GENERATORprojects, Dundee

A collaboration with Emilia Giudicelli

Our event at GENERATORprojects will creatively re-stage three seminal art performances from the late 20th century – Richard Serra’s ‘Splashing ( 1969) ; Bruce Nauman’s ‘Body Pressure’ ( 1974) and Matthew Barney’s ‘Drawing Restraint 6’ ( 1989). This will implicitly propose a qualitative measure of value for the arts. This is intended as a means of resistance against the neo-liberal paradigm of promoting the ‘creative economy’ as an end in itself.

We propose that if the body is the first casualty of capitalist production, then it is also, logically, the first line ‘of defence. Why is this so? By withdrawing from, or disturbing, physical routine, new possibilities for resistance, and resistant strategies can emerge: we see artistic labour as one of these quintessential resistant strategies. We therefore hope to demonstrate and build a platform of resistance using artistic labour as our main resource.

The performances are linked via the commonality of the gallery space which will be laid out with the various props required.

Therefore, expect to see:

*The performances will over-lap into one another, with no breaks

*The performances will have paper pulp ‘manufactured’ throughout. The paper pulp takes the place of molten lead, for example, in the re-creation of Richard Serra’s performance. It also takes the place of graphite in ‘Drawing Restraint 6’

*The end results of the throwing and ‘drawing’ of which paper pulp are intended to be sculptures or ends in themselves

Milton Freidman’s book ‘Capitalism and Freedom’ becomes our prop; our cultural heritage becomes our life blood.

James Lee & Emilia Giudicelli