The wonderful world of…

Ten Internationally submitted audio visual artworks  exploring stories formulated from the fractal nature of bipolar mania.  The curators are interested in how a hybrid of curation, film programming and proximity broadcast can embody the multiple cognitive processes of mania.  Simultaneously projection of the ten works onto the courtyard facades of Temple Works interwoven location based pockets of FM transmitted soundtracks will allow the viewer to discover the audio by movement; either syncing to the original, re-scoring the remaining 9 works or creating an interference of multiple soundtracks.

 

 

The exhibition is a project initiated by Micheale Spessa & Dave Lynch in collaboration with Bent Architect.

The ideology behind the uses of these technologies was to enable the audience to become the integral part of the programming.  Each audience member or group was to be given a FM radio with which they could wander the site and actively choose which sound track to listen.  Due to the nature of the short broadcast, some streams were only available in a small 2 metre radius, whilst others spanned the whole site, other national radio stations, such as Radio 1 (BBC) or Classic FM were along side the local radio stations which could be serendipitously stumbled upon or mistaken for the films score.

Due to more technical difficulties on the night, we were unable to document the works how we would have liked and  the FM broadcast technology let us down so we could only broadcast on 1 fm channel effectively, we decided to curate the programme once as in a traditional film screening.  We then used this programme for 3 experiements:

1.  The 10 films playing simultaneously with the soundtracks.

2.  Playing the films individually set in their locations on the building.

3. The films each taking the full 40 metre span of the largest part of the building.

The following photographs have been taken by Phil Slocombe.  We also hope to get further documentation of each of these experiments.

Thanks to Light Night Leeds, Lumen Arts, Jonathan Khan and Robert Sharples

Involved artists

1. Chinese Wedding Dancer – Neil Ira Needleman [USA]

2. York 9 – Lorenzo Madge [UK]

3. …the only time i feel totally free is… Joanna Byrne [UK]

4. Compressive/ Percussive – Scott Stark  [USA]

5. Neolithic Science: V to I – Edmund Goubert [UK]

6. Ubiquinone – Will Simpson [UK]

7. On and On – Blake Shirley – [USA]

8. Cancionero – Joaquin Gasgonia Palencia [PHILIPPINES]

9. Pasja – Michal Brzezinski [POLAND]

10. Terese Machine – Paul Wiersbinski [GERMANY]

Chinese Wedding Dancer – Neil Ira Needleman [USA] – A lyrically rhythmic optical-audio experience with constantly changing graceful and/or violent patterns–all concocted using video footage shot at my son’s wedding in China. Through editing, I’ve imposed new patterns and pulsating bursts of movement on a folk dance performance.

York 9 – Lorenzo Madge [UK] – YORK 9; The milestone where I nearly died, I found you after 40 years, now I can visit the place and control the traffic, I can stand there and it can’t touch me and when it’s not looking I can run across the road, this time it won’t hurt me.

Compressive/ Percussive – Scott Stark  [USA] A double projector video installation. The imagery is taken from a double decker interstate freeway a few blocks from my current residence in Austin, Texas. The sequences are all randomly edited. It is a frenetic, bi-polar, yet oddly meditative.

 

…the only time i feel totally free is… Joanna Byrne [UK]
Erehwyreve dna ereht ereh
Ereh erehwyreve dna ereht
Ereht ereh erehwyreve dna
Dna ereht ereh erehwyreve
Erehwyreve dna ereht ereh

Neolithic Science: V to I – Edmund Goubert [UK]
The film, which has a shortwave soundtrack, unfolds beneath a motorway bridge, narrated by a list of ‘mental disorders’ taken from the ‘bible of modern psychiatry’: the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM). The film exposes a maniacal psychosis at the heart of psychiatry, camouflaged by the ‘rational’ language of science.

 

On and On – Blake Shirley – [USA]
This video, as in life, contains moments that seem to be clear, if only fleeting, while resounding of uncertainty. Fragmented moments of everyday scenes, distorted and shifting scale relationships and the emphasis on fractured narrative demonstrate this. This video serves to exemplify these parallels with our own infinitely layered existence.

Ubiquinone – Will Simpson [UK]
Made with 5000 still images taken over 5 years out of shear frustration during a creative block back in 2006.

Cancionero – Joaquin Gasgonia Palencia [PHILIPPINES]
Exploring dichotomies in gender, religion and cultural stereotyping, Cancionero uses the backdrop of Christendom’s Good Friday observance in the small town of Vinzons, Camarines Norte in the Philippines, to lay open and tease out, layer by layer, the undercurrents of a culture superimposed, of a nation bound by the chains of religious zeal and questionably placed superhuman devotion.  Cancionero presents the Philippine psyche as well as its reflexive mirror, the Pygmalion of religion that has shaped this country of victims and supplicants, eternally, endlessly hopeful for
blessings.

Pasja – Michal Brzezinski [POLAND]
I would like to say that all my activity is on the rudimental level connected with process of reconstruction, or/and de-construction of the identity in the visual culture (mainly identity is based on language, so recontextualisation in the visual art language is the something between re- and de-construction in this case).

Terese Machine – Paul Wiersbinski [GERMANY]
Refers to Worlds First Fully Functioning Organic Computer [mania story from extra submission
information].

“When I was taken to St James’ to see a doctor I realised that not only could I absorb huge amounts of information from television or books through taking photographs with my eyes – in essence I was filming the pages or pictures for visual recall later. I realised that I could control the channels being shown on the TV screens with my mind. It dawned on me that I was evolving into the worlds first fully functioning organic computer. Later on that day I became concerned about how I was going to switch myself off..I was overheating. I remember asking at the nurses station for a solution and a nurse suggest that I restart…..brilliant.”
—
When terese encounters the machine she has to deal with its human qualities. In a world of constant technical innovation, terms of interaction and control become blurry.

Call for submissions

We are looking for 10 films or audio-visual works that explore the fractal nature of bipolar mania.  We are interested in how a hybrid of curation, film programming and proximity broadcast can embody the multiple cognitive processes of mania.  Using a 100m of courtyard walls, we aim scale up beyond the viewers horizon, interwoven location based pockets of FM transmitted soundtracks will allow the viewer to discover the audio by movement; either syncing to the original, re-scoring the remaining 9 works or creating an interference of multiple soundtracks.  The exhibition is a project initiated by Micheale Spessa & Dave Lynch in collaboration with Bent Architect.

Definition of Mania by Medterms.com http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4271
Mania: An abnormally elevated mood state characterized by such symptoms as inappropriate elation, increased irritability, severe insomnia, grandiose notions, increased speed and/or volume of speech, disconnected and racing thoughts, increased sexual desire, markedly increased energy and activity level, poor judgment, and inappropriate social behavior. A mild form in mania that does not require hospitalization is termed hypomania. Mania that also features symptoms of depression (“agitated depression”) is called mixed mania.
Mania is the Greek word for madness. It is derived from mainmai, to rave in anger. The Maniai in Greek mythology were the Furies who pursued those who had done unavenged crimes and drove them to madness.

These works will form a projection exhibition and will be presented simultaneously by forming part of 100m projection (using 4-6 projectors) with the audio being broadcast using FM transmitters.  This exhibition will form part of Leeds Light Night on October 2010.  There is also potential for further commissioning with the work forming part a theatre piece devised by Bent Architect from which the original inspiration for the exhibition.

Temple Works
Once the largest room in the world, Temple.Works.Leeds has reopened as a cultural venue. From music to theatre, art and film to corporate events the three-building site is coming to life. www.templeworksleeds.com
Please see supporting information on the following page for 5 examples of mania.

Supporting information:

Below are 5 stories from the bipolar mind during mania.  Please feel free to respond to one of the stories below, although we are also open to works which respond to mania in the more general sense.

TV Tapping
During a certain period of my life I became aware that my TV was tapping into a special channel that was giving me access to an alternative, elite level of society.  One very special night I watched an episode of the Bill that was specially for me.   Another time I watched the CCTV feed from a reality show and realised that it was showing me a glimpse of another, higher section of society that I was soon to become a member of.

Chinese Bench
When I was in hospital I used to really like spending time in the garden – I used to like going there to smoke a cig in the fresh air as the smoking room in the ward was a bit fetid and they rarely opened the French doors.  The non smoking common room seemed to always smell of sick.  The garden was enclosed by 4 glass corridors and had a fountain in the middle filled with coins surrounded by benches – some people liked to sleep out on the benches if the weather was warm – my favourite bench had bamboo behind.  It was my favourite because when I sat there I was able to speak and understand Chinese – is bamboo Chinese?

Worlds First Fully Functioning Organic Computer.
When I was taken to St James’ to see a doctor I realised that not only could I absorb huge amounts of information from television or books through taking photographs with my eyes – in essence I was filming the pages or pictures for visual recall later.  I realised that I could control the channels being shown on the TV screens with my mind.  It dawned on me that I was evolving into the worlds first fully functioning organic computer.  Later on that day I became concerned about how I was going to switch myself off..I was overheating.  I remember asking at the nurses station for a solution and a nurse suggest that I restart…..brilliant.

Switch
After a particularly long period of blackness I woke up one day very feeling suddenly better – almost like a switch had been flicked.  It was a fresh sunny morning and I had to get up and do something with the day – during this period I resolved to make up for lost time so I stayed up for 3 days and was very busy as I am sure you can imagine.  One of my many achievements during that period was that I wrote a new language.

Heat Sink
I became convinced that I was like a ‘heat sink’ for the ward.  I was capable of taking the heat out of a situation – it seemed to me that every time the head psychiatrist and his panel were doing their rounds that everyone got over excited and agitated.  In these instances I would liken them to rich foreigners arriving in a deprived country and us to the beggars surrounding them.   Anyway – when I used feel the situation get too heated I realised that by drinking near boiling water I could ‘take the heat’ out and calm the situation.

Exhibition catalogue copy
Kay’s Catalogue‘s old workers canteen at Temple Works lights up with a 100M audio-visual projection exhibition based on the fractal nature of the bipolar mind.  Inspired by Bent Architect’s new theatre piece - The wonderful world of… the show investigates the multiple rapid cognitive processes that signify bipolar mania.  By showcasing 10 nationally submitted artworks through simultaneous screening and proximity based FM broadcast, We invite you to take our radios for a walk along the projections walking through or tuning into the fading pockets of soundtracks.