What have I been reading?
Tim Etchells’ piece Moon Story for the Arnolfini is a beautiful call to arms for performance.
Methodologies of Failure
Justin Langlois put a set of questions (a self-evaluation toolkit?) directed at artists engaged in social practice on Portland’s Art and Social Practice Masters blog. It’s humourous, provocative and pointed.
Ghost of Water Row on RIAS shortlist
Edo Architecture‘s Ghost of Water Row has been shortlisted for the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland’s Award, as reported in Scotland on Sunday. For more information.
Andy McAvoy of Edo said in an email,
we tried something, we failed, we burnt it down
“How you can be doing that work, how you can be this radical alternative, and those oppressive structures return so unconsciously?”
Transcript of a discussion about collectives and failure. Collectives, which are meant to be a radical alternative to the marketisation of the individual in the art economy, end up sliding unconsciously into patriarchies, or being co-opted by institutions and failing in the ambition to be radical.
Two views of participatory art
Eleanor Heartney’ review in Art in America provides a useful comparison of Kester and Bishop’s new books which continue the argument between these key theorists of socially engaged and participatory arts practices.
What art have I seen?
Peter Howson‘s exhibition From Death to Life at the Maclaurin Galleries, Ayr
Open Studios Ayrshire 22-24 March
A group of artists has gotten together to organise the first Open Studios in Ayrshire over the weekend 22-24 March 2013. The brochure can be downloaded osabrochure2013.
Fail better | e-flux
Fail better at the Hamburger Kunsthalle (not a case of What art have I seen?)
“Try again / fail again / fail better,” is an inspirational quote by the Irish writer Samuel Beckett. During his visit to Germany around 75 years ago, Beckett made a number of extended visits to the Hamburger Kunsthalle, and now—in keeping with his famous motto—the Kunsthalle is presenting a diverse selection of films and videos on the theme of failure. In works dating from the 1960s to the present day, internationally acclaimed artists explore this complex phenomenon, highlighting not only the playful, amusing and surprising aspects of failure but also its mournful and tragic dimensions.
Imagining Possibilities Conference | Public Art Scotland
This piece just went out on Public Art Scotland,
This Participation was the focus of the Imagining Possibilities conference at the University of the West of Scotland, but the conference is only a manifestation of a wider concern. The conference is part of the Remaking Communities project funded as part of Connected Communities. The Connected Communities programme embraces all the Research Funding Councils in a broad alliance to engage communities and thus increase impact. The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is currently funding four strands of the ArtWorks programme, including one in Scotland. The Scottish Government is currently working its way through a new bill on Community Empowerment and Renewal and the Westminster Government has already legislated on ‘localism’. All of these programmes put community participation at the heart of, respectively, academic research, arts practice and local democracy.
Ideas for Ayr Beach
Lianne Hackett and I, under the banner of Ayr Converses, have been thinking about Ayr Beach. We’ve set up a Storify to enable us to pull together ideas and examples. If you have any, please feel free to send me a link or add a comment below.
Legacies of British Slave-ownership
UCL have just put a new database online which allows searching for owners of slaves by name and address. So put ‘Ayrshire’ into the search field and you’ll find the addresses in Ayrshire, the Plantations in the British Carribean, Mauritius and the Cape. The last item is a sum of money. It’s the compensation paid to the slave owners.
What art have I seen?
George Wyllie: Scul?tor and Navigator at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts and Critical Dialogues: Scotland + Venice at the Lighthouse.
CHRIS FREMANTLE 
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