A Wall of Sound

Een begin

2010-08-23T10:27:00.006+01:00

Sleurkunst begint vandag

Ik had twee boten

2010-07-06T22:44:00.010+01:00

2010-06-23T22:44:00.010+01:00

2010-04-24T14:03:00.014+01:00

I did a few talks last year and I used this object, which is a grapfruit fork, to point towards a few different ideas. I used it to point to a piece of work I like wanted to reference, One and three chairs, by Joseph Kosuth; to Plato's Allegory of the Cave; and also I used it to point to the idea of a portmanteux, because people thought it was called a "spork". None of these reasons are why I am again drawing attention to it.

I have been thinking about the idea of the art object being a precious one. I have used a variety of objects for various "art" purposes, and in fact now have a good collection of these objects sitting in the corner of the studio. Ever since R.Mutt, we're aware of the consequences of placing an object in the gallery. I find these concequences difficult to let go.

I was putting away some things in the house, and I found the grapefruit fork lying in amongst a pile of notes, papers and magazines in my bedroom. I picked it up, and took it to the kitchen. I opened the drawer and threw it in to the "small spoon" section without giving it much thought. As soon as it hit the pile already in there, and became intermixed with the other spoons and grapefruit forks (about 6-10 in total), I panicked. I grabbed for the one I thought I had just discarded so casually moments before, and shut the drawer quickly. The one I returned to the drawer was quite obviously different from the others, noted by the attachment I clearly have with it. I am not 100% sure it was the one I had used in the talks that I took out.

III

I had done a show with some friends after finishing at art college, and in my shed I had a box of the stuff that was left over from when it closed. I had a pair of speakers, one of my friends works that he couldn't collect, and some materials. In the bag with materials I found the grapefruit fork I had used in the talk I gave at that show. My process for selecting the fork was this; I went to the kitchen, half talking to my Mum, saying something like "While I remember, I'm just going to grab one of those fork things, I'm going to use it in the talk next week", and I opened the drawer and took out the fork and then went and stuck it in my bag so I wouldn't forget it. Once I found that fork in the shed, I was faced with something I never wanted to be faced with. I had two grapefruit forks with the same power, yet I really was only supposed to have one. I put tape round the one that I found in the shed, so I could tell the difference between them, and I added them both to my pile of objects.

Idea for an absurd Aktion.

Materials : all the grapefruit forks in my kitchen, and the two I have in my pile of objects (with the tape removed from the one which has it), a big-ish box, sellotape.

Action to be carried out : Put all the grapefruit forks into the box, tape it up, and place it on my desk.

Say out loud "You are all just grapefruit forks, from my Mum's kitchen. Two of you have been used to illustrate a point in my talk, however, you remain only a grapefruit fork. I release you from all responsibility from this secondary function, and I give you back your original identity as an anonymous grapefruit fork, only to be used on the occasion of eating grapefruit, or when there are no more teaspoons in the drawer and no one can be bothered washing one".

Shake the box vigorously.

Put it down, open it, and put the forks back in the drawer.

I am now free from this ridiculous burden/spell which I have been under. It is just a grapefruit fork.

I've never been a great fan of grapefruit to be honest, they are too sour.

2010-02-27T00:21:00.002Z

2010-02-21T03:51:00.002Z

KILL YOUR TIMID NOTION 2010

DUNDEE CONTEMPORARY ARTS, 21–28 FEB 2010

Yuck ’n Yum loves KYTN so much that we have spent hours in our bedrooms
lovingly compiling a super cool mixtape. To show how much we admire KYTN we
are sharing the fruits of our labour with their friends throughout the
festival.

YNY will transmit a 7 track mixtape via Bluetooth technology. Each day of
the festival one track will be transmitted, with all seven becoming
available for download on our website at the weekend of the festival. To
acquire the audio remember to turn your Bluetooth on!

The tracks being transmitted will feature works by local and Yuck ’n Yum
affiliated artists alongside KYTN performers.
These audio tracks will be transmitted straight to your phone for free.

remember, TURN YOUR BLUETOOTH ON!

My day is Tuesday, and the other artists involved are Edward Shallow, Ultra-Red, Ben Robinson, I Like Yellow Things, Dawn Campbell and The Box

2010-02-10T02:48:00.002Z

I used to bring a beer or two into the studio in my final year at art college to drink while I was working. We'd always had a few beers in the studio some nights before we headed out. That was different though.

I'm going to make a few changes to the layout and keep posting things here.

2010-01-30T17:56:00.003Z

| Creative Lab Ended |

2010-01-29T01:00:00.008Z

Thanks Neil.

Neil came to visit today. We were talking about some of my large scale notes/diagrams and I was saying I thought it could maybe work in some of the relevant images - in fact this is something I'd tried before and it never really worked (and I never supported the idea fully enough to follow it through regardless). He also disagreed with the inclusion of images and said,

"Spoon. I read that and I just see a spoon".

That statement brings a lot of things into focus for me, even though it may seem a bit oblique.

2010-01-29T00:42:00.003Z

2010-01-27T23:04:00.002Z

Fragments today; a lot of reading and writing mostly.

To do.

Buy the stand I need.
Re-arrange the space for the last days. Move to different corners.
Set up some evidences.
Re-write some stories from today.
Wall Drawing.
Photography.
Presentation.
Continue with other on-going activities.

3 conversations

2010-01-27T00:01:00.008Z

1.

Wednesday

Paul came to the space. We drank some beers and talked. We talked about friends getting married, football, and a recent night out we had.

2.

Saturday

Michael came to the space. Amongst other things we talked about our old flat, what old friends from Art College are doing now, Comics (American and European), Painting and painters (L'Empire des lumières by René Magritte), and Scottish language when written down.

3.

Tuesday

Ruby came to the space and we had coffee downstairs. We talked about the nature of what I was doing here, and my expectations of what I might achieve. I asked her about Activity (Action) based works, and we discussed ways of documenting that kind of work. We talked about Stuckism and their activities, and The K Foundation burning a million quid.

2010-01-26T14:44:00.005Z

1.
A
Aan
Aard
Aards *
Aars
Aas
Abatior
Abrupt
Absoluut
Abstract
Absurd
Apt *
Acacia (?)
Academie
Accent
Acceptabel
Accordeon
Accountant
Accuraat
Ace ~
Ach (Sco.)
Acne
Acrobat
Acupunctuur
Acuut
Adamsappel
Adder
Ader *
Admiraal
Adrenaline
Adres
Advent
Aerobics
Af (Sco.)
Affaire
Afrika
Afrikaan
Afrikaans
Aftershave
Ah (Sco.)
Ai (Sco.)
Aids
Air
Airconditioning
Akoestik
Al (Sco.)
Alarm
Albanië
Albatros
Albino
Album
Alchemie
Alchohol
Alert
Alfa
Alfabet
Alfanumeriek
Alias
alibi
Allah

. . .

(On-going)

2010-01-25T23:01:00.007Z

2010-01-24T12:37:00.000Z

[Away from workspace today - CCA Closed]

2010-01-22T19:02:00.003Z

Reflection on the on-going performance events has led to the following conclusion; Any change that has to be made is in the content (and it's preperation/realisation), and not the format. I'm quite satisfied that the format is a meaningful situation to present ideas through stories and conversation.

[Edit - there is one item I am going to bring - something to stand notes on.]

2010-01-20T10:48:00.003Z

I need something that points to Scottish Gaelic.

(Edit - found this while rummaging today...)

Backing Track for Conversation (Tuesday PM)

2010-01-19T15:47:00.007Z

2010-01-19T15:14:00.002Z

Reflection: On-going

Light.
Sound Loops.
Wall Items.
Floor Space.

Writing, Sound, Beer

2010-01-19T01:21:00.004Z

Writing, Sound, Beer from Stuart McAdam on Vimeo.

(Blogger doesn't want to host this video so I'll have to make do with this for now)

2010-01-18T16:47:00.001Z

2010-01-18T15:50:00.002Z

Materials: Beer, Sound Loop, Paper and Pen.

Created sound loop and drank a beer. Making a situation in which to think and relax into the space.

2010-01-18T03:28:00.001Z

In point of fact, I had no idea which books were in which boxes, but I was a great one for making up stories, and I liked the sound of all those sentences, even if they were false