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Simon Faithfull

@simonfaithfull

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Exploring the planet as a sculptural object - testing its limits, sensing its processes, reporting back on how it feels.

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ARTISTS & CURATOR TOUR THIS SUNDAY 3PM!! EXHIBITION OPEN FINAL WEEKEND 2-7pm SAT & SUN

Video: extract from Simon Faithfull (2023) 'Smoking With a Lighthouse'.

THE WORK THAT DIDN'T WORK is an exhibition that explores those moments in an artist’s practice when the thing they are working on just doesn’t quite “work”. As ostensible failures, the works included offer compelling insights into the working practices of the artists who made them, echoing John Cage’s mantra that “Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.”

The logic of the contemporary artworld – symptomatic, perhaps, of a wider social atychiphobia, or fear of failure – does not generally understand such flawed undertakings as worthy of exposure. They are kept from view, ignored, or silently manoeuvred around.

Yet they remain a vital and essential part of the creative process. Recognising the value of the artist’s insight and awareness in deciding that a work didn’t work, the exhibition aims at a more candid and nuanced account of artistic practice – providing a counter to our screen-based world’s increasing obsession with the flawless and the mistake-free, and the risk-averse approach to creativity it brings about.

The works in the exhibition range (according to the artists) from the curiously unengaging to the formally irresolvable, from the impossibly complex to the painfully overthought, and from works that have lost their status as artworks to works where even the curator isn’t sure whether they were ever actually meant to BE works.

These instances of apparent failure offer the visitor a window into something essential about the way the artists work and think – both as creative practitioners, and as human beings.

Curated by Dave Ball

#failure
#artpractice
#atychophobia
#johncage
#berlinart by @simonfaithfull

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8 days ago

OPENING FRIDAY 2 Oct at HilbertRaum, Berlin.

THE WORK THAT DIDN'T WORK is an exhibition that explores those moments in an artist’s practice when the thing they are working on just doesn’t quite “work”. As ostensible failures, the works included offer compelling insights into the working practices of the artists who made them, echoing John Cage’s mantra that “Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.”

The logic of the contemporary artworld – symptomatic, perhaps, of a wider social atychiphobia, or fear of failure – does not generally understand such flawed undertakings as worthy of exposure. They are kept from view, ignored, or silently manoeuvred around.

Yet they remain a vital and essential part of the creative process. Recognising the value of the artist’s insight and awareness in deciding that a work didn’t work, the exhibition aims at a more candid and nuanced account of artistic practice – providing a counter to our screen-based world’s increasing obsession with the flawless and the mistake-free, and the risk-averse approach to creativity it brings about.

The works in the exhibition range (according to the artists) from the curiously unengaging to the formally irresolvable, from the impossibly complex to the painfully overthought, and from works that have lost their status as artworks to works where even the curator isn’t sure whether they were ever actually meant to BE works.

These instances of apparent failure offer the visitor a window into something essential about the way the artists work and think – both as creative practitioners, and as human beings.

Curated by Dave Ball by @simonfaithfull

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17 days ago

Crazy beautiful moon last night as I cycled back over the canal. taken in Berlin- Kreuzberg by @simonfaithfull

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21 days ago

Very late post from: ‘It’s A Balance Trick’ curated by the wonderful @sophiapompery for @kommunalegalerieberlin - on show till September 13.

I’m showing 6 works amongst the great company of:
@ThBehling
@Anna.Borgman
@Wiebke_Elzel
@CatherineRoseEvans
@Yawen_Fu_
@NoaHeyne
@Kennedy___Swan
@CsillaKlenyanszki
@NadjaVerenaMarcin
@Natalia_Stachon_studio
and @SophiaPompery

My corner of the show includes 4 new pieces entangling myself into the landscapes of Iceland, and another Reishi-mushroom head grown with the expertise of @EmmaPatmore of @Mycelionaires
This head was an unused reserve for my recent Kindl Berlin exhibition, but was allowed to grow for another month - resulting in the mycelium’s tendrils finding their way through a fault in my 3D-printed skull, and out of my supposedly closed neck...

Install photos: Andree Thielemann

#ItsABalanceTrick
#SimonFaithfull taken in Kommunale Galerie Berlin by @simonfaithfull

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a month ago

Delighted to have 'Escape Vehicle no.6‘ (2004) showing in San Francisco’s @Exploratorium in their summer exhibition #LifeInSpace
Many thanks to Allison Roach and all at the Exploratorium
photos: Ida Tietgen Høyrup taken in San Francisco, California by @simonfaithfull

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2 months ago

Oooh that was fun… 🤩💥💫🌅🌙

#PartialEclipse
#TemplehofAirport taken in Tempelhofer Feld by @simonfaithfull

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2 months ago

It’s the last weekend of my shows @KindlBerlin

A nice short film introducing the show I curated ‘An Intimacy with Strangers‘

Thanks to all the amazing artists:
@PegAtherton
@StudioDavidClaerbout
@Marcus_Coates_
@Nickcrowe_Ianrawlinson
@Tacita_Dean
@FolkeKoebberling
@Giuseppe_Penone
@WilliamPopeL1
@NikaRadic.unofficial
@JessicaSegallStudio
@UyraSodoma
#BoZheng
& all at Kindl but especially @Kathrin2016

#Earthling
#SimonFaithfull by @simonfaithfull

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3 months ago

Last 2 weeks of my shows @KindlBerlin
There’s a nice short film introducing my ‘Earth-ling’ exhibition

#Earthl-ling
#SimonFaithfull by @simonfaithfull

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3 months ago

Nice piece in the Japanese art magazine: @Bijutsu_Techo about my shows in @KindlBerlin - written by Hideko Kawachi ( @Gabelkuchen )

My rough translation of the beginning:

- A mediator between humans and other forms of life -

Now that we are experiencing the effects of climate change first-hand, it is time to rethink the relationship between humans and other forms of life. An exhibition focusing on this very theme is currently on display at the Kindle Centre for Contemporary Art. Through his solo exhibition ‘Earth-ling’ and the group exhibition he curated, ‘An Intimacy with Strangers’, British artist Simon Faithfull challenges ‘anthropocentrism’. On their way up the stairs to the exhibition space, visitors first encounter Faithfull’s sculpture ‘Biotope No. 1: Bienstock’ (2023–26), mounted on the exterior wall. It is a bust of Faithfull made from biodegradable cornstarch. The interior is hollow and serves as a beehive, with bees emerging from the mouth and nose, and is a hive of activity as bees bustle in and out repeatedly.

People are also coming and going busily, and greeting visitors at the entrance to the venue is ‘Biotope No. 2: Fungi Bed’ (2023–26). This time, it is a sculpture of Faithfull’s head, but with mushrooms sprouting from its mouth and nose that are continuing to grow. It is fascinating how, when illuminated, the silhouette makes the mushrooms appear horn-like, evoking the head of a stag displayed as a hunting trophy. The image of humans seeking to assert their dominance by hunting other creatures, overlaps with that of humans serving as a breeding ground for other species. It is as though these works from the ‘Biotope’ series have been absorbed into the ecosystem.

The video work ‘Reenactment of a Future Scenario Part 2: Cape Romano’ (2019) captures the ruins of a ‘Dome House’. Completed in 1982 on the beach at Cape Romano Island in Florida, this building was built as a holiday home by a tycoon who had amassed a vast fortune from oil. The luxury residence, comprising six interconnected pure-white domes, was struck by a hurricane and subsequently became known as a ruin floating on the sea due to rising sea levels…

#Earthling
#SimonFaithfull by @simonfaithfull

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3 months ago

Meanwhile back in Berlin… my Kindl shows have 3 more weeks, & I still haven’t posted all of my works:
‘Earthlings’ consists of 20 postcards that each tell the story of a moment of intimacy, or bodily encounter with another ‘planetmate’ - working slowly backwards in time:

20. THE KINGFISHER'S POST
(Brandenburg, Germany)
I’m swimming slowly across one of the many lakes outside Berlin. Leaving the bustle of the swimming spot behind me, I am entering a still, mirrored space. With eyes just above the surface, I’m given the perspective of a pond-skater – an insect riding on the water’s lip. Hypnotized by the rhythm, I seem to be levitating in the thin line between sky and water. The tiny trees on the far shore are wobbling upside down, just beyond my nose.

Very gradually, I am nearing the other side, heading towards a wooden post that is sticking out of the shallow water. At the last moment, meters away from me, the top of the pole bursts away in a blaze of electric blue. Doubled in her reflection, the shimmering, turquoise blur flashes into the thick, green undergrowth of the far shore. And disappears.

15. THE SWIFTS OF WINTER
(Timimoun, Algeria)
Above the palm trees of the oasis, a swift swoops low over the rooftops. The bird screeches and traces the same looping lines as she drew above my Berlin balcony back in August. A yearly commute for better insects.

1. THE WARMTH OF FUR
(Oxfordshire, England)
Golden light surrounds me as I push my face into her doggy fur. My small arms are trying to encircle her torso, and I’m giggling wildly as she sways me backwards and forwards with her warm bulk.

I’m not sure that I’ve learned the correct word for ‘dog’ yet, but I know she’s one of the most exciting and softest things that I’ve met on this planet so far.

#Earthlings
#SimonFaithfull
@KindlBerlin by @simonfaithfull

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3 months ago

Strange & beautiful time in the Greek mountains…

1-3. various fireflies i met
4. a moment with a praying mantis
5. hummingbird moth
6. mountain paths
7. soundscape of Ano Pedina
8. a beetle i met
9. someone less lucky
10. a more lucky tortoise
11. up at the top
12. someone bigger & older than me

a short residency with wonderful artists:
@Eleni.Albarosa
@GeorgeStamatakis__
@Natalia_Manta
@TrevorLloydMorgan
@seoerelo (Carla Magnier) @sinoragram (Maria Margaronis)

& thank you for organising + all the help to:
@ale.pace.art
@ecomuseum_zagori
Panaiota Koutsoukou & Artemis Talioura.
Additional photos by:
2+12: @Natalia_Manta
4: Artemis Talioura

#Planetmates
#SimonFaithfull taken in Ecomuseum Zagori by @simonfaithfull

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3 months ago

Cohabitating with Fungi...
3 fungal mycelium have been growing inside my heads.
Over 2 months, with much care & expertise from the amazing @EmmaPatmore of @Mycelionaires medicinal Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lingzhi) slowly grew their 'antlers‘ out of my airways – seeking out oxygen. Very sensitive to mould & infection, the mycelium were grown in airtight containers in my studio, and my 3D-printed heads were first sterilised with steam from my kettle.

Two are now mounted on the walls of @KindlBerlin in my solo show ‘Earth-ling‘ (till 26th July). A third grew further, and now resides on my kitchen table.

‘Biotope no.2: Fungi Bed’
Self-portrait in 3D-printed cornstarch. Huge thanks @Invisible_Dust @AlicewSharp @JeaninelGriffin @MalaYamey who commissioned the first iteration of the 'Biotopes‘ in London.

#Earthling
#AnIntimacyWithStrangers
#SimonFaithfull
Photo 3: Jens Ziehe taken in KINDL - Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst by @simonfaithfull

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5 months ago