Thursday 17 May 2012

Future Everything Festival: Clay commuters


At Cathedral Gardens yesterday morning. The water feature is but a small jump for a regular-sized day commuter, but proves to be a dangerous swim for a clay commuter (as illustrated below...)

8,000 clay commuters appeared around Manchester yesterday morning thanks to the @sykeycollective. These tiny creations by artist Lawrence Epps were let loose around the city. The pieces are all male
as the the Sykey Collective tells me the piece is intended as a critical statement about male corporate culture (In which case I guess they are all white and privately schooled too?).

"Dwarfed by the offices and work places
around them, [they] mirror the hurried journeys made by their audience. The figures [were] found in surprise locations. The public are encouraged to handle and take away the figures for their own enjoyment and share their thoughts, films and photos in response to the project online. The figures then find their way into the lives and memories of the public."  I now have one of them sitting in my city centre flat and blending in next to my wooden effect radio.

They form part of the annual Future Everything Festival, which celebrates the latest developments in art, music and technology through a festival and conference from 16th to 19th May: http://futureeverything.org/

The project accompanies the exhibition of Lawrence Epps’ Human Resources sculpture (made up of tens of thousands of the figures) in the Future Everybody Art Exhibition at MOSI. Additional number of figures will also be distributed in and around Handmade at Victoria Baths on Saturday 19th May.

14 comments:

  1. This is so great Chrissy! Love public art. Nice that you can take them home.

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  2. Fab! I'm going out to get me one right now...

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    1. Hope you find them, there may still be a few around- will snaffle one for you if I see one myself!

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  3. Certainly an interesting idea. I definitely like hands-on, interactive art in theory. I wonder what people are thinking of it in Machester? Did you take one with you? :)

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    1. It has been popular with those of us that know about it, those who follow the Manchester arts festivals- dare I say the "arty people"? Yes, I now have one of them sitting in my city centre flat next to my radio

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  4. Oh I think the fun would be to find them all and photograph them!
    V

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  5. Amusing, making a statement, and free, what more do you need from art!

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  6. A strong message but will it get to the right people.

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  7. Wonderful where alike is possible. And yes, it shrinks life to its current size.

    Please have a good Friday.

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  8. How terrific to unexpectedly stumble on art -- 'interactive' art to boot!

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  9. We had a set of these Clay Figures at the Manchester Piccadilly railstation by the windows on Platform 1. Looked really cute, but many of my colleagues at the office did not notice them. I can send you a photograph I took yesterday morning of the artwork. :-D

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    1. That'd be cool, thanks! chrissylb@hotmail.co.uk or @chrissycurlz on Twitter

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  10. That'll make a great 'talking point' sitting there in your apartment Chrissy, what a great idea, imagine some of the very diverse situations these little statues will find themselves in.

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  11. This made me stop and LOOK:)
    Creative.

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