Montague Arms - 10th April 2008
Artist-Out-Of-Residence
As part of the Second Thursday’s agenda to mix artists in with musicians and comedians, we ran our own artists residency program this month. Sam Curtis had previously run self initiated residencies in IKEA and Harrod’s Fish counter. This month I asked Sam to be artist in residence in the pub. We met on several occasions in during the month in the bar and talked about art and Sam’s ideas.
Sam’s first idea was to work behind the bar making art by pulling pints and collecting empties, but the bar staff said they didn’t need any help and suggested some other places he could earn money. When Sam said he would work for free the bar staff became suspicious of intentions to get into the secure areas behind the bar.
As a result Sam and myself discussed at length the cross-over between art and life. Sam’s art practice and art performances had become almost indistinguishable from everyday activities and mundane day jobs. This was clearly intended as a conceptual statement questioning what art and the role of the artist actually is. Ever since Duchamp turned a urinal on it’s side and called it art 90 years ago people have been asking ‘is it art?’ Sam’s questioning is even more relevant now as artist are increasingly employed in community art projects where you aren’t sure if the artist is supposed to be making art or doing some kind of social work. I suggested to Sam that something was needed to distinguish an activity as art; the really easy way to do this is to frame it in art gallery. Outside of the art gallery some other gesture is required to denote the significance of some thing, otherwise it will be passed by unnoticed and just disappear. It needed to be unusual. It needed to be remarkable. Sam organised a motorcycle stunt outside the pub.
In the end, after being turned down by the bar staff, I felt a bit uneasy creating any interventions or performances in the pub and so therefore felt banished to becoming an artist-out-of-residence. Situating myself outside the pub for the whole night, I engaged punters with modernsit cigarette sculptures that were smoked by my audience. The night culminated in a grand performance where the performer arrived by motorcycle right in front of the pub. At 9:55pm Frog announced that the motorcycle performance was about to take place and so everyone rushed outside to get a good spot to view it, at 10pm pretty much on the dot the performer arrived. See photos below:
