EXHIBITION/INTERVENTION
SMALL ACTS OF DISOBEDIENCE
Small Acts of Disobedience has contributed to the May Day launch of Citizen Artist Newspaper, through a ‘presentation’ of Mirza & Butlers’ work – Direct Speech Acts.
Citizen Artist Newspaper Special Edition: Investigating the University’s Borders and Boundaries
This special edition newspaper commemorates the transformation of the University into a Border Regime. In this academic year especially, foreign students are tracked and monitored by the University on behalf of the Immigration Services of the Home Office, the costs of fees point up the differences in students’ economic status and the spaces and places of an institution are discrete and securitised. This special edition newspaper explores the impact of these changes on the role and purpose of a University, inviting readers to navigate the complexities of the problem through a range of critical articles, opinion pieces and artworks.
Available to download at citizenartist.org.uk
Print copies will be available soon. Copies will be distributed to universities in central London and some arts organisations.
If you would like to have a print copy posted to you, please email daphne@plessner.co.uk with ‘post me CA News’ in the header. Please include your name and address in the email.
PUBLIC ART
TIMES SQUARE MOMENT – 994,300 PEOPLE EXPERIENCED DANCE FILM – WEIGHTLESS
Erika Janunger, Weightless, 2012.
Photograph by Ka-Man Tse for the Times Square Alliance.
An estimated 994,300 people experienced the world’s largest dance space when Times Square Moment: A Digital Gallery featured a multi-screen version of the work Weightless by Swedish artist Erika Janunger. A presentation of the Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts, Times Square Moment hosted a presentation of the work every night from 11:57pm to midnight during August and September. The multi-screen work was produced by Portland Green.
Video documentation is available here: http://timessquarenyc.org/times-square-arts/moment/archive/erika-janunger/index.aspx
More information about the film is available here
NEED HELP?
2012 was the most successful year yet for the artists with which we work. More people saw projects that we have either created, produced, commissioned, exhibited or distributed in 2012 than in any year to date.
Last year we advised on a distribution strategy for an artists’ long format film, we helped an artist secure a one-person show for a multi-screen installation in London, we co-produced a major multi-screen installation for an artist in a major public site, one of our art projects was part of the parallel programme of a major Eeuropean biennial and we got down to tackling OVoD opportunities for artists’ films.
If you have a contemporary art project or artists’ film with which you need assistance, get in touch and see if we can help. More information about the services we can provide is here: http://www.portlandgreen.com/?page_id=486
PUBLIC ART/PERFORMANCE
SMALL ACTS OF DISOBEDIENCE
Following its presentation at Manifesta 9 as part of the parallel events programme, artists Heath Bunting and Stijn Van Dorpe have loaned works to the SMALL ACTS OF DISOBEDIENCE (S.A.D) archive for future re-presentation.
In Van Dorpe’s ‘Short Cut Leuven’ a line of walkers, inhabitants of the Belgian city of Leuven, move along an imaginary straight line across the city centre. The route is inevitably full of barriers and the performance makes tangible the real sensitivities that living in a city entails. In the work, Orchard of Avon, Bunting has adopted the self-nominated role of’Keeper of Apple Trees’ in Avon, locating ‘feral’ apple trees growing in inaccessible, public spaces and caring for these trees. Bunting views the project as an enforcement of the rights of the “public” and of access to wilderness.
Documentation of the project as part of Manifesta 9′s parallel events programme in the city of Genk, in the region of Limburg, Belgium is available here here
COMMISSIONS
Presented by PORTLAND GREEN™ and the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, ALFF (Artists’ Long Format Film) is the working abbreviation for a new partnership looking to develop and produce one ambitious single screen work which uses performance as a driver. Targeted at films in any genre; creative documentary, drama, artists’ film, cinematic essay or animation, the commission is inspired by the recent critical successes of artists’ long format films which have clearly demonstrated the range of contemporary performance styles that can be used effectively in long format films and still attract a mainstream audience. This is not a production award, rather, it is a vehicle from which to finance, produce and distribute a long form film. Following two calls for applications managed by Film London through which no film was commissioned, the call is now closed.
DANCE FILM
From 2006 to March 2012, Portland Green Cultural Projects managed a programme of work in dance on behalf of Art Council England. This strategic programme commissioned, exhibited and distributed dance work that exists outside of the theatre and its associated theoretical canons and economic models. Documentation of artists’ work on this site which has been supported through this Arts Council England funded programme is attributed accordingly.
We have concluded this strategic work and did not apply to be a part of Art Council England’s National Portfolio. This means that we have changed the way we work with artists and film makers. More information about the frameworks within which we work can be found here: http://www.portlandgreen.com/consulting-curatorial-production-services/ We continue to work in performance and dance within contemporary arts practice and film alongside our other work in contemporary art and film.
We have de-accessioned screening copies of films sent to us as part of the strategic programme we managed to a national archive. If you submitted a viewing copy of a film to us as part of the above programme and wish it returned, please contact us
AWARDS
CREATIVE SKILLSET
In 2013 we were awarded a Creative Skillset Management and Leadership Bursary.
BFI TRANSITION FUND
In 2011 we were awarded one of the first bfi Transition Fund Awards. The Transition Fund for Audience Development, funded through Lottery Funding, was set up by the BFI in order to support audience development projects facing budget cuts in funding as a result of the changes in the national and regional film funding landscape which have taken place before a new film strategy and funding priorities come into effect from April 2012. Peter Buckingham, Former Head of Distribution and Exhibition, BFI, said, “We have moved as swiftly as possible to ensure that film organisations are able to survive in this period of transition, and that audiences can continue to benefit from the important work that they do. Collectively these organisations contribute hugely to the access and promotion of film in the UK. They are incredibly valuable which is why it has been important for the BFI to help them.” The BFI logo denotes projects on this site which were supported by this award.
PORTLAND GREEN™ makes, curates, exhibits and distributes artists’ film and contemporary arts projects that are central to our thinking about the world at the present time. While we acknowledge that society has moved beyond a time when it expects artists to work in one, classifiable medium, our work has to date focused on ideas explored through artists’ film, creative documentary, cinematic essay, docu-drama, dance and performance film, performance, site-specific public art and other hybrid forms. These projects are timely and make a tangible contribution to contemporary culture, discourse, ideas and thinking. Our works are designed to reach large audiences and often emerge from collaborations with artists, thinkers, designers and institutions. The organization is particularly known for its work with dance, performance and film.
PORTLAND GREEN™ has delivered strategic programmes of work for public cultural institutions in the UK for over a decade, including a programme of work in dance for Arts Council England through Portland Green Cultural Projects.
In the last two years over 1.5 million people around the world saw projects/works/films that were commissioned, produced or exhibited by PORTLAND GREEN™ and the artists, collaborators and partners that it works with.
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