Free Criticism

Free Criticism experiments with the concept of criticism. A project by Joshua Trees

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New Genres: X + Y = Z Work-in-progress Show 2020: White City Royal College of Art 31 January 2020, 3–5pm

HQI, The Rotunda, W12 7FQ

Performance lectures on whispered absorption, human playing, immaterial labour, public larping, collective rain, the circulating image, double meaning, otherwhere, virtual gifts and synchronised heartbeats…

George Dutton, Thomas Hedger, Danyang Liu, Ping Mu, Ewa Poniatowska, Julia Renning, Emily Schofield, Julia Van Ijken, Yayuan Xue, Yuhui Zhou 

New Genres is a research group for emergent practice at the RCA, led by Joshua Trees and Chris Michael

Open to RCA staff, students and registered visitors

NB: Gate will close at 3pm. Arrive by 2.45pm for 3pm start. Entry requires an RCA ID card or name on guest list; Visitors outside of RCA should contact [email protected] to be added to the guest list.

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Theory Objects Vilnius Academy of Arts 19 April 2019, 1300–1600

Theory Objects is an exhibition, discussion and celebration of ‘theory objects’ enacting philosophies and publishing strategies of postconceptualism, memetics and FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software).

Theory Objects launches a range of self-replicating manifestations (events, actions and things) designed to be copied, modified and shared, including: a manifesto for the grass snake, a movement for ‘fullysleeping’, a comparison machine for conspicuous waste, a DIY hydrofoil wing, mutant plastic fish, the feminist bob, the death of choice, chonk abuse and the ultimate hangover cure.

A project led by Joshua Trees in collaboration with VDA students (MA Visual Communication Design and BA Graphic Design): Noatė Atkočiūnas, Kotryna Abromaityte, Ona Vėliūtė, Monika Šumauskaitė, Austė Dzikaraitė, Lina Vaiškūnaitė, Aurelija Slapšytė, Domas Cibas, Juta Kibildytė. Joshua Trees is a researcher, publisher and educator. He is currently Tutor at Royal College of Art and co-founder of Books From The Future.

Open to the public

Funded by the Lithuanian Education and Science Support Fund

VDA, Titanic Building Room 112 Maironio str. 3 Vilnius, Lithuania 01124

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Theory Objects Vilnius Academy of Arts Workshop:  8—19 April 2019 Exhibition PV: 19 April, 1300—1600

Theory Objects is a workshop and exhibition by Joshua Trees, produced in collaboration with Vilnius Academy of Arts (MA Visual Communication Design and BA Graphic Design).

Theory Objects investigates the open-source concept of a ‘theory object’* 
 *Historically Bruce Sterling has used the term to describe “shareable concepts” such as ‘Spime’ and ‘The New Aesthetic’, but Trees has adopted the term to refer to redistributable concepts designed to both initiate and facilitate their own modification, duplication and dissemination. Such concepts could be material (publications, posters, furniture, souvenirs...) or immaterial (downloads, workshops, rumours, algorithms, performances, videos, fonts...) Funded by the Lithuanian Education and Science Support Fund

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Model and Countermodel School of Communication Work-in-Progress Show Royal College of Art 15 February 2019, 1400-1730

Lectures on love, touch, downsampling, angst and ennui, sausage rolls, antidotes to anti-feminism, the ego, the outsourced alter ego and Depeche Mode’s Basildon…

Lectures by Yexin Cai, Andrew Dhesi, Kai-Ning Huang, Yuanbo Jiang, Julia Mahrer, Georgina Marshall, Jacob Pardoe, Eilis Searson, Christopher Smith, Jack Warne, Dimitri Wiss, Iain Worgan

New Genres is an interest group for experimental practices and pedagogies at RCA, led by Joshua Trees

1400-1530  Act I: Lectures 1-6 1530-1600  Intermission*    1600-1730  Act II: Lectures 7-12 

*Feel free to exit and enter during intermission

Open to RCA staff, students and registered visitors NB: entry requires an RCA ID card or name on guest list; Visitors outside of RCA should contact [email protected] before 1200 on 14 February to book a place on guest list.

Huckletree West Mediaworks 191 Wood Lane, London W12 7FP

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Distributed: a conversation with Joshua Trees, Jack Clarke and Ayşe Köklü Content Free, Royal College of Art

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Books From The Future Summer School 2018

An inquiry into the phenomenon of disaster in contemporary culture

16–27 July 2018 Application deadline: 1 June 2018, midnight 15 places available

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Model and Countermodel New Genres Lecture Series & Book Launch New Genres is an interest group at the Royal College of Art for the advancement of experimental, contextual and public practices. Lectures by Clayton Cavender, Daniel Kozma, Hyunsong Lee, Rebecca Liu, Wanyi Lu, David McAllister, Eugene Noble, Chan Shin Park, Linh Pham, Hyun-il Shin, Maria Pestana Teixeira, Arianna Tilche, Jake Tollady 19 April 2018, 2.00-4.00pm 2.00-3.00 Act I (Lectures 1–6) 3.00-4.00 Act II (Lectures 7–13) Lecture Theatre 1, Darwin Building Royal College of Art Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU Open to RCA students, staff and visitors.* * Note: entry requires an RCA ID card or visitor pass; Visitors outside of RCA should contact [email protected] to book a place and visitor pass.

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Performance Society is a compilation of critical and performance writing on Performance.

Experience has moved to the centre of cultural, economic and political action. Technology, its catalyst. Fantasies, Feelings and Fun, its currency. Postdigital selves enact the Aesthetics of Existence. Art as Life. Work as Play. Sign as Reality. Welcome to Performance Society.

Artists and designers revisit notions of performativity and myth-making in relation to contemporary society and current affairs, drawing new parallels between theatre, performance art and graphic design.

Contributors: Vicky Carr, Jack Clarke, Karolina Cialkaite, Loes Claessens, Georgia Cranstoun, Josiah Craven, William Fairbrother, Jurate Gacionyte, Léa Gallon, Paul Haworth, Lars Høie, Tom Joyes, Halima Olalemi, Elisa Raciti, Jakob Rowlinson, Alberto Ruiz Soler, Tereza Ruller, Oliver Smith, Kirsten Spruit, Merve Ünsal, Bryce Wilner

Buy

Edition of 250 Single colour risograph 290 pages 130 x 195mm (5.12 x 7.68 inches) Softcover English ISBN 978-0-9573509-4-6 Edited and designed by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees Books From The Future 2017

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Book Launch and Lecture Performances : Performance Society by Books From The Future Organised as part of the current class on Performance and Performing Identities. 6th July 7.30pm @Evening Class ABOUT THE LECTURE PERFORMANCES Performance Society Curated by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees with lecture performances by:

Claude Marzotto and Maia Sambonet (Milan) The Nose Theory & Other Masks NY City, 1967. The Italian director Sergio Zavoli and his troupe meet Saul Steinberg in his Manhattan apartment. As the conversation unfolds across the rooms, the illustrator engages a subtle play with graphic materials – paper, drawing and photos – to constantly question and shape his own identity in front of his interlocutors. Tom Joyes (Glasgow) Performing Truth: Non-Fiction-Science-Fiction Non-Fiction-Science-Fiction is a genre that aims to be documentary, speculative and highly aesthetic at the same time. How does this combination produce a convincing science-fiction through the performance of truth? And to what extent does the designer have an obligation to tell the truth in a time of slippery subjects and uncertain sources?

Franek Wardyński (London) Invasive Species 3.0 In 1930, Oswald de Andrade articulated the concept of Cultural Cannabalism with the intention of subsuming foreign cultures under a Brazilian identity in what he called ‘poetry for export’. As our contemporary culture feeds off itself, the question of poetry remains… ABOUT THE BOOK Performance Society is a compilation of critical and performance writing on Performance. Experience has moved to the centre of cultural, economic and political action. Technology, its catalyst. Fantasies, Feelings and Fun, its currency. Postdigital selves enact the Aesthetics of Existence. Art as Life. Work as Play. Sign as Reality. Welcome to Performance Society. Contributors: Vicky Carr, Jack Clarke, Karolina Cialkaite, Loes Claessens, Georgia Cranstoun, Josiah Craven, William Fairbrother, Jurate Gacionyte, Léa Gallon, Paul Haworth, Lars Høie, Tom Joyes, Halima Olalemi, Elisa Raciti, Jacob Rowlinson, Alberto Ruiz Soler, Tereza Ruller, Oliver Smith, Kirsten Spruit, Merve Ünsal, Bryce Wilner Edited and designed by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees Published by Books From The Future, June 2017 Risograph printed in an edition of 250; 290pp; 130x195mm

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Model and Countermodel is a reader of collected texts about practitioners* who have proposed risky yet rigorous alternatives to conventional wisdom across art, design and architecture including exemplary attitudes, frameworks, methodologies and methods. * Ralph Ball and Maxine Naylor, Lisa Ben, Ulises Carrión, Salvador Dalí, Karen Finley, Buckminster Fuller, Gilbert & George, Pablo Helguera, Allan Kaprow, Peter Kardia et al, Július Koller, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Norman Potter, Tony Schwartz and Superstudio.

Compiled by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees Designed by Jack Clarke Download

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Booksfromthefuture is hosting an evening of artistic research and performative publishing as part of Practices of Enquiry, an exhibition of experimental enquiry-based learning, on 17 November 2016 (6.00-8.30pm)

Organised by Catherine Smith and Elliott Burns Curated by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees

Lectures by Karolina Cialkaite, Georgia Cranstoun, Jurate Gacionyte, Lars Høie and Franek Wardynski

Reader compiled by Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees and designed by Jack Clarke, including texts on the inquisitive and investigative practices of Ralph Ball and Maxine Naylor, Lisa Ben, Ulises Carrión, Salvador Dalí, Karen Finley, Buckminster Fuller, Gilbert & George, Pablo Helguera, Allan Kaprow, Peter Kardia et al, Július Koller, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, Norman Potter, Tony Schwartz and Superstudio.

Model and Countermodel 17 November 2016, 6.00-8.30pm Cookhouse Gallery Chelsea College of Arts

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Booksfromthefuture is hosting an evening of artistic research and performative publishing on Friday 15 July 2016. (7.00-10.00pm) Curated by Joshua Trees and Yvan Martinez Lectures by Vicky Carr, Elisa Raciti, Karolina Cialkaite, Halima Olalemi, Léa Gallon, Josiah Craven and Lars Høie

With thanks to Simon Goode & Ira Yonemura (London Centre for Book Arts), Jaime Gili, Jack Clarke, Ayse Koklu, Jakob Rowlinson and Mama con Yuka

Open to all who book tickets in advance. No ticket, no entry.

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Current Day Manifesto: Toward a Critical Ambiguity in Graphic Design Cameron Ralston, 2013

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The Role of the (Graphic) Designer... ... in a metamodern structure of feeling Jack Clarke, 2015

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Horizons — Mentaxis (Loes Claessens and Kirsten Spruit), 2015

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Modes of Criticism 2 – Critique of Method Francisco Laranjo, 2016