Tuesday 25 November 2008

Frieze Young Critics







Year 12 students from Acland Burghley and St Marylebone met with critic D. Strauss to discover what it is like to be an art critic, recording their ideas and responses on iPods. Acland Burghley students interviewed performance artist Mark McGowan about his controversial practice. St Marylebone students recorded a round table discussion about the fair and the work they had seen in Resonance FM's booth.

Inflated Drawing at Frieze Art Fair






A+D+A+D and young visitors to the fair take part in Inflated Drawing exploring the parameters of the Education Space using unconventional drawing materials such as toilet paper, fabric and specially designed cardboard construction panels.

The Story Wall at Frieze Art Fair






Type Club and young visitors to the fair taking part in The Story Wall, an interpretive typographic workshop using Frieze Film 2008 as inspiration for new letterforms and words.

Highbury Grove School at Frieze Art Fair






Highbury Grove School hang their show in the fair, inviting visitors to come and view the work of the artists David Blandy and Rachel Shannon, who they have been working with as curators.

Pimlico School at Frieze Art Fair






Pimlico School become their artworld characters at the fair, as a result of research made in their role as art anthropologists in previous sessions.

South Camden Community School at Frieze Art Fair







Students from South Camden Community School curate and hang their exhibition in the Deutsche Bank Education Space at Frieze Art Fair. Students went out into the fair and invited members of the public to attend, then discussed the artists, artwork and their curatorial themes with the audience.

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Haverstock School at Frieze Art Fair












Haverstock's final session of The Lives of the Artists with Lucy Pawlak, taking place in the Deutsche Bank Education Space at Frieze Art Fair. Students assumed identites of characters they had created as a result of research into the art world.

All photographs copyright of Michele Panzeri, no reproduction without prior permission. Contact him here for details http://panzeri.co.uk/

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Project Space at Frieze Art Fair

George Polke is pleased to announce the opening of 2 exhibitions at Frieze Art Fair this Friday 17th October.

THESE HORSES + KAORU TSUNODA 12.30PM
curated by Julfa Begum, Fidel Elias, Hawnaz Hussein, Parveen Ichatun, Ola James, Muhid Miah and Abdu Saeed

DAVID BLANDY + RACHEL SHANNON 4.00PM
curated by Mike Afeworki, Jake Chivers, Zion Ford, Kevin Gauhgan, Micha Grant, Curwin Hutson, James Lomax, Michael Martelli, Lona Mucara, Danielle Perez, Corey Peter, Tylon Riley, Alan San and Sama Sundifu

Deutsche Bank Education Space, (near Victoria Miro & Yvon Lambert) Frieze Art Fair, Regent's Park.

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George Polke has been running the Project Space workshop for Frieze Education 2008, sponsored by Deutsche Bank and in association with ReachOutRCA

This will culminate in the installation of 2 consecutive exhibitions at the Deutsche Bank Education space on Friday 17th October, curated by students from South Camden Community School and Highbury Grove School.

http://www.howdowegettohereblog.com/

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www.georgepolke.co.uk

Monday 13 October 2008

Project Space with Highbury Grove



Feedback from artist David Blandy about showing his films to students from Highbury Grove.

David is one of the artists the students will be curating at Frieze Art Fair on Friday October 17th.

Wednesday 8 October 2008

Lives of the Artists with Pimlico School

Contrast in the art world
by Harry Weskin, Pimlico School


On the 3rd October this year I witnessed, first hand, the contrast between t
he different areas in the art world. Along with my A-level art class of twenty students, we went to Liverpool Street to interview the Deutsche Bank buyer, Alistair Hicks. We then went on to interview an artist by the name of John Strutton in his studio. The experience as a whole really opened my eyes to the art world and has given me a new perspective on the contrast within.

Entering Deutsche Bank I was soon shocked by a wave of art hung up on the walls and even in the middle of the floor. It was not what you would expect to find in a city bank. (However the rushing bankers who ignored the jaw dropping sculptures are certainly what one would expect to find inside a city bank.)

I soon found my self around a table so extravagantly big, that I was surprised I could see Alistair Hicks down the other end and even more surprised that I could hear him. Throughout the fascinating interview, he described a number of things that I never knew about the art world. For instance, how competitive and demanding the art market can get.

"Of all the contemporary artwork out there; only a very small percentage of it is being seen and even a smaller percentage is being sold." By saying things like this, he made it obvious to me that being an artist is a very challenging and difficult career to choose. This daunting interview was fascinating but also quite frightening and could easily scare people from becoming an artist.

From the large, busy and expensive bank we arrived in a small, calm and cosy art studio of John Strutton, it was like arriving down the other end of the art world spectrum. The main thing that was comforting about John was that he incorporated his hobbies and enjoyments in life, into his artwork.


He was laid back and the answers he gave to our questions were reassuring. He did this by explaining,
"I enjoy being an artist and can’t imagine being anything else." This was reassuring because it made me believe that there is still a side to art that isn’t interested in money.

The two interviews highlighted the differences in the art world by really contrasting with each other. This contrast fascinates me by opening a door into the art world that I never knew was there. On one side you have the artists working hard to make a living and on the other you have the commercial side of art. This does involve artists but it involves a lot of money too!



Tuesday 7 October 2008

Project Space with South Camden School











These are the final choices for the exhibition in the Education Space.

Kaoru Tsunoda's '1RPM' with it's accompanying film; These Horses will be performing 'Damp Damp Damp' and there will also be an older work, 'Dancer In The Dark' projected on the wall.

South Camden made connections between the work through the kinetic, through language and through the idea that These Horses' piece is full of words while with Kaoru's, you are lost for words.

Here, you can also see Abdu's reconstruction of Kaoru Tsunoda's 'Daily Incantation'.

Thursday 2 October 2008

Project Space with South Camden School




















Fidel is making the gallery space while Ola, Milu and Hawnaz work out how to represent These Horses, a performance group, and the performance works they have proposed.

Project Space with South Camden School

Each student made a representation of the potential artworks they would be curating in the Education Space at Frieze Art Fair. Here, Julfa and Parveen are interpreting Kaoru Tsunoda's work. This allowed everyone to get a sense of scale and try out different combinations of work to develop their curatorial theme.

Friday 26 September 2008

Project Space with South Camden School

South Camden School visited George Polke gallery on Sept 22nd and were introduced to Kaoru Tsunoda, a Japanese artist who they will be curating in their show at Frieze Art Fair on Oct 17th.

“I have never seen this sort of workshop for teenagers in Japan. There are lots of workshops to encourage creating art but I have never learned how the system works or how an exhibition is organised when I was a kid. It is good to learn those elements in detail and understand art in a different perspective. It helps teenagers get an idea of art as a career and as interdisciplinary learning. It is a fresh dimension for me also.

Their interpretation of my work and questions were so pure and gut reaction without being filled with theory, which is sometime far from art actually happening in front of you.

One of the girls asked me 'Are you a successful artist?' so I said it depends on what you consider as successful. She said 'Money?' then I said 'I am not that successful in that sense.' and she said 'Happiness?' then I said 'I am successful in that sense!' I did not know till I said it!!! It helps me to know my work better and it is amazing to share my work with teenagers for the purpose of education which I have never had chance to get involved with but I always wished I could.”

Kaoru Tsunoda