why site based work?

Briefly recapping our last Skype with Liz this morning, she highlighted some main points, namely, the move away from drop in centres to online resources, and the gap and subsequent free space created by the loss of archives. Thinking about the invitation to work site responsively, I was wondering the ways in which site remains important.


ALL YOUR UNICORN FRIENDS ARE THERE

photo via Facebook
Visiting Lille three weeks ago we went to this bar run by Mim, Liqium, where MJS played some music. It's a LGBTI safe space and neighbourhood bar and it feeeeels really good in there amongst the unicorns and the purple walls, it feels like a centre that you want to be at.

Physical centres feel good. We can connect we can share stories in really different ways to online culture. I'd like to recall a lecture by Franco "Bifo" Beradi in relation to global captialism, the populus has lost its body and called the body to get back its language. In an interview afterwards about the talk, John Byrne summarised: 

[...]Berardi posed the reclamation of language as the ‘job of the poet’, the necessity to restore ambiguity, fluidity and metaphor to the languages we use in representing ourselves to ourselves and each other. This poetry, Berardi argued, would return an abstracted and deracinated language to a body which is both physically personal and socially contingent. 

[...] 

FB: Social solidarity is not an ethical or ideological value: it depends on the continuousness of the relation between individuals in time and in space. The material foundation of solidarity is the perception of the continuity of the body in the body, of the consistency of my interest and your interest. Since the ‘80s precarity provoked a process of de-solidarization and a process of disaggregation of the social composition of work. Virtualization has been a complementary cause of de-solidarization: precarization makes the social body frail at the level of work, while virtualization makes the social body frail at the level of affection. Collectivity starts to be fragmented, submitted to the accelerating rhythms of the virtual machine, and this process is parallel and complementary to the fractalization of financial capital. Financial capitalism is deterritorialized and virtual, and acts as a constant recombination of virtual fragments of abstract ownership. 

Franco Berardi and John Byrne, 'Autonomy and Use Value: Connection and Conjunction,' in The Autonomy Project Newspaper 3: At work, Onomatopee 43.3, 2012). http://sites.google.com/site/autonomydocs/file-cabinet/AT%20WORK_PDF_Single%20Pages_web.pdf)

??

So back to street then! Kathleen Hannah speaks about political bodies or how about building the body political??? 

[aside] 

Being there gives us a physical feedback loop, and Marnie's raises an important point during the skype about about visual culture archives as being powerful stake holders. Do they also make up the memory of our political body? I'd say yes, but only if we have seen it or have access to it.

I don't want to drop the idea of electronic forms of communication and community altogether, so I'm wondering about how to work with both and online and physical site simultaneously?

How can this language be reconnected with the body (or site)?

Can our mode of fiction answer the gap between these different temporal spaces?

Do we want to reactivate those drop-in centres?

Do we want to rebuild the archives?

What would that re-building of archives look like?

Would their be [MISSING PART]s thoughout it? 

Could fiction seamlessly understudy the [MISSING PART]?

What kind of new performance could the understudy of he [MISSING PART] have?

Is that [MISSING PART] actually on at a drag workshop?

Skype notes, kind of

+ some reminders x

 

Morison and Straka / Madame and the Bastard

Madame Morrison, documentary for television profiling New Zealand artist Julia Morison, directed by Sonja de Friez

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/madame-morison-2005 (cf. 4:45 for Madame & the Bastard)

Madame & the Bastard do black was a series of five 30 second films transmitted 63 times between September 2 – November 30 2000 on TV One (south island), during which was simultaneously shown in the KIOSK (corner High Street and Manchester Street) between 16 - 30 October 2000.

"Advertising for Art & Industry 2000 and short film were combined in ‘do black’ by Madame & the Bastard, orchestrated and conducted by Julia Morison and Heather Straka. ‘do black’ was an intensive, surreal short film screened in five acts on TV One, with different acts programmed into 30 second advertising time slots."

"All People 20+ Years – seen by 93% of the population at least once. (372,000) 74% of population saw them at least four times or more (296,000). 31% saw them at least 10 times or more (124,000)"

http://archived.ccc.govt.nz/council/agendas/2001/June/Environment/Clause11Attachment2.pdf (accessed 28 Dec 2015). 

Manchester Street seeks even more stunts

Hi stunts,

Had a great time in Christchurch - hung out at the Physics Room, met some lovely people, caught up with friends, haunted Manchester st, helped a mate do some filming 4.30am on the Avon. Fun times.

The site visit and opportunity to meet with some allies for the project was really useful and encouraging - there is definitely enthusiasm for the project and curiosity about what we will do. I only wish I had time to meet more people, especially connected to the lgbt community in Christchurch. Still, there are other ways we can continue the conversation and the people I met with have been really generous with contacts as well as news and information.

First things first - site visit with Mel.

Before we did a walk/visit along Manchest St we talked about whether there are enough places for posters on Manchester st alone and/or if we were interested in other sites in Chch. After a walk down Manchester st, however, we identified about a half dozen or more spots where we could mount posters, install image work, or poster-type creations. 

The reality is that, while there are some conventional sites for mounting posters (i.e. phantom billstickers sites), these are limited and we will seriously need to consider displaying our work on some 'unconventional 'sites/supports along Manchester. This seems fitting to the spirit/workings of Manchester St at present anyway.

Manchester st is probably quite emblematic of many former main streets in Christchurch at present. It has completely and radically changed from what it was pre-earthquake. Formerly a commercial hub and for many a party street in the good old days, with many two-storey buildings, as well as offices for many community organisations, including The Women’s Centre and Agender, it now reflects the fact that the “re-build” is a long slow process that cannot restore the community of the past and asks big questions about the future of the current community and what it is/will become.

The street will be one of the more challenging sites we’ve worked with in terms of our usual delight in pre-existing prime advertising spots. There aren't many. We have formal and informal car-park zones, empty fenced-off sections, the standing buildings, some operational, others empty, its remaining boarded up shops, its urban garden, parks, diary, new op shop and residential properties. People walk, bike and drive down Manchester st. Residents commute morning, evening. Teens seem to hang out there later at night. Sex workers work on corners toward the residential end at night. 

Here are the places, with photos, that we identified as potential sites for our work - all hypothetical and dependant on further conversations with owners and operators:

Stairway to - The Physics Room - a tantalising interior shot (random aside, as requested)

High Street - Manchester

From High Street through to the first 800+m of Manchester st, Phantom billstickers have a series of poster sites.

On High Street there are a series of frames /poster sites - unsure whether this site will be available next year as the land is up for sale.

There are then three poster towers run by phantom billstickers that are situated about 2-300 m apart from High St, up Manchester:

High St (above)

Manchester (above)

Manchester (above)

A new park - the Margaret Mahy Park is also just about to open - it's massive and just before the bridge.

Urban garden space

If we got permission from the owner we could mount works on the fence or consider constructing a mount of some kind - Mel thinks the owner would be open and supportive of this. They allowed a visiting artist to do a performance there which involved him trying to dig a hole to spain over the course of several days. The fence frontage of the site is fairly extensive as you can see:

  

There was a billboard space (currently empty) in a carpark to an office block - it's quite shaded by trees and not very visible from the street so don't consider it an ideal spot for work. It's set back behind the red car in this shot. It was raining so apologies for the unclear shot:

The Red Cross shop window 

A Red Cross shop is about to open. As as you can see there is some danger tape symbolism right out front. We could possibly install something in the front window with permission. Magazine covers?:

              

The blue dairy 

Apologies for the really terrible shot! Rain! There is an inset window space on the side of the diary - about A2 or A1 size that we could negotiate with the owner to use. It's currently empty. The spot is under the centre of the three green advertisements for V.

North Projects

Could possible create something on the gate (the whole gate would be amazing) or the front yard.

    

Other sites: there were a few empty buildings earlier on in Manchest st - a tall former office block and then - close the the Margaret Mahy park and opposite - there was a former shop with large boarded up windows that could be other potential sites for our work - this would require us to negotiate with the landlords. Still, these sites were in proximity to the phantom billstickers sites so might be OTT in this zone? Anyway, something for us to discuss.

Option if we were to look outside Manchester st include the regular public art/community event programme called First Thursdays, which involves art projects in suburbs outside of town - local shops stay open late around the events - most recently in Sydenham: http://www.firstthursdayschch.co.nz/ 

In terms of the meetings I had with people, it'd be great to skype in the first instance as these were all private conversations.

Any chance you are free 8am NZ Monday morning/8pm EU Sunday evening?

We can also talk more about materials and such.

Good times!

More music videos and happy chch Rachel!

http://www.thefader.com/2015/12/15/7-europeans-that-are-making-pop-a-safe-space-for-weirdos
Esp. Noonie Bao feat. plastic bags and sheets. Annoying Miranda July style but promises some absurd/surreal scenes to delight and inspire. 

Skype: 7 December 2015....

NZ>>>><<<<EU

Clare, Marnie, Liz and Rachel

Rachel has her tickets booked for a epic Christchurch trip-ski.

Clare to try to hook up Stunts VIP for RO to attend CAG opening. Schimouse.

Things to do in Christchurch:

- Time how long it takes to walk from North Projects to the Physics Room.

- Look for places where posters go.

- Take images in the interiors that you visit.

- Mel has suggested a few people for RO to meet up with.

- Meet North Projects

- Women's Center

http://womenscentre.co.nz/
http://womenscentre.co.nz/lesbian-events
- Agender Christchurch

http://www.agender.org.nz/4322/246922.html
http://www.agender.org.nz/4322/index.html

Michelle Smeation, mobile: 027 465-9582, foxyms23@gmail.com

What would we talk to the Women's Center and Agender about?

- Say hello and introduce our collaboration/project. 

- Ask what their organisation do in the city.

- What kind of issues are important to their communities in the rebuild process?

- How do the networks in Christchurch communicate with each other? Thinking about reaching out to potential audiences for the project.

- Does your organisation have an archive? A collection of your visual material from the past?

- What kind of design processes do you use for your organisation's visual identity?

- What associations or connotations does Manchester Street have for you?

- Are there public spaces that you enjoy? And what kind of public spaces (if any) in Christchurch do you feel comfortable being 'out' in?

- Gay bars? Trans bars? Lesbian bars?

- Seen any good movies lately?

RO needs a short text or narrative for the project to take with her on the trip:

LA suggests:

We are making a poster series to be put up along the part of Manchester Street that links the Physics Room with North Projects. The posters will generate visibility for a new AtCS video project, and secondarily, create a pink zone (where the film's main character is being represented through a queering process) in the red.

RO: It would be good to indicate in the text that Manchester Street is "A loaded site." That Manchester street has an interesting or contentious position in the city.

LA: The only loaded thing that I can seem to see is that there is a mix use in the street, between sex work, churches, private property, libraries and commercial activities. 

RO: But post-quake, the shrinking or the re-purposing of the city has left streets like this very changed, but also contested in a new way. Are we choosing to work outside of an interest in this contested zone?

LA: I think we were invited to broach that complicated territory, but I have become a bit wary of it. Because to have an informed conversion about this, I think there is a huge amount of research to be done in order to have that conversation. We can also go in as outsiders, and connect in our own way with the site, and this is fine, but we should be clear about that as a position.

MS: I don't understand why there are only two options: No research, or research. What about the possibility of asking specific questions that come through the lens of our practice? 

RO: We talked about the idea of a confessional tone, and developing a single character through the four of us. Is there a way to talk about research this way?

LA: Well the process of making this work at the moment is so blurry to me. There are so many focusses. I know we have certain threads, but they are many. In the past we were always much more focussed.

RO: We normally work with sites and contexts that have a 'reality' we can work with in a playful way -- we use our knowledge of a context, but in this situation we are trying to work with a site that we don't really have a handle on.

LA: I have no reality for this site, only representations and mediations.

RO: For this project, we have the movie poster, the magazine cover...... so far, this is what we have been posting.

LA: Maybe we start doing an edit of the material. I don't like the idea of two posters, but I like the idea of more than one. There is quite a lot of interest for me seeing this character emerge over more than one style of platform (for example, women's mag, and hipster zine...). And there was also the newspaper headline. I was confused by the zebra in your collages RO, because it is such an exotic animal for Christchurch. I am quite keen to see a body represented, but a body that's not a body.

RO: Could you explain that body that is not a body thing?

LA: Like in the goose image, the body is partial, so you fill in the absence with your desire. And then it is funny because the goose is both here (hair) and there at the same time. Like someone has cut the film reel at the wrong moment.

CN: The spoonerism film poster is missing a spoon. Or maybe a fork. Ala Alanis Morissette. 

LA: This image makes me want to ask you to take images of interiors in Christchurch.

LA: From what I have gathered from research so far, the only lesbian spaces are in women's centers (this is from American theorists mainly). 

I went to a gay bar in Rotterdam recently, I arrived at 12 and there was no body there. Weird. But then my friend took me into a bar room, and then there were like 17 people all watching a porn film together.

NEXT SKYPE?

- Possibly while RO is in Christchurch, if it is going to work with timing.

- Or when RO comes back to Wellington.]

>>>>>TBC>>>>>>

more if you can, less if you can't

Les Maggz (a range)

Movie Posters (search)