News - Love Potion No. 9
University College falmouth press release
Kate Southworth, who leads University College Falmouth's Research Cluster in Interactive Art & Design, iRes, has been selected to present her performance artwork, love_ potion, at the International Symposium on Electronic Art 2008 (ISEA2008) in Singapore later this year.
Kate is an artist and researcher who, along with Patrick Simons, is a founding member of the art group glorious ninth - producers of distributed artworks, DIY installations and invisible networks.
love_potion is a distributed performance network artwork in three phases that uses borage herbs, seeds, magic spells, aural-visual trans-narratives and DIY installations.
The first phase of the performance takes place over six months and involves seeding, tending, harvesting and drying borage herbs. It was first carried out by the artists as an everyday activity and subsequently transformed through repetition and ritual into a form that can be shared with others.
The second phase involves preparing a magic potion from borage, an herb that reputedly drives away sorrow and melancholy, uplifts the spirits, and when shared with others, nurtures compassion and peace.
The third and final phase is where performers come together to co-create and co-tend a small shared space filled with aural-visual trans-narratives that can be downloaded from the glorious ninth website. When performers leave the shared space they take with them borage flowers and seeds with the intention of making new spaces to share with others. As more people take part, there is potential for an invisible network of love to co-emerge.
"love_potion is a highly experimental work that brings together certain practices from network, relational, socially engaged and performance art through the use of 'performative documentation'. It is heartening that this work - which challenges the boundaries of orthodox media art -is being acknowledged by ISEA08" commented Kate.
ISEA, the International Symposium on Electronic Art initiated in 1988, is the world's premier media arts event for the critical discussion and showcase of creative productions applying new technologies in interactive and digital media. Held biannually in various cities throughout the world, this migratory event is being held in Asia for the second time in its history, and will consist of a peer reviewed conference, an internationally juried exhibition and various in-conjunction and partner events.
iRes engages in trans-disciplinary research into networks, creativity and encounters across art, design, media, critical theory and creative technologies. iRes researchers are specialists in network and media art, ,new media curating, sound art and critical theory, and share their work through exhibitions, conference papers, publications, online galleries and online discussion lists.
University College Falmouth is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education. The CUC is funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council.
For further information, about iRes and opportunities for postgraduate study in many areas of practice-led research in art, please visit http://www.ires.org.uk
For further information on glorious ninth, please visit http://www.gloriousninth.net
For further information about University College Falmouth, please visit http://www.falmouth.ac.uk