Friday 17 July 2015

Homeless City Ads Selected for Art Habens Review of Contemporary Art 2015

Following the recent success in being selected and exhibited as part of the Big Noise Festival Photography Competition, the Homeless CityAds project has been selected through an open international call to be included in Art Habens Review of Contemporary Art 2015.
According to Art Habens “this year’s edition will focus on a recurrent paradox in contemporary art: the vague and ambiguous but thoroughly entrenched boundaries between the different practices of new media”. They continue “In particular it will engage with artists dealing with process-driven changes in our society, who pair their observations with new media technologies to produce their art projects.”

About RT Habens: ART Habens aims to engage artists, curators and gallerists in conversation about the role of Art in contemporary society. Inspired by the worldwide art scene, we highlight that art is an essential element in our lives: ART Habens reserves a special place to explore these transformations; first, by acknowledging the energy and effort that goes into the creation of art, and second, by investigating the new life a work takes on as it is transferred from artist to world.
 

Thursday 16 July 2015

Circus of the Mind

New portal opens. Circus of the Mind. A gateway to metaphysical betting, the confessional for modern sins and the Court of Moral Ambiguity.

Sunday 12 July 2015

Judge Bob Opens Online Court


The majority of dishonesty in life is perpetrated by a large number of individuals who believe they are acting honestly but are actually engaging in morally ambiguous behaviours and using rationalisation to make themselves feel OK about their actions.

The Court was set up to help people grapple with these issues. It provides facts and figures about various morally ambiguous practices to help you form a judgement about whether you have stepped over the line or not. If after looking at this evidence you are still unsure, you can submit your case for adjudication by Judge Bob Prophette.

So take a look around and remember honesty is not always the best policy.

Thursday 11 June 2015

Homeless City Ads Picture wins runner up place in the Big Noise Festival's Photo Competition

A photograph of a well-known rough sleeper spot near Waterloo Bridge, one of a series of six, won 2nd place in the Big Noise Festival's Photography competition and will be exhibited as part of the festival on Saturday 13th June at the Coronet in Elephant and Castle, London.



The photo which mixes the image of a rough sleeper place at the edge of the Thames with a series of icons from the Homeless City Guide was taken by art group Hydra Projects.

Kevin Andrews one of the founders of Hydra Projects said “the photo was edited to look like a picture from an accommodation listing website like Gumtree or Where to Sleep. A description was then added drawn from the publicity material for the nearby Waldorf Hilton Hotel”. The photo is an attempt to point to the irony of the close location of rough sleeper places and five star hotels. Andrews continues “it’s the kind of thing we take for granted in modern cities because we have become numb to it. The photograph tries to question that numbness.”

The text accompanying the photo states:

“2 bed accommodation near the Waldorf Hilton, Aldwych

Explore London's West End from this unusual accommodation close to the iconic Waldorf Hilton hotel in Theaterland, 5 minutes' walk from fantastic shopping in Covent Garden. Dine in style next to the River Thames, de-stress with the wide open vistas or even go for a refreshing dip.  Visit top London attractions within a mile radius of this central London accommodation, including the London Eye and Trafalgar Square or enjoy a the bustle of theaterland. Situated where the city meets the West end the accommodation is perfect for business or leisure travelers alike.

Main facts:
- Good food thrown away here
- Potential for work
- Dangerous neighborhood
- An attack happened here
- Message board nearby
- Good place to drink and smoke"

This Homeless City Guide is a regular feature of the magazine Pavement. This is a language invented for homeless people. The idea being that they use it to communicate with one another about features of the city. The icons were designed by Emily Read and Chen Hsu in 2007. Their work is described as a modern day version of the centuries old language of the Hobo Code, as they say “The homeless can use this series of simple symbols to communicate with each other about safety, shelter, and free food by inscribing them with chalk on sidewalks, buildings, and other surfaces”. But according to Andrews the language is not used. He says “this isn't very surprising; it’s based on a romantic notion of what homelessness is”.

Asked whether the adverts posted on accommodation websites received many replies Andrews says “Not really, they were never on long enough to attract that much attention”. Somehow Gumtree and other sites were able to spot the ads quite quickly and remove them and block me from posting more.” He says “I had more success with postcards that I made up and placed at the locations, they all went very quickly and I think provide a lasting record of the work”. The project also has its own fake accommodation listing website where people can book accommodation online.

The photo was chosen from hundreds submitted to the competition run in aid of the Big Issue Foundation.  The selection panel included actress and photographer, Kat Prescott, Stephen Robertson, CEO of The Big Issue Foundation, Spencer Rowell of Uncertain States and Eleanor Wemyss and Carla Sinclair of The Big Noise Festival.

Sunday 17 May 2015

There Are Forty Seven

There Are Forty Seven is a collaboration between an artist, an economist and art psychotherapist, all based in London. The collaboration is based on the interplay between art and philosophy, particularly the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Current Works include a photo series basement, a film detail which explores Wittgenstein’s fascination with architecture and an audio essay based upon the “poker” episode. The group are currently working on the completion of a performance piece, the frantic exploration of the imagined known. The title is taken from Paradox to Wonder, John Heaton’s book about Wittgenstein and Psychotherapy.

Sunday 12 April 2015

FUNT - 5 tracks released - listen on soundcloud

This is a series of tracks compiled largely using nano-studio while travelling in January-February 2015.  Tracks reflect experiences of Burma, Brussels, Stockholm, Scotland and Reykjavik. The overwhelming feeling is one of the desire for melodrama.

They also include the track Hands, which has a much longer history and is currently part of a film/installation.



Monday 9 February 2015

Sins of the Mind

Check out the Confessional For Modern Sins at sinsofthemind.org.

Bob Prophette is offering absolution from modern sins in the form of cognitive bias.

The work is based on the iconography developed for the The Royal Society of Account Planning's Visual Study Guide Of Cognitive Biases - PSFK.

 The website will be followed by a physical installation.

 Both the website and the installation play with the idea of cognitive bias, to get people to admit to these biases and "absolve" them of their "sins".

 The idea is to poke fun at this over hyped area of discussion which reached an apex with the success of Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow.

 Putting this in a sin + confession = absloution context emphasises that these so called biases should not be taken out of context. In the right context, the biases are actually very valuable short cuts to good decisions. Its the context that matters, not the bias.

 This idea is associated with the work of Gigerzener.