ART IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

First Skeeze, the first in a three part experimental poetry series.

First Skeeze, the first in a three part experimental poetry series at Studio 6, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Tuesday 26th July, 7pm – 8.30pm
Performing: Billy Dante, David Hynes, Róisín Power Hackett, Daniel Wade

Skeeze, is a word used by James Joyce in Ulysses, meaning ‘to ogle’

The word has since developed more voyeuristic and sexual overtones. Skeeze is the starting point for this experimental poetry series, drawing attention to the voyeurism of the audience’s gaze. Rather than focusing on the performersSkeeze will turn the gaze towards the audience.The poetry at Skeeze will be both experimental and leaning towards the traditional. Poetry that crosses the boundary into live art and theatre. Poetry that uses visual as well as aural elements. Cut-up poetry or comic poetry that actively engages with the audience will be performed. Skeeze aims to challenge the audiences preconceived idea about what poetry can be.

In Third Skeeze, which will take place in September, the gaze of the audience will be turned upon themselves, in an open mic that the audience are invited to participate in – perform their own work or the work of their favourite writer. Following the open mic performances, there will be a discussion about experimental poetry, what are its parameters? How does the audience feel about it? How does the general public feel about art that takes them out of their comfort zone and is not immediately understandable in the usual sense? This discussion will be chaired by Róisín Power Hackett and Ruth Kerr, the organisers of the series. They will come armed with some questions to kick off the conversation, as well as some poetry books to accommodate anyone who fancies participating.

Second Skeeze, Monday 29th August, 7pm – 8.30pm
Performing: Suzanne Walsh, Sean Ruane, Sue Rainsford, Caoimhe Lavelle

Third Skeeze, DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED – Open mic & experimental poetry discussion. Please e-mail roisinhackett24@gmail.com for more information on open mic event.

Introduction to Systems Theory & Cybernetics

Location: Bluecoat
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2016
Time: 6.00 PM
Tickets: £3/£2

Dr. Francis Halsall, an academic, art writer and course director of Art in the Contemporary World at National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Dublin leads a beginners guide to systems theory and cybernetics.

Systems theory argues that no matter how complex or diverse the world, we can always identify underlying types of organising principles or ‘systems’. Applying equally to the organic and machine, the physical and the virtual, systems theory most often focuses on complex self-regulating systems that we might term ‘cybernetic’.

Halsall will explore the cultural and social effects of these systems of information, control and feedback which form part of the research for Dennis McNulty’s new Biennial commission Homo Gestalt, itself a work of multiple interconnecting and intercommunicating parts – an installation at Bluecoat, a time limited promenade performance and an iPhone app

For more information view Francis Halsall’s research profile online, or visit his blog.

Longtable discussion with Prof. Willem Boshoff and Dr. Francis Halsall (Dublin) on the Willem Boshoff Archive

Date: 13 July 2016
Time: 14:00 – 16:00
Place: Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery, University of the Free State
Enquiries: Prof Suzanne Human, humane@ufs.ac.za

In a conversation led by Dr. Francis Halsall from the National College of Art & Design, Dublin, Ireland, Willem Boshoff’s digital archive will be discussed. The archive is a major source of Boshoff’s artistic output and the product of many years of intensely disciplined and wide-ranging research and documentation in three main areas – botany, language and music. The digital archive was recently donated to the University of the Free State and may be consulted at the Department of Art History and Image Studies. Large parts of it will also be made accessible on the University website at http://scholar.ufs.ac.za. The playful, informative, artistic and sensory processes involved in the production and performance of the archive will be unravelled as part of a range of interconnected networks and systems.

Other participants:
- Ivan Vladislavic, author of Willem Boshoff (2004)
- Dr Katja Gentric whose doctoral dissertation at the University of Bourgogne (2013) is on Boshoff’s work
- Helene Smuts, arts education writer and publisher
- Masters’ student on Boshoff’s archive, Josef van Wyk
- Prof Johan Rossouw, philosopher and author