East Street Arts (ESA) will curate the Leeds pavilion for the MediaMatic Amsterdam Biennale.
ESA supports the professional development of artists from all areas of practice and at different stages of their career through developing and showcasing work in a variety of contexts and spaces as well as organizing artist talks, exchanges, social events and research trips in Europe.
ESA as an organisation makes the biggest impact on artists’ life and work through collaboration and commissioning new works. ESA always puts the artists first and supports them in overcoming technical, bureaucratic and financial obstacles so that they can spend most of their time with the creative process. ESA’s staff plays key role in facilitating this process as well as in developing critical dialogue with both artists and audiences.
ESA encourages social interaction between artists, other practitioners and the wider audience. ESA believes in the artist’s role as creative nexus in this interaction and often commissions site-specific, conversational and ephemeral works where the aesthetic experience is completed by audience participation.
For the Amsterdam Biennale ESA commissioned artists No Fixed Abode (NFA) to develop new work around the ideas and philosophy of Mediamatic. Alongside NFA we will show a selection of works by artists such as Megan Smith and the collaborative duo Gudrun Kattke & Silvia Liebig, who ESA has recently worked with.
The works.
NFA have proposed the construction of a 6’x6’x6’ crate made on site (in the allocated space) from found/acquired materials. This crate follows on a recent crate entitled ‘Fuck You Rotterdam’ that the artists constructed for the Wooloo Festival in Copenhagen. The outside of the crate will carry various ‘warning signs’ derived by both NFA and other artists. The crate will have a door.
Documentation: Artists website images - Here
There will be two works inside the crate. Megan Smith will show ‘Pst’, a new work that collects and displays tweets from artists and others who she asked to ‘message’ from Leeds. The work comprises an Apple Mac computer and small LED screen. Ethernet web connection is required.
Documentation: Artists Flickr image - Here
The other work inside the crate will be ‘Enter the Amazing Virginia Shopel’ a film by German artists Gundun Kattke & Silvia Leibig made after their recent three-week residency project in a disused shop in Leeds. The film, as well as the original the installation, explores issues of consumerism as religious fervour and indoctrination. The film will be shown on a monitor via DVD player.
Documentation: ESA Flickr images - Here
A verbal sketch.
The Leeds Pavilion will be a large wooden crate, with roof and door. Inside a small light will illuminate a small LED screen attached to a computer. Opposite to this there will be a film of a ritualistic ceremony with sound.
Leeds will launch on the final evening of the biennale 12th Dec, at which ESA staff/artists will serve ‘Bloody Mary’ cocktails.
Documentation: ESA YouTube -
