Re-imaging Autoicon

[iansergeant]

Re-Imaging Autoicon

Over the past couple of months I have been working with Wolverhampton Sickle Cell Care and Social Activity Centre to develop a website in response to the original AUTOICON website developed posthumously to preserve the legacy of artist Donald Rodney. The experience has truly been a humbling experience, due to the issues many of the participants face on a daily basis. Due to sickle cell anaemia or thalassemia many have experienced vaso-occlusive crisis, which is caused by sickle-shaped red blood cells that obstruct capillaries and restrict blood flow to an organ resulting in ischaemia, pain, necrosis, and often organ damage. The frequency, severity, and duration of these crises vary considerably. Despite this members have continued to attend workshops on a regular basis and contribute their thoughts in audio, textural, video, photography and general conversation about the project and their own experiences, which has enabled the project to develop. 

As a result we are nearing the stage where we are able to launch a “beta” site of the project at a salon event to be hosted @vividprojects, Digbeth, Birmingham on Saturday 24 October from 2pm, where we will talk about the process of the creation of the website and some of its content. For more information to attend this free event please go to the link below

http://www.vividprojects.org.uk/programme/9-evenings-gabriel-shalom/

[iansergeant]

This week some members of the Wolverhampton Sickle Cell Care and Social Activity Centre took a trip to the Ikon Gallery to see the At Home with Vanley Burke exhibition and guess what? Dr Vanley Burke, was actually at home! It was great for us to meet with him and as usual Dr Burke was a gracious host and took time to take to the group and pose for a couple of pictures. Needless to say the exhibition is a goldmine and debunks the theory that Vanley is just a documentary photographer of the black community. He’s so many other things, archivist, sculpture, painter, collector of books, records, thimbles and much more. The gallery was busy throughout the two hours we were there, with many visitors, black families, white families who I am sure, this was their first time seeing the exhibition, or visiting an art gallery. Which begs the question, why do so few black go to galleries? The answer from me is that they need to have a reason to want to go. Vanley’s exhibition is a reason to go and we need to see much more of this kind of interaction and inclusion. The group are due to make another visit for those who were unable to attend this time round and I am sure they will have a great time, visiting Vanley’s home away from home. Well done Ikon and Vanley for allowing us into your world. How many of us would be willing to give such insight to our personal lives?

[iansergeant]

Donald Rodney referenced stereotypes attributed to blackness through works such as Self Portrait: Black Men Public Enemy, 1990 light boxes and Double Think trophies with engraved text 1992. Through these works Rodney suggests how both the media and society reinforced these stereotypes through the criminalisation of black men hence the reference to “public enemy” and ironic rows of trophies symbolising the athletic prowess juxtaposed with engraved text such as “Black history has a horrible echo [sic], Sadly Black history gives poignant clues to Black Future, Black People are sly” 

[iansergeant]

autoicon

Autoicon is a dynamic internet work and CD-ROM that simulates both the physical presence and elements of the creative personality of the artist Donald Rodney who died from sickle-cell anaemia. The ...

Professor Mike Phillips was a close friend and colleague of Donald Rodney, meeting at Slade in the mid to late 80s. They would go on to collaborate on projects including Visceral Canker (which I will share later). AUTOICON, was a bold and futuristic concept in digitally preserving and archiving the legacy of Donald Rodney. You can read more about the project here and I am pleased and honoured to be able to revisit this work as part of the re-imaging of this concept over the next couple of months, which includes working Mike and members of Plymouth University. 

[iansergeant]

Donald Rodney’s installation “Land of Milk & Honey” evokes the mythical city of gold symbolising his father’s believed he would find when travelling to Britain in the 1950′s. The souring of such hopes is represented in the artist’s large scale sculpture filled with strata of milk, honey and copper coins that have curdled and bled into one another with passing time. The installation has been permanently loaned to Birmingham Museum Trust, by the Donald Rodney estate.

[iansergeant]

Re-Imaging AUTOICON first workshop explaining the project to the group. A real mix in terms of age and experience in attendance. Workshop 2 is focusing on creating text to interact with the Re-Imaging website. We are looking at things like www.cleverbot.com to see how it works and responds in conversations. 

[iansergeant]

Re-Imaging AUTOICON

Today Antonio Roberts aka hellocatfood and I hosted the first of 8 workshops Wolverhampton Sickle Cell Care and Social Activity Centre. The focus of the workshops is to work with the members to develop a new online site, which will share the experiences of participants, who are either sicklers (people with sickle cell, Thalassaemia or other related diseases), carers, workers and family members. The lively session included discussion of the work of Donald Rodney, whose AUTOICON, was the inspiration for this project. Participants were generous in that they shared their experiences, thoughts and ambitions for the project. Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing images, audio, visual and text of the progress of the workshops, towards the eventual launch of the website and exhibition vividprojects in October. Watch this space for further updates

[iansergeant]

Robot Bodies from Keith Piper on Vimeo. Here Keith discussing the notion of the Robot as the “other”, as comparison to the black “other”. Keith recently presented at Re-Imaging AUTOICON salon vividprojects