Still from Shoulder Arms, 1918, Charlie Chaplin
The Anarchy Tree
Shipsides and Beggs Projects
Artist-talk conference
16 June 2018.
HD video documentation 48.50min
This conference was part of Shipsides and Beggs Projects' 'Lament of the Accolade Tree' exhibition at La Cuisine Centre d'art et de design, France 2018.
The Anarchy Tree artist talk centres around the ‘tree’ as a motif, stemming from the idea that the high terrain treeline broadly marks a shift in territory from habitable to non-habitable. The idea that ‘we live beneath the trees' becomes a poetic sensibility echoed biblical, folksong and modern idylls of the glade e.g. Adam and Eve (Genesis), the Soldier and the Lady (18th Century folk song), and Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Manet, 1863). The Accolade Tree, as a research motif that SBP develop, originates from a hybrid exploration of sources; no-mans-land WW1 observation point constructed trees, Shamanistic masks, Charlie Chaplin’s Shoulder Arms (1918), David Bowie's enigmatic hand gesture (1972), the tree in emerging modern landscape painting (esp. Pissarro, Cezanne and Mondrian) and many other popular or folk culture regarding anthropomorphic or special trees e.g. The Singing Ringing Tree (1957) and The Lonesome Pine (1912).
Also discussed is the the Still Not Out Of The Woods phrase as a long standing Shipsides and Beggs motif which points to the ongoing state of sliding from crisis to crisis (as exemplified in Europe by WW1 to which we geo-politically can connect much to) and never resolving situations or becoming safe. The woods tended to be places of danger in previous times, however today there is a twist where we must at least ecologically see the woods as being a vital resource and component of our futures - and perhaps a place of refuge.
Principles within anarchist practice and geography are introduced to experimentally explore and connect with artist method and process (linking SBP research to Cezanne and Pissarro's painting and thinking) and politics. Decimation in A-flat and D-minor is referenced in this way.
These are all themes explored in The Anarchy Tree artist-talk conference. This conference was part of Shipsides and Beggs Projects' 'Lament of the Accolade Tree' exhibition at La Cuisine Centre d'art et de design, France 2018.
The Anarchy Tree artist talk - documentation is presented here:
https://vimeo.com/359539573