justin mckeown

1st International SPART Insurgency

Sofia, Bulgaria 4th – 7th November 2004

SPART INSURGENCE BULGARIA
The 1st ever International SPART Insurgence took place in Sofia, Bulgaria in November 2004. The event sprung out of continual discussions between Vassya Vassileva (Bulgaria) and Justin McKeown (Northern Ireland). These conversations were internet based and largely sprang out of the ‘On the road to Bandung’ work which Justin began in February 2004. Another artist, Friedrich Nichtmargen (Russia) joined in this discussion, and very soon it became obvious that the only thing the three could do was meet.

They arranged to meet in Sofia, Bulgaria as that was easiest. Over the internet they arranged a program of work they would all make in Sofia to inaugurate SPART. The event was to last for 5 days and would not only include the three SPARTISTS but would also include local artists and other people in Sofia who wanted to take part. What follows is a rough transcription of some of the highlights of what happened…

The Summit on the Summit
The Summit on the Summit was the 1st Great Historic International meeting and think-tank of SPART ACTION.

On the morning of 4th November SPARTISTS congregated on Cherni Vrah Peak, the mountain over looking Sofia, to discuss and create ideologies, strategies and philosophies for the realisation of SPART agendas. All present shared a glass of Irish whiskey, Bulgarian rakia and Russian Vodka as a symbolic gesture of friendship between the nationalities who had conspired to make the event happen. The 1st day consisted largely of discussions and the swapping of ideology. This developed into playing games with Ideology, which is the only reason for collecting the damn stuff in the 1st place.

On the 5th, Vassya Vassileva (Bulgaria) resolved to present an action. The context for the action was simple but beautiful. Every year Cherni Vrah Peak is covered by thick snow. Many people, who use the peak for sking, in winter loose various belongings assending the peak. Vassya resolved that she would make collect, check, try and record items she found on the peak and then attempt to return them to their owners.

Friedrich Nichtmargen (Russia) also initiated ‘L-R (left to right)’. This lasted the duration of the festival. The essence of this work is the exploration of the construction of Art history through the deployment of the image. Over the course of the festival Friedrich took many photographs of artists together, then reconextualised these images using different accompanying texts. Friedrich also contrived several photographs as another means of interrogating the construction of art history.

On the 6th Fridrich resolved to alter his photographic work ‘L-R (left to right)’ once more. In his own words: ‘the photo session shall not, however, pursue the euphoria of the vast panorama of windswept mountain tops but instead shall look carefully into the corporal mapping – using meta-visual language to analyze all specific modes of embodiment – hugs, clothing, handshaking and the SPART like.
Also on the 6th Justin McKeown (Northern Ireland) made the action ‘Drinking Blindfolded in Sofia, as a cultural survey of the construction of social ideology and power in leisure time in the capital city of Bulgaria. This event went very well: Justin loves getting pissed in the company of beautiful women. Drinking Blindfolded was well received and Justin said it was one of the best places he had ever made the work.

At this point in proceedings Vassya Vassileva (Bulgaria) resolved that SPART only makes sense through its concrete environmental practice. By extension of this she confirmed that SPART is in its own right an epistemological basis of knowledge, one which is distinct and undecipherable if approached from another basis of knowledge.

On the evening of 7th Vassya Vassileva hosted what was perhaps the most engaging event in the whole festival. Using her daily living house as context, Vassya prepared a special dinner for all visiting people involved who had been taking part in events. The theme of the evening was people whose names end with ‘ist’. If their name did not end with ‘ist’, then she altered their 1st name and surname so that they both did. She provided name badges for all present. The night was made complete when the artist ‘Ist’van Kantor sent the SPARTISTS a short email from Berlin which said of the SPART Insurgence ‘This is fucking great!?’ AMEN

To close the event, in the early hours of the morning of the 9th Freidrich Nichtmargen and Vassya Vassileva made a collaborative performance with all the items Vassya had collected on her way up Cherni Vrah Peak. On the bases of both magic and conventional visual approaches they suggested different regimes of ‘spartiality’ which is constituted by, and itself constitutes a different relationship to the art and the body.

text originally published on the SPART Action web site

Shaun Caton: Happenstance

Sunday 6th September 2009, PS2 Gallery, Belfast

I didn’t so much curate this event as make it happen. I first met Shaun Caton at the NRLA in early 2009. While talking I discovered he has wanted to make a performance in Northern Ireland for over 15 years. I really loved his work at the NRLA and decided I wanted to arrange for him to come to Belfast. As I do not work for a gallery I had to find a gallery who would be sympathetic to Shaun’s work. Further, the gallery space would have to suit the aesthetic of Shaun’s work. The gallery I had in mind was PS2. It is a small space in the centre of Belfast that has an interesting and varied program. I Approached PS2 director Peter Mutschler. Peter is not normally into performance, but he said he trusted my judgement on such work and so we arranged a date that suited both PS2 and Sean.

Shaun made a seven and a half hours installation action performance. It was very atmospheric, ritualistic and almost dream like in places. It attracted quite an audience and I was pleased for Shaun that we had managed to finally realize his desire to make work in Belfast.

The event was documented by photographer Faye Rossie. Shaun has recently mentioned producing a publication to mark the event.

Stewart Home

Assorted works, Catalyst Art Gallery, Belfast, 2005

In 2005 I curated a solo show of Stewart Home’s work for Catalyst Art Gallery, Belfast. The show lasted for a month and consisted of several different components. In the gallery we exhibited Stewart’s film The Eclipse & Re-Emergence of the Oedipus Complex and a series of photographs titled Becoming (M)other made with Chris Dorley Brown. Both these works were later featured in an Arnolfini Exhibtion of Home’s work in 2006. As well as presenting This video work and photographic series, Home also presented the performance work Anti-Riot and an evening recitation from some of his novels. Before leaving, Stewart also presented a talk on his work at the University of Ulster, in the school of Art & Design.

Arts Birthday

Arts Birthday Party at the Centre for Suburban Research, Belfast 2007

Arts Birthday is a wonderful event that I try to celebrate every year. The idea was originally conceived by French Fluxus Artist Robert Filliou in 1963. Filliou stated that on the day of the 17th January, 1963, art had been born exactly 1,000,000 years ago, when someone dropped a sponge into a bucket of water.

This year we took all the mail art and artists book works we had and turned them into an exhibition in our house. To this end we also converted our spare bedroom into a gallery for the day, where Meabh built an installation. We also invited friends to come and make performances, have a drink and have some fun with us. My personal favourite was when our friend Tom tried to kill art through a performance with a bucket of water, sponge and hair dryer. he didn’t succeed (thankfully) and we all had a great time.

I’ve always been a big fan of Fluxus. I think robert Filliou’s work is fantastic, mainly because it is so poetic, drawing directly from the stuff of everyday life. In some ways he makes everyday life seem so absurd, although he does this in such a way that it makes you feel like reexamining it all again. In this way the work makes you feel more alive. Not through shock but through poetry, and for this tactic, I have as much time as the day is long. When I read about Filliou and think about his work, I always end up wishing he was still alive. I reckon I’d have got on with him had we ever had the chance to meet.