LAST FRIDAY SHORTS

At the moment, I am looking for more art videos for the next Last Friday Shorts, an educational series of time-based art evenings, launched at TAP last Friday.

ABOUT:
Three of the artists will also be present to introduce their work and answer any questions after the screening.

JANET CURLEY CANNON (UK) – Urban Collection – 4 films – 9’
PETE GOMES (UK) – Central Control 4’53”
THEO TAGHOLM (UK) – The Persistence of Vision 4’58”
+
LEMEH42 (IT) – 12 Night – 1’25”
EDWIN ROSTRON (UK) – Palmersville – 6’43”
JOZEF AMADO (UK) – War is Beautiful – 1’25”
AUDREY LAM (AU) – Under-development – 7’33”
MATTIA COSTA (IT) – Down – 2’19”
SOPHIE JERRAM (NZ) – Fatty – 10’33”
JESSE REDING FLEMING (USA) – Circuit – 16’43”

2010: 03/03
CATEGORY: CURATING
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Tris Vonna-Michell video from his show at Focal Point Gallery

Full review can be found on IDEA13 http://www.idea13.org

2010: 01/14
CATEGORY: WRITING
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EXPOSURE – a group photography exhibition

EXPOSURE WEBSITE – http://www.michaelafreeman.com/exposure

2009: 12/14
CATEGORY: CURATING
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UNDERGROUND CITY

EXHIBITED ARTISTS: Richard Cox, Jon Fawcett, Adam Henry, Jitka Hynková, Monica Ursina Jäger, Andreas Kaufmann, Christopher Labzda, Chris Littlewood, Eleanor MacFarlane, Ben Nathan, Štepánka Šimlová and Reinhard Schleining

+ FILM SCREENINGS:

2 APRIL: Marc Atkinson & Leslie Deere, Jozef Amado, Morgan Beringer, Christophe Bruchansky, Vera Brunner-Sung, Mattia Casalegno & Michael Langeder, Joe Clark, Janet Curley Cannon, Disinformation, Manuel Drexl, Tessa Garland, Jakub Geltner, Lucas Gervilla, Consuelo Giorgi, Thomas Guichard, Saman Kamyab & Jon Eirik Kopperud, Audrey Lam, Lemeh42, Jan Polverini, Elizabeth Riley, Maciek Stepinski, Darshana Vora, Yu-Chen Wang

30 APRIL – Jan Fabian – Patricio Forrester – Mattia Costa – Theo Tagholm – Siobhan Wanklyn – Edwin Rostron – Audrey Lam – Laura Napier – Nora Razian – Jesse Reding Fleming – Emma Grace – Lokaz Nokaz & Hajdelak – Sophie Jerram – Zbigniew Kotkiewicz & Marta Stysiak

UNDERGROUND CITY uncovers unseen, forgotten corners of metropolis, city within a city, sense of inhabiting one’s little space as affirmation of belonging and urban undergrowth – surprisingly hidden after all that discovering – but also what is part of thefantasy inspired by the city, visions and dreams (or nightmares) of the future of the pulsating cityscape. Each metropolis becomes a unique organism that breathes and develops. It’s created by humans so their creation is no more artificial than any other accidental or incidental nature’s creation or advancement, even if “building itself has become an act of destruction”.

More info http://www.michaelafreeman.com/undergroundcity/

2009: 11/17
CATEGORY: CURATING
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SHINING – exhibition of emerging photographers

SHINING brings together 14 photographers from Czech Republic and the UK. Most of them recent graduates, they represent different uses of photography and ways of captivating the ‘reality’. Staged, manipulated and purely documentary style photographs are all shown here to highlight the thin line between reality, illusions and dreams.

Jan Lesak’s unplanned documents emanate the joy from a found situation. Jan Cihak’s friend of the night – fox – gives him a shoulder.Yeon Lee’s nun is installed higher then usual to look down on the visitors – part of a series in which Lee explores women’s inequality and cultural differences. Katerina Drzkova’s colourful visual realisation of refugees’ dreams of future they image for themselves, juxtaposed with a small B/W image of their current life, brings a cruel comparison. Ben Camp’s armoured figure refers to Japanese martial art Kendo (way of sword), pointing out to the complex mental activity that goes on during a fight. Margarita Myrogiaanni’s King is also plunged in darkness, leaving everything but his smart collar to our imagination. William de Labat’s series of people in the lift catches them looking out to the source of light, unwilling to get off. Ondrej Tkacik’s everyday objects – in this case carrot’s leftovers resting on a kitchen surface, their destiny numbered – remind us of our own unsure and short existence. Martin Kamen and Magda Slezar both appear in their work – Slezar naked on the beach, next to a dead dolphin, and Kamen in an awkward mute situation. In the case of Jasmina Cibic and Terrence Smith, photographs were a by-product of their installation work but these images work on their own as well, producing new meaning. Matt Croghan’s street and nature scenes get a treatment in Photoshop, the resulting scenes being deceivably (un)real. Similarly Dean Leivers alters indoor environment but he does so by projecting images – in this case onto a sink.

More information – CLICK HERE

2009: 10/17
CATEGORY: CURATING
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PHOTOICON feature on Scandinavian artists

This is 10-interview long feature I wrote for Photoicon magazine earlier this year:

VIEW PDF

2009: 10/09
CATEGORY: WRITING
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POST-INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE – group show of UK artists

The Post – Industrial Landscape

Edward Burtynsky
Nickel Tailings #39
Sudbury, Ontario
1996

Edward Burtynsky<br /> Oxford Tire Pile #1<br /> Westley, Kalifornia<br /> 1999<br />
Edward Burtynsky
Oxford Tire Pile #1
Westley, Kalifornia
1999

1.10.2003 – 7.12.200319 – 21 Husova St., Prague 1 – Old Town

Tim Lewis (1961) creates sculptures and light kinetic objects with an emphasis on the metaphorical value of matter and its transcending philosophical implications.

Edward Burtynsky (1955) portrays in his monumentally conceived photographs a landscape scarred by the impact of modern industry.

The steel objects of John Gibbons (1949) are characterised by the metaphysical interplay of the architecture of forms and the space within them and around them.

Patrick Hughes (1939) paints panoramic scenes of contemporary civilisation with surprising optical effects achieved by the interaction of the pictures two dimensions and ‘real’ three-dimensional space. In his paintings, David Hepher (1935) comments on the banal environment of the urban landscape with its terraced streets, high-rise blocks and ubiquitous graffiti.

The painter John Keane (1954) focuses primarily on the darkly negative aspects of the present day – war, society marred by the death of traditional industry, the alienation of life in cities and the influence of the mass media on the awareness of post-colonial man.

organizer: The Czech Museum of Fine Arts, Prague
co-organisers: The British Council, Prague, Galerie Flowers East v Londýně
curators: Michaela Freeman (galerie Flowers East), Richard Drury (ČMVU)

2009: 10/01
CATEGORY: CURATING
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COOKING – internet art project and performance

In 2000, I did a project called COOKING – where I collected recipes and cooked them in a final performance in Roxy, Prague:

See the COOKING WEBSITE.

2009: 09/10
CATEGORY: CURATING
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INTERNET ART feature in Umelec Magazine

INTERNET ART vs. ART ON THE INTERNET, Published in 2000, in Umelec Magazine.

SEE THE TEXT – sorry only in Czech.

2009: 09/09
CATEGORY: WRITING
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JEUX D’AMOUR – exhibition @ Wigmore Fine Art and Battersea Arts Centre

In 1999, I set up HYBRID- a curating group – together with Joanna Krysa, Vasillios Doupas and Elena Vallet. We curated a group exhibition JEUX D’AMOUR at Wigmore Fine Art and Battersea Arts Centre in January -Febraury 2000.

ABOUT HYBRID
Creative Curating is a London based curatorial collective. It favours open and fresh approaches to contemporary art and aims to contribute to cultural exchange between the UK and other art centres via exhibitions, lectures, artist’s talks and special events.Merging different cultures, disciplines and languages is our strategy towards the result that defies any rigid de-finition.
In a story by Czech writer Karel Capek, the dog and the cat are making a cake together. Each of them tend to put their favourite stuff in it and, naturally, the final product makes their guest sick. Working with material from different cultural contexts and environments does require a very critical approach and sensibility. Even now in so called “globalisation age” it might look as if there is no need for cultural exchange because the Internet would do all the work. But the truth is that even here various subcultures still create their own virtual barriers. We want to work towards overcoming them without losing the privilege of individual approaches.

SEE THE WEBSITE FOR JEUX D’AMOUR.