Dan Graham’s Rock My Religion
(An Expanded Screening)

Sun, 7 Feb 2010, 4.30pm

Dan Graham’s artistic practice has been influenced by music from early on and this interest becomes more explicit in the late 1960s through some of his first writings such as Live Kinks, 1969 a review of a concert by the Kinks. During the 70s and 80s, Graham developed close working relationships with composer Glenn Branca and musician and Sonic Youth founder Kim Gordon, who supposedly started her music career by taking part in one of Graham’s performance pieces, which didn’t quite go according to plan and turned into a fully fledged concert. Through “a shift towards the documentary” as described by LA MOCA’s Bennett Simpson who recently curated a Graham retrospective, the 1980s saw the release of two video works by the artist which explicitly deal with the subject of popular music: Minor Threat from 1983 on a concert of the American punk band of the same name and the more complex Rock My Religion (1982-84), developed in discussions with Branca, Gordon and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, all of whom contributing to the soundtrack of the work.

In Rock My Religion, Graham traces the history of popular music in America back to the 1950s, linking it with a 19th century Puritan sect, The Shakers. The bodies of the Puritan Shakers, reaching ecstasy in order to ‘overcome’ sexuality and to be closer to God, are juxtaposed with the shaking bodies of America’s pubescent teenagers, escaping their suburban prisons by immersing themselves in the sexually charged adoration of their pop idols – from Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis to Jimmy Hendrix and Jim Morrison. For Graham, a study of popular music is intrinsically linked to an analysis of America’s political and social system constructed on the basis of a belief in the ‘American Dream’, a work ethic based on achievements of individuals and the nucleus of the traditional family. Whereas the Shakers’ aim was to create an equal society achieved through the elimination of sexual desires in the course of communal dancing, popular music allows the creation of a communal experience through the appreciation of individuals’ creative expressions. With Rock My Religion Graham investigates the idea of a relationship between 19th century industrialisation and America’s ‘suburbanisation’ in the 1950s, connecting this work to other pieces which show the artist’s continuous engagement with the semiology of suburban and urban architecture.

Rock My Religion is as much an experimental documentary as it is a theoretical discourse on American culture in the second half of the 20th century, making this work a visual extension of Graham’s writing practice rather than linking it with his works in video art. In contrast to the’ instantaneous presence’ experienced within closed-circuit video installations, Rock My Religion is an attempt to ‘extend time’. Linking the past with the present may be a way of accounting for popular music’s ability to occupy a space between the economy of a commercial industry and the realm of fantasies and desires. This screening will contextualize Graham’s video-essay with readings of interviews, writings and music in order to expand on the influence of music on Graham’s work and to reflect on the importance of writing as part of his artistic practice.

Organised by Bettina Brunner







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No arts space acting alone can respond to the diverse and conflicting needs, interests and access requirements of all its stakeholders; no insular effort will suffice to critically embrace future technologies ... Instead we offer a toolkit of architectural and political strategies for knitting arts spaces into a tapestry of creative debate, out of which a new and more sustainable global society might one day rise. Art Spaces Lead Global Ecology of Ideas, Hunter&Gatherer (with Yiannis Kanakakis)

Auto Italia South East is pleased to announce Towards a Zoology of spaces, a staged conversation and open debate by Hunter&Gatherer (architect Manuel Shvartzberg and writer Fabian Faltin) with the participation of James Taylor Gallery co-founders Julia Crabtree and Will Evans, Edward Dorrian of Five Years, and SPCMKR founder Timothy Ivison.

Hunter&Gatherer's Art Spaces Lead Global Ecology of Ideas reported on a near-future art world constellation of institutional typologies ranging from MOMA franchise expansion in London Heathrow airport to 'grey' art centres which deliver day-care services and gated security for the elderly. Organised as a pragmatic response to their original report, Towards a Zoology of spaces provoke debate amongst self- organised arts spaces operating in contemporary contexts, and to sound out propositions for future methodologies and organisational structures. Hunter&Gatherer will rehearse a staged conversation based upon researches conducted at Auto Italia South East and members of the panel, which will be followed by an open discussion.

Hunter&Gatherer www.hunterandgatherer.eu, a democratic two-way collaboration between "Architecture Director" Manuel Shvartzberg, and "Intellectual Superintendent" Fabian Faltin founded in 2008.

James Taylor Gallery jamestaylorgallery.co.uk, a 10,000 sq foot warehouse gallery in Hackney. JT Project 09 recently saw the simultaneous participation of seven artist-run organisations, each independently organising a space within the space.

Five Years www.fiveyears.org.uk, thirteen artist-members who manage the gallery according to the principle that each member may present two exhibitions every eighteen months, with at least one exhibition by invitation only.

SPCMKR www.spcmkr.com, an international exchange network of "surplus spaces" made possible through an online community of artists, curators and writers.

Towards a Zoology of spaces - Saturday January 16, 2010 3 - 5 pm Auto Italia South East 1 Glengall Road London SE15 6NJ autoitaliasoutheast.org | info@autoitaliasoutheast.org

Untitled (some kind of a bench mark)
Justin Jaeckle
24 July- 16 August
Private view Friday 24 July 6pm



Auto Italia
1 Glengall Road
London
SE15 6NJ
www.autoitaliasoutheast.org
info@autoitaliasoutheast.org

In a new ongoing project, Auto Italia is inviting artists to produce work for the
façade of the building, translating their practice to tackle the scale, limitations and
site. This will change or accumulate every month in parallel to the established
programme.

For the third instalment in this series of external exhibitions, Justin Jaeckle will
respond to the building with a series of gestures both practical and ephemeral.

Justin Jaeckle’s work is rich in mistranslations and the semiotics of surface. It
frequently privileges alternative possibilities and creative misunderstandings whilst
revelling in the space between art and design / function and futility / restraint and
ADHD. Past work has seen Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion re-scaled as
a possible public seating solution; the internet published as a tabloid newspaper;
and a prototype for a disco dance-floor modelled on Mondrian’s Fox Trot B.

For Untitled (some kind of a bench mark), a sparse play of lighting, sheen and
surfaces creates a new topology for Auto Italia’s façade and forecourt, and
introduces a hint of mild spectacle to the former auto-garage. Functional sculptural
interventions extend the buildings reach onto the street in a play of reflections
and pools of colour, whilst a mixture of permanent and temporary additions to the
structure offer places to rest and materiality to behold.

Elements such as a smokers' bench, a gilded doorway, an altered street lamp and
geometric building-jewellery will introduce a set of considerations and design
decisions onto the building and its surroundings; altering its personality from a
tired old man of the auto trade to a slightly perplexed new kid on the block, with
aspirations towards camaraderie and the aesthetic sublime.

Jaeckle graduated from Central St Martins in 2005 and works as an artist and
curator. He has recently exhibited in shows including Seven Films: Seven Solo
Shows: Seven Days, 79a Brick Lane; The Dark Show, FormContent; and Friends
of the Divided Mind, Royal College of Art, alongside curatorial projects including
At Home With Mme Le Corbusier, The Closet Gallery, and the sequence of
exhibitions A History of Two Mountains / One the Original / Two a Copy / Both
Equally Heavy and Night School, both in partnership with Olivier Castel and
Katie Guggenheim.


Auto Italia is supported by Arts Council England and Chelsea Arts Club Trust and
this exhibition is supported by The Elephant Trust



Pro-soh’pa-peer
Richard John Jones

Part 1:
Auto Italia
1 Glengall Road
London SE15 6NJ
www.autoitaliasoutheast.org
info@autoitaliasoutheast.org
1 August- 9 August 2-6pm
Live event, Sat 8th August 2pm onwards (refreshment will be provided)

Part 2:
SPACE
9 — 131 Mare Street
London E8 3RH
Private View: 3rd September 6:30pm-8:30pm
4 September- 17 October
www.spacestudios.org.uk
exhibitions@spacestudios.org.uk


A Prosopopoeia is a rhetorical device in which an abstract thing is personified and represented as speaking.

Proh-soh'pa-peer is a live event at Auto Italia South East on the 8th August, 2009 which will be filmed. The edited representation of this event will be presented at SPACE from the 4th September, 2009 as a video installation with the same name.

Proh-soh’pa-peer explores specific queer approaches to libidinal politics and bipartisan notions of contemporary radicality and protest. At Auto-Italia South East different formats of live events, from a television show, music gig, reconstruction and theatrical performance will be used as a platform for groups that are related to an experience of social exclusion to represent different strategies of revolution, radical politics, inclusion and participation.

The event will constrast systemic forms of representation with DIY queer culture, and mainstream media narratives with de-centred independent or alternative reporting. Proh-soh'pa-peer represents the dialects and singularities inherent in the formation of groups and events that are created through a narrative perspective.

Proh-soh'pa-peer comes from Richard John Jones' critical approach to artistic practice and collaboration and the politics of representing discursive projects as art-work. His work to date has placed an emphasis on creating and representing new dialogues between institutions, "specialist practitioners" and the exhibition or “public” space. It is framed by the effect communication technologies and the media have on self-representation and resistance in ideological, global distributive networks.

Auto Italia is supported by Arts Council England and The Chelsea Arts Club Trust