Towards a New Atlas - part 1...

In keeping with MFB (i though I'd try out this abbreviation for My First Billboard as it takes too long to write. Maybe its a bit to crap though. Well I'll try it out for this post and see how it goes. no harm in that) tradition i was unable to take any decent pictures today of the billboard due to camera failure, or more to the point failure on my part to charge the battery. I did however take a couple of quick snaps on my phones camera. Technology truly is a wonderful thing. I'll take some better shots tomorrow but for now here is todays print Towards A New Atlas (Incomplete):




Now as promised i will share a few ideas and theories that reared their heads whilst reading Contemporary Art: From Studio To Situation. The particular projects within this book that seemed to resonate with the way i work and how this project is beginning to work were Bohn and Saffer's Mobile Porch project , Better Life Corporation's (Mejar Vida Corp) community based interventions and Adam Dant's free publication Donald Parsnips. These all seemed to hold similar core values at their hearts in that they are all concerned with direct contact with the public and not having the work mediated by a gallery or museum setting. Mobile Porch provided a station that was adaptable for a variety of uses morphing from stage to office to community meeting room, 'a flexible platform for people...to articulate or express or publish ideas'1. , Whilst Better Life Corp. alter peoples lives through small tasks for little gain such as distributing free travel passes at rush hour, showing an interest in removing the commodity and the commercial from artwork. It is Dant's work however that seemed most in tune with MFB. For a time Dant took it upon himself to distribute a daily free publication featuring an alter-ego of sorts called Donald Parsnip. Through free distribution on the streets of London on a daily basis between 1995-1999, Dant allowed himself to be 'responsible for the mediation of my own artwork'2. Ultimately i feel it is this that MFB grants me as an artist. It is a space i curate and mediate on my own terms also on a daily basis. I have begun to realise that it is a sort of giant sketch pad. I don't have to worry about works being finished, conceptually or actually as the board acts as a way for me to get the ideas out there without being precious about such things. If a print doesn't work it doesn't matter as it is likely to be gone the next day.

Anyway, a new print will be around again soon. I'm toying with the idea of collaborating for a day with someone so let me know if you're interested. I may even rent out the space to someone for a day if there's interest there...

1. Kathrin Bohm, Public Works, taken from Contemporary Art:from Studio to Situation, edited by Claire Doherty, Black Dog Publishing, London, England, 2004
2. Adam Dant, Donald Parsnips Daily Journal, taken from Contemporary Art:from Studio to Situation, edited by Claire Doherty, Black Dog Publishing, London, England, 2004