This looks interesting!

http://www.daniellearnaud.com/day-to-day_data.htm

Hope you are all well.
I talked to Clancy yesterday and she is doing very well but I think she misses us...
She made really good contacts with different galleries.
There is a big openning on the 17th of March in Warsaw and I know Clancy is keen to go, so we should think about what we are going to do with our refund money once it is in the bank...
Babette

HOURRA !!

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

+ We will be totally refund for the flights

+ We will have more than half the money back from Oki Doki Hotel

+ And we will be refund half of our airport transfer

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

= SUPER COOL !!!

Hello fellow pagers, after the sad day yesterday when we nearly got to poland (!), heres a really useful site to check out....its on the Women's Library site...

www.genesis.ac.uk

Genesis is a mapping initiative, funded by the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) to identify and develop access to women's history sources in the British Isles. The database holds descriptions of women's history collections from libraries, archives and museums from around the British Isles.

Kellyx

Melissa Bugarella 2004-2006
stills from videos
from: (in order)

"Untitled in the bath", single screen installation, 2004
"Luna Park", video projection, 2005
"The Communist", single screen installation, 2005
"The Complete Plays", video projection, 2003

NODE.London

"NODE.London [Networked, Open, Distributed, Events. London] is committed to building the infrastructure and raising the visibility of media arts practice in London. Working on an open, collaborative basis, NODE.London will culminate, in its first year, in a month long season of media arts projects across London in March 2006.
During March 2006 your every sense will thrill to the call of NODE.L in a citywide expression of creative momentum to mark the ascension of Media Arts as the popular culture activity for London.
Londons great scale demands more than the breath of any solo voice or collective chorus. So a concert of institutional, studio and maverick individual effort has been assembled to articulate the state of play.
NODE.L defines a season of celebration and acknowledgement of interest and engagement. It illustrates creative and experimental uses of communication media and technological innovation to express ideas and stimulate action in public."

Maria Mencia - Birds Singing Other Birds' Songs

Melissa Bliss - Dowsing Poplar

Tina Gonsalves - Feel

Julie Freeman - In Sound Mind

and much, much more...

For infos on the artist, Anna Niesterowicz, shown at Foksal Gallery in Warsaw go on this link:
http://www.photography-now.com/artists/K20892.html

We are meeting "FOKSAL GALLERY" tomorrow at 3.00pm.
Their website is: http://www.fgf.com.pl/

pretty pretty cold and some rain...

Minutes

Minutes for the Meeting on 15/02/06, 9.30 AM
Present: Nici, Rosemary, Clancy, Annie, Desdemona, Beth, Francesca, Gin, Kelly, Katrina, Emma.

Clancy began by telling us about Friday's lunch with the women from the Polish Cultural Institute. Clancy and I took them to the Women's Library and then to the Whitechapel Gallery where Louise McKinney, Head of Development, gave us a tour of both exhibitions as well as a sneak preview of plans for the old Whitechapel Library, which the gallery is refitting as extra exhibition and educational space. This was followed by brief visits to the Bell Foundry and Atlantis Art Supplies, before a curry lunch at an excellent local restaurant.

We moved on to discuss the itinerary for the Warsaw trip. On Tuesday afternoon we will be visiting the National Gallery - Zacheta (meaning "enhanced"). On the following morning there will be a trip to the Centre for Contemporary Art, with the option for some of us to visit the Bunker of Art in Krakow. Please contact Clancy if you wish to be included in the Krakow trip. The rest of the time, we will all be free to visit places and people relevant to our own research priorities, and to have fun! A number of people expressed an interest in visiting the Poster Museum.

Next, we discussed some practicalities regarding the trip. The main points were to wrap up warm (5 - day weather forecast for Warsaw here), and protect our personal safety by keeping in touch with each other, not using unlicensed minicabs etc.

The main focus of the meeting was to update each other on where we are all up to with our research. Each of the research team gave a short presentation on what and who they have found so far, and where their research is leading them next. We discussed ways in which our research aims and objectives were developing and changing, and how threads of mutual interest are beginning to connect our different research priorities.

After the presentations, I briefly reminded people that if they want examples of their work on the blog before we leave for Poland then they need to post soon, as I need things to be posted before I can work on the layout.

Lastly, Nici informed us that Lynda is designing us a new leaflet/flyer to give to interested parties.

New Look Blog

I'm beginning to work on the overall look of this blog. It's nowhere near how I want it yet as I'm learning on the hoof. Any suggestions (not too complicated) for the look or layout would be gratefully received.

Pages People

Nici Oxley - Curator

Rosemary McGoldrick - Curator

Babette Pauthier - Project Coordinator

Lynda Brockbank - Design Consultancy
Lynda's art and design practice links to music and writing. She is Creative Director and founder of Crescent Lodge - a graphic design and communications consultancy in the East End of London.

Francesca Vilalta - Web Design

Elizabeth Price - Research Fellow

Claire Muldoon - Events Coordinator
Claire is a producer, director and administrator in the areas of theatre and comedy. She currently works for the Hackney Empire. She is also a board member of the Hackney Empire Preservation Trust.

Melissa Bugarella - Researcher
Melissa's practice focuses on sound and video installation and performance.
For pages she is researching artists using video, sound and performance and critics who write on these subjects. (research proposal)

Desdemona Ndanga - Researcher
Desdemona's practice explores literature and performance.
For Pages she is exploring the poetry of language in literature and performance. (research proposal)

Clancy Davies - Researcher
Clancy's artistic practice encompasses photography, printmaking and 3D.
Her main role in Pages is to research sources of funding and venues.

Katrina Anderson - Researcher
Katrina is an installation artist whose work explores ideas around boredom and nihilism.
For Pages she is looking at artists and writers whose work has been influenced by concepts of boredom. (research proposal)

Beth Collar - Researcher
Beth works with drawing, photography, printmaking and film to explore ideas connected with evolution and sexual selection.
Her research for Pages focuses on the female role in human evolution, and artists using evolutionary processes in the creation of their work. (research proposal)

Kelly Drake - Researcher
Kelly is a painter whose research for Pages explores the work of lesbian or queer artists and the rediscovery of hidden lesbian history. (research proposal)

Annie Spinster - Researcher
Annie's practice uses New Media to explore ideas around complexity theory and dynamical systems. Some of her work can be seen here
For Pages, she is researching the role of technological innovation and cross-disciplinary practice in women's art. (research proposal)

Gin Dunscombe - Researcher
Gin is an artist, dancer, parent and facilitator in organisations and for individuals, groups, teams and whole systems.
For Pages, she is researching women's correspondence produced in conditions of difficulty or duress. (research proposal)

Emma Pegg - Researcher
Emma is a printmaker who, for Pages, is looking at the role of dream states in the work of women artists and writers. (research proposal)

Kikki Stromstad - Researcher
Kikki's practice encompasses printmaking, photography, painting and sculpture.
For Pages, she is researching female Nordic artists whose work deals with issues such as journeying, identity, sexuality, longing and displacement. (research proposal)

Machine Poetics

Dear all,

I have two sites which may be of use to Annie, if you would like to check them out here are the web addresses: www.machinepoetics.com, which is based at the California Institute of Arts and WWW.pzwart.wdka.hro (this is hopefully the right address!). I am not too sure if this one will be of any use but have a look any way.

Emma

Amy Alexander


Software performance artist.
Visit her website for information, images, video clips and, if you're feeling brave, software art to download.

The Poetry of Language

Desdemona's research proposal

There are few things in life that I enjoy more than reading. When you mention reading to most people they immediately think of books. I like books. A lot of people nowadays have taken to reading books on the internet but I have no intention of joining them anytime soon. I look forward to the ritual of examining the cover of a book in order to decide which one I will buy. Sometimes when I go out to a bookshop I will find more than one version of a book. When that happens I line them all up in front of me and feel the covers to see which one feel the most comfortable between my hands. I am not ashamed to admit that I am partial to a hardback.

I enjoy stories. They do not have to be very long. Some of my favourites are only a few lines long. As a teenager I discovered the poetry of authors such as D. H. Lawrence. He wrote witty little poems where he raged against things he hated or which he found confusing. I am attracted to the poetry of language. Most people think poetry is to be found only in verse. Prose can be just as poetic. Some stories have a wonderful hypnotic rhythm to them. It's easy to find yourself reading them over and over again.

Poetry is not always found in books. I enjoy reading people. I can sit on a bench near the river and make up stories about people as I see them go about their business. As a middle child I survived the rough and tumble of family life by learning to read signs such as body language. I am fascinated by the way people walk, dress and how they speak. London is such a culturally diverse city that I cannot always understand the language that people are speaking but I can make up what I think they are saying by reading their body language. I enjoy opera and dance theatre from all over the world in spite of the fact that I do not speak a word of Italian (the language of most operas).

I have chosen to study a number of artists both livin and deceased. The living artists are interesting because they are here now, experiencing many of the same things that I am going through. Studying artists who are deceased allows me to interpret the work of my chosen artists as I like. The are not here to object to or take offence if I misunderstand the meaning of their work.

I have chosen the following artists.

Josephine Baker (deceased)

This was the original queen of reinvention. She went from dancing as a plantation girl in a banana costume to sold out concerts where she dressed as Mary, Queen of Scots and sang Ave Maria. She was buried with full French military honours even though she ws born in the USA.

Zora Neale Hurston (deceased)

This author was a well-known folklorist and sometime anthrologist who grew up in the all-black Florida town of Eatonville, Florida. She liked to poke her nose into other people's business and collected the stories of people's lives. Every now and again she would claim them as her own. Her choices were not always popular but she was dificcult to ignore. She was larger than life in every sense of the word.

Mona Hatoum

London based artist. She was born in Lebanon and completed her studies in London. She trained as a sculptor and is a well known as a performance artist and is a former Turner Prize nominee.

Dorothea Smartt

This was the first artist in residence of Brixton Market. She has perfomed at several poetry festivals worlwide including Poetry Africa in South Africa. She is also an active member of the Poetry Society whose current president is;

Jo Shapcott

Well known London poet who has won several poetry prizes. She does a lot of writing on the Welsh borders and enjoys taking on several guises in her poetry. One of her favourite characters is a mad cow.

Maya Angelou

This is one of the elder stateswomen of poetry and writing. She has tried her hand at many things including acting and singing as well as writing a variety of books including a recipe book. She has performed at a variety of locations and occassions including the inauguration of Bill Clinton.

Sarah Johnson

This is a young, hip poet and performance artist. She likes to put her stamp on othe people's work. She is currently embroiled in a legal battle over her version of a poem called The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Her words are said to be indecent and she is unable to perform it in the United States without getting arrested.

This project will allow me to indulge my love of poetry and delve deeper into the subject. I am planning to join the poetry society and attend some literary festivals. I am not sure how I am going to get myself on the guest lists but I intend to have fun trying.

Nancy Burson




Nancy Burson
Mankind (female population only)

This image was created using a huge quantity of photographs of women from different races and morphing them together using computer morphing technology.

Meeting

Please remember to meet on Wednesday at 9.30 am in room 311 ......

Visit the Hackney Empire


PAGES contributors are invited to attend both the Final of the NEW ACT OF THE YEAR, (previous finalist include Ronnie Ancona,Gina Yahsere, Jocelyn Gee, Hattie Hayridge, Catherine Tate and of course numerous men); it takes place on the 18th February and you are also invited attend the STAND UP WOMEN night on the 4th March, both 8pm start both taking place at the newly refurbished Hackney Empire Theatre; email claire with confirmation and to book your free ticket;

Next Wedneday's Meeting

The meeting will primarily be for us to present our research so far, but I'm sure there will be other things we need to talk about, so let's be a bit more organised and have an agenda. Please put anything you want to discuss in the comments for this post. Also, any volunteers to take minutes?

Pages Exhibition - Minutes

Monday, 6th of February 2006

In attendance: Nicky, Francesca, Linda, Kelly, Gin, Katrina, Clancy, Kiki, Melissa, Desdemona, Beth and Emma.


Primary focus: ‘The Theatre of the impossible’ exhibition at the Barbican (private view) on the 2nd of February.

- Clancy introduced to the rest of the group the success of this evening with regards to the new contacts made. The opportunity to attend this private view, allowed us to primarily observe a Polish female artist, Katarina Kozra, relevant that is to the up coming trip to Poland but also to make new possible contacts with potential women involved within the arts in Poland.

- A major success from this evening was the contact made with the Zacheta National Art gallery in Poland, thanks to Rosemary and C lancy. The response was extremely positive from the director who had previously curated an all women exhibition in Poland, and is very interested in the Pages Exhibition. There is a likely hood that we will meet with the director in Poland.

- As a result of Clancy’s skilled and enthusiastic approach during this private view, a contact has also been made with the new director of the Polish Cultural Institute, which had previously proved difficult to make contact with.

- In addition, Clancy also reported that the Barbican were also interested in the ‘Pages Exhibition’

- For those who did not attend the Barbican Private view, the group has agreed to arrange a second visit to the exhibition, possibly on the 6th of February. Katarina, is also scheduled to return to the Barbican on the 2nd of March to do a talk.

- Under Clancy’s suggestion, Katarina’s return may prove useful to potentially introduce her to Sarah Lucas, who would also be extremely interesting to bring into this project. Clancy’s observation of Katarina, would suggest that there is a similar likeness between her and Sarah Lucas both in work and in gesture?



Second on the agenda: Business cards and the press release format.

- Thanks to work put in by Babette we now have a standardised press release, or at least a formal statement outlining what we are initially about, this includes bussiness cards.

-Lynda has offered to lend her extensive design knowledge to aid the design process and decision making with regards to layout of any official pages documentation.

- As a result of the exhibition still in its early stages of development, Lynda has suggested to keep the font and the layout ‘less designed’, therefore creating an impression of anonymity and allowing us to be flexible if we wish to revise the initial exhibition concept. The ‘lack of design’ will also strengthen the seriousness of the exhibition.

- Nicky, has responded that the design of the image for the exhibition should be discussed at later date, when we have further developed our direction for the exhibition.

- With regards to the identity, Kelly has brought up the issue of whether we as a group are to be consulted of these design processes and changes?


- To aid further discussion with all our individual research projects, a presentation on the 15th of February at 9.30 am, has been set up to ‘pitch’ and introduce our particular relevant fields to each other.

- The issue of pairing people up, should arise from this presentation, once we all have a clearer idea of the different research areas.

-Clancy has also suggested how we should prepare for our trip to Poland by documenting some of our own work, thus equipping ourselves should anyone be interested in our own practice. This will also diversify our approach to potential new contacts and draw to light that this is a professional project.

- Under Francesca's suggestion, instead of carrying images by hand, why not store images of our work on the blog, allowing us to simply hand over an email address to view our profiles.

- Outcome; find a representative image of our work, if more than one, try and scan them in on one A4 page and post on the blog.



Thirdly, various updates on our work to date:

- Kelly has contacted the Lesbian/Gay and Transgender organisation and will be attending a conference in Dublin based on a Lesbian Keynote theme.

- Melissa has been investigating archives of women video art and has also been looking at the Eastern European film and Video archives.

- Kikki will be visiting Oslo on the 15th of February, to visit various galleries and expand her knowledge of Nordic art.

- To tie up the meeting it has been suggested, prior to our visit to Poland we should all investigate the situation of women in Poland, to at least build some foundation when meeting women involved in the arts of their background and references.

..........and finally, group pictures were taken!




(Duration of the meeting: Two hours roughly).

A Women's Library ...

"The Ark of Women has been founded by an international committee of sibyls in order to guard and encourage women's creativity. Every woman who has ever lived has deposited here her book: her story or novel or collection of poems or autobiography. On the Ark time doesn't work normally and nor do clocks: all the stories, from past present and future, are here, rubbing shoulders in the dark. Some composed at home, some dictated to friends, some written during the writer's stay on the Ark. The Ark is not only an archive: it is a rest home that swims, a workshop that floats, a bubble of temporary retreat for women who need time to write away from their families and domestic cares.

The Ark's bookstack, extending over many decks, contains all the varied clashing aspects of women's imaginations expressed in books. These can be called up by a classification system of great subtlety, based on the crystalline thought processes of the unconscious, designed by a committee of poets. Men's books are of course available, on inter-library loan. Please see the catalogue.

Aids to study on the Ark include comfortable cabins, beds in the reading room for those wishing to rest or dream, food and drink always available (supper, however, prepared on a volunteer rota basis), and a creche for those needing to bring their children.

Writing materials on offer include knotted strings, circular seals, blackboards and chalk, wampum belts, message tallies, tablets of clay and ivory and wood, oracle bones, slabs of gold and silver and wax, shards of pottery, strips of cloth and papyrus and paper, sticks of bamboo, palm leaves, bits of birch bark, leather scrolls, rolls of parchment, copper plates, pen and ink, palettes and paintbrushes, sticks and dust-trays, printing presses, typewriters, tape recorders, word processors, etc.

Women come on board the Ark for a bit of peace and quiet in which to think about their lives and question them.

Women come here to develop their craft, to discuss work in progress, to give and take criticism and advice on redrafting, to share fears, failures, ideas.

Women who hate the very idea of writers workshops come here to get away from other women, to live in cells of silence and isolation, to be as selfish and unsisterly as they like.

Women come here to find out what it means to be a woman writer, whether in fact that matters, whether we aren't all just writers.

Women come here to free their imaginations, to learn to play again, to destroy.

Some rush home again. Some leap over the side in rage and despair. Others enjoy themselves. You can read all about the Ark in our records. Please ask at the main desk for further information."

from The Book of Mrs Noah, Michele Roberts, 1987

01/30/06
Barbican Art Gallery, London


Tadeusz Kantor, ‘The Sea Concerto’, 1967. Photo Eustachy Kossakowski.
Courtesy Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor Cricoleka, Cracow.




The Impossible Theatre
The Curve
Barbican Art Gallery, London
3 February–17 April 2006

Meeting: Central House, 30th January

This was a well-attended and lively meeting.

We discussed our aims for the Poland trip. As well as pursuing our individual research objectives, Poland is an opportunity for us to get to know each other better, get started on the process of making contacts and learn to use our time effectively. Clancy is our main coordinator for Warsaw, and is keen to hear from all of us about things we'd like to fit in on this trip. Also, please post information and requests for Warsaw to the blog.Clancy also suggested that we each put together examples of our work with our contact details to hand out in Warsaw. This could be in the form of printed material, CD, DVD ... whatever seems most appropriate to our work.

There will be a further meeting next Monday, 6th Feb to look through some guidebooks and share our Warsaw-related research. Gin has a friend from Poland, who she will be inviting to attend. Nici and Rosemary are working on a Pages flyer/handout for us to give to interested parties, and at Monday's meeting we will have our photographs taken to add to this. The finished article can then be emailed round to all of us so that we can print them as needed.

We discussed the role of this blog, with some concerns being raised about what sort of quality we should be aiming for when we post. For the moment, until the website is up, this blog is our main public face; however it is a blog, not a website, and its primary aim is as a communication tool for us to share research. It is more important, therefore, to get the information up than to produce a beautifully written and formatted piece of work. As long as people stick to the guidelines, there shouldn't be a problem.