GRUNDY ART GALLERY | MARK LECKEY

Felix the Cat at NBC Studios, circa 1928. Everett Collection Inc / Alamy. Source for Mark Leckey, Felix Gets Broadcasted, 2007.

Mark Leckey This Kolossal Kat, That Massive MOG May 14–August 13, 2016 Preview: May 14, 2:30–5pm  Grundy Art Gallery Queen Street  Blackpool, FY1 1PU UK  www.grundyartgallery.com This May the Grundy Art Gallery unveils its latest exhibition Mark Leckey: This Kolossal Kat, That Massive MOG, centring on the artist’s interest in the first broadcast image: Felix the Cat. At its core will be a major new art installation by Leckey which has been commissioned by the Arts Council Collection to mark its 70th anniversary this year. Inspired by a found photograph of an actor wearing a Mickey Mouse costume at Disneyland, Leckey’s new work, FEELINTHECAT, will invite viewers to walk inside a giant cardboard speaker fashioned roughly in the shape of Felix’s head, where they will watch a video involving the artist and Felix. The exhibition will see a profusion of images of the black and white feline in artworks including Inflatable Felix  (2013) a giant blow-up version, as well as earlier video pieces such Felix Gets Broadcasted (2007) and Flix(2008), a 16mm film animation of the cat's tail. As its first image, Felix can be considered a motif or avatar for broadcasting itself—the original avatar in now an endless sea where everyone projects a version of themselves online. Through his artwork, the image of Felix has also become an avatar for the artist. The idea of actually turning into a cat is something that for Leckey incites both fear and desire: the fear of humiliation at becoming an animal against his will, and desire for the loss of pride and the spiritual awakening that might accompany it. FEELINTHECAT further adds to this by recalling the subculture of "furries," or "furry fandom," in which participants dress up in furry costumes taking on hybrid human-animal-cartoon characteristics. Blackpool is an appropriate stage for an exhibition about Felix the Cat and the moment when broadcasting began. A town in the North West of England steeped in references to popular entertainment and mass media, where Disney once designed its famous "Illuminations," it is a town of notable firsts—outdoor street lighting, electric trams, and the archetypal mass tourism resort for the working class. Visitors will also be able to see Leckey's seminal film Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999). The film shows archival footage of British nightlife from the late 1960s to the early 1990s and links to Blackpool's prominent role in the history of Northern Soul: an underground music and dance movement that was particularly active in venues such as the Blackpool Mecca. Mark Leckey (b. Birkenhead, 1964) has exhibited extensively at numerous venues internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include at Haus dear Kunst, Munich, Germany (2015); WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium (2014); Manchester Art Gallery, UK (2012); and Serpentine Gallery, London (2011). His curated show for Hayward Touring The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things launched at the Bluecoat, Liverpool in 2013 before touring to venues across the UK. In 2008 Leckey was awarded the Turner Prize for Industrial Light and Magic. A further new commission of his work will be shown at the Liverpool Biennial 2016, and he will undertake a major solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art MoMA PS1 in New York later in the year. Mark Leckey is represented by Cabinet, London; Galerie Buchholz, Cologne, Germany; and Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York. Grundy Art Gallery is Blackpool's art gallery and offers a year round programme of contemporary and visual art exhibitions and events including solo and group exhibitions together with talks, workshops and educational activities. Grundy Art Gallery is part of Blackpool Council and also receives regular funding as one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Also showing at the gallery will be From Here to Here; An Exhibition in Two Parts by Louise Giovanelli (b. London, 1993), in which the painter responds to the Grundy's permanent collection. Part One runs May 14–June 18 and Part Two July 2–August 13. Noel Clueit's (b. Manchester, 1984) exhibition : / runs until May 28, where the artist re-purposes sections of the gallery's display apparatus to new ends.

MARK LECKEY | GRUNDY ART GALLERY

Grundy Art Gallery

Felix the Cat at NBC Studios, circa 1928. Everett Collection Inc / Alamy. Source for Mark Leckey, Felix Gets Broadcasted, 2007.

Mark Leckey This Kolossal Kat, That Massive MOG May 14–August 13, 2016 Preview: May 14, 2:30–5pm  Grundy Art Gallery Queen Street  Blackpool, FY1 1PU UK  www.grundyartgallery.com This May the Grundy Art Gallery unveils its latest exhibition Mark Leckey: This Kolossal Kat, That Massive MOG, centring on the artist’s interest in the first broadcast image: Felix the Cat. At its core will be a major new art installation by Leckey which has been commissioned by the Arts Council Collection to mark its 70th anniversary this year. Inspired by a found photograph of an actor wearing a Mickey Mouse costume at Disneyland, Leckey’s new work, FEELINTHECAT, will invite viewers to walk inside a giant cardboard speaker fashioned roughly in the shape of Felix’s head, where they will watch a video involving the artist and Felix. The exhibition will see a profusion of images of the black and white feline in artworks including Inflatable Felix  (2013) a giant blow-up version, as well as earlier video pieces such Felix Gets Broadcasted (2007) and Flix(2008), a 16mm film animation of the cat's tail. As its first image, Felix can be considered a motif or avatar for broadcasting itself—the original avatar in now an endless sea where everyone projects a version of themselves online. Through his artwork, the image of Felix has also become an avatar for the artist. The idea of actually turning into a cat is something that for Leckey incites both fear and desire: the fear of humiliation at becoming an animal against his will, and desire for the loss of pride and the spiritual awakening that might accompany it. FEELINTHECAT further adds to this by recalling the subculture of "furries," or "furry fandom," in which participants dress up in furry costumes taking on hybrid human-animal-cartoon characteristics. Blackpool is an appropriate stage for an exhibition about Felix the Cat and the moment when broadcasting began. A town in the North West of England steeped in references to popular entertainment and mass media, where Disney once designed its famous "Illuminations," it is a town of notable firsts—outdoor street lighting, electric trams, and the archetypal mass tourism resort for the working class. Visitors will also be able to see Leckey's seminal film Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999). The film shows archival footage of British nightlife from the late 1960s to the early 1990s and links to Blackpool's prominent role in the history of Northern Soul: an underground music and dance movement that was particularly active in venues such as the Blackpool Mecca. Mark Leckey (b. Birkenhead, 1964) has exhibited extensively at numerous venues internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include at Haus dear Kunst, Munich, Germany (2015); WIELS Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium (2014); Manchester Art Gallery, UK (2012); and Serpentine Gallery, London (2011). His curated show for Hayward Touring The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things launched at the Bluecoat, Liverpool in 2013 before touring to venues across the UK. In 2008 Leckey was awarded the Turner Prize for Industrial Light and Magic. A further new commission of his work will be shown at the Liverpool Biennial 2016, and he will undertake a major solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art MoMA PS1 in New York later in the year. Mark Leckey is represented by Cabinet, London; Galerie Buchholz, Cologne, Germany; and Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York. Grundy Art Gallery is Blackpool's art gallery and offers a year round programme of contemporary and visual art exhibitions and events including solo and group exhibitions together with talks, workshops and educational activities. Grundy Art Gallery is part of Blackpool Council and also receives regular funding as one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Also showing at the gallery will be From Here to Here; An Exhibition in Two Parts by Louise Giovanelli (b. London, 1993), in which the painter responds to the Grundy's permanent collection. Part One runs May 14–June 18 and Part Two July 2–August 13. Noel Clueit's (b. Manchester, 1984) exhibition : / runs until May 28, where the artist re-purposes sections of the gallery's display apparatus to new ends.

MARL MEDIA ART AWARDS

Zhenchen Liu, La Marche, 2013. Photo: Anne Pöhlmann.

Call for entries Submission deadline: May 30, 2016 Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl Creiler Platz 1, Rathaus D-45768 Marl Germany www.mkp-marl.de Marl Media Art Awards 2016: Space Dealing with Space in Video and Sound Historically and spatially, the Marl Media Art Awards refer to the orientation as a sculpture museum and to the modernist architecture of the Marl Town Hall completed in 1966. Because spatial reference is the key criteria for sculpture, for the third time the competition invites media artists who deal with all facets of space in their works to participate. Since 1984, the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl has hosted the Video Art Award, and since 2002 the Sound Art Award, which has been further developed into the EUROPEAN SOUNDART AWARD. The two media, which define themselves principally through video and sound, have much in common: not only are they both time-related, but in many video works the acoustic level is very important, while more and more sound works include moving images. The Marl Media Art Awards will present the results of both competitions in one exhibition at the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl. Marl Video Art Award 2016 The works submitted for the Marl Video Art Award 2016 must relate—thematically, formally or in its presentation—to the specific space. The spatial reference here also means avoiding linear narrative structures while featuring a different, non-linear temporal structure, such as a loop, which is ideal for presentation in a museum. Classic, single-channel videos, shown on a monitor or projected on a screen, remain acceptable. Overall, however, the international competition gives preference to multi-channel installations and installations extended through use of additional materials. 20 works will be selected for the exhibition and will compete for the Marl Video Art Award 2016, with 5,000 EUR in prize money. The prize money will be aimed at acquisition of the awarded piece for the permanent collection of the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl. The Marl Video Art Award will be awarded by the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl. EUROPEAN SOUNDART AWARD 2016For the EUROPEAN SOUNDART AWARD we are also looking for works explicitly related to the space and sound creations that characterize the space. Along with artistic quality, convincing acoustic and plastic form will be a particularly relevant assessment criterion. In addition, three of ten contestants selected for the exhibition will be invited by the same jury to visit Marl in the summer in order to develop concepts for a to be selected space in Marl. One of these concepts will be awarded the EUROPEAN SOUNDART AWARD and 7,000 EUR as money prize for its immediate realization. WDR 3, the Stiftung Hören and the European Soundart Association strive for closer networking of the European sound art with the European cultural radio stations and will therefore also check all submissions for suitability for possible radiofonic realizations. The EUROPEAN SOUNDART AWARD 2016 will be awarded by the Culture Radio WDR 3, the Stiftung Hören and the European Soundart Association in cooperation with the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl. General conditions, application and dates In addition to the thematical and formal requirement of addressing space, works submitted for both sound and video art competitions must have been produced after January 1, 2014. The deadline for submission for both Marl Media Art Award competitions is May 30. Two international prize juries for video art and sound art will select 20 video art works and 10 pieces of sound art to be placed in display in a group exhibition in the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl and other venues in Marl. The juries will also select the winners of the Marl Video Art Award 2016 and the EUROPEAN SOUNDART AWARD 2016. The exhibition opening and awards ceremony of the Marl Media Art Awards 2016 will take place on October 23 in the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl. The exhibition will last till February 2017. Further information on competition rules and online application forms are available at www.mkp-marl.de. The Marl Media Art Awards 2016 are supported by (as per April) the Ministry for Families, Children, Youth, Culture and Sports of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia; the Kunststiftung NRW, WDR 3, Stiftung Hören, the City of Marl, Sparkasse Vest Recklinghausen, EINS DER ZWANZIG RUHR KUNST MUSEEN and Freundeskreis Habakuk.

ASIA CULTURE CENTER | UNDOCUMENTA FIRST ED.

© Raya Martin & Antoine Thirion, 2016. Logo: Roman Seban, 2016.

First edition of UNdocumenta

April 29–May 1, 2016

Asia Culture Center

Asia Culture Center – Theater
38 Munhwajeondang-ro Dong-gu
Gwangju 140-026
South Korea

at-ticket@iacd.kr
T +82 61 899 5566 
www.acc.go.kr
asianartstheatre.kr
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Initiated by filmmaker Raya Martin and critic Antoine Thirion on the invitation of Seonghee Kim and Max-Philip Aschenbrenner, UNdocumenta is a film festival revolving around the lost accounts of cinema (through material destruction, acts of censorship, political, economic or human contingencies) and condemned histories of nations (by social displacement, cultural annihilation or deliberate disappearance). The traditional program of screenings becomes a series of performative events.

Originally made from self-destructing chemical nitrate, films are symbolic of an alternative history that exists outside of conventional documentation. These lost movies, once veritable records of their period, have disappeared for numerous accountable reasons. But cinema continues to tell stories within and outside of its precarious nature, offering the possibility to represent the images and histories it once held. 

Inspired by the works of archivist Paolo Cherchi Usai and anthropologist James C. Scott, UNdocumenta revisits history and cinema through the blind side of their radically excluded material. If history is told by those who left the most traces of their existence, it can learn from paying attention not only to those who were misrepresented, but as well to those who ensured they weren’t leaving any traces behind by means of self-destruction or self-erasure. As Godard summed it up: there is no duty to remember, only a right to oblivion. 

UNdocumenta presents a published catalogue, made by a programming team of literary writers, critics, philosophers, artists, and curators led by Gallien Déjean, that details several programs to be revealed during the festival. The festival program consists of a diverse presentation of real and curious cases of lost films (or filmmakers), which will be performed in screening theaters. 

In collaboration with the Korean Film Archive (KOFA), the festival highlights landmark films such as Arirang (presented by critic Un-seong Yoo), as well as a retrospective of the missing Korean filmmaker Bae Yong-kyun.  

A conference by philosopher Anne-Françoise Schmid will connect the issue of lost films to the field of non-philosophy.  

The festival will also present a special exhibition on the Cinema of Zomia, an imaginary territory referring to the culture of mountainous regions around Southeast Asia that flourished outside of nation-states through the development of frictional strategies. Works by international artists will be exhibited alongside onsite-produced works by invited guest artists. 

Chinese filmmakers, headed by film programmer and producer Zhu Rikun, will present their film projects around the subject of Duplitecture, the functional architectural copies of different global cities within their mainland country.

A special screening of around ten films, participative activities, and new entries in the program will also be announced at the opening of the festival.

With participations and productions of Mathieu Abonnenc, Jean-Marie Appriou, Max-Philip Aschenbrenner, Huma Bhabha, Sigrid Bouaziz, Enrico Camporesi, Fredie Chan Ho-lun & Tit Leung Cheung, Violet Cho, Dae Jin Choi, Eric Choi, Gallien Déjean, Bertrand Dezoteux, Arnaud Dezoteux, John Divola, Matthew Flanagan, Wang Feng, Kawayan de Guia, Chang-Huei Ge, Aaron Hillis, Craig Keller,Seonghee Kim, Steinar Haga Kristensen, Manon Lutanie, Ladj Ly, Huang Mei, Pascaline Morincôme, Rachael Rakes, Clément Rodzielski, Nicolas Roggy, Lou Rozès, Olga Rozenblum, Anne-Françoise Schmid, Roman Seban, Chai Siris, Park Taekyu, Jessey Tsang Tsui-Shan, Rachel Valinsky, High Wolf, Un-Seong Yoo, Rikun Zhu…

Festival conceived and directed by Raya Martin and Antoine Thirion

Co-produced by red shoes and Asia Culture Center-Theatre
Produced by Olga Rozenblum with Lou Rozès and Pascaline Morincôme
Catalogue conception and direction by Gallien Déjean,
edited by Manon Lutanie, designed by Roman Seban
Technical direction by Raphaël Fanelli

At Asia Culture Center-Theatre
President: Byungseok Kim Performing Art Division Director: Cecilia Heejeong Kim, Ph.D. Season Program Artistic Director: Seonghee Kim Dramaturg: Max-Philip Aschenbrenner Producers: Jandi Kim, Suyon Yang. Commissioned by Asia Culture Institute. Supported by Asia Culture Center. In collaboration with the Korean Film Archive (KOFA) and the Fore Play Bar, Gwangju.