How To Make A Difference

Freee art collective have got a show at IPS in Bourneville (27 September to 3 November 2007). We helped them with a performance where they read out their manifesto and we joined in the bits we agreed with to make a spoken-word choir. It was exhausting but I think it's a great artwork, it really made me read the text carefully, and the conversations I had with Stuart about it to choose sections to read were just as much part of the piece as the consensus achieved during the reading itself.

The space was filled with billboard works, and large scale reinterpretations of slogan pieces such as "Protest Is Beautiful" and "The social function of public art is to subject us to civic behaviour".

The small text behind Gavin Wade and David Beech is "The function of public art for the gallery is to preserve the distinction between art and the rest of culture by establishing a legitamate form of exception on art's own terms". I also liked the way they had placards piled in the corner, not displayed like valuable art objects.

Oddly, the Birmingham Comedy Festival has picked up on this event, presumably because of the "Have You Heard The One About The Public Sphere?" video featuring Norman Collier (1970s northern comedian, known for a 'faulty microphone' routine and chicken impressions). They may also have seen the other Freee video pieces, as there is a humour in them, I particularly like the "How To Talk To Public Art" video, where they visit sculptures in Manchester and display slogans in front of them. I won't spoil the punchlines though.

Freee
International Project Space
View photos at Artstalking 2 Flickr page