Fenton House and Garden

This place (Fenton House in Hampstead, London) does reminds me of my childhood, when staying at uncles’ house, in the summer. Where my sister and I used to play all day with cousins S. and M. A place where all the family used to came together for celebrations and much more; where I got my first scar; the first local “girlfriend”; ...

WDWGN! (On freedom): interview w/ Nadine Fraczkowski

Nadine Fraczkowski’ work approaches different systems of reality, verities and orders. She ask question about which codes are applied in which context/environment and why? Who is able to read and recognize those codes and who is not? What are the consequences and mechanisms that derive as a result? Her work is focused on the relation between signs and significances and their relativity, regarding social construction, their rules and semiotics. Thereby questioning the allegedly are taken-for-granted, since the relation between the significant and the signifier renews itself once taken out of its habitual system. It is this moment of transition that interests her, in her photographic approach.

On her practice as a photographer


On her object of inquire


On time, space and movement


On freedom


On new challenges


Interview conducted in English by myself, on June 3rd 2014, to accompany Nadine Fraczkowski's exhibition Portraits at VASA Project.

One hundred years ago...

Do remember that the World War I (WWI or WW1) began on 28 July 1914... the League of Nations formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such an appalling conflict failed its aim.

Hampstead Heath

Out for a swim at the pound and finish staying at the local coffee and wine shop for the all afternoon, in Highgate!

You know it!

I don't have any drugs to dream about you
I don't have any muse to feel your weight
To write about what I know!
While watching TV in the living room
Need a bottle of wine
I'm in despair
Need a bottle of whiskey
It is serious

It comes from the mind
It doesn't come from the heart
from the guts!

A bottle of tequila will burn my throat
Nicotine will yellowish my fingers
You know that caffeine does me wrong
Bagasse is what comes the best

It comes from the mind
It doesn't come from the heart
from the guts!

from the guts
You know it!

You asked me
from the heart!

I need tradition to rebel
Memories to thing about the future
To lay down all the stones
Ruin everything and anything
That you can ever see
As I laid my words on a paper
Making myself a mark for life
Stand by myself
You know it!

The Centre

Another night to wander,
from tavern to tavern in the city heart,
until I loose my mind to the mysteries you have to offer
Another night to ponder,
until I loose my mind to the uncertainty you are

Feel and taste an intense
elegant and lavish golden composition
Feel and taste an intense… from
your warm and wet edges

I'm not sure about somethings
I'm not sure about somethings
I'm not sure about somethings you have to offer

Eat a strawberry cheesecake ice cream
Drink a sweet and rich Riesling
Insert myself into your… structure
all is silent except for the buzz

I recognise your sound
That departed from the confused outside
It has been confused, of course, and you content me
I recognise your body
It has been confused, of course, but I'm alone

Feel and taste an intense
elegant and lavish golden composition
Feel and taste an intense… through
your warm and wet lips

I'm not sure about somethings
I'm not sure about somethings
I'm not sure about somethings you have to offer

Eat a strawberry cheesecake ice cream
Drink a sweet and rich Riesling
Insert myself through your… body
all is silent except for the hum

Walking through the heart by night without try
Walking through the heart by night without try
Walking through the heart, until this isn't working anymore

Tailored Made Suit

Everybody was standing on the platform
We didn't have any luggage
Everybody was standing on the platform
You didn't have any luggage

I didn't know where you were going
Was frighten of loving you
Didn't know where you were taken us
Afraid of getting in touch with each other

I need to be a gallery director
or an artists to get myself
a tailored made suit to become invisible

Then we can embark and disembark
Then we can exist near
Then we can embark and disembark
Then I can exist near you hidden

I would be standing on the platform
you wouldn't see me
I don't have any luggage
I would be standing on the platform
you wouldn't see me

I didn't know where you were going
Was afraid of loving you
Sorry for not taken that journey
When I should had followed you

Realise, have to be a gallery director
or an artists to get myself
a tailored made suit to become invisible

Then we can embark and disembark
Then we can exist near
Then we can embark and disembark
Then I can exist near you uncovered

Swimming in the Ocean

I have been
for so long
living underwater
I have been for so long
I have been
for so long
living underwater
I have been for so long
swimming in the ocean
I have been for so long
swimming in the ocean

I get sick
when I have
a bred of fresh air

People are just blur images in the water
People are just colourful images in the water
People are just translucent images in the water
People are just intangible images in the water

I have been for so long
swimming in the ocean
I have been for so long
swimming in the ocean

Underwater is much more quiet
Underwater is much more fresh
Underwater everything
is more turbulent
Underwater everything
is more limitless

I have been for so long
swimming in the ocean
I have been for so long
swimming in the ocean

Until I stop breeding

Rui N' Art

2014/07/12 15:25

Sculpture in The City: João Onofre's Box sized DIE featuring Unfathomable Ruination

... 20 minutes later...

2014 Brazil World Cup (Semi-final): Brazil 1 - 7 Germany

This is not a xenophobic message, not even a diplomatic message, or a perjurious message against minorities, but a realist message: for someone who is not into the other sex, with this World Cup she has been more f....k by the other sex than a whore on a busy night! And the first guy to go in, was that world creep football guy. Who did not paid, and was entitled to received all the money from those that had came after him to enjoy the pleasures of f...king this exotic whore. Clearly, the only one that is losing with all this, are those that work at the brothel, the cleaners, the bouncers, the waitress, the drivers, those 200 million that have to work and live there. Furthermore, because the bill still has not yet been shown... which will be quite high ... with no one to pay, since all the clients would had already left.

PS. in the game attributing the 3rd and 4th place at 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil, between Brazil and Holland, the hosting nation lost 3 - 0.

Christian Jankowski: Heavy Weight History

...after three days enjoying Christian Jankowski's artworks, a catalogue on the Heavy Weight History and many others!

Institute of Contemporary Arts

Artists' Film Biennial 2014: Christian Jankowski Programme 1 : Reframed

This first part of a three-part retrospective programme offers a glimpse at Jankowski’s films, presenting a selection of work charting a period of over years twenty years.

Christian Jankowski (born 1968, Göttingen, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibition include Heavy Weight History, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (2013); The Eye of Dubai, The Pavilion Downtown Dubai, Dubai, UAE (2013) and Casting Jesus, MACRO (Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma), Rome. He has participated in numerous group shows including Tears and Politics: Works by Phil Collins and Christian Jankowski, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (2014);Christian Jankowski and Guga Ferraz, Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros, Mexico (2012); What Happened to God?, Halle 14, Leipzig (2012) and The Beauty and the Distance, 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010).

This three-part retrospective programme offers a generous glimpse at Jankowski’s films, presenting a selection of work charting a period of over years twenty years from 1992 to the present. Each programme is structured around a theme, defining a distinct strand of his practice.

The first programme, Reframed, draws on the absurdity that often arises when contexts are juxtaposed or realigned. Puppet Conference, 2003, sees a line-up of familiar puppets, synonymous with childhood pursuits, engaged in a very different dialogue. Lycan Theorized, 2009, takes a cinematic tone to explore Lacanian theory through the lens of the horror genre.

Programme 1: Reframed

• Discourse News, 2012, SD video, colour, sound, 5 min 45 sec
• Ebbe in Freedom, 1992, SD video, colour, sound, 8 min 58 sec
• Lycan Theorized, 2006, 35mm transferred to SD video, colour, sound, 23 min
• Puppet Conference, 2003, SD video, colour, sound, 25 min
• Rosa, 2001, SD video, colour, sound, 18 min 54 sec

Total duration: 82 min

Artists' Film Biennial 2014: Christian Jankowski Programme 2 : Learning the Absurd

This second part of a three-part retrospective programme offers a glimpse at Jankowski’s films, presenting a selection of work charting a period of over years twenty years.

Christian Jankowski (born 1968, Göttingen, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibition include Heavy Weight History, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (2013); The Eye of Dubai, The Pavilion Downtown Dubai, Dubai, UAE (2013) and Casting Jesus, MACRO (Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma), Rome. He has participated in numerous group shows including Tears and Politics: Works by Phil Collins and Christian Jankowski, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (2014);Christian Jankowski and Guga Ferraz, Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros, Mexico (2012); What Happened to God?, Halle 14, Leipzig (2012) and The Beauty and the Distance, 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010).

This three-part retrospective programme offers a generous glimpse at Jankowski’s films, presenting a selection of work charting a period of over years twenty years from 1992 to the present. Each programme is structured around a theme, defining a distinct strand of his practice.

This second programme, Learning the Absurd, draws together a diverse selection of works that connect childhood with adult pursuits and vice versa. The humorous The Matrix Effect, 2000, features a cast of children, each playing the role of an artist from the late 20th Century. In contrast, Rooftop, 2007 features an adult cast who give advice on the most effective approaches to hula hooping.

Programme 2: Learning the Absurd

• Cleaning Up the Studio, 2010, HD video, colour, sound, 9 min 33 sec
• When I Was Cuisillo, 2009, SD video, colour, sound, 2 min 57 sec
• Rooftop Routine, 2007, SD video, colour, sound, 4 min 30 sec
• Let’s Get Physical/ Digital, 1997, SD video, colour, sound, 37 min 32 sec
• The Finest Art on Water, 2011, HD video, colour, sound, 10 min
• The Matrix Effect, 2000, SD video, colour, sound, 24 min 54 sec

Total duration: 90 min

Artists' Film Biennial 2014: Christian Jankowski Programme 2 : Believe Me + Q&A

This last part of a three-part retrospective programme offers a glimpse at Jankowski’s films, presenting a selection of work charting a period of over twenty years.

Christian Jankowski (born 1968, Göttingen, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibition include Heavy Weight History, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (2013); The Eye of Dubai, The Pavilion Downtown Dubai, Dubai, UAE (2013) and Casting Jesus, MACRO (Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma), Rome. He has participated in numerous group shows including Tears and Politics: Works by Phil Collins and Christian Jankowski, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (2014);Christian Jankowski and Guga Ferraz, Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros, Mexico (2012); What Happened to God?, Halle 14, Leipzig (2012) and The Beauty and the Distance, 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010).

This three-part retrospective programme offers a generous glimpse at Jankowski’s films, presenting a selection of work charting a period of over years twenty years from 1992 to the present. Each programme is structured around a theme, defining a distinct strand of his practice.

The final programme, Believe Me, takes a focused look at belief structures, in particular those of the art world. Jankowski’s Telemistica, 1999, sees a host of TV psychics advise the artist on his participation in the 2009 Venice Biennale. The recent Heavy Weight History, 2013, takes the form of a television sports report. A group of Eastern European weight lifters take up the challenge of attempting to lift monuments symbolic of the region's past.

The screening is followed by a Q&A with artist Christian Jankowski and ICA Associate Curator of Artists’ Film and Moving Image Steven Cairns.

Programme 3: Believe Me

16-mm Mystery, 2004, 35mm transferred to DVD, colour, sound, 5 min

The Hunt, 1992, SD video, colour, sound, 1 min 11 sec

Telemistica, 1999, SD video, colour, sound, 22 min 8 sec

The Holy Artwork, 2001, SD video, colour, sound 2001, 15 min 52 sec

No One Better Than You, 2004, SD video, colour, sound, 3 min 1sec

Heavy Weight History, 2013, HD video, colour, sound, 25 min 46 sec

Der Malteser Blick, 2014, HD video, colour, sound, 1 min 49 sec

Total duration: 76 min + 30 min Q&A

Curated by Steven Cairns, ICA Associate Curator of Artists’ Film and Moving Image.

Since the early 1990s, German artist Christian Jankowski has tested the boundaries between high art and mass-culture. Often co-opting the space of commercial television and cinema, he continuously subverts and pokes fun at the role of mass culture in the everyday, paralleling the structure of the art world with that of organised religion or the cult of the celebrity.

Christian Jankowski (b. 1968, Göttingen, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include “Heavy Weight History”, Lisson Gallery, London (2014); “Heavy Weight History”, CCA Tel Aviv (2014) and Wasser, Käse, Feuer. Christian Jankowski. “25 Editionen und ein anonymes Original” Helga Maria Klosterfelde Edition, Berlin (2014). He has participated in numerous group shows including “Tears and Politics: Works by Phil Collins and Christian Jankowski”, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (2014); “Room Service”, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (2014); “Real Emotions: Thinking in Film”, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2014) and “Things we discover alone (Independent Learning)”, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig (2014).

Please note that all films are 18+ unless otherwise stated.

Google image search

At the National Gallery to see...

the significance of portable knowledge in creating images and relating and making new connections on alternative archives that have been overcoming the traditional archive and notions of what is a museum.

Titian's 1520-3 Bacchus and Ariadne...
Image content [metadata]: party, stars, animals, music, goddess, wine

Velazquez's 1647-51 The Toilet of Venus...
Image content [metadata]: naked, woman, lying, bed, mirror

Turner's 1844 Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway...
Image content [metadata]: train, speed, colour, steam, bridge

and the latest acquisition
Bellows' 1912 Men of the Docks
Image content [metadata]: man, docks, winter, ny, boat, horses

Aesthetics of the Non-visible

Image by Edson Chagas, Found Not Taken, 2014. Courtesy the artist and A Palazzo Gallery, Brescia, Italy

After seeing on the internet the Russian Ark (2002), a film by Akexander Sokurov, in where "a 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years", the first thought that came into my mind was the idea of Noah's Ark being a big, transitional USB pen packed with data; or, an aesthetic white cube, in where data is storage and displayed for buyers, just like the data storage centres are immaculate spaces free of that amazing external and timeless thing that dust is. The second significant idea derived is towards works by such artists as, Andreas Schmidt, who creates books that function as physical archives for non-physical images; Dina Kelbermann, who display images contaminated by the non-visible, through associations that are mediated by the archive in itself; or, Mishka Henner' confrontation and creation of new subjectivities. All playing with photography and the act of not take photographs, as well as, instead of a "find the differences" between two 'equal' images, we have to find what relates and connects together in what seems to be different images, i.e., find what is 'equal'. Establishing an alternate archive and interfere in how we set our gaze.
Following the ICA' Artists' Film Biennial 2014 Symposium on Aesthetics of the Non-visible...

[Lunch for £11 at the ICA bar]

Saturday morning at The Mall

for a symposium on the Aesthetics of the Non-visible

A table for two old friends on

my birthday! Talking about what really matters.