Bcc:, Decoy Magazine’s monthly e-mail subscription programme, ended in 2019. I had made an exclusive artwork for it back in 2018 that was only available to people who subscribed to it, and then in September 2019 at the IRL exhibition at Vivid Projects. If y’all didn’t catch that show here’s my work below:
When you identify something toxic in your life you recoil from it, only to be drawn back in again and again. Addictions and Habits is inspired by how technologies built on the idea of enriching our lives have only amplified our anxieties and made us more physically and emotionally vulnerable
In this final part of this three-part series I’ll be going over installing Xuan Ye’s work in the Bcc exhibition. This work posed a similar challenge to Scott Benesiinaabandan’s work. I needed to automatically load a web page except this time I needed to allow for user interaction via the mouse and keyboard.
The artwork isn’t online so I’ll again go over the basic premise. A web page is loaded that features a tiled graphic with faded captcha text on top of it. The user is asked to input the text and upon doing so is presented with a new tiled background image and new captcha. This process is repeated until the user decides to stop.
The next artwork that was challenging to install was Monuments: Psychic Landscapes by Scott Benesiinaabandan.
I won’t be showing the full artwork as all of the artworks were exclusive to Bcc: and it’s up to the artists whether they show it or not. On a visual level the basic premise of the artwork is that the viewer visits a web page which loads an artwork in the form of a Processing sketch. There is a statue in the centre which becomes obscured by lots of abstract shapes over time whilst an ambient soundtrack plays in the background. At whatever point the viewer chooses they can refresh the screen to clear all of the shapes, once again revealing the statue.
I took a bit of a break from writing the Development Updates. September was pretty busy with Bcc: (more on that below) and then I was completing a commission for Will’s Kitchen/The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and preparing for my solo exhibition, We Are Your Friends.
With all of that now completed I’m writing a few posts about one project in particular: Bcc:
The Bcc: exhibition opened at Vivid Projects on Friday 6th September. It was a collaboration between Vancouver-based Decoy Magazine and Birmingham-based Vivid Projects. The exhibition featured a curated selection of works from Decoy Magazine’s online art subscription service called Bcc:. The basic premise is that each month you’d get specially commissioned art in your e-mail inbox.
The internet used by the Birmingham Central Library and the rest of the council’s system has blocked my website. Apparently my “Spam URL” presents a “Medium Risk”. I feel so proud :-)
Last week myself and others were invited to talk to someone from Ofsted about the Flying Start course. For those who don’t already know what it is, here’s the blurb:
An accredited training scheme for artists – working in any art form – who want to gain workshop planning and delivery skills and experience of community arts and participatory arts work.
The inspector was very clear to note that whilst she was from Ofested that this wasn’t actually an inspection. In the five years the course had been running it was identified as an example of good practice* and she was here to get feedback for their website from people who were on the course.
