Last Weekend of Syncopation

Some pics from the opening of my show which is up til Sunday.















Its hard to get a feel for the whole show (or the lots of people there) but here are some glimpses from the top:
Levack and Lewandoski (left), Mark Titchner (right); Cory Arcangel and Frankie Martinl Oliver Laric; Jayson Scott Musson; Ajit Chauhan; Matt Stokes; Jen Lewandowski in front of the Jeremy Shaw

Set Me Free

I'm sad I'm not in NYC to see Free at the New Museum. I really want to see the full installation of Aleksandra Domanovic's 1930 project. Thankfully the New Museum has created a website as a catalogue so I can get a good dose of content from the (dis)comfort of my favourite cafe in Berlin.
The show looks completely on my conceptual wavelength. I'll be expanding on my art-internet obsession for the next six months for the upcoming show at MU - and sort of extension of the show and tell talk I did to coincide with Mark Titchner's GSK Acid Test eventa couple of years back. In the spirit of free here are some images screenshot from the Free website. In order from the top Trevor Paglan, Alexandre Singh (who's in my next book out in April), Andrea Longacre-White, Lisa Oppenheim and Harm van den Dorpel.

Syncopated Melodies

The opening of SYCNCOPATION at Grimmuseum in Berlin was so great last night - I'm immensely happy with how it turned out. The show runs until October 31 but there are some online hints and interviews here and there for those not in Germania to get a feel of the show.

Dazed Digital did an interview with Levack and Lewandowski

It got a little mention at my other alma mater Twin..

And Whitehot magazine did a rather personal interview with me about the basis of the show with a good selection of images.

Syncopation open Oct 21, Grimmuseum Berlin

My exhibition in Berlin opens on Thursday - I'm doing a singing performance at 9pm. Jeremy Shaw (who's also in the show) is DJing at the after party. Honoured by the artists who agreed to be in the show.

SYNCOPATION
Curated by Francesca Gavin
Group exhibition with Cory Arcangel and Frankie Martin, Oliver Laric, Paolo Chiasera and DJ Shablo, Ajit Chauhan, Samuel Levack and Jennifer Lewandowski, Jayson Scott Musson, Jeremy Shaw, Matt Stokes and Mark Titchner

GRIMMUSEUM
Fichte Strasse 2 10967 Berlin
grimmuseum.com
21-31 October 2010
Open daily 14-19h

Private view Thursday 21 October 19h
Performance by Francesca Gavin 21h

+AfterParty
Bierhaus Urban from 23h
Urban Str 126 corner Graefe str
Djs Jeremy Shaw, Francesca Gavin

Ciao China

Back from Shanghai. The expo is really odd. Someone called them 'architectural press releases' - buildings representing each country often not filled with much apart from tourist propoganda. The site was SO large. People would queue 4 to 6 hours to get into a single space.... I only really saw North Korea. Which had a fountain with multi coloured neon lights and naked cupids doing acrobatics. And they sold 'Kim Jong Il - The collected works'. Their space was situated next to Iran at the expo - a match made in heaven.

I went on the tube a rush hour and 400 people all moved with me like ants to change lines. It makes you feel very drone like. You rethink personal space. Not a lot of individualism here. Its also quite dirty, and um fragrant... with beacons of capitalistic consumption like a faux Tokyo. Found some old buildings here and there which I searched for, though large swathes of the city had been knocked down for progress. Which means less people were using the gutter and pavement as an extension of their kitchen surfaces..

Best bit was I read JG Ballard's autobiography there - which touches on his Empire of the Sun, 30s Shanghai days. I am growing increasingly obsessed by him...

Shanghai Expo

So I'm on my way to Shanghai afternoon tomorrow do chair a panel discussion on art and the city for UN-HABITAT at the Shanghai Expo. It takes place on Saturday October 9 at 3pm for a couple of hours... Frantically preparing... if only my printer wasnt playing up on me....