I’ve seen them on billboards, in coffee rooms, bars, and toilets. I even saw one printed on the bottom of receipt from a local bakery. More or less anywhere in East London, this black and white printed “i’m here” image can be found. It wasn’t until last Thursday when I finally saw one with an advertised email address that I was able to see what it was all about. My guess would have been that it was advertising a new song from a famous musician. What it actually is advertising is a collaboration between Absolut and cult director Spike Jonze. Absolut believes that “doing something differently leads to something exceptional” which has lead to the production of a short film. It is a love story and it teaches you that in an ‘Absolut’ world, ordinary is no place to be and that life can be much more interesting.
They will be screening the film at small, less “ordinary” places such as chip shops, garages, launderettes etc. around London, Manchester and Edinburgh in a couple of weeks time. They will then premiere the film on a larger screen in a car park, an area really thought about which will be turned into something different.
Although the trailer (http://www.imheremovie.com/#) for the film looks a bit cliche, the typical indie one where boy meets girl and they fall in love to Regina Spektor’s latest song, I feel it’s appeal comes from how the film has been produced and advertised. The whole concept is an interesting story about how we can use the ordinary things in our life to make a great piece of art.
Friday night I went to watch my friend Asher perform at the Hope and Anchor, Angel. He is a one man band named ’And the Bear’ playing folk mixed with rock (and a bit of pop too!) It was my first time seeing him (and hearing him even after repeatedly telling him that I loved his music) and was surprised by the amount of emotion he has when he plays. His lyrics tell a mix of stories including tales of a twisted ex-lover and the poor misfortunes of a psychopathic office worker (which my friend thought was about a man who lost his driving license in a skip…I think she was more interested in drinking). You can hear a few of his songs on his MySpace where you can also find the video to his latest song…Well done Asher!
The White Cube Gallery, which conveniently is just opposite my work, is currently showing the new exhibition by Candice Breitz, ‘Factum’ a documentation exploring the modes of internal and external forces which drive between twins. It’s an interesting look on how identical twins are and how, through society, they have been molded into a ‘one or the other’ category within their relationship. Breitz interviewed 5 sets of twins and a set of triplets all separately for 7 hours. Dressed the same and in the same surrounding, each twin talked about the problems, joys, love, strangeness and difficulties of living with someone that shares the exact same genetic code as you whilst still living a separate identity. The individualization final work is set up so both the twins are next to each other allowing you to compare body language and their scarily similar reactions. I felt maybe it would trigger some feelings for me to what it’s like to be a non-identical twin (you would be surprised how many people ask if me and my sister are identical!) but after leaving the exhibition, I still feel like she is just a sister. I have always wondered why we didn’t have that special ‘twin’ bond but now I now why!
‘Factum’ Candice Beritz @ The White Cube (http://www.whitecube.com/)
I love you. x
