Dave Beech | University of the Arts London (original) (raw)
Papers by Dave Beech
Being 'part of the game' demands participation in a delimited, rule-bound space. Games are simpli... more Being 'part of the game' demands participation in a delimited, rule-bound space. Games are simplified representations of society within which particular relationships and practices are repeatedly and competitively rehearsed. Some games are just that: games and nothing more. But other games-those played with politics, money, power, space-affect us whether we are part of the game or not. Taking the city itself as the board on which to play. Six artistic positions will interrogate the meaning of the game itself, will enact the gamification of current issues, will ask about the possibility of not playing along, and will explore the various ways in which the city is always already a playground-a site for multiple, contrasting and conflicting games. You are cordially invited to join us at various sites throughout the city: Come out and play! nGbK project group:
Freee Art Collective Freee produces manifestos and holds group readings of manifestos with the ai... more Freee Art Collective Freee produces manifestos and holds group readings of manifestos with the aim of generating discussion. Participants are requested to read the given text and make their own minds up about what they believe. When present at the group reading, the participants only read out the words of the manifesto they agree with. The reading then becomes a collective process in which individuals publicly agree, as well as disagree, and declare their commitment to Freee's manifesto. While the use of a specific text by Freee is a given, the text itself can be used and reworked by those who read it to formulate their own opinions, just in the same way Freee has reworked it from the original. Freee acknowledges that ideas are developed collectively through the exchange of opinion. In this way, Freee offers a text that they produced but one that then becomes the basis for further critical thinking. The content of Freee's manifestos are an explicit call for the transformation of art and society and Freee readily takes and uses existing historical manifestos, speeches and revolutionary documents, such as The Manifesto for a New Public (2012) based on Vladimir Tatlin's The Initiative Individual in the Creativity of the Collective (1919), the UNOVIS, Program for the Academy at Vitebsk (1920) and the Freee Art Collective Manifesto for a Counter-Hegemonic Art, based on the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848).
Pamphlets may turn on points of ethics or theology but they always have a clear political implica... more Pamphlets may turn on points of ethics or theology but they always have a clear political implication. A pamphlet may be written either for or against somebody or something, but in essence it is always a protest.-George Orwell (1948) in British Pamphleteers Volume 1, from the sixteenth century to the French Revolution. For Orwell, the pamphlet is a polemical provocation. Throughout the 20th century, artists have worked and acted provocatively and polemically with text, images and performance, publishing writings and producing pamphlets and manifestos. The last decade has seen art's increasing engagement with political and social issues, and a preoccupation with revolutionary movements and global politics.
An activist is an agent of social change. Activism is the voluntary participation in political, c... more An activist is an agent of social change. Activism is the voluntary participation in political, cultural, civic, pedagogical, logistical and aesthetic campaigns and movements. Activism is an engaged mode of citizenry that seeks to shape the conditions under which individuals act. For an activist a wall is a blank page, the floor is a desk and every window is a soap box. ADVERTISING Advertising is a mode of participating in the public sphere based on the ability to pay for rented space in publishing media (eg pages in newspapers, sponsored entries on social media, posters on walls in the street and the interior and exterior surfaces of buses). Advertising aims to convert passersby (including but not limited to pedestrians, readers, viewers and listeners) into consumers. A culture based on advertising, sponsorship and branding is one in which individuals come to understand themselves as always on the verge of becoming a consumer. Also, the experience of the dominance of advertising in culture gives the false impression that all information exchange is a form of advertising and therefore that advertising is the natural form of communication. AGENCY The capacity to act. Related to power and force, agency punches holes in the fabric of existing reality. Unlike mechanical sequences, which conform precisely to what is necessary, agency puts windows where there were walls and dinner where there was an empty plate.
Presentation for the Panel ‘Curating Performance in the Age of the Global Contemporary: Chair Dr.... more Presentation for the Panel ‘Curating Performance in the Age of the Global Contemporary: Chair Dr. Janet Marstine, University of Leicester; Ethan Lasser, Harvard Art Museums; Oscar Ho, Chinese University Hong Kong, Dr. Mel Jordan Dr. Andrew Hewitt, Freee art collective. A presentation on Freee’s art practice and reflection on a series of seminars by Freee with Museum Studies PhD students entitled Working within the Histories, Theories and Practices of the Public Sphere. Seminars and workshops, 12th and 15th April. Seminar Aim: an introduction to the histories, theories and practices of the public sphere. Through the content provided this seminar gives an introduction to understanding the historical roots and contemporary theorizing of the terms; Public, Public Art, Public Sphere, Citizenship and Civil Society in relation to art practice. We attempt to explore what the term ‘public’ means for art and curatorial practices and propose that by utilising the notion of the public in relation to Public Sphere theory we can rearrange our preconceptions of how art is produced, displayed and viewed. The seminar session will include presentations and exercises on how to be public. University of Leicester, School of Museum Studies 50th Anniversary International Conference: Museums in the Global Contemporary: Debating the Museum of Now,
Presentation for the Panel ‘Curating Performance in the Age of the Global Contemporary, Chair Dr.... more Presentation for the Panel ‘Curating Performance in the Age of the Global Contemporary, Chair Dr. Janet Marstine, University of Leicester; Ethan Lasser, Harvard Art Museums; Oscar Ho, Chinese University Hong Kong, Dr. Mel Jordan Dr. Andrew Hewitt, Freee art collective. A presentation on Freee’s art practice and reflection on a series of seminars by Freee with Museum Studies PhD students entitled Working within the Histories, Theories and Practices of the Public Sphere. Seminars and workshops. Seminar dates Tuesday 12th April, Friday 15th April Seminar Aim: An introduction to the histories, theories and practices of the public sphere. Through the content provided this seminar gives an introduction to understanding the historical roots and contemporary theorizing of the terms; Public, Public Art, Public Sphere, Citizenship and Civil Society in relation to art practice. We attempt to explore what the term ‘public’ means for art and curatorial practices and propose that by utilising the notion of the public in relation to Public Sphere theory we can rearrange our preconceptions of how art is produced, displayed and viewed. The seminar session will include presentations and exercises on how to be public.
An interview with Freee art collective for the issue of Chto Delat? [What is to be Done?] newspap... more An interview with Freee art collective for the issue of Chto Delat? [What is to be Done?] newspaper “The Sublime is Now?”
Sounds & Words 6 - 28 October 2017 This month’s Project Space exhibition focuses on Freee Art... more Sounds & Words 6 - 28 October 2017 This month’s Project Space exhibition focuses on Freee Art Collective and Caroline Devine’s two very different alternative portraits of Milton Keynes, Citizen Ship and City of Things respectively. Both projects were commissioned for City Club a programme of new art, performances, family activities, happenings and talks inspired by the original vision behind Milton Keynes. Throughout the summer Citizen Ship, a mobile kiosk based on the design of Milton Keynes bus stops, visited a number of events and locations across Milton Keynes including CityFest in Middleton Hall, centre:mk and Art in the Park. Freee art collective is concerned with how opinions are produced to form core social values. They worked with Citizen Ship visitors to create new slogans reflecting their thoughts and opinions which were then applied to badges and banners decorating the pavilion. Citizen Ship will return to Margaret Powell Square on Saturday 21 October 2017. Join Associate Artist Dylan Fox on Saturdays throughout October for badge making workshops in the Project Space. Caroline Devine creates large-scale sound installations exploring the unheard, hidden voices and imperceptible sounds of nature, the city and beyond. For City of Things, an immersive sound work installed in Field Walk centre:mk, 6 October – 5 November, Caroline has woven the sounds of Milton Keynes with her original compositions to create a sonic portrait of the city – which takes the Milton Keynes that is familiar to our eyes and opens it up to our ears. This exhibition includes a display of some of Caroline’s resource material and an opportunity to explore the on-line sound map www.cityofthings.co.uk which she has created to accompany the installation. City of Things was led by Bletchley Park working in partnership with MK Gallery, Heritage MK and The Open University.
Quart, 2021
An essay revisiting issues around the so-called 'deskilling' of art via a close reading of Marx a... more An essay revisiting issues around the so-called 'deskilling' of art via a close reading of Marx and Engels' original theory of ideology in The German Ideology.
Jordan, M., Beech, Dave and Hewitt, Andy. 2004. The Functions of Public Art. In: The Functions of... more Jordan, M., Beech, Dave and Hewitt, Andy. 2004. The Functions of Public Art. In: The Functions of Public ArtCentre for Contemporary Art, ICA London, Venice Biennale 51, Second Guangzhou Biennale, 4/3/2004-1/15/2006.[Show/Exhibition]
Kiosks are more public, more intimate and more approachable than shops. They have a sociality tha... more Kiosks are more public, more intimate and more approachable than shops. They have a sociality that shops lack. By taking away the commercial profit-making utility of the kiosk we can capture its social dimension. The kiosk shows how socialism exists inside capitalism, trapped in financial exchanges we can see glimpses of a world of public exchanges. For the Common Ground event Freee produced 3 banners for the ‘Demonstrate’ space. Suspended over the reception desk the slogans read ‘All information will be common’, ‘Advertising For All; Or For Nobody At All'; 'Reclaim Public Opinion’ and 'Borders are for Crossing'. We also sited the Public Kiosk, made collaboratively with Curating PhD students at University of Leicester. By taking away all retail aspects of the kiosk and replacing its branding and advertising with opinions/beliefs garnered from visitors to this event we can draw out its full social potential. We published people's opinions in and on the kiosk throu...
Engage International Conference 2016, Oct 14, 2016
P u b lis h e d b y th e F re e e a rt c o lle c ti v e o n th e o c c a s io n o f th e e n g a ... more P u b lis h e d b y th e F re e e a rt c o lle c ti v e o n th e o c c a s io n o f th e e n g a g e In te rn a ti o n a l C o n fe re n c e 2 0 1 6-W h o s e A rt ? O u r A rt ! L iv e rp o o l H o p e U n iv e rs it y Instructions: Freee invites you to participate in a spoken choir. In order to participate you need to: 1. Print off the pdf (hard copies are also being distributed) 2. Underline every sentence that you agree with. 3. Bring the pamphlet to the event and read out those sections that you have underlined .
Being 'part of the game' demands participation in a delimited, rule-bound space. Games are simpli... more Being 'part of the game' demands participation in a delimited, rule-bound space. Games are simplified representations of society within which particular relationships and practices are repeatedly and competitively rehearsed. Some games are just that: games and nothing more. But other games-those played with politics, money, power, space-affect us whether we are part of the game or not. Taking the city itself as the board on which to play. Six artistic positions will interrogate the meaning of the game itself, will enact the gamification of current issues, will ask about the possibility of not playing along, and will explore the various ways in which the city is always already a playground-a site for multiple, contrasting and conflicting games. You are cordially invited to join us at various sites throughout the city: Come out and play! nGbK project group:
Freee Art Collective Freee produces manifestos and holds group readings of manifestos with the ai... more Freee Art Collective Freee produces manifestos and holds group readings of manifestos with the aim of generating discussion. Participants are requested to read the given text and make their own minds up about what they believe. When present at the group reading, the participants only read out the words of the manifesto they agree with. The reading then becomes a collective process in which individuals publicly agree, as well as disagree, and declare their commitment to Freee's manifesto. While the use of a specific text by Freee is a given, the text itself can be used and reworked by those who read it to formulate their own opinions, just in the same way Freee has reworked it from the original. Freee acknowledges that ideas are developed collectively through the exchange of opinion. In this way, Freee offers a text that they produced but one that then becomes the basis for further critical thinking. The content of Freee's manifestos are an explicit call for the transformation of art and society and Freee readily takes and uses existing historical manifestos, speeches and revolutionary documents, such as The Manifesto for a New Public (2012) based on Vladimir Tatlin's The Initiative Individual in the Creativity of the Collective (1919), the UNOVIS, Program for the Academy at Vitebsk (1920) and the Freee Art Collective Manifesto for a Counter-Hegemonic Art, based on the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848).
Pamphlets may turn on points of ethics or theology but they always have a clear political implica... more Pamphlets may turn on points of ethics or theology but they always have a clear political implication. A pamphlet may be written either for or against somebody or something, but in essence it is always a protest.-George Orwell (1948) in British Pamphleteers Volume 1, from the sixteenth century to the French Revolution. For Orwell, the pamphlet is a polemical provocation. Throughout the 20th century, artists have worked and acted provocatively and polemically with text, images and performance, publishing writings and producing pamphlets and manifestos. The last decade has seen art's increasing engagement with political and social issues, and a preoccupation with revolutionary movements and global politics.
An activist is an agent of social change. Activism is the voluntary participation in political, c... more An activist is an agent of social change. Activism is the voluntary participation in political, cultural, civic, pedagogical, logistical and aesthetic campaigns and movements. Activism is an engaged mode of citizenry that seeks to shape the conditions under which individuals act. For an activist a wall is a blank page, the floor is a desk and every window is a soap box. ADVERTISING Advertising is a mode of participating in the public sphere based on the ability to pay for rented space in publishing media (eg pages in newspapers, sponsored entries on social media, posters on walls in the street and the interior and exterior surfaces of buses). Advertising aims to convert passersby (including but not limited to pedestrians, readers, viewers and listeners) into consumers. A culture based on advertising, sponsorship and branding is one in which individuals come to understand themselves as always on the verge of becoming a consumer. Also, the experience of the dominance of advertising in culture gives the false impression that all information exchange is a form of advertising and therefore that advertising is the natural form of communication. AGENCY The capacity to act. Related to power and force, agency punches holes in the fabric of existing reality. Unlike mechanical sequences, which conform precisely to what is necessary, agency puts windows where there were walls and dinner where there was an empty plate.
Presentation for the Panel ‘Curating Performance in the Age of the Global Contemporary: Chair Dr.... more Presentation for the Panel ‘Curating Performance in the Age of the Global Contemporary: Chair Dr. Janet Marstine, University of Leicester; Ethan Lasser, Harvard Art Museums; Oscar Ho, Chinese University Hong Kong, Dr. Mel Jordan Dr. Andrew Hewitt, Freee art collective. A presentation on Freee’s art practice and reflection on a series of seminars by Freee with Museum Studies PhD students entitled Working within the Histories, Theories and Practices of the Public Sphere. Seminars and workshops, 12th and 15th April. Seminar Aim: an introduction to the histories, theories and practices of the public sphere. Through the content provided this seminar gives an introduction to understanding the historical roots and contemporary theorizing of the terms; Public, Public Art, Public Sphere, Citizenship and Civil Society in relation to art practice. We attempt to explore what the term ‘public’ means for art and curatorial practices and propose that by utilising the notion of the public in relation to Public Sphere theory we can rearrange our preconceptions of how art is produced, displayed and viewed. The seminar session will include presentations and exercises on how to be public. University of Leicester, School of Museum Studies 50th Anniversary International Conference: Museums in the Global Contemporary: Debating the Museum of Now,
Presentation for the Panel ‘Curating Performance in the Age of the Global Contemporary, Chair Dr.... more Presentation for the Panel ‘Curating Performance in the Age of the Global Contemporary, Chair Dr. Janet Marstine, University of Leicester; Ethan Lasser, Harvard Art Museums; Oscar Ho, Chinese University Hong Kong, Dr. Mel Jordan Dr. Andrew Hewitt, Freee art collective. A presentation on Freee’s art practice and reflection on a series of seminars by Freee with Museum Studies PhD students entitled Working within the Histories, Theories and Practices of the Public Sphere. Seminars and workshops. Seminar dates Tuesday 12th April, Friday 15th April Seminar Aim: An introduction to the histories, theories and practices of the public sphere. Through the content provided this seminar gives an introduction to understanding the historical roots and contemporary theorizing of the terms; Public, Public Art, Public Sphere, Citizenship and Civil Society in relation to art practice. We attempt to explore what the term ‘public’ means for art and curatorial practices and propose that by utilising the notion of the public in relation to Public Sphere theory we can rearrange our preconceptions of how art is produced, displayed and viewed. The seminar session will include presentations and exercises on how to be public.
An interview with Freee art collective for the issue of Chto Delat? [What is to be Done?] newspap... more An interview with Freee art collective for the issue of Chto Delat? [What is to be Done?] newspaper “The Sublime is Now?”
Sounds & Words 6 - 28 October 2017 This month’s Project Space exhibition focuses on Freee Art... more Sounds & Words 6 - 28 October 2017 This month’s Project Space exhibition focuses on Freee Art Collective and Caroline Devine’s two very different alternative portraits of Milton Keynes, Citizen Ship and City of Things respectively. Both projects were commissioned for City Club a programme of new art, performances, family activities, happenings and talks inspired by the original vision behind Milton Keynes. Throughout the summer Citizen Ship, a mobile kiosk based on the design of Milton Keynes bus stops, visited a number of events and locations across Milton Keynes including CityFest in Middleton Hall, centre:mk and Art in the Park. Freee art collective is concerned with how opinions are produced to form core social values. They worked with Citizen Ship visitors to create new slogans reflecting their thoughts and opinions which were then applied to badges and banners decorating the pavilion. Citizen Ship will return to Margaret Powell Square on Saturday 21 October 2017. Join Associate Artist Dylan Fox on Saturdays throughout October for badge making workshops in the Project Space. Caroline Devine creates large-scale sound installations exploring the unheard, hidden voices and imperceptible sounds of nature, the city and beyond. For City of Things, an immersive sound work installed in Field Walk centre:mk, 6 October – 5 November, Caroline has woven the sounds of Milton Keynes with her original compositions to create a sonic portrait of the city – which takes the Milton Keynes that is familiar to our eyes and opens it up to our ears. This exhibition includes a display of some of Caroline’s resource material and an opportunity to explore the on-line sound map www.cityofthings.co.uk which she has created to accompany the installation. City of Things was led by Bletchley Park working in partnership with MK Gallery, Heritage MK and The Open University.
Quart, 2021
An essay revisiting issues around the so-called 'deskilling' of art via a close reading of Marx a... more An essay revisiting issues around the so-called 'deskilling' of art via a close reading of Marx and Engels' original theory of ideology in The German Ideology.
Jordan, M., Beech, Dave and Hewitt, Andy. 2004. The Functions of Public Art. In: The Functions of... more Jordan, M., Beech, Dave and Hewitt, Andy. 2004. The Functions of Public Art. In: The Functions of Public ArtCentre for Contemporary Art, ICA London, Venice Biennale 51, Second Guangzhou Biennale, 4/3/2004-1/15/2006.[Show/Exhibition]
Kiosks are more public, more intimate and more approachable than shops. They have a sociality tha... more Kiosks are more public, more intimate and more approachable than shops. They have a sociality that shops lack. By taking away the commercial profit-making utility of the kiosk we can capture its social dimension. The kiosk shows how socialism exists inside capitalism, trapped in financial exchanges we can see glimpses of a world of public exchanges. For the Common Ground event Freee produced 3 banners for the ‘Demonstrate’ space. Suspended over the reception desk the slogans read ‘All information will be common’, ‘Advertising For All; Or For Nobody At All'; 'Reclaim Public Opinion’ and 'Borders are for Crossing'. We also sited the Public Kiosk, made collaboratively with Curating PhD students at University of Leicester. By taking away all retail aspects of the kiosk and replacing its branding and advertising with opinions/beliefs garnered from visitors to this event we can draw out its full social potential. We published people's opinions in and on the kiosk throu...
Engage International Conference 2016, Oct 14, 2016
P u b lis h e d b y th e F re e e a rt c o lle c ti v e o n th e o c c a s io n o f th e e n g a ... more P u b lis h e d b y th e F re e e a rt c o lle c ti v e o n th e o c c a s io n o f th e e n g a g e In te rn a ti o n a l C o n fe re n c e 2 0 1 6-W h o s e A rt ? O u r A rt ! L iv e rp o o l H o p e U n iv e rs it y Instructions: Freee invites you to participate in a spoken choir. In order to participate you need to: 1. Print off the pdf (hard copies are also being distributed) 2. Underline every sentence that you agree with. 3. Bring the pamphlet to the event and read out those sections that you have underlined .
How can artists and artists' collectives best navigate the passage from our current neoliberalize... more How can artists and artists' collectives best navigate the passage from our current neoliberalized art landscape to a radically democratic one?
Local Authority, 2015
This book followed from the proceedings of the international conference Commissions+ in Dublin in... more This book followed from the proceedings of the international conference Commissions+ in Dublin in 2012, organised by Caroline Cowley and the Arts Office at Fingal County Council, which featured contributions from leading public art producers around Europe.
Contretemps, 2020
Le précédent livre de l’artiste et théoricien marxiste de l’art Dave Beech (Art and Value: Art’s ... more Le précédent livre de l’artiste et théoricien marxiste de l’art Dave Beech (Art and Value: Art’s Economic Exceptionalism in Classical, Neoclassical and Marxist Economics, Brill, 2015) constituait une contribution importante à la théorie marxiste de l’art, en l’abordant par son versant économique. Avec Art and Postcapitalism : Aesthetic, Labour, Automation and Value Production (Pluto Press, 2019), c’est la question du travail qui devient prépondérante.
Art and Labour, 2020
Chapter 9 of Art and Labour (2020) which retraces the history of Marxist and non-Marxist debates ... more Chapter 9 of Art and Labour (2020) which retraces the history of Marxist and non-Marxist debates on alienation, labour, alienated labour and non-alienated labour.
"Locating the Producers: Durational Approaches to Public Art", 2011
My essay in the book "Locating the Producers: Durational Approaches to Public Art" edited by Paul... more My essay in the book "Locating the Producers: Durational Approaches to Public Art" edited by Paul O'Neill and Claire Doherty, published by Valiz in 2011.
The future of work, as a speculative literature of fantasies and fears of what work might become,... more The future of work, as a speculative literature of fantasies and fears of what work might become, does not exist until the Tudor Poor Laws written sporadically between 1485 and 1602. Work has a future, I want to suggest, only when the traditional world of work and the poor is earmarked for changes. In the social imaginary of the Tudor landowners, English society is under threat from the workless poor, particularly vagrants and beggars who, it appears, refuse to work and therefore draw on the wealth of the nation without contributing to it. In a law passed in 1547, beggars could be enslaved for a period of two years and vagrants could be branded with the letter 'V' and enslaved for life. Before this, in 1533, the first house of correction was established using 'hard labour' as a punishment for the workless poor driven to prostitution, theft and idleness, two thirds of whom were female.
A lecture delivered at at CSM, London for the MA CCC/MA AI “Unit 2: The Future of Work” on 21 Feb... more A lecture delivered at at CSM, London for the MA CCC/MA AI “Unit 2: The Future of Work” on 21 February 2023