j f campbell

KUCHAR and KA-BOOM

2011-11-30T16:45:00.000-08:00

Screening in Oscar and Hollie's basement cinema this Friday: Gregg Araki's Kaboom and George Kuchar's video diaries.

Chômu book launch: Lord Magpie to support Jeremy Reed!

2011-11-29T15:17:00.000-08:00

I'm very behind with this blog at the moment but hopefully this will change. The most imminent news is that Lord Magpie and the Prince of Cats will be playing at the Jamboree this thursday in support of Jeremy Reed and the latest Chômu Press book launch.

Chômu Press are a really exciting new publisher of genre defying, reality ruining fiction set up by, among others, my friend Quentin S. Crisp.

Quentin and I have been collaborating recently to create the Chômu Radio Archive. This is in its early stages still but you can find one interview with author John Elliott on it already:

John Elliott Interview by chomuradioarchive

John Elliott talks to Quentin about Philip K. Dick, Lovecraft, Oulipo, John Calder, Queneau, Georges Perec, and many other things.

Also, some of Helen's photos from the Halloween gig:

Lord Magpie do Halloween!

2011-09-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

George Kuchar

2011-09-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

I am so glad to have met you.

George Kuchar 1942 - 2011

Ben Osborn speculates wildly and wonderfully about the work of Joe Campbell

2011-08-29T05:24:00.000-07:00

I was recently talking to a friend who doesn't know Joe very well; they know him by reputation as a musician and music producer, but they didn't know about his art. I was trying to explain why Joe's art appealed to me so much.

I tried to explain that his art isn't about creating objects, or images, or events. He does create those things, but they are part of his wider project. His art is about certain, sometimes very specific, moments and feelings.

Surely that's very difficult, said my friend, impressed. To give an audience one particular feeling. Make them feel just that one thing and nothing else.

Well, that's not what he does, I realised. What's great about it is that you're free - usually encouraged - to feel whatever you want to, to bring that to the art. Joe is not interested, as far as I can tell, in being prescriptive or controlling.

Italo Calvino said that the poet of vagueness would have to be the poet of exactitude as well - 'able to grasp the subtlest sensations with eyes and ears and quick, unerring hands.' I think Calvino hit on what I am trying to say here, and why I struggled to explain Joe's art to my friend. How can I find, in this art, an exact, subtle feeling - as well as a liberating vagueness, obscurity, aleatory?

Calvino says that one can't really exist without the other. The random, chance elements that vagueness allows can only be understood through a magnifying lens of exactitude.

I'll try to explain using one of Joe's pieces. It is a drawing of Mulder and Scully. It's a pretty good picture and as far as I'm aware Joe didn't draw it. He put it on his wall, fastening the top two corners of the back of the picture to the wall of his bedroom with bluetac. He happened to place the picture above the radiator in his room. When the radiator is on, the hot air rises, causing the picture of Mulder and Scully to flap very gently up and down.

The combination of the image and the movement is the kind of thing you would notice out of the corner of your eye in your room or someone else's room, and that would stick with you all day.

Presenting that art gives the audience a tiny moment, and out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye glance. The feeling of noticing an unlikely juxtaposition - a pencil drawing of some characters, with all of the stories they may or not may not conjure up in your head, and this tiny, silly movement. It happened by chance, so it's only the act of observing that matters. But such a careful kind of observing, where the images at the corners of your eyes are the most important.

Ben Osborn

Animal House Theme

2011-08-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

James at Ed Fornieles' Animal House performance Jan 2011.

Animal House Theme at the Star of Kings last wednesday.

Lord Magpie warehouse gig

2011-04-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

We have a few London shows coming up including:

The New Empowering Church - 7th April
The Main Yard Gallery (w/Pseudo Nippon) - 16th April
The Camden Barfly - 17th April

Check the myspace for more http://www.myspace.com/lordmagpies

The George and Steph Trilogy

2011-03-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

In 2010, our childhood friend George admitted to having stolen a golden spacesuit from Polish artist Pawel Althamer's 'Common Task' exhibition at Modern Art Oxford. The idea of this serendipitous event became the catalyst for a series of intertextual and mythic trials that would help forge his new identity in the art world.

George and Steph Trilogy Part I/III: Second Date with the Goddess from jfcampbell on Vimeo.

George and Steph Trilogy Part II/III: Chain of Life from Oscar Oldershaw on Vimeo.

George and Steph Trilogy Part III/III: Road of Trial from Oscar Oldershaw on Vimeo.

Tax Haven in Copenhagen

2011-03-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

A Tax Haven Run by Women from Charlottenborg on Vimeo.

Lord Magpie this Saturday, 5th Feb

2011-02-02T06:56:00.000-08:00

Poster by Ray

2011-01-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

Update / Mou

2011-01-17T03:18:00.000-08:00

A Ray in the Life should be finished by the end of the day. It can then be seen it at the 'Hong Kong Whispers' opening in Brixton on Wednesday. And then again at some point in Hong Kong. Details to come.

23 the weirdest age

2011-01-12T06:35:00.000-08:00

Photo Susan Wu 2010

Stay tuned for..

2011-01-10T05:34:00.000-08:00

A Ray In The Life: A Psychogeographical Negotiation

A new project with Raymond Wong and Oscar Oldershaw for the exhibition Hong Kong Whispers.

20th January -26th February 2011
Preview 19th January 2011 6.30-9pm

Contemporary Arts and Learning
198 Railton Road
London SE24 oJT

"Hong Kong Whispers is a group exhibition, which addresses the cultural and historical relationship between Hong Kong and the UK. Proposing a definition of an art exhibition analogous to a game of Chinese Whispers. The exhibition explores the miscommunications that happen in cross cultural art exhibition, and attempts to create a space in which meanings can be discussed, debated, and challenged."

As the Arts Council England cut their funding for the exhibition, our budget has been entirely provided by the communist Chinese government. So far, we've used it to buy a well deserved kebab and chips:

http://www.wix.com/hongkongwhispers/hongkongwhispers

terrors from eastern europe

2010-12-29T05:15:00.000-08:00

Collected Lord Magpie Videos

2010-11-27T13:38:00.000-08:00

Lord Magpie REPLACEMNT GIG

2010-11-18T12:05:00.000-08:00

Lord Magpie at the Rhythm Factory (Whitechapel)

2010-11-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

So, school sucks as usual

2010-11-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

The Arsehole

2010-10-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

Me as the Cult leader / Arsehole

At last I find something magical in the form of the eccentrically named Spartacus Chetwynd and her troupe of bizarre actors, performing A Tax Haven Run by Women, another of Frieze's special projects. Abject human seals drag themselves across the floor, their costumes a bloated rag-bag of remnants. A sinister looking chap called Cult Leader Asshole – a sort of pope – hangs about, while haughty senoras dance, and another gaggle of troupers, some with their foam-rubber, pipe-lagging entrails, make an incomprehensible appearance. There is a cat-bus, or a bus in the form of a cat, with too many crustacean-like legs, whose shape comes from a Manga animation. There is also a group of "women who refuse to grow old gracefully". They are warring with an "oppressed body-part puree", though I might be wrong.

- Adrian Searle, Guardian reveiw

The women who refuse to grow old gracefully

The Catbus

Seal orchestra

Claws

Spartacus and the Oppresssd Puree during the intermission

Paul Kindersley

Reveiws:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/oct/13/frieze-art-fair-2010-review

- Adrian Searle, Guardian

http://www.timeout.com/london/gallery/586/spartacus-chetwynd/1

- Time Out

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t6c5

- Grayson Perry Contemprary Art Special, Culture Show

http://londonist.com/2010/10/a_more_subdued_fair_than.php?gallery0Pic=4#gallery

- Londonist (nice picture)

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/article-23887689-lali-chetwynd-i-am-spartacus.do

- Ben Luke, Evening Standard (suprisingly one of the best interviews)

I was just on the culture show!

2010-10-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

Grayson Perry meets Spartacus Chetwynd:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bmbxy

I've been helping out with and performing in 'A Tax Haven Run By Women (In The Style Of A Luna Park Game Show)', Spartacus Chetwynd's Frieze commission.

She seems to be in every paper i pick up! I will probably collect the articles about it here when it's finished. And I'll collect the photos too.

Operations Regarding the Moon

2010-10-09T04:11:00.000-07:00

Emergency S.E.R. Operations

"As you may know, the American Space Agency, NASA, will be hurling a kinetic explosion at the Moon on Friday, October 9th, 2009. Not only does The Aetherius Society strongly oppose such a reckless act of Cosmic vandalism against a Celestial Body, but it also can have a very negative Karmic reaction upon Earth.

To help counteract this, our five Spiritual Energy Radiators were all concurrently on the air during the exact period of the Full Moon on Saturday, October 3rd at 11:10 pm PDT (Sunday, October 4th at 7:10 am BST).These Operations were made up of a two-hour release of Spiritual energy through our Spiritual Energy Radiators in London, New Zealand, the North of England and Michigan to cover this time period. At the same time approximately 500 hours of Spiritual energy were released through the Spiritual Energy Radiator in Los Angeles.

Earlier in the day, on Saturday October 3rd, an additional two-hour release of Spiritual energy was made through our Los Angeles Spiritual Energy Radiator for this purpose to coincide with a Mount Baldy Pilgrimage which was dedicated to the Moon. Further Operations are planned for later in the week."

- The Aetherius Society

More here:

http://www.aetherius.org/index.cfm?app=content&PageID=99

Annika Ström

2010-09-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

Looks like i'll be working for Swedish artist Annika Ström at this years Frieze Art Fair. I'll be the one looking sheepish in a suit handing out maps - come and embarrass me!

Lord Magpie supported Rowan Coupland

2010-09-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

www.myspace.com/rowancoupland

I recommend seeing him if you get the chance. He's on tour at the moment promoting his album which features artwork by Ray Wong of Lord Magpie. I'll put a picture up when i find one.

<a href="http://rowancoupland.bandcamp.com/album/thorns-brambles-white-water-and-black-oak">Thorns, Brambles, white water and Black Oak by Rowan Coupland</a>

LIVE!

2010-08-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Live in Peckham! The Goldsmiths Degree Show After Party, 2010.

Video by James

On the Beach

2010-08-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

Degree Show

2010-06-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

Fergus and Rachel's lube tears at the private view

2010-06-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

Impromptu Degree Show Chain

2010-06-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

Ari Marcopoulos 2010 Whitney Biennial

2010-06-10T01:04:00.001-07:00

Detroit, 2010

'Although Marcopoulos shot Detroit while visiting friends in that city, this looped video conveys the energy and open-ended feel of the domestic scene it portrays. Detroit merges his attention to particularities of cultural identity with the intimacy of a home movie. The kids in the video skillfully adapt the gritty conventions of noise rock for an audience of family and friends.'

Don't piss it away

2010-06-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

these two videos seem to pretty much sum up my approach to making...

End of Freaky Friday

2010-06-02T02:27:00.000-07:00

Janice Kerbel

2010-05-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

note on mystery, coincidence and narrative

2010-05-21T05:01:00.000-07:00

Ben Osborn sent me this on my birthday. Partly, i think, because he knew it was my kind of thing, and partly because he couldn't get away with putting it in the essay he was writing:

'The narrative of the mystery story is always dependent on coincidence, in the form of clues and leads. These objects, events, and characters are incidents separate in time and space from the crime itself, but they and the crime occupy the same epistemological incident. As such, they form a co-incidental (coincidental) detailing of the event. In the mystery story, for the sake of thematic economy and narrative unity, everything is potentially a clue. The paradox of this is that, within a predetermined narrative, there can be no coincidences: that is, as long as there is a controlling authorial or narrator-voice, everything is presented within an overall narrative structure, and thus nothing can be considered coincidental. This paradoxical relationship between narrative and reality is called realism.

MASHA. But what is the meaning of it?
TUZENBACH. The meaning… Look, it is snowing. What is the meaning of that? (Pause.)
(Chekhov, Three Sisters, Act II)

Tuzenbach’s rhetorical question in Chekhov’s Three Sisters says two things which add up the same sensation and thus the same meaning: pantheism or nihilism. Nihilism says that snow falls without meaning, i.e. everything occurs without meaning: pantheism says that the universe exists, which is a meaningful existence, i.e. everything has a meaning, everything is holy, and everything is God. Within a narrative structure (that of a conversation) this sensation is inevitable: anything and everything that occurs within that narrative structure will affect it simply by occurring; thus, either this event is meaningful, or the whole narrative structure is meaningless. How to respond to such possibility? Pause.

Pause. That is, be silent, wait. Tacet, as John Cage’s 4’33” instructs its musicians. Let other things happen, and experience them.'

Talkshow with Dominika Kieruzel and Steph Dickinson

2010-05-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

I sincerley hope there will be more of these. We might finally get to the bottom of that age old question, is love an illuminarti plot?

Robert Wyatt - At Last I Am Free

Mono no aware

2010-05-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

Mono no aware
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the German musical group, see Mono No Aware.

Mono no aware (物の哀れ, mono no aware, literally "the pathos of things"), also translated as "an empathy toward things," or "a sensitivity of ephemera," is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of mujo or the transience of things and a bittersweet sadness at their passing. The term was coined in the eighteenth century by the Edo period Japanese cultural scholar Motoori Norinaga, and was originally a concept used in his literary criticism of The Tale of Genji, and later applied to other seminal Japanese works including the Man'yōshū, becoming central to his philosophy of literature, and eventually to Japanese cultural tradition.

The word is derived from the Japanese word mono, which means "things" and aware, which was a Heian period expression of measured surprise (similar to "ah" or "oh"), translating roughly as "pathos," "poignancy," "deep feeling," or "sensitivity." Thus, mono no aware has frequently been translated as "the 'ahh-ness' of things." In his criticism of The Tale of Genji, Motoori noted that mono no aware is the crucial emotion that moves readers. Its scope was not limited to Japanese literature, and became associated with Japanese cultural tradition (see also sakura).

The quintessentially "Japanese" director Yasujiro Ozu was well known for creating a sense of mono no aware, frequently climaxing with a character saying a very understated "ii tenki desu ne" (It is fine weather, isn't it?), after both a familial and societal paradigm shift, such as daughter being married off, against the backdrop of a swiftly changing Japan. Norwegian Wood by the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is an example of this feeling as well.

Some Western scholars have compared it to Virgil's term lacrimae rerum.

Free

2010-05-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

Godard films the Stones + Antonioni Explodes

2010-05-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Nulepsy - Jess Rhinland

2010-05-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

Me helping out on Jess's film shoot (photo Harley Weir, 2010)

Agnes U Swims with D's

2010-05-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Fall '95

2010-05-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

Here Nor There - Emma Leach

2010-04-30T13:18:00.001-07:00

Here Nor There (2010) Late at Tate

This is the second performance of Emma's that i've been involved in, the first being 'Your tourch is burning brightly...' (2008). She gave me the only two letters that couldn't be mixed up (must show her faith in me). The following is from her website:

"Here Nor There is a flashing human news ticker which appears, displays and disappears back into the crowd. The signs alternate between reading THERE IS BETTER or HERE IS BETTER and their retreat back into the audience is triggered by waving a large, black flag.
Taking as its source an absurd exchange between the United States and Cuba, this work pokes fun at diplomatic tit-for-tat and the meaningless words that are used when entrenched in conflict.

// Read the news article, 'US turns off Havana news ticker that angered Cuba'

Here Nor There was commissioned by Cecilia Wee as part of 'Shards of Utopia', Late at Tate BritainPerformed by Bram Thomas Arnold, Joe Campbell, Chloe Cooper, Emma Leach, Sarah Leach, Samuel Overington, Frances Scott, Nikki Tomlinson and Natasha Vicars
Photo by Sascha Pohflepp."

Ono Soul

2010-04-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

FLΔG

2010-04-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

Installation view of the Chain of Life film loop.

"Through a three-day intervention into the public gallery that is the Triangle Space, FLΔG returns to, explores and plays with the ‘educational turn’ by re-turning the exploration of art and pedagogy to the art educational institution itself, in this case Chelsea College of Art and Design. The event is a shared venture amongst participants in dialogue with each other and the institution, the latter understood as both a physical entity and as a discursive arena. Speakers from inside and outside the art educational institution are invited to come and explore this topic within a setting of artworks that also engage with these dialogues. Key issues for pedagogic practice are methods and sites of knowledge-transfer, the artist as educator, collaboration and participation and the idealisation of art education. FLΔG intends to encourage a process-based approach, stimulating dialogue rather than aiming at conclusions."

www.chelseawiki.org/index.php/FLAG

http://www.neilcummings.com/content/educational-turn

14th MAY

2010-04-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

10th APRIL

2010-03-30T07:24:00.001-07:00

I'm not playing this time but maybe it will be good..?

Lord Magpie on JEN TV

2010-03-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

Jen TV Music 1 from ray moody on Vimeo.

http://www.jentv.co.uk/Gigs%21.html

This is the first episode of a music vlog on a modelling website called premier model style. Jen Dawson is a model who, according to wikipedia:

"...caused a Media stir in Feb 2008 when for Lingerie brand Agent Provocateur she posed naked in London Department store Selfridges' window for the launch of their new perfume Strip. She also starred in short film "Lady Behave" Directed by John Malkovich in which she plays one of a bunch of bad girls who join a Ladies school of Etiquette."

We're on about 2:35 minutes in.

NOTE: The fabled Dean Dempsey also features in this video

Sameel

2010-03-10T03:41:00.000-08:00

Is still out there...

The DVD Extra Feature: SECOND DATE WITH THE GODDESS

2010-03-08T07:32:00.000-08:00

The film that began a snowballing chain of events. Based on a true story! A cosmic backdrop to the events of the future. A gigantic lie! Empassioned ephemera to pass the kalpas...

Rooftop Rumpot

2010-03-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

George and Steph update

2010-02-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

George and Steph reading January's Fortean Times

26th FEB - Lord Magpie & The Prince Of Cats Support The Television Personalities!

2010-02-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

Chain of Life YouTube Channel

2010-02-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/thechainoflife

I just liked your earlier stuff

2010-01-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

No Words by Karl-Oscar Ollson, 2007

Ungainly Goings-on

2010-01-28T11:55:00.000-08:00

"The implausibly named Lord Magpie & The Prince Of Cats offer guttersnipe rockabilly that can hardly be called tidy, but has the clumsy alluring grace of a newborn foal. They have tiny amps that probably came from a Kinder Surprise, atrocious backing vocals, a strange ungainly vocalist who camply croons like a cross between Andy Warhol and Waylon Jennings, and enough energy to outweigh any amateurism. Some of the greatest rock and roll is primal, and whilst Lord Magpie isn’t angry, or sweaty, or sexy, the music does seem to come from the very core of the performers. They’re also fascinating: how did this weird lotmeet? How do they rehearse? Hang on, have they ever rehearsed? If there’s one thing missing in rock music today, it’s mystery; Lord Magpie is a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a butterfingered “Hi-Heeled Sneakers” cover. Seek them out."

David Murphy, Nightshift, February 2010

Part Two

2010-01-22T16:06:00.000-08:00

* * *

Now featuring a 'Michael Bleach' soundtrack

Your Torch is Burning Brightly... (2008)

2010-01-22T06:56:00.000-08:00

Your Torch is Burning Brightly... was a project by Emma Leach that I was involved in. It was part of a week of live art at the Chelsea Space called Temporary Agencies, curated by Sonya Dyer.

I played the role of inside informer in the college, recruting others and arranging spaces for meetings. This lead to a live event at which myself and the other students were both the gallery attendants, guarding the work, and the work itself. There was nothing else there. There's more about the project here and Emma's extended statement about it can be found here.

This was an odd and interesting experience. It seemed like it would be a fairly quiet affair until we started receiving abuse from recent Chelsea graduate and perfomance artist Ian Giles. At this point Oscar and I were forced to physically remove him from the space.

!

2010-01-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

"There were literally about 100 people at the Chelsea Chain, no word of a lie. Chain forever!" - Beehive Crick

Add a Link Week

2010-01-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

Shout out to all the chainers out there still preaching the word, there's been some inspiring work done recently particularly with the Wikipedia page attempt and the event taking place today by our latest London admins.

To commend this recent resurgence I propose this week to be the first annual "add a link" week, which means I want every one of you to get busy adding at least one new member and/or initiating a chain of life wherever you may be in the country that we may keep spreading the word of chain.

Chain forever

A message from Henry Lawrence to the members of The "Chain of Life" Appreciation Society.

Chain of Art School

2010-01-15T03:06:00.000-08:00

Chain of Life: Chelsea

Joe Campbell and Oscar Oldershaw Present Part 1 of a Paltry Pair

A rare chance to get hands on with artists in this life affirming limbo!

Special guests to get you going!

"Don't be Late. Bring a Date. This Handsey Happening won't wait."

Lord Magpie & The Prince Of Cats in London

2010-01-13T06:03:00.000-08:00

Shifting Sands EP Download!

Shifting Sands
I Feel Bad
Meteor
The Days Of Our Lives

This EP was recorded in my room in Brixton and has just been released on my new label 'Acne Condom'. More to come soon. We've started playing in and around london so come and see!

http://www.myspace.com/lordmagpies

Wolvercote Viaduct

2010-01-03T09:45:00.001-08:00

View Larger Map

(Scouting out roadworks for bits of road i can take. This was to remind me to do it.)

Detailed Snail

2009-12-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

"Leona Lewis sings sci-fi theme tune"

2009-12-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

http://martina-dalton.livejournal.com/82423.html

snail

2009-12-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

Isabella Rossellini explores the mating habits of snails.

Snail Teen Snail High

2009-12-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

Unfinished epic snail drama staring Fergus' giant African Land Snails.

Complex group relations are mutated and elevated to new and bizarre extreems when mind controlling parasites get involved....... But will love survive?

Thundercrack!

2009-11-22T13:33:00.001-08:00

Poster we made for a screening of Curt McDowell's Thundercrack!

Oct 24th 09

Mulder and Scully Float on Warm Air

2009-11-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

Commissioned drawings by Giles Oldershaw float on warm air when the heating comes on.

why are you weird?

2009-11-19T05:55:00.000-08:00

1/10

2/10

3/10

4/10

by Zach Shipko and Tucker Bennett

Curtis Jackson is studying performance art at one of the most prestigious art schools in the nation, yet he is still unable to live down the shame of his devastating past as a high school swimmer who was exposed as having webbed feet. In this heart warming, coming of age tale Curtis must overcome his insecurities and finally obtain the girl of his dreams all while still trying to explore his creative path and get a good grade at the end of the semester.
Why Are You Weird was shot in the year of our lord, 2009 utilizing state of the art VHS and 8mm video.

http://www.NextWave4u.info

Oscar, Hollie and i are in this (very briefly).

chain of life

2009-11-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_of_life

madness continued

2009-07-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

party at jack's

2009-07-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

screening 23rd of june

2009-06-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

Online invitation

witness the mysterious mystical madness as the fiff converges with time, space and the seasons to bring you an extraordinary evening of increased solar flux.

fiff celebrates midsummer with fire, magic carpets*, and a double feature:

George Kuchar's epic technicolour teen drama
THE SUMMER OF NO RETURN
+
???

We may also premier one or two very short films by joe campbell and oscar oldershaw made in San Francisco

* to be confirmed

Hope to see you there. Don’t forget to bring blankets, drinks and popcorn etc!

“Popcorn. Perfect for the movie”
– George Kuchar

moomin skier

2009-06-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

A skiing moomin

beehive and polly mayday morning

2009-05-23T17:44:00.001-07:00

fergus outside heathcote's house

2009-05-21T10:45:00.001-07:00

james and michael appear in the directory of lost causes

2009-04-26T15:08:00.001-07:00

kristen zellmer as the jealous lover

2009-04-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

More to come later

performance: diversion

2009-04-07T23:41:00.000-07:00

"going upstate while my flatmate turns the lights on and off in our apartment"

Dia Beacon, New York

At the time of writing this, I was lodging with Hayden Dunham (from the previous post) in the appartment in which a large part of the film 'Fatal Attraction' (directed by Adrian Lyne, 1987), was shot. The performance was an allusion to events of the film and explored ideas of simultaneity and layered histories / realities. It was also an attempt to explore the contrast between a specific site and one of some inditermancy.

Still from 'Fatal Attraction', 1987

My appartment, NYC, 2009

HD

2009-03-05T10:22:00.000-08:00

Fiddler's Island

2009-02-23T21:17:00.000-08:00

A small patch of land on Fiddler's Island, Port Meadow, Oxford.

new york is cold but i like where i'm living

2009-01-29T20:34:00.000-08:00

the slayer

2009-01-29T20:04:00.001-08:00

production

2009-01-16T15:31:00.000-08:00

McDonalds Bird

2009-01-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.mediafire.com/?mt9jzzo1mdf
I recorded this from my window one morning because i was concerned.

1:02, 1:58, 2:35, 2:46, 3:30, 4:15, 4:23 and 4:48

robots after witches

2009-01-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

pt1 of 'Facing your demons' by Ben Osborn recorded after Witch at the Camden Underworld
http://www.mediafire.com/?aky3g3myc2y

2008-12-31T09:26:00.000-08:00

they were jamming. they were having a jam session.

Vanilla

2008-12-27T19:43:00.000-08:00

st. giles' cafe

2008-12-24T20:17:00.000-08:00

I posted this image before but recently found out who took it and managed to get a copy of the original file. It's much better quality. I thought it was worth reposting.

bowlers

2008-12-13T19:36:00.000-08:00

Ray Melvin’s Strike Guys

My friend Oscar Oldershaw asked me to help him out with a project a couple of weeks ago which involved taking a semi fictional bowling team on a short (one night only) tour that was part chaotic car chase and part leisurely reunion and dance off. I was officially involved simultaneously as team photographer, project documenter and inside informer. But this role in itself was part of a more performative aspect.

I’ll hopefully add more details and some more of the photographs as soon as Oscar decides what he wants to do with them.

I also helped out with a soundtrack of sorts:
http://www.mediafire.com/?lzqmwvmv3nm

Semeel?

2008-12-13T18:10:00.001-08:00

Just posting this here to remind me to edit the cat film. And James Hedges sent me this:

Regarding 'Semeel the guardian' about the two boys' experience of a large cat that warned them of a man wanting to kill them; it may be significant that they'd lit a fire and that one of the boys was playing with a bow and arrow. I'm sure that other readers interested in magic and the occult will also have made the connections below.

There are both a good angel and a fallen angel (demon) sharing the name Samael (close enough for the boys to have spelt the name as Semeel). The order of the golden dawn changed the name of the good angel to Zamael to avoid confusion - but the correct name is still Samael! Angels are abstract forces and rarely appear in human form. The tradition of associating a human form with angels probably comes from linking letters in the Hebrew alphabet with corresponding images; the suffix 'el' implies (at least) human legs and wings. The Golden Dawn found it more correct to ignore the 'el' in forming the image of an angel, so that the letters of an angelic name, excluding the ending, suggest the most useful form for human beings to picture the angel's appearance - usually in hybrid form, or as animals (when they appear at all). Vowels don't count, so the most significant letter of Samael is S (Samekh). Two of Samekh's associations are 'archer' and 'male'. I suggest that the boy's playing with a bow and fire-arrows accidentally evoked the (good) angel Samael.

I cannot find a link between Samael and the form of a cat, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Samael is traditionally supposed to appear as a warrior in green armour*; perhaps that would have been more terrifying for the boys than a large cat.

I certainly believe the report of their adventure. The valuable warning, the statement that he was a 'guardian', and the name he gave them are, by themselves, very significant. If only they'd asked for his seal - to compare with the grimoires!

Rob Solomon
Southwick, West Sussex

internet photography

2008-12-10T13:54:00.001-08:00

Ongoing

hologram

2008-12-05T18:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.dreamhawk.com/hologram.htm

jill bolte taylor

2008-12-05T18:56:00.001-08:00

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

and did you get what you wanted from this life

2008-12-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.

-RC

hey

2008-11-15T14:00:00.001-08:00

Oh hai

professor noel sharkey is dead

2008-11-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

Michael Bleach - "Who's Noel Sharkey?"

George Buchanan - "I've forwarded that to at least five different people"

funding

2008-11-09T21:21:00.000-08:00

Fund to Fill the Grand Canyon with PS3’s

Real working order fund made in response to this and this

work in progress..

2008-11-09T20:56:00.000-08:00

Whispering Grass (Don’t Tell the Trees)

Work in progress. Film starring Heathcote Williams (actor, playwright) about a giant cat formed forest spirit further exploring narrative as a collaborative engagement. Upon completion this will be screened first as a b-movie at the Fiddlers Island Film Festival Oxford. The FIFF are an outdoor group that uses the same space that was used as a backdrop for the main scenes in the film.

Heathcote and FIFF

suspended chord

2008-11-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

Suspended Chord

Each speaker played a sample of a smoothly looped note from a different film soundtrack. The volumes were low so it was possible to hear a different chord depending on where you stood.