photo by Kaz from his exhibition floating world

photo by Kaz

On 15 June, 2013, from 12 – 6pm I read an essay from Allan Kaprow’s  Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life selected to coincide with the initial installation Always Untitled by Kaz from his exhibition floating world

photo by Kaz

photo by Kaz

On 29 June, 2013, from 12 – 6pm I read from The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst, a book discovered in the UC Irvine locker of Bas Jan Ader after his disappearance at sea, and also a subject of the Tacita Dean series of art works collectively entitled Disappearance at Sea. This text was selected to coincide with the second installation at floating world including Coming and Going and Nozomi, both by Kaz

photo by Kaz

photo by Kaz

On 6 July, 2013,  from 12 – 6pm I read text from a slide presentation given in 1972 by Robert Smithson on his visit to the Hotel Palenque. This text was read to coincide with the installation Untitled (494) by Kaz and an installation of works by Stefano W. Pasquini’s.

photo by Kaz

photo by Kaz

Read more about floating world here: http://www.kaznet.org/floating_world/index.html

Massly Observed tweets

June 18, 2013

MOdrawing01a copy

For the upcoming Banner Repeater exhibition I will be tweeting selected lines of text from the 1937-38 Mass Observation Archive’s Day Surveys on a daily basis. Follow me @BRartreader #masslyobserved.

In the first half of the 20th century a movement called Mass Observation was begun by an artist, a filmmaker and an anthropologist. Through diaries and questionnaires, observers became recorders, capturing the everyday existence of their own lives and the lives of those around them. Working with the archive at The University of Sussex, SE Barnet returns some of these everyday details from back into the community at large, tweeting selected lines of text from the 1937-38 Day Surveys throughout the exhibition.

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I’m happy to announce I will be contributing 3 days of Reading to London artist Kaz’ upcoming exhibition floating world at Kingsgate Gallery this summer.
http://www.kaznet.org/floating_world/index.html

Over the duration of the exhibition period I will be reading aloud to individual viewers of the floating world, giving one to one readings to visitors . These readings create an engagement that occurs within an economy of time and attention. The resulting connection between reader and listener forms a moment of intimacy amongst strangers within a public environment.

In these scenarios the selection of text is based on an offer to read and relay what has not been made time for. The readings, excerpted from texts of contemporary and historical writers and artists, have been specifically selected to correspond to the floating world. Each chosen excerpt offers a deliberate association to the context of the given conditions and surroundings. What is read affords the listener an opportunity to engage with relevant issues and concerns present through the exhibition.

I will be offering readings of related texts on 15, 29 June and 13 July between 12 – 6pm.
If you are in London please come by.
http://www.kaznet.org/floating_world/se_barnet.html

Visual and other pleasures

February 24, 2013

I’ve contributed a short bit on Laura Mulvey’s event at Birkbeck – have a read of it.
http://blogs.bbk.ac.uk/events/2013/02/13/visual-and-other-pleasures-by-laura-mulvey/

http://www.sebarnet.net/index.html

Reading Residency at Banner Repeater

http://www.bannerrepeater.org/

SE Barnet will be reader in residence during the exhibition June 29 – Aug 10 on Tuesdays 11-7pm and Thursdays 3-6pm, all welcome to come and read with her. She will be reading from the The Müleskinders: A Prototype Publication as well as other material from the artists publications archive, whilst making diagrammatic connections apparent during her residency.

Reading Room works:

The Müleskinders: A Prototype Publication

Contributors: David Berridge, Stuart Calton, Julia Calver, Neil Chapman, Susanne Clausen, Arnaud Desjardin, Ruth Maclennan, Katy Macleod, John Mullarkey, Tamarin Norwood, Simon O’Sullivan, Katrina Palmer, Francesco Pedraglio, Bridget Penney, John Russell, John Russell, Ola Ståhl, David Stent, Andy Weir and Italo Zuffi. The Müleskinders is a project initiated by Neil Chapman & David Stent.

Diagrammatic Form.

29th June – 12th August 2012.

All works were selected from the open submission call-out.

Project Space works :

Richard Paul, Joey Holder, Nicholas Knight, Hilary Koob-Sassen, Julia Bonn, Kit Poulson, Jon Txomin, and Alan Brooks (courtesy of MOT gallery),

Performance. Marcin Dudek (courtesy of Waterside Contemporary). Friday 27th July, Hackney Downs rail station, 8.45am.

http://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/detail/3239424

A Big Thank You!

May 16, 2012

To all of you that have contributed writing to the Massly Observed project THANK YOU!

If you are waiting to transcribe written text into the computer you can also scan and send to me. If you are planning to snail mail do drop me a line to let me know so I can be on the look out.

Thank you everyone and I will keep you all informed as the project continues.
X
S

Hello and happy May-days.

I am starting a new project and I’d like to invite participation.

75 years ago a group called Mass Observation published a compilation of reports from over 200 individual observers. The book, May 12 1937, is a portrait of life in a single day.

The day of the title was a special occasion – the coronation of George VI. Yet, the actual remit of the Mass Observation movement was more about the everyday experience.

In the current environment of surveillance and twitter, I’d like us to return to a potential origin of self-consciousness as both repetition and homage.

I’d like us each to record a bit of May 12, 2012. At any point during the day, wherever you might find yourself, write down what you see, what you hear, what you feel. It can be extensive or brief, in depth or broad, whatever suits. Then email or post it to sebarnet02@hotmail.com or 1 Agamemnon Road, flat b, London, NW6 1EB, UK. If you would like to maintain anonymity that’s fine, if you would like to be noted as a Mass Observer that’s fine too. The plan is to publish the results in a small volume.

Feel free to get in touch with any questions or queries. Comments are welcome. This call will be on Facebook and WordPress sites.

Some History:

The Mass Observation movement included a reliance on randomness and association to attempt to uncover an experiential picture. They then presented their observations through documents that result in depictions of associative connectivity. Begun by a poet, journalist, and Surrealist painter, Charles Madge, a documentary filmmaker, Humphrey Jennings, and an anthropologist, Tom Harrison, Mass Observation aimed to create “an anthropology of ourselves” by recording everyday life in Britain through a panel of around 500 untrained volunteer observers who either maintained diaries or replied to open-ended questionnaires. These observers acted as recorders, attempting to capture the everyday existence of their own lives and the lives of those around them.

Some Links:

http://www.massobs.org.uk/a_brief_history.htm

Story of elsewhere; not these people, not this place

Documentation of exhibition at the Stanley Picker Gallery, February 2011

16 still images slide show of the stills on PowerPoint

8 minute documentation video, Quicktime movie

Written thesis statement (US grammar and spelling)

list of contents:

– Story of elsewhere abstract: pages 2-3
– Story of elsewhere list of contents: page 4
– Story of elsewhere; not these people, not this place introduction: pages 5 – 8
– Story of elsewhere: pages 9 – 31
– Story of elsewhere – an exhibition in writing: pages 32 – 34
– Landmark Videos – seven videos in writing, order based on their inclusion in the exhibition Story of elsewhere: pages 35-80
– Story of elsewhere – technical elements and background circumstances in detail: pages 81-88
– A short conclusion: page 89
– Bibliography: page 90 – 91

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