The Butcher Of Common Sense
Exhibition: Sat 13th October – Sat 3rd November 2012, Mon – Sat, 12 – 6pm
Please note the gallery will close at 5pm on Friday the 26th of October due to a private function.
Private View: Friday 12th October 7:30pm
PREVIEW NIGHT EVENT: I am a building
A special preview night to launch the project. The book will be showcased alongside a sound performance which will be a direct and visceral interaction with this fresh space, finding its resonances, digging into its psyche, memories and feelings. How does the music affect the room and how does the room affect the music?
24th October 2012 - Earshot : 8.00pm
Sound art and vocal invention. Active and reactive. Conversations imagined or actual . who is listening and why?
With guest musicians - Transept
1st November 2012 - Click dot and silence : 8.00pm
Final performance event. The butchers play with silence and sound and with the audience in time and space. Where does the sound go?
“Whether distracted or in despair, insecure or lacking inspiration, the act of spending time with The Butcher Of Common Sense is the ultimate medicine for creative block” Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard. 2012
An experimental project in art and music, developed over a three-year period, carried out by 9 artists beginning with a 10-day intensive stay in Berlin in a defunct DDR radio station, Funkhaus Nalepestrassse.
The idea was to become immersed in the surroundings and spontaneously and intuitively, create a range of audio and visual art within the space.
-Part of the idea of the space we occupied in Berlin was that the spirit of this old berlin broadcasting studio would enable a sort of psycho-archaeology; so we weren’t so much building things as uncovering them - feeding off the space and the city. We wanted to take that process, distill it and then make it into something whereby we could record it musically, verbally and visually.
The result is The Butcher of Common Sense: An art book. A vinyl. An album. A performance. An exhibition.
In essence it is an experiment that explores the relationships between art, music, environment and the creative process.
The Butcher Of Common Sense: exhibition
We want you to step into the building and into the book.
The exhibition will explore and reveal the layers of work that generated The Butcher Of Common Sense through a static show of the visual art and sound alongside three nights of performance and music.
An edition of 150 which consists of - a 340 page limited edition hand finished artbook, a 10” vinyl and a CD album [36.11']
The Butcher Of Common Sense will be available to purchase at the exhibition for £150
A limited number of silkscreen prints have been produced especially for the Horse Hospital shows which will also be available to purchase.
Berlin Funkhaus
The Berlin Funkhaus Nalepestrassse is a formidable space , built by Franz Ehrlich in 1951 in Oberschöneweide to house a national broadcasting centre. With all the DDR shows radiating from within the building, Ehrlich created one of the most outstanding works of architecture of the epoch. Ceasing to operate upon German reunification, the last five years has seen the building begin to undergo a rejuvenation as a vast self-contained centre for the arts.
http://butcherofcommonsense.wordpress.com/
The Butcher of Common Sense : artists
This simple idea of asking a question about working practice, has changed 9 artists’ output and expanded their creative lives immeasurably.
Jon Baker - Musician. He is co-director of The Voice Project - an innovative music organisation that creates large-scale choir performances of new vocal music. He also curates Vocal Invention, a festival of experimental voice.
For Jon the BOCS project allowed greater musical experimentation with the band The Neutrinos particularly in relationship to his continuing work with sound in architectural space.
Mark Howe - Musician. works for CME, a community-based education project working through the medium of music and multi-media to provide development opportunities for people of all ages and abilities.
The BOCS project enabled Mark to further develop character-led approaches to songwriting and performance skills.
Karen Reilly - Musician/artist. On leaving the RCA where she studied photography, Karen moved into music and performance with The Neutrinos touring Europe, Canada and the US. More recently producing the bands' shows as they move into performing in unorthodox or derelict spaces.
The BOCS project has taken her work back into the gallery space and has created the opportunity for her to side-step the conventional gig venues, creating new worlds of engagement and vocal performance.
Sal Pittman - Visual Artist. Also works in art direction, visual styling and graphic art. Predominantly inspired by music, she works regularly on projects with Mute and contemporary musicians, artists and writers including set design for Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard. Additionally she regularly lectures in design at the University of the Arts.
The main visual art / book contributor, Her work has been focused by the BOCS project to realise her monochrome graphic technique of illustration, collage and visual storytelling.
Johnny Cole - Producer and recording engineer. The range of spaces and acoustic environments within the building presented unique opportunities for recording and sound experimentation.
Dan Tombs - Web and video artist. On his return from Berlin Dan was inspired to concentrate on live visuals and to develop his resource of digital artwork for underground music promo videos and live performance including acts such as Factory Floor, Jon Hopkins and Walls.
Roz Colman - Writer. Roz had never performed live before as a musician and on returning from Berlin she joined the band DODOD which released an EP to national critical acclaim.
The main essay writer, Roz has also recently become a producer at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.
BK and Dad [aka Pip Cotterill and Leo Thornley] - Musicians Pip and Leo joined The Neutrinos as musicians on this project and they have since been inspired to take their band performance away from conventional spaces, placing their music amongst the audience, exploring light and sound and space. They have been awarded funding to develop their work through 2012 and beyond.