Sun 17 Jan |
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| Mill creatives was delighted to be part of the celebrations this Sunday 17th of January, as we said a very happy birthday to Art. Art's Birthday is an annual event first proposed in 1963 by French artist Robert Filliou, when he suggested that 1,000,000 years ago, there was no art. In fact that on one day, the 17th of January to be precise, Art was born. So according to this, Art will be 1,000,047 years old on 17 January 2010. Now we’re never one to pass up on a party and a slice of birthday cake that’s for sure. However, in the interests of fairness we have to give you a little background on this. There is evidence to suggest the creation of art was around 1.5 million years ago in the rock sculptures of Paleolithic (stone age) period.  Venus of Willendorf courtesy of world wide web No doubt you’ll appreciate this is difficult to document and trace but what we’re saying is his theory is debatable. Interestingly not only is it debatable on scientific and historic levels there is the whole idea of what art he suggests is born. Contemporary art is often credited or otherwise, with blurring the lines over what can be called art. According to Filliou, however Art happened when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. This surely cannot be beaten when it comes to the ‘If I call it art it is art’ school of thought – indeed not such a modern concept after all. ;-) We can’t fault the genius that was when Filliou proposed a public holiday to celebrate the presence of art in our lives. We can fault the government for not making it so. Not to worry though in recent years, the idea has been taken up by a loose network of artists and friends around the world. So in the spirit of fluxus we took part in celebrations by East Street Arts. A Leeds based arts collective and studio space. The party was fantastic. Games such as The Exquisite Corpse got people sharing drawings and laughter. A game taken on as the official game of the Surrealist movement, that if you’ve never played before look it up and throw it into any shenanigans you’re having. You can see the results of our round below…  (Alexia thinks Art School Rocks - seriously)  (Yvonne - loving it)  (Danny always wanted tenticles)  (Helen - looking a lot like she does after a night out) Perhaps what was most impressive was the live streaming, projected on the wall of ESA’s main project space. Each year the Eternal Network evolves to include new partners working with the ideas of exchange and telecommunications art to celebrate this curious event. Groups all over the world were linked via satellite so we could all see how everyone was celebrating this mementos day. From Antwerp to New York and hundreds of locations in between there was something happening to give thanks and love to Art in our lives. Spain hilariously presented a minute of noise in the centre of Madrid, while Brussels traditionally brought presents and sang songs for art and in Australia a rousing game of ‘oblique strategies’ was played.  For us there was more fun to be had, playing three-way table tennis, pin the tenner on the cat (so funny)  and in the kitchen, as everyone pitched in to make Arts birthday cake and birthday banquet. The spirit was inviting and involving. Neither as individuals nor as mill had we gone to such an event as unknowns/non members and felt so completely welcomed as we did here. Sadly we had to leave early as the duties of our pay the bills jobs loomed. We’re sure the party carried on well in to the small hours and you’ll be able to see and read all about it on ESA’s website soon. Thanks to ESA and ArtBloc and all those involved in the event.
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