"Artworks that celebrate creativity as the metaphor of an eco-system question the dominance of conceptual stability, organisation and unity."
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Mercy were asked to produce a participatory poetic 'moment' for FACT's Knowledge Lives Everywhere exhibition opening.
Working with collaborator Mark Greenwood, I produced a series of cards containing detourned statements from several source texts
1. (yellow cards) FACT Director, Mike Stubbs' previous speech from the Nam June Paik opening
2. (white cards) text from the Knowledge Lives Everywhere brochure
3. (red/grey cards) text from philosopy texts regarding knowledge, including De Certeu, Kant, Machiavelli, Foucalt and Deluze & Guattari
Visitors to the show could chose from the coloured cards - starting out with a choice from the white and yellow, and progressing to a point where they could pick from any of the colours. I then added in a couple of cards toward the start and end, to give the speech the formal flavour it needed and read the cards out,with vocal processing from Rob Strachan from Hive, inspired by this performance by Laurie Anderson. Very kindly, FACT provided a fanfare!
Minako Jackson at ArtinLiverpool took some images, which you can see here. What I hadn't noticed was that the cards were colour-coded fitting with the exhibition branding. A nice coincidence.
The processing and the detourned-nature of the text made it quite a disruptive performance, while retaining something of the formality of the occassion. Here is the speech that I read out (I ammended the text on the fly where I could, to achieve a flow and I'll try to reflect that here)...
Hello
Welcome to FACT on this very special day as we celebrate
Knowledge Lives Everywhere!
For me this image symbolises the point at which I arrived
But how can this effect how we learn?
The product of a process of deviation from rule-governed and falsifiable practices, overflowing,
for FACT this project is hugely significant.
Such a notion is not a matter of opinion at all, but an idea pure and simple.
We have seen this over the years with ground breaking projects such as
Aesthetics examined in the logic of sensation,
and homes sheltering housing residents.
What does this mean now? It means
the object of a pure and unconditioned intellectual delight is the moral law.
Long before it was even a twinkle in an architect's eye
unique projects and ideas have turned FACT into a playground of ideas -
the scientist and the common man come together
to lay the first foundations of all assurance on what is a matter of FACT.
This city is a fabulous place for creative collaboration.
Young people
over the course of the part 12 years
have been effected by chromatic vibration
sharing FACT through
the ability not to compare conceptions with the objects, but mearely with our faculties of recognition.
Men lack the knowledge and capacity to maintain their power,
within things cognisable of three kinds: matters of opinion, matters of faith, and matters of FACT.
I am delighted that you could be part of this historical occassion
where we will imagine and build models of our thoughts emotions and memories as playable systems
of privation, repression, eros and thantos,
representing this eco-system of
objects of an emperical knowledge that is at least intrinsically possible.
I should be glad then, if you would write to me and give me your views on this subject.
However, it wasn't just the technology or aesthetic. One of the most significant things was that
guest artists, groups, visitors, and communities of interest could explore
how different pieces of the system interact with each other.
It's that simple!
Artworks that celebrate creativity as
the metaphor of an eco-system
question the dominance of conceptual stability, organisation and unity.
Everywhere visitors get inspired by experiments
and learn that
this family resists modernisation
and technological breakthroughs, developed by video-sythesis and analogue keying.
Step inside.
Experts and their knowledge can never corrupt that love.
A living legacy.
Finally, I wanted to show you this image, which has inspired me personally:
the insinuation of the ordinary into established scientific fields
entering into everyday life and exerting influence on ordinary healthy intellegence,
an elastic fluid interpreting all other substances and completely permeating them.
Enjoy the exhibition, enjoy the city!
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The cards from the speech will go to Mike Stubbs, as a gift. The remaining cards will be used in the next performance.