Status of the Artist 2016

This work is a gallery installation of a point of sale printer which prints the UN Recommendation on the Status of the Artist (see installation example in the film).  This work is a reflection on this text. The formatting draws on the idiosyncratic nature of the UN language and highlights interesting features such as the definition of the Artist.  The use of non-archival thermal receipt-paper as a medium reflects both limitations of the UN declaration and the pressures of commercialization in art.

New Book

Following on from the success of Hydra Projects previous publications we're delighted to announce the availability of our latest book. I'm Kamp is a radical re imagining  of Hitler's Mein Kampf with the LGBT slang words put back in.

It is in the long tradition of attempts to deal with racism by ridiculing it and it is hoped will find a place in the heart of anti-fascists everywhere.  Especially Rotherham.

Its currently available via epubli and will soon be on Amazon.

Other publications by Hydraprojects:

Status of the Artist
Fourteen word forty syllables
Random Bible
The Book of (Modern) Cognitive Sins

Circus of the Mind invited to Festival 23

Those lovely Discordians have invited Bob Prophette and his Circus of the Mind to be amongst the attractions at Festival 23.

Bob Prophette, the world’s foremost (and only) Metaphysical Bookmaker will be bringing his Circus of the Mind to delight the crowds at Festival 23. Circus of the Mind is a three ringed circus of feasts for your intellect and imagination featuring games and performances associated with Metaphysical Betting (anything unprovable but “true,” Bob is the bookmaker for you); the Court of Moral Ambiguity (let Bob challenge your rationalisations of morally ambiguous acts and find out just how morally ambiguous you really are); and the Confessional for Modern (Cognitive) Sins (confess you sins of memory, decision making and bias to Bob and receive the absolution you deserve). So look out for Bob the Bookie, Bob the Judge and Bob the Priest and discover something new about yourself and others.  You may even get a chance to punish Bob for his sins.  Now where is that whip?

Wallets of Wisdom a huge success at How The Light Gets In Festival 2016

Although not invited and not exactly made welcome Wallets of Wisdom appeared at the How the Light Gets in Festival in Hay on Wye this year and also the Hay Festival itself.

100 Wallets stuffed full of wisdom and wise-ass-ness were lost over the 10 day festival. Many of the Wallets were retrieved and the Philosophers and Music lover's additions were noted.  They included:

- a sanitary pad
- a shoe lace
- used train tickets
- Norwegian tram tickets
- over £2.00 in change (thanks)

No actual wisdom has so far been detected, but hopes remain high.

Until next time.

FUNT Release 3 more tracks n soundcloud: Warrington, Wigan and Carlise

Fourteen Words, Forty Syllables - The Script of the God

Based on Jorge Luis Borges story Script of the God, this book contains a selection of randomly generated sentences, using the text of the story, each of fourteen words and forty syllables.  In the story this is the script of the God.

'It is a formula of fourteen random words (they appear random) and to utter it in a loud voice
would suffice to make me all powerful.'

'May the mystery lettered on the tigers die with me. Whoever has seen the universe, whoever has
beheld the fiery designs of the universe, cannot think in terms of one man, of that man's trivial
fortunes or misfortunes, though he be that very man. That man has been he and now matters no
more to him. What is the life of that other to him, the nation of that other to him, if he, now, is no one. This is why I do not pronounce the formula, why, lying here in the darkness, I let the days obliterate me.'

The protagonist in the book is an imprisoned Mayan priest who, after years of incarceration in a dark cell which he shares with a Jaguar discovers the writing of the god in the shapes of the animals fur. He describes how the words are based on a formula of fourteen words which appear to be random and have fourteen syllables between them.  Fourteen words and forty syllables.

Once uttered these words have a transformative power which would allow the priest to free himself and exact revenge.  At the end of the the story the priest leaves the words unsaid, since having understood the script he has achieved the kind of enlightenment whereby he can transcend his suffering, is no longer a man, and no longer needs revenge or anything from his previous life.

As a tribute to this enigmatic story (and the fact that Borges never wrote a book) this book contains approximately 100,000 words grouped into sentences of fourteen words and forty syllables. They were randomly generated by a formula designed by Dr Katerina Papadaki, A mathematician an the London School of Economics.  Dr Papadaki ws paid £100,000 for the algorithm.  The largest sum ever paid for a single formula.

As befits Borge's story, the algorithm is recursive in that while you are in it, it calls itself, which means it makes copes of itself from the beginning.  As Katerina pointed out this resembles the nested dreams that the protagonist has, where he wakes from one dream only to find himself in another.

The book is one of a kind and not currently for sale.  However readings from the book can be arranged by the author.

Hydra Projects and the Homeless City Ads feature in Art Habens Contemporary At Review

Hydra Projects and Homeless City Ads feature in the 2015 Special Edition of the Art Habens Contemporary Art Review.

Jump straight to the Article here.

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Circus of the Mind to be Found at Curious Yellow Weekend

The Circus of the Mind will make one of its rare appearances at the Curious Yellow Weekend at a secret location in Hertfordshire this July.  For information visit the lovely organaisers.

The weekend will see Bob Prophette roll out his Metaphysical Bookmakers, Confessional for Modern Sins and the Court of Moral Ambiguity.  Spot Bob amongst the trees wearing a trilby, a priests collar or a judge's wig, as the occasion demands.