ARTIST TALK 6PM VIA SKYPE!!!
Adams Uncle Eddie lived in Australia for a while, and his Grandma loves talking about it, come down and see the Photographs and write a letter to Grandma. Free drinks as always and good chat, make sure you make it by 6 to meet Adam.
Group Material
Democracy: Education. 1988
Dia Art Foundation, NYC
Today I have been engrossed in an article by Doug Ashford called ‘Group Material: Abstraction as the onset of the real’. The article is an adaption of a paper given in Barcelona, and discusses Ashford’s own and Group Material’s (the collective of artists he worked within) work. To quickly explain Group Material, it is a social and at times political collective of artists who were working together exploring the exhibiting context, and the role art played in relation to society, politics and the everyday. Through this Group Material explored alternate ways to form a basis for discussion and dialogue.
Ashford explains that the effort or purpose of Group Material ‘ was to directly engage with the critique of institutions through remaking the presentational context of existing art: a question about the genealogies of values that art creates when exhibited and promoted, a question of the curatorial and what it could create. But it was a question that came from art and artistic problems – from the formal, symbolic and vibrant rethinking of visual language. In other words, when we asked what could change if the exhibiting context for art was transformed into a forum of displacement and dialogue – we were demanding that art’s rediscovery of the self through strangeness and juxtaposition be applied to an entire room, a complete relation, a set of habits and traditions’.
It’s a great Article. HERE is the link.
Heres a link to Dan’s video which is up at RAYGUN for the month of December/January.
A quick blog to wish our followers a safe and happy Christmas and fantastic New Year. Its a time to get together and celebrate the simple things. The members of RAYGUN Millie, Grace, Dan, Mace, Ali and myself got together 2 nights ago and had our RAYGUN family meal and celebrated the last 6 months at RAYGUN and how much we have shared and expreinced in that time. Thanks for joining us in 2011 and if you were unable to join us at Annand Street Toowoomba then we will continue to keep you updated here at RAYGUNlab. We are excited about our upcoming schedule of events planned, and not so planned, in 2012.
A quick mention of Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek who’s all about getting together. He and his seventy staff have recently moved studio/showroom. His idea is that he has created a space to design and build new furniture out of old and recycled materials as well as create an environment where things happen and people meet. This idea of chance and gathering is what we have enjoyed most about RAYGUN and RAYGUNlab and look forward to adding to its story with you in 2012.
On Friday night December 1st the RAYGUN interns/dudes, Grace, Mace, Millie and Dan pulled together and put up a body of works in the space that represented ideas they had been working through at University in 2011. From blowing up spray paint cans on to canvases in the paddock, light boxes filled with expanding poly fill and screenprints, to an intricately detailed cut out of RAYGUN’s neighbourhood, including the post office on the corner, the work revealed an experimental, disciplined and dedicated year to their practices. Thanks to the Phat Burger Marquee we managed morph to the outdoors away from the rain to party on.
The Rex Ray Showing was great! It was wonderful on a steamy night to sit down and watch a doc on an awesome artist with good company and a corona. If you couldn’t make it check out Rex Ray anyway, the documentary is well worth a watch Rex Ray spoke about his process and gave us a tour of his world, it showed working space and methods etc – awesome. Kyle Jenkins will be showing a film once a month. Keep an eye out for the next one.
OK YEAH COOL GREAT really love the blog for German publication Mono.Kultur. They recently posted about this fantastic Bridge, designed by Dutch Architects Ro-Ad, and we loved it so much we thought we would re-blog it! Essentially, this bridge sits inline with the water. What a great idea!! Why go above, when you can go through? Check it out!
OK YEAH COOL GREAT really love confetti systems… Check out their stuff here!!
THIS MONDAY AT 6PM
Kyle Jenkins will be playing a DVD on Rex Ray, US artist and designer. Then we’ll chat about it. Super interesting guy and Kyle’s explanation of stuff is always awesome. Everyone is welcome for some movie watching, horizontal lounging and discussions. BYO beers and popcorn
RAYGUN 