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Virtual Migrants - Terminal Frontiers Exhibition (Q Arts)
TERMINAL FRONTIERS explores human experience of asylum and migration connected to the politics of local and global conflicts. Virtual Migrants creates and exhibits artworks that incorporate digital media and which can be installed in galleries, public spaces or community venues.
In a new interactive piece of work Delete where appropriate:Local/Stranger by acclaimed Black new media artist Keith Piper, the spectator is encouraged to critically examine what defines a stranger as opposed to a local. An interactive computer console encourages you to log in by name and choose the category which best describes yourself – local or stranger.
Video triptych What If I’m Not Real directed by Kooj Chuhan from Virtual Migrants, features the work of artist collaborators Tang Lin, Aidan Jolly, Jilah Bakhshayesh, Hafiza Mohamed and Miselo Kunda-Anaku. A migrant mother, child and an official are cast adrift on a series of makeshift rafts. The anonymous masked threesome silently interact across a trio of separate screens. The mother can be seen searching for her child and lost homeland, whilst the child attempts to piece together fragments of its history and the official stabs at his paperwork with a pen, causing blood to flow.
Although work on many of the five pieces in the interactive show began before 11 September 2001, the day and its events have had a profound effect on the direction of the works. One of the pieces, Dust Rising by Virtual Migrant Aidan Jolly, asks why Western governments are exploiting the attack on the World Trade Centre to demonise asylum seekers and refugees.
In Alem Will Stay, pupils from Lostock High School in Greater Manchester work with Kooj Chuhan from Virtual Migrants to create a piece based on Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy. The students, aged 14-15, explore the contradictory reactions of different students to discovering that one of their own classmates was to be deported after his case for asylum was refused.
The final piece is called Desti.Nation mixes together images from all of the other works in Terminal Frontiers and presents them alongside a series of facts about asylum and globalisation.
“The Times Grow Worthy of Our Voice” acts as a counterpoint to the TERMINAL FRONTIERS. Over the last ten years Julius Ayodeji from the East Midlands has delivered a number of film and video projects.
“The Times Grow Worthy of Our Voice” takes the themes of openness and democracy and asks people to explore one, whilst participating in the other. An audio-visual site-specific installation, the project was submitted as a proposal to the East Midlands decibel live platform programme coordinated by ArtReach.
The Virtual Migrants gathered for this set of original commissioned art-works are Keith Piper (Caribbean/ Malta/ UK), Miselo Kunda-Anaku (Zambia/ UK), Hafiza Mohammed (India/ UK), Tang Lin (Hong Kong/UK/ China), Jilah Bakhshayesh (Iran/ UK), Kooj Chuhan (India/ UK) and Aidan Jolly (UK).
Virtual Migrants was founded in 1998 to bring together a range of artists to collaborate on new media projects. Its critical purpose is to add new aesthetics and perspectives to themes of race, migration and globalisation, and to draw public attention to issues that continually make headline news.
For more information contact Q Arts
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EMPAF has a new website which is to be launched in September. Based on the social networking model it will enable users and members to put up profiles for individuals, projects and organisations. There is also an option to link to other profiles, send comments and update with news, events, opportunities as well as engage in debates around current issues affecting the community and participatory arts.
In addition to putting up information and resources EMPAF will also be promoting future CPD events and development opportunities.
The website is aimed at creating a vibrant and engaging online community so please get involved and make use of this site as much as possible.
The site itself in final testing but live and will transfer to the www.empaf.com address at the end of the beginning of next month. To join now please go to http://beta.empaf.com/ (note there is no www) and anything you add now will remain live during the transfer. We welcome any feedback on how to make it even more user friendly, so please email jane@empaf.com with this or any questions.
A free event for artists; arts practitioners; organisations and community groups working in, or interested in working in community and participatory arts.
The day is designed to give plenty of opportunity to network, discuss your work, ask questions, share experiences and find out more information about a range of subjects and issues affecting everyone working in participatory arts.
Including an in-depth session devoted to professional and project development subjects such as negotiating contracts, rates of pay and how to set up and run an event will be covered.
There is also be an facilitated open space session based around working in and across different arts forms, a presentation and open sharing session on International working and a presentation outlining current key trends and influences such as reforms in Public Sector funding, the Cultural Offer and Cultural Olympiad. Plus, this is your chance to influence future EMPAF work and events as each of the sessions is designed to bring out issues that are most relevant to you.
Registration and networking begins at 9.45am for 10.30am start. Lunch is provided and there is lots of time given to networking and finding out more about EMPAF, Cultivate and a wide range of other resources and sources of further information.
Taking place at St James Centre, Derby places are available on a first come first served basis. To book email Jane@empaf.com or call 07984199477 giving your name and a daytime contact number. For more details click on the title above.
EMPAF has been working to support an Arts Council England East Midlands initiative to help demystify recent developments in Local Area Agreements. ACE are running a series of mini events around the region for artists, arts practitioners and local authority arts officers to look at recent changes in terms of how they offer opportunities for arts and creative projects. The first event took place in Leicester at the beginning of June and EMPAF is publishing copies of presentation notes, supporting information and case studies used as part of all the events in the resources / essential publications section of this website (click on the title of this news item to go directly there). The next event will take place in Nottingham on 3rd July. Email info@empaf.com for more details.
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