Janet Cardiff & Georges Bures Miller

Pandemonium (2005)

Materials: robotic beaters hitting lights, pipes, cupboards, beds and steel drums controlled by midi.

Installation 2005-7 Eastern State Pennitentiary Museum, curated by Julie Courtney

Tip tap tip tap. Is that the sound of dripping or is it someone in a cell tapping a code on the wall? Now there are many more tapping sounds. Far and near. Loud and soft. Now someone is banging on a pipe, now a cupboard. Now the hall is filled with a cacophony of beats, working their way back and forth, a PANDEMONIUM of percussion.

Using the existing elements in the prison cells Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller have made the entire Cellblock Seven into a giant musical instrument, producing a percussive site work. This instrument, controlled by a computer and midi system, is made up of one hundred and twenty separate beaters hitting disparate xobjects such as toilet bowls, light fixtures and bedside tables found within the prison cells. The composition begins subtly as if two prisoners are trying to communicate and then moves through an abstract soundscape and lively dance beats until it reaches a riot-like crescendo.

The massive Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world. Its gothic, castle-like towers stood as a grim warning to lawbreakers in the young United States. This was the world’s first true “penitentiary,” a prison intended to inspire profound regret – or penitence—in the hearts of criminals. The influential design featured cellblocks extending like the spokes of a wheel; each inmate lived in solitary confinement in a vaulted sky-lit cell. The prison itself had running water and central heat before the White House, and once held many of America’s most notorious criminals, including bank robber “Slick Willie” Sutton and Al Capone.

Eastern State closed in 1971. The prison stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and a place of surprising beauty. Cardiff and Miller present Pandemonium in Cell Block Seven, a massive, cathedral-like, two-story wing completed in 1836. It has never been open to the public, and has been stabilized especially for this exhibition. The installation will open to the public on May 12, 2005 and will remain on view through November as well as in 2006.

Baschet Brothers

Sculpture Sonores is the name given to the Baschet Brothers vast collection of visually striking instruments crafted out of steel and aluminum and amplified by large curved conical sheets of metal. Some small, some over twenty feet high and incorporating glass rods, metal cones, wires, plastic inflatable resonators, and many other devices, these fascinating structures are not only aesthetically entrancing, but produce an incredible range of sounds and varied sonic textures.

These cones seem rather similar to the one I made for the performance in the garage space last at the end of first term. If you would like to download an album of theirs I recommend you check out Continuo's web blog here...enjoy.

Ron Pippin

Jean Tinguely - Homage to New York (1960)

I am subscribed to the South London Gallery who issue small publications every month addressing some very interesting issues. This month in reference to Michael Landy's 'art bin' they mentioned Jean Tinguely who's I decided to do some further research on. Here is a short video of the work which made the most significant impression on Landy.

Jean Tinguely - Homage to New York (1960) from Stephen Cornford on Vimeo.

To grasp what he’s getting at here, one needs to appreciate Landy’s long-standing love affair with the Swiss Dadaist/performance artist, Jean Tinguely, who died in 1991. In 1982, Landy caught a Tinguely retrospective at Tate and the anarchic energy of the show, coupled with the joyous response of the audience, made a deep impression on his teenage mind. “There were machines you could ride or throw balls into; there were others where, if you put your foot on a pedal, they did a manic dance,” he explains. “They were all made out of junk, so aesthetically they were quite ugly-looking, but I was a textile student, collecting and making patterns out of junk. It was a revelation.”

(Read more...)

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Running Fence Sonomo Snd Marin Counties, California, 1972-76


Whilst working on my current project - erecting a stile over one of the side gates at Kelvingrove Park Bandstand, I was advised to look at the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, most notably 'Running Fence'. This piece is a tremendous realization resulting from endless negotiations and raising issues addressing ownership, boarders, temporality, individuals vs. the state.


Running Fence, 5.5 meters (eighteen feet) high, 39.4 kilometers (twenty-four and one-half miles) long, extending East-West near Freeway 101, north of San Francisco, on the private properties of fifty-nine ranchers, following rolling hills and dropping down to the Pacific Ocean at Bodega Bay, was completed on September 10, 1976.

All parts of Running Fence's structure were designed for complete removal and no visible evidence of Running Fence remains on the hills of Sonoma and Marin Counties.

As it had been agreed with the ranchers and with the County, State and Federal Agencies, the removal of Running Fence started fourteen days after its completion and all materials were given to the ranchers.

Running Fence crossed fourteen roads and the town of Valley Ford, leaving passage for cars, cattle and wildlife, and was designed to be viewed by following 65 kilometers (forty miles) of public roads, in Sonoma and Marin Counties.

Roberto Valturio - De Re Militari (1534)

Miroslaw Balka at Tate Modern (12.01.10)

Mona Hatoum

Other works of interest

Pull (1995)

I particularly liked this piece which has been arranged so that the pony tail that is displayed in the box is actually Mona Hatoum's own and she is in fact lying down with a camera directed at her face, which is being displayed on the monitor. When you pull the hair you get an instant reaction, but the difference between actually knowing she is just behind the wall and just seeing her face on a screen would drastically change your perception of the piece.

Similar Works

Làslò Moholy Nagy

Self-Initiated Project

Conrad Shawcross at Siobhan Davies Studios
shown as part of 'The Collection'
7th April 2009

Slow Arc inside a Cube (2008)

I was completely mesmerised by this piece of work which had been installed in the top floor of Siobhan Davies studios I managed to sit around for almost an hour filming it from various viewpoints. The effect of the intensely bright light coming from such a small source meant that the shadows cast on the walls of the studio shifted from feeling like a cage was being lifted off of you to then feeling entrapped again. I was very interested in this idea of an image being able to have such a tangible quality so much so that it almost feels physical.

Michael Landy - Break Down (2001)

A recurring theme in most of books and films mentioned earlier is how objects which are prone to being nostalgic and therefore provoke memories and emotions, are removed from society to be left with a very bland environment where people walk around mindlessly, reducing procrastination and increasing the efficiency of the economy.

Break Down involved Michael Landy documenting every item in his possession and then proceeding to destroy them all - a comment on contemporary consumer capitalism. In this case however, it has been his own personal decision and is similar to the lifestyle that a Buddhist monk might live.



Having performed such a theatrical spectacle one would wonder how Landy's next work would respond to this rather traumatic event in his life. His answer was to go back to appreciating very tiny plants, in this case weeds which are completely overlooked on a daily basis. However, his incredibly detailed etchings reveal how fantastically intricate they can be and for him I think the process was very therapeutic.


I think weeds are particularly interesting as they seem so fragile however they manage to grow pretty much everywhere, from the cracks in a wall to the pavement and can exist without very much sustenance.

Body as site of Cultural Representation

Year 1 Term 2/2

Peter Bevan

"Peter" "Helen's Twin" "Jinny" 2005 Terracotta

Last year I attended a lecture given by Peter Bevan, a glasgow based sculptor, on the them of 'Body as site of cultural representaion'. Here are some of the notes which I took down:

• An idea of cultural representaion can be gained by comparing experiences fom travelling abroad (India) with the identitiy here in the Wester world.
• The hollow space in his vase-like pieces draws the viewers' attention to the surface which is perforated with holes and makes you aware of the inside cavity.
• Vase: a container for 'collecting' experiences (cultural identity).
• Go to India to make work rather than just looking (contributing to culture and society rather than being a tourist).
  
• Two identical casts: Second as detail in different context (history and future)

Looking on his website I came accros a piece of work titled "The body as a place: the site of consciousness." which is a project that he has been working on over the period 1989-1997 between visits to India.

Between Visits to India: 1989-1997

“The body is a place: the site of consciousness”

I first visited India in 1989 to study temple architecture and sculpture, mainly in the south. Along the way I recorded thoughts and observations on a 25 metre “scroll diary”, which came to provide ideas and inspiration for a considerable number of works on return to Scotland.

"Scroll Diary" (Sanchi, India) 1989
Watercolour/Ink/Paper25 meters long

"Scroll Diary" (Badami, India) 1989

Watercolour/Ink/Paper25 meters long

The work explores different ways of signifying the presence of a human body, through reductive forms, the inherent expressiveness of materials and architectural metaphor.

"Drawings for Father 1996 Ink/Paper

In 1996 this work was collated in the form of a catalogue and photographic documentation, which was exhibited during my Artist’s residency at the MS University of Baroda in Gujarat. The following year the sculpture itself was formed into an exhibition entitled, “The body as a place: the site of consciousness”, at the Glasgow School of Art.

"Father" 1992 Wood/Bronze

"Gazebo" 1995 Wood/Ceramic
Temporary installation, Kildrummy Castle, Scotland

"Incenser" Ceramic 1990

Bill Viola - The Passions

The Quintet of the Astonished (2000)

Site, Context, Place

Site, Place, Context
Year one, Term Two

'Everything is Connected in Life'

- Gillian Wearing (1992/3)

This project aims to demonstrate the importance of being aware of, and understanding the multiplicity of connects within any given site. It will use the Mackintosh Building as the site - both the site of production and site for viewing. The project is structured around four creative processes: Research, Development, Resolution, Presentation. You may work in any media, though this must be done within the resources available to you.