I am sorry to say that VOID has lived up to its ephemeral and temporary nature and is no longer present at the old flint mill location by the river Kelvin. As a ridiculous optimist I am hoping that rather than it being snapped up by some ruthless thieves hoping to melt down the work for the metal, it has been commandeered by a minimalist sculpture lover who just simply couldn’t live without our geometric sculptures in their garden or home. This theory also explains the loss of the Perspex, so let’s go with that. 

At first I was sad and upset that this could have happened, and felt that for all the time and effort we put in we should have played safe and shown our work in a gallery space. However after some time to reflect, regardless of it only being up for a week, I am so glad we had the opportunity to show our work directly to the public, creating a gallery like space in the open air structure of the ruins. I have heard that people who have been to see VOID since we installed have seen lots of people engaging with the work, so although short-lived it has been enjoyed by the public, perhaps even by members of the public who would normally not choose to enter a gallery. I will see this as a learning curve as well and will make sure that next time we consider further how we can prevent this type of theft and also physical damage to the work happening again, even for a temporary intervention.

We are trying to come up with ways in which Void can still be viewed through the documentation as part of the festival so please watch this space over the next day or so for updates about our plans. Also we will be doing a radio programme for Sub City Radio over the weekend, so please listen to the interviews and the music we have chosen to play.

OPENING EVENT: Subcity Vile Arts and Mutual Charter Radio Event 22 April 11.00-19.00
CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street

45 artists from 4 continents are working in collaboration as part of the 14 diverse projects of the Mutual Charter. The Mutual are collaborating with Vile Arts and Sub City Radio to make this exciting visual arts activity visible (and audible).
 
Recorded live over the course of one day in the CCA’s Saramango café each of the projects will translate their project and their collaboration into the medium of radio. The radio recordings will be scheduled in half hour slots from 11am to 7pm with acoustic performances and DJ sets from Subcity regulars after 7pm to keep the party going until late. The recordings will broadcast on Subcity radio during the 18 days of this years GI festival and available as podcasts to download online.



Susie Olczak

Really enjoyed working with you Jen. I hope we can collaborate again. Working at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios was a really great experience. It sounds like people are starting to engage with the work at the mill too which is great news. I hope it lasts the entire time and stays graffiti and damage free. Fingers crossed. I will be in touch regarding the mutual radio show. Your work looks really great. I will post some more photos on now. 

Well after an intensive and rewarding few days at the Glasgow Sculpture Studios we have installed the final exhibit along the river Kelvin.

After a site visit to get a feel for the space we plunged into collaborative improvisation that
I feel went really well and goes to show that sometimes spontaneity can be equally as successful as a more though-out approach. Also working in a space with many other practitioners, impulsively but to a tight deadline, with technicians also on hand to lend advice, meant I learned a lot in the space of a few days and it was great to be back in that kind of creative working environment again.

I thought the collaboration was really successful though testing as due to hiccups with material orders my piece had to be re-thought on the spot but I think it turned out to be more interesting as a result. 

Jen

Bought a couple of bits of Ali today. Going to have a go at polishing it up to mirror standards today.
Wish me luck.


Susie