Monday February 23rd 2009

Artstation on Asylum.

In 2003 Cardiff based artist partnership Artstation was commissioned to engage in a European project which became the cornerstone of Cardiff's bid to become European Capital of Culture for 2008 (Cardiff2008).

The project, Paperwork, created a bridge between the bid's main offices in Cardiff (at the Old Library) and in Brussels (at Le Petite Chateau, Europe's largest and oldest asylum seekers' reception centre). Artstation team: in Brussels - Glenn, Wyn and French climate physicist Herve Gouget; in Cardiff - artist Anne Hayes of Artstation.

An inflated paper installation sliced into the central stairwell of the architecture of the Old Library in Cardiff centre, an accompanying exhibition also featured a 9 min. looped film – (aka Paperwork directed by Wyn), graphics and images, texts, and project website.

The project illuminated and strengthened debate about identity and culture, contributing to a close run Cardiff2008 competition in which Liverpool just piped Cardiff to the post in the final battle. We congratulate Liverpool for the wonderfully staged, recently completed, European Capital of Culture 2008.

For project website http://www.artstation.org.uk/paperwork

Saturday 14th February 2009

Glenn, Anne, Alexis and Beatrice met to see Gaijin-San: Mr Foreigner at 20:00 in the 'Loft:Y Llofft' temporary theatre space at Chapter Art Centre Cardiff last Saturday.

Chapter brochure: Gaijin-San return to Chapter with a devised physical dance theatre performance, exploring home and belonging, heritage and refuge, asylum and detention. The company fuses text, movement and projection in this dark and visceral response to the powerful subject matter. A collaboration with Welsh poet and playwright Patrick Jones and artist association Dbini Industries, the work features five male performers from the UK and South Africa.
£6/£4 www.mrforeigner.co.uk

In the bar afterwards : We all agreed the event was well worth attending, and had independently noted some marked similarities with Paperwork in respect of the suspension of bodies on ladders and the analogous meaning this conveyed. A high standard of performance was compromised by the temporary theatre space. We felt there was also a dichotomy in the work between figurative illustration and the abstract forms of gesture and movement.

Two talking heads - a polemic dialogue on migration was projected onto the upper platform of two closed and standing step ladders - supported by a performer, this we felt was clever - a gimmick even, but it worked well.

The abstract elements were what we all responded to most strongly and most suited our sense of the subject matter - a simple white space cube used in description of home / personal space - and and excellent final section; Step ladders were assembled diagonally, open on their side, from front left to backstage right. The 4 main performers created an inverse sweep arrangement crossing the ladders to front right of stage. Movements were short repetitive sequences, to and fro forward and back, with sharp kicks and turns rolls and in unison jumps and other times out of sync.

The way the space was used and the abstract nature of the movement was somehow the most effecting in the entire work. Alexis found the words of Patrick Jones too didactic. This work required far more space and more precise and considered lighting. It also needed to focus on the abstract, as exemplified by the final sequence.

Alexis also noted how different the two Caucasian performers and two black performers were at the level of the body expression - a racial characteristic and distinction. In this way the evening had been a prompt to reminded us of the expressive and abstract power of Corporality.

GD

Wednesday, 4th of February

Outcast Europe

Glenn and Wyn attended a research seminar held at the School of European Studies, Cardiff University.  Colleagues from the University of Glamorgan (Dr Sharif Gemie, Dr Fiona Reid & Laure Humbert) were presenting their research project called Outcast Europe.  Details at: http://history.research.glam.ac.uk/news/en/2009/feb/09/outcast-europe-cardiff-seminar/

We were particularly struck at the discussion surrounding definitions of refugees, and of how one can trace a long history of refugees being portrayed as, for example, victims, tricksters, rogues or (quite rarely) as heroes (i.e. victims of the Holocaust on the Exodus ship in 1947).  We agreed to have further meetings with the Outcast Europe team, as well as Cardiff Uni colleagues based at the Institute for the Study of European Visual Culture.

WM

 

Friday 30th of January 2009

1st meeting - Artstation studio


Glenn, Alexis and Wyn to meet up every two weeks. This is the first of these meetings, held at Artstation (www.artstation.org.uk)

Glenn keen to bring ecological issues into the discussion.

Alexis concerned that this would take attention away from asylum seekers. Journalists would pick up on the idea of New Migrants, and this would somehow justify shifting attention away from Old Migrants. We don't want to be criticised by our "friends on the Left".

Also, Alexis feels that this would shift him from his field of expertise. An academic conference on Migration & Green Economics, for example, would soon be dominated by the ecology.

Need to find a balance.

The idea of re-defining terms in light of new threats, e.g. end of oil, climate warming, credit crunch, etc. Re-defining terms like asylum seeker, refugee, migrant, etc.

Alexis suggested New Migrants, Old Migrants? as a title for the conference. This could work alongside an art installation that would be more ecological in its focus, and would function as setting the ecological agenda for the conference. Everyone liked this idea.

Alexis played with the idea of trying to include Earth in the title, e.g. Migrants on the Earth, Migrants from the Earth. It probably sounds better in French. Emigres sur Terre, Emigres de Terre.

Spring 2010 mentioned as a possible date for the conference/installation to take place.

Art installation could include travelling to where there are ecological migrants. Then bring it to the attention of MEPs at Brussels. For example, the 800 mile long lake that has completely disappeared in Mali, displacing 10s of 1000s of people. Wyn likes the idea of a dried up lake, because it resonates with terms of excess back in the 1970s - the European milk lake, cheese mountain, etc.

TL: research on Mali Artist - Abdoulaye Konate:
http://www.artstation.org.uk/paperwork/agora/maliartist.htm



WM