Beyonce as a peasant girl - "Ring on it" must be the oldest song ever written

Picture this: a peasant woman from an unnamed East European state is dancing in full ancient ceremonial garments in front of a backdrop of a painting of a beautiful meadow somewhere in central Europe. But the music isn't an obscure East European folk dance, it's Beyonce's "Single Ladies" (Put a ring on it), blaring, at top volume. See it here - http://www.youtube.com/user/GeryGeorgieva

And I watch the dancer she is doing all the exact moves of the famous Beyonce video we all know so well. But because she is dressed like a simple traditional girl and features in this context suddenly the dance seems to reveal itself as, well exactly what it is: thigh-slapping, finger wagging little song of a plucky peasant girl from the village green.

It's brilliant how this makes me question all the supposedly cool and up to the minute representations we scan everyday. We look down on so-called peasants from the past, or even on immigrants or refugees from Eastern Europe who we secretly deride as being out-of-date, or who do not understand our culture, but we are all watching some dressed up girl in a posh fashion costume from America, the land of the future, do a typical seduction / wooing dance from way back. So who is so culturally superior now?

The video is the work of performance artist Gergana Georgieva - featured as part of Goldsmiths College final year show 2009. Like Gillian Wearing she uses video work to question identity skilfully and originally. But her work has more universal themes connected to the identity of outsiders from other cultures and our prejudices and assumptions towards them.

In another video, she creates skin-coloured full face rigid masks, worn by two supposed foreigners, who are answering facile questions from a rather glib off-camera reporter. The immigrants have no lips because of their masks and seem to speak but say no actual words - we simply have subtitles to represent them. Particularly funny is when the naive reporter asks them about having a sense of humour. The masks and subtitles simply cannot communicate. The scene is comical but it seems it is the reporter who looks more the idiot with her constant nonsensical questions.

Some of the best art I have seen recently re-ignites a purpose of art as a way to question our safe and narcissisitic enclosed view of the world, questioning comfortable assumptions that are shared by many in Western European societies. The Vidarbha cotton widows (http://www.vidarbha-project.com/) book, film and stills project by Verena Hanschke at the RCA similarly shines a wincingly bright flashlight at Monsanto and the disaster genetically modified crops are having on indian farmers. Reminiscent of Taryn Simon's "Innocents" work, Verena Hanschke, brings to life the widows of the hundreds of farmers who have desperately taken their own lives in despair as they lose everything. But the light she shines is not depressing but penetrating and beautiful...

Oriana Fox and 70s feminists get mashed up with comedy, sex in the city and lots of nude hair painting

I am a fan of Oriana Fox (for a visual image of her - think a slimmer, prettier version of Mel from Flight of the Conchords). I went to the best night out ever last night. Not only were we on the massive windowed seventh floor of the Tate Modern overlooking everything in London but there was wine, wine, food, more wine, nude (fit) men, nude (fit) women, food painting, rapping, huge fabric pussies and people tied up with pieces of string - all in all a perfect night out. So much wine was flowing that the joyful sound of the odd broken glass dropped into the performance towards the end of the evening as the audience happily slipped into oblivion.

The night was all about re-enacting famous feminist art performances (and protests) - a "hommage" to the much slagged off 60s/70s/80s wimmin who watched themselves being watched by men and tried to climb out of the frame. But Oriana also added her own knowing wink and little comedy twists. One of the best features was a performance which re-enacted Judy Chicago's "Cock and Cunt Play" (1970)using a huge fabric pussy but incorporating 2 new characters - including a very eloquent talking cervix (the "eye"). Oriana's original 2003 Goldsmiths work "Our bodies, Ourselves" linked 70s feminism and the ever popular "Sex in the city", pointing out that the "SITC" girls are staging their own little feminist protest, just under a different guise .
My other favourite item was Oreet Ashery's "Hairoism" performance. A reworking of Eleanor Antin's 1972 video The King in which the artist slowly adds facial hair and clothes to make herself a slightly underconfident monarch. Oreet had all her hair shaved off, then reglued it to make herself look like both the head of the Israeli Defence Forces, then a leader of Hamas, then the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, then Yasser Arafat - successively. All simply through different haircuts and a bit of glasses wearing (and she did surprisingly look very similar to them). Then she had hair glued all over her body-scary.

The night ended with a full on rap whilst three young men stood nude, covering themselves in polka dots, (a part piss take of the Heyward Gallery's current red and white polka dotted trees / installations by Yayoi Kusama just upriver?). Lilibeth, the artise, proceeded to do Shigeko Kubota-style vagina painting, dragged her hair up and down the floor also adding to the painting in a Pollock-stylee whilst rapping angrily about "vagina painting with a penis brush" and over-recycling of the past.

Everyone should see this stuff - it is awesome.

Photograpy: Hitomi Yoda.

DUKKES play Bristol, with Team Brick and the Defibrillators hoorah - our first gig outta town

we played a gig outside goldsmiths for the first time. in a warehouse in Montpellier, the graffiti-squat party cool area of Bristol. and i broke a plate, 2 glass ashtrays and a really annoying coffee mug with a large hammer. niiiiiiiiiiiice. Team Brick and the defibrillators played too. and they were awesome. and we all got drunk in a jamaican bar to reggae then played guitar hero - world tour after at our mate Josh's extremely messy flat... sweet

Captain Najork's Hired Sportsmen: "post-feminist industrial noise pop"

http://www.gold.ac.uk/news/week-with-the-warden/

"post-feminist industrial noise pop"

Well despite my guitar breaking the night before, having to borrow my mate Blake's "Big Muff" pedal (cue dirty jokes from engineers all round), accidently destroying my bike, and someone unplugging me just before I was about to play - it seems the warden of Goldsmiths himself did actually love Stacey and I's performance. He came to see us on Friday, allegedly loved it (I have to get a CD together) and has even included us in his weekly blog, as "post-feminist industrial noise pop". See http://www.gold.ac.uk/news/week-with-the-warden/ Thanks Geoffrey! Anytime if you want us to play your lounge or any Goldsmiths events - we are ready. All we need is one drumkit, one electric guitar, some crockery and a loud amp! aaaaaah bliss www.myspace.com/DUKKESMUSIC. I think those capitals are vital...

we broke lots of crockery

Staz and myself had our first gig as the newly named DUKKES on Friday as part of the Pure Gold Festival and the glorious Albany, Deptford. And apparently the songs went down rather well.

I took most of the kitchen china with me and a large hammer. We didn't like the idea of doing a big theatrical posh shiny "show" so we decided it was going to be just like a rather chaotic home rehearsal. We brought a carpet and we made a set which looked a bit like a bedroom/lounge (complete with uplighter), broke a lot of crockery, and dismantled the drumkit whilst still playing it.

We got interviewed by a film crew so shortly our loverly mugs will be immortalised somewhat on utube, both jumping around on stage and rabbiting on a bit about the music. We were desperate to get a beer after the show so we are slowly edging towards the bar during the interview.

The warden of Goldsmith's is apparently a fan. If he wants us to play his lounge at home we will, any time. Simon, our mentor and teacher at college, when asked exactly what genre of music we belong to, described us as DIY, post-feminist, noise pop rock. We are not sure about the post-feminist. Maybe post-ironic is more apt? We are thinking of inventing a logo / coat of arms which somehow integrates "By appointment to the Warden of Goldsmith's". It is gonna be awesome...

Band naming headaches

I formed a new band with my mate Staz and we went on myspace www.myspace.com/DUKKESMUSIC along with 3 trillion other bands.

We spent about 3 years trying to work out what to call ourselves. There are some terrible band names out there. Think the worst two I can remember are: Crispy Ambulance; Shitgoblins. Having said that, "The Beatles" doesnt sound like a great name when you think about it. Who wants to be called after a bunch of insects?

We wanted to be called something which wasn't:

- about the fact we are 2 girls (we hate "girly" band names like something -ettes or girls something or pink or any girls names)

- not about the fact we are 2 girls (something really boyish or macho - as if we were a bunch of macho dykes)

- lesbian sounding. We are not lesbians. A fact that apparently is not clear if 2 girls get on stage and play together. Apparently everyone will think we are lesbians. (Or so says our gay mentor, Simon). Why? Do we need to tattoo "we are not lesbians" on our foreheads? Or hand out little flyers to the audience clarifying that we are not lesbians? Or make some kind of announcement? rubbish. Is this because of Tegan and Sara? We don't even have acoustic guitars (just a guitar and drums). Thinking about it, there aren't actually that many lesbian bands. Apparently the original members of 4 non blondes were and of course there is Lesbians on Ecstasy but we hadn't actually heard of them...

Naming is such a nightmare. Weird thing is, after only 4 days on myspace, this really cool DJ guy called Teambrick or team bric (www.myspace.com/teambrick) offered us a gig in Bristol, supporting his album launch. Brilliant. Anyone who says myspace doesn't work is lieing. It is, apart from anything else, a great place to collaborate with other musicians. God I sound like "Tom" the happy virtual myspace welcome bloke (I reckon he doesn't actually exist but has been devised in photoshop from a merge of all the faces of the shady people running myspace).

Hoorah for rock and roll.

North Korean rocket launch - but where is it going to land?

Am I the only one who is disturbed by the launch yesterday of the North Korean rocket? The news seems to be reporting only that the rocket was launched and they every nation in the world is "disgusted" (cue big philosophical discussions about North Korea, rockets etc etc). But during the whole of the news reports they seem to be missing out one rather important piece of information - WHERE ON EARTH IS THE ROCKET GOING TO LAND?

Call me old fashioned but from an everyday, sitting in our tenement in South London perspective, this seems rather important. Is it coming down on our heads next? Should we run? Is it aimed at Japan (again?) Apparently the last ones just went over Japan. That must have been comforting. Can someone please tell us where it is going to land so that we know who should be panicking / running away very fast / crouching in a corner with a bag over their head. It won't help anyone but it would just be nice to know.

Please.

That is all.

The beautiful textures of Water

I went to see "Roni Horn aka Roni Horn" - an exhibition of a contemporary artist who is obsessed with water and doubles/multiplication. She also likes to make the audience make some effort to appreciate her work - walking around it or craning their necks to read it.

I didn't really know much about Roni Horn until I read Jeanette Winterson's fantastic article about her work in the Independent magazine a few weeks ago. Her article was brilliant because instead of simply delivering some type of verdict - a star rating or "this is good/bad", she actually went into what the artist is doing and how it works. Roni Horn uses text as imaginatively as she uses images and this article returned the favour, creating a piece of artwork itself, by describing the textures, the "curious sense of depth", and the "mutability and change" of the work.

Seeing the work itself it put me back in touch with my love of the river. I have been doing a phonography project recently recording the sound of the river thames. I have always loved rivers ever since paddling in the tiny stream at my grandmother's house in the Highlands. And she shares my playfulness - her pictures of the thames point out the different textures of the river, numbering every tiny event and creating words to decribe its impact. I wished the Tate hadn't put the photos in glass frames, so that the reflection wouldnt have been there to blur the textures of the water. Similarly her "paired gold mats" placed in the light coming from the river, follows the lines of the floor away from the flow, "like sun on the water".

The idea of placing the glassworks in rooms immediately looking out on The Thames itself created a type of reflection of the flowing water below us, playing off the river itself and the lights shining on the water itself. If I had been curating this exhibition I would have given these sculptures their own space, separately from the drawings, and placed them in a more fluid relationship to the space in the rooms, to allow them to shine. Pink Tons is a huge block in glass, glittering with lines and shapes, reflecting the light from the Thames flowing below the Tate.

The best part of the exhibition was the room "You are the weather" itself. The text attached to the photographs was as important - if not more so - than the pictures. The way there were presented was also very effective. Before viewing them we read a sign describing the subject of the photos (which were taken in pools across Iceland in rain, fog, wind and sun) as making expressions due to the weather conditions. "But when you are in the room with her it's as though you've provoked these responses, you become the weather". This adds a layer to the work - suggesting that the expressions may or may not be personal, may or may not be directed at the photographer and the relationship she has with the woman. Then there is another layer in the way the work is set out. Standing in the middle of the room, with all the photos of the woman and her different expressions surrounding us, it does feel that we are being watched by her, rather than watching her. And our faces change, mirroring our interpretations of her face, and our attempt to work out the mystery of what she is feeling, feeling the frustrations ourselves. I would like to video or photograph (or both?) the members of the public as they stand looking at these photographs, to track the expressions on their face in response.

Paul Greengrass rocks

Paul Greengrass came to talk at Goldsmiths today for the Olive Till Memorial debate. Paul Greengrass, a very politically concerned director, got his directing chops doing World in Action on TV in the '80s and basically developed a style honed in documentary, do-it-all-yourself small crew film making. An unlikely guy to end up directing Hollywood blockbusters (such as Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum and United 93) except, as he pointed out, we now live in the age of the mobile phone when film making is accessible to all and people see the world through a much more instant form of film than the traditional stock shot "vicar walks in to tea room - cut to close up of teapot" style. Also, in the US film making is more about everyone trading jobs and not sticking to fixed roles as it is in the UK.

He even said that during the car chase shooting day in Bourne Ultimatum, he saw many members of the public, phones held aloft. After filming, that evening on Utube there were a whole load of mobile phone films of exactly what he had been filming that day. Must have been interesting to see if any of the general public who filmed on their mobile got a better shot than he did.

He also said that he saw the British film making tradition as still too influenced by text and plays and the "Hampstead dinner party" scenario. His vision is that screenwriting and directing are getting closer and closer. He writes the screenplay for most of his work - Bourne excluded - a legacy from his documentary days and in line with his belief in winning the war of the director versus the writers in a film. In 10 years he said he thinks they will be the same thing. Writing will be about conceptualising and more about ideas than so many specifics. He does not do traditional storyboards, but visualises in line with the ideas, not with the script. Script and visuals are a moving feast, influencing each other. Before even writing a script we can now collage so much with an apple mac that the visualising and concepts can influence the action much more.

Fascinating. I was discussing with my friend that, as a creative, when asked - "what is the best way to get into this?" at the end by his interviewer, he answered as all creatives do. And it is the best advice: find out what you really want to direct, as a topic, what subject really concerns you. And then make the film. And keep just making films as much as you can. And that's it.

Today I found an old list of films I gotta see:
Badlands - Terence Malik. Watched today. Absolutely incredible composition of the shots. So subtle. Watched it today
Manhunter - Michael Mann
Repo Man - Alex Cox
Fanny & Alexander - Ingmar Bergman
Dogville - Lars von Trier
Chinatown - Polanski
A bout de souffle - Godard
Block Party - David LaChapelle
The Firm / Elephant - Alan Clarke (massive influence on Paul Greengrass)
The Ipcress File
Eraserhead - Lynch. Couldn't get through it last time. But this time it is on at the ICA. So possibly try again...

Jockstraps!

The area of male undergarments has been much neglected of late, a situation which one man (Colin Corbett) has single handedly rectified in a spectacular manner at a recent exhibition (STRAPPED: The art of the decorative jockstrap) at the LCC (London College of Communication, Elephant and Castle tube, for the uninitiated).

This is simply the best exhibition I have seen recently - and not just because I like this guy's sense of humour. Some particularly admirable jockstraps from his collection must be pointed out.

(below left) "Catholic" jockstrap - very devout.

and (above right) "The Swiss cuckoo clock jockstrap" - why has no-one thought of this before?

- "Masked ball"(please see photos for both the Japanese and the Venetian version). A slightly disconcerting surprise, once you got your man into the bedroom, surely...

- (below left) "Pinstripes" - surely if you are wearing a suit it is only right that you should follow the theme through to all areas of your personage?

- (above right) "Wedding tackle" - why shouldn't men dress up for their wedding when it comes to undergarments? I think the days of the black M&S y-fronts/boxers are over, sonny.

I also like the turkish evil eyes package holder and the King Arthur style sword strap (though I think this one should probably be handled with care as one wrong move in that one cause a gentleman a rather unpleasant pain in a rather sensitive area).

Apparently the artist wants a man to be able to be able to say "doesn't my package look nice". And why not? If, for instance, a man was to be saved from almost certain death in a fire by a rather lovely female fireman (firelady? fireperson?) then he should certainly be relieved to know that he was wearing co-ordinating undergarments of which he could be proud. There is no need for neglect in that area and a little more effort on the part of the male species certainly wouldn't go amiss.

The works were apparently inspired by the artist using the stock phrase, on seeing anyone who looked uncomfortable: "Oh he's got his diamante jockstrap on inside out!" Eventually Colin, the designer, decided that he would actually design a diamante jockstrap to see what this situation would look like. And very lovely it looks too.

Sadly these jockstraps are not currently available in M&S, Primark, or any other reliable retail outlets and they probably will not be in the near future (unless Peter Tatchell suddenly becomes Prime Minister, or something). What a shame....

O my God it's snowing

OK it is snowing. It hasn't snowed like this since - well I cannot remember. I have never seen it like this in London. Just been up to Hilly Fields, Brockley - sledginggggggggggggggg!!! with my housemates. We are now all officially 10 years old again, wooohoooooooooooo

that is all

TENALADY

I walk into the local chemist and am met with a wall of Tenaladies. Why o why o why? There are so many that the sun is eclipsed and planes are diverting over their great big absorbency. Is this what the future holds? Do many women walk around, well, slightly giving it some extra in the pants department? And what about the men? I am sure they are not holding back. Where is the Lynx tenaman? Let's hear it for all the incontinent men out there! - put your hands in the air (or maybe don't, keep them firmly attached to your underwear to make sure it is staying up).

Ok here is my list of what is currently cool:
bands - bitches, foot village, duracell, 2-pieces - No Age expecially, Prinzhorn Dance School, Japanese hip hop (names to be forthcoming in next blog), Thomas Truax.
stuff - "About Last Night" the South Park Episode about the Obama and "change!", http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4 - the best music video EVER, My Name is Earl, Twin Peaks, Heart of Darkness (Josef Conrad), Roni Horn - dry water and you are the weather.
habits - smashing china (porcelain preferred) when you are angry, doughnuts (of all varieties), swimming, sushi eating, the crisp blue air of english winters.

what sucks
tenalady, indigestion, the closing of my local bar (now with many "Sorry you are deceased notices on the front"), being cold in winter, losing my favourite purple gloves...

that is all