Experimentum Mundi

Experimentum Mundi

8 September 

The Space

Employers, artists, participants of the Nine Trades and DJCAD students attended a fascinating performance by Experimentum Mundi. Composed by Giorgio Battistelli, who wanted his music to reflect life, sixteen Italian artisans, including cobbers, knife grinders, bricklayers and coopers, play the tools and materials of their trade. The noises blend into a symphony of sound, conducted in a musical score by Battistelli.

Cheryl, crack screenprinter and call centre worker taking part in Ben Robinson's project, commented that to understand the tradesmens' activity as music she kept on watching the

conductor, and then she could follow each section as a piece of music. Eggs were cracked, shoes re-soled and the foundry sent flames to the roof. 

Experimentum Mundi was brought to Dundee through the 'Sharing the Festival' strand of Edinburgh International Festival. 

DCA Critical Action Group

Hi there,

 

We are starting a new project at DCA called Critical Action Group, which I thought you might be interested in. This project will be running from 6-7pm every Wednesday evening from September 30^th-4^th November. Could you pass this info on to anyone in your group who you think might be interested?

 

We would like to stimulate more debate around DCA's exhibitions. With the formation of the Critical Action Group we are supporting the expression of diverse discussion, independent thought and the voicing of various perspectives. Our aim is to build up a group of visitors who can critically engage and produce opinions and interpretations about an upcoming exhibition that will be presented in the DCA gallery, the Thomas Hirschhorn show It’s Burning Everywhere, which is running from 19^th September to 29^th November 2009. Hirschhorn's artwork is controversial and thought-provoking, and incorporates many meaningful and socially important themes into the context of conceptual art. We would like to investigate these themes in an effective way, considering their real-world context with people who are interested in exploring them.

The project will consist of discussion groups about various themes in the artist’s work (for example: genocide, alienation in Western society, consumerism, media images), which will include talks from invited speakers. The group will then get a chance to view Hirschhorn’s artwork and create their own audio interpretation material to support it, giving the public an alternative perspective on the exhibition.

The project is open to adults aged 18 and over. Don’t worry if you have no experience with art – we are asking you because we believe it will be a more stimulating project if we can establish a diverse group of people who like to chat about thought-provoking topics, are eager to learn a bit about contemporary art, and are interested in world issues. Through this project we hope participants will get to meet lots of different people, enjoy themselves and learn something new.

We have only 8 places available for the Critical Action Group, so are asking anyone who is interested in joining to get in touch with us as soon as possible. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me – I would be more than happy to discuss the project with you.

Thank you and hope to hear from you!

All the best,

Suzie Scott

^{DCA Education Coordinator}

^{Phone: 01382 909237}

^{Email: community.education@dca.org.uk}