IT IS NOW OR NEVER.
London's biggest university- London Metropolitan University- is in the grips of a MASSIVE FINANCIAL CRISIS threatening the entire future of the university.
The Government recently found that London Met had been returning inaccurate figures to them regarding the number of students enrolled. This was incredibly serious as London Met receives money per student- since the government with wrongly told that the university had more students than it did, it received way too much money. The government found out and has asked that not only the money for the last three years be repaid, but has also cut the university's budget by £15 million a year.
This is incredibly serious- a noose around the university's neck, if you will.
It was announced two weeks ago that the university's current plan to gain some of the money needed to repay the government is to axe the jobs of an unbelievably huge number of teaching staff. In doing this, the cure will in effect exacerbate the disease. By losing up to 40% (in some departments such as The Cass Dpt. of Art, Media and Design) of teaching staff we will not be able to continue receiving the standard of education we have been. The University cannot survive these cuts.
Many of you have already taken an active role in become student reps, coming to our meetings and informing more people of the situation. We now have politicians involved- we have written to George Galloway MP (many of the buildings lie within his constituency), David Lammy MP and Phil Willis MP. The NUS have been very active in our campaign and so have the relevant Trade Unions for the university's teachers and staff.
We are currently informing the press and media of the situation.
WE NEED YOU to attend this demo and make your voice heard. You CAN play an active part in the future of your university. On Wednesday the 28th of January, the Board of Governors will be meeting to discuss the future of the university at the Tower Building, Holloway Road. Several relevant members of the teaching staff have implied that the meeting should have a demo in front of it and are keen to join the students. This is a case of STUDENTS and STAFF uniting to steer the university away from demise and towards a brighter future, which is currently looking increasingly bleaker and bleaker.It is time for you to step up to the mark and say NO, we do NOT WANT TO LOSE OUR TEACHERS. We do NOT WANT TO LOSE OUR UNIVERSITY.
We expect to see you at 4pm, outside the Tower Building (Holloway Road) of London Metropolitan University, making your voice heard, sending your message to the governors. There will be banners and signs- please bring your own- along the lines of "DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS", "BRIAN ROPER- THE £276K MAN", "SAVE THE MET!", "SACK ROPER!", "LONDON'S BIGGEST UNI GOING UNDER!" etc.
BRIAN ROPER
Brian Roper is the Vice Chancellor of the University- the main man. He is the most highly-paid Vice Chancellor in the country, making £276k a year (before bonuses). If he wants to axe our staff, let him be the first. One of our main agendas will be to call for the immediate resignation of the Vice Chancellor. He has put a rope around our necks and by trying to remove it he is merely tightening it.Many members of staff will be protesting alongside us.
Do not fail your teachers, and do not fail yourselves- BE AT THE DEMO AND MAKE YOURSELF HEARD.
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Protest Signs:
Any long piece of scrap wood or a bamboo stick will do, get TWO same-size pieces (per sign) of large, sturdy card (A2 probably best size) and paint a SHORT and CLEAR slogan/phrase on BOTH pieces of card. Staple the pieces of card together at the corners so that the phrases are effectively on both sides, then slide the wood/stick between them. Finally, staple the sign at the top and bottom to the wood/stick.It will also help to wear tshirts with slogans, or anything memorable and eye-catching.
SPREAD THE WORD!
(((I know this is not Critical Practice... but you know...)))
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Exhibition title - 5 solutions
Version 1
In a world where everyone truly appears to be seeking their 15 minutes of fame – viz Big Brother, X Factor, Look Good Naked, 10 Years Younger and their stable mates – this performance and video work goes to the one area of life that has not yet been splayed open in the media for public consumption. 5 Solutions takes our fascination with the minutiae, the pain and the pathos of other people’s lives one step further, to an area of life not yet explored and exploited – the conspicuously private interaction between client and therapist.
This performance and video work builds on the classic Gloria videos from the 1970s. In the original educational series, Gloria, a young divorcee, took her problems to 3 different therapists – each masters in their therapeutic fields. As each worked with her in a one-off, hour long session, to find a solution to her issues, the sessions were recorded for student study. Over 30 years later they remain the only documented recordings of client/therapist interactions readily available.
5 Solutions takes this concept a step further. The exhibition starts with a performance piece on Day One, when 5 volunteer clients, each with a specific problem, visit 5 different therapists over the course of the day. These live sessions will take place in parallel, at set times throughout the afternoon and can be observed by the audience through one-way viewing windows. Audience members can move freely between the viewing rooms where the therapists will be working. Visitors to the exhibition may elect to dip in and out of the full range of sessions, to observe one session from start to finish, or to follow a client or therapist by staying with them through the course of the afternoon as they work with different people.
The hour long sessions sessions will be video recorded and on subsequent days the recordings will be played in each of the therapy rooms.
The 5 therapies have been selected from across the broad spectrum of what is termed ‘brief, solution focused’ approaches, providing very different and very visual illustrations of how therapeutic relationships are formed and solutions developed.
This work raises many questions about the nature of public exposure and the quest for fame, our right to privacy, and the fallacy of confidentiality and trust in this media savvy world.
On the final day of the exhibition the 5 clients, the therapists, the general public and the media are invited to a discussion of the issues raised by this performance piece.
NB Therapies will include CBT, NLPt, Provocative Therapy, Constellations and Art Therapy.
Version 2
Roger Hiorns comes straight to 5 Solutions after the success of Seizure, his installation in a derelict council house in Summer 2008. Variously described as ‘unexpected beauty nestling like glittering treasure’ (the Times); ‘a sci-fi nightmare, both fascinating and repellent’ (the Guardian); and ‘disorienting, luscious awful’ (Modern Painter); we anticipate this coming exhibition to be equally challenging.
Hiorns has stated that he likes to work with materials that take him out of the equation ‘that make me, the artist, disappear’ (The Tate). Despite this wish, his work with materials that transform and transfix is becoming something of a trademark: past works have used soap solutions, fire and copper sulphate, to bring the imaginary to life.
For this forthcoming exhibition Hiorns has taken the challenge to create site specific works using 5 different solutions, some of which he has not exploited before. As ‘an artist of emissions, of excess and the uncontrollable’ (Searle) his audience can look forward to inspirational new works in a stunningly poetic venue.
St Pancras Crypt – a damp, subterranean expanse of vaulted tunnels - lends itself perfectly to these works of such sublime beauty and mystery. 5 Solutions promises to be every bit as controversial as Hiorns’ previous shows – love his work or hate it, it cannot be ignored.
In a world where everyone truly appears to be seeking their 15 minutes of fame – viz Big Brother, X Factor, Look Good Naked, 10 Years Younger and their stable mates – this performance and video work goes to the one area of life that has not yet been splayed open in the media for public consumption. 5 Solutions takes our fascination with the minutiae, the pain and the pathos of other people’s lives one step further, to an area of life not yet explored and exploited – the conspicuously private interaction between client and therapist.
This performance and video work builds on the classic Gloria videos from the 1970s. In the original educational series, Gloria, a young divorcee, took her problems to 3 different therapists – each masters in their therapeutic fields. As each worked with her in a one-off, hour long session, to find a solution to her issues, the sessions were recorded for student study. Over 30 years later they remain the only documented recordings of client/therapist interactions readily available.
5 Solutions takes this concept a step further. The exhibition starts with a performance piece on Day One, when 5 volunteer clients, each with a specific problem, visit 5 different therapists over the course of the day. These live sessions will take place in parallel, at set times throughout the afternoon and can be observed by the audience through one-way viewing windows. Audience members can move freely between the viewing rooms where the therapists will be working. Visitors to the exhibition may elect to dip in and out of the full range of sessions, to observe one session from start to finish, or to follow a client or therapist by staying with them through the course of the afternoon as they work with different people.
The hour long sessions sessions will be video recorded and on subsequent days the recordings will be played in each of the therapy rooms.
The 5 therapies have been selected from across the broad spectrum of what is termed ‘brief, solution focused’ approaches, providing very different and very visual illustrations of how therapeutic relationships are formed and solutions developed.
This work raises many questions about the nature of public exposure and the quest for fame, our right to privacy, and the fallacy of confidentiality and trust in this media savvy world.
On the final day of the exhibition the 5 clients, the therapists, the general public and the media are invited to a discussion of the issues raised by this performance piece.
NB Therapies will include CBT, NLPt, Provocative Therapy, Constellations and Art Therapy.
Version 2
Roger Hiorns comes straight to 5 Solutions after the success of Seizure, his installation in a derelict council house in Summer 2008. Variously described as ‘unexpected beauty nestling like glittering treasure’ (the Times); ‘a sci-fi nightmare, both fascinating and repellent’ (the Guardian); and ‘disorienting, luscious awful’ (Modern Painter); we anticipate this coming exhibition to be equally challenging.
Hiorns has stated that he likes to work with materials that take him out of the equation ‘that make me, the artist, disappear’ (The Tate). Despite this wish, his work with materials that transform and transfix is becoming something of a trademark: past works have used soap solutions, fire and copper sulphate, to bring the imaginary to life.
For this forthcoming exhibition Hiorns has taken the challenge to create site specific works using 5 different solutions, some of which he has not exploited before. As ‘an artist of emissions, of excess and the uncontrollable’ (Searle) his audience can look forward to inspirational new works in a stunningly poetic venue.
St Pancras Crypt – a damp, subterranean expanse of vaulted tunnels - lends itself perfectly to these works of such sublime beauty and mystery. 5 Solutions promises to be every bit as controversial as Hiorns’ previous shows – love his work or hate it, it cannot be ignored.
100 - 50 - 10 -1
10
Emotive
Personal
Emotional
Psychological
Interpretive
Challenging
Reflective
Questioning
Inspiring
Playful
1
Emotive
Emotive
Personal
Emotional
Psychological
Interpretive
Challenging
Reflective
Questioning
Inspiring
Playful
1
Emotive
Manifesto
Version 1
My art is…
Expressive: My ideas, experiences, thoughts and emotions are brought to life in my work. The art is designed to communicate, to convey a message or concept.
My art is…
Motivating: The work is fun for me to plan, to make and create. It has a sense of purpose and direction. There is a sense of achievement for me in viewing the end result.
My art is…
Open: I am open to others’ suggestions and feedback and listen before I decide whether to embrace these views or not. I am open to new influences, new ideas, new skills and approaches. I don’t have a set style or medium and I plan to grow through, and with, my art without fitting into a specific category, style or camp.
My art is…
Tangible: Something will exist as an output of the process, be it text, painting, photography or 3d. The work has form.
My art is…
Imaginative: I aim to be playful in my interpretation, giving my creativity and imagination free-reign. I work around the short-term student limitations of time, skill and budget, finding other effective means to develop my ideas.
My art is…
Varied: To keep my passion alive I need to move on, learn new skills and explore different means of expression. My work is not about fine honing one idea, refining a technical skill to the level of expert or working on a life’s time project. Whilst I may revisit ideas and methods from time to time, the process and end product will be markedly different rather than an evolution of the previous work.
My art is…
Evocative: My work engages others at an emotional level, evoking a reaction, a memory, a response which stays with the viewer.
My art is.
Version 2
My art is…
Expressive: My ideas, experiences, thoughts and emotions are brought to life in my work. The art is designed to communicate, to convey a message or concept.
My art is…
Motivating: The work is fun for me to plan, to make and create. It has a sense of purpose and direction. There is a sense of achievement for me in viewing the end result.
My art is…
Open: I am open to others’ suggestions and feedback and listen before I decide whether to embrace these views or not. I am open to new influences, new ideas, new skills and approaches. I don’t have a set style or medium and I plan to grow through, and with, my art without fitting into a specific category, style or camp.
My art is…
Tangible: Something will exist as an output of the process, be it text, painting, photography or 3d. The work has form.
My art is…
Imaginative: I aim to be playful in my interpretation, giving my creativity and imagination free-reign. I work around the short-term student limitations of time, skill and budget, finding other effective means to develop my ideas.
My art is…
Varied: To keep my passion alive I need to move on, learn new skills and explore different means of expression. My work is not about fine honing one idea, refining a technical skill to the level of expert or working on a life’s time project. Whilst I may revisit ideas and methods from time to time, the process and end product will be markedly different rather than an evolution of the previous work.
My art is…
Evocative: My work engages others at an emotional level, evoking a reaction, a memory, a response which stays with the viewer.
My art is.
Version 2
This manifesto is for :
- Those who don’t want to join a group, follow a leader or religiously adhere to a statement of beliefs about art or anything else
- Those who do not understand why anyone would want to write a manifesto (or come to that a blog, a message board comment, a letter to the Times, or a mission statement)
Er, that’s it.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
bookbinding workshop
Some of you were interested in knowing about bookbinding workshops - the next one at East London printmakers is on 8th April see : eastlondonprintmakers.co.uk
Mag
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Sebastian Love!
Many of you have already met, and are familiar with the works of, the outstanding London-based artist Sebastian Love.
Love works in many media but his primary outlet is installation. We do not know when he was born, or how old he is, but believe his father to be one JHN.
If any of you have not met Love by the end of 2009, you will be shot in the side of the head with a 15th-century arquebus.
(post scriptum: the artist, not the "Little Britain" character.)
Many of you have already met, and are familiar with the works of, the outstanding London-based artist Sebastian Love.
Love works in many media but his primary outlet is installation. We do not know when he was born, or how old he is, but believe his father to be one JHN.
If any of you have not met Love by the end of 2009, you will be shot in the side of the head with a 15th-century arquebus.
(post scriptum: the artist, not the "Little Britain" character.)
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