Unity Pandas and Pubs
This week Keir Williams, Chris Poolman and Jonnet Middleton, each presented some of their work to us as a group. Keir and Chris work as a pair, and showed us projects they have both worked on over the years.
Their work consisted of subverting the viewers ideas about digital and real world environments, for example staging imitation protests contesting the value of digital in our lives. One of the more obvious outcomes of this were people complaining that they had a website for one of the projects, when in fact they were supposedly against all things digital.
This style of work encourages people to get involved, and even if they don’t understand what is happening at first, the light-hearted approach to real-world issues makes this even easier to accomplish.
An ongoing project of theirs, called the Rob Ring Foundation, really highlights the way the Internet can create new avenues for art:
“One day Chris was trying to work out how to upload onto YouTube; he eventually uploaded a video of himself standing on a piece of wood whilst sawing it in half. This was up for approximately a year when one day, out of the blue, Chris received an email from a Canadian artist called Rob Ring effectively accusing Chris of plagiarism. Chris had a look at Rob’s website, and yes, whilst the pieces were practically identical, Chris had never heard of Rob Ring before and had certainly not ripped Rob off. Chris was slightly perturbed at these accusations, so he did rip Rob off my re-making another of Robs pieces titled ‘Ultra Hustle Dance Party’. Chris then emailed Rob with a link to this video - Dead Ringers - claiming that it won first prize at the fictitious Birmingham International Film Festival. Rob took this in good spirits, but emailed back saying he wasn’t prepared to engage in a video ‘battle’. Chris was slightly disappointed at this, so he emailed Rob back asking him what direction he thought the work should go in now. Rob replied that he would be prepared to work in collaboration with Chris: they would send DVD’s to one another of each others work, which they would then parody as each felt appropriate. They duly posted DVDs to one another and this is the last contact they have had.”
This would have only have happened online, as non-prolific videos are just as viewable now as ones which are more so.
Unity Panda is a project made by all three of them, headed by Jonnet. Pandas are being knitted and sent back to China, akin to their ‘unity pandas’ they send other countries to reinforce bonds. As a whole, I think this works really well at bringing together online and offline communities, as OAPs are being encouraged to knit as well as the people who will read the blog. What I fail to see, though, is what will happen to the pandas after the initial ceremony.
You can read more here:
http://unitypanda.wordpress.com/
http://chrispoolman.co.uk/
http://chrisandkeir.com/Chris+Keir/Home.html
#digitalenvironments
