Monthly Archives: October 2012

I can’t sleep! Is it because I am arty?

Insomnia and artistic expression have often been linked. Since starting my foundation course at college I’ve had more trouble sleeping than usual. I keep dreaming about my art, thinking about it, and lying awake trying to relax my mind with … Continue reading

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Three artists – another artist who has worked with institutional collecting

In late 2010 The Natural History Museum invited a contemporary Chinese artist to be its first international artist-in-residence for the Images of Nature gallery. The artist was called Hu Yun, and he comes from Shanghai. He stayed with the museum … Continue reading

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Three artists – an artist who has worked with institutional collecting

Basia Irland Basia Irland, as sculptor and installation artist, as poet and book artist, and as activist, for the past twenty years, has been focused on water. The water that carries, that falls, and transforms life, that writes on sand, … Continue reading

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Three artists – an artist who has questioned institutional collecting.

Coco Fusco (1960- ) is a Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist and writer who began her career in 1988. Fusco performs and curates throughout America and internationally. The Year of the White Bear and Two Undiscovered Amerindians Visit the West (1992–1994) This … Continue reading

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More musings on art and mental health – A House To Die In?

‘Why would you want to make a house to die in?’ asks my son as we watch a BBC News item about New York based Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard‘s current exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, which … Continue reading

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Are you in touch with your inner train spotter?

Since I started learning about collecting and its relation to art this week I have been wondering in my few and far between idle moments: why do people collect things? What is it about human nature that makes people natural … Continue reading

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Plastic Island – a collection of junk

The term ‘plastic beach’ is the term being used to describe a selection of once idyllic white sandy beaches turned into rubbish tips of plastic flotsam including plastic bottles, bags, tyres, rusting petrol cans, and other waste from around the … Continue reading

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I collect mantelpieces

I decided to collect some mantelpieces of my own, inspired by Rachel Hurdley’s experiment (I also thought that bedside tables would make for an interesting collection). So here below is a selection of mantelpieces, starting with my own. What do … Continue reading

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I collect dolls

Morton Bartlett As mentioned in a previous post, I visited the Hamburger Bahnhof, and whilst there I also saw a collection of elaborately designed, modelled and dressed dolls by American artists Morton Bartlett. Central works of Bartlett’s collection were 15 semi-life-sized … Continue reading

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I see dead people – or at least I collect pictures of them

Hans-Peter Feldmann In September I went to Berlin. And I went to the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum Fur Gegenwart – Berlin. And there I saw two very moving and disturbing collections. The first one was by Hans-Peter Feldmann. Feldmann collected, … Continue reading

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