canal

John Barlow Gone Offshore

2008-03-30T00:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday 30 March 2008, 4pm

Meeting point
The Street Headquarters - The Shop
26–28 Toynbee St
London E1

For the launch of The Street, Canal presents John Barlow Gone Offshore, an event orchestrated by Goldin+Senneby, the framework for collaboration between artists Simon Goldin and Jakob Senneby.

Middlesex Street marks the shift from Tower Hamlets to the City of London. Sometimes called the “Wall of Fire”, the border between two economic realities will be host to Goldin+Senneby’s event. From this point, a guide will initiate a movement towards fictitious space, narrating the legal construction of offshore jurisdictions.

John Barlow Gone Offshore is part of Goldin+Senneby’s ongoing investigation of the offshore company Headless Ltd (and its possible connections to Georges Bataille’s secret society Acéphale). For Goldin+Senneby, the juridical construction of the Offshore is a performative act of fictionalising place and staging a realm of invisibility. In their research, they focus on a specific offshore company known as Headless Ltd, incorporated in Nassau, Bahamas, in 2002. Their enquiries and findings are continuously traced in a docu-fictional novel by writer John Barlow, also called Headless. As part of his collaboration with the two artists, Barlow travels to the Bahamas in search of the physical manifestations of Headless Ltd and, in a wider sense, the material staging of the fictitious place – or non-place – of the offshore incorporation.

For John Barlow Gone Offshore, two city guides lead the public into Barlow’s travels across the Bahamas and his possible findings. Mediating and contextualising the performative research in the offshore, the event proposes a staged inquiry into the undisclosable.

John Barlow Gone Offshore has been developed in collaboration with Disclosures, a Gasworks seminar (29-30 March 2008).

Canal as part of The Street, a project conceived by the Whitechapel Gallery

2008-02-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

30 March 2008 - April 2009

Canal has been invited to take part in the year-long project which uses Wentworth Street (home to Petticoat Lane market) as a site around which international artists Minerva Cuevas, Jens Haaning, Henry VIII’s Wives, Bernd Krauss, Shimabuku and Nedko Solakov have been commissioned.

Canal's contribution will consist of responding - whether fairly directly or metaphorically - to the projects proposed by the other artists, to the local context as well as to the premise set by the curators Anthony Spira and Marijke Steedman. Canal's interventions will take place throughout the year.

Canal at Peer

2007-03-19T09:36:00.001-07:00

During Winter 2007, Canal was hosted by Peer and presented: 'Make Everything New: a discussion', 'Evil Sisters' and 'Phyllida Barlow presents'.

Monday 19 March 2007, 7pm

Make Everything New: a discussion

Canal presented a discussion between Maria Fusco, Susan Kelly and Grant Watson based around the recent publication Make Everything New: a Project on Communism. The evening featured a presentation by Susan Kelly of her work What is to be done?, with an open invitation for the audience to respond to the question. The written replies formed the starting point for the discussion.

"Communism is routinely defined as defeated and its conquest the subject of regular celebration. Caught in the disappointment and negative connotations of the past, it has become all but unthinkable. Make Everything New seeks to rescue the idea of Communism from this trap. Collaborating with artists, writers and collectives, this project has commissioned and collected counter-narratives, abstract and unrealistic ideas, engaged political commentary and satirical work, that presents neither an historical or comprehensive overview nor a requiem for the past. It is a collection of partial and subjective accounts of various creative practices, an experimental platform for ideas and an attempt to see in what ways the communist imagination can be materialised as art."

(From Make Everything New: a Project on Communism, edited by Grant Watson, Gerrie van Noord and Gavin Everall; published by Book Works, London and Project Arts Centre, Dublin. For more information: www.bookworks.org.uk)

Reading suggestion: "Interview with a Ghost", by Grant Watson.

Hosted by

Peer
99 Hoxton Street
London N1 6QL
www.peeruk.org

Canal would like to thank Ingrid Swenson, Tom Morton and Book Works for their support.

Canal at Supermarket 2007

2007-02-23T09:46:00.000-08:00

At Konstnärshuset, Stockholm

Friday 23rd February 2007, 3-6pm

Money changes everything: the impact of commerce on the artist-run space

This discussion is set up to question and respond to the backdrop of Supermarket, a fair for artist-run spaces. Is the artist-run space a route into the commercial arena? What alternative can the artist-run space propose to the power structures of the art world? Does commercial activity compromise criticality? Such issues will be debated with people involved in artist-led initiatives mainly established in Scandinavian countries. Confronting contexts and exchanging viewpoints rather than falling into a debate about the funding situation is the aim of this event.

Contributors

3pm: presentation by artist Ralf Homann of schleuser.net, a lobby organisation co-founded with Manuela Unverdorben and Farida Heuck.

3.45pm: Natalya Pershina aka Gluklya of Chto Delat and Factory of Found Clothes, St Petersburg presents two films.

4.30pm: presentation by Canal

5.00pm: Opening up the discussion with the respondents and the public.

Respondent

Felice Hapetzeder of AK28

Ralf Homann's intervention.

Glucklya and public.

Context

SUPERMARKET art fair is a collaborative effort between artist-run spaces and organisations in Stockholm. In 2007 SUPERMARKET has evolved into an international art fair for artist-run spaces and organisations. SUPERMARKET art fair 2007 takes place in February 22-25 at Konstnärshuset (The Artists’ House).

Canal would like to thank Diana Kaur for her support.

Canal at AK28, Stockholm

2007-02-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

Thursday 22nd February 2007, 8.30pm

Canal presents:
Wall Street (dir. Oliver Stone, 1987)

The film is a morality tale about a young stockbroker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) and his attempt to scramble to the top in 1980s New York. The plot is centred on Bud's relationship to high-powered (but ruthless and greedy) broker Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) whose expounds a "Greed is Good" philosophy. When he's not asset stripping companies Gekko collects art, and so for Bud art and interior decoration become vehicles with which to gain acceptance within the (ultimately immoral) Capitalist elite that he wishes to enter.

Context

This film screening is being shown as part of the discussion Money Changes Everything: the impact of commerce on the artist-run space at Supermarket 2007, on Friday 23rd February, 3-6pm.

Hosted by

AK28
Krukmakargatan 28
1tr ned, porttelefon
118 51 Stockholm
www.ak28.org

Canal would like to thank Felice Hapetzeder and all at AK28 for hosting the event.

Canal at Peer

2007-02-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 13 February 2007, 8pm

Canal presents:
‘Evil Sisters’, an event curated by Gyonata Bonvicini

Borrowing its title from American scholar Bram Dijkstra’s essay about the iconic figure of the femme fatale, ‘Evil Sisters’ combines a video by Gian Domenico Sozzi and a cult ‘giallo’ movie by Italian director Pupi Avati that address the complex and ever-present conflicts between desire and domination, madness and control.

Programme

Introduction by artist Gian Domenico Sozzi, actress Francesca Marciano (who played in 'The House with Laughing Windows') and Gyonata Bonvicini.

'Brava', Gian Domenico Sozzi, 2006.

'The House with Laughing Windows' (La casa dalle finestre che ridono), dir. Pupi Avati, 1976.

Canal at Peer

2007-01-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 23 January 2007, 8pm

Phyllida Barlow presents: A Man Escaped (1956) by Robert Bresson

Followed by a short reading, 'How to make (or artist as hostage)'.

Hosted by

Peer
99 Hoxton Street
London N1 6QL
www.peeruk.org

Canal would like to thank Ingrid Swenson, Tom Morton, Niru Ratnam and Louise Hayward for their support.

Canal Plus at Vilma Gold: Films, performance, music

2006-12-17T10:23:00.000-08:00

Sunday 17 December 2006, 5-8pm

Hilary Lloyd "Say directly what you want", 1993 (excerpts)

Brian Dawn Chalkley "Manifesto"

Felice Hapetzeder "Man’s World", 2006
Eileen Simpson and Ben White . ( Open Music Archive ) play
a selection of out-of-copyright early blues, jazz and folk
recordings from the archive alongside copyleft licensed
electronic remixes.

Solo performance by All Tomorrow’s Parties recording artist
Alexander Tucker

Cover art for Eileen Simpson's and Ben White's compilation
of 8 tracks from the open music archive, including three
remixes, given away during the evening. The tracks can be
downloaded here.

Brian Dawn Chalkley

Alexander Tucker

Hosted by

Vilma Gold
25b Vyner Street
London
E2 9DG
www.vilmagold.com

Canal would like to thank Rachel Williams for hosting the event and all the artists for their participation.

Canal at Between Bridges

2006-10-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Friday 6 October 2006, 7pm

Let’s talk An introduction to Sister Corita
With Sasha Carrera (Director of the Corita Art Center, Los Angeles), Alex Farquharson, Elinor Jansz and Nils Norman.

Admired by Charles and Ray Eames, Buckminster Fuller and Saul Bass, Sister Corita Kent (1918-1986) was one of the most innovative and unusual pop artists of the 1960s, battling the political and religious establishments, transforming graphic design and encouraging the creativity of thousands of people - all while living and practicing as a Catholic nun in California.

Programme

Introduction by Sasha Carrera, Director of the Corita Art Centre, www.corita.org, followed by a discussion with Sasha Carrera, Alex Farquharson,and Nils Norman.

There will also be the opportunity to see Baylis Glascock's film "On Teaching and Celebration" (35 mins) (which includes: "We have no art" (1967), "Mary's Day 1964" and a birthday interview).

Refreshments at the pub afterwards.

Hosted by

Between Bridges
223 Cambridge Heath Rd
(corner of Three Colts Lane)
London E2 0EL
Bethnal Green underground

Context

Let's talk coincides with the launch of Come Alive! The Spirited Art of Sister Corita by Julie Ault (with essays by Julie Ault and Daniel Berrigan) Pb.; 128pp; Four Corners Books 2006; ISBN 0-9545025-2-3; £15.95

Between Bridges presents the exhibition Sister Corita, works from the 1960s (Oct 5 – Nov 26, 2006), spirited pop art from artist and activist nun.

Photograph by Wolfgang Tillmans

Canal would like to thank Elinor Jansz and Wolfgang Tillmans for their collaboration and support and the speakers for their participation.

Canal at 29 Vyner Street

2006-08-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

Canal was originally based in a dedicated space on 29 Vyner Street, East London. Before the flood. Subsequently, from September 2006 onwards, it became a peripatetic organisation hosted by different venues according to the project in hand.

Gareth Jones presents: The Last of England (1987) by Derek Jarman

2006-08-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 29 August 2006, 8pm

Gareth Jones introduced The Last of England with a selection of readings from Derek Jarman's book Dancing Ledge (1984). These were chosen to cover the period from the 1960s to the 1980s. The five excerpts took a personal look at: David Hockney and the Sixties; experimental Super 8 filmmaking in the Seventies; the political effect of Michael Powell and Emerich Pressburger; the arrival of AIDS in the Eighties; and the living space of a bohemian at the start of the Thatcher era.

TURBOBRUT: ALL LIVE ONE ROOM

2006-08-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

Saturday 26 August, 12pm – 10pm
Drinks reception from 6.30pm
PePoMo Ltd presents an event during the 2nd annual Vyner Street Festival, a community festival taking place on Saturday 26th of August:

TURBOBRUT: ALL LIVE ONE ROOM

TURBOBRUT organise one-off public manifestations, usually of a musical focus. In this case, accommodated within the context of the street festival, ALL LIVE ONE ROOM acts as a point of transferral between the festival events running parallel.

PePoMo Ltd is an umbrella company founded in 2005; the governing principle of which being the ubiquitous pursuit of a happy and interesting life.

The Publish and be Damned self-publishing archive

2006-07-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

28 July - 13 August 2006

Opening times: Thursday to Sunday, 12pm – 6pm.

Publish and Be Damned profiles individual and experimental approaches to making and distributing the work of artists, writers and musicians outside of the commercial mainstream, encompassing DIY fanzines, magazines, critical journals, glossy periodicals, video compendiums and independent record labels. In its third year, Publish and Be Damned has again expanded to include new publications whilst also featuring participants from the last two years who have continued to make and develop their publications.
The Publish and Be Damned archive features publications from the last three fairs, and more.

The archive display and furniture is designed by Matthew Darbyshire using part of a previous design by Pablo Leon de la Barra.

For further information please see www.publishandbedamned.org

Raimundas Malasauskas presents: The Tale of Lost Time, an evening of films

2006-07-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 18 July 2006, 8pm

* The Tale of Lost Time, (Ekran, Soviet animation, 1984, 20 min)
* The Yearfilm 1962-2001 Remix (CAC TV production, 2005, 25 min)
* A surprise film! (no more than 25 min)

More info about the Yearfilm Remix:
The So-Called Records' "Yearfilm 1962-2001" was first made in 2001 exploring the legacy of Fluxus (thus the genre of Yearfilm, as Yearboxes). The original footage is taken from the cinema-journals "Tarybu Lietuva" (Soviet Lithuania) from the 60s and 70s, stored in the Lithuanian Cinema Archive, with an intention to trace the joyous and playful in a heavily ideology-driven discourse.

In 2005, the film was remixed by an artist Aurelija Maknyte for the broadcast on CAC TV www.cac.lt/tv and introduced by So-Called Jim (Jim Spears, also and artist) from the New Zealand branch of the So-Called Records. In 2006 the writer Aleksandra Fomina produced a "translation" to this remix to English using lyrics of Laurie Anderson, Pink Floyd and Radiohead.

Simon Martin presents: Ways of Seeing by John Berger

2006-07-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 11 July 2006, 8pm

Simon Martin showed one of the episodes of John Berger’s series Ways of Seeing following an introduction about his choice, divulging his interest in and relation to the work of John Berger.

The possibility of an artist-run space

2006-07-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 5 July 2006, 7.30pm

The possibility of an artist-run space, a roundtable dicussion with:

Keith Wilson, Paul Noble (City Racing), Wolfgang Tillmans (Between Bridges), Alessio Antonielli (Gasworks), Richard Birkett (Whitechapel Project Space), Alexis Chan and Laurence Taylor (Parade), Claire Bishop, Anjalika Sagar (Otholith Group), Hugh Pilkington, Anthony Iles (Mute), Melanie Gilligan, Emma Heditch, Anthony Davies (Poster Studio), Maria Benjamin and Ruth Hoeflich (Guestroom) and Canal members Matt Darbyshire, Olivia Plender, Celine Condorelli, Sarah McCrory and Anna Colin.

'Karl Holmqvist on spoken word'

2006-06-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday 22 June 2006, 8pm

The artist Karl Holmqvist talked about the origins of his work using cut-up techniques, poetry appropriations and spoken word readings. The improvised, staccato lecture was followed by a reading of a few extracts from his book I ON A LION IN ZION published by Revolver for BMW, The IXth Baltic Triennial of International Art, CAC Vilnius (2005).

Canal thanks Blow de la Barra for making this event possible.

Canal opens

2006-06-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Friday 2 June 2006, 7pm - late

Screenings:

The Light Fantastic – dir. Ken Russell, 1960
Beehive - dir. Jim Self and Frank Moore, 1985
Screen Tests – Neil Cummings, Marysia Lewandowska, Eileen Simpson, Ben White, 2005