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Closing event of the exhibition ¡Patria o Libertad!

Press Release
11.04 2011


Closing event of the exhibition
¡Patria o Libertad!

‘Guantanamera’
Screening and Artist talk with Ross Birrell, Paco Barragán and Roos Gortzak

Sunday, 8 May 2011 - 14.00 - 17.00 hrs
Entrance includes exhibition visit and a drink (see www.cobra-museum.nl for entrance fees. )

As a closing event to the well received international group exhibition ¡Patria o Libertad! (19.02 – 08.05 2011) in the framework of the Cobra Contemporary programme, the Cobra Museum will screen a recent work by participating artist Ross Birrell (Glasgow, 1969), followed by an artist talk with the Dutch curator Roos Gortzak (Kunsthalle Basel) and Paco Barragán, guest curator of the exhibition.

Guantanamera (2009) is a two-part film by Ross Birrell and David Harding, produced by Douglas Gordon. The work was shot in Cuba and Miami in the period immediately after the resignation of Fidel Castro and follows the recording and broadcasting of the most famous of Cuban songs, Guantanamera, by two singers from across the political divide of contemporary Cuban identity. The original lyrics to the song are derived from the Versos Sencillos of the Cuban national poet, revolutionary and martyr, José Martí who is claimed by both pro-Castro and anti-Castro Cubans alike. The Guantanamera films follow the recording and broadcast of separate versions of the song in Cuba and Miami.

Part 1, edited in poetic visual stanzas, traces a journey through the length and breadth of contemporary Cuba from Guantanamo to Havana. In Part 2 we encounter the annual José Martí parade and the inauguration of Barack Obama.

After the screening Ross Birrell, Roos Gortzak and Paco Barragan will speak in relation to Birrell’s work Envoy (NYC) (which is part of the exhibition ¡Patria o Libertad!) and Guantanamera. They will approach the themes of Patriotism and Freedom with reference to both José Martí and Alain Badiou on Art, Politics and Love, and the potential contradiction between fidelity to the truth of patriotism on the one hand and fidelity to freedom on the other.

Programme (English spoken)

14.00 introduction
14.15-15.00 screening of part 1 – film ‘Guantanamera’
15.00-15.15 break
15.15-16.00 screening part 2 – film ‘Guantanamera’
16.00-16.45 artist talk with Ross Birrell, Paco Barragán and Roos Gortzak

Ross Birrell (Glasgow, 1969) is an artist, writer and lecturer (Glasgow School of Arts). In 2007 Birrell was awarded an SAC Artist’s Film & Video Award to make a collaborative film with David Harding in Cuba and Miami. Previous films with Harding include Port Bou: 18 Fragments for Walter Benjamin (2006) and Cuernavaca: A Journey in Search of Malcolm Lowry (2006) commissioned by Kunsthalle Basel. Solo exhibitions include Envoy, Büro Friedrich, Berlin (2003) and the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden (2005). He recently took part in Living Today, Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow School of Art (2011), Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession), Swiss Institute Rome/Kunsthalle Basel (2010), Under the Volcano, Bluecoat Gallery (2009), Romantic Conceptualism, Kunsthalle Nürnberg and BAWAG Foundation Vienna (2007), Das Gelände, Kunsthalle Nürnberg (2008) and TIMECODE, Dundee Contemporary Arts (2009). Publications include ‘The Gift of Terror: Suicide Bombing as Potlatch’, Art in the Age of Terror (London: Paul Holberton Press, 2005), reprinted in Concerning War: A Critical Reader (BAK: Utrecht, 2006) and translated in Leituras Da Morte (Annablume: Sao Paulo, 2007) and in brumaria (Madrid, 2008). Guantanamera launched at Glasgow International 2010 and has subsequently been exhibited and screened in Swiss Institute in Rome, Kunsthalle Basel and Galleri Rotor 1, Gothenburg and will be part of a fothcoming exhibition at the Americas Society, New York in May. Ross Birrell is represented by Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam.

Paco Barragán (Oviedo, Spain) is independent curator and arts writer based in Madrid and Miami. He is Associate Editor of Artpulse magazine (Miami) and curatorial advisor of the Artist Pension Trust (APT), New York. He served as co-curator for the International Biennale of Contemporary Art (IBCA) at the National Gallery in Prague in 2005; and the Bienal de Lanzarote in 2009.
His exhibitions include: The End of History…and The Return of History Painting, Museum for Modern Art (MMKA) in Arnhem, 2011; ¡Patria o Libertad! The Rethorics of Patriotism, Miami Dade College, Miami, 2010; Cinema X: I Like to Watch, MoCCA, Toronto, 2010; When a Painting Moves… Something Must Be Rotten, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR), Puerto Rico, 2009 and the Stenenser Museum, Oslo, 2011; The Non-Age. The Rebel of Age, Kunsthalle Winterthur, Wintherthur, Switzerland, and MMKA, Arnhem, The Netherlands, 2012. He is author of The Art to come/El arte que viene, 2002, Subastas Siglo XXI, and the The Art Fair Age released by CHARTA in June 2008; and editor of Don’t Call it Performance (Salamanca Ciudad de Cultura), 2004, with essays by Javier Panera, RoseLee Goldberg, and Coco Fusco, and Sustainibilities (CHARTA), 2008, with essays by Slavoj Zizek, Gianni Vattimo, Simon Critchley, Gilles Lipovetsky, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Christiane Paul.

Roos Gortzak is currently exhibitions and project manager at the Kunsthalle Basel. She has worked as curator (The Vincent 2006, Stedelijk Museum; Tropical Abstraction, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, 2005; Relay, Biennial Puerto Rica, 2004; The Bakery, Annet Gelink Gallery, 2003-2004); art critic (de Volkskrant, Metropolis M, Artreview); chief editor (Stedelijk Museum Bulletin, 2005-2007); coordinator (Curatorial Training Programme de Appel, 2006-2007); project manager (Casco, 2002-2003) and programmer (Kunstkanaal, 1998-2000). As co-curator of the group exhibition Strange Comfort Afforded by the Profession in de Kunsthalle Basel she worked together with Ross Birrell and David Harding.

This event is supported by the The Glasgow School of Art

For Rent: Consuelo Castañeda Exhibition Opening

For Rent: Consuelo Castañeda Exhibition Opening
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
7:00 p.m.
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue
New York, NY

Curated by Yasmeen Siddiqui and Gabriela Rangel.

This exhibition will run from May 17 through July 30. Access gallery hours, holiday closures, and directions.

The first in Americas Society’s "For Rent" exhibition series, Cuba-born, Miami-based artist Consuelo Castañeda creates participatory social-spaces assuming the form of an open and public lounge. The exhibition’s central hall features simultaneous projections of film footage from science fiction, documentary, and drama, as well as animation, forming a commentary on the influences of Russian cinematography in Cuba after the Revolution. She interprets Gego’s Retícularea, an art historically pivotal modernist sculpture taken from the Americas Society’s institutional archive. In addition, Castañeda represents her body of work in the form of wallpaper that reunites objects and artifacts from her practice spanning painting, sculpture, installation, video, and photography. In an effort to activate the lounge, the public will be invited to a series of events, which will include film screenings, discussions, and a literary reading.

Americas Society is part of ¡Sí Cuba! Festival, a New York celebration of Cuban arts & culture. For the complete line-up of ¡Sí Cuba! Festival events around the city, please visit SiCuba.org.

Living Today exhibition review

A review of Living Today exhibition at Glasgow School of Art featuring work by David Harding

Preview of Living Today exhibition at Mackintosh Museum, GSA

Living Today

With information from The George Orwell Archive

Matei Bejenaru, Ross Birrell, Francis Cape, David Harding, Ângela Ferreira, Eva Merz

Preview: Friday 14 Jan 6-8pm

15 January – 5 March 2011

This group exhibition presents artists whose work explores aspects of the society they live in – politics, culture, economy, living conditions and social structures.

Included are copies of information from the Orwell Archive, University College of London, relating to George Orwell’s 1937 publication “The Road To Wigan Pier” which, commissioned by Victor Gollancz and published by the Left Book Club, documented poverty in the north east of England before the Second World War.

Supported by Glasgow Life

With thanks to Orwell Archive, UCL Special Collections

Image: George Orwell’s National Union of Journalists Card. Orwell Archive, UCL Special Collections.

Mackintosh Museum, The Glasgow School of Art, 167 Renfrew Street, Glasgow G3 6RQ, Scotland, UK

Opening Hours: Mon–Fri: 10:30am–4:30pm, Saturday: 10:00am–2:00pm
Sunday: Closed

T: +44 (0)141 353 4500
E: exhibitions@gsa.ac.uk  www.gsa.ac.uk/exhibitions www.gsaevents.com

The Glasgow School of Art is a charity registered in Scotland, charity number SC012490

Photos from the Symposium

AHM Symposium Report

After a great deal of reflection, AHM have produced a report on their first State of Play symposia that took place on Saturday 9th October at Gilmorehill, Glasgow.

It reads:

AHM were determined that the artist’s voice be heard and the Symposium began with a sequence of 27 one-minute manifestos - with the artists entering the darkened auditorium one after the other, lit only by a single spot - a dramatic and thought-provoking event in itself. The views expressed were wide-ranging in content - Jac Mantle argued that the proliferation of social media and digital content is displacing the national mainstream media as the main source of arts criticism for the general public and that artists should make more use of these new digital platforms. Chris Freemantle presented a manifesto for Art and Ecology quoting John Latham “ the task of the artist is to look from a very great height and over a long time span “. And there was some plain speaking from Jimmie Durham “ we live now in a world that is on the edge of destruction: let us then not act stupid. Let us resist. We must make art that is useful and moral, in the same way that we demand that writers write books that are useful and moral. “

David Harding, chairing the Symposium, began by setting out the main aims of AHM - to raise the profile of artists in the public domain whereby they can make a more significant contribution to the future life of Scotland - and to directly influence institutions and politicians of the vital importance of the arts to our society.

Philip Schlesinger’s main theme, given that cultural policy is a devolved matter, centered upon a critical examination of the political (New Labour) origins of Creative Scotland. The core of the idea, developed by “think tanks” in London and surprisingly adopted by the SNP government when it assumed power in 1997, is a classic neo-liberal model, deeply influenced by the ideology of the creative economy and based on vacuous assumptions that the UK would become the world’s creative hub in the new digital age of the 21st century. Schlesinger argued that although Creative Scotland is officially presented as democratic, in reality decisions will be made by a small inclusive/exclusive? group.

He explained how Scotland is deeply effected by UK politics with expenditure determined in London and as a result devolution itself will be challenged in the coming age of austerity. This means how Creative Scotland performs will be of major significance. Will the new body be successful - will it convince the public it works? As yet there are no clear set of objectives - only a vacuum of silence - although it appears that a business plan will be finalised in December. Schlesinger noted that The Symposium offered the first real focus for debate since the establishment of Creative Scotland in July, 2010.

Schlesinger pondered how artists might make an effective intervention at the heart of cultural policy. He pointed out that to achieve credibility has high costs in terms of understanding the political processes involved...in gaining knowledge of how things work, what questions to ask, how to access ministers...all of this involves an engagement with legislation and needs dedication, resources and people who are prepared to do it.

The discussion session was mainly about how artists could achieve a “voice” with Schlesinger suggesting that effective lobbying should reach out beyond obvious self-interest and that a more sophisticated argument, involving others, needs to be thought through. Susan Galloway, who recently completed a study of the Scottish Arts Council and its policies from 1968 onwards, said there is evidence to show that artist’s groups (such as the Federation of Scottish Artists in the mid 1970's) intervened successfully in the democratisation of SAC decision making. She asked “ do we have to accept the inevitable ?” and suggested that forming new kinds of political alliances could be a way forward. Others thought that the Scottish Artists Union already provided a good model and there was no need to form a new organisation.

Christine Borland talked about her experiences as an artist - a journey which began at art school and proceeded via artist-run spaces, private galleries, art fairs, to being on the dole, then teaching - experiences she felt she shared with many artists. As a student in Glasgow and then in Belfast in the 1980’s there was a lot to “kick against” and the development of her position as an artist took place in opposition to both the policies of the Thatcher government and to the extravagances of Neo-Expressionist painting.

Her period as a Transmission Committee member was also of great significance...not least the way the committee had to deal with the bureaucratic demands of the Scottish Arts Council. She described the meetings with the SAC as “ a confrontation ...they had no understanding of what artists needed “. She explained that the ambitions of Transmission - including a fierce commitment to Glasgow and a determination to bring artists to the city proved successful …. and that by working together and supporting each other artists could indeed, really change things.

Speaking of her own work, she described her collaboration with the Anatomy department at Glasgow University in the realisation of the exhibition From Life at Tramway in 1994, before talking of her relationship with the Lisson Gallery in London and her nomination for the Turner Prize - “ perhaps a contradiction in terms of my earlier beliefs - of going out there, doing it in the streets”. She concluded by acknowledging that as one gets older, there are different challenges, new questions to be asked and that it becomes less easy to find a forum for her work.

The discussion session was mainly concerned with the possibilities of making art in one’s home town (Glasgow) picking up on Christine’s comments about Transmission and how it was important to stay where we were and make that into a place where others had to visit, etc.

Neil Mulholland delivered a talk which illuminated the paradoxes inherent in contemporary Scottish culture and politics, drawing on Michael Gardiner’s arguments in, From Trocchi to Trainspotting: Scottish Cultural Theory since

1960. Referring to the anxiety which has arisen in the wake of devolution Mulholland compared Scotland with Venice...fiercely independent...punching above its weight, but slowly sinking. He reminded us that there was a British culture and a Scottish culture, that there was currently no English parliament, and that the “big society” was only applicable to England. The Tate Gallery’s brand, for example, is an expression of British statecraft which barely registers in Scotland. Acknowledging the influence of Hedley Bull’s, The Anarchical Society, Mullholland noted that within the world order there are multiple loyalties and when applied to Scotland this reveals what he describes as ‘ disputed national imaginaries’.

Mulholland went on to discuss ideas of cultural ecology - how long will our share of the world’s wealth be maintained ? - citing Eric Raymond’s, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, before returning to the local, where artists’ voices and activities can be and should be of real importance. The example of the New 57 Gallery’s constitution, which was in turn adopted by Transmission and the Collective Gallery amongst others, exemplifies a set of values developed locally, but capable of allowing national and international dialogues and exchanges and offers a ready-made course of action for artists.

Sam Ainsley drew together a number of writers and commentators on visual art and culture whose positions she supported and felt had been, in many cases, overlooked. These ranged from Gramsci to Tom Lawson, Ross Sinclair, Russell Ferguson and Sarah Lowndes, whose book “Social Sculpture” (charting the developments in the visual arts in Glasgow over the last thirty years) has recently been re-published by Luath Press.

Her position on “art degrees becoming the preserve of the wealthy” has been stated many times - working class (or to use the current lingo “ students from disadvantaged backgrounds”) would find it extremely hard to enter any Art School now. There are so few bursaries to support these potential students - this is a major problem that Scotland must resolve.

The Scottish Government and Creative Scotland need to listen to artists rather than bureaucrats; it was deeply worrying to hear their representatives talk of the “health benefits of the arts”, that “ we need to set targets, social and economic, not just cultural”, and promote “ Scottish culture as part of an import/export model, as a ‘ calling card’ to other countries “.

Who has put Scotland on the map internationally over the past twenty years ? Scotland’s artists, writers, dancers, theatre people, that’s who: most of our politicians are unaware of this and have little sense of the impact that the visual arts especially, have made abroad. We can provide the evidence...and would dearly love to enter into dialogue with any interested politicians.

Sandy Moffat pointed out that within the mainstream of cultural/political discourse, art and artists are rarely mentioned. Who is speaking for the visual arts and what are they talking about ? Unlike our writers who seem

able to directly address the Scottish people, the interface of contemporary art with the public realm has been taken over by celebrity artists whose apologists (including institutions such as the National Galleries and Art Schools) speak in jargon and are part of an elite art world that seems to answer only to itself - an art world that is perfectly happy to stand apart from society. This has led to confusion about what art and artists actually stand for.

Commenting on the lack of meaningful criticism, Moffat cited the example of George Davie, who in his great book, The Democratic Intellect, showed why critical thought, linked to the history of ideas is essential to the development of art and culture. Davie also knew that culture is not some separate thing ‘out there’ disjointed from the experience of ordinary people.

All of this poses a big challenge to artists. Do we want to take part in the political and cultural discourse; do we want to democratise intellectual ideas; or do we want to remain in an art world that speaks largely to itself ?

The final discussion session was somewhat confusing (as is often the case) with various interventions from audience members more concerned with their private obsessions than with the content/ideas which the Symposium’s main speakers had sought to illuminate.

Highland institute of Contemporary Art

HICA

The Highland institute of Contemporary Art, 20 miles south west of Inverness, is a brave and challenging venture by artists Eilidh Crumlish and Geoff Lucas. It’s ‘white cube’ exhibition space is an extension to a cottage on the shores of Loch Ruthven near Dores.
Four exhibitions were held between 2008 and 2009 and a catalogue with four essays on each exhibition published. The same is planned for the 2009 /2010 exhibitions and I was invited to visit the gallery to meet and have discussions with the artists, Boyle Family, with a view to writing one of the essays for the next publication.


Boyle Family is exhibiting until 28th November. We stayed together in a large house close by and, with three glorious almost windless days of sunshine and clear skies, it became a memorable encounter not least in meeting Joan Hills, now 79.

‘Four Exhibitions’
October 2008 – August 2009
Peter Suchin
Richard Couzins
Alec Finlay, Alexander and Susan Maris
David Bellingham

Essays by Peter Suchin, Lisa Le Feuvre, Colin Glen and Sarah Lowndes.

David

Guantanamera gets a mention in Freize

‘Guantanamera’ – the overall title of the series of works that Ross Birrell and I made in Cuba and Miami in 2008/09 – has a nice mention in a review in the latest ‘Freize’ magazine. (vol. 133 pp. 151) They have been showing in the gallery of the Swiss Institute in Rome and the Kunsthalle in Basel and now go to the gallery of Valand, the art school in Gothenburg, opening at the end of the first week in October.

David Harding

Andrea Hull visits

I had Andrea Hull staying for a few days. Andrea was, among other things in her career, head of the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne until two years ago. She serves on numerous boards in Australia as well as being a consultant to federal and state governments on arts and cultural development.

I first met her in 1981 when she came to Glasgow to brief me on a two-month lecture tour of Australia that I was to do in early 1982 - beginning in Darwin and ending in Perth visiting 15 or so towns and cities. She worked at the Australia Council (our arts council) which had invited me to do the lecture tour. While in Scotland on that occasion I took her on various visits to artists, groups and events one of which was a theatre performance by Easterhouse Theatre Group at the Edinburgh Festival for which it won a ‘Fringe First’ award.

This time she was here to dig around her Douglas family roots in Kircudbright/Castle Douglas and Haddington/Tranent. I took her to Glasgow Sculpture Studios, Trongate 103 and The Briggait. I’ve always described her as a ‘power woman’ and she’s lost none of that judging from the conversations we had.

David Harding

Keynote lectures at the AHM symposium

As September flies by, AHM and the other keynote speakers are preparing their lectures for the symposium on 9th October. Here is a little information about what they will be talking about...

Phillip Schlesinger

As an expert on cultural policy Phillip will set the cultural, political and economic context in which artists, and the visual arts in general, will have to operate today and in the immediate future. What are the real challenges and how can they be met.

NB This keynote lecture will inform all three of the planned symposia by AHM.


Christine Borland

Christine will present a personal view, in terms of her own practice, of what it is to be an artist in today’s rapidly changing world. What are the implications of the change from the Scottish Arts Council to Creative Scotland. Does this change matter? How might the economic situation affect artists and art practice?


Neil Mulholland

Much of what is written about contemporary art could be described more as reportage. While critics do include element of critique in their reviews of art and exhibitions Neil will ask questions about the lack of an overarching critique or as he puts it , a generative critique. How can this be constructed – where and how would it exist?

AHM

If the recent past is anything to go by, our future as a society is going to be as much influenced by our artists as it is by our politicians. That is something to be welcomed and celebrated.


However, we need to ask not only who speaks for the arts, but how we speak of art and what it speaks about. How can we develop the institutions and infrastructure to best support our artistic and cultural imagination? And how can we challenge, imagine and dream of a very different kind of society and values to the orthodoxy of the past few decades? That is something worthy of a genuine ‘national conversation’, one that involves the arts, and all of us. Post - devolution and official Scotland has put art and culture centre stage, but how well do they understand what they are supposedly championing?

David writes for HICA

David Harding has been asked by Highland Independent Contemporary Arts (HICA) to write some text for the forthcoming Boyle family exhibition catalogue.

Guantanamera goes to Gothenburg

David Harding and Ross Birrell will be showing Guantanamera at Valand School of Fine Art, University of Gothenburg in October 2010.

There will be a screening, lecture and talk on 15th October 2010.

David attends Gasworks talk at GSS

Yesterday David attended the talk by Catalina Lozano (Residencies Co-ordinator Gasworks Gallery London) about the Gasworks Residency Programme and their principle based on hosting as opposed to commissioning and curating.

Gasworks hosts up to twelve residencies a year, encouraging the exchange of ideas between international and local practitioners.

About Gasworks
...
Established in 1994, Gasworks is a contemporary art organisation based in South London, housing twelve artists' studios and offering a programme of exhibitions and events, artists’ residencies, international fellowships and educational projects.

Biography

Catalina Lozano holds an MA from Goldsmiths College, and is a PhD candidate at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. She works as Residencies Coordinator at Gasworks, London where she curates a programme of artists’ residencies and outreach activities for artists based outside the UK. She is involved in various curatorial projects at Gasworks and independently.

David attends the launch of Art & Research at GSS

On Wednesday, David attended the launch of the Summer 2010 edition of the Glasgow based on-line journal Art & Research at Glasgow Sculpture Studios.

Ross Birrell, Artist and Editor of the journal, introduced this season’s journal, its contents and contributors, as well as providing an overview of the journal from it’s inception in 2006 and outline themes for forthcoming issues.

This edition features contributions by Maria Thereza Alves and Jimmie Durham whilst on his three month Production Residency at Glasgow Sculpture Studios. This issue is prepared in the context of Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2010 (GI) and is framed by the philosopher Simon Critchley’s text The Infinite Demand of Art presented at the GI symposium where he reflects, among other things, on the work of French artist Philippe Parreno with whom he has begun to collaborate and also includes an extensive interview with Critchley by Anders Gullestad.

The issue also includes artist pages from Bik Van der Pol who recently exhibited at CCA, Glasgow, an interview with Alain Badiou on the subject of his play Incident on Antioch and his writings on St. Paul in relation to truth, and the event which was recorded on the occasion of the French philosopher’s visit to Glasgow in February 2009.

Art & Research is an artist-led, internationally peer-assessed e-journal focused upon questions, contexts and methodologies of artistic research and practice. Art & Research aims to serve professional artists and academics, curators and critics, artistic researchers, postgraduate and doctoral research students and undergraduates.

David goes to the Briggait

This weekend was the official launch of The Briggait, the building in which a number of WASPs studios are situated, and it was an Open Studio event where the artists, (including Helen's - the AHM Co-ordinator) opened their studio doors to the public.

On Saturday David and some of his family visited the studios

Here are a number of reviews and online images about the Briggait:

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/features/editor-s-picks/revamp-puts-new-art-into-briggait-1.1042153

http://news.scotsman.com/arts/Glasgow39s-iconic-former-fishmarket-The.6430132.jp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/glasgowandwestscotland/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8845000/8845932.stm

http://www.thebriggait.org.uk/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/waspsstudios/

Tatton Park Biennial Curator's Talk

Yesterday David attended the Tatton Park Biennial Curators' Talk at Glasgow Sculpture Studios.

KUNSTHALLE – BASEL

Ross Birrell and I are showing work at the Kunsthalle in
Basel in a partner show to the one in Rome, ‘Strange Comfort
(Afforded by the Profession)’ till 22/8/2010. We met some of
the artists we had met in Rome and some new ones. (photograph
of myself with Paul Hendrickse in the Kunsthalle bookshop)
On the Friday we all went to the Mathew Barney opening at
Schaulager. For those who don’t know about this place, it is a
massive gallery and ‘warehouse’, designed by Herzog and Meuron,
of a private foundation and collection of contemporary art that
opened in 2003. The Barney show itself was huge and complex
and there must have been a couple of thousand people at the
opening being watered and fed. I don’t think even Tate Modern
could put on an event of this scale. And Basel has a population of
180,000.
Bjork was there, of course, but I didn’t suggest we have another
singing session together.
david

Over the weekend David attended the 'Littoral' events in Leith and Edinburgh to mark the 60th anniversary of Kurt Schwitters' arrival in Leith on a fishing boat from Norway in June 1940.


‘Littoral’ ( literally - at the edge) of Ian Hunter and Celia Larner
has been responsible for numerous seminal conferences and
seminars over the years. Based in Lancashire it has in recent years
been concerned with the influence of Schwitters on post 2WW
British art. Central to this has been securing the original site of
the Merzbarn in the Lake District and turning into a centre for the
study of Schwitters life and work.

Professor Hamish Ritchie described the impact of Holocaust
refugees on the cultural life of Britain. Around 60,000 came to
Britain in the years up to 1940 and their contribution has been
massive. (see attached paper)

Sir Alan Peacock concentrated on one, the composer Hans Gal,
who taught at Edinburgh University and became a well-known
Edinburgh figure.

At the Plenary session David asked if there was a definitive published
text/book on the influence of Schwitters on British art. It seems
that there is none. Does anyone know if there is one. If not then
obviously an urgent task waiting for someone to do.

"Historical note. Sandy Moffat while at the 57 Gallery in
Edinburgh curated a show of Schwitters’ work in 1976. The
catalogue is a collector’s item."
David Harding June 2010