blatant self-promotion #243

for those who are heading to melbourne any time soon, i have a solo exhibition at bus gallery. listening and being is a simple installation and a series of performances about the act of listening and reflecting.

i will be doing a performance on opening night, plus on the 24th and 28th june. and it's the kind of installation that i encourage gallery-goers to interact with. it's a massive mirror that disects the space, and expect loads of ear-prints on it.

you'll see what i mean when you go there.

there'll be a little catalogue you can pick up at the gallery, but if you can't make it, and would like one - leave a comment, or email me lauren [at] sheseesred [dot] com and i'll send it to you.


here's a little reference material [heidegger warning]
and an earlier version
and a map of where the gallery is

deets

listening and being

where: bus projects
basement
673 bourke st
melbourne

when: 21 june - 9 july, 2011
opening: 21 june 6 - 8pm
gallery: wed - sat 12 - 6pm
performances: 21, 24 and 28 june

five

last week i turned five!

and when i say 'i', i mean, this blog. or me as a regular, consistent blogger.

here's my thrilling first post. back when the world was full of possibility and i was stuck in wollongong.

since 2006 the iphone has given birth, twitter has started (yep, i'm on that too), facebook has become MASSIVE, america has a black president and australia a female prime minister. the australian dollar has tripled against the pound, avaaz and getup have become big political players and michael jackson and louise bourgeois have died.

in that time i haven't been married, had children, bought a house or had a death in the family, although i have become a super-rad aunty (arnie loz to him).

i have lived in both london and berlin for shortish periods of time and have moved back to melbourne as my australian base. i have finished a masters degree in the last 5 years and have steadily intensified my arts practice.

i acutally hope this blog is still relevant in 5 years' time. not because i want to be relevant, but because i want the reasons i started it (as a way to circumvent the trad arts media gatekeepers and to vent my artspleen) to still be relevant.


here's to the future, kids.

fun and raisins

UPDATE:  after writing this up, i've decided that even though i need the cash, peeps back home in australia - especially in queensland, need a stack of it too. if you buy any of the prints, half the money from each print will be donated to the flood relief appeal - to help people survive this crazy situation. [it's not much, but it all helps]

please help out by buying some small prints.

special art give away.

as a special treat for you all, i'm giving some prints away.

i made a special set of printed 'notes' (A6) - listening currency of two different values: listening and not-listening.  each piece is worth either an hour of listening, or an hour of not-listening, to the wonderful person you give it too.

the listening notes are for free. just 'buy' one through the paypal button, and i'll send you one. it's a super-cheap gift you can pass on. or you can pin it up on your wall - i don't mind.

the second in the set, however, the not-listening notes, however, are £10 (which is $A15 or €12). same process, but that hour of not having to listening is worth a little more, don't you think? how much do you value a little peace'n'quiet?

great art pay-my-way

and in the spirit of survival, i've got a couple of survival knife prints to sell**: black or white, as part of an edition of 3. 

they are a little larger than A2 and the £50 price includes postage within europe**. if you're in australia/nz and you'd like one, email me and we can work out something special for postage.

UPDATE: as i mentioned above, £25 from each print will go towards flood relief for residents of queensland, australia - to help them survive.

*all the prints are acrylic on watercolour paper.

**so i can actually survive for 2 weeks in london, without having to warble in the underground - not that i'm above that either, mind.

blatant self-promotion #242

ok, so this is simultaneously exciting and embarassing.


you know those blogs that just on about about the stuff they're doing? without saying anything really interesting? this is quickly turning into one of them, isn't it. i'm so sorry, dear regular reader. i promise that, after this, i will spend the rest of the year sitting in cafes reading interesting articles on the state of the world, and watching it all go by so that i can impart interesting, quirky or ridiculous ideas about me and the rest of humanity.


and in the mean time, come to this show!


actually, it's been quite an exciting process being involved in this exhibition. as you may recall, i popped into the gallery not so long ago - really intrigued by what they were up to, and have since been in pretty regular contact with matthew and sonja, the crazy-intelligent directors.


after quite a bit of intense discussion about the history, language and misdirection of site-specificity*, they have been gracious or foolish enough to invite me to make a work to include in their latest show. 


the work i'm making has been a bit of a dissection of a dissection of ideas about site-specific artists. it's also probably the least visual/aesthetic of all the work i've made to date - sitting deeper in concept and imagination. location in all its complexities.


it has felt like the equivalent of making an audio work that has been implanted in your memory, without you ever having heard it, and then forcing you to unhear it.

a lot of the ideas and the unravelling happens on paper: the role of artists in relation to site/space/history, the role of the critic in it all, how important language is, placing art within the fabric of society/public/political realm (as opposed to the decoration of it) and the nature of perception - visual/audio and imagination.


the other artists in the show really are making some fantastic works, so if you're in berlin, it'd be great to see you there.


deets:


what: site-specificity
when: 13. november 2010 from 7pm 
where: essays and observations 
maxstraße 1 - 13347 berlin


opening times until 18. december: 
saturdays from 2-7pm and by appointment






----


* some references for those not able to come along:


richard serra
miwon kwon
bruce smith/hark!

a perfect day to chase tornadoes (red)

For those of you in Berlin this weekend, I'm doing a little intervention/performance as part of SuperKaleidescope's exhibition, A Perfect Day to Chase Tornadoes (White) at the Kunstquartier Bethanien in Kreuzberg.

It's the final day of the exhibition and let's just say that the work will be a goodnight and goodluck gift.

The exhibition is open from 11:00 - 18:00 and i'll be there most of the day. Come and say hi.

blatant self-promotion #240

this one's especially to all the melbourne peeps:


tomorrow (Sunday), RMIT brunswick campus will open its grounds, hallways, foyers, ceilings and overlooked spaces for Artland at RMIT. And i have a little work in it, so please pop along and have a look. Especially because wanda and jodie from RMIT union arts have done such a great job of scoping the site and installing it for me whilst i've been here in berlin. angels.

from the official blurb:


"Part of Moreland City Council’s MoreArt public art show, Artland at RMIT is a unique exhibition open to all RMIT students to enter. Through sculpture, installation, temporary or ephemeral artworks – artists are invited to use the space available to create works around the theme ‘Artists imagining your world’."

oh, and all exhibitors will be eligible for the $1,000 RMIT union arts award, judged and presented by the MoreArt judging panel. so, you know. anyone on the judging panel, i could do with $1,000. :D


deets:
10-24 October 2010
RMIT Brunswick Campus
Dawson St, Brunswick.
Victoria, Australia


opening: Sunday 10 October 
3.30 - 5.30pm, 
RMIT Brunswick Campus.



The exhibition opening will be preceded by 3 guided tours of the exhibition/festival/shindig:

12.30 pm Bicycle Tour. Meet at Gowrie Train Station
1.00 pm Train and Walking Tour. Meet at Coburg Train Station
1.20 pm Bicycle Tour. Meet at Coburg Train Station


http://launch.rmit.edu.au/artland.html 

silent nights

more blatant self-promotion! shock!



light projects have launched their projection night-screen program, silent nights - a series of video works that reflect the medium and process of video/production and my work .... to get a bit of bloody peace... has been included.

it follows the process of a woman sealing a public stairwell in order to create a 'cone of silence' for some sonic solitude and acoustic privacy. those of you who saw my installation at first site will recognise the 'set'. and some of you may also recognise the title - pinched from the words of one miss penny modra, who wrote about Cone of Silence I in the press as "the crazy things we do to get a bit of bloody peace nowadays". she said it was ok. promise.

over the next 10 days, they're running a couple of video works that reflect a rotating theme. clare rae, kate woodcroft and I are part of the action theme. the next two themes are time and narrative, featuring plenty of ace artists.


it's all starting tomorrow night (april 3) and runs until april 12 at 176 high st, northcote. my work will run 3-5 april, so pop over and see it, if you're in town.

blatant self-promotion #234 - 238

this year is a busy one for me - i have projects coming out of my ears, so sorry if the shameless plugs become a little dull. but then again, i happen to be a tiny bit proud of what i do, so you'll all just have to deal with it.

this week is crazy in terms of 'what's on':

the wardrobe



hosted by skylab in fitzroy, the wardrobe is a little theme-based cabinet space on charles st, just behind Somebuddy Loves You on Smith St. the current theme is decay, so of course i put my hand up to include something.

here's the little blurb about the work, Dead Cert.

decay doesn't always mean death.
but you can't have death without decay.

death is one of those omnipresent rites of passage that still confounds humans. we're all incredibly supportive of people grieving, but rarely do we like talking about our own death with a sense of lightness, whimsy or fun. even humour about death is called black humour. but when you think about it, death is quite an absurd idea - one minute you're there, the next you're a small pile of ashes in a box.*

this work makes "public" and "official" absurd acts of death which intersect with magic, turns of phrase, or soppy romanticism. this work also give me, as the artist, the freedom of being dead. in a conceptual sense. i can't tell you how simultaneously liberating and magical it felt to see myself declared deceased. a freedom from decay.


deets:
mon 25th may - sun 31st may
24/7

at The Wardrobe
1/193 smith st
fitzoy, 3065

http://skylabcreative.wordpress.com/


orr st garden



penny algar, an artist who specialises in horticultural vs art projects has created a public garden focusing on cultivating and celebrating weeds and insect, as part of her masters work.
working with amanda coulston whose work on emergent system in entomology is fascination, the garden space on orr st, melbourne (in between lygon and cardigan sts) is being launched tomorrow night (wednesday).

over the weekend, i captured some sound and did some sound-based drawings of the garden, which will be projected as part of the opening festivities.

deets:
wed 27th may
5-6:30pm

at Orr St Garden
Next to Bldg 50
Orr St, Melbourne


abracadaver



regular readers may remember that about this time last year, abracadaver featured at allan's walk, as an exhibition with the lovely linda mcrae.
this year, some of the work comes to melbourne, with a little bit of new stuff too.

for those who don't know, here's a bit about the show:

abracadaver is a show about magic, death and artifice. The exhibition draws on aspects of the macabre and the somber, as well as the fantastic to create architecturally-inspired and objects and spaces of death.

..including jack-in-the-box funerary urns and hurdy-gurdy coffins, the show investigates the social taboo of housing death and its links with the secrets of magic and trickery: sound/light-based work and interactive sculpture actively “put the fun into funeral”.


deets:
opening tuesday 9th june, 6 - 8pm.
exhibition continues until saturday 26th june
wed - sat, 12 - 6pm

at Bus Gallery
Level 1, 117 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne, 3000
Skinny Gallery

http://www.bus117.com



a candystriper project: bus



following on from our projects at trocadero and as part of the melbourne laneways commission (which we were successful for, but had to sadly pass up), the candystripers have hit the BUS gallery foyer.

a little blurb about the project:

Seeking to create hyper-real spaces that walk the line between exterior and interior experiences, The Candystripers project at Bus transforms the foyer into a cross between Victorian wallpaper, an oversized minimalist painting and a helicopter landing pad.


deets:
opening tuesday 9th june, 6 - 8pm.
exhibition continues until saturday 26th june
wed - sat, 12 - 6pm

at Bus Gallery
Level 1, 117 Little Lonsdale St
Melbourne, 3000
Foyer

http://www.bus117.com



added to all that i have a string of shows for my sound-based masters project (which has divorced its previous title: soundproofing the city). i'll post about that separately methinks, as there's much afoot.

anyways, so that's what i've been up to and if you get a chance to see any of the works, or come to the opening nights, do come and say hello.


*paraphrase: Esther Anatolitis, not the ON, or the OFF, but the ON-OFF, ON-OFF; catalogue essay for abracadaver.

some cool stuff i've seen lately.

i have to apologise for being largely self-centred on this blog of late. you know, masters projects will do that sometimes, i hear.

i made a promise to myself that i would reduce the amount of shows i was seeing - not out of some crazy "don't let the ideas get filtered" kind of paranoia, but mostly out of a time-management kind of thing. "if i'm spending every night at an exhibition opening, i'll not get any work done" kind of paranoia.

anyway, i've been able to squeeze a few shows in over the last couple of weeks and wanted to tell you about them.



my own private idealogue, at gertrude st and curated by emily mccormack, was a group show of new zealand artists and it was rockin'. NZ is killer right now and this just goes to shows it. featuring joanne langford, peter madden and rohan walleans, the show was predominantly sculpture, with a real focus on paper-like materials.

personally i liked the langford city/structure-type-things (unsurprising, given my predilection for all things architectonic) and the peter madden works. his delicate and multiple and flight-like works are amazing. in fact, they reminded me of jeremy bakker's works at bus last year (and the current show at bus by lewella lewis, ex-field gallery also has some soft, city-type sculptures atm).



and speaking of jeremy bakker, his show at west space - a continuation of that show - is ace!! it's more about space and architecture than the mostly 2D works from last year, and is quite a stunning space to walk into. his little orifice trumpet type things are overwhelming and the repetition of the hole is reminiscent of astronomy, pianola roll, yayoi kusama and something a bit hossein valamanesh too. [and, if you're in sydney - go see the valamanesh show at GRANTPIRRIE - his work is always divine.]

the other two works at westspace are also pretty good. my first impression of doug heslop's near death (pictured, from the westspace site) was 'just another boy art install'.. but i've been thinking about it a lot lately. i'm still a bit tired of most of the plaster/plastic school of messy symbols stuff, but there's been something about the large distorted fuselage in the gallery that i think i might like.
sophia hewson's painted resin romantic images are quite stunning too.

i'm liking the seventh projection window - the previous work with that gillian wearing-type creepy mask? awesome. and looking forward to seeing more stuff there.

and i was able to pop into dianne tanzer last week too. i really only liked a couple of works in the project space - the photo-realistic paintings of vintage photographic equipment (by victoria reicheldt) and andrea innocent's work at lamington drive is also amazing. loads of beautiful japanese illustration, plus a little cubby of japanese packaging heaven and/or hell - depending on your point of view.


oh, and the MMOP open day i went to? killer! loads of fun - bands (primitive calculators - see above pic), vegie burgers, great prints, lots of cool stuff to see and a feeling that the museum might just be loved again. there's a flickr group with loads of cool pics to see.




some shows i'm excited about in the near future include a group show at horus and deloris in sydney, called evolving madly mark making. my dear friend david peddle has work in it and it should be a great little show. the gallery is tops and worth a trundle down to pyrmont.

plus, marco fusinato is at anna schwartz in june (yay!), the creative aggression magazine (above) launch at no vacancy looks good, michael georgetti and rob bartolo at shifted, raster noton at the shop (the e-flux space in NYC) looks to be a corker and i'm super excited to hear about a new gallery opening up in melbourne focusing on proces/conceptual works: sarah scout. eep!

oh, and considering i have a slew of shows, projects and stuff that i'm doing over the next little while, there may well be an avalanche of self-referential, bordering on the blatant.

i'll try for moderation.


PS - this is post #500 on she sees red. whoa.

blatant self-promotion #233

This weekend is a busy one for me! Not only do I have work in the first show at garage openings, me and 3 other artists are setting up a pop-up artists' studio at The Harvest Festival in Collingwood and conducting workshops.




My workshops will be around the idea of acoustic privacy and we'll be creating some Mobile Privacy Units - if you're in the Collingwood/Fitzroy area on Saturday afternoon, pop in and say hi. There'll be stuff to make, artworks to see and there'll be artists working in the open studio for most of the day.

Word on the street is that there'll be a car and car cosy installed in the studio, which should be fun :)

blatant self-promotion #232

melody ellis, who has had an awesome history of arts admin/curating/getting-stuff-done type stuff, has started a new thang in her home town of canberra. garage openings, literally in the garage of her place, shared with sarah logan, is the new site for emerging and contemporary art bits and pieces.

their first show is feathering the nest, a mail-art project, where artists have been invited to send a work via the post. 'so long as it fits in an envelope' was the primary requirement. all works will then become a 'nest' in the space - a true mashup.

i sent along some of the patterns/wallpaper works from 1300 x 740 x 47, which became bias, which has now had another cool manifestation (more on manifestation and installation another time). and getting the works back is optional (and i, for one, haven't requested mine back), so it's becomes more about the participation, rather than some kind of commodity.

so if you're in canberra , head to the opening! mel is going to send me pics, which will end up on flickr, so keep an eye out.

the deets:

feathering the nest
opening night: saturday 4 april 6-8pm

garage openings
68 hopetoun circuit
yarralumla, ACT


UPDATE: Here's the list of artists:
Marc Alperstein
Jonathan Baskett
Zanny Begg
Lauren Brown
Kate Carr
Monica Carroll
Melody Ellis
Marc Freeman
Somaya Langley & Christian Malejka
Sarah Logan
Annette Marie
Paul McGee
Brendon McKinley
Sarah Mosca
Vedanta Nicholson
Kalina Pilat
Francesca Rendle-Short
Spyridon Simotas
Peta Sirec
Richard Spellman
Alison Spence
Sarah St Vincent Welch
Casey Temby
Nella Themelios
Amy Thompson
Stedman Watts
Zuza Zochowski

image credit: nest in a tree, melody ellis.

blatant self-promotion #231

no rest for the wicked or the cruel, or so they say. i'd add insane to that list.



this post is specifically for all the sydney folk: tonight you have to skip on down to MOP gallery's annual fundraising show. it's only on for tonight, between 6 and 8pm and all works are $50. $50!! that is hella cheap and i can tell you there'll be some awesome artists in the show.

i happen to have a work in the show (I think it arrived on time??!!) kinda like the work above, but you should go, even if i don't - not only is it a great opportunity to pick up some nifty arty bargains, just in time for christmassy givin's, but also an opportunity to support an ace gallery like MOP and the artists they work with.

deets:
thursday 18th december, 2008 - one night only
opening night: thursday 18th december 6-8pm

at MOP gallery
2/39 abercrombie st,
chippendale, nsw
http://www.mop.org.au

all works $50 - cash and carry (which means you don't have to wait 2 weeks to get your goodies! yay!)

blatant self-promotion #230

just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, jaws decides to go to jamaica with mario van peebles, man.

and just when you thought you were safe from having to hear about more upcoming projects of mine, i had to go and be part of another awesome group show.

the list of artists involved is amazing and i'm pretty excited to be showing with them - special shout outs go to long-time friend dave peddle, karla way and the jaeger gals.. it's gonna be ace. and also big-ups to RMIT Union Arts, who were very generous and gave me a little bit of cash towards the work, which was super nice of them.


blurb about the show: my world is no bigger than 15 x 15 is a collection of small works by artists across disciplines, research and destinations, all connected by works that are literally no bigger than 15 x 15cm.

blurb about my work: when i realised my world was no bigger than 15 x 15documents the process of "measuring" 15 x 15 cm as a way of knowing space and the realisations that happen when you truly experience the dimensions of your 'world' through empirical and mathematical means.


deets:
exhibition dates: 11th - 23rd November
opening night: Tuesday 11th Nov, 6-8pm

At Gallery 374
374 High St
Northcote, Victoria

*Catch the 86 Tram from Bourke St, or walk from Northcote Station - It's just north of Separation St.

Artists:
KARLA WAY
KIM WEARNE
DAVE PEDDLE
RUBY DE SOUZA
SIMON TAYLOR
EMMA RUTHERFORD
EMELIE PLUNKETT
PAN PERSON
LILIAN PAVNOVIC OLSSON
PAT O’BRIEN
KIRSTY MADDEN
KIRSTEN LAW
RENEE JAEGER
EDRYAN H JA’AFAR
SEAN HOGAN
SARAH HEYWARD
WILL GARNSEY
JESSIE FAIRWEATHER
ALFRED EIDEN
JESSICA DEAN
LAUREN BROWN
SEAN BAILEY
KIM ALEKSANDROWICZ

This one's only on for a short time, so don't forget to pop in!


PS - the show at Craft Victoria (blatant self-promotion #229) is open until the 29th, so if you're in the CBD, check that out too. I'll upload documentation real soon :)

blatant self-promotion #229

next week i'm in a group show at craft victoria, called making sense.



making sense

here are the deets
thursday 30th oct - saturday 29th nov, 2008
opening night: thursday 6-8pm

artists:
lauren brown (that's me),
cherylene brearley,
ffixxed,
ed janssen and
emma white

at craft victoria
31 flinders lane, melbourne
http://www.craftvic.asn.au

here's the premise
Making Sense explores the intersection between craft process and the everyday, featuring the work of artists who use hand facture to re-cast, re-scale or replicate benign objects and spaces. Why is the everyday thing, whether object, environment or articulated space, a point of departure for contemporary craft practice? Why is the concept and gesture of the 'handmade' increasingly important across a number of artistic disciplines and how is it being used to critique the nuances of everyday life?

and here's a little bit about he work i'm doing for it.
cities can be walked or cycled through as a way to experience them on a personal level. but how do we have a humanist-psychological experience about the places we're in? one of the ways which we can measure space and know it in this way is through touch - through a more craft-based, hands-on approach. once you have traversed a corner, or the north-east wall with your hands, in some way, you know the space intimately and can come to terms with it. you see it as it really is, blemishes, scuffs, bits of plaster coming off where the blu-tack holding up that poster was. this space is personal. and your place within it can be determined through your place within it - not through more stuff, more objects, more resources, more waste, more money.


would love to see you there!

blatant self-promotion #228

I have some work in Wallpaper '08 this year. At Trocadero Artspace in Footascray. Opening's on Saturday at 4pm. Come along - amongst the young hipster crowd, i'll be the odd one out.

blatant self-promotion #227

I have a couple of works in this show. Pop down and see it if you get a chance.

blatant self-promotion #226

[click to enlarge]

from the media release:

Abracadaver is a joint show about magic, death and artifice. The exhibition draws on aspects of the macabre and the somber, as well as fun and whimsy. It features the sculptural installation work of Lauren Brown and the illustrations and photographic work of Linda McRae. Tucked away from the limelight in a small arcade gallery, hiding in a regional town, the exhibition also focuses on that which is precious being hidden and then revealed in art, death and magic.


Brown investigates the crossover of magic and death through the idea of the resting place as ‘architecture’ and her sound/light-based work and interactive sculpture actively “put the fun into funeral”*. Meanwhile, McRae focuses on the subconscious, reflecting the link between death, faith and magic. She interprets magic as the unknown, the mystery, the confusion, the trick of the eye, and the afterlife through a series of banner works, illustrations and etchings.



*quote from Jake and Dinos Chapman, When Humans Walked the Earth