There are children playing in the sand and water, it’s a sunny day at the beach. The waves and play are momentary and transient, tides removing games that exist temporarily. We want to return to that day, it conjures a time of simplicity and clarity, when the concerns of our world were smaller, absorbed with sun, sand and moving tides.
Artistic process is an excuse for returning to play, to the primacy of intuition, objects, connection between ourselves, and others. Time with others between studios, spaces, and moments allows us a space to exist without the pressure of producing.
But, our desires are in opposition, one seeks to play, to discover, to dive in, the other to construct, to signify, to create meaning, to record what remains. In the construction of a book, we are seduced into the belief that we have authority, a finality in being able to say: we construct knowledge, we build culture, we name, we exist. The creation of a book is a fight for survival against time, against the future, against the erasure of the past. Working together, playing together, we negotiate these oppositions that eat each other, that need each other, that cancel each other out.
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Leftovers (Remix) is a one day Exhibition and public lecture exploring the two themes of artist books and collaborative practice. The event will showcase two separate collaborative projects to reveal the range and transdisciplinary nature of both artist books and collective ways of working. Here artist books are considered both as recording devices and extensions of ephemeral projects and artistic process, as well as art works in their own right. The public lecture will provide insight into the two projects with an opportunity for the audience to engage with the artists through an open discussion and Q&A.
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