Screen printing

A month and a half ago I did an introduction course into screen printing. Ever since I go every Friday faithfully to the workshop to make some more prints. The medium is perfect to capture the mystifying city with all its layers. The different print layers allow me to represent an aspect of city life. I recently started working on a serie, which I call Carte postale, of which 2 will be shown at the ProofDruk exhibition at de Haagse Kunstkring. Carte postale refers to an old post card collection book, which I bought years ago on a flee market. It is falling a part, but its title still has a golden shimmer: Carte Postale.
My prints are a bit like post cards. They show the cities I know, not in photographic sense. They attempt to clarify the scene shown, how it flows and functions, how things relate to one another. Each printing layer shows an aspect of city life in certain location in an abstracted version: Architectural relationships through abstracted geometric shapes, the reality through a photograph and movements through tape or sticky vinyl.

Carte Postale 1

Carte Postale 2

Time is the unknown denominator

Everyone screams we need to find a solution to the urban question. Well the answer is time. We should build things now with of course respect to the earth, people and the future, but we shouldn't be afraid to make mistakes. Not everything can be a masterpiece. (Also people seem to have a habit to learn more from their mistakes). The best things will stand the test of time and will become essential parts of our future cities. This does not mean city building should be a free for all. We should keep on being innovative and strive for perfection. But we should also face up that there is no such thing as perfection. So no matter how much research we do we will never reach a single answer. Time is the unknown denominator and will be the judge of our achievements.
I as a designer would love to crack the puzzle as well. It makes me humble and respectful towards this big thing we call the city. It will still stand strong even after we are gone and only time will tell if our plans were good enough to live on.

Young Swampy Formalism

Sarah Foqué (Leeds, UK), Eric Henzler (Stuttgart) , Erich Marty (Winterthur, CH) , Trine Pedersen (Kopenhagen, DK), Matthias Santiago Stähle (Hamburg) , Arne Schneider (Stuttgart)

Vernissage: Freitag, 30.10. 2009 , um 20 Uhr
Einführung: Gerhard Friebe
Ausstellungsdauer: 31.10.09 bis 22.11.09
Öffnungszeiten: Sa + So : 15- 19:00 und nach Vereinbarung (Tel.: 0711 / 6493968)
Ort: OP-Nord; Nordbahnhofstraße 45, 70191 Stuttgart , U-Bahn Linie 15, MilchhofDie Ausstellung Young Swampy Formalism bringt junge europäischer Künstler mit interschiedlichen Ansätzen in Malerei, Zeichnung und Videoarbeiten zusammen. Sie verbindet ein entscheidendes Merkmal: die Auseinandersetzung mit dem spannungsverhältnis zwischen Konzeptidee und Arbeitsprozess, verbunden mit einem klaren Hang zu subtilen Humor.

The exhibition brings together young European artists with different positions in painting, drawing and filming. They all got one key feature in common: they're all dealing with the two poles of conceptual ideas and working process, combined with a clear preference for an understatedsense of humour.

Project Zagreb

Since my move to the Netherlands and starting my new job. I spend about 1.5 hours on the train commuting. To me this equals to 1.5 hours of reading, sketching and writing time.
Recently I have been using this time to read 'Project Zagreb', a book by E. Blau and I. Rupnik. It deals with zagreb's urban history
One particular chapter of this book caught my attention, the section that deals with 'The Green Horseshoe'. The Green Horseshoe is a U-shaped network of green spaces and institutional buildings, which was the brain child of Milan Lenuci. Through architectural projects and programming he managed to maintain and create public space in the new urban expansion in the early 1900s. Milan Lenuci saved some areas from development by giving them a public program. For example: He created skating rinks on these spaces during winter and opened them up for sports and fairs during summer. By doing this he made the spaces part of public life and saved them from development. Milan Lenuci used public life to create public space.
According to me, my idea of rolling design (see earlier posts) is made up of a similar process of programming. In Rolling design though the process is used to re-link/re-engage people with an already existing public space. Rolling design is like the re-programming of a public space or the re-starting of a program in a public space. This type of programming allows people to re-claim the public realm for their public lives.

Irrepressible Movement - Photo's

Last week my latest exhibition, which is a collaboration with James Johnson-Perkins, opened. Here are the first pictures:
James and I were invited by the artist in residency at Cecil Sharp House to create an installation. Cecil Sharp house is the base for the English Folk Dance and Song Society. The installation makes use of this context. The big squares with 3 rectangles symbolise a movement in English Morris dancing. Further they create a rhythm Throughout the building which reasonates of the music accompanying that same dance. In the staircase James built a big tower of Mega blocks. This tower symbolises a May pole. My lines follow the staircase round the May pole like a dance incorporating the architectural form.

Irrepressible Movement Flyer

Sarah Foqué & James Johnson-Perkins: New Work
10 July – 29 August 2009
Open: 10 – 6pm, Tuesday – Saturday

private view: 6pm, Thursday 9th July
Cecil Sharp House
2 Regents Park Road
Camden
London
NW1 7AY

nearest tube: Camden Town

The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) are pleased to present an exhibition of new site specific work from artists Sarah Foqué and James Johnson-Perkins.

Through vividly coloured materials, both artists will respond to the Cecil Sharp House building, the home of the EFDSS, as a starting point for work as they attempt to directly interact with its community and interior.

Responding to a site's history and the movement of people through it, Sarah Foqué creates installations with straight bands of colour. Drawing on histories of philosophy and anthropology, Foqué focuses on the mapping and exploration of space and boundaries. Typically using coloured tape as a material to visualise her understanding of the space she is working in, Foqué will create a fluid portrait of the space and its activities, alluding to traditional dance figures.


James Johnson-Perkins utilises references to popular culture of the 1980s to create works of play and nostalgia. His installation, spanning all four storeys of the building stairwell, will attempt to build the tallest structure ever made from Mega-Bloks. This construction will represent an absurd May Pole in the centre of the building, at odds with the surrounding architecture.


Artist-in-residence Matthew Cowan will be holding a free open studio event during the private view and on Friday 10 July, 10am - 5pm.


facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&sid=0a1784a2abdb58800e15f4a312ccafa1&init=q&q=efdss%20%40%20csh#/event.php?eid=225214145092&ref=nf

http://efdss.org/news.htm#artistsnewwork

PGDip over

Finally finished my PGDip in landscape architecture, what a trip it has been! I have learned to be patient and not to rush things.

My project, Rolling Design, encapsulates my thinking about landscape architecture and to a certain extent about public art. As set out earlier in this blog, Rolling design, uses events to activate a place. This process of activation will engage the community. The positive momentum created by the activation and engagement will lead to the start-up of an engaging and creative design process involving the designer but also the community and site, which will never end. Rolling Design will provide for gradual design interventions and a continuous process of activation.

Irrepressible Movement

New Work from Sarah Foque & James Johnson-Perkins
Cecil Sharp House
Camden
London
10th Jul - 31st Aug
Preview, 9th July, 6pm


This exhibition showcases colourful new work from Sarah Foque & James Johnson-Perkins. Both artists' work is site specific and utilises intense colours in its execution. Sarah Foque creates installations with straight bands of colour, responding to a site's history and people's movement through it. James Johnson-Perkins uses references to popular culture of the 1980s to create works of play and nostalgia. His installation at Cecil Sharp House will span all four storeys of the building through the centre of the staircase, whilst Sarah Foque's multi-coloured lines will be immediately viewable from the main entrance.

http://www.johnson-perkins.co.uk/
http://www.efdss.org/