bbc tells lies...shock horror. (not really)

I set to work in dissecting and comparing my practice with other artists’ work (it’s the only area I’ve not really researched (compared to the area of news / newspaper / stories of trust / truth within the new (gold today, as all the stories about the BBC faking phone competitions and creatively editing footage of the queen and conservative MPs hanging out with Labour(!)))). I think of all the artists I’ve been looking at already, and then “flip” the assessment, what work am I producing, that works on some conceptual or visually comparative level? I’ve been thinking about the “tribal” (or primitive) aspect of the “horns” and the “war paint” (newsprint on hands after reading / sticking papers), and I’ve been thinking of Jake and Dinos Chapman’s McDonalds sculptures, “fake” African / primitive art deifying McDonalds imagery …I found a few reviews, and texts on the work, so that’s cool. I’d read too that Willie Doherty’s work critiques media / medium, using cinema / documentary to tell fictitious stories, and vice versa. I’ll need to read up more, to find the relevance, but some paragraphs might back up some research / ideas.

I also decide to write an email to Rainer Ganahl, just to see if I can get a reply, about his thoughts on “the media” (if he is interested in the way news portrays a story, or is he only interested in “the story” ?) lets hope I get a reply…but, he’s probably “affa busy” getting ready for the Venice Biennale. Watch this space.

As I’d said earlier, the BBC is in a spin today about all of the revelations of faking / lying to the public about competitions (phone ins) and clever editing of news footage (the queen “storming out” of a photography session, when actual fact, the “storm” was before the incident of the photographer asking her to take off her crown)… It’s fantastic for me, headline news, deep questioning and answers from the director general, Mark Thompson – “trust” and “truth” and “honesty” are banded around in the stories – it’s again, as if I’d predicted a major news story (remember the Scottish Election results fiasco?) I’ve noted all the URLs on the BBC, ITV and channel 4. It’s interesting watching the different “levels” of inquiry from Jon Snow (C4) to Huw Edwards (BBC). Jon Snow, unapologetic and difficult as ever (great stuff), and Huw, crawling, and almost apologetic (stuttering) when asking about “resignations” (to his “ultimate boss”)…it’s very interesting to see the BBC news “question” itself, technically. Impartiality, my arse.

One idea to come out of this story, was a “random winner generator”, to which I made in 1 hour. I think this would be great, projected somewhere in Gray’s on the night of the MfA opening…Perhaps some further inquiry, into the “random names” generated, actually exist. All of the first and last names were taken from Census information, so it is entirely possible…Some Tacita Dean-esque chasing ghosts might be interesting…perhaps even creating a small cash prize of £1 for each “winner” and sending them it, might lead to a line of work……..ah, so many ideas, so little time. It’s amazing to think that so many ideas can come out of (what appears to be) so little seeds.

I stuck the Daily Mirror onto the Full Stop Today.