News

Video of a rabbit

2013-06-17T14:11:00.000+02:00

We went to the national coal mining museum yesterday as research on Song for Coal. Saw a video of a rabbit, in a cage. Also went on the underground tour which was brilliant. Please check out our fundraising site for the work and, if you can, support the project.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/song-for-coal/x/761669

From An - Final Week

2013-05-22T08:31:00.004+02:00

We've made our last deposits in the Merzbank, Film and Video Umbrella's commissioned web project looking at Kurt Schwitters' creative legacy. And in the spirit of going out with a bang its a bumper week with three forms based on archival materials from the three Merzbau's that Schwitters worked on in Hanover, Lysaker and Elterwater. They are Form S1 - How do I register as a British citizen, British overseas territories citizen or British overseas citizen if I am a stateless person born before 1 January 1983? (Download PDF), Form S2 - How do I register as a British citizen, British overseas territories citizen, British overseas citizen or British subject if I am a stateless person born outside the United Kingdom or British overseas territories on or after 1 January 1983? (Download PDF) and Form S3 - How do I register as a British citizen or British overseas territories citizen if I am a stateless person born in the United Kingdom or British overseas territories on or after 1 January 1983? (Download PDF)

Song for Coal

2013-05-13T13:03:00.000+02:00

We're doing an Indiegogo campaign for our forthcoming work Song for Coal. Its a film we're working on in collaboration with Opera North. Its going to be shown at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2014. We've made some lovely drawings and multiples to cover some of the costs. See our Indiegogo site.

Jesus & Mary

2013-05-10T21:19:00.002+02:00

This week, as part of Film and Video Umbrella's Merzbank project, we present Form T - How do I register as a British citizen if I was born in the United Kingdom on or after 1 January 1983 and lived there up to the age of 10? and Form UKM - How do I register as a British citizen if I was born before 1983 to a British mother?

State School / Private School

2013-05-06T09:24:00.000+02:00

This weeks immigration forms are MN3 - How do I register a child aged under 18 as a British overseas citizen? and MN4 - How do I register a child aged under 18 as a British subject? In the UK Border Agency originals these are pretty much identical forms - so we followed their lead and have simply differentiated the images. Available from www.merzbank.com

Form MN1 - Form MN2

2013-04-28T17:58:00.001+02:00

New UKBA citizenship application form redesigns are available for download from the MerzBank website - this week we have Form MN1 - How do I register a child aged under 18 as a British citizen? and Form MN2 - How do I register a child aged under 18 as a British overseas territories citizen?

Heretics and Prodigal Sons

2013-04-20T14:55:00.002+02:00

This week's pdf releases for From AN are RS1 and RS2. The RS forms are for those who have strayed and would return to the fold: RS1 - How do I register as a British citizen if I have previously given up my citizenship and RS2 - How do I register as a British overseas territories citizen if I have previously given up my citizenship.

So here are the forms for Britain's heretics and prodigal sons... which as usual can be downloaded direct from the MerzBank website.

A. Curator

2013-04-17T18:37:00.001+02:00

This Friday at Team Titanic, Berlin is the opening of A. Curator - a group show with works from Kitty Clark, Joseph Buckley, Amalie Jakobsen, Oskar Jönsson and Nick Crowe & Ian Rawlinson. We're showing two new works, both of which are titled Slovenian Journalist. The show runs to 03 May at Team Titanic, Flughafenstraße 50, Neukölln, Berlin. Opening is 19.00, Friday 19 April.

From An - Form AN

2013-04-14T00:00:00.002+02:00

Two new UK Border Agency application redesigns are now up on the MerzBank website; Form AN - How do I apply for Naturalisation as a British citizen and Form (B)OS - How do I register as a British citizen if I am a British national with no other nationality.

Late at Tate

2013-04-04T09:00:00.000+02:00

This Friday we're presenting part of From An with Film and Video Umbrella's MerzBank project at Late at Tate. A small number of copies of Form EM - How do I register as a British citizen under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997? will be available for picking up and taking away. The event explores the continuing influence of Kurt Schwitters on contemporary art, music and poetry. With performances and screenings from Jaap Blonk, Steve Beresford, Adam Bohman, Christopher Fox, Michael Horovitz and friends, The Moveable Column, Alec Finlay, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Helen Petts and intervention from the British Sea Power frontman Yan*.

From An

2013-04-02T01:45:00.000+02:00

Launching this week is a new project for Film and Video Umbrella's MerzBank, a series of online commissions exploring the creative legacy of Kurt Schwitters. Entitled From An the work is a collection of downloadable PDFs that re-imagine the 15 different application forms for residency and citizenship available from the UK Border Agency website. Reflecting on Schwitters’ skills as graphic designer, and his involvement with the redesign of bureacratic forms for Hanover City Council in pre-war Germany, the pieces also allude to the themes of non-conformity, exile, migration and refugee status that dogged Schwitters’ later life. The 15 individual works will be released at weekly intervals on the MerzBank site.

This weeks forms are 'Form (B)OTA - How do I register as a British citizen if I am a British national?' and 'Form EM - How do I register as a British citizen under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997?'

Curated Exhibition in Leeds

2013-03-11T09:10:00.000+01:00

&Model is a new gallery space in Leeds for which we've curated a show of drawings from Berlin. The show looks at distance and displacement within the work of David Edward Allen, Daniel Belasco Rogers and Sophia New, Simon Faithfull, Tim Greaves, Antonia Low, Nika Radic and Tommy Støckel. Its part of a larger project called LA>Berlin and the LA bit includes the work of Robert Abel and Erkka Nissinen. Show opens this Thursday, 14 March at continues onto 20 April 2013. &Model is located at 19 East Parade, Leeds, just off the Headrow and the gallery opening times are Wed - Sat: 12:30 - 18:30.

Chinese Art Centre Fundraiser

2012-12-10T12:35:00.000+01:00

The Chinese Art Centre in Manchester is holding a postcard fundraiser and we've made a work for it entitled Real Life and Postcard Views. All works retail for £30 and proceeds go to the Antonia Low residency in 2013. For more info see the Chinese Art Centre fundraiser page - and here's an image of the work itself which, as a sister work to Parks Hotels and Palaces features a tripod (well, two) and has been made especially for the purpose of raising money.

Amsterdam

2012-11-28T13:29:00.000+01:00

Sequoia Tees have a pop-up exhibition this weekend in Amsterdam. Our Arbitrary Limited Poster and hand embroidered T-shirt will be amongst the wares.

Location: Peter Klashorst Cash & Carry Gallery
Address: Spuistraat 219, Amsterdam
Open: 1 & 2 December from 4-8PM

Lisbon

2012-11-10T23:03:00.000+01:00

The Opera is being shown at Plataform Revólver in Lisbon from 16 November to 31 December 2012. Opening this Thursday, 15 November, at 22.00. We are also participating in Cabedal - a group exhibition curated by Ian with Tiago Duarte which also features the work of Pavel Büchler, Nina Chau, Tiago Duarte, Nicola Ellis, Mary Griffiths, Shona Harrison, Ana Rosa Hopkins, Jo McGonigal, Fiona McKillop, Eileen o'Rouke, Richard Proffitt, Maeve Rendle and Evangelia Spiliopoulou.

The Arbitrary Limited Poster

2012-10-18T01:52:00.000+02:00

The Arbirtary Limited Poster is a new work we're showing from Saturday as part of the first Sequoia Tees Pop-Up Exhibition Shop in Berlin. Sequoia Tees produce limited edition artists design T-shirts - we've made a work which uses a Chomsky quote hand-embroided in gold thread onto a glowing copper backdrop - and the poster is an A0 size freeze frame from the dutch TV programme that recorded the Chomsky/Foucault debate in 1971....details below.

Sequoia Tees - Tee Party Berlin
Saturday October 20 until Saturday October 27
Every day from 12PM to 7PM
The WYE, Skalitzer Strasse 86, Berlin
Vernissage: October 20, 7 to 9PM

Talk in Istanbul

2012-10-06T13:26:00.000+02:00

SALT Istanbul have posted footage our recent talk for their "Who's in Town" series.

Gwangju Biennale 2012

2012-09-30T21:34:00.000+02:00

We've contributed an essay to the 2012 Gwangju Biennale ROUNDTABLE e-journal. Entitled "Concentration in the Age of Distribution" (clear nod to Walter Benjamin) it deals with the political upheavals of the past 18 months as being a revolt against the concentration of power in a global context defined by its distributive qualities. The text is an expansion on an shorter essay about The Opera we wrote for the Kritishe Masse catalogue last year. The journal is edited by Carol Yinghua Lu, co-artistic director of the 9th Gwangju Biennale, and you can download a copy of the entire Journal from the Biennale website here - scroll down and click where it says click!

Other contributors to the journal include Rasheed Araeen, Han Dong, Áron Fenyvesi, Boris Groys, Jörg Heiser, Jim Henson, Kęstutis Kuizinas, Darius Mikšys, Sidney Nolan, Yoko Ono, Ayn Rand, Wu Tsang and Carol Yinghua Lu.

Istanbul

2012-09-18T20:47:00.000+02:00

We're showing The Opera and The Fireworks next week at SALT, Istanbul as part of their Walk-in Cinema programme. Very happy, especially as The Opera is in a never-before-shown Turkish language version. We're also giving a talk on language and power on 25 September at 18:30 - if you're in Istanbul and fancy coming along. More info on the talk and the screening is here.

Lincoln

2012-09-09T22:17:00.000+02:00

Elevated to a Crash Pad opens next week at Monks Gallery, Lincoln. We're showing Towards a Free Society - other artists in the show include Ahmed & Carpenter, Stu Burke, Tom Cretney, Nick Simpson, Sam Venables and Ben Woodeson.

Monks Gallery is 17 Monks Road, Lincoln - private view is 21 September 2012.

Artconnect Berlin Auction

2012-08-06T00:15:00.000+02:00

We've donated a work to the Artconnect Berlin fundraising auction. Entitled "Parks, Hotels and Palaces" it features a tripod, some washing line, a candelabra and some glass bunnies. The auction is being held this coming Saturday 8pm - 11pm at Frühperle, Boddinstrasse 57. There's an exhibition of the work from the Thursday before plus party on Friday night - full info at http://artconnectberlin.com/ARTCONNECTBERLIN/events/2690

And for good measure, here's a pic.

Sneaky Preview

2012-07-23T09:01:00.000+02:00

cos we just got the dummy for our new publication, Libretto, which is being published by Merkske later this year.... heres a taster!

The Institute of Jamais Vu

2012-06-16T16:57:00.000+02:00

We have a solo exhibition opening this week in London at The Institue of Jamais Vu, which is at unit c, 167 hermitage road, n4 1lz. The opening is Thursday 21 June - 6pm - 9pm and the show then runs till 12 July 2012. If you're in London it'd be great to see you there.

Both Statues Have Wings

2012-06-05T22:19:00.000+02:00

Following its premiere at Babylon Kino, Mitte at the weekend we've posted our film "Both Statues Have Wings" to vimeo. So if you didn't see it in Berlin, you can see it here.

Flights of Fancy

2012-05-26T14:33:00.000+02:00

Next Saturday - 2 June 2012 - we're showing a new work, Both Statues Have Wings, as part of Flights of Fancy, a screening programme at Babylon Cinema, Mitte, Berlin. The film is about the two full figure statues of Otto Lilienthal in Berlin and joins a programme of works by over 50 artists - press release below.

\\\ TEGEL ///
FLIGHTS OF FANCY

Kino Babylon (Saal 2+3) - 02.06.2012 - 18.30–23.30

TEGEL: FLIGHTS OF FANCY is a video programme that responds to the
planned closure of Berlin’s Tegel Airport. The project is organised by Jaspar
Joseph-Lester, Susanne Prinz and Julie Westerman and builds on a series of
events, exhibitions and publications that have been realised through cross-
cultural collaboration between artists based in the UK and Germany. The
event will be hosted by Verein zur Förderung von Kunst und Kultur am Rosa-
Luxemburg-Platz and screened at the Kino Babylon on Saturday 2 June at
6:30–11:30 p.m.

The closure of Tegel airport marks an important change in the way air travel is
organised and experienced. The design of this airport is of a time when flight
was associated with glamour, fantasy, technological progress, romantic
chance encounters and fictional disasters. The building consists of a large
concrete hexagonal structure circumnavigated by a corridor, punctuated with
brightly coloured check-in desks. Viewing platforms and executive lounges
populate the circumference of the building, inviting the traveller to enjoy a
navigable thoroughfare instead of the shed-like enclosure with limited seating.
There are commissioned art works, restaurants and bars, cafés and shops.
The décor follows the distinctive bright colour schemes of its age all the way
through to the plastic sinks and hand dryer in the restrooms.

Tegel Airport is closing and while there are rumours about the next
incarnation of this elegant building, what it might become in the future remains
uncertain. The 36 films selected for TEGEL: FLIGHTS OF FANCY speculate
on both how the airport might be occupied in the future and what it symbolized
in the past, they explore how air travel is hard wired into the imagination: the
cinematic (disaster, romance and action movie all in one), and consider
concepts of cultural mobility, exchange and internationalism.

Artists:
Michelle Atherton, Diane Bauer+Amanda Beech, Chloé Brown, Giorgio Cappozzo+Robert
Gschwantner, Alison J.Carr+Kerstin Honeit, Steven Chodoriwsky, Jamie Crew, Nick
Crowe+Ian Rawlinson, Harriet Davies, Bryan Eccleshall+Karl Heinz Jeron, Stella Flatten+Jon
Klein+Liane Lang, Hondartza Fraga+Miguel Santos, Rachel Garfield+Janet Hodgson,
Margarita Gluzberg, Jane Harris, Gill Hobson, Dale Holmes+Gary Simmonds, Dominique
Hurth, Stephan Hüsch+Águeda Simó, Jaspar Joseph-Lester, Renata Kaminska, Natasja
Keller+Irene Pätzug, Sharon Kivland, Olga Lewicka+Carsten Zorn, Jeff Luckey, T.C.
McCormack, Ashley Metz+Boris, Riedel+Joachim Stein, Jon Moscow, Karina Nimmerfall,
Robert Partridge, Amy Patton, Melody Panosian+Stéphane Querrec, Karin Ruggaber+Sarah
Staton, Leon Seth, Julie Westerman.