Clare Thornton

21st - 24th January 2010

Live Laboratory Symposium

Royal Williams Yard

Associate Curator Marina Abramovic

Curator Paula Orrell

Plymouth Arts Centre

A collection of photographic images capturing participants memories of performance art. Created with Hugo Glendinning during The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow. Exhibited at Plymouth Art Centre and touring to AFTERLIVE, Norwich Arts Centre.

Abramovic named this exhibition after the title of an essay by the eminent German critic Georg Jappe, a conceptual piece that challenged arts relation to politics. The title is very appropriate to the preservation of performance. Is the live art practice of today dead tomorrow? And does it needs to be dead, like meat, in order to be consumed?

The Performance Re-enactment Society have examined the remains of live art today through diverse practice as research commissions. We are interested in the ways in which this strand of recent art history can be conserved, communicated and understood across generations and how we might do performance art history through practice.

For our latest commission please see: http://clare-thornton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/performing-documents-remake-arnolfini.html

DIY Shades of Bristol @ Craftivism, Arnolfini Dec '09 - Feb '10

Pleats & Folds - Charmed I'm Sure

Click on Text to Enlarge

Two is one, One is none

A little description can be found at:
http://www.creativeskills.org.uk/VisualArtsMovImagePubArt

DIY Shades of Bristol

DIY Shades of Bristol A city-wide colour mapping project investigating everyday notions of Do-It-Yourself culture and colour associations relating to home and neighbourhood. The ‘map’ produced will be a limited edition swatch book recording the personal shades and DIY top-tips shared with the artist through over 60 conversations and encounters across Bristol. The swatch book and a selection of self-mixed eco-paints will be presented at Arnolfini and then (re)distributed through participants and their networks. The eco-paint mixing day is a free open studio activity (supported by Naturepaint) and the artist is also creating a special Family Event Mash Up.

DIY Shades of Bristol will be presented as part of Craftivism, Arnolfini
Bristol Dec '09 - Feb '10
Curated by Zoe Sherman/Relational

"Do it yourself, often referred to by the acronym DIY, is a term used by various communities that focus on people (called do-it-yourselfers or DIYers) creating or repairing things for themselves without the aid of professionals.

The notion is related in philosophy to the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many modern DIY subcultures take the traditional Arts and Crafts movement's rebellion against the perceived lack of soul of industrial aesthetics a step further. DIY subculture explicitly critiques modern consumer culture, which emphasizes that the solution to our needs is to purchase things, and instead encourages people to take technologies into their own hands to solve needs.

The phrase "do it yourself" came into common usage in the 1950s in reference to various jobs that people could do in and around their own houses without the help of professionals. A very active community of people continues to use the term DIY to refer to fabricating or repairing things for home needs, on one's own rather than purchasing them or paying for professional repair. In other words, home improvement done by the householder without the aid of paid professionals.

In recent years, the term DIY has taken on a broader meaning that covers a wide range of skill sets. Today, for example, DIY is associated with the international alternative and hardcore music scenes. Members of these subcultures strive to blur the lines between creator and consumer by constructing a social network that ties users and makers close together. There are various communities of media-makers that consider themselves DIY, for example the indymedia network, pirate radio stations, and the zine community."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_it_yourself

Girl Gang

Saturday 1st August at 14:00
Meet at Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum
Limited to 8 places - booking essential - women Only

You are dangerous but are you armed? Girl Gang challenge you to come down to the woods and get tooled up. Each participant will make and take away a bow & arrow.

Book your place: daringgirlgang@gmail.com
part of Plan 9 Presents: The Summer of Dissent

Pleats & Folds - Exhibition Opening 16th April 2009

PRESS RELEASE
A collector of private stories and curious about the memories we tenderly fold into personal objects, British artist Clare Thornton has created a series of new works for her solo exhibition ‘Pleats & Folds’ premiering at Galleri Soft.

The works in this mixed media exhibition are a distillation of personal stories gathered during a UK residency at Arnolfini Art Centre, Bristol. Comprising textile, sculpture and video works, the installation hints at the memories people shared with her - stories carried deep within and upon the body.

The pieces in this installation suggest an eclectic range of influences and inspirations. In a decorated, Baroque inspired, Ruff collar piece - which forms the centrepiece to the exhibition - one can see an interest in theatrical costume, body adornment and craft processes. The miniature silver charms adorning the collar represent the ’soft’ objects that people brought to the artist. Through interview and audio-visual documentation the artist unwrapped the stories associated with each item. To go full circle those participants will be given the corresponding silver charm at the end of this project – a gift for a gift.

The abundance of curves and folds moving throughout the installation create an impression of tracing, hinting at overlapping story lines (and lines of enquiry); at one moment open and fully on view, and at the next moment hidden and curved back in on themselves. There is a desire to both share yet protect the precious and private tales gifted to the artist.

These new works form part of an ongoing series of experimental pieces. ‘Pleats & Folds’ is a collection of works investigating story/time lines, body memory and the processes of working with personal objects laden with meaning. The artist intends to next create a bookwork drawing together this body of research materials, as well as to produce a new video installation for the British Live Art Festival – Inbetween Time/ What Next The Body? in Winter 2009.