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News:
EIGHT
DAYS PROJECT SPACE AT THE BLUECOAT 2008 New
Free Mothman
Comic Book click on poster
A free preview issue zero downloadable comic book inspired by character
The Mothman, for issue one Artist will be invited to contribute to
the comic book, the finished hard copy comic book to be realised in
Köln and Liverpool the close of the Year in connection with eight
days a week at the Bluecoat.
Eight
Days A Week is supported by Liverpool Culture Co, Bluecoat Arts Centre,
Liverpool Art School/ __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Review:
Tony Knox and Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney, Curiosity (Live Art) at Galerie
Martin Turck, Cologne, Germany, 25 April 2007. (>> Select image to view mpeg of performance).
(German) Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney und Tony Knox haben am Abend des 25. April 2007 den Galerieraum in der Glasstraße auf seine Reize getestet und im Schaufenster - wie auf einer Bühne - eine überraschend flexible live-art-Choreographie entworfen. Die Künstler setzen einer Ästhetik des formlos Legeren, wie sie vor allem von zeitgenössischen jungen britischen Künstlern propagiert wird, eine mit sicherem formalen Gespür entworfene Komposition einer subtil kontrollierten Transformation entgegen. Im Verlauf der Inszenierung entledigt Sweeney sich Stück für Stück eines Wrestling-Kostüms mit Maske, Shirt und Hose, und hängt die Kleidungsstücke an eine über die Breite des Schaufensters gespannte Leine. Knox wiederum nimmt die Trikotteile und legt sie an. Die Zuschauer verfolgen die Szenerie im Schaufenster von der Straße aus. Bedingt durch die Distanz ergänzen im öffentlichen Raum unbeteiligte Passanten und passierende Fahrradfahrer und Automobile unbewusst die Handlung. Kostüm und Maske des Wrestlers – des Athleten und Schauspielers der in England äußerst populären Show-Sportart – sind die zentralen Ausstattungsstücke einer Präsentation, deren Symmetrie von Entkleidung und Einkleidung, Identitätskonstruktion und Identitätswechsel, Metamorphose und kreativem Bodybuilding Bilder freisetzt, die sinnlich und symbolträchtig den menschlichen Körper als skulpturales Werkzeug begreifen. Eine im Formalen gebannte Mechanik von Rollenspiel und Rollentausch scheut die Definition und konfrontiert das Publikum des life-projects mit der Anspielung auf identitätspolitische Erkundungen performativer Konzepte jenseits von extravagantem Stilgefühl, exzentrischer Vision und Illusion. (English Translation). On the eve of the 25th of April 2007 Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney and Tony Knox tested the perimeters of the Gallery. Making full use of the spatial potential, they staged a live art performance in the shop window. The artists counterbalance the current trend of a casual, unstructured aesthetic, (which is particularly) advocated by so many young, British, contemporary artists with a subtly, developed composition marked by convincing, formal qualities. During the course of the performance, Sweeney removes item by item the mask, the shirt and trousers of a wrestling costume. One by one, she hangs these on a washing line stretched across the width of the shop window. In turn, Knox takes these items of clothing and puts them on. The audience watch the performance in the shop window from the outside. Unwittingly passing by pedestrians, cyclists and motorists become involved, accidentally turning into spectators. Costume and mask of the wrestler – the athlete and actor of a sport which is very popular in England – are the central props of this performance. The symmetry of dressing and undressing, of construction and deconstruction of identity, of metamorphosis and body building suggests an imagery which turns the human body into a sculptural tool. The mechanism of role play and role reversal tied to a formal language defies definition. In confronting the audience, the interplay alludes to gender political explorations within the context of performance art and goes beyond extravagant notions of style, eccentric vision and illusion. Statement
of Live Art, Curiosity, by Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney and Tony Knox. Tony Knox and Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney presented a live art collaboration at Galerie Martin Turck in Cologne on 25 April 2007. This was titled 'Curiosity' and a fusion of the concepts from their independent art practices. This live art was associated to the Eight Days a Week Liverpool/Cologne Exchange Programme, managed by Pete Clarke and Georg Gartz respectively. Knox and Sweeney, who both explore the concept of gender politics in performance art. Knox embodied in his own alter ego the idiosyncratic character of Mothman derived from his creative research in wrestling culture. In contrast, Sweeney, whose art is set on the temporality and spatiality of body politics in the post modern environment, institutional constructs and the canon of the body. The performance was researched in response to the gallery space. The artists chose to platform the performance in the window and had to be viewed from outside. A washing line with pegs was visible across the window and two long sheets on either outer edge attached hung. The window itself was sectioned by a band of frosted glass. The two artists entered the window space. The female unrecognisable, her gender concealed by the hybrid costume of the Mothman attire. The male was naked. Each artist took position in the window. The male on the left, behind the white sheet, only his head visible, like a portraiture. The female in the male wrestling persona on the right and similar behind another sheet. The Moth(wo)man walked to the centre of the window area. She momentarily took the stance of a wrestling hero, motionless, as if on a press poster advertising the symbolic of a wrestling protagonist. She removed the mask and fixed it to the line to reveal her long hair and face made up with cosmetics. Next came the leather shorts and then the rest of the body suit. Her naked flesh was concealed by the translucent glass. She returned to the right behind the sheet and faced the male. She un-pegged the white sheet, wrapped it around her body and over her shoulder. She took a pose cognitive of sculpture from antiquity with the folds of sheet falling as a robe and imbued a character from Greek mythology, Hestia; her body poised and arm stretched upwards. The male moved from the left to the centre. Although naked, his exposed body was obscured by the costume on the line and frosted gallery window. He removed the full costume first and slowly dressed. Then moved to the leather shorts and put them on. The last was the mask and he pulled it over his head. Similar to the onset of the position adopted by the Moth(wo)man, he takes a pose of wrestling hero. He then steps down from the ledge of the window. The female, who has remained in the iconic position of Greek statue moves to the centre. The Mothman then lifts her and departs. The male defined as the dominant and the female the submissive. This is an visual analysis of the concept of hero from the precepts ingrained in conventions and representations in post modern society and culture from the historical canons. Although there have been transitions in gender politics of equality and redefinition in the roles, the performance concludes on the common knowledge the stereotypical positions of male and female still pervade in 21st century portrayal’s of gender relationships and equally imbued in mass media. This event was supported by the Curator, Martin Turck, of the gallery and Georg Gartz, who co-ordinates and manages the Cologne groups of Eight Days a Week. Further information can be viewed on the artists and Eight Days a Week at: www.tonyknox.org.uk During their time in Cologne, Knox and Sweeney had the opportunity to meet with other Eight Days a Week and Cologne artists.
From
left to right: Martin Turck, Tine Wille, Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney, Georg
Gartz, Martin
Turck (Curator, Writer and Professor). __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Eight Days a Week Artist Donate to Hospital Art Auction, 02 May 2007. Pete Clarke, Neil Morris, Tony Knox and Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney donated art to the Transvoyeur Charity Auction for the Emergency Department of the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Artists
Give Work to Emergency Flog it!
INTERNATIONAL art will go under the hammer in Flog It! style in Liverpool tomorrow to raise money for a hospital’s emergency department. All the works have been donated by the artists concerned, from both Merseyside and overseas. Scores of artists have contributed works, and last night organisers said still more were arriving. The works will be auctioned at the View Two Gallery in Mathew Street. All the money raised will go towards the emergency department at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. The charity art auction has been organised by a group of artists in the Liverpool collective Trans-voyeur. Project organiser Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney said it was an attempt by artists to contribute something back to the city. “The emergency department at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital represents part of the core of the city which supports all of us who live here,” she said. “The work they do at the hospital is highly commendable and in some way we hope this project helps. It is also planned to raise awareness of the exceptional work they do at the hospital.” The hospital’s clinical director, Peter Burdett-Smith, said it was a great project for the emergency department. “We don’t often benefit from charity fundraising. Most funding seems to go to glamorous specialities like cardiology and neurosurgery, which do great work, but people tend to forget that we treat 90,000 emergencies every year, some 250 every single day.” Mr Burdett-Smith did not know how much might be raised by the auction. He added: “But I have a list of equipment that the staff have put together that would benefit our patients. As a spin-off, I am hoping that this will raise the profile of the department and continue the good work that the two series of Trauma on the BBC did last year. “Emergency services can sometimes feel a bit taken for granted and it is nice to have some recognition for all our hard work.” Artists contributing include Liverpool artist Jason Jones – recently the first of the Eat Art artists to appear at the Malmaison art dinners – Alex Corina, who created the iconic image of Mona Lennon for the Capital of Culture bid, and performance artist George Lund. Among many others are Pete Clarke, Rachel Pearson, Stephen Fowlkes, Kofi Fosu, Richard Meagan, Andrew Taylor, Jo Head and organiser Gaynor Evelyn Sweeney. Following the auction, artists will also be donating works to go on the wall at the emergency department. “This will be a permanent collection of art donated by various artists,” she said. Mr Burdett-Smith is equally appreciative of this move, convinced that art does help to create a healing environment. “Many patients who attend the emergency department are in pain or distress and anything we can do to alleviate this is to be welcomed,” he said. “I am also hoping to display some of the work in the staff areas as they are the backbone of the department and deserve some recognition.” The auction will take place tomorrow at the View Two Gallery in Mathew Street between 7pm and 9pm, conducted by Roger Phillips of Radio Merseyside. philkey@dailypost.co.uk __________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Design: Tony Knox