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PETER WILLIAM TOY ”IS GOD DEAD”

100_0036 (2)Peter Toy : “The philosophy guiding my work is with establishing questions in relation to contemporary global dilemmas. For example; Is Nature interested in the continued survival of human kind. And also, Is God Dead. This way of working reinforces my belief that, in Art and Philosophy, questions are more important than answers.”

I am a Visual and Performance Artist with three decades experience as a practitioner and educator.
A recent project. presently in production, is the Photo book – “The Character of Katoomba” – (portraits of Katoomba personalities). I also give Professional Development workshops to Schools and Community groups on Camera use, Photographic technique and Photo-editing.

I am actively involved in Performance Art and Video Art production, the most recent being; “Is God Dead” (2011-2015), which is to be performed and exhibited at Maumau in Istanbul, Turkey in 2015 and at the Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture ,Kefalonia, Greece.
Is God Dead. (2011 – 2015).
The project begins in Sydney, Australia as performance art where I walk the streets with a sign attached to my back which reads – Is God Dead.
The project, overall, is about a cycle; beginning with the statement and continuing as a video installation, with scattered words, where one is asked to pick-up a small piece of paper which reads – Is God Dead. The work is in two parts; the performative text and the video. The video could be said to be anti-photography because it is has no subject and has little regard for framing. I call this technique of documenting freeflowingvisuals; where a hidden and unrestrained camera, (on the performer’s body), documents the performers world. In this case the streets of Sydney. This is not photo-documentation but rather a para photo-document, a space/time fragment in digital form.
A portfolio of my Performance and Video production, also known as Freeflowingvisuals, can be seen on my Vimeo Page: https://vimeo.com/freeflowingvisuals

PETER WILLIAM TOY
‘’IS GOD DEAD?’’

art performance του Peter William Toy‘’Is God Dead?’’
Saturday October 24 – 2015 – 19.00 p.m
Invitation to attend Peter William Toy in his art performance ‘’Is God Dead?’’
Τhe Artist using the everyday objects and customs of the here and now in his live performance looks at how eternal questions are dealt with in the routine of everyday life and questions if we really have time for this kind of thinking.

 

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NICHOLAS JONES : ‘’IONIAN ODYSSEY’’

12119127_998695160151135_816581614628765659_n 12079642_998695290151122_660491730441321561_nNICHOLAS JONES : ‘’IONIAN ODYSSEY’’
All who wander are not lost
For over 15 years, Melbourne artist Nicholas Jones has been making his unique work out old and unwanted books. His current body of work follows the history of navigation and mapping in the Ionian Sea, focusing on the island of Kefalonia.
Inspired by studies of the journeys of Odysseus and the collection of the Corgialenos Library in Argostoli, Jones Odyssey brings him from Australia to Greece in search of the Old, the New and the Forgotten.
*Nicholas Jones *
www.bibliopath.org <http://www.bibliopath.org/>
John Buckley Gallery – Nicholas Jones
<http://www.johnbuckleygallery.com/…/nicholas-jones-mining-t…>
State Library Exhibition – Nicholas Jones
<http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/event/conspiracy-cartographers>
Meanjin – Nicholas-jones
<http://meanjin.com.au/…/well-readan-interview-with-book-sc…/>
Where They Create – Nicholas-Jones
<http://wheretheycreate.com/Nicholas-Jones>
Facebook Page – Nicholas Jones Book-Sculptor
<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nicholas-Jones-Book-Sculptor/328129883874336>

Documentary on Nicholas Jones 2011 <http://vimeo.com/27334681>

Thoughts by the Art Critic George Kakis Konstantinatos,
introducing the work and exhibition of Nicholas Jones entitled<< IONIAN ODYSSEY>>
Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture ,Greek Island Kefalonia
August 31 2015

Just as the Antikythera Mechanism, where we see something rather very small, that hides a vast knowledge, specificity, precision, wisdom, thus – under similar terms- we should see the work of Nicholas Jones.
Like something very small, that hides his hard work, talent, knowledge
and the study of the object, which is the artistic sculpture – ‘surgical’ ‘- interference
mainly in old books.

What one can see with a glance touch in the work of Jones is that his books carry
dust of the time were written, along with the meander of the life struggle of that time,
things that both the artist brings to day light , to accept on their leaves the fresh air
in a renewed journey where their new life is starting now!

The paper cutting sculpture of Jones is respectfully taking into account what is written within these books,
The theme of the book, together with the material on or by which this occurs:
The old paper, the ink, the era fonts, etc. all been brought in today.

Given that the books printed under the photosynthesis process ,
none of them will stay permanently throughout the upcoming centuries …
(The destruction will happen under very slow process, already determined by all of us as fact regarding the
first fax printings or the payment receipts).
Only pages that are printed in the classical way in printing pressure machines- as
Example the Heidelberg type- will survive.
… the use by the artist of this specific type of classic books and their emergence in a new context, setup a play with the knowledge and the time , that posses a considerable importance.

In the present exhibited work entitled “”IONIAN ODYSSEY’’ we have a Maritime travel and Mapping.
The Navigation <>, needs the Mapping the <

>.
Sailing and Map. Content and Form.
The sailing as content, and the map as an illustration of the ride.
One creative element is the ‘’Dionysian’’ a sailing, travel experience to the material synthesis and the same time travel within us,
The other element the ‘’Apollonian’’ is the map…. counting the miles, from here to there …

 

With the assistance of the mapped knowledge, this visual navigation, searches and claims
through this Odyssey an opening in the horizons from the Old and Forgotten to the New,
still possessing the inherent seed decay.
But even so according the subtitle of the exhibition: Those who wandered were not lost!

In the Ionian Odyssey of Jones, Kefalonia Island is referred to as the Central Point.

The Creator has a clear inner sense leading him – perhaps without knowing it – and holding the papers of
Corgialenios Library, implements with his work achievements the fact that during the Greek Empire(so called by the famous Englishman Byzantinologist Sir Steven Ransiman), Kefalonia was the Center in the Ionian Sea, under the administrative title <>.

The artist is conversing- maybe- with his own “”red dressed” people, commanders of the Islands between 1810 to 1864. These people had among them the negative “Maitlands”, rejected by the local collective conscience and the positive “Napier”, saved by the consciousness of the island’s world.

Nicholas Jones works on what only through true art can be operated: He returns to the World clear the body of the Ionian Islands, expurgated by removing with his work any fainthearted geopolitical considerations.

His instrument to achieve this apologetic clearance, patience and art is his scalpel-cutter, cutting paper of his last as prayer, passing hundreds of times over the leaves of his books, chiseling and cutting them, one by one!

The book, a book, any book, tells us “something”. This same “something” is what Jones points out, interfering with his paper cutting, highlighting –after his long study-geographical, historical, cultural elements.
Let’s take as example of his work the little booklet that molds the Lion of St. Mark,
On it is printed the play “Othello” by William Shakespeare.
Yes but Othello is an official of Venice, entity having as emblem of St. Mark’s Lion.
So Jones succeeds to connect in a “talk” Shakespeare, Venice and Othello on the same scene that is the Ionian Islands, underlining the fact of the Venetian occupation on the Ionian Islands, thus putting the project in the body of this report entitled ‘’Ionian Odyssey’’.

Making one digression here to say that Othello, the famous “Black” of the famous Shakespearean tragedy, it would of course never been black. The places reserved to those black people by the Republic of Venice was rather the role of the ship rowers. What is true is that the coat of arms of the historical person , who Venice entrusted the management of Cyprus of acquisition, was represented by three berries, with underneath the word “Mauro”, in Greek means “Black”. The detail, together with the black deed of the murder of his wife Dysdaimona from undue jealousy, gave the Othello the feature of Black!

Beneath the black (or dark red or green or dark anyway -compared with white pages-) cover of his books, Nicholas Jones highlights the whiteness of the pages.

If we want to integrate his artistic work we would say that certainly belongs to the genre of sculpture.
The micro – graphic sculpture.

My opinion is that ,we still can connect this kind of sculpture with one of the art styles :
The “Op Art” (Optical Art).

Τhe fact however is that, Jones finds with his work,His Globally recognizable figurative mannerism.
(Which I’m sure started playing as a kid …!)

And the playfulness between Micro-graphic Sculpture and “Op Art”, in the postmodern era in which we are already, brings to mind a sense from the History of Art:

As Humanity nowadays is attending all her past passing in front of her eyes in a speedy way, we can consider as war signal the return of all styles….!

George Kakis Konstantinatos

Actor- Director –Visual Artist

kakis111@gmail.com

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Siren / Earthquake / Radio, Craig Dongoski – John Roach

Siren Earthquake Radio
sirenearthquakeradio.com

Artists Craig Dongoski and John Roach propose a series of events on the island of Kefalonia that explore its environment, culture and history. The project, which would run from July 22nd 2015 to August 12th 2015, is structured around the three words that make up its title: Siren Earthquake Radio. Each of these ideas suggest an energy or signal that will frame our engagement and our understanding of the forces that make up Kefalonia’s history.

The project includes four main activities: a fluid participatory event in the Melassani Cave; a performance at the Ionion Center which will bring these two U.S. artists together with local Kefalonian artists, musicians and poets; a series of radio broadcasts that present the daily and evolving work produced during the project; and a schedule of workshops and events in which the artists work with the people of Kefalonia.

1. Event at Melassani Cave
Dongoski and Roach will respond to their experiences, observations and impressions of the cave. The movement of boats through the cave’s watery enclosure will serve as the physical and metaphorical material for a performance and sound installation. The goal is to augment the tour of the cave through sonic interventions. This begins with the understanding that visitors travel and experience the cave visually as a loop. This continuous and predictable path of the boat is a circuit interlaced with small hesitations and deviations. The boats travelling this circuit will become the shifting components of a system of feedback loops, unexpected sonic collisions, music and light.

The flow of visitors will dictate the structure of this performance-intervention and will necessitate our access to and cooperation with the authorities who manage the tour schedule. On the other hand, a discrete performance using the cave as an amphitheater is of equal interest and enables other possibilities. We could engage Melassani as a controlled performance venue in addition to, or in place of the aforementioned visitor-dependant proposal.

2. Performance at Ionion Center
Dongoski and Roach will design an event for a live audience at the Ionion Center. While the shape of the performance will be determined during the residency, the goal is to work with local artists which might include musicians, dancers, poets, etc. Of particular interest is the language and music of the island, which the artists will meld with their own revelations that arise during their explorations in Kefalonia.

An initial starting point is to use the wind as source material. To this end we would like to begin a conversation with authorities that might grant us access to document wind turbines and allow us to temporarily install wind harps for collecting sound. We also want to put the geological reality of earthquakes (eg seismic activity) in the foreground of at least one of our performance pieces. Access to a facility that possesses a seismograph is of great interest for the artists and would connect the geology of the island to drawing and graphic notation.

3. Radio Broadcasts
The artists will be in constant dialogue with Kefalonia as a place: its weather, its goats, its land, its water; and will be recording and experimenting throughout their stay. Each day Dongoski and Roach will create a mix from the material accumulated so that it can be shared over the airwaves.

4. Workshops, Events and Actions
While many of our projects incorporate collaboration with the people of Kefalonia, we would like to encourage direct and organized participation through workshops the results of which can feed back into our work. One example is an instrument building workshop for children followed by an improvisation session. Another is a Greek language pronunciation workshop in which the two artists work with local participants to attempt to enunciate words in Greek.

5. Exhibition at Ionion Gallery Space
Exhibit preliminary sketches
Field Drawings
Graphic Scores
Drawings made from nature
Photo by Craig Paulsonhttp://cpaulson.com/

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