THALAMUS NOW EMULATED ONLINE

One of our earliest works from way back in 1995 is being emulated online for the first time, thanks to bwFLA at University of Freiburg, where they have been developing a system for hosting virtual machines that can be shared online.

The work is called Thalamus -a simple user led environment that uses a metronome scale as a tuning device allowing anyone using it to unfold a past life regression experienced by a man under hypnosis. If you want to go and use the work and find out more about it then you can access it here:
http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/thal.html

Please be patient because the emulation takes at least a minute to start up. The (rather brilliant and flexible) emulation platform is also in beta, so expect it to evolve and improve over time and sometimes to be offline for development and maintenance.  The system doesn't work with Safari but is compatible with Mozilla browsers and Chrome.

Thalamus was originally commissioned to be part of a CDROM project called The Toybox and was shown at Tate Liverpool as part of Video Positive '95.

To find out more about the emulation project visit: http://bw-fla.uni-freiburg.de/

NEW PUBLICATION | FLAT EARTH


We have a new book! With lots of pictures and essays by Clive Gillman and Sarah Cook and an in conversation between ourselves and Steve Rushton, who collaborated with us on our Flat Earth Trilogy.  The book's called Flat Earth and you can buy it for £20 here:

http://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/editions-and-publications/flat-earth.html

The essays are in German and English because it covers two exhibitions -our show currently still on at MEWO Kunsthalle Memmingen called, Not Even The Sky and our forthcoming exhibition opening on January 17th 2014 at Dundee Contemporary Arts called, Maps DNA and Spam.  Click on the exhibition titles for more info on each.

WATCHING YOU | 1011, New York

We are showing our railway sign BEACON as part of the group exhibition Watching You curated by Julie Solovyeva and Katya Valevich, which opened in New York last night including work by Kohei Yoshiyuki, Cynthia Daignault, Vanessa Hodgkinson, Ai Weiwei, Cindy Sherman, Enxuto and Love and Ernesto Caivano.  You can see the full details here including how to get to the space, which is open 24/7 by appointment only.  The show is on until December 22nd so get there quick!

http://thomson-craighead.net/1011.pdf

OCTOBER | ZKM, KARLSRUHE

Our documentary artwork October is being exhibited at ZKM in Karlsruhe as part of their exhibition global aCtIVISm opening on 14.12.2013 - 30.03.2014.  It's a big exhibition and you can find out more about the many things going on as a part of this here:

http://on1.zkm.de/zkm/stories/storyReader$8502

Do go take a look if you can and you can find out more about October on our website.  October is a portrait of the Occupy movement when it exploded into a massive global movement during the autumn of 2011.

http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/october.html

God’s Special Envoys

We are showing A short film about War as part of this screening coming up on Mon Dec 2 2013 - 7:00 pm in C Space at Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  So if you happen to be in the American Heartland then maybe go take a look.  The whole screening has been curated by Abigail Addison from Animate Projects -more info here: http://legionarts.org/events/gods-special-envoys

NEW DOCUMENTATION

We're just back from installing our new solo exhibition at MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen and have posted documentation of three new works online -take a look when you have a moment or two.

The First Person
http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/firstperson.html

Broken Webcams
http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/webcams.html

Six Years of Mondays
http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/mondays.html

You can also see pics from the opening and install in Germany on our flickr stream here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87294765@N00/

NOT EVEN THE SKY


We have a solo exhibition opening at MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen in Germany on 26th October, which we're excited to say will include three new works!

We're also launching a new publication at the same time looking at this exhibition alongside another show planned for early next year at Dundee Contemporary Arts.  The book will include essays by Sarah Cook, Clive Gillman and a conversation between us and Steve Rushton.

Do come along to Memmingen if you and you can find out more by viewing the flyer here

TRANSITIO_MX 05 | MEXICO CITY


Transitio_MX 05 is now open in Mexico City and we're showing two pieces for it; our desktop documentary, Flat Earth and our installation, The distance travelled through our solar system this year and all the barrels of oil remaining.  Do go take a look if you're in that part of the world!  It's a really massive show spread across a number of venues and curated this time around by Sarah Cook

MICROMÉGAS > POWERS OF 10



We've made work for this publishing project curated by Tracy Mackenna and Edwin Janssen. As well as being an A0 poster for the purposes of this project, the print we've made called Voyager (Micromégas) also exists as a wood block print. Here's some more info about the project taken from Tracy and Edwin's website:

The publishing project and mobile exhibition launches on Thursday at Impact 8 International Printmaking Conference.  It brings together posters by Pavel Büchler, Dora Garcia, Jonathan Monk, Scott Myles, Thomson & Craighead and Marco Stout, and a text by Mark Dorrian in response to Voltaire’s story of 1752 that functions as a commentary on human foible, scientific superstitions and anti-utopias.

Published and produced by Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA).

The second presentation will take place at The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney in Spring 2014 when a new component will be included.

www.mackenna-and-janssen.net
www.conf.dundee.ac.uk/impact8/home/

Flat Earth Trilogy on North Uist

For the whole of the rest of August, the single screen versions of all three parts of our Flat Earth Trilogy will be showing at Taigh Chearsabhagh Art Centre in Lochmaddy on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.  More information here:

taigh-chearsabhagh.org/taighc_events/flat-earth-trilogy-thomson-craighead/

It's the first time we have displayed these works in this way and if you're lucky enough to be out on the Western Isles this month then do pop in and take a look.  The entire cycle of works last around 30minutes.

Flat Earth Trilogy is a series of documentary artworks each made entirely from information found on the worldwide web.  The trilogy covers a six-year period beginning with Flat Earth (2007), A short film about War (2009/2010) and ending with Belief (2012). In each case, the viewer is taken around the world encountering fragments taken from real peoples' blogs, which are knitted together to form something resembling a story.

In Flat Earth, we see the visual language established where Google Earth is used as a way of joining each of these narrative moments together. A short film about War focuses more specifically on the collective gaze of photo-sharing communities like flickr as a way of apprehending the locations being spoken about, while Belief looks to the video sharing community youtube and the phenomenon of video blogging and to a lesser extent ‘trolling’, where individuals attempt to sow discord online as an end in itself.

In all of these works, we are interested in exploring how our own spheres of influence have been extended and transformed by the internet, allowing us to experience and broadcast information around the globe in ways unheard of even fifteen years ago.

Flat Earth was made with Channel 4 and Animate Projects for television broadcast, but A short film about War and Belief have been developed as gallery installations as well as the single screen videos seen here.

In the gallery version of A short film about War, a second screen logs the provenance of images, blog fragments and GPS locations of each element comprising the work, so that the same information is simultaneously communicated to the viewer in two parallel formats -on one hand as a dramatised reportage and on the other hand as a text log.



The gallery version of Belief adds a synchronised floor projection of a compass, which interacts with the montage showing us where each clip originates in relation to the geographical location of the artwork thus placing the viewer at the centre point of a cinematic data-visualisation.


In both cases, the artists’ want us to consider our own relationship with this material -the way in which information changes as it is gathered, edited and then mediated through networked communications technologies or broadcast media, and how that changes and distorts what things mean; especially for (the generally wealthy minority of) the world's users of high speed broadband networks, who have become used to the treacherously persuasive panoptic view that Google Earth (and the worldwide web) appears to give us.




NEVER ODD OR EVEN NOW UNTIL 13th JULY


Our solo exhibition at Carroll/Fletcher, London was due to close today but has been extended for an extra week until 13th July.  So if you can tear yourself away from the sunshine and haven't been along yet then please do pop in.  We've had such a great response so far, and here's a mini roundup of some reviews to date:

Between (Virtual) Safety and Security by Mark Sheerin for Hyperallergic
http://hyperallergic.com/74809/between-virtual-safety-and-security/

Eddy Frankel for Time Out, London
http://www.timeout.com/london/art/thomson-craighead-never-odd-or-even

Must see shows in London by Happy Famous Artists
http://happyfamousartists.com/blog/2013/06/thomson-craighead-carrollfletcher

Daniella Rose King for Art Agenda
http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/thomson-craighead’s-“never-odd-or-even”

Robert Strang for San Francisco Arts Quarterly
http://www.sfaqonline.com/2013/06/thomson-craighead-never-odd-or-even-at-carrollfletcher-gallery-london/

Wall Street International
http://www.wsimagazine.com/uk/diaries/agenda/arti/thomson-craighead-never-odd-or-even_20130613114750.html#.UdfQiha51QV

Neither here nor then by Daniel Rourke for Furtherfield
http://www.furtherfield.org/features/neither-here-nor-then-thomson-and-craighead-carroll-fletcher-gallery

So different so appealing
http://www.sodifferentsoappealing.com/2013/06/thomson-craighead-never-odd-or-even.html

Laura Davidson
http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/3464719

William Kherbek for Port Magazine
http://www.port-magazine.com/art-photography/never-odd-or-even-thomson-craighead/

Design Week
http://www.designweek.co.uk/whats-on/london-wall-w1w/3036527.article

OCTOBER NOW ONLINE | PHOTOWORKS


A single-channel version of our documentary artwork October,  is available for the first time online at Photoworks for the duration of our solo exhibition at Carroll / Fletcher, London.

October was originally commissioned as a gallery installation by Photoworks as part of the Brighton Photo Biennial 2012 and is a documentary artwork about the early rise and fall of the Occupy movement.

Watch it here: http://www.photoworks.org.uk/news/79

Find out more about the installation version here:
http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/october.html

More about our show currently in London here: http://www.carrollfletcher.com/exhibitions/15/overview/

A SHORT FILM ABOUT WAR | INMG


The INMG Gallery have just launched an online exhibition of our documentary artwork A short film about War at www.inmg.org.uk.

Apart from being able to watch a full length streaming version of the piece you can also download the accompanying catalogue, which includes essays by Tom Snow, Dr Alan Ingram and an interview by Edwin Coomasaru and Jo Chard: www.inmg.org.uk/thomson-craighead/catalogue/

Oh and there will also be a Reading Group: Digital Ethics On and Offline at 7pm, Tuesday 28th May at Carroll/Fletcher gallery to coincide with our solo exhibition there.  This event is organised in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Art, University College London.

Please contact e.coomasaru@inmg.org.uk for details and if you are interested in attending this event

SOLO EXHIBITION IN LONDON

We have a solo exhibition opening at Carroll/Fletcher in London running from 24th May until 6th July.

If you're in town then please do drop by: the gallery is on EastCastle Street in Fitzrovia. Oh and the opening itself is on 23rd May from 6.30 - 8.30pm

We're showing new and recent work alongside a couple of older pieces and a publication will be accompanying the exhibition with an essay by David Auerbach.  We'll also be giving a gallery tour and talk on 4th June in the evening.

You can find out more by going to the facebook event here:
www.facebook.com/events/301772953288387/

or straight to www.carrollfletcher.com/exhibitions/forthcoming/

Regine Debatty, author of We-make-money-not-art blog has also interviewed us for ResonanceFM and that will be broadcast live at 4pm on 22nd May so do listen in if you can.

BELIEF AT VIDEO DUMBO, NEW YORK

We are showing the single screen version of Belief as part of Video Dumbo at Eyebeam in Chelsea, New York on Sunday May 19th at 4.30pm in the Believers screening program.

You can find out more about our screening here:
http://www.videodumbo.org/13-believers.html

If you're in New York that weekend then maybe go take a look!!

DUNVEGAN CASTLE THIS WEEKEND!


Our documentary artwork Belief is showing this weekend on Skye.  The work is being exhibited in the south wing of Dunvegan Castle in close proximity to the Fairy Flag iconic talisman of clan MacLeod, which is used as the starting point for this unique installation.

Belief is made from information found entirely on the worldwide web. In fifteen minutes, this two-screen installation presents a series of fragmented broadcasts about belief, all sourced from the video sharing community YouTube.

Belief is the final work in the Flat Earth Trilogy following on from Flat Earth (2007) and A short film about War (2009/2010). Supported by Creative Scotland's Vital Spark programme, New Media Scotland's Alt-w Fund, ATLAS Arts and Animate Projects. Software development by Matthew Jarvis, sound design by John Cobban and script development by Alison Craighead, Jon Thomson and Steve Rushton. Graphic design by Cavan Convery.

http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/belief.html
Saturday 13 - Monday 15 April 2013 10am - 5.30pm (last entry 5pm)
Dunvegan Castle, Isle of Skye, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
Admission charges apply

You can see a single screen version of the installation here: http://www.animateprojects.org/films/by_date/2012/belief

You can read an essay on Belief by Morgan Quaintance here:
http://www.animateprojects.org/writing/essays/m_quaintance

You can read interviews with us about Belief here:
http://www.foam.org/foam-blog/2012/june/belief
http://www.animateprojects.org/interviews/thomson_and_craighead_belief




The role of art in Protest


We are showing our installation October as part of an exhibition and talk series at Corn Exchange Newbury and New Greenham Arts.  The exhibition opens on 27th March and runs until 21st April.

More information on the exhibition can be found at:
http://www.cornexchangenew.com/events/info/protest

and you can find out more about October at:
http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/october.html

The VIDEONALE.14 app


We are showing A short film about War as part of Videonale 14 currently on exhibition at Kunst Museum Bonn in Germany.  The exhibition will be touring around over next year or so but you can also download an App for you phone that gives you all the catalogue information and more... Here's the blurb and a download link -enjoy!

"For all of you who have already visited Videonale or still plan to go: all information on the exhibition and festival are for the first time also available through the Videonale App, supported by KfW Stiftung, for the iPhone, iPad and iPad-Mini. The App is available for free in the App Store.

As a guide to VIDEONALE.14, the Videonale App provides additional information about the exhibition, the artists exhibited and their works, and can be used as an interactive plan of the exhibition. In addition, an interview with the jury gives an insight into how the festival was organised. The app also offers short descriptions, opening times and a route planner of the Videonale Parcours in Bonn."

You can download the Videonale app at: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id598881241

DECORATIVE NEWS FOREST HILL CLOSES

After seven years our outdoor version of Decorative Newsfeeds in Forest Hill, London will be decommissioned today.  It was only supposed to be there for five years so we're happy that it has had such a long run.  You can find documentation of the piece on our website at:

http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/decnfh.html

and you can also still see our other outdoor version of this work in Cambridge by The Junction theatre:

http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/decncam.html

Thank you to everyone who has supported both works over the years and if anyone wants to give the Forest Hill version a new home then do get in touch, although it's possibly a bit big for most living room walls :)