Mark Durden | University of South Wales (original) (raw)
Papers by Mark Durden
This work results from a collaboration with Professor Mark Durden and the Liverpool John Moores U... more This work results from a collaboration with Professor Mark Durden and the Liverpool John Moores University Archive, exploring the archive of Keith Medley, a film-maker and photographer who settled in Liverpool and ran a studio in New Brighton that was active for a considerable period over the 20th century. Medley had covered events in and around Liverpool over the greater second half of the 20th Century, and Liverpool John Moores University cultural collections now hold a great deal of material in the Aldham Roberts centre, and this is being explored, catalogued and 'unpacked' by the author. This particular event focuses on the portraiture that Medley amassed as part of his commercial life -pictures of people that hold a real resonance as documents that describe quite beautifully a cross section of a community through the buoyant 60s into the more challenging 1970s.The questions that preoccupied preliminary research centred around how the process was influenced by the econom...
Journal of Greek media and culture, Oct 1, 2017
Crisis Aesthetics: Documenta 14 (Athens, 8 April–16 July, and Kassel, 10 June–17 September)
Brief Description: Common Culture’s videos, I Can’t Go on, I’ll Go On, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On,... more Brief Description: Common Culture’s videos, I Can’t Go on, I’ll Go On, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, (2016), strip down the conventions of televised stand-up comedy routines. The video works record two stand-up comedians performing for 40 mins, isolated and spot-lit on a small stage in an empty performance space, without an audience. Commissioned by Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, where Davewas exhibited in Nothing Happens Twice: Artists Explore the Absurdity of Life the second part, Karen,was subsequently exhibited in Double Act: Art and Comedy at The Bluecoat, Liverpool. Research Statement: I Can’t Go on, I’ll Go On, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On (2016), explores the social and commercial aspects of the role of the stand-up comedian within popular televised entertainment. By deconstructing the components of the comic’s act, its structure as televised performance (editing, camera angles etc) and the familiar mechanics of the stand-up routine (the address of their own and the audience’s social identity) can be interrogated. The televisual languages of the filmed performance are established and destabilised in an enquiry into the processes by which individuals attain commodity form. The intention of I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On… (Karen), is to articulate the alienation of the subject in the context of its consumption within television culturethrough mechanistic editing, indifferent to the actions of the performing subject. In I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On… (Dave)the editing is removed entirely; the viewer is presented with separate raw footage from which conventional televised stand-up routines are formed. The typical constituents of the act are presented but as discrete elements, wide-angle and close-up footage shown on seperate screens. The work invites the audience to take on an active role of editor in determining which screen to view, deciding between the empathetic close-up or the alienating long-shot, prompting reflection on the highly mediated nature of the televisual act. The consequences of the change of conditions, by which the act itself is exposed, differ between the two works. In Karenthe self-reflection created, results in a segment where the performer is overwhelmed, forcing a break in the routine. The confident role of performer as commodity is momentarily exchanged for the uncontrolled behaviour of the individual. This transgression creates a gap or subversion in the form and this displacement undermines, and reveals, the structure of the ‘product’ of entertainment.
A 3 channel HD video and 4 channel audio installation commissioned by New Art Exchange, Nottingha... more A 3 channel HD video and 4 channel audio installation commissioned by New Art Exchange, Nottingham, with an accompanying single channel HD video piece. Not Necessarily in the Right Order is a video installation that responds to the UK’s diverse multi-cultural demographic, exploring the social significance of ‘carnival’ and ‘festival’ as one of the few public opportunities to celebrate cultural diversity. Using these observations as a starting point, the work evolved to become an exploration of what it means to be British in the 21st century. The work explores the relationship between identity and a sense of place, borrowing conventions from science-fiction (and science-fiction based musical alter-egos) to foreground issues of belonging and exclusion. The work plays with different narrative voices, musical styles and subject positions in order to disrupt familiar assumptions of identification.
This paper presents discussions around both the socio-political and cultural acts of 'speaking fo... more This paper presents discussions around both the socio-political and cultural acts of 'speaking for' and 'speaking through' others and how Common Culture, as an artist's group, create dialogues around this through their practice in relation to the specific contexts in which their artworks are produced. The New El Dorado and the context of the art biennial. The New El Dorado is a single screen video work commissioned for Manifesta 8 by the curatorial collective Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF). The full title for this edition of Manifesta was: The European Biennial of Contemporary Art; region of Murcia (Spain) in dialogue with Northern Africa. "as a direct consequence of geopolitical issues in the region where it took place" (Manifesta.org, 2010). We were alerted, at the very outset, that the Manifesta Foundation's ambitions for the Biennial extended to encouraging artists to initiate dialogue with the culture and politics of the host region of Murcia, and engage in "dialogue with Northern Africa"-which we took to understand as a vague invitation to explore Europe's complex relationship with Africa. As three white British artists our validity to speak about either the host region or its relationship to another cultural and political region was certainly questionable and problematic. Whilst flattered to be invited, participation in a project so confidently committed to the instrumentalization of art immediately raised questions as to whether we should, or even could participate in such an enterprise. As Linda Alcoff (2003, p. 5) states "Is the discursive practice of speaking for others ever a valid practice, and, if so, what are the criteria for validity?"
David Evans discusses the issues addressed by the exhibition and book Variable Capital with the c... more David Evans discusses the issues addressed by the exhibition and book Variable Capital with the curators and authors. The conversation addresses the thematic relating to cultures of commodity consumption and their own role as artists working with Ian Brown as members of the collaborative art group Common Culture.
Sophia, Dec 1, 2020
Among his remarkable performance-based short films made in the garden of his family home, two fil... more Among his remarkable performance-based short films made in the garden of his family home, two films show the artist holding a mirror to both catch and reflect sunlight back to the camera and viewer. Such performances provide a fitting allegory for his relationship to the medium of photography. As a photographer Peter Finnemore is someone who catches and plays with light.
Curated by Eugen Radescu, artists include: Annika Larsson, Tim White, John Goto, AES+F, Common Cu... more Curated by Eugen Radescu, artists include: Annika Larsson, Tim White, John Goto, AES+F, Common Culture, Lev Manovich, Andrei Iancu, Cristian Stan, Critical Factor. Mlr Gallery. Bucharest. Romania. May 27 - June 29, 2005. Common Culture exhibit 'Bouncers' video
The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users ar... more The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.
This paper addresses the relationship between art and comedy in terms of brevity, disruption and ... more This paper addresses the relationship between art and comedy in terms of brevity, disruption and wit. Our discussion will include: Maurice Doherty's neon I Slept With The Curator To Get This Show (2016), Sarah Lucas' use of deadpan and innuendo in delivering verbal jokes and slang sayings through photographs, David Sherry's engagement with slapstick and Erwin Wurm's One minute Sculptures (1988–).
This work results from a collaboration with Professor Mark Durden and the Liverpool John Moores U... more This work results from a collaboration with Professor Mark Durden and the Liverpool John Moores University Archive, exploring the archive of Keith Medley, a film-maker and photographer who settled in Liverpool and ran a studio in New Brighton that was active for a considerable period over the 20th century. Medley had covered events in and around Liverpool over the greater second half of the 20th Century, and Liverpool John Moores University cultural collections now hold a great deal of material in the Aldham Roberts centre, and this is being explored, catalogued and 'unpacked' by the author. This particular event focuses on the portraiture that Medley amassed as part of his commercial life -pictures of people that hold a real resonance as documents that describe quite beautifully a cross section of a community through the buoyant 60s into the more challenging 1970s.The questions that preoccupied preliminary research centred around how the process was influenced by the econom...
Journal of Greek media and culture, Oct 1, 2017
Crisis Aesthetics: Documenta 14 (Athens, 8 April–16 July, and Kassel, 10 June–17 September)
Brief Description: Common Culture’s videos, I Can’t Go on, I’ll Go On, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On,... more Brief Description: Common Culture’s videos, I Can’t Go on, I’ll Go On, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On, (2016), strip down the conventions of televised stand-up comedy routines. The video works record two stand-up comedians performing for 40 mins, isolated and spot-lit on a small stage in an empty performance space, without an audience. Commissioned by Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, where Davewas exhibited in Nothing Happens Twice: Artists Explore the Absurdity of Life the second part, Karen,was subsequently exhibited in Double Act: Art and Comedy at The Bluecoat, Liverpool. Research Statement: I Can’t Go on, I’ll Go On, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On (2016), explores the social and commercial aspects of the role of the stand-up comedian within popular televised entertainment. By deconstructing the components of the comic’s act, its structure as televised performance (editing, camera angles etc) and the familiar mechanics of the stand-up routine (the address of their own and the audience’s social identity) can be interrogated. The televisual languages of the filmed performance are established and destabilised in an enquiry into the processes by which individuals attain commodity form. The intention of I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On… (Karen), is to articulate the alienation of the subject in the context of its consumption within television culturethrough mechanistic editing, indifferent to the actions of the performing subject. In I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On… (Dave)the editing is removed entirely; the viewer is presented with separate raw footage from which conventional televised stand-up routines are formed. The typical constituents of the act are presented but as discrete elements, wide-angle and close-up footage shown on seperate screens. The work invites the audience to take on an active role of editor in determining which screen to view, deciding between the empathetic close-up or the alienating long-shot, prompting reflection on the highly mediated nature of the televisual act. The consequences of the change of conditions, by which the act itself is exposed, differ between the two works. In Karenthe self-reflection created, results in a segment where the performer is overwhelmed, forcing a break in the routine. The confident role of performer as commodity is momentarily exchanged for the uncontrolled behaviour of the individual. This transgression creates a gap or subversion in the form and this displacement undermines, and reveals, the structure of the ‘product’ of entertainment.
A 3 channel HD video and 4 channel audio installation commissioned by New Art Exchange, Nottingha... more A 3 channel HD video and 4 channel audio installation commissioned by New Art Exchange, Nottingham, with an accompanying single channel HD video piece. Not Necessarily in the Right Order is a video installation that responds to the UK’s diverse multi-cultural demographic, exploring the social significance of ‘carnival’ and ‘festival’ as one of the few public opportunities to celebrate cultural diversity. Using these observations as a starting point, the work evolved to become an exploration of what it means to be British in the 21st century. The work explores the relationship between identity and a sense of place, borrowing conventions from science-fiction (and science-fiction based musical alter-egos) to foreground issues of belonging and exclusion. The work plays with different narrative voices, musical styles and subject positions in order to disrupt familiar assumptions of identification.
This paper presents discussions around both the socio-political and cultural acts of 'speaking fo... more This paper presents discussions around both the socio-political and cultural acts of 'speaking for' and 'speaking through' others and how Common Culture, as an artist's group, create dialogues around this through their practice in relation to the specific contexts in which their artworks are produced. The New El Dorado and the context of the art biennial. The New El Dorado is a single screen video work commissioned for Manifesta 8 by the curatorial collective Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF). The full title for this edition of Manifesta was: The European Biennial of Contemporary Art; region of Murcia (Spain) in dialogue with Northern Africa. "as a direct consequence of geopolitical issues in the region where it took place" (Manifesta.org, 2010). We were alerted, at the very outset, that the Manifesta Foundation's ambitions for the Biennial extended to encouraging artists to initiate dialogue with the culture and politics of the host region of Murcia, and engage in "dialogue with Northern Africa"-which we took to understand as a vague invitation to explore Europe's complex relationship with Africa. As three white British artists our validity to speak about either the host region or its relationship to another cultural and political region was certainly questionable and problematic. Whilst flattered to be invited, participation in a project so confidently committed to the instrumentalization of art immediately raised questions as to whether we should, or even could participate in such an enterprise. As Linda Alcoff (2003, p. 5) states "Is the discursive practice of speaking for others ever a valid practice, and, if so, what are the criteria for validity?"
David Evans discusses the issues addressed by the exhibition and book Variable Capital with the c... more David Evans discusses the issues addressed by the exhibition and book Variable Capital with the curators and authors. The conversation addresses the thematic relating to cultures of commodity consumption and their own role as artists working with Ian Brown as members of the collaborative art group Common Culture.
Sophia, Dec 1, 2020
Among his remarkable performance-based short films made in the garden of his family home, two fil... more Among his remarkable performance-based short films made in the garden of his family home, two films show the artist holding a mirror to both catch and reflect sunlight back to the camera and viewer. Such performances provide a fitting allegory for his relationship to the medium of photography. As a photographer Peter Finnemore is someone who catches and plays with light.
Curated by Eugen Radescu, artists include: Annika Larsson, Tim White, John Goto, AES+F, Common Cu... more Curated by Eugen Radescu, artists include: Annika Larsson, Tim White, John Goto, AES+F, Common Culture, Lev Manovich, Andrei Iancu, Cristian Stan, Critical Factor. Mlr Gallery. Bucharest. Romania. May 27 - June 29, 2005. Common Culture exhibit 'Bouncers' video
The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users ar... more The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.
This paper addresses the relationship between art and comedy in terms of brevity, disruption and ... more This paper addresses the relationship between art and comedy in terms of brevity, disruption and wit. Our discussion will include: Maurice Doherty's neon I Slept With The Curator To Get This Show (2016), Sarah Lucas' use of deadpan and innuendo in delivering verbal jokes and slang sayings through photographs, David Sherry's engagement with slapstick and Erwin Wurm's One minute Sculptures (1988–).
David Brittain, ed., Creative Camera: 30 years of writing, May 1, 1992