Evolution 2004

The Phoenix and the Turtle: Projection performance workshop with Bruce McClure
Leeds City Art Gallery lecture theatre

2 - 4pm
Free (call Lumen on 0113 2469850)
Limited to 15 people, no experience necessary, age 18+

Projector setup, Bruce McClure

     Like a strutting player, whose conceit
     Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich
     To hear the wooden dialogue and sound
     ‘Twixt his stretch’d footing and the scaffoldage.
                    William Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida (1601-02)

‘… Mirrored by the vertical plane of the movie screen the projector lamp becomes the first light and the cinematic apparatus becomes the principal agent for the eye. Together the audience, the projector, and the projectionist make an asymmetrical framework for the trajectory of light and sound while making absence palpable. The title for this workshop was borrowed from a poem by Shakespeare and the quotation taken from one of his plays both of which were found by indexing a keyword “hamstring”. In my work the “disabling” of the projector has been my primary conceit and the integration of the resultant turbulence by the I theaters is its richness. An examination of the 16mm movie projector, how it functions, and the sites of intervention that figure into my projective project Crib and Sift will be discussed. Although focusing on the mechanical steadfastness of the projective turtledove; the phoenix, cinema’s double name, will make an appearance in a flaming sight in one more tragic scene.’ Bruce McClure

Recommended events/exhibitions: Intra-articulated Rushes

City Slivers and Fresh Kills: Presentation and screening on Gordon Matta-Clark
West Yorkshire Playhouse rehearsal room 3 (above Wardrobe café bar)

6.30 - 9.45pm
£5.50/£4.50

Clockshower, Gordon Matta-Clark, film stills

In a short space of time New York artist Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-78) incorporated filmmaking, drawing, performance, architecture, sculpture, cooking and real estate into his work. Referred to as an ‘anarchitect’, Matta-Clark is best know for slicing through facades, walls and floors of derelict buildings - transforming architecture into sculpture and places into states of mind. Jane Crawford, Matta-Clark’s wife and the director of his estate, will present a unique talk and slide show followed by a fascinating programme of the artist’s films curated for Evolution by Steven Jenkins at the San Francisco Cinematheque:
‘Focusing on architectural projects and performances, the films are far more than simple documentations of Matta-Clark’s artistic activities; rather, they stand independently as fascinating cinematic explorations, and are characterized by the same creative provocation, rough aesthetic beauty and intellectual insight that informed the anarchitect’s famous cuttings, slicings and revelations.’ Steven Jenkins

Recommended events/exhibitions: Visionary Architecture | Pioneers in Art and Science | Performing Architecture | Looking Straight In/Out
Further reading: Object to Be Destroyed: The Work of Gordon Matta-Clark (Pamela M. Lee, 2001, MIT Press) |
City Slivers And Fresh Kills: The Films Of Gordon Matta-Clark (Steven Jenkins, 2004, DAP) |
Gordon Matta-Clark: The Space between (James Attlee, Lisa Le Feuvre, 2003, Nazraeli Press)