Saturday 26 May 2007

HOORAY

Well I just wanna say that I'm REET excitied for the publication it should be a conker. In other news the allotment was looking very parched on wednesday... So thank whatever diety it is you believe in that it rained last night, now something might grow!

Thursday 24 May 2007

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Ok I've quoted hitch hikers guide to the galaxy book, but oh well I'm completely incapable of thinking about anything. I am frazzled and I have already annoyed people in my frazzled state so I do apolagize to you. I haven't gotten stressed with doing this publication, just a bit worn down on the learning curve. People with more experience than me could of easily done this book in a couple of days with all the images and stuff but it took me longer.

It was good seeing what everyone has done and discussing things and collaberating and battling with computers and lulu.com. I hope everyone likes how we put together your work and displayed it and what we wrote about you all in the back.

So I've finished it now and i think some are getting ordered tommorow i don't know. So please buy one.

Oh and sorry slowphie I forgot about putting that quote in of yours so I'll put it here.
As sophie was walking down stairs she told me "we've worked our willies off". It made me laugh so was going to include it in the book.
We all have worked our willies off and everyone should be proud of working together and thats easy stuff for the craft circle ladies and men, they've been doing that all year round. well done guys.

Sunday 20 May 2007

DEADLINE APPROACHES

Hi all, Here's hoping you're up tonight pondering your last chance for contributions to the publication. So its time for some written REFLECTIONS. I think its great to have the ongoing dialogue about the alloiments now so active on the blog and to read of planning for a future harvest...but we need some immediate REFLECTIONS on your experiences on any and all of the May projects - seeing your cress germinate - tasting lettuce from terra H block; grappling with science for the first time since school, or knitting furry catterpillers - there have been lots of new experiences and this is the chance to put it into print, don't be shy put pen to paper - or better still fingers to keyboard and REFLECT on the experiences, projects, theme of community and perhaps most importantly for the publication: the cross-overs, how do these different projects really relate to one another - what can it say about our contemporary understanding of community? So, stroke your chins and let the words flow! The deadline approaches..

Friday 18 May 2007

Hyde Park Allotment Update

So today Rich and myself went to the allotment on Hyde Park, where we had the picnic. If you haven't heard already the idea now is that Rich and I will look after this plot, while Julie and Phil will oversee things on Second Life, so there will be some crossover between the real and virtual!

We bought a rake, a spade and some smaller tools. We also sourced a wheel barrow that was kindly donated to us by a second year. Any donations or suggestions are welcome, especially more tools, if you can help contact me, Rich, Liz or Dan. We took one of the tomato plants with us from ninth floor, with plans to plant the other too next week. We discovered a potential pitfall here though; being humble folk we obviously have to use those things called legs (remember them?) and while walking today the strong wind pruned our precious plant for us. I doubt much could have been done, it would have happened once planted if not while in transit, but the healthy 'trunk' and small fruit are still intact, so I think it will be ok. It now resides on plot 18, situated as best we could to give it light and shelter from the wind.

After working the soil a bit (a lot, actually) and a few hours graft we also sowed some sunflowers. I really hope these grow tall, partly because I have grown them sucessfully before, and also, they're pretty easy to grow so if I fail i'll be abit gutted. We also partitioned these off with canes and string, it looks nice and neat now.

Rich also prepared another smaller bed. We had a problem with this because some clever person before us had buried alot of glass. Or somthing. Anyway there was alot of glass under the soil, we're talking like a whole windows worth not just a bottle or somthing. But we removed it as best we could and that bed should be ready to take some plants, perhaps potatoes we think.

We plan to also plant some carrots, and perhaps runner beans as we we're told by a local that they will grow easily. We met a couple of the other plots owners, they seemed very nice and helpful. Didn't get their names though, which doesnt show much about my manners, but nonetheless.

So we have actually been working hard, as in physically. It's good though. and I'm shattered, that could be more to do with it being past three in the A.M. though.

Thursday 17 May 2007

virtual allotment 2

sorry to be adding so much today, but blogs seem to get you on a roll and then its unstoppable

Im sure Julie and Phil will have lots more on this but a final update on rest of 2nd life discussion last monday

restrictions discussed on plot?
no rain
what are weather conditions?
cubist scarborough referred to cubey tera for more info

visited 'Luna Bliss and the gardens of Bliss where cubist scarborough bought the plot a plant

plot is 1,024 sq metres ?

can build upwards and comfortably fly around at 200metres

is the sea salt water?
are the canals surrounding the plots salt water

are there any other allotments?

the plot could invite collaborations, invitations to take part, use site, installations temporarily
is it a space for meeting / community?
what is the community activity aspect? does it mirror real life ?
eg. allotment groups etc, is this relevant?

thats it,

Liz

allotment update

Mark & Rich
take some sweet peas to the allotment too

Update since todays meeting with Dan

£7.50 left in budget - spend wisely diggers

basic equipment needed for site - 1 spade, 1 fork, 1 bucket &/or hosepipe

lets be resourceful and recycle, see what we can source for free

for Monday we agreed that
1. a practical plan of specific short term activity and future possibilities
Rich and Mark will elaborate i'm sure over next few days as they do it

this needs to be available for publication monday

the allotment team is - Mark Turner, Rich lander, Julie Williams, Phil Lazenby
'real' - Mark Turner, Rich Lander
'virtual' - Julie williams, Phil Lazenby

big event

MONDAY 21ST MAY - 12 NOON

ROSEBANK MILLENIUM GARDEN CLEAN UP

all students welcome
announced officially in H917 monday 10am
bring gloves and bin bags if you read this beforehand


quick update on discussions
virtual
Julie and Phil have been building floating gardens- look out
hanging gardens of Babylon
-will you find out more on hg of babylon - nice related research
phil has been riding giraffes and trying to steal elephants!!

Kisa has been asked about the ground beneath the allotment - who owns it

(apologies for earlier blog & wrong spellings of names, Kisa not risa, and Cubist Scarborough not cubistscarborough)

discussions on engaging new students with project in September, how about a promo video heroes working the land
came out of discussions on making the allotment a land / nation / country; growing food to exchange for goods; readings of Marx?; creating a manifesto; having an allotment blog/website/ what to grow as a political act or symbolic nature /

31st May - evaluation of the project with Dan, 10.30 onwards... all team members

that's it for now

we havent discussed the H block 'real' garden - i have really been enjoying the lettuce with my lunch
any thoughts?
could this be with staff?
what should we grow in winter as not really a need to prepare soil etc
unless we design the garden

Liz Noble is an expert in miniature gardens - any thoughts? Liz?

another thought, at village shows does anyone win awards for prize miniature veg??
could this be a new nich? I had success last year with miniature pumpkin and squash

Liz
Allotment group prompts & stuff that needs doing.... from dan robinson

Here's a few questions and tasks. Please could you all post an update on what
you are doing...


Rich:
Have you organised some voluntary labour for Rosebank? when -what- who????
How is the second life plot coming on?

Everyone:
We need to measure out the woodhouse plot and photograph it from above so we
can rebuild a replica in second life (see rich or mark about this - they
know whats needed)

Garden in H block:
Is anyone looking after the plants? Marion took some side shoots off the
tomatoes and I took some more off this morning.
TASK: look up tomato plants and find out how to prick oput the side shoots
- how much to feed them, etc

Lettuce:
Eat it - its ready, leave a little bit then it will grow back.

Key:
Liz has it - Mark - do you want to get one cut and then keep hold of it?

Potatoes:
there may still be time to put a late variety in - lets get digging and
planting
Anyone who gets it together to get onto the plot can plant whataver they
like.

Research outcomes / Future plans:
We need to find a way of communicating this short period of allotment
research and experimentation. the outcomes I'm aware of so far are going to
be:

1. 2 neighbouring second life plots:
these will continue to grow and be used next year - your job is to set this
up so it can continue

2. Woodhouse plot 18:
this will also continue - we need your plans and proposals so this can
continue. (from really practical stuff like how to get key and tools sorted,
to more ambitious or abstract plans, designs and proposals for its future
use and role)

Publication:
There has been alot of discussion, research, experiments and thinking but
its still all pretty hidden - you need to find a way to resolve and
communicate this work - your deadline is Monday.
lets get your images and writings sorted so you can make a decent
contribution to the publication

visions : proposals : designs : plans : schedules : diagrams : plots :
projections : findings : conversations : meetings : communities : characters
: weeds : growth : continuation : future : legacy : tools : blah : spades :
lettuce : gooseberries : physical work: next year : self-organisation

Research:
what are your responses to the reserach suggestions i gave you and other
things you've found?:
Leeds organic growers
oxley hall
n55
supertools
seven samurai
studio-orta
uni students plot
etc

Cross-overs with community, writing, craft-cricle and science-art
whats happened?
what are the crossovers?

I posted up for Dan

___________________________________________

science is hard



There you go Wren-Hilton x

community; members thereof



Taken in Little Woodhouse when I was taking photos of more net curtains!

Tuesday 15 May 2007

The Allotment in 2nd Life

Part 1

on Monday the Allotment group met with cubistscarborough and risa in Second Life to look at our virtual plot on the Leeds Met Island. 2 of the diggers had already started working on the plot and turning the 'soil'? oh and finding out other potentials of the site, motorbikes and football. We persuaded cubistscarborough to give us another plot next door so that we could do a copy of the real plot - Plot 18 on Woodhouse Moor - and have an experimental one to test out ideas.
The discussion brought up lots of questions on the purpose and design of the virtual sites which reflected back onto the real plot in Hyde Park, creating an interesting two way discussion around the function of allotments and more philosophically around the purpose and function of design.
Risa told us that 2nd life people dont need to eat to exist so I wondered why we would grow anything, but then thinking about allotments and gardening, many people still participate in shows where a giant onion or a prize leek are displayed and admired but not consumed. We also wondered about the purpose of digging virtually, is there a point or does this translate into building objects and scripting so they can 'do fancy things'? So then parallels in working patterns begin to emmerge between the real and the virtual. Can building an object be a therapeutic activity like many people get out of the act of digging. An optimistic side for the immaculate gardener was that weeds will only appear if they have been programmed into the site, but perhaps for the less particular the site will look too neat. This brings up other questions around nature and the control of nature, does the extreme control the virtual gardener have remove the excitement the real gardener has in the unexpected, the crooked, the surprise, even the frustrations of battling the pests. Do pests have a purpose in the real? And if anyone knows, please tell me which is the snail to keep in your garden that eats the other snails ( or is this a rural myth?)? Brown, orange or black?
Part 2 tomorrow.

Monday 14 May 2007

Help - Craft group interviews

Has anyone from Craft Circle interviewed anyone involved in the craft groups which Emma mentions? Or visited their activities. An interview / visit report would be great -but time is running out - send it in soon

Craft circle investigate craft groups in Leeds

Craft Circle has been researching the concept of community and how craft and craft activities has an impact on communities. The first course of action we decided to take was to obtain a description of community. This was because in a group discussion, none of us could come up with a completely satisfactory explanation. So we typed the word community into the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. The definition it gave was: ‘A community usually refers to a sociological group in a large place or collections of plant or animal organisms sharing an environment. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of adhesion.’
We also discovered that the word comes from the Latin ‘communis’ which means common, public, shared by all or many.
From this point we decided to research Community centres in Leeds, as these seemed an obvious central meeting point for members of the community. We obtained a list of addresses for each centre in Leeds, many of which hold craft based activities for either children or the elderly.
For example, Ebor gardens commnity centre holds a knitting club twice a month for over 60s in the surrounding area. From this we researched knitting clubs in Leeds. The best one which we found was a group called the ‘Knitterati’, which is aimed at the trend of the moment for groups of adults to meet up, drink coffee and knit. It is held in the Starbucks in Borders on Briggate, and the group meets every first Tuesday and third Wednesday of the month.
One of the other groups we found is the ‘Knitting and Crochet guild’ which is a nation wide organisation. The Leeds and Bradford branch is held on the second Friday of every month, starting at 7.30pm on Headingley lane in Leeds. The group holds tutourials bringing in artists and experts to speak to the group.
Also in Leeds is the ‘Craft Mafia’, a group of females working in the area who use craft materials to produce art and jewellery. This is led by Michelle Duxbury- Townsley, who also runs ‘Pretty crafty things’ in Leeds Met Student Union, a trade fair giving a place for ‘indie designers and renegrade crafters’, a place to showcase and sell their work.

Written by Emma Proctor.
INTERVIEWS WITH SCIENCE PEOPLE

1) What have you been doing over the past week?
2) What have you enjoyed most?
3) Do you like working in a community?
4) Write down one thought or quote to document

Laura Daniel
1) I’ve been working with the science project, trying to understand ways of interpreting scientific processes in an artistic way. Learning about the science and art community and the kind of work they do.

2) Thinking about science with artist Rachel Chapman and exploring ways you can think about complicated scientific information. For example, something as simple as a marble run or a game of hide and seek could explain something scientific and complicated.

3) It’s interesting to feel part of a group of similar minded people who all work with similar issues. It feels like there are people to support you with how you’re thinking.

4) Science and art aren’t as different as you’d think!

Jon Kiefert
1) We’ve been doing the science project- I’ve been making a giant marble run to represent the journey of haemoglobin through the body. We found the average time it took for a marble (ball bearing) to travel through the run and drew diagrams of it. We also filmed it and made a video.

2) I enjoyed building the marble run the most and watching it grow.

3) I quite like working in a community on some tasks, but for others I would prefer to work on my own or with a smaller group of people.

4) Science, what is it?

David Atkinson
1) We’ve been trying to make some sense out of science talk, which is hard work. Visualising the structure and movement of protein strands with a string of balloons and representing the journey of haemoglobin through the body with a marble run.

2) The marble run was really fun using whatever we could find to make jumps, ramps and loop the loops, with a hell of a lot of gaffer tape- it’s very scientific.

3) Working in a Community means you get a variety of ideas and opinions mixing together.

4) Lets all just get along.

Allotments Update

Well this is the first update any of us diggers have done I think, so It could be fairly lengthy. Anyway, on with the fun...

Leeds Uni Greenhouses

After we had got into our groups on the first day of these projects, the Allotment group set off for the Leeds Uni greenhouses/allotments, located just outside of Headingly I think. It is basically several greenhouses and allotments owned by Leeds Uni.
Because Dan uses the site quite often, I guess they just assumed we were from the uni too... anyway we ended up taking several plants from the greenhouses, re-potting them and getting them ready to be brought back to our humble 9th floor space.
In return for the plants, we dug and raked the soil of one allotment so it would be ready to be planted on again. A fair Trade, I reckon. We returned to LMU, and the plants are now situated on 9th floor. Which brings me onto...

Ninth Floor Garden

Among these plants are tomatos, lettuce, sweet peas and other assorted goodness. Located on 9th floor, obviously, in the big room we have meetings in. You're welcome to go and have a gander. The plants are growing very well in there, as it is south-facing, gets alot of sunlight, and has a slight draft blowing through. I've been told we're going to have to relocate them to our notice board area however, which might not be as good from growing in. I think it'll be ok, it's all in your head anyway, if you believe it will grow, it will grow! (maybe...)
I think anyone is welcome to add to it, or even better if anyone has any seeds they would like to donate that would be great. If you do start growing there, just don't over water the plants and let us know so theres not like five people watering them a day because they might drown.
Craft circle added some fake tomatos and lettuce made from felt (if this was msn, i'd be using the rolleyes smiley). No, but in all seriousness it made for some good photographs, and tided us over until they started growing, which they now have!

Rosebank Millenium Green

The friday of the first week we were scheduled to visit the Rosebank Millenium Green. The link to the homepage is HERE. This description is taken from that site;

Rosebank Millennium Green is a conservation area in LS6 near to the University and Hyde Park/ Burley. It is a relaxing green space for local people to sit in and is sometimes used for community events.

That overcast day we were shown round by Freda, who is the treasurer for the project. We had a tour of the whole site, which is about five acres, but spread out in a long, thin, 'corridor' of green space. She pointed out the various problems with the site, and we did some litter picking. The main problem she outlined to us is that the council have effectively washed their hands of the site; it's been passed on to the board members of the project to look after. The council won't even mow the grass or empty the bins. It's a catch 22 though as the council demand they keep it clean and litter free. Another problem with the format is, for some reason, board members cannot step down (at least not for a certain period) so people who started the project have either lost interest or moved away, but still remain as trustees.
The Rosebank is quite a nice area, located near opal court halls of residence. they are always looking for people to help out, so you can contact them through the above link if you want to. Rich was planning to arrange a day where we could get alot of people down there to help out, make an event of it. I'd be interested to hear your opinions on this, would anyone be up for it?

Hype Park Picnic

Last friday a group of us headed over to Hyde Park for a picnic in the allotment space Dan had secured. It was quite a nice day so gutted if you missed out. Craft circle very kindly made sandwiches and cakes. After we ate we had a small talk with some students from Leeds Uni who had been running an allotment there for a few months already. It was quite informative, but you could tell they were fine art students. Not that I have any predjudice for LU art students... nope, not at all.
Rich and myself then put in some hard graft and the allotment looked amazing. Well, the soil is nice and broken up, and weeds removed from one bed. Under the turf the old path is still intact which is useful. I think Dan is having a key made so we can keep working here; I think we are free to grow on it. If you're interested please contact Rich or me and we can arrange a day to go down and work there. This has potential to be run for longer than just this project (infact, it would have to be because by the time we start growing I think this project will be over).

So thats a overveiw of what we've been doing, stay tuned, should be more to come, including photos! Ooh visuals. You like that don't ya...
this is craft circle and this is what been been doing lately.

we've been busy doing the usual: making cakes! knitting and drinking tea! but we've also been getting some good stuff together such as our special charlie's angels style photoshoot. this was to promote our craft circle with cutting edge style, making knitting and crafty stuff cool n sexy instead of being for grannies!
speaking of knitting, we've all beeen contributing to knitting a shed for the "I love West Leeds Festival".
We've been working on equipping ourselves with our very own craft belts which we're going to use when we're out n about on our crafty trips away. these craft belts are costom made by each member of craft circle, each including our neccessary equiptment, such as knitting needles, sewing needles, thread, buttons, scissors etc.
talking of trips, last week we went down to the allotment for a picnic which craft circle provided. we made cakes and sandwiches, without knowing half ot the tutors were vegaterian we accidentally put ham in nearly all the sandwiches... oops.
Julie Blake, a freelance textiles designer has been helping us, guiding us in crafty ways! tomorrow she will be teaching us to crochet which we're all looking forwards to.

upcoming events:
trip to habidasherie
Trip to Bradford,
Crochet
i love west leeds fest


updates coming soon,
gotta go to bradford!

lots of love, craft circle!




Strangers (photographs)



























A study in the nature of strangers in cities; part of one community - but strangers; in a rush, own world, backs turned, eyes averted.


Tom Miles

Net Curtains (photographs)

.





Study of identical front, public-facing windows with net curtains.

Tom Miles.

Publication

Hey guys!

Thanx for all the stuff youve passed onto us so far. Please keep it coming! Any writing, photographs, films, drawings or anything else you make, please either send it to my email address: supa_gurl6@hotmail.com, or add them to the 'gad community' blog. Thanx very much,

Sophie xxx

Sunday 13 May 2007

Now Chris G has got us going lets go back to Bauman

For those of you who missed this - it's the publishers intro to a book which helps to get you thinking a bit deeper about community - and by a Leeds resident too..

Description of the book Community: Seeking Safety in an Insecure World, by
Zygmunt Bauman, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the Universities of Leeds and Warsaw

'Community' is one of those words that feels good: it is good 'to have a community', 'to be in a community'. And 'community' feels good because of the meanings which the word conveys, all of them promising pleasures, and more often than not the kind of pleasures which we would like to experience but seem to miss.
'Community' conveys the image of a warm and comfortable place, like a fireplace at which we warm our hands on a frosty day. Out there, in the street, all sorts of dangers lie in ambush; in here, in the community, we can relax and feel safe. 'Community' stands for the kind of world which we long to inhabit but which is not, regrettably, available to us. Today 'community' is another name for paradise lost - but for a paradise which we still hope to find, as we feverishly search for the roads that may lead us there.
But there is a price to be paid for the privilege of being in a community. Community promises security but seems to deprive us of freedom, of the right to be ourselves. Security and freedom are two equally precious and coveted values which could be balanced to some degree, but hardly ever fully reconciled. The tension between security and freedom, and between community and individuality, is unlikely ever to be resolved. We cannot escape the dilemma but we can take stock of the opportunities and the dangers, and at least try to avoid repeating past errors.
In this important new book, Zygmunt Bauman takes stock of these opportunities and dangers and, in his distinctive and brilliant fashion, offers a much-needed reappraisal of a concept that has become central to current debates about the nature and future of our societies.
Community / n a body of people in the same locality; the public in general; people having common rights, etc; a body of people leading a common life, or under socialistic or similar organization; a group of people who have common interests, characteristics or culture; a monastic body; any group of plants growing together under natural conditions and forming a recognisable sort of vegetation; a common posession or enjoyment; agreement; communion;

From: The Chambers Dictionary (10th edition)

Saturday 12 May 2007

Familuar Stranger

Below is a collaberation between myself and Tom Miles. I have responded to photos that he has took. The theme that we all working on is community so we had a chat about community and one thing that stuck in my mind was a contradicting flaw in the ideal of community. Even though it's purpose is to bring people together, it also excludes people because there are normally rules or restrictions in rder to be part of a community.

Tome went out in the city and took photographs of complete strangers and the results where quite surprising, I responded to these photos and went out in leeds and thought and jotted down ideas. Then I came back to my flat and looked at the photos and did some creative writing. The results are follwing:


Familuar Strangers

A city, a town, a village, a place, in this tiny world on this big planet. Bound by city borders, I walk around my stomping ground, a thousand sounds and movements pulsate through me, countless sights, coils of causality all around me in this one place.People walking, running, pushing, going places, seeing people, hearing sounds.With all this speed and haste of everyone around me in this city, in this spot I stand alone. Time slows down for me and with this surprising gift a shining beacon pierces through the haze in form of a bright wide smile, a cheeky grin connects with me.
Leaving me perplexed and unaware of the sounds, the movements, the people rushing towards me, walking past me, walking through me.
Just like them I was in a world of my own, singular and remote.

I get my bearings, shake my clouded thoughts, my hazey dreams. The wind rips through us all, paths of air connect us, we are all here, part of the same living, breathing, machine of a city.

We all keep it going or it keeps us going.Going and going on meeting people, feeling and frolicking new sensations, new experiences. In this place, in this time where we are strangers to everyone, wearingly afraid, cautious or ignorant to each other, I make my own connections, my own sensations, my own feelings with people I meet, people that smile, cause laughter to ring out. bring a sense of fantasy to a scary reality. With my own connections and my own thoughts I make my own community of moments and memories that people give me.

Selfish as it sounds, but in this hub of familiarity lies possibilities for that intimate moment, that cheerful smile, that nervous giggle. That moment, that memory makes the whole rushing world around me disappear. I am oblivious to the sounds, the movements, the people.

We need submissions of work please.

Well I guess it's just me posting to this things but I have something I would like to put on this and show everyone. I want it to go into the publication. I feel it will add a bit of depth to it and as of yet there isn't much material for the publication. So please make sure you all come and see me (chris goodwin), sophie and give us some work because it's difficult trying to find everyone. Or go into H918 and put work in that folder on cheryl's computer. Then we can check it. ok I'll post my work in another entry because I've babbled on.

Tuesday 8 May 2007

Regional Sayings.

We had a session today about defining what community meant. It was a really interesting exercise and raised lots of questions. One that stuck in my mind a lot was places, regions and what simularities occur in these regions that make you apart of that community. Sayings and phrases is one thing associates you with that region and community. some words we gathered are listed below. Please leave comments on this post adding your paticular regional words or sayings for things. Any sountheners or Londoners it would be good to hear your sayings as it was mostly northern ones we got today.

  • fish bits
  • scraps
  • batter
  • baps
  • butty
  • cobs
  • bread cakes
greetings or friendly names given like: mate, marra, dude, duck, ducki, love, lover, dear, our kid.

I would like some sayings also please. I can think of a few: "send my love with jam and hope it'll stick", "whats thy up ta", ok I can only think of two but i will do some research on this.

Folk Archive - link to weird community stuff i mentioned this morning

I'm sure craft cirlcle can match this - can we have some of your photos on here Liz, or a link to the craft circle site - i liked the wooly tomatoes.

http://www.jeremy-deller.co.uk/folk-archive/folk-archive-show.html

Jeremy Deller & Alan Kane

Folk Archive

Project by Turner prize winner, Jeremy Deller – see above link, documenting many aspects of ‘Folk’ art in Britain. Also documented on the site below – which has many interesting categories, including art from prisons, an alternative community?

http://www.folkarchive.co.uk/


'The work ranges from an evil scarecrow that resembles Michael Jackson, completewith gloves, to a penis made of burrs. Sometimes the political element is obvious, as inEd Hall's colour-filled banners from protest marches. At other times the rebellion and dissent is not so clear-cut, but there is a sense of something anarchic in all the work. The choices may be personal to the artists but their resonance is universal. The Folk Archive raises absorbing questions about British-ness. How do the strange events and visual ephemera of modern life create an image of a country's psyche?What are the stories floating behind the glimpses of protest, anger, chaos and fun? Most importantly, how do these objects and images explain the motivation behind creativity? In fact, what makes this collection of photographs, videos and weird stuff so interesting is wondering why they exist at all. ' BBC Interview @ http://www.jeremy-deller.co.uk/folk-archive/deller-folkarchive-bbc.html
Hi, this is Liz (S) logging in.
Lets get digging.

Monday 7 May 2007

The wheels begin to turn

Thanks to the two valiant commentators whose scepticism at both tecnhology and the concept of living communities have restored my faith in gadcommunity. All we need now are some pieces of writing to get us started - bring what you've got so far to Uni. tomorrow and we can go through, refine, redraft, turn inside out, bury in said graveyard and use as food for flowers... If you give me your mail addresses i can add you to the site a contributors rather than commentators, so we can get work posted and out for discussion.

I am in the dark about science / allotment / document / craft developments so i look forward to hearing all tomorrow. If you have any visuals which might be good promts to share then bring them along; similarly if you've found any pieces of writing (whether on communities or just of interest re. style) bring them along. I'll bring the Simon Armitage extract i referred to but didn't supply last week, and some more ideas.

NB. I am sure that graveyards are communities, but you don't get alot of trouble from the neighbours.

Adieu