tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172972462024-03-08T07:08:01.379+13:00andrew killick (safe little world)poetry, art and miscellanyandrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.comBlogger215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-64088064109218749992021-12-28T18:21:00.005+13:002021-12-28T21:49:03.132+13:00600 Books<p>Since I began keeping records in 2005, today I reached the milestone of having read 600 books. The first was The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovannino Guareschi, the 600th was Encounters with Silence by Karl Rahner.<br /><br />It made me think, what's been accomplished by the reading of all those books? There's an inclination to echo the Teacher from Ecclesiastes and say, Nothing. Nothing has been achieved. It's all been a kind of vanity. Of wanting to feel and seem important and smart. A certain uselessness. A wasting of time. Maybe there would be freedom in making that admission; a letting go, a letting be. It's all been a chasing after the wind. A wild goose chase. <br /><br />And yet, it's also been so much more than nothing and useless. At some great depth of desire it's been a chasing after the pneuma, the ruach, the breath, the spirit. A chasing after the Wild Goose.<br /><br />It's all been a life thread driven and sparked, I find, by a desire to engage with, understand, and have communion and companionship with the ways of God and humans. To explore the mystery of being. To fully engage with life. Even books read for the virtue of pure entertainment can tell us something about that. I want to find my identity and be shaped in these explorations, and find a place to belong. It's become part of my creative practice, my way of being in the world. <br /><br />And when I post my thoughts/reviews online, as author John Pavlovitz notes in passing, "It’s all [part of] the beauty, truth, meaning [I've] encountered and deemed worth sharing with the humanity around [me]." (John Pavlovitz, If God is Love, Don't be a Jerk)<br /><br />I have this hope that these explorations have somehow been caught up and interwoven with the expansive notion of the two great commandments: love God and love your neighbour as yourself. <span data-offset-key="5504e-0-0"><span data-text="true">And thereby what it might mean to be and become fully human, to come alive and flourish.</span></span> It's by no means the whole story but it's some of it. <br /><br />The desire runs pretty deep of course. Much deeper than ink on page. As Karl Rahner said: "All it can give me is words and concepts, which perform the middle-man's service of expressing and interpreting reality to me, but can never still my heart's craving for the reality itself, the true life and true possession. I shall never be cured until all reality come streaming like an ecstatic, intoxicating melody into my heart." (Encounters with Silence)<br /><br />That sounds grandiose, and perhaps far-fetched. I'm ok with that. It's also very commonplace. <br /><br />Be curious, look for mystery, explore the place you find yourself.</p>andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-39647291854521982542020-11-18T17:42:00.005+13:002020-11-18T20:58:21.773+13:00The God Who is There: in discourse with Schaeffer<p>It’s been a while for this old blog. Well, I recently read the late 1960s book (with a long lifespan and strong influence) by Francis Schaeffer, <i>The God Who is There</i>.<br /></p><p>I often write reviews for the books I read, but with this one I started writing… and writing. A few thousand words later, it was too long for my usual posting venue, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/136686" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>. So here we are.<br /></p><p>More than just a personal explosion of thoughts, I hope its a contemplatively critical point of view and that there’s some interesting stuff in here. <br /><br />––– </p><p><b>It was the 1960s, and the west was in a massive state of upheaval – everything in philosophy, art, theology and popular culture was under question and the ground was shifting. Postmodernity was coming down the line and Francis Schaeffer took it on himself to oppose the zeitgeist.</b><br /><br />Intelligent Christian young people throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s were entering academic institutions and finding themselves in a very different world to that offered by the shelter of the presuppositions they enjoyed within the walls of the church.<br /><br />Into that space of discombobulation came Schaeffer’s <i>The God Who is There</i>.<br /><br />The book gave the gift of an intelligent response. That’s a very reassuring thing when facing a tide of confusing information that seems to be undermining your personal status quo. It provides a kind of raft, or even maybe an island, in the flux and flow. Schaeffer’s intelligence and strength of conviction provided a place of that kind, a position to inhabit. As a figurehead, people could even trust that Schaeffer was taking care of matters on the cut and thrust academic frontlines, and rest in that thought. No matter your belief system, it’s always nice to know you have intellectuals in your corner. <br /><br />A key premise of the book is that culture and society is changed by a chain of influences that begins with philosophy, then into art, then into pop culture, then into society in general, then into theology, then (I suppose) into the church. The basis of this premise is never argued in the book – it is simply put forward as the way things are. In this schema, philosophers hold great power as progenitors and creators of cultural paradigms, rather than as (say) prophets of a new zeitgeist… i.e. they are creators more than they are observers or seers. They <i>create </i>the zeitgeist – they don’t just <i>describe </i>it. <br /><br />A second key premise is the existence of something called the ‘line of despair’. I’m not sure of the methodology by which this is defined – again, it is simply put forward as the way things are. But as I understand it, it is some kind of tipping point whereby the paradigm shifts from the safety of a presupposition of a core dualistic rationality into some other space. This other space is adamantly described by Schaeffer as ‘despair’. <br /><br />These two presuppositions combine in the opening thesis of the book: philosophers (via a chain of influences) have taken our entire culture and society below the line of despair. And the person most responsible for this shift (thanks to the chain of influences) – Schaeffer’s bogeyman – is 19th century Christian philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. He wreaked this havoc, says Schaeffer, via his concept of the ‘leap of faith’. <br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Kierkegaard</h3><p style="text-align: left;">A defence of Kierkegaard, if I may…<br /><br />Kierkegaard, by his own design, attempted to play a role similar to a biblical prophet within his culture, and like any prophetic figure (or would-be prophetic figure) it’s important to take the original context into account. Kierkegaard was speaking into a 19th century Danish context. His ideas aren’t limited to that context, but that context forms part of the picture of what he’s driving at. His particular bugbear was with the way ‘Christianity’ had become a cultural phenomenon of mere middle-class respectability. For him this wasn’t true Christianity.<br /><br />Because he was seeking to combat this respectability, he emphasised aspects of faith that undermined that citadel. One move was to highlight the ‘absurdity’ of Christianity, including such propositions as the idea that a 1st century AD Palestinian Jewish carpenter was God incarnate. This was not to make a mockery of Christianity but to point out, through this kind of example, that true Christianity requires a risk, and rationality will not mitigate this risk. That risk is a leap, and true Christianity requires that the individual take this leap. The core propositions of Christianity can not be taken merely as raw rational ‘facts’ or comfortable middle-class truisms. True Christianity is an existential proposition requiring something of the individual that goes beyond rationality. Rationality isn’t extinct – it just isn’t sufficient for making the final all-in move. <br /><br />That’s how I understand Kierkegaard’s leap of faith, as it pertains to epistemology in the context of Christianity. His writing is very open to interpretation and, not only that, but he wrote under various pseudonyms that allowed him to try out various philosophical points of view. (It’s important to read the writings he penned under his own name to get at what he saw as the ‘truest things’ he held to.) <br /><br />Another angle on the leap of faith that I love is this one from Clare Carlisle’s book, <i>Kierkegaard: A guide for the perplexed</i>: <br /><br />‘Kierkegaard … uses both characters and metaphors to show the movements of existence. One of his most famous metaphors is the “leap of faith” (actually Kierkegaard does not use this phrase, but he uses the metaphor of a dancer’s leap to illustrate the movement of religious faith). This metaphor expresses the way in which faith is a “double movement”: it goes up towards God, but it also comes down to earth, and this shows that faith is not a withdrawal from the world but a way of living in the world through a relationship to God.’<br /><br />To explore the metaphor further, it’s a grounded leap. Not a vague floaty leap or a plunge off a cliff. That being the case, Schaeffer needn’t have been so worried about Kierkegaard per se. Nonetheless, Schaeffer’s on-going issue is the move beyond rationality, and he continues to hold Kierkegaard in the dock. <br /><br />Two things about this: Firstly, the real problem may be not what Kierkegaard said but what others did with elements of Kierkegaardian thought. If later Existentialists declared the end of rationality, with a move into an entirely arbitrary and chaotic universe, that is no fault of Kierkegaard’s. It’s problematic to hold a thinker responsible for what subsequent thinkers and interpreters do with his or her work. (As a side note, by the way, if we are to play that game (and I’m going to play a variation of it later on), I think it could be argued that a figure like Kierkegaard the philosopher and would-be ‘reformer’ could not have existed without Schaeffer’s beloved Reformation.)<br /><br />Secondly, it’s beyond me to understand how Schaeffer can angle towards the idea that Christianity and life can be contained within rationality. The above example to wit. How one could arrive at the carpenter-man-incarnate-God phenomenon via purely rational means defies my imagination. And to claim to be doing so, it seems to me, is to risk making an idol of rationality. <br /><br />In the first part of the second half of the book, Schaeffer makes a series of ‘biblical’ and/or ‘historical’ Christian propositions that he believes will provide meaning to individuals and culture and bring them back up above the line of despair. I have no particular quibble with these for what they are – it’s a solid summary of post-Reformation orthodoxy (which he calls ‘historic Christianity’), and I think the first of these (from which the other propositions flow) – that a transcendent-personal God <i>is </i>– is not beyond the realms of reason. But even though that might be a reasonable proposition, it still requires the individual to take an existential leap of faith, or undergo some kind of felt personal experience that compels that leap, for their life to interweave with that proposition. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Other propositions – such as the Bible being the word of God – also require a leap. There are reasons why this proposition about the Bible might be so, but none of them allow the proposition to be established as definitive fact. Highly compelling for some perhaps, but definitive, no. The proposition requires a response, and that response is the leap of faith. <br /><br />Schaeffer very briefly admits later in the book that rationality by itself isn’t enough, and opposes ‘naked rationalism’, but still maintains his very high ideals of rationality (including a fierce position against mysticism). He reinforces the idea that everything should be grounded in a sense of the rational. Perhaps, if he had allowed himself to, he may have had more recourse to the metaphor of Kierkegaard’s grounded leap than he realised. In other writings, he admits that there is useful stuff in Kierkegaard, though he never sways from his line of despair construct and Kierkegaard’s role in it.<br /><br />Those are my thoughts on Schaeffer’s relationship with Kierkegaard. But <i>The God Who is There</i> is much more than a riposte against Kierkegaard. It is first and foremost a work of apologetics, and I wonder about the legacy of that. <br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">An apologetic discourse </h3><p style="text-align: left;">Schaeffer, to his credit, was a man who engaged – he got into conversation with all kinds of people (artists, philosophers, plumbers), and he had a profound effect on thousands of young people via intelligent discourse. But, if his writings are anything to go by, the dynamic of these conversations assumed a form in which he appropriates the high ground and speaks downwards – didactic conversation with the ulterior motive of seeking to overcome the object’s point of view. This approach is borne out by the stories recorded in the book about times when he trumped other people’s philosophies and beliefs. That, you might say, is exactly what ‘evangelism’ is (no matter what system of belief you’re pushing), but whatever else it might be, it’s not a conversation with an equal power dynamic. Humility is at risk. <br /><br />The book follows the model of classical evangelical discourse: generate a keen awareness of need (step one) and then provide a solution (step two). It is, therefore, largely a guide on how to mine out the tensions and inconsistencies in a non-Christian’s belief system so as to destabilise them in preparation for hearing the gospel. You’re meant to push them intellectually to the ‘logical conclusion’ of their beliefs (as if each belief system has just one logical conclusion) so as to demonstrate the unsustainable nature of that belief and the inconsistencies required of an individual to inhabit that space. (By ‘logical conclusion’, I think you could just as easily say ‘extreme version’ of the particular belief.) This leads to a useful ontological (existential) destabilisation in the apologetic object (i.e. the person you are preaching to). That’s a high stakes game – you’re playing with the individual’s mental and emotional well-being. But it’s justified, in Schaeffer’s theology and by his own claim, if you are doing it in a bid to rescue the individual from eternal hellfire. Talk about taking philosophies to their logical conclusion. <br /><br />All this, I suppose, with the supposition by Schaeffer that there are no tensions in Christian belief (back to Kierkegaard for the contra) and no ‘logical conclusion(s)’ of some aspects of Christian belief(s), in all their wide varieties, that might lead somewhere detrimental (arguably the one about hellfire mentioned above, for example). Reformed theology certainly isn’t immune from this. I’m not sure who the arbiter of definitive ‘logical conclusion’ is, but apparently singular logical conclusions exist out there. Possible outcomes? Sure. One inevitable outcome? Not so sure… spoken (like many other things in this review, I acknowledge) like a true postmodern. <br /><br />It’s all done with the best intentions, of course, because the evangeliser wants to give the gift of peace, meaning and reconciliation with self and God. I don’t say that cynically – that is genuinely the heartfelt desire. But the methodology, and presuppositions of the methodology, is I think problematic (to put it mildly).</p><p style="text-align: left;">The triggering of an existential crisis as an apologetical strategy. It’s a different mode, but the same basic premise as the hellfire preaching of previous eras. So for all Schaeffer’s talk about rationality and the use of a type of rationality in his argument, in the end he’s relying on emotion – this enhanced state of discombobulation – to spark a movement in his apologetical object (i.e. the individual being evangelised)… to prompt an: <i>existential leap</i>. That leap is how the individual escapes the crisis situation they find themselves in. It’s a human mechanism that we all employ no matter what our underlying belief systems are, to gain a tenable space in which to live.<br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">An impact on culture</h3><p style="text-align: left;">The cultural legacy of this book is also something worth considering. It’s clear that Schaeffer saw the 1960s cultural climate as being inherently dangerous and that figures within it were deliberate in their dangerous initiatives. The artist Marcel Duchamp ‘will seek to destroy you from within yourself’ (p35). Regarding the viewing of a particular art exhibition in Amsterdam in 1965, ‘though the girl could not perhaps analyse what she saw, yet surely she would be more ready to say “Yes” [to sex, I assume, from the context] by the time she came out’ (p36). In the Beatles’ <i>Sergeant Pepper</i> album ‘the words, the syntax, the music, and the unity of the way the individual songs are arranged, form a unity of infiltration’ (p43). <br /><br />While Schaeffer himself did engage (in a perhaps tightly controlled, risk adverse and ulterior way), and even urged evangelicals to properly understand the culture and not to adopt a ‘citadel mentality’, the unfortunate legacy (following here his own chain of influence model) of his painting of the evils, darkness and danger of contemporary culture has, in practice, a fear-based outcome that fed or feeds into the culture wars, and perhaps the church becoming ever-more disconnected from the rest of society. <br /><br />When Schaeffer encourages us to understand the culture, it’s not so we can participate in it, or even mine it for gold. It’s so we can learn how best to criticise it, repudiate it and fight against it.<br /><br />The book was wildly popular and the backcover blurb of the edition I have (printed sometime after Schaeffer’s death in 1984) begins with: ‘The landmark book that changed us all’. By ‘us all’, I assume they mean evangelicals. A highly defensive, ‘them and us’ point of view within the reformed/evangelical/fundamentalist milieu that sees danger everywhere instead of gifts is, I think, part of the legacy of the book. We saw it recently when Christians freaked out about Marxism and critical theory around the BLM movement. <br /><br />The sad thing about this is that it deprives Christianity of the potential benefits of new insights that might be gained from genuine conversation and cuts it off from the culture that surrounds it. As controversial as it may sound, Marxism and critical theory, for example, have some excellent insights to share – especially with regard to power dynamics and oppression, which can dovetail with the teachings of Jesus. But – equally as sad – a shutting down of genuine conversation also deprives other modes of thinking from gaining insights from Christianity. <br /><br />On a personal note, in attacking Kierkegaard and also mysticism (as he does later on), Schaeffer is attacking two threads that have helped bring my own faith to life in the postmodern context that we inhabit. Contrary to his argument, I believe that they have helped keep me from despair (or companioned me when I’ve experienced despair), rather than pushed me below the line. <br /><br />I struggle with the innate pessimism in Schaeffer’s readings of creative fields. This is also true of Schaeffer’s friend H R Rookmaaker, author of the ominously titled, <i>Modern Art and the Death of a Culture</i>. Their interpretations often lack generosity, love and grace, and therefore also lack an essence of redemption. For example, in Schaeffer’s reading of Dali (pp66-68), instead of celebrating an awakening in Dali’s work to a sacramental presence in the world, he simply provides theological criticism and put-down. And in his reading of Henry Miller (pp74-77), he fails to celebrate Miller’s discovery of a divine creative source in the world, instead denying Miller the use of biblical language to describe his discoveries. It seems stingy.<br /><br />Fortunately, today there are Christian thinkers who do genuinely engage. They don’t throw their hands up in horror at postmodernity and wish for a different world – they understand that postmodernity is simply where we’re at. That’s how N T Wright can express the idea (while still remaining within the scope of orthodoxy) that every generation must work out what Christianity means in their generation. It’s also how James K A Smith can write a book called <i>Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism</i> and glean some wonderful gifts from postmodern theorists, or Daniel Siedell can write a book called <i>God in the Gallery</i> and make something marvellous, immersed as he is in the art world. <br /><br />Then again, we <i>are </i>called to be a counter culture. We must critique the culture. Christianity was a counter culture at its inception and has often functioned that way – a different way of being, a prophetic imagination (a la Walter Brueggemann). There <i>is </i>emptiness and despair present in the world (and I noticed it more so while reading a particular graphic novel alongside Schaeffer). But all is not meaningless chaos (inside and outside the church) – love abides, there is a Presence… on such things Christianity insists, despite whatever the odds may be. The possibility of hope in every context. So Schaeffer gives us that challenge, and the gift of critical thinking, and it is well-heeded so long as we come at it with openness, humility and love. And in that context, sometimes the leap of faith to which Schaeffer seemed so adverse will be necessary. It just is.<br /><br />As serendipity would have it, at the same time as I was reading Schaeffer, I was also reading Henri Nouwen’s <i>The Wounded Healer</i>. Published three years apart, both books try to diagnose what ails (late 1960s / early 1970s) ‘contemporary man’. Nouwen notices that contemporary man is seeking transcendence in one of two primary ways: mysticism and revolution.<br /><br />Unlike Schaeffer, who doesn’t address revolution and treats mysticism as anathema, Nouwen enters into those two fields, sits with them in a humble, empathetic and non-alarmist way and proposes that, rather than shooting them down, mysticism and revolution can flourish and come together in rather a marvellous way in Christianity. Jürgen Moltmann performs a similar move in his writings.<br /><br />This is the creative approach – employing a prophetic imagination, which does not clang shut and bolt the doors, but opens up. Rather than setting up a separate world, Nouwen enters into the heart of the world and does his work there – an incarnational move.<br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Schaeffer and me</h3><p style="text-align: left;">I think this long review was a conversation I needed to have with a powerful force from my formative years. Although this was the first time I’ve read this book for myself, Schaeffer’s thinking was a powerful influence in the evangelical and Reformed worlds I was educated in. In a way, this has been the 15-year-old in me, making the response I wish I could have made back then. </p><p style="text-align: left;">As for my university years in the late 1990s, although my background of having a Reformed Christian high school education helped provide me with the gift of critical thinking, I’m glad I didn’t read Schaeffer at that time. Instead, I developed a strategy of noticing gold in critical theory, postmodernism, modern poetry and contemporary art. I’m glad I didn’t set up a defensive position against it, as I might have done under the influence of Schaeffer. Even when I read Rookmaaker’s <i>Modern Art and the Death of a Culture</i> something didn’t sit right. With Schaeffer lurking in the philosophical background of my upbringing and education, it’s no wonder, by the way, that I felt a thrilling sense of being a bit of a rebel when I first became intrigued by Kierkegaard.<br /><br />Barth, Tillich, Bultmann, Bonhoeffer, Rahner, Macquarrie – all important names in 20th century theology, and all get a bad rap from Schaeffer for their ‘dangerous’, or at least misguided, theologies. It’s clear that, in the great tradition of Reformed theology, Schaeffer feels he has a handle on definitive Truth, that his theology is the one that got it right. But many of these names are ones that I’m interested in, with compelling ideas to contribute. (By chance, Tillich is next on my reading list.) </p><p style="text-align: left;">My approach is to have orthodoxy as an anchor point and then approach these thinkers with genuine curiosity and generosity. Despite all my critiques, it’s something I’ve tried to do with this very book (for example, I really liked Schaeffer’s sections on ‘truth and spirituality’ and ‘the God behind truth’ in which he agrees, without noticing it, with aspects of Kierkegaard and Karl Barth, and gives a passing nod to the study of semantics (semiotics) – a favourite pastime of postmodernism). Glean the gifts and feel free to disagree, while keeping an open hand. It’s less defensive, and it’s creatively interesting and generative. It’s the same with art and culture.<br /><br />Fifty years after Schaeffer wrote his book, and the tide of the 1960s cultural shift has passed through, this is what’s become of us. This, I think, is what the Christian in postmodernity does. Where, for example, Schaeffer posits a battle between theism and pantheism, a third term has emerged: panentheism (i.e. the idea that the presence of God is around and through everything, but not that everything is God). Where Schaeffer posits a battle between the rational and irrational, the third term transrational has emerged, suggesting that there a mode of knowing beyond the rational and irrational duality. I’m not sure that Schaeffer would have liked it, and there are still those of his ilk fighting the battle, but I think we are basically ok. Christianity – working out faith in context with trembling – is always going to be some kind of negotiation, if not struggle, but we’ve not yet sunken into despair. The Spirit is still at work.<br /><br /></p>andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-11479258511920874182015-06-06T18:45:00.000+12:002015-06-06T18:49:09.124+12:00video experimentAn experimental video I did for the LBC. I wanted to play around with the concept of a 'static' video, where the camera doesn't move for an extended period.<br />
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Originally the idea was to use this as a back drop for the live performance of the LBC piece bypass/impasse. But I used other footage for that in the end.<br />
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The video is pretty meditative ... the only real editing happens around the halfway mark.<br />
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Shot on the Kaiaua foreshore, Firth of Thames, New Zealand on a GoPro Hero2.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/129950840" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<a href="https://vimeo.com/129950840">Experiment in static landscape video</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/safelittleworld">andrew killick</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-24255675510549724872015-01-04T17:42:00.001+13:002015-01-11T09:24:51.293+13:00Pride and Refuse: the installation (Transitions 2014)In the first weekend of November 2014, the Lower Bar Collective (LBC) put on a three-day event at the Silo Park (Silo 6) in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter. This involved inviting other sound / experimental artists and visual artists to utilise the silo space. Other than providing the video content for the LBC performances (as usual), I also installed a piece in one of the silos called 'Pride and Refuse'.<br />
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<b>Background</b><br />
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The genesis for the 'Pride and Refuse' piece came about a number of years ago after reading <i>Pensées</i> by Blaise Pascal, and in particular the following quote, describing the paradoxical nature of humankind:<br />
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“Judge of all things, imbecile worm of the earth; depository of truth, a sink of uncertainty and error; the pride and refuse of the universe.” </blockquote>
From there, the concept was matched with an aesthetic idea I had been playing with, doodling humanesque outline figures. I was interested in picture clusters and so decided to create a cluster in which these figures appeared against various impressive skies. These skies were eventually photographed from our balcony in Brookfield over several months and combined with the existing figures that had been drawn sometime earlier. The result can be seen <a href="http://safelittleworld.com/prideandrefuse.htm" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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By this time I had reached a place where I felt like I had a enough work I was happy with to begin putting out exhibition proposals to several galleries. I constructed a proposal for a Safe Little World exhibition, consisting of four large clusters of small photographs, some with graphic interventions (I call these images photo/graphic).<br />
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This resulted in my first showing at Draw Inc in Hamilton, though just one of the four pieces was shown. The proposal was declined by another gallery (Blue Oyster in Dunedin), but came back with constructive criticism. The advice was to focus the conceptual frame of my proposed exhibition.<br />
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This was fair critique. Although the four pieces in the proposal were linked by my general safe little world concept, they didn't tell one particular story as a group of works.<br />
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Within the wider safe little world idea, conceptually I was most interested in the 'Pride and Refuse' cluster, and knew it had an aesthetic and conceptual link to another of my pieces - one named 'Falling / Rising', a cluster of nine photographs I had taken of a white cloth dummy in mid-flight (<a href="http://safelittleworld.com/fallingrising.htm" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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I had been wanting to try out other media, so I decided to flesh out the pride and refuse concept and make the connection between the 'Pride and Refuse' cluster and the 'Falling / Rising' cluster more explicit by the addition of 15 cloth dummies to be suspended from the ceiling in a cloud (one dummy for each of outline figures in the 'Pride and Refuse' cluster, and modeled on the dummy that appeared in the 'Falling / Rising' cluster) and 15 adhesive vinyl outline figures, of similar dimensions to the cloth dummies, to be applied to the floor. This would give me an installation consisting of four elements (the two existing framed clusters plus the two new elements) - and possibly five with the addition of an ambient soundtrack provided by the LBC. I made a proposal based on this new installation idea to a gallery in Wellington, which was declined.<br />
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<b>Transitions</b><br />
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Since performing in the silos for the Auckland Fringe Festival in early 2013, the gentlemen of the LBC had fallen in love with the space and entertained the idea of staging our own event in there.<br />
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The idea was conceived to invite other sound artists and visual artists into the space for a weekend. The Auckland City Council approved our plans and gave us use of the space.<br />
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The silos are configured in an interconnected set of six (hence 'Silo 6'), and offer a unique acoustic space and industrial setting. It was the perfect opportunity for me to utilise the 'Pride and Refuse' installation in one of the silos.<br />
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With this project greenlit, I now got underway (for the first time) with actualising the elements of the installation.<br />
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Prior to this, I had already been thinking, without any particular opportunity being confirmed, of getting the pieces made so that the installation was at least out of my head and into a more concrete form. I had already asked my father-in-law, René, (a wizard at constructing things with a sewing machine) if he would be prepared to make the cloth dummies, and had obtained quotes from signwriters for making the adhesive vinyl outline figures.<br />
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Using the original cloth dummy (the hero of the 'Falling / Rising' cluster), René now made a pattern and got to work on 15 new dummies. The vinyl adhesive figures were taken care of (beautifully and very generously) by <a href="http://www.benefitz.co.nz/" target="_blank">Benefitz</a> in Auckland. Meanwhile, I had the 24 photographic images printed for the two clusters and then framed them up. <br />
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<b>The Installation</b><br />
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The elements were completed and duly assembled. Anna, my wife, was unwell at the time but I thought I'd still manage to complete the installation with a daytrip to Auckland. In the event, she was too unwell for me to go away for that long, and it looked like the project was going to stumble near the last hurdle.<br />
<br />
The collective kicked into action, and LBC members Mal, Matt and Rob went above and beyond to make it happen. In the midst of all the chaos of the other organisational aspects of the Transitions event, Mal (in particular), with help from fellow exhibiting artist Kristin, spent several hours installing the piece after it was sent to Auckland on over-night courier. This was no mean feat considering the piece had never been installed before. A few relatively minor technical challenges presented themselves and were solved, via Mal's initiative, my detailed written instructions and a few phonecalls between us.<br />
<br />
Utilising one of the silo spaces, the two photo/graphic framed clusters were hung on the concrete walls (using 3M Command Adhesive strips). The 15 dummies were suspended in the centre of the space by fishing line from the existing hopper structure, and the vinyl adhesive figures were applied to the floor.<br />
<br />
At some point in the afternoon of the installation, I started receiving cell pics of the installation in situ. It's a strange feeling never to have seen and experienced the installation in person, but it was a pretty amazing feeling to receive those pictures.<br />
<br />
It was also a massive privilege to be exhibiting alongside the other visual artists that we had invited into the space for the Transitions event: Belinda Griffiths, Beau Cotton, Arthur Amon and Kristin Herman.<br />
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Following are a number of images that document the piece:<br />
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The last three images were shot by, and are courtesy of, <a href="http://funkypancake.com/blog/" target="_blank">funkypancake</a>.<br />
<br />
Although the fifth element of the original concept (an LBC audio soundtrack) wasn't part of this installation per se, over the course of the weekend the piece was immersed in incidental sound provided by the various musicians and artists who performed. Actually this is probably the aspect that I most regret missing out on - experiencing in person those various sounds enveloping and adding layers, by proximity, to my artwork.<br />
<br />
Three evocative pieces of media that relate to this sonic context emerged from the weekend. The first is an image of Colin Wood playing his saxophone in my space. The second is of the act DJ Popular Music using my space for part of their dance performance. The third is a video shot by <a href="http://funkypancake.com/blog/" target="_blank">funkypancake</a> of the LBC's opening performance. The video features my cloth dummies in the opening minutes and also gives some idea of the silo space in general. The music is a piece called 'Nana'.<br />
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<b>Acknowledgements </b><br />
<br />
Art emerges from community. A number of people made this possible out of the amazing kindness of their hearts. Malcolm Dunn, Rob Morgan and Matt Findlay of the <a href="http://lowerbarcollective.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">LBC</a> for making the installation happen even though I couldn't be there in person. René Sjardin for patterning, stitching and stuffing. Aidan and Simon of <a href="http://www.benefitz.co.nz/" target="_blank">Benefitz</a> (a superb printing company in Auckland) for the adhesive vinyl figures. All the people who donated to the <a href="https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/" target="_blank">PledgeMe</a> campaign I ran back in 2011 that enabled me to buy all the frames for the clusters (and <a href="http://www.harrisonframes.com/" target="_blank">Harrison Frames</a> who gave me a great price at the time). Anna, my wife, for putting up with my ramblings and thoughts-in-process, and giving me a free hand to create the artwork. andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-5867640074710272052014-10-23T18:17:00.000+13:002015-01-04T17:43:44.812+13:00another Lower Bar Collective event<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Another Lower Bar Collective (and Safe Little World) event coming up...<br />
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Other than providing the visuals to accompany the music of the LBC (and designing the above poster), I'm doing an installation for the event called 'Pride and Refuse'. This installation has been sitting in concept stage for more than a couple of years, so it's pretty cool to be able to finally exhibit the thing.<br />
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My father-in-law has finished work on 15 cloth dummies, I've framed 24 little photographic prints, the 15 adhesive vinyl outline men arrived from the printers today ... it's all go.<br />
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Event info:<br />
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Name: (Lower Bar Collective Presents) Transitions<br />
<br />
Date: Friday 31 October – Sunday 2 November. 6 – 10 pm Friday. 11 am – 10.45 pm Saturday. 11 am – 3 pm Sunday.<br />
<br />
Location: Silo Six, Silo Park, Wynyard Quarter.<br />
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Blurb: The Lower Bar Collective presents Transitions, experimental music and art installations. For one weekend, the Auckland-based collective takes over the silo space, inviting fellow sound and visual artists to present their material in that unique acoustic and aesthetic environment.<br />
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Sound artists: Lower Bar Collective; Colin Woods; Paul Buckton; Panhandlers; Baby Took My Dingo; Terracotta Cat; Reverbaphon; Ben Lawrence; Kraus; DJ Popular Music; Saturnian Noise<br />
Collective.<br />
<br />
Installation artists: Belinda Griffiths; Beau Cotton; Kristin Herman; Arthur Amon; Peace Myth; Safe Little World (Andrew Killick).<br />
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A diverse array of music and sound performances (from ambient to experimental) take place continuously over the three-day programme, with the installations concurrently open for viewing. Entry is free.<br />
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Further details: <a href="http://www.lowerbarcollective.com/">www.lowerbarcollective.com</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/lowerbarcollective">www.facebook.com/lowerbarcollective</a><br />
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<br />andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-49635335445505836542014-10-19T15:08:00.000+13:002014-10-22T09:50:06.612+13:00safe little world in cambodiaThe Safe Little World concept was always grounded in the context of a quiet suburban backwater in New Zealand, and I've always wondered what would happen to it in a different situation - one with less comfort and a different culture. As things transpired, I had the opportunity to test that question on a recent trip to Cambodia.<br />
<br />
The contrast between Tauranga and Phnom Penh in many ways couldn't be more stark. With this shift out of a comfort zone, the comfort of western suburbia which is inherent in the Safe Little World concept was immediately destabilised and then thrown into a light that exaggerated just how obvious our western expectations of comfort are. The sarcastic phrase "first world problems" is probably the most apt way to describe this in a nutshell. But the Safe Little World concept has also always embodied a paradox. The paradox is that our safe worlds have the potential to come under threat - and Cambodia's history and our experience of it as visitors definitely bore that out (encapsulated, for example, in a visit to S-21).<br />
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Other than a critique of our western sense of a safe little world in the context of a developing nation, it could be interesting to see if the underlying concept of a safe little world was found wherever we go. The question is, is it a fundamentally human drive, no matter where humans find themselves, to try to create a safe haven? The short answer is yes. This drive may embody itself slightly differently and have unique cultural manifestations, but ultimately this is a very human trait.<br />
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No matter how much, or how little, you give a person; no matter the threats, upheavals or fragility, humans seek to create a space for themselves.<br />
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<br />andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-44768788973581995012014-04-20T15:12:00.002+12:002014-04-20T15:12:28.902+12:00once upon a time...Once upon a time, before there were nasty apps and automatic one-touch filters, mankind wrestled interesting visual effects from his images by lengthy processes of hands-on experimentation.<br />
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Yesterday, while digging through my photography drawer, I came across some old b&w photography lens filters and my old Waltex magnifier.<br />
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How to make images 1 & 2: First, take a red lens filter (darkens sky in b&w photography, lightens skin tones, but not in colour photography). Look out your front windows on a rainy day. Point your digital camera at the view through the red filter. Take photo. Second, take a green lens filter (lightens foliage in b&w photography, but not in colour photography). Repeat.</div>
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How to make images 3 & 4: First get in your car (or your brother's car) and drive all the way to Whanganui. Drive up the Whanganui River road to the settlement of Jerusalem (where James K Baxter used to live). Stop and get out in the pouring rain. Wander onto the covenant grounds. Take photo with your Russian-manufactured Lomo analogue film camera (which you bought on ebay from the Ukraine) of statue of Mary looking heavenward into the overcast sky. Shoot it onto slide film. Go home and have slides developed. Over ten years later, rediscover your Waltex magnifier. Get out your old 35mm slides and select photo of Mary. In one hand, hold the magnifier and slide together. With the other hand press the lens of your digital camera up to the magnifier view-finder. Take pictures.</div>
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Tips for image 3: embrace the dust spots - they look like stars.</div>
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Tips for image 4: achieve the green tint by pointing the magnifier, slide and camera at the green foliage outside your kitchen window.</div>
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(Click em to see em larger.) </div>
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andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-42080798948020461152014-04-19T16:07:00.001+12:002014-04-19T16:23:29.304+12:00stations of the cross 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Another little Stations of the Cross exhibition at church this year. This time I'm doing Station XIII - 'Jesus is taken down from the cross'.<br />
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My concept came from noticing the red leaves that were falling from a tree in our backyard. In the northern hemisphere, Easter coincides with Spring, which fits the resurrection motif rather nicely - new life emerging from the dead earth. But in the southern hemisphere, Easter occurs in Autumn, seasonally fitting with the death and falling motif. So fallen leaves were a material that was close at hand for this piece.<br />
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Death and resurrection are woven into the fabric of nature. Nature pays tribute to the death and resurrection of its Creator.<br />
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Trees have long been associated with the cross and Christ is often said to have been hung on a 'tree' (the tree being a metaphor for the wooden cross, relating to the Old Testament statement, 'cursed is he who is hung upon a tree').<br />
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So my piece is of a bare tree, having shed its 'life', its leaves which turn red in the process of dying and falling - a metaphor of Christ dying on the cross - where they lay scattered on the ground. I then gathered them up off the dirty ground and placed them in a pure white bowl as a kind of offering, in a way that relates to Christ's body being poured out as an offering and being gathered up for burial. The picture of the bare tree and its offering of shed blood-red leaves appear together in the station.<br />
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My 2012 and 2013 stations are <a href="http://andrewkillick.blogspot.co.nz/2012_04_01_archive.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://andrewkillick.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/stations-of-cross-2013.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<br />andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-2455540204345842952013-10-10T19:06:00.003+13:002013-10-10T19:06:50.097+13:00the lbc again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The next installment... More info over at our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lowerbarcollective?fref=ts" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> and our <a href="http://lowerbarcollective.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Tumblr</a>.andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-60392941077733798512013-10-03T19:55:00.000+13:002013-10-03T19:57:16.146+13:00On SailingEarly this week I watched an interview with Dean Barker on Campbell Live. Over the last few weeks, you could have caught me in front of the TV at 8.00am most mornings watching the America's Cup racing, and you would have assumed that I was a bit of a fan, and I would have agreed. You would have caught me yelling abuse at Oracle, when they forced Team NZ into 'irons' before the start of one of the races and then claimed two penalties when Team NZ had no option but to touch boats. You would have seen my mood darkened a little for the rest of the day on losing days. You would have seen me relishing the American commentators' mispronunciation of Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill's last name - accidentally separating out the last syllable and thereby making the distinct syllables too obvious. Spit Hill. Things like that betray the fact that I was quite caught up in the drama of the event.<br />
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But as I sat watching the <a href="http://www.3news.co.nz/Campbell-Live-talks-to-Dean-Barker/tabid/817/articleID/315390/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Barker interview</a> the other night, I was struck by just how deep my feelings ran. They tapped into something more deeply cultural and a part of my life than I realised.</div>
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There are a couple of things. The first is about this Dean Barker fellow. He is a man who embodies a number of New Zealand cultural ideals. He is another in the vein of a handful of New Zealand national heroes such as Ed Hilary and Peter Blake. We can't place him in their league just yet, but he embodies a number of the characteristics that we New Zealanders admire. Humble, loyal, dedicated, determined, passionate in a way that speaks through action rather than words. And, like the best of our heroes, he engaged a challenge that was made all the more difficult by the odds and by the modest resources at hand. By the nature of our size in the world, our national psyche is drawn to David and Goliath scenarios.</div>
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The second awareness I was struck by was how much sailing is part of me. Growing up in Auckland, and spending holidays in the Hauraki Gulf, the sea and boats were a normal part of my life. My father was a passionate sailor in those days - I'm not sure where his love of sailing sprung from, but he served his compulsory military service in the navy. On one occasion he was summonsed to the bridge - mistakenly, it turned out. A ranking officer had asked to see 'Killick' and the messenger, apparently unaware that it's naval tradition to call a Leading Seaman 'Killick', instead fetched my father, a lowly teenager wondering why on earth his presence had been commanded. The nickname comes from the fact that a Leading Seaman's insignia is an anchor, and 'killick' is an old word for 'anchor'.</div>
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When I was a kid, boats were everywhere. At one count, our family had a total of about eleven or twelve water craft hanging around the house. Dinghies, canoes, windsurfers, yachts - those sorts of things. You wouldn't know from watching the America's Cup today, but sailing wasn't necessarily the domain of the rich (at least when I was kid). There were plenty of 'dungers' on the harbour - every man and his dog had a boat of some sort. I actually wasn't all that into sailing myself. I was more likely to be working on my colouring-book below deck or wondering why it was better to have a yacht than a launch, given that a launch gets you there much more quickly. Sometimes I was reluctant ballast or, as I got older, put in charge of the headsail (it's pronounced 'headsil') sheet as my father piloted his tan-sailed gaff-rig dory up and down Bon Accord Harbour on Kawau Island. </div>
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But it gets inside you nonetheless. The sea, the wind, the shower of spray, looking up at the top of the mast as it twitches against the clouds - knowing that the ocean and the elements are perhaps too powerful to play with, and that it is only by their goodwill that you are allowed to feel moments of mastery.</div>
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In the 1970s, my father's passion for sailing took him to the limits of the sport - ocean racing. Auckland to Noumea. And Fiji on another trip. In accordance with this, the main and insurpassable sporting event in our household was the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, with names like Peter Blake, Digby Taylor and Grant Dalton. Up at Kawau Island we'd listen to Pete Montgomery commentating on the radio as the boats entered the Hauraki Gulf after days at sea. My father and I climbed up to a high vantage point on the island and saw the leading boat emerge into view. I remember seeing Steinlager (or was it Steinlager II?), in strong wind, powering on towards Auckland harbour - red against the green sea. </div>
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Amongst all of that, and in a similar context, the America's Cup entered our consciousness. Firstly via the successful Australian challenge in 1983. Then in 1987, when I was 10, the New Zealand era commenced. KZ7 losing to (Dirty) Dennis Connor in the challenger series, and then Connor taking it back from the Australians. Then 1988 and the Big Boat - more dirty tricks. By now it's all become part of New Zealand legend. And then in 1995, NZ's Black Magic wins the cup. There is quite literally rejoicing in the streets. My best mate and I catch the bus and head into Auckland City for the ticker-tape parade to welcome the cup to its new home. Jubilation and, it would seem, one of the greatest things ever to happen to Auckland and New Zealand. It's an experience hard to describe but, as Team NZ passes by on the back of truck, with streamers everywhere I think I get eye-contact with tactician Brad Butterworth and I see there what I take to be the look of a man utterly humbled by being in the midst of the celebration and even somewhat bemused by the fuss. If ever I'm proud to be a New Zealander, it's at this moment.</div>
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There are more ups and downs to the story in the years that follow - more drama, victory, betrayal and disappointment. And as I sit and watch the Dean Barker interview, I look back and see now that as the modern history of the America's Cup ran parallel to my formative years, it wove its way into my psyche and the essence of my New Zealandness. </div>
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As the interview finishes, I know that it would indeed be a strange thing not to see New Zealand competing, and it would be unfinished business and deeply unsatisfying not to witness Dean Barker one day lift the cup. </div>
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Pictured below... (Top) My father, in the 1970s, somewhere between New Zealand and some Pacific island. (Bottom) Me, age two and a half, standing in front of the dinghy 'Clive' on Kawau Island. </div>
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andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-77097094332939553362013-10-01T19:16:00.001+13:002013-10-01T19:20:25.255+13:00the continuing adventures of the lower bar collectiveIt's been a pretty fun year for the <a href="http://lowerbarcollective.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">LBC</a> - the last three months have been particularly busy - well, relatively-speaking.<br />
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Since performing at the Auckland Fringe festival early in the year, we performed for the first time in Tauranga at Major Toms in August.<br />
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Then in September we returned to the Audio Foundation in Auckland... roughly 13 months since our debut performance. Was very nice indeed to have Paul Smith (aka Spool, aka Reverbaphon, aka Peace Myth) perform on the same bill - a Scottish architect who makes "off-kilter, non idiomatic music and experimental film. Within the experimental electronica scene he has toured throughout the UK and played alongside artists such as Kieren Hebden (Four Tet), Robin Rimbaud (Scanner), Christopher Horne (Christ / Boards of Canada), Robin Guthrie (Cocteu Twins), Noah Lennox and Josh Dibb (Animal Collective), James Leyland Kirby (VVM) and collaborated with Matt Wand (Stockhausen and Walkman) at the Edinburgh fringe festival."<br />
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This month (October) we are scheduled to play in Tauranga again, at Zeus Gallery (kind of coincidentally on the opening night of the Tauranga Arts Festival - we're unofficial). As usual I'll be supplying the imagery for the video projection and controlling that for the performance.<br />
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Also this month, we have done a 'Sonic Postcard' for a project running on Audio Foundation's radio station. The <a href="http://sonicpostcards.tumblr.com/post/61452672602/lower-bar-collectives-postcard-from-mt-maunganui-new" target="_blank">Sonic Postcard</a> features a live recording of the Major Toms performance, plus sounds recorded on the Mount beach and a poem I wrote for the purpose. Our postcard will air this Saturday (October 5) <a href="http://www.audiofoundation.org.nz/afm" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Below are images from our Major Toms performance (top two) and the Audio Foundation (bottom).<br />
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<br />andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-51348451756252768192013-05-25T13:38:00.001+12:002013-05-25T13:40:09.734+12:00faith and mediaA few weeks ago, I finished reading Bob Briner's book <i>Roaring Lambs</i>. It's been on my 'to read' list since I first became aware of it some 15 years ago. It was published in 1993 and can be considered a seminal work in regard to Christian cultural engagement, one which encouraged Christians to leave the citadel and become involved in the 'secular' world of cultural production. I feel the book is of its time; it still has some things to say, I think, but it left me feeling uneasy, blinking at some of the rhetoric, and examining how my own thinking has changed over the years.<br />
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I drafted this piece a number of weeks ago, but let it sit. I'm not a big fan of critiquing what other people believe. And in Briner's case, he made a significant contribution to Christian cultural development, so I feel a little reticent about a critique here too. My last critique was spring-boarded by something that Madeleine L'Engle wrote about chaos, and I felt a bit guilty, because overall her book <i>Walking on Water</i> is beautiful. On the other hand, I believe that Christian writing and thinking on culture is now rich enough to bear critique. And anyway, this stuff is worth discussing... who knows, maybe in a couple of years I'll have changed my mind about some things, or maybe not. It's all ultimately borne out of a personal process of sorting through culture, theology, orthodoxy, personal experience and personal inclinations. There's no stasis in that process. <br />
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In <i>Roaring Lambs</i>, Brimar's thesis is framed around the concept of a battle for the hearts and minds of the (American) population. He paints a vision of Christians infiltrating the worlds of film, TV, music, art etc - making an incursion, having a deliberate agenda and strategy to influence the media towards Christian values (whatever those might be defined as). Thus, although he wonderfully steers Christians away from the negativity and (he says) pointlessness of boycotts and continual complaining, he still adheres to the idea that Christians are somehow under siege; that we are in some kind of cultural battle.<br />
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But if this is a 'conflict', then what is the 'other side' doing? I'm sure there may be lobby groups and interested parties (who have ideas that differ from Christian values) who are hoping to influence media towards communicating certain notions, but on the whole, the industry is not like that. I don't think that it's naive to say that, on the whole, the media industry is simply creating product and material to provide to the individual. We could categorise this material in three ways. At 'top' level, producers are aiming to create 'art' - that is, material that seeks to express and investigate the human condition. Also at 'top' level is the idea of providing material that might expand a viewer's understanding of the world. Next level 'down', producers are seeking to create 'entertainment' - that is, material simply for the viewer's enjoyment and diversion - material that will accentuate certain emotions in the viewer in accordance with the viewer's wishes. Then on the next level down again, producers are simply creating 'content' - that is, material to feed the media machine - doesn't really matter what - just push it through and get it out there - better to have something on the screen than nothing. In reality, these levels are not firm categories - a lot of material will exhibit the characteristics of more than one.<br />
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I'm not saying this makes media somehow morally neutral - morals and values are communicated in and through all these types of material, but I am saying that the motives of its producers are not, by and large, the intentional propagation of a particular moral agenda. In other words, the material is not intentionally 'evangelistic'.* They are simply producing material out of their own experience and personalities, and out of (and for) the cultural milieu in which they find themselves, catering for the desires of the audience.<br />
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We, as Christians, can envisage the whole thing as some kind of battle, but the imagined 'other side' (ie those in the secular world who don't embrace the Christian faith) do not. They are, by and large, just getting on with doing their jobs.<br />
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The problem, for me, is that a fixed motivating agenda always seems to create art or media that comes across as somehow not genuine. When the agenda (no matter what that agenda may be) is the creator's primary motive, the art of storytelling, the nuances of reality, and believability, almost always seem to suffer. The medium begins to function simply as bait on the hook. I'm sure Brimer would agree with me on this to a degree - he would argue for the highest quality material. But nonetheless, still this nagging thought that if an art or media is primarily agenda-driven, at some point it will reveal itself as disingenuous, the viewer will smell a rat, see it for what it perhaps really is - propaganda - and turn off.<br />
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In my art (or whatever creative output I'm involved with) I want any 'Christian content' to be utterly natural. If elements of the Christian faith are sitting in the subtext of the piece, they are there simply because they form part of the personality of the artist. My beliefs will inevitably inform the way I see the world (everyone has worldview). I hope that the viewer finds the subtext compelling or even attractive (of course I do - all artists do), but have I created the piece with the aim of converting the viewer to a message that I've intentionally woven into the subtext? No. I know from early, well-intentioned, experience that when I've tried to do that, the artistry always suffered and the piece always came out somehow dishonest. <br />
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So, should Christians be involved in the arts and media? Of course, why not? Everybody else is. But I don't think we should envisage ourselves as some kind of special agent infiltrating enemy territory - as if we are involved in some kind of cultural 'jihad'. Being involved in the media and arts should be a question of innate personal passion rather than agenda. It's about telling honest stories. For the Christian, their honest story will inevitably touch on aspects of the Christian faith (implicitly or explicitly). But be aware that as soon as art has the aim of converting or influencing everyone towards the artist's beliefs (whatever those beliefs happen to be), it runs the risk of being perceived as what it most likely is - not art but propaganda.<br />
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Salt and light have no agenda; their efficacy, any benefit that the world may obtain from them, comes through simply being what they are. Art and media by Christians should be art and media created by real people who have a natural inclination towards creating art and media (an inclination, shall we say, which would be there whether they were Christians or not), being truthful about how life is and their experience of it, operating out of their talents and abilities, honestly being involved as everyday members of society. Investigate human existence and let faith weave itself naturally through your investigation and life as it is wont to do, but don't envisage it as a tasty morsel to wrap around a hook. <br />
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* The massive exception to this is, of course, advertising.andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-19980570466871116212013-04-01T12:14:00.001+13:002013-04-02T08:55:01.158+13:00truth, art, ugliness, cosmos and chaosI'm currently reading 'Walking on Water' by Madeleine L'Engle and I took exception to a beautifully rendered and attractive idea that she expresses early in her book. Perhaps the rest of the book will explore the nuances and paradoxes a little more, but the proposal she makes at the outset, I think, needs discussion.<br />
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... all art is cosmos, cosmos found within chaos. At least all Christian art (by which I mean all true art...) is cosmos in chaos. There's some modern art, in all disciplines, which is not; some artists look at the world around them and see chaos, and instead of discovering cosmos, they reproduce chaos, on canvas, in music, in words. As far as I can see, the reproduction of chaos is neither art, nor is it Christian. </blockquote>
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But is she right? We agree and disagree. There was a tendency in Christian art theory of the 20th century to set up a dualism between chaos/ugliness and truth/Christian/beauty. A key mover in this was H.R. Rookmaaker. The title of his famous work sort of sums it up: "Modern Art and the Death of a Culture". Historically speaking, it's a reactionary movement (as many cultural, philosophical and artistic movements are). Faced with an influx of modern art which dealt with the unsettling, the confrontational, the unattractive and the chaotic, Christian thinkers responded with an art theory that set truth and beauty in opposition to the nihilistic tendencies of 20th century culture.<br />
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And as a believer, you know my heart responds to that idea. The Christian faith is about bringing light to darkness, truth to lies, beauty to ugliness, life to death, existence to non-existence, meaning to meaninglessness. And as an 'artist', my heart responds to the idea of making cosmos out of chaos - and I think, mainly speaking, my artistic intentions are along those lines.<br />
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But art should tell all three sides of the story.<br />
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I'll state my thesis: chaos and ugliness are not the opposite of truth. Therefore an art which describes chaos and ugliness is not <i>inherently</i> untruthful and not <i>inherently</i> anti-Christian. And it is certainly not inherently 'non-art'.<br />
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If one were to describe the world around us - or the world inside us - as it currently stands - one would need to make reference to chaos and ugliness. All this is subjective, of course, but an honest look at things will reveal that the universe (and our experience of the universe) is a dark, cold place (both literally and metaphorically). Nihilism is understandable. Chaos is a fitting representation of an aspect of our existence. Sometimes ugliness is the best way to describe a situation. So chaos and ugliness are true.<br />
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I'm not sure which artists L'Engle had in mind when she attempted to argue for the existence of a non-art, but let's say Jackson Pollock, for example, is not inherently untrue and not inherently anti-Christian just because he utilises and represents chaos. A picture in a World Press Photo exhibition of a corpse with its face missing is not untrue and not inherently anti-Christian just because it's ugly. Like it or not, there is an accuracy here about the way the world is and about our experience of the world.<br />
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The most common and widely engaged artform in our society is music, so let's look there for a moment. One of the finest and most accurate representations of the 21st century western human condition is the creative output of Radiohead (and the work of Thom Yorke in general). I've read books and essays written by Christians that attempt to imbue this music with Christian 'truthiness' - almost as if they are trying to impose redemption on it to make it true and admissible. There's no need. It is what it is. A fine and accurate portrayal. The music of Burial is another body of work that I think falls in that category. There is dissonance, things set off kilter, static. This stuff is true.<br />
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So that's, I think, where the notion of the dualism between chaos/ugliness and truth/Christian/beauty in the realm of art falls down.<br />
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All that being said, back to my statement of earlier: art should tell all three sides of the story. Let's look at them. And, as we're used to dualisms - at least we used to be - back in the 20th century - let's begin with the obvious two...<br />
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- The universe is a dark, cold place. If we are to accurately describe the world, as I've argued above, we're going to need to describe it as dark and cold. And there are artists who do this with astonishing and unsettling accuracy. So much so that I often choose not to look. It's true.<br />
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- The world is sunshine and flowers. Narnia is set to rights. The sun glitters off a placid ocean as you and your loved one sprint across a wide-open field. You cry with love and joy the first time you see your newborn child. Is it true? Some strands of art and human expression would seem to say not. But I'm here to tell you it is. It's true.<br />
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If both these aspects of the universe are true, then there will be somewhere where they come into contact... the third side of the story.<br />
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- The reality of human existence. Allow me to mention Radiohead and Burial again in an attempt to describe what I mean... amongst the darkness, distraction, paranoia and unbalance, strains of melody and snippets of beauty float to the surface and dissipate. The third side of the story is that the universe and the world is a dark, sunshine, cold, floral place, and we encounter ugliness and chaos here, and snatch hold of beauty and security there.<br />
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Personally I find this middle space the most interesting one - it's where tension and paradox is found.<br />
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To be true, art should tell all three sides of the story. Given the vast areas that each side of the story represents, I think it is unreasonable to expect any one artist to accurately explore and represent all three sides. But art, as a whole, can. Art can, and should, explore chaos. Art can, and should, explore cosmos. And art can, and should, explore the space where the two collide.andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-81626106372342802252013-03-24T20:18:00.001+13:002013-03-24T20:18:49.458+13:00stations of the cross 2013Stations of the Cross time again. This year I did a video for Station 14: Jesus is laid in the Tomb. Stylistically, I followed on from the work I've been doing with the Lower Bar Collective and, in fact, used an LBC track (Northern Lights) as the music.<br />
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The video utilised footage from the estuary near our house which I shot on my GoPro - the camera suspended from a leash that I dangled from a boardwalk over the water. I wanted to use the biblical immersion/baptism/burial metaphor. To that end, I grabbed appropriate scripture fragments from throughout the Bible and recombined them into a kind of poem. I then overlaid these lines on the underwater footage.<br />
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Here it is now...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="230" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/62521330" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="410"></iframe>
andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-1100839202048456172013-03-10T17:57:00.002+13:002013-03-10T19:05:41.764+13:00at fringe auckland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Creatively, of late, my energy has been focused on and consumed by working as a member of the <a href="http://lowerbarcollective.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Lower Bar Collective</a> - providing the (video) visuals and graphic design for our post-rock based project.<br />
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Recently we performed at the Fringe festival in Auckland, firstly at the Whammy Bar (22/2/13), and secondly (pictured above) in the old silos at Auckland's SiloPark (1-3/3/13). At the SiloPark we did seven performances in three days. We got quite a lot of positive feedback from strangers - which is always encouraging and makes the creative process feel that much more worthwhile. Personally, for us as a collective, the silo performances provided a space for something that was extremely creatively exciting. Good times.<br />
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Aside from graphic design (for posters, a lathe-cut 12" EP and CDs), my contribution was ten videos to accompany the ten pieces composed by the other guys. These videos were a mixture of things consisting of archival footage, original photography/artwork, original footage (shot on my GoPro camera) and randomised video noise generated by a video synthesizer. For the performances, we used two projectors - one projecting onto the wall just above the musicians, and the other projecting right up into the ceiling space of the silo.<br />
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A further contribution was the use of snippets of several of my poems, played as sound samples at various times throughout the performance.<br />
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The photos above show the band performing the piece 'Infinitesima' (accompanied by an underwater video shot on the GoPro) and the projection onto the silo ceiling for the piece 'Ends in Tears' (accompanied by photographs from my Safe Little World piece 'Pride & Refuse').<br />
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More performances to come, I'm sure. andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-68018422996673604522013-03-07T22:53:00.002+13:002013-03-07T22:55:37.348+13:00ralph and meI had my first real encounter with visual art when I was in my second year of university. When I say "real", I mean of the type that does what art - ideally - will do... send a pang through your gut, flip your soul and set up a buzz at the back of your head. It'll make you feel sick with the best kind of longing. It was at an exhibition* at the Auckland Art Gallery. For this viewer, it was a stroke of curatorial genius as piece after piece revealed itself and stuck deep.<br />
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Amongst this revelatory collection, I rounded a corner and there was 'Black Phoenix' (I always remember the title as 'Burnt Phoenix') - a gritty, real, monolith of a piece, the singed wooden prow of a full-sized boat fastened to the wall - a pathway of charcoaled timbers leading towards it. I embraced it as my favourite work of art, and it remains so today. I memorised the artist's name, Ralph Hotere.<br />
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Around another corner, and he hits me again. This time it's with 'Black Water' - a collaboration with Bill Culbert. "In the beginning, the earth was without form and void, and the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep." Black Phoenix notwithstanding, Hotere's particular genius manifested itself in part by the use of glossy black - a fruitful, verdant, reflective black. It was the loam out of which all life sprung at creation, and a surface on which you often catch a reflection of yourself. It this case, the glossy black was on an expanse of corrugated iron throwing back the light of multiple neon tubes springing from its surface, standing like sentinels.<br />
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In my third year at university, I purchased the book, 'Out the Black Window', and set about writing an essay for my stage 3 New Zealand Literature paper on Hotere's collaborative use of poetry in his art. The essay was well received. It was my first proper success at university and it had such an impact on me that I considered launching onto a path of becoming a career art writer. The idea still sounds attractive.<br />
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My brother, a photographer, was working at a Parnell cafe at the time and had struck up a rapport with the photographer Marti Friedlander. Among the stories that get repeated about Friedlander, one of the common ones is about her access to Hotere. Hotere was famously shy, if not reclusive, but he let Friedlander in and she captured the man on film. Over thirty years later, these are still the most significant photos of Hotere.<br />
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Somehow (my brother passed it on I think), Marti ended up reading my essay on Ralph. She endorsed the idea of me pursuing an art writing career. This was all very well, but my heart and ambition was absorbed at this time with a different pursuit - I was clothing myself in the full intention of becoming a great New Zealand poet.<br />
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I had just completed a fairly angst-ridden, long (booklet length) piece called 'The Birth Place' and somehow hatched the idea that Ralph Hotere might like to read it. I thought he might like its grand themes of birth, death and rebirth, perhaps to feel a kinship in our artforms (you know, of course, that I really hoped that one day a line or two of mine would appear in one of his paintings). There was way too much catharsis in the poem for it to be literarily excellent - it was mostly a splurge - but what did I know? I was 23.<br />
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As a favour, Marti gave me Ralph's address (she is absolved, she did it on the strength of one essay, she never read my poetry). I crafted a letter, dropped names (as I have here), pinned it to a copy of my booklet, placed the whole lot in an envelop and sent it with a sense of excited trepidation. <br />
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I never heard back from Ralph. His silence, if he ever got the booklet, was probably the best favour he could have done me. I hope he threw it out. I hope he didn't pop it in a shoebox with an assortment of other ephemera received from sickly admiring fans. I hope it isn't found when someone goes through his papers now that he is gone. Perhaps he turned it into ashes - he always was a great proponent of fire - in his hands the burning of that poem would have become art - a fitting, the best and most wonderful end.<br />
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* My memory tells me it was at the exhibition 'Toi Toi Toi'. This exhibition was utterly remarkable, but researching the facts reveals that my mind has created a mythology about it being my first real encounter with visual art and the first place I encountered Hotere's work. Chronology reveals that it wasn't (on either count). But I like the mythologised version better. andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-86676452730795550412013-02-07T08:36:00.001+13:002013-02-07T09:55:02.434+13:00sailingI recently purchased a GoPro Hero2 camera. Mainly these are designed for adventure / extreme sports but their extreme wide angle lens, waterproofing and HD video make them interesting for art projects. I decided I needed one initially for the <a href="http://lowerbarcollective.tumblr.com/">Lower Bar Collective</a> project I'm working on. Underwater / seascape footage would work well with experimental / ambient / post-rock.<br />
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Yesterday (Waitangi Day here in New Zealand) I went out sailing with my father-in-law and took the camera with me to dangle off the side of the yacht. Between shooting these abstract / textural images, I also shot a more standard clip recording the sailing experience.<br />
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The music is 'From the Dust... We Ran to Greet the Dawn' by Hammock.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="309" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/59048330" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="412"></iframe> andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-24385355392688219702012-11-24T13:44:00.002+13:002012-11-30T13:04:06.794+13:00gretchen albrechtIn the absence of Christianity, Art would be my religion. It fills much of the criteria - a high regard for the creative spark, the concept of deeper meaning, the notion of the individual placed in beautiful paradox alongside the idea of audience/community, the embracing of mystery, the belief that life is more than calculated science. Of course there are forms of art (as there should be) that critique each of these notions, but art as an encompassing ocean - the world of art - is often inseparable from these elements. Art is a seeking, searching, a questing for meaning, explanation and significance sort of thing that jump-starts and touches on desire. It fiercely flies in the face of the possibility that we are merely primates governed by chemicals and electrical impulses.<br />
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Like most of western culture, art has long had a relationship with Christianity. Around the world there is inevitably some reference to religion in the history of art. Because of this history, and because it deals with most of the same existential questions of religion, the terminology and references intermingle. I often experience the snugness of theology and art - and discover experiences of equal weight within the context of a sermon as in an art gallery.<br />
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Today I went to church. I went to an art gallery. I don't want to over-sentimentalise this. I don't want to beatify a simple experience of seeing brush strokes on canvas or falsely elevate the ideas of the artist. On Sundays, I go to a church (with a sermon, worship and other Christians) that meets in a rugby clubroom where stale beer is sticky underfoot and provides the dominant aroma. I believe in a spirituality that is at once sacred and rarefied while being simultaneously in touch with body odour and this banal place in which we find ourselves. I am comfortable to say that I came away from the art gallery today with a similar (or perhaps an identical) feeling as I have when I come away from a good sermon, without suggesting that art galleries are set apart as the holy of holies or that the artist is our new priest. But sometimes they certainly function that way.<br />
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That's as far as this line of reasoning will go for now. My ardour for that [spiritual/emotional] experience can overwhelm the simplicity of the original experience itself. I don't want to let my desire for meaning to eclipse the event itself. So now let me strip it back.<br />
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Gretchen Albrecht is one of New Zealand's foremost abstract artists, and today I went and heard her speak about her paintings. Like most visual artists, she was uncomfortable at first with the idea of standing in front of an audience, but she warmed to it. Eloquent and utterly in touch with her own artistic concept and practice, she was able to speak about the work with the familiarity of the creator but also with the detachment of someone viewing an object that is an entity in its own right. As she spoke, the content, ideas and meaning which you had suspected where woven into the fabric of the painting began to emerge.<br />
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By way of a prologue to her talk, she spoke about revelations - large and small - and about the importance of these to her work. Discovering something - wherever that thing may be, in a pohutukawa leaf, in a european cathedral, in heart-rending loss - then bringing it into the art. She isolated this as a defining concept of her practice.<br />
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Then she addressed the large piece 'In a Shower of Gold' (two hemispheres of belgian canvas together measuring 2.5m high and 5m wide - a canvas so large that she built a sort of scaffolding over it during the painting process so that she could complete the wide arcs of paint across the centre of the semi-circle). Originally informed by the myth of Zeus coming to Danaë as a shower of gold, the divine encroaches on the pink red flesh in a burst of energy. Sexual? Yes. Spiritual? Yes. An artistic revelation? Yes.<br />
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She talks about another large piece inspired during a bike ride along Tamaki Drive to St Heliers with her friend, when the pohutukawas were in bloom. The red of the pohutukawa became a circular whirl or dance around the equalising horizontals of grey and green that were the colours of the leaf. Here she referenced two poems - one of which was by TS Eliot (who, by the way, as a side note to what Gretchen said, ultimately identifies the still point around which everything whirls as being the Word, Christ).<br />
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The most poignant moment came when she turned our attention to another large rectangular canvas - a large pink rose shape almost obliterated in black - a super black line and a pure white line described horizontally through the middle of her familiar oval motif. "I have to tell you," she says, "that in 2010 our daughter-in-law died very suddenly." Her son returned from a trip to the dairy to find his wife deceased upon their bed. The revelation of this autobiographical context travels up the back of your neck and over the top of your head in a spontaneous identification with the emotion. When Gretchen first heard this news, she had a painting of a pink rose form - a work in progress - on the floor of her studio. It was too bright and cheerful for the situation, she said, so she covered it in black paint, allowing the pink to show through in places, and put the dark black and bright white horizontal lines through the middle. Her meditation on death.<br />
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The first privilege is to see the paintings. The second is to encounter the artist. The third is to have the paintings elucidated. The fourth is to not have remained unmoved. And here I'm lifted beyond my own little world once again.<br />
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andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-34217977244346155952012-09-12T17:47:00.000+12:002012-09-12T17:47:01.423+12:00a place of its ownThat Lower Bar Collective stuff I've been harping on about has a place of its own. On the new website you can see music videos, get updates - that kind of thing. Champion...<br />
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Here's the link now:<br />
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<a href="http://lowerbarcollective.tumblr.com/">http://lowerbarcollective.tumblr.com/</a><br />
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Don't mention it. Oh, actually yes please do mention it - share the love, leave comments, like our posts - support us in the ways that your fingers, ears, eyes, voices, minds and generous hearts enable you to.<br />
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What's creativity without love?andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-73681637841259221812012-06-25T19:19:00.001+12:002012-06-25T19:20:50.515+12:00lower bar strikes back - for the first timeHere's the info flier for the current creative project I'm involved with: the Lower Bar Collective... post-rock experimental music melded with visuals. The first performance is on July 13 in Auckland... (click it to see it bigger like)<br />
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<br />andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-87208550081328850162012-06-02T12:03:00.002+12:002012-06-02T12:03:37.701+12:00lower bar collectiveThe latest Safe Little World project is creating video visuals as part of the music/creative collective known as the Lower Bar Collective. Other members include Mal Dunn (Colm), Rob Morgan and Matt Findlay. I'm currently cutting footage from an early 1970s kids' nutrition film into something suitable to play behind post-rock experimental music. Performances to be confirmed - first one in july in Auckland.andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-33601209917691839072012-04-12T18:31:00.004+12:002012-04-12T18:50:34.843+12:00Station 2<span style="font-weight: normal; ">This is the final station I did, </span><b>Station 2: Jesus is made to carry the cross</b>...<div style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">For this one I utilised a style I've been working with for a while now - structuring it as a cluster of small framed prints, and drawing on images from a library of photographs that I've taken over a 15 year period. In fact a couple of the images I used for this piece I also used for the station I did for the Cityside event nine years ago (although that one involved the images being looped on a television set rather than printed and framed). </div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">For the St Luke's event, I used war images photographed off the screen from TV war documentary and news footage. I put the cluster in a slanted / slash shape to reflect the idea of strife and also the forward angle of a person carrying a heavy weight.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">This was the most 'obscure' of the three pieces I did, so I included a supporting statement:</div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">When Jesus carried the cross he took on his shoulders one of humankind’s most notorious weapons of execution. Politically, he was carrying the weight of the judgement of the world’s major super-power – the Roman Empire.</span></div><br />Despite Jesus’ actions on the cross, we have continued to devise weapons and tried to conquer each other.<br /><br />War is where all of humanity’s worst traits come out, so it serves as a fitting metaphor for what was laid on him.<br /><br />In carrying the cross, Jesus chose to carry our strife, hatred and suffering (past, present and future) and the pain we inflict on each other and inflicted on him.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Here's a mock-up of the piece - each photographic print is 6x4" (click to see it a little larger):</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7LVTNli5oBxd7E5GWLngLQfx6PvoH7vcMSz2M3x6MlNMGqnifeF4ivy9lj27S9aaYyJUi-gJGPcjiCYSVC__XTcqZC5nR-q4LTJiY9coNN_hINw-nPFL__Vz4ru7Lb-THw5_w/s1600/jesus+is+made+to+carry+the+cross+layout.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 379px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7LVTNli5oBxd7E5GWLngLQfx6PvoH7vcMSz2M3x6MlNMGqnifeF4ivy9lj27S9aaYyJUi-gJGPcjiCYSVC__XTcqZC5nR-q4LTJiY9coNN_hINw-nPFL__Vz4ru7Lb-THw5_w/s400/jesus+is+made+to+carry+the+cross+layout.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730401734447946882" /></a><br /></div>andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-14921590663250919382012-04-10T18:23:00.003+12:002012-04-10T18:46:40.740+12:00Station 12<span style="font-weight: normal; ">The second station I did (and I'm actually posting these in reverse order) was </span><b>Station 12: Jesus dies on the cross</b>.<div><br /></div><div>I did this station once before, for the Cityside Stations of the Cross exhibition in 2003 (but with a different piece)... I always feel like this is kind of the climax of the story that the stations tell (seeing as the resurrection isn't part of the traditional stations) so there's probably a bit of pressure on this station from an art perspective. Anyway, I went pretty subtle.</div><div><br /></div><div>The style of the image is actually one that I'm working on extensively at the moment, so I utilised it for this piece. Essentially the method involves taking a human form, reducing it to lines (sort of a schematics of the exterior of the human body) then 'exploding' it, dragging points and lines out from the schematics to describe the path of particles flying outwards from the body. It has something to do with showing that the body is fragile - made up of particles and bound together by whoknowswhat. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the figure of Jesus, I hope it demonstrates that he is human, making a sacrifice, the creative energy of the universe (the breath of God) exiting as his life is given up. I also consider the particles to be a representation of humankind's sin that attached itself to him in the sacrifice.</div><div><br /></div><div>The working method is digital but once it was printed out onto art paper, I wanted to do a non-digital intervention. The original concept was to use wine as my water colour pigment. In the event, it turns out that merlot dries to a kind of violet colour. Quite a nice colour actually, but not very indicative of blood. So I added a red water colour pigment to the wine - which gave me the final result.</div><div><br /></div><div>I had hoped that the smell of wine would persist on the piece - and it certainly did while it was wet, but after it dried the smell mostly disappeared. So I put the piece behind glass in the end seeing as there wasn't much chance of the wine smell being obvious anyway. The wine is still there in the process though and I think that's important.</div><div><br /></div><div>When the piece was set up for the stations, it was framed in a light wooden box frame and lit with a votive candle on either side (click to see the image a little larger).</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgla6WkqpZvhTEE3plhR6q7wOGymuOMEkA5wTY83INsyDTsALix3hwRb8lf1rqU2Mgn_muC7f0LQTauAb1gIgAUfQ8JnKdk8Zkg43YtoZVK2knOm02XgA8ZGiU_jh9eKPEtzdG4/s1600/station+12+copy+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgla6WkqpZvhTEE3plhR6q7wOGymuOMEkA5wTY83INsyDTsALix3hwRb8lf1rqU2Mgn_muC7f0LQTauAb1gIgAUfQ8JnKdk8Zkg43YtoZVK2knOm02XgA8ZGiU_jh9eKPEtzdG4/s400/station+12+copy+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729658744547164978" /></a><br /></div>andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-42725323574875121172012-04-09T12:03:00.014+12:002012-04-09T12:36:41.394+12:00Station 14This year <a href="http://www.stlukeschurch.org.nz/">St Luke's</a> had a Stations of the Cross Easter art event... over the next few days I'll be documenting the three pieces I did for this.<br /><br /><div><b>A bit of background:</b> The Stations of the Cross dates back to the pilgrim trail through Jerusalem (probably during the 1400s), in which the faithful would retrace the traditional route that Jesus took on his journey to death. The pilgrims would pause for reflection at significant sites. These 'stations' (usually 14 of them) were transplanted back to Europe and recreated in various forms and places so that the faithful could make the same observances without travelling to Jerusalem.<br /><br /></div><div>In Europe (and subsequently other parts of the world), these stations were given artistic representations. Historically, these exist as a fine example of Christian art.<br /><br /></div><div>I'm not sure of the contemporary history of utilising the stations globally, but in New Zealand the practice was reinvigorated in 1998 (and in subsequent years) by Mark Pierson at Cityside Baptist Church in Auckland. In this context, the stations became an annual and serious art happening that drew a certain amount of mainstream attention. Artists from the Cityside community were each given a station to interpret as they saw fit. Cityside's exhibition became an impressive and immersive experience, and the concept was picked up by other groups around New Zealand - perhaps most notably by <a href="http://www.sidedoor.org.nz/">Peter Majendie</a> in Christchurch and <a href="http://www.stations.org.nz/">Dave White</a> in Hamilton.<br /><br /></div><div>On a smaller scale, the concept of the stations of the cross being used as an opportunity for artistic expression at Easter has been picked by Christian communities around the country, and has almost certainly played a part in contemporary Christianity rediscovering and more actively engaging in the visual arts.<br /><br /></div><div>Which brings us to a couple of consecutive Sundays in April 2012, and to St Luke's - a little church in Mount Maunganui that meets in rugby clubrooms.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Station 14: Jesus is laid in the tomb</b><br /><br /></div><div>I've been wanting do some model-making for a while now. It seems like a logical interpretation of my safe little world concept. So I seized the opportunity to do a fairly literal piece for Station 14.<br /><br /></div><div>I collected materials from around the place: an unbelievably beautiful stone from the beach at Kaiaua on the Firth of Thames, a square of MDF board from the Seagull Store at the Thames dump, some chicken wire mesh, some two dollar shop poster paints, some newspaper, PVA, some dirt and some special model-making 'grass' from the model shop. The piece was further sparked by a little wooden life drawing posable model that I discovered by accident at AJ's Emporium. When wrapped in crepe bandage, the model became the body.<br /><br /></div><div>The final piece was interactive. The viewer was able place the figure into the tomb, feel the weight of the stone and then place it over the mouth of the tomb to seal it up.<br /><br /></div><div>Baseboard dimensions: 570 x 510mm<br /></div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_ZRMIO0TNmln0iKST9nVhB5G3yswL0nGuwWz9vuL2v8hoTqU5aaM6vE0GuGE0cUns11CmFWuu5bcSloow4dbprn_YfgsTyuXwJr1Eq4x9ccmXU-rlhQionnZsjOLtkRbl_Ht/s1600/IMG_6797+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ_ZRMIO0TNmln0iKST9nVhB5G3yswL0nGuwWz9vuL2v8hoTqU5aaM6vE0GuGE0cUns11CmFWuu5bcSloow4dbprn_YfgsTyuXwJr1Eq4x9ccmXU-rlhQionnZsjOLtkRbl_Ht/s400/IMG_6797+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729186720633087394" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcEe3K_1II1KBIeuTTcbe66IKkBu9q7rH-N-CVDv9jssvEsDwp_W94FNwfMFJ-X1AM0jxjx4vbdLjU-idPJCPl4OW7cRwuWkXkJUBkaur1nUIQMOEAD1eZ7iUdv4gSqfEVYZOo/s1600/IMG_6807+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcEe3K_1II1KBIeuTTcbe66IKkBu9q7rH-N-CVDv9jssvEsDwp_W94FNwfMFJ-X1AM0jxjx4vbdLjU-idPJCPl4OW7cRwuWkXkJUBkaur1nUIQMOEAD1eZ7iUdv4gSqfEVYZOo/s400/IMG_6807+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729186542852790210" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaFs2rqCC7dgi0NoWackTwvcmhWPYHodyQ4MB3Y4dr0h7ysa4OR6NNWh1ZEyLidHJ7iSjH-KQ1jTJCWkKdAzVY7dVSGgmJ_Y3RSOf3UZd9FBAcGBwWj8whACTk1mpC2BYhfTg/s1600/IMG_6809+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaFs2rqCC7dgi0NoWackTwvcmhWPYHodyQ4MB3Y4dr0h7ysa4OR6NNWh1ZEyLidHJ7iSjH-KQ1jTJCWkKdAzVY7dVSGgmJ_Y3RSOf3UZd9FBAcGBwWj8whACTk1mpC2BYhfTg/s400/IMG_6809+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729186368251821234" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyeMzo4bRFJGfwTIQodcvq6bP8ajGJewdnUR_N9BmF18EcvzGStH6fwTyNqyjqWctqktYCh4c8H05a6r9pF0chn_6JG13M5Jxw7GNuVlHuctTXHfMisCOUHWayXB84ylHJKEgR/s1600/IMG_6812+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyeMzo4bRFJGfwTIQodcvq6bP8ajGJewdnUR_N9BmF18EcvzGStH6fwTyNqyjqWctqktYCh4c8H05a6r9pF0chn_6JG13M5Jxw7GNuVlHuctTXHfMisCOUHWayXB84ylHJKEgR/s400/IMG_6812+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729186167705886706" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSXy8w-jdWTBDONKj6-SDqV6aUZRwA0_L2fCv_ELirefUgJiQotzDuim6IrnVjkh-lOrJR3EfGOX_dARk1ZnvGDWvao4saiJrr5IGl3NLSAKfuG2R4EqF6bMx2EGcQcIYCCk1/s1600/IMG_6814+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSXy8w-jdWTBDONKj6-SDqV6aUZRwA0_L2fCv_ELirefUgJiQotzDuim6IrnVjkh-lOrJR3EfGOX_dARk1ZnvGDWvao4saiJrr5IGl3NLSAKfuG2R4EqF6bMx2EGcQcIYCCk1/s400/IMG_6814+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729185910110988306" /></a><br /><br /></div><div>And here are some progress shots...</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWCEtIkDDBI0peTXwqaPlP9oKTqAParLQpu4EY6CNc1VnwQ5HfVOiuNfefzY4In9BSoW8ZQCrqHpFNWL46-A6QJEphbPp1P4U-_mYFGs18Bs-iF6GKA9HxRnb_lNzoUrEcyH9/s1600/IMG_6648+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVWCEtIkDDBI0peTXwqaPlP9oKTqAParLQpu4EY6CNc1VnwQ5HfVOiuNfefzY4In9BSoW8ZQCrqHpFNWL46-A6QJEphbPp1P4U-_mYFGs18Bs-iF6GKA9HxRnb_lNzoUrEcyH9/s400/IMG_6648+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729189378222550818" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaA7_g5hoUz1YnWhSfC_isW1pSRDh6Bz6gF7rgSOjK8T5zjcD2IvKLihmlY3fKPe1_frx4ojFIpSOMVWG95tCoE3m66byqpr5Jm753VPT6BKsL_OFTnG5x_pxujBMfSNOb3jM/s1600/IMG_6650+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaA7_g5hoUz1YnWhSfC_isW1pSRDh6Bz6gF7rgSOjK8T5zjcD2IvKLihmlY3fKPe1_frx4ojFIpSOMVWG95tCoE3m66byqpr5Jm753VPT6BKsL_OFTnG5x_pxujBMfSNOb3jM/s400/IMG_6650+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729189244797289570" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUi68J98tHfAiCjsgTDH5P1PgtrU4eXzkho1Ry-l7E75yhqG14eckA9kW_K1b9FClaJzuXK9vIQwVVtj-7YQhVJnl_auujTIdlNnl0i-wrClNdR7dWuMx3TRAh_SzWBHu1Cxn/s1600/IMG_6654+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUi68J98tHfAiCjsgTDH5P1PgtrU4eXzkho1Ry-l7E75yhqG14eckA9kW_K1b9FClaJzuXK9vIQwVVtj-7YQhVJnl_auujTIdlNnl0i-wrClNdR7dWuMx3TRAh_SzWBHu1Cxn/s400/IMG_6654+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729189042758243490" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpH-ETYShJ5RDTJ_MY2Tg9zZuHZp1M3UgFAWYktPC_XDKYhKAa3ezEt72S_ICjm56Dr7MSaZRPqbBPPF6Zfpn8aWBR97-ONF_r-Bq5o9OBFr2nEPXB3efsli-YLmlSfQhfiiGS/s1600/IMG_6770+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpH-ETYShJ5RDTJ_MY2Tg9zZuHZp1M3UgFAWYktPC_XDKYhKAa3ezEt72S_ICjm56Dr7MSaZRPqbBPPF6Zfpn8aWBR97-ONF_r-Bq5o9OBFr2nEPXB3efsli-YLmlSfQhfiiGS/s400/IMG_6770+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729188744689822514" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR9ZJ3DbP-P6wL90aAd6yCg01ua7b_9xNsXONq8fyMOa-z4BEH99DtYDqTGtBAAhhwTVyTHxn3j8XoOrGLjqdzD8LqsXpj6AHE7HZLcJzw46RfbHZN7ptdgk1QF5srlH34G9NX/s1600/IMG_6771+adjusted.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR9ZJ3DbP-P6wL90aAd6yCg01ua7b_9xNsXONq8fyMOa-z4BEH99DtYDqTGtBAAhhwTVyTHxn3j8XoOrGLjqdzD8LqsXpj6AHE7HZLcJzw46RfbHZN7ptdgk1QF5srlH34G9NX/s400/IMG_6771+adjusted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729188439186457138" /></a><br /></div>andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17297246.post-65214052546976584202011-11-12T11:17:00.005+13:002011-11-12T11:24:13.038+13:00installation views<div style="text-align: left;">Well, the piece is now up at draw inc., in Hamilton. Some installation views and video...</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6CpM70rW4zm6EGgsibGu9_lDeeNlzAq8j6GVLYV3ywVBxf_V2jRmz-VmcsmQXm2RUxsek9v0O751Z3dHHwTSzH8N7tKal2kFlaa9CmwT2l8bOLIJETdwFqb-tzwhCHbpdhJkt/s400/IMG_6330-draw-inc.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673866961947733314" /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5myfcNS6KYjBWNMpwbSnhF7hwGFmzo_VxrJIMF8af1pAfDVrSZdmd3jdlxJs8XMCw6KiG6WzZy2XWNv1g_U8z_qlGpRsv47-2P7t1a1Qzzkb8heRiScZSY7QAXuSaFihCU5iH/s400/IMG_6334-draw-inc.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673867023578628466" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></div><br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/31978114?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/31978114">safe little world: gallery installation at draw inc., hamilton, new zealand</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/safelittleworld">andrew killick</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>andrew killickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884776286603930618noreply@blogger.com2