Page 50 - Studio International - April 1968

suggests, communication is a by-product of art. then think. that to require nothing of an artist can harm it allows mindless acceptance. One could hardly
one presumes that the only relationship of the artist him.) imagine a group of artists today with the strength and
and critic is of manufacturer and publicist. He. the If the Stuyvesant Exhibition at the Tate did not show integrity of the Impressionists to show on their own.
artist. requires not to be understood but to be sold, to that this Foundation has been able to cream galleries I would imagine a modern Manet would be happy-to
win the prizes which count. So we, i.e. the public. of their most promoted artists. it showed nothing. receive a silver medal when a gold was given to a
the art lovers etc .• subscribe to a vastly distorted A retrospective of some of those artists whose works modern Bouguereau.
version of the romantic image of the independent were shown could have told more about English art. I would like to know, then, whether Caro would
artist. and he sacrifices himself on the altar of that If the Venice Biennale does not demonstrate that we like instant fame and if Mr Harrison feels he has
independence to the gods of promotion and publi­ have committees who know how to avoid choosing failed as a publicist in not acquiring it for him?
city, namely your journal. the papers. the processes bad art and do know what will win the big prizes, Yours faithfully,
of the new academies, which are the Stuyvesant then it will demonstrate nothing. Neither Stuyvesant Adrian Rifkin
Foundation and the Venice Biennale. (Professor nor Venice can actually do anything for art. let alone Salford 6
Wind suggested in Art and Anarchy, not wrongly I help it to be better understood; rather the opposite, Lancashire

.News foreign areas, second-generation ideas of many The competition is open to artists. designers. manu­
kinds.
facturers and schools of all countries. Closing date
It should be realized that the primary unit of wealth for entries: April 30.
is the attention-unit and its availability. The artist is
to be thought of as operating in the generation of
attention-units rather than in currency as a primary The /CA 's opening exhibition at its new premises
aim. John Davy, science correspondent of The on The Mall. LonGlon. from April 10 to the end of May,
Observer commenting on the Dainton Committee will be The Obsessive Image 1960-68' -the image
report on the 'swing from science· had this to say: of man in contemporary art. There will be sculpture
The swing will continue if industry continues to and paintings from England. Europe and America,
employ technologists as devices for producing profit­ and films by Andy Warhol (Sleep). Bruce Conor
able developments. rather than as people who may be (Cosmic Ray) and Robert Rauschenberg will be
capable of making.a managerial and social contribu­ shown during the exhibition.
tion both to the company and to its customers.'
Since we received our first public grant £1000 from
The Artist Placement Group was formed to pro­ the Arts Council, many large companies have been An exhibition of Contemporary Art presented by
0
vide artists with working situations within organiza­ approached. Factories have been visited together Medical Aid Committee for Vietnam is at Camden
tions to which it was felt they could contribute, and with artists. Several large firms have discussed our Studios, Camden Road, London, NW1, from April 9
to inform and persuade such organizations of the proposals at board-room level and we are now be­ to April 18-from 10.30 a.m. till 9 p.m. Among artists
benefits they might derive from the artists' participa­ ginning to be able to present the artist as a profes­ who have given work are John Piper, Takis, Paolozzi,
tion. Preliminary discussions took place in September sional rather than as someone begging for scrap. Michael Ayrton, David Leverett and Timothy Drever.
1966, but it was only after receiving its first allocation Organizations such as the Confederation of British
of public money, in April 1 967, that the APG was able Industry and the Industrial Society have also ex­
to undertake research into the problems and possi­ pressed support for our activities. Work by seventeen British concrete poets is
bilities involved. The Group is now hoping for results. The work and advices have to date been in the planned for Buenos Aires this December. The exhibi­
Barbara Latham writes: hands of: tion will be under the auspices of the lnstituto
A. Shearer. BSc, MIEE, chartered engineer, AMI Torcuato di Tella, and will include work by Ken Cox,
The current problem of Artist Placement Group is to MechE. Tom Edmonds, John Furnival, Sylvester Hou�dard,
shift an attitude off the idea of patronage and on to Alan Osborne, journalist, Editor of Patron. Lilian Lijn, Richard Loncraine and John Sharkey.
one where the artist is seen to be an essential ingre­ Fredrick Hunter, industrial programmes editor, The organizer in the U.K. is John Sharkey c/o ICA.
dient of the economy, while maintaining his proper CC COi. 12 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1.
autonomy and authority. We recognize the existence Bernard Bertschinger, Management Committee of
of a new professional discipline different from that ICA.
which operates for an artist in isolation. Barbara Latham. The first issue of Structure, an international
We have been probing companies to find circum­ Barry Flanagan. quarterly dealing with environmental art and the
stances that would afford the relationship and have Jeffrey Shaw. Eventstructure possible extensions from other media into this area,
arrived at some provisional conclusions: an artist J. Latham. } includes contributions from lvor Davies, Al Hansen
could draw a salary or retainer with professional Tjebbe van Tijen (Holland). Research Group and Dick Higgins. Cost 4s. Available from the
status within a firm (comparable with other profes­ Institute of Contemporary Arts.
sional personnel) in one of three capacities, each
quite distinct from design, graphics, etc: British representatives at India's First Inter­
1. Attached to Research and Development Depart­ national Triennial in Delhi. which ran for six weeks In other publication
ments. from February 10, were Gillian Ayres, Patrick Caul­ Analisis No 359 of Buenos Aires began a coverage of
2. As environmental consultant. e.g. in construction. field, Bernard Cohen, Robyn Denny, Howard present-day British art, sparked off by the exhibition
engineering and building. Hodgkin, Michael Kidner, Victor Pasmore. Ceri of the Stuyvesant collection at the Tate. The first
3. As company representative artist, e.g. paid to Richards, Richard Smith and Joe Tilson. A gold article dealt with sculpture, and in particular the work
operate projects at home and abroad under medal for the best foreign painter was received by of Paolozzi. Caro, Turnbull, Kim Lim, Phillip King and
company insignia. Ceri Richards. Other prizewinners were Kinura a number of younger sculptors, including Barry
The advantages to artists are thought to include: Kentaro, Japan (Gold Plaque for the most outstand­ Flanagan, Derrick Woodham and Colin Self.
Facilities and opportunities to scale work to con­ ing entry), Joseph Cornell, U.S.A. (best foreign
text. sculptor), and Jos� Luis Cuevas, Mexico (best The first issue of Leonardo (founder-editor Frank J.
Availability of materials and processes and foreign graphic artist). The Triennial was organized Malina), a new quarterly published by Pergamon
experience of specialists. by the Lalit Kala Akademi. Twenty-four countries Press, Oxford, at an annual subscription of £8 2s
Sponsorship for temporary and experimental were represented. ( $20), includes articles by Alcopley, Frank Malina,
work. Gillian Wise, and Yona Friedman, and a useful
Those for the companies: listing of 'International Opportunities for Artists'.
Ideas of many kinds in Research and Develop­ . The XXVI International Competition of Artistic Yona Friedman's article deals with 'Art and the City',
ment. Ceramics in Faenza will run from June 23 to and suggests that architects and town planners
Company status and promotion, public interest. September 15. There will be separate sections for should emphasize architectural systems that allow
Other rub-offs. design, communications to Industrial Design and for Art Schools and Institutes. maximum expression of personality.
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