Marcus Coates, Dawn Chorus, 2007

Here’s a journal covering the research and fieldwork to develop to final work… including making recordings of the dawn chorus. http://www.wildsong.co.uk/mcdc/DCFieldWork.html

“Coates will go to extreme lengths to get what he wants. For Dawn Chorus, he spent a week camping with a wildlife sound recordist, Geoff Sample. The pair lived in a motorhome in Northumberland, getting up at 3am to activate a 24-track digital recorder. They collected 576 hours of birdsong in all – robins, whitethroats, wrens, blackbirds, songthrushes, yellowhammers, greenfinches.” The Guardian, January 2007

Dawn Chorus is an ambitious exhibition comprising films of 19 singers that uncannily recreate birdsong in their ‘natural habitats’. The individuals are located in various situations such as an underground car-park, an osteopathic clinic and a bath-tub, the project is as much a portrait of British idiosyncrasies as it is of the natural world. The films are hung on screens in the gallery according to the position of the birds when they were recorded, creating an immersive soundscape for visitors to the exhibition.

Sukhdev Sandhu, Night Haunts: A nocturnal journal through 2006

http://www.nighthaunts.org.uk/

In this contemporary nocturnal journal, Sandhu prospects in the London night with the people who drive its pulse, from night cleaners to praying nuns, security guards to the Samaritans. In each episode, Sandhu reflects on the nature of the urban night. Has night life been corroded by light and entertainment? What are the invisible forces that pulse through the sleeping city? Is real darkness possible any more?

An ArtAngel Interacton project

The 4am Project

http://4amproject.org/

Creative Director Karen Strunks

The aim of the 4amproject is to gather a collection of photos from around the world at the magical time of 4am. Everyone can take part and join in! All you need is a camera. We want to see what you see at that moment in time on that one day. What’s your view at 4am?

Photo stream from 4am project…

(And I missed taking part on 24th April! shame!…)

And currently on at Whitechapel Gallery…

Ergin Çavuşoğlu’s work refers to Andy Warhol’s film Empire, which consists of a single eight hour shot of the Empire State Building. Filmed in his native Turkey, this video captures the transition from day to night of an apartment block that also houses a mosque.

http://whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/elodie-pong-ergin-cavusoglu-dinh-q-le

After doing a trial in West Bromwich with the Longhouse bursary artists and Scott Farlow, I revised my ideas a little about the event I wanted to create. Firstly, even though the dawn was spectacular, and we had talked about the idea of applauding, at the time it felt too forced, and also unnecessary. If I was interested in the applause as a collective action, then in fact just being together, discussing observations as a group and sharing food was enough. It would be interesting to see if this changes when there’s a larger group.

The setting – indoors, and high up with a view – was also on trial. I decided it was important to have a good view  from high up to be able to see the sky and horizon properly, and to help in creating a sense of occasion. Indoors made sense for December, the discomfort of being outdoors in low temperature would have detracted, but it felt important to sense the outdoors as much as possible – being able to hear sounds, and feel the air. I did ask about access to the roof, but it was out of the question as Premier Inn, who lease the building said they did not lease the roof and public access would anyway not be permitted.

Going forward, finding a tall building, which I could throw open to a public audience in the early hours of the morning, was tricky. I did quite a bit of research on multi-storey car parks… partly inspired by Hannah Barry gallery in Peckham which stages the Bold Tendencies sculpture exhibition on the top floor of Peckham Multistorey Car Park. I was aware that multi-storey car parks are often designed for public access to the roof, whereas most tall buildings aren’t and tend to have elements that would make public access unacceptable e.g. air conditioning / lift equipment and similar. Also, Multi-storey car parks are pretty durable and hard to damage… and if there aren’t cars there as it’s after hours, then there is little of value in the building (perhaps?). Also, it goes without saying that in a terrorism-aware climate then a request to gather on a rooftop is suspect! Particularly when the people attending will be at least partly drawn from open invitation.

I was introduced to Coin Street Community Builders – and the roof terrace of the Coin Street Community Centre (image above). And while there was enthusiasm for the event, and an opportunity to draw on existing networks of people connected to the centre, the location, next to residential flats meant that there was a restriction on use of the terrace that covered not only late nights but also early morning times. While Scott encouraged me to investigate further – and see if I could gain support from the nearby residents  – I looked into a further venue option, and found it really attractive… and able to be amenable to my needs.

Provided the event is properly invigilated, Hackney Historic Buildings Trust are happy to have a group event on the roof of St Augustine’s Tower which has a 360 degree panorama across east London, as the tower is at Hackney Central. I was also particularly interested in the event taking place in an urban district and also in a place that has some sense of being a distinct neighbourhood – which I believe Hackney does.

In December 2010 I ran a pilot event in West Bromwich with Scott Farlow and the other bursary artists. This helped shape my plans for a public event substantially.

For the pilot, I timed the event by the phases of dawn twilight, of which there are three: Astronomical twilight, Nautical twilight, Civil twilight. (Twilight definitions – for dawn or dusk)

We met at 5:45am when it was still dark, walked around central West Bromwich together, and then returned to the Premier Inn and a top floor room with high windows forming an L-shape giving a views over almost an 180 panorama, looking out east towards Birmingham.

Having settled in the room around 6:20am we kept the lights off and the windows tilted open, to get as much of a sense of the outdoors as possible. As we would be spending the next 2 hours watching it made sense not to stay outside at temperatures around zero. I acted as host and talked about the stages of twilight, their timings, the way the are defined in terms of level of light. I also made tea and we had some shared food as we watched. We talked mostly about our observations of the changes outside…in the light, the sky, and in the activity around us in the city. Sunrise was at 7.54am and we stayed watching until around 8:30am.

I will post 16 images spanning the observation period, and go on to discuss my findings from the pilot in a separate blog post.

Image credit: Laurence Payot

I make live participatory work, often in public spaces, and I am interested in creating ‘open rituals’ that invite people to take part in an action that is both individual and communal. I studied Fine Art, and ended up making entirely Live Art during my degree, but continuing my practice after art school I found myself more influenced by ‘socially engaged’ and relational art practice. My blogspot has more of an archive of my practice: natashavicars.blogspot.com

This was my initial proposal for Longhouse: City Dawning would see a group gather outdoors at dawn and welcome the sunrise with applause. While this one action is my vision for the project, it is surrounded by broader interests; the experience of getting up to see daybreak, and a question of what could be individual and communal responses to that. I am interested in the early hours of the day as a time when an individual has a different sense of inhabiting the city he/she lives in – with fewer people around maybe having more sense of freedom or even ownership of the space. I am also interested in Romantic art and see dawn as a time when a person can strongly experience a sense of wonder at nature within an urban environment.

Through gathering. Through applauding. These are simple ways in which choose to act together – and be a community. What would it be like to see the start of a new day together, in this fashion? And what would it be like to experience the place you live in at a time you never normally see it? City Dawning is themed around connections between people – and a group occupation of space.

Aside from the interest in the early hours of the day, I was also influenced by an experience I had in Brazil, in which I was sat out on the beach early one evening and heard applause down the other end of the sands. I assumed that some performance over there must have just finished, and looked to see what was going on, I couldn’t make anything out in particular… but I realised that the applause was spreading up the beach. It was busy with people, and as the clapping, (as well as loud whistling and cheers!) started happening closer to me I realised that every-one was turning to the horizon and applauding the sunset.

It was a truly spectacular sunset, and was framed by the striking ‘sugar loaf’ shaped peaks around the bay in Rio. But I was struck by the act as a group response… not a quiet romantic contemplation as a couple, but an instinct to acknowledge the moment by joining as a group.

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Free of charge SUNDAY 20 February and SUNDAY 6 March, 1-5pm

no.w.here 316-318 Bethnal Green Road E20AG www.no-w-here.org.uk

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Join a growing group of precarious people for two afternoons of collective storytelling, film screenings, survival strategies and mutual support. These sessions are hosted in preparation for a public Participatory Peoples Tribunal on Precarity to be held in late March. Bring your evidence and anecdotes. ——– The Precarious Workers Brigade “Do you work Monday-Monday but still can’t pay your bills? Are you freelance but you don’t feel free? Are you tired, anxious and wondering if you’ll ever get paid?” We are a growing group of precarious workers in culture & education. We call out in solidarity with all those struggling to make a living in this climate of instability and enforced austerity. We come together not to defend what was, but to demand, create and reclaim: EQUAL PAY: no more free labour; guaranteed income for all FREE EDUCATION: all debts and future debts cancelled now DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS: cut unelected, unaccountable and unmandated leaders THE COMMONS: shared ownership of space, ideas, and resources http://precariousworkersbrigade.tumblr.com/

31.01.2011

On the occasion of the second Amateurist Network event Anton Vidokle, NYC/ Berlin artist behind e-flux, Unitednationsplaza, Night School and the Martha Rosler Library to name only a few recent projects, presented his 2010 film <em>New York Conversations</em> at E:vent Gallery. The film was the result of a joint commission by A Prior magazine to produce material for the publication. Together with Nico Dockx and Rirkrit Tiravanija, Vidokle decided to hold a three-day conversation open to the public, with invited guests and lunch and dinners prepared by Tiravanija.

The topics of the conversations ranged from issues over the precarious positions of independent art workers wanting to ‘own their own alienation’ (Miwon Kwon) or needing to ‘hustle’ by selling their ‘body of work’ (Jan Verwoert). The dialogue also addressed the loose structures of ‘trust’ and ‘understanding’ used to enable relationships, which were also identified as their potential weakness. The dynamics of  how to have a group conversation was also discussed and suggestions over how the event will become mediated in its documentation.

The film was a condensed version of over 20 hours of material and was predictably very dense, requiring close reading throughout. But the overall effect of the film was bold and engaging. In relation to the nascent Amateurist Network, with its stated aim of ‘privileging talking’, the film underlined the importance of sharing experiences and creating feedback loops to safeguard against isolation and competition for competition’s sake.

The discussion with Vidokle at E:vent Gallery following the screening was wide ranging, from the political history of film and video to ideas of social agency and the aesthetics of the film and its ambiguous status as an art object. The question of how public the filmed conversations were was raised. Vidokle responded by stating his concern that art was becoming fodder for lacklustre tourism, quoting Rosler, he said that the public had been replaced by ‘an audience’. A voice from the audience argued that he enjoyed being a tourist in his city, going to openings and discovering new work. I stated that the notion of ‘tourism’ needed to be clarified as the arts has come to be marketed solely as a marker of the cultural status of a city for visitors, and rarely for its innate worth and relevance to communities of artists and the sources of critical support they draw from. I worry that this hollow promotion has led to the easy sidelining of the arts by the present Con-Dem leadership.

Vidokle argued that the last thing he wanted to be was a ‘professional artist’ and went on to talk about how sovereignty, rather than autonomy, might be a worthwhile topic on which to concentrate, warning against the prescriptive nature of biennials and the co-optive tendency of institutions over artists. He emphasized the ongoing need to keep questioning and sustaining this through different forms of distribution and circulation.

There can be little doubt that the swathing cuts foisted upon the University sector by this regressive government will lead to the total privatisation of higher arts education in the UK. As a result, access to courses will be limited to those who can afford the staggeringly high fees and the occasional scholarship student lucky enough to have made the grade. The policy is not only wrongheaded but clearly ideological. The coalition refuse to grasp the basic idea that learning and education can have value beyond the simply vocational. It also provides the perfect opportunity for space hungry vice-chancellors to finally get rid of the Fine Art Courses that have been inconveniently clogging up expensive resources for years. It’s deeply depressing and the best critique of Government policy is Claire Bishops most recent article in e-flux found here http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/209.

Long Weekend

It was for this reason and from a genuine wish to ‘do something about it’ that I recently attended the first Arts Long Weekend at Goldsmiths College organised by the sprawling coalition Arts Against the Cuts. It was the weekend before the final vote on Student Fees and it felt like an opportune time for Making A Living to have a voice in the debate. The day began well; it was clear that the attendance was spread across the sector with academics, students, artists, activists, curators and administrators giving up some or all of their weekend to get involved with mobilising protest or just to simply let off steam. Pleasingly the early discussions seemed to transcend mere posturing and there was a purposeful air to the proceedings. It was a hopeful, enlivening and vaguely therapeutic starting point.

After the first group meeting the day split into two elements; first a series of discussion groups lead by academics and artists about the future of Arts Education and secondly workshops designed to brainstorm how direct action could be mobilised against the cuts. I decided to flit between the two, however as the morning evolved a tedious and reductive political agenda was beginning to emerge in some of the discussions. The most apt example was when a well-known artist duo categorically stated without a hint of irony that the only answer to the current situation was “International Communism”. The assertion was met with what appeared to be general agreement across the board so I decided to beat a hasty retreat into a rather charming coffee shop in New Cross (and the momentary comforts of the evil capitalist state) to think about what had just been said.

After my soothing skinny mini chinny cappuccino I still felt like I needed to contribute to the discussion as it’s terms hadn’t shifted; what can I do to help protect higher Art Education from the cuts? The thought though of returning to the freezing Goldsmiths student Union was too much to bare so I resolved instead to return to the fray at the Tate teach-in planned for the announcement of the Turner Prize later that week. It seemed like an elegant and well-placed protest that got straight to the heart of the matter – it had the potential to make maximum impact and to mobilise some of the sectors power brokers and the public – something that was for once a very good thing.

The Tate Teach-In

The teach-in again began well. There were over 150 attendees with representatives from across the sector. There was a clear agenda that made the link between the Turner Prize and Art schools – without art schools we’d have no Turner Prize – simple, elegant and purposeful. The first 2 ‘lectures’ harnessed the anger and concern of the assembled protestors and there were moments of genuine solidarity. Around us the tired old works by the usual YBA suspects suddenly took on a new life; I found myself getting a lump in my throat as one speaker talked eloquently about the death of the humanities if government policy was allowed to proceed. We applauded, stamped our feet and roared our approval.

And then it all changed.

The ‘teach-in’ then shifted gear into what I have to reluctantly call an ideological rant. Instead of remaining focused on the issue at hand – the cuts to arts education– the next 2 speakers proceeded to pontificate about a good old-fashioned Marxist revolution. They were not it seemed talking about a re-appraisal of the good bits of Marx but rather an entrenched, dogmatic and puritanical rehashing of the same old rubbish that has become very familiar to anyone involved in any major protest in recent years.

It was deeply boring, on occasions idiotic, irritating and at worst completely irrelevant as I’m not sure whether 150 slightly undernourished arts professionals were really up to the revolutionary task. No one mentioned freedom of expression, no one raised an objection and those who felt alienated (including me) made their excuses and quietly sidled off. Since then I’ve decided to step out of the protests organised by the pressure group and I’ve little appetite to return (which will probably come as a relief to many).

Why are we here?

“In our age the idea of intellectual liberty is under attack from two directions. On one side are its theoretical enemies, the apologists for totalitarianism, and on the other its immediate, practical enemies, monopoly and bureaucracy” George Orwell, The Prevention of Literature, January 1946.

To a degree I’m playing dumb here and I want to make clear that I’m not disputing anyone’s right to be involved in the debate. There is obviously a link between an ongoing dissatisfaction with the Status Quo and revolutionary and radical politics and I’m not dismissing any attempt to make things better by imagining better alternatives. Marxist theory is of course rightly part of such discussions and I am often delighted by the old bastard’s perception, prescience and humanity as well as being acutely aware of his limitations and failings.

As well as Marx though I’m also rather interested in Adam Smith and I’m often delighted by his perception, prescience and humanity as well as being acutely aware of the old git’s limitations and failings. I feel the same way about Badiou, Ranciere, Lacan, Baudrillard, Derrida, Foucault, Hegel, Dawkins, Marcuse, De Botton (yes, really), Adorno, Bourriard, Satre, Freud, Everett, my Mum, my Dad and my friends. In fact I’m interested in a lot of stuff (including Deal or No Deal) and I retain the right to cherry pick what I think makes sense at any given time. My opinions are guided by the best (and worst) information I can get my hands on and I’m always willing to change my mind or admit I’m wrong (which I often am). It may all sound a bit too relativist for some readers but I actually couldn’t give a royal shit what you think.

Artists are at their most radical when independent of dogma and able to find their own voice, instead of regurgitating the utterances of others. Art colleges are important for this very reason; people like this are in my view the very best and they will always be the natural enemy of vested interest and extremism. Often such extremes will predictably dismiss such an autonomous position by saying that it’s deluded and that treasured intellectual freedoms are an illusion; they may have a point but where would you rather discuss the issue? Here or in the former Soviet Union or the current North Korea?

It was these freedoms (deluded or otherwise) that the students in Tiananmen Square were prepared to die for in 1989 – it’s useful to remember this before indulging anyone who has even a passing sympathy for their oppressors. It’s also worth remembering other atrocities committed in the name of Communism.  For a start, the estimated death toll attributed to the ideology’s many regimes stands at approximately 94 million lives (1). Of course, Chomsky (2) is right to point out that Capitalism also has a sordid record, however that valid observation can’t be used to excuse the obscenities perpetrated by Communism. Just because both systems have histories of brutality and oppression it doesn’t mean that the ‘other’ is any better. It’s the most absurd inhumane and fatalistic numbers game you can play.

To Conclude

Above there are two anecdotal examples of distracting political agendas competing for airtime with urgent discussions about art education. It serves to muddy the waters of the debate and at worst it appears to promote a dogma that is inescapably associated with vile oppression. This is something that the students and Arts Against the Cuts movement will have to tackle head-on otherwise they run the risk of losing the argument before it’s even begun by accidentally promoting the hypocrisy within their midst.

Of course the Neoliberal project started by Thatcher has caused a huge amount of damage to the Keynesian economic model of Social Democracy and we must continue to place pressure on the government to acknowledge its responsibilities towards all of its citizens. Protecting Art and culture for all and the intellectual health of the nation is part of this ongoing battle.  This should not however signal a retreat into the divisionist and oppressive terms of political extremism. This is not only wrapped in a bizarre, warped, ill-informed nostalgia but also signals a dramatic failure of imagination  – something that as artists we should never be guilty of. Making art is a political act in itself and as long as artists are able to present their independent view of the world then they will continue to undermine extremism, dogma and propaganda wherever it raises its ugly head. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Paula Dodds – Artist, Writer, Curator and Lecturer 2011

1.             Le Livre noir du communisme: Crimes, terreur, répression Edited by Stéphane Courtois (Éditions Robert Laffont)

This book is an attempt chart the total deaths caused by Communist Regimes and this was the estimated conclusion. A former Moaist, Courtois is now an outspoken anti-communist and a supporter of pluralism, democracy, human rights and the Rechsstaat.

2.             Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs Noam Chomsky  P177-178 (Pluto Press)

Stated in criticism to Le Livre noir du communisme: Crimes, terreur, repression “the democratic capitalist ‘experiment’ has caused more deaths than in the entire history of … Communism everywhere since 1917: over 100 million deaths by 1979, and tens of millions more since, in India alone.”