sound piece the way the work was presented to an audience was interesting.

"Interim"
Leeds College Of Art and Design
18th March- 3rd April 2009

"Interim is an exhibition open to all current second year BA Fine art students at British Art Schools who have previously completed their foundation course at Leeds College Of Art and Design. The show will be selected by Juan Cruz (artist and Head of Art at Liverpool John Moores University) Simon Wallis (curator and director of the Hepworth Wakefield) and Sean Kaye (Fine Art Co-ordinator, Foundation Studies, Leeds College Of Art and Design)."

The exhibition was interesting, as a second year student it was difficult not comparing work of the other exhibiting second year artists. The space was very appropriate as it was in the same college that the artists had gained their foundation degree. Tom Cooksons work was interesting, I had previously seen it within the studio environment so for it to be placed within an exhibiting space was intriguing.

Underground art
"The New York Subway can be described as many things, but 'a work of art' probably wouldn't be one of them. But that didn't stop a group of pranksters confusing the commuters of Manhattan by staging an impromptu 'gallery opening' on the platform of a subway station - turning the advertising posters and rubbish bins into artworks in the process.
The event was the work of Improv Everywhere (the same group who staged the world- wide 'no pants' subway ride a few months ago). They took over the platform of the 23rd Street subway station, setting up a cloakroom and a bar, and inviting their fifty 'guests' to browse the collection of art while being serenaded by a cellist.Those artworks included such masterpieces as ' Locked Box #2', 'Drain' and ' Black Metal Slam Gate with Panic Bar #367' - all of which had very serious labels attached to them explaining the 'artistic intent' behind the work.
One of the most popular pieces was one entitled 'Woman sitting on bench', which came as something of a surprise to the woman who was in fact sitting on the bench."

I found this article in the Metro Paper on Friday 20th March.

I went onto the Improve Everywhere website to find out more. This is some information I found on their website:- "Mission Idea By: Agents Eppink and SmallDigital Video: Agents Adams, EMartin, Goldman, GrossDigital Photography: Agents Nicholson, Sokoler.

"Agents Eppink and Small approached me with the idea of holding a gallery opening on a subway platform, and I was immediately excited to make it happen. There has been tons of really cool unauthorized art happening in the subway system lately, including PosterBoy’s fantastic advertisement modifications. The MTA actually has some great authorized art installations in certain stations as well (the American Museum of Natural History station comes to mind.) Despite these wonderful authorized and unauthorized works, the majority of the stations are pretty boring and display nothing but ads. Well, at least at first glance. We were able to turn the components of the 23rd Street C/E station into works of art simply by adding placards containing art-speak descriptions.

Agent Eppink created a sign for our gallery that looked identical to the existing “service changes” signs. You had to look twice to notice it wasn’t an official MTA sign. We chose to hold the mission at the 23rd Street C/E station because it’s located in Chelsea, just a few blocks from the art gallery district. The mission took place on a Thursday evening, which is the night gallery openings happen in the real galleries nearby. Ideally, some people getting on and off the train at the station would be coming to or from a real gallery opening.
The 23rd Street station has no authorized art, but its advertisements are frequently improved upon by anonymous artists. The station also has tons of quirky things about it, including locked up men’s and women’s restrooms that haven’t been in use for years. It was the perfect spot for our gallery.
We tried to include all of the normal elements you might encounter at a posh art gallery opening. Agent Harms and Agent Good dressed in tuxedos and managed the coat rack and bar, respectively. We even had a ticket system for the coat rack, ensuring our patrons would get their garments back correctly. We had around 50 agents participate. They trickled in to the gallery in small groups, acting like the didn’t know each other. Everyone was instructed to dress nice, like you would at an actual opening.Agents Small, Eppink and I quickly placed our placards underneath the “works of art.” There were 27 in total. Agent Small wrote up hilarious deadpan descriptions for each piece.

Agent Eppink:
I was especially interested in how we convinced ourselves and those around us to play the game and to believe, for a couple hours, that these everyday objects were actually art. Agent Small did a fantastic job of setting the tone with the wall text, but everyone who attended the opening was complicit and added tremendously to the collective fiction. Together we were inventing new meanings and alternate histories, all of which could have been entirely plausible explanations for the objects we were examining.
This may seem like a silly exercise, but I think it can be pretty useful! It puts you in a position to re-examine the mundane, imagine others’ intentions, and create new contexts for the objects and ideas you encounter every day. Usually we would just call that “acting”, but in this case, so much of the pretending is internal that maybe it’s not exactly theater? I’m sure there’s an argument for both sides. Regardless, I found the gallery opening to be an exhilarating, tremendously creative experience, and the hundreds of people who passed through, even if they didn’t join, at least encountered a fun, unexpected, disorienting moment."

http://improveverywhere.com/2009/03/18/subway-art-gallery-opening/

I thought that the idea of making an art gallery in a subway is an interesting concept, especially with the current economic downfall it opens art up to a wide variety of people and allows a range of audience to view artwork. Although this was only a "mission" taken on by Improv Everywhere it would actually be quite a good idea for an art gallery. It reminded me of what Louisa and Gary were saying about an art gallery could be anywhere! This group show that there are no boundaries to where art can be shown!

I found this article on the independent website highlighting worries and effects of the recession:-
"Recession puts galleries' future in the balance"

Exhibitions will be hit by crisis in arts sponsorship
By Arifa Akbar and Martin Hickman
Monday, 2 February 2009

"Britain's leading art galleries and museums, including Tate Modern and the Victoria & Albert, will have to scale down their exhibition and expansion plans as recession threatens millions of pounds in business sponsorship.

The V&A is hoping to attract £120m for "phase two" of its exhibition plans, Tate Modern is seeking £125m for an extension and the National Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland need £100m to save two Titian paintings for the nation by 2012. But they might not be able to realise their ambitions if the economy stays in the doldrums. Colin Tweedy, chief executive of the organisation Arts & Business, said that scaling down shows would be an "inevitability". He said: "I'm trying to be optimistic but these are incredibly worrying times for people trying to raise money. If this recession is short and sharp and projects can be delayed or extended, all will get their money. But if it drags on, I can't see they will all do it."

His warning came as figures revealed business sponsorship was down by 7 per cent in 2007-8. While Mr Tweedy said the drop was likely to be cyclical, an attitudinal survey conducted by Arts & Business asking companies if they would be giving more or less over the next few years found great nervousness among sponsors.

Mr Tweedy predicted business sponsorship would slow until 2013: "Because of the time lag with art and sponsorship, if you talk to art galleries, their sponsorship continues. But the arts can't be immune from the downturn, although I think it could suffer less than sports sponsorship which has traditionally been higher," Mr Tweedy said. "Sponsors are delaying rather than pulling sponsorship right now, or taking longer to confirm sponsorship." The Earl of Cadogan, the 17th-richest man in Britain, reportedly decided not to plough £37,000 into the Chelsea Art Festival, which he had backed for 15 years. The event has been cancelled.

Alistair Spalding, the chief executive of Sadler's Wells, revealed that while current sponsors were "honouring their commitments", the theatre was finding it tough. "Fresh opportunities are very hard to come by. It's the last thing these companies are going to be thinking about," he said.
An exhibition of works by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio at the Royal Academy of Arts had trouble finding funding. In the end, the architects Lord Foster and Lord Rogers and a group of Royal Academicians stepped in.

The National Gallery attracted individual American philanthropists rather than corporate sponsors for a show on religious Spanish sculpture. Emma Collings, head of corporate fundraising at the National Gallery, said: "We are concerned, but the National Gallery is fortunate to have in place a three-year partnership with Credit Suisse and a strong upcoming exhibition schedule."

This article highlights the worries about the current economic climate within art. I think it is important as an artist to keep up to date with the business side to art as this is something which is going to affect galleries and therefore artists, now and in the future.

Sophie Calle "Unfinished"
Blenheim Walk 9th-20th March

"Born in Paris, Sophie Calle is a video, installation and conceptual artist as well as a writer who uses voyeurism and her own life in her work. She began working as an artist in the 1970's and frequently uses the techniques of a private investigator in her work which often depicts human vulnerability. Unfinished, in collaboration with Fabio Balducci uses ATM surveillance tapes to understand the meaning of money and security. "

I enjoy the small exhibitions that Terry Jones curates at University, I enjoy watching the films like the Sophie Calle piece. However I would have enjoyed to watch it in a more enclosed space rather than in the canteen as other surrounding noise seems to spoil what is being said on the video. Calle manages to steal three surveillance tapes, and interacts with strangers, bank employees, and a pawn shop merchant in an attempt to clarify the meaning of money, security, and the anonymous photographs. The reactions of the audience being asked questions like "How much do you earn?" and "Talk to me about money" is very interesting with most being very rude, whilst others laugh nervously. It addresses concerns about surveillance and privacy. Sophie Calle is pushing the boundaries of human nature and ideas surrounding money within society. The majority of the audience watching the video would be students with some visitors from outside of the college.

Subway and Dark Arches in Leeds City Centre.

Today I spoke to Louisa about this audience brief, in which I explained my current work. I am intrigued with the combination of science within art, specifically thinking about genetically modified humans, and genetic-engineering. Increasing I am trying to create a "cocoon" like structure similar to the description in Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World'.
In this book natural reproduction is no longer and children are decanted and raised in Hatcheries and Conditioning Centres. Society is divided into five castes, created in these centres. The highest caste is allowed to develop naturally while it matures in its "decanting bottle". The lower castes are treated to chemical interference to arrest intelligence or physical growth. The castes are Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons, with each caste further split into Plus and Minus members. Each Alpha or Beta is the product of one fertilized egg developing into one fetus. Members of other castes are not unique but are instead created using the Bokanovsky process which enables a single egg to spawn up to 96 children and one ovary to produce thousands of children "buds upon buds upon buds". This idea particularly fascinates me, I explained to Louisa how i was trying to re-create an artificial womb not dis-similar to a cocoon or a bud. However I am still in the process of experimenting with materials to try and create a cocoon like a shape in which Louise suggested a few techniques and materials I could use to try and construct this shape. This brief is to create work within a public space integrating it within our core Fine art practice. I thought about creating these cocoons and hanging them perhaps under bridges and subways similar to how bats hang as if aliens have invaded and spawned cocoons in dark and dismal areas of Leeds where no one dares to wonder on their own in the dark. A crazy idea i know but one that I would like to explore. I walked into the city centre and photographed these spaces which I think would be appropriate.

Do we need art galleries anymore?
Thursday, 16th October 2008

"As art becomes the only viable option for investors, Annie Deakin argues whether the internet is a help or a hindrance to the art market.

Damien Hirst’s decision to bypass his dealers and take his work straight to auction rocked the art world last month. With the growth of online art, the relationship between artist, dealer and gallery was already endangered. This October has been the highlight of the art calendar (Frieze Art Fair, the Turner Prize and Saatchi’s new Chelsea space) but there is a real panic - can galleries survive?

Will artists need galleries in the future?” With real estate such a burden and art readily available online, heavy overheads like rent are fast becoming a luxury.
It is heady days in arts cyberspace. This autumn, E-literature soared with the launch of the Sony Reader, youtube brims with clips from musicals and paintings sell fast through the web. Sites like 55 Max and The Real Art Company are cropping up and the blogging revolution discusses paintings. Among my iPod generation, if an artist doesn’t feature on a website, do they exist?

The art market seems the only safe bet for investors right now. Traditionally, in difficult economic climates, the middling art world struggles while the high and low ends thrive. The very same day that Lehman brothers collapsed and the American financial markets tumbled, Russians were blowing their billions on diamond cabinets and gold butterfly paintings. I wonder if the oligarchs actually viewed their purchases first – do they even care? I can only hope that they, at least, caught a glimpse online.

Is the internet a help or a hindrance to the art world? Traditionalists abhor that we buy paintings without seeing them in the flesh. Will Ramsay, founder of Will’s Art Warehouse and the Affordable Art Fair (23-26 October) says, “Buying art is touchy feely. You need it to be 3-dimensional and in the right light. You can’t get that on a screen.”

It’s controversial stuff for a man who runs a website selling art. “Well?” he backtracks laughing when I probe. “Online art works because you don’t need to venture into a gallery. People dislike walking into a silent, wooden floored gallery where you feel self-conscious. But if you buy art online, you need the ability to send a picture back if you don’t like it.” One in ten of Ramsay’s paintings bought online are returned. Fairs like Frieze initiate the unfamiliar to the often patronising art world. Earlier this month, I scribbled notes of artists I admired (Rosie James, Michele Del Campo) at Art London to later investigate – and self-assuredly buy from - online. The web is a springboard to art rather than a medium in its own right.

The internet helps artists grow and nascent collectors dare to spend. You can pick up a signed Hirst for £6k (rather than £100k) at Eyestorm, the leading online retailer of limited edition contemporary art, through mydeco. My friend Pia Munden, an interior designer, succumbed to their ‘make us an offer’ policy. “My husband will freak – he doesn’t know yet. I fell in love with a photo of pink roses by Vanessa Warren. It said ‘Buy now for £375 or make us an offer’. I emailed saying that I want to pay £250.” The picture is now en route from America. “I don’t know what made me do it. I’m not the kind of person to spend whimsically.” By not consciously pressing the buzzer to a daunting gallery – let alone negotiate price in person - Pia invested in a piece of art to treasure.

It was probably a shrewd judgment. Word in exhibition halls is that "art is the new gold". My father, a goldsmith for over forty years, says, “Gold has more than doubled in value in four years. People bury it in the garden and it won’t corrode. They can touch it.” In a world where financial markets are alarmingly ‘virtual’, a painting, like gold bullion, is reassuringly tangible.
True to form, Damien Hirst left the art world in a pickle by setting the benchmark for the commoditization of art. But reality is that the internet will most transform the future of the art market. Blogging, a wider market, competitive pricing and the stock market crash is fuelling the cyberspace art revolution. For infinity and beyond, art will be worth something – which is more than can be said about a Lehman share."

I came across this article on the internet, quite ironic really. As I read this it made me think more about this brief and why we have been asked to use blogs. I agree with the article that "if an artist doesn't feature on a website, do they exist?". The internet is a great opportunity to discuss art and to try and sell work. However at the same time I think that it is important that galleries continue because although the internet is used by a large variety of society not all can use it or have access to it. Galleries are an exciting physical place to exhibit work making it become "real" and almost tangible as oppose to being a virtual flat image. The idea of society learning and viewing through cyberspace is a dim reflection of the 24 hour society we have become. The internet can be a wonderful and exciting way of showing work to the masses but removes all physical interaction and contact with other people and art work.

12th International Contemporary Artists Book Fair,
The Parkinson Court, University Of Leeds 11.00am- 6.00pm

"An accompanying programme of related exhibitions and live art performances at the University of Leeds which includes:

Starting point -books as scores
15 to 1 - artists' books from China
sub(Missive)- collaborative mail art book project
Concerto for Penguins- performance reading"

The book fair presented unique books created by artists and publishers from around the world on multiple stalls throughout the University Of Leeds. The books varied from stall to stall whilst some where more Fine Art books, others would focus on photography and some on textiles and surface design. It was inspiring looking at the content of some of the books and intriguing looking at how the handmade books were put together. Some of the artists and publishers were friendly and interested in what my own fine art practice was whilst others were dismissive perhaps because they were trying to sell work and we looked like students which increases the probability that we won't have money to buy anything!. I thought it was good that there was a variety of universities and colleges showing their work, students were eager to discuss and compare degrees and courses.This was useful as I could ask students about their various degrees and masters courses in which i might apply in the future. It was an interesting exhibition in which I collected many business cards and learnt afew display techniques with some inspirational work and inside information about courses.

Rank: Picturing The Social Order 1615-2009
14 February – 26 April 2009

"This fascinating and unusual exhibition, which looks at how artists have pictured the shape of society from Renaissance times to the present, opens its UK tour at Leeds Art Gallery. A society without stratification is barely imaginable, but how do we picture our own system of hierarchies, of difference? British writers, political theorists and artists have used numerous images to picture ‘who we are’: describing us through ‘orders’, ‘estates’, ‘classes’, ‘stations’, ‘degrees’, or ‘ranks’. But only this latter term has kept the same meaning over six centuries. With over 100 exhibits, new work from leading contemporary artists and the presentation of new social research from academics and government agencies."