The Front

hithive

TAMSIN AUSTIN, Music Programmer for the Arches, packs up her tent and chooses her five favourite

festivals from around the world.

1 Koneisto, Helsinki lsland sauna parties. vodka cocktails. swimming beneath ice floes. all to a soundtrack of painfully trendy electronica and in the company of stupidly beautiful people. There are worse ways to spend a weekend.

2 The Big Chill, HeMord Midnight art trails. exotic wildlife, great chilled music and the best champagne cocktails ever served in a field.

3 Womad, Reading The food. the food. Lebanese. Moroccan. Indian. Japanese. Thai, Mexican. Forget the music. just stuff your face . . . yum.

4 Burning Man, Nevada DIY naked nonsense in desert conditions. No entertainment, no shops. no food. no cash, no toilets . . . am I selling this to you? NUTS.

5 lnstal, Glasgow One day. one venue. no tent required . . . and the best line up of international experimental music to hit Scotland in years.

SITE OF THE FORTNIGHT

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If you feel sartorially hollow. it's probably

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gem. as well as loads of other excellent

and unusual badges. There are retro political slogans, record labels. more

Serge Gainsbourg than is healthy, and a

selection of your favourite pornstars. Lovely wee stocking fillers.

I I n Trilogy - One UGC Foundainbridge. Edinburgh, Thu 20 Nov

Graeme McNeil Plumber

liked it a lot. it certainly wasn't predictable. and the main character was nuts.

8 THE LIST 27 Nov—1 1 Dec 2003

aak of confidence?

The Turner Prize is wrong to ask the public to make a snap judgement on the

quality of the art. Words: Tim Marlow

old mechanical conceptual bullshit‘ said the

now sacked arts minister Kim Howells of last

year‘s Turner Prize and everyone went ape- shit. The press had their story and the art world had someone they could all come together over in a phenomenal display of self-righteous indignation. ‘What the fuck does he know‘." was the general cry. Well. not that much l guess. although he did go to art school Homsey in the late ()0s. in fact. where he was more radical protester than radical artist. But the point is that he knows as much. if not more. than the man in the street and for the first time. the Tate was soliciting opinion from Joe and Josephine public who were encouraged to write what they thought on notes pinned demurer on the walls as they left the gallery.

I‘m very interested in what many people have to say about many things. If someone has an original or considered view about art. let‘s hear it. l‘m quite up for some totally-off-the-wall bullshit which makes me sit

up and think in a different way. But I‘m so bored of

what the so-called man in the street thinks about that which they‘ve thought all of three seconds about. In a way. we can at least partly blame the media. The soundbite-cum-vox pop tendency where gallery goers get microphones thrust in their faces and are asked what they think about beds as art or sheep or fellating

blow up dolls cast in bronze. Nobody would dream of

doing it in science programmes; they rarely do it in political programmes. so why bother with art‘.’ This

Synnove Asebo Student

I wouldn't say it was brilliant. but the ending was totally unexpected and the main character was played really well.

year the Tate is persisting with its wall of instant opinion. We leam that some think Grayson Perry‘s pots are ‘a load of wank c‘mon!!!‘ and that 'Anya‘s flowers are lovely and should win‘ and that people either love or loathe Jake and Dinos. ln tum. there are lazy articles in broadsheet newspapers about what the public have written and therefore must think. What hubris. Opinions are formed after reflection and. I‘d imagine. away from the exhibition. Art. at its best. has a slow burning impact and even the most sensational takes time to sink in. But then again. if you‘re not quite confident of your exhibition and you want to be seen to be courting a broader popular involvement. better to put up a patronising board. ()h and while you‘re at it. keep re-emphasising the point that the public can nominate artists even though the judges make the selection and final choice. That is why they‘re asked to be judges. Why not have the confidence to say so‘.’

As it happens. I think this year‘s exhibition is impressive. As director of exhibitions at White Cube. you‘d expect me to say that the Chapmans are the strongest artists on the list. and you‘d be right. But I've also got a huge regard for Willie Dohcity. His hypnotic film ‘Re-Run‘. set on the C raigavon Bridge in Deny. is politically charged and universally resonant. Were he to win. I‘ll be cheering with the best of them. But who cares what i think? Best just to keep it to myself. eh'.’

I Tim Mar/ow is a broadcaster and director of exhibitions at the White Cube gallery

Mo Angus Journalism student Cairns I thought it was Printer

I thought it was (iiiite a good film, ziritf ziiii looking forward to the next two.

interesting. I wasn't totally (:onvniced by the main character though. I'm looking forward to another View in the next film.