counterproductions continues to work and participate in innovative international projects and artistic exchanges, such as Pavilion (Tbilisi), Decentrederspace & MT (Marseille). counterproductions encourages further international contact, artistic exchange and collaboration.
Past Projects:
International Metropolitan Trails Association.
Part of opening Trail Designers Exhibition at MuCem (Marseille)
counterproductions supported InspiralLondon in becoming one city trail in the living archive exposition MuCem Marseille, as part of the growing network of International Metropolitan Trails completed, designed or envisaged. A vitrine display of trails with map of London spiral trail also included: Terres communes- Sentier du Grand Bordeaux 1999; Sentieri Metropolitani-Sentier du Grand Milan 2008; Gr2013- Sentier du Grand Marseille; Entre deux mers- Sentier du Grand Istanbul 2013; SMGP- Sentier du Grand Paris 2014; Houmani- Sentier du Grand Tunis 2014; Provence Express- Sentier du Grand Avignon 2015; Buro fur Stadtereisen- Sentier du Grand Cologne 2017.
InspiralLondon would like to thank MT for inviting us to take part in the exhibition and for hosting the inaugural meeting of International Metropolitan Trail Association.
This exhibition will run for 3 years and makes up the penultimate display of one floor of the museum gallery – (European culture and contemporary anthropology within a Mediterranean context). More info CP-Sentiers-Mucem
Decentrederspace: in an other capital of culture (Marseille-Provence 2013)
De/Tours, as part of decentrederspace’s exploration of cultural capital, invited a number of artists to respond to the idea of a European Capital of Culture as outsiders. The project capitalised on the unique project GR2013 as a point of departure for their interventions and musings. The artistic and cultural exchange produced various temporary artistic insertions and unwanted gifts, including 120 poor word-objects. These anti-signs have been placed along the route GR2013. They form one small gift towards the social diversity, political history and cultural resilience situated in Marseille-Provence.
Decentrederspace October 2012-June 2014 Marseille, London, Leeds, Sheffield, Various locations In PACA. Project supported by CGProjects, Compass Live Art, and Word-Exchange.
Pavilion & Pavilionesque October – December 2007 Tbilisi, Georgia & London, UK
Pavilion: 4-14 October 2007, Freedom Square, Tbilisi – Caucasus 2007
Pavilion was a project counterproductions produced as part of OneStop exchange (Tbilisi, Georgia – Caucasus Art Projects 2007 produced and funded by Tram Foundation) The project was loosely based around a temporary structure set up in Freedom Square: “six artists bound from London, 10 days, one Caucasian Capital, a large tent; all to create a UK Pavilion (of sorts).” The work was made on and for the street and with the participation of the people of Tbilisi. Artists David Collins, Helena Bryant, Jo David, Rachael House, Mark McGowan and Lado Darakhdelidze
Pavilionesque: 7-10 December 2007 Location: Area10 Project Space, London
Pavilionesque Artist Projects – reinterpreted for London exhibition of OneStop exchange (Tbilisi, Georgia)
A pavilion structure, hastily constructed from found cloth, creates a temporary exhibition space for a number of artist interventions including: Rachael House’s Dog Pet Exchange, Jo David’s ‘memory bus’, Mark McGowan’s notes towards “Sleeping with a Goat” and Charlie Fox’s Laughing Bear. The project was supported by Tram Foundation, Counterprint and Area10 Artist Project Space, Space Station Sixty-Five
Broadcasts on Museum TV Station – November 2010 & July 2011
@ PS2 Belfast broadcast by Comm(o)nist Gallery & Galeria Arsenale, Bialystok, Poland – July 2011
Museum TV Station and Ideal News are projects created and initiated by artist Lado Darakhdelidze (Netherlands/Georgia)
“Ideal Media, ‘Museum TV Station’ and ‘Ideal newspaper’, establish connections between art, journalism and citizen opinions. The emphasis here is on art as a free medium that airs social ideas…. By realizing Museum TV Station in different cultural settings, it acts as an alternative to conventional information stations. MTVS broadcasts a fusion of art & citizen-journalism, using live broadcast and lecture performances and creating an independent information field in a 3-D space.”
UBRC with This Happy Band, @ Cabaret Voltaire – Zurich April 2011
CGTV and Laughing Bear cooperated on an international project with members of This Happy Band, performed at Cabaret Voltaire – There There English School of Dada (produced by Alice McCabe). UBRC with CGTV also was able to broadcast within streets of Zurich. UBRC is currently developing further European projects within SE France region.
Laughing Bear, Leap in a Void, Beirut – October 2008
Leap in a Void, Beirut (photo: laura mitcheson)
“On the 26th September, at approximately 9.53 pm local time, in the year two thousand and eight, Urban Bear appeared. Entering the 8th Floor of the Centre Dagher, Pasteur St, in the District Ashrafieh in Beirut, the bear climbed onto a broken stepladder, and reaching the top step, swayed momentarily. The crowd called out. Some “Jump” and others “Don’t do it”. Bear descended two steps and paused, gathering breath.
Again the bear mounted the ladder top and with outstretched arms, leapt into a void; falling at a 15° angle as if flying the bear landed heavily, nose first onto the marble floor. The onlookers were temporarily moved, but quickly tired of this untidy spectacle, and dispersed.” (counterproductions 2008)
Laughing Bear and UBRC work was supported by counterprint and cosmicmegabrain.
Shibboleth the Show – exhibition and performance events at Dilston Grove – November 2006
Project Dates: August 2006 – January 2007 Produced & Curated by Neil Drabble, Charlie Fox & Nigel Robinson
“The curators of Shibboleth have taken great delight in the plethora of codes, meanings and associations behind, within, above and below the term. Everything about this show, from the venue itself (Dilston Grove – a deconsecrated church) to the immensely varied body of work from international artists, seems intent upon playing a knowing game with concepts of interiority, exteriority, cultural tribalism, contemporary mythologies, and the commodification of the creative act.” (Angeline Morrison – from Shibboleth the Catalogue 2007)
Shibboleth Exhibition 17 November – 9 December 2006 @ Dilston Grove; Performance Programme 17 November 6-10pm, 25 November 12-5pm, 9 December 6-10pm
The project was generously supported by CGP, counterprint and BAG Over 50 artists, three weeks, 15 performances and a mini-opera.
Shibboleth the Catalogue and Networking Artists events – Published January 2007 (Supported by mta digital & counterprint)
International Day of the Smile, Persepolis, Peckham – July 2008
Date: 14 July 2008 Location of first International Day of the Smile: Persepolis, Peckham High Street. This project was reinterpreted for locations in Beirut, Istanbul and Liverpool: Smile More, Laugh Now, Cry Less, with support of Space Station Sixty-Five, cosmicmegabrain and NAN, The Royal Standard/Liverpool and counterprint (November -December 2008). An ongoing poster campaign for various sites including Liverpool (UK), Beirut (Lebanon), Istanbul (Turkey).
Mantra Poster in Istanbul as part of project campaign. Other events and performances as part of Consume Peckham & I Love Peckham Festival 2008 including:
Date: 16 July 2008 Location: Peckham High Street, Peckham Square & Bun House Public House. Urban Bear – Polis?, Urban Bear Research Centre circulates through Centre of Peckham.
Date: 18 July 2008 Location: Persepolis Shop: Axis of Evil Trifle, with Urban Bear Research Centre, performance at Persepolis (Persian Centre)
Night Shift Drifts Mis-Tours, Psi 15 Zagreb – June 2009
Zagreb, Croatia June 2009 (Performance Studies International Performance Drift) supported by the EUROPEAN CULTURAL FUND and Roehampton University. A collaboration with Simon Bayly, Cecilia Wee, Lisa Alexander & delegates from PSi15. Including discussions with students at Zagreb University, Director of SCCA and Vesna Vukovic (BLOK). counterproductions has presented work at 3 other Performance Studies International conferences including collaborating with Leibniz on First Book of Blood (Part of Performing Rights, London, 2006), talking at PSi15 (Copenhagen, 2007) and bringing CGTV to Utrecht (2011).
Artistic Residency, Kolin Art Centre, Finland – July 2005 supported by North Karelia Arts Council
In Summer 2005 Charlie Fox was awarded a residency in one of Finland’s most important National Parks – Koli. This enabled the development of ideas for UBRC, borne from work made during the residency: Ursus Houses and Callisto’s Dreamwork. Performance events took place within the Park with the support of Koli National Park. The residency was generously supported by North Karelia Arts Council, counterprint and with grateful thanks to Juuka and Liese.
International RESEARCH:
Research Visit, Mexico City – May 2003
Research trip to Oaxaca, Mexico City, Pueblo, Cholula – investigations into pre-European culture and contemporary art. Supported by counterprint & Jo Tuckman foundation. Also in 1996 I was able to conduct research visits to Armenia & Georgia which informed later cultural links with Caucasus region.
Cultural Leadership Programme, European Perspectives – 2007-2010
Research Visits to Germany (Munster/Sculpture, Kassel/Documenta, Munich/Spielart & Cleve), to Austria (Vienna, Donau/Krems), Belgium (Brussels) and the Netherlands (Arnhem, Utrecht). These research trips were initially organised and generously supported through NWN Cultural Leadership Artist Programme. Developing, sharing and extending a networked knowledge of artist-led culture throughout Europe. International research has continued with support from European Cultural Foundation and counterproductions.
Visits included talks, dialogues and discussions on future directions of performance/art within European context, festival culture and pan-European issues. Visits to Festivals and Art Events were supported by the Cultural Leadership Programme, and through direct support of Festivals (Donau and Theatre Festival SpeilArt)
NWN, NottheNRLA and UBRC tourism art – 2008-2012
Following Night Shift Drifts in Zurich counterproductions has continued to develop ideas of tourism-as-research or tourism-art. The intervention ‘Self Censorship not Sponsorship’ produced by This is not the NRLA in Glasgow (2010) and further actions outside England and the confines of London centric art establishment builds a body of works that interacts with other places, problematising the idea of art as a free autonomous space that can be located wherever/whenever it pleases. At the same time it explores the nexus – art, entertainment, travel – through the international exchange of mis/communication, mis/understanding.
Chinese Research Visit, Bejing, China – June 2006
Visit to Beijing to research artist-led culture and contemporary Chinese performance art. The trip was made possible with contacts and generosity of artists Shu Yang and Qiu Zhijie. Supported by NAN Go and See Bursary (also supported by counterprint, Swedish Embassy in Beijing, CGP)
counterproductions 
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