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It’s been a long time since my last blog post so it is fitting that the first high point of this year’s cultural calendar should be the first thing I write about. I was really pleased to be part of the Manchester Artists’ Bonfire 2011 so jumped at the chance at being involved in helping to organise and participate in the event this year: Manchester Artists’ Bonfire 2012 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 http://manchesterartistsbonfire2012.tumblr.com/
I won’t take credit for the organising and planning of the event, which falls to Rosanne Robertson and Debbie Sharp, but I did help with some poster design, online promotions, research and manning the door on the night (I was surprised how shocked some people looked when I asked them “are you burning something tonight”, it was a bonfire after all)
Heres the poster I designed for the event:
The artists’ bonfire last year set me off on one of the most creative periods of my life for a long time; it literally fired me up. This year was no exception. I decided to do what I had done last year, which was make an effigy of myself full of artwork I had done nothing with and burn it(see picture above by fotoknorr@gmail.com ) My reasons were much the same but I felt that after having had such a creative year that this time around it was a much more positive act and was more focused on continuing in the right direction than starting something new.
My pledge Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 http://manchesterartistsbonfire2012.tumblr.com/post/16470348752/pledge-25-josef-minta-practice-painter-blog
The event itself was great, artists from all over bringing their work for a wide variety of reasons: some intensely private and personal other more political and focused, all shared with a group who had come together for a joint purpose.
I felt hat that this is what sits at the heart of this event; while there is something archaic and familiar about standing around a fire and watching it burn, the coming together and meeting fellow artists, drawn to the flame for whatever reasons is, for me that this event is all about. I have met and worked with people who I am looking forward to working with again, there is an arts community out there who want to do things and do them a little bit differently, to me that is refreshing and its own way, beautiful. There has been some press coverage about the support of the arts council in backing this event but I think if there were journalists seeking an “outraged” response then that have been disappointed for the simple reason that the aims of the event and the use of arts council money to support emerging artists has been so clearly demonstrated.
I hope the bonfire will be re-lit next year and again will provide a focus for those artists who perhaps don’t feel like they are part of the system, or “the scene” to get together and explore new ways of working and taking part in innovative and experimental forms of expressions. Sometime a bonfire is just a way of burning old rubbish you don’t need any more, sometimes it’s a symbol of something bigger, an act that’s difficult to put into words and only makes sense if you were there and were part of it. I was there, I was part of it and I feel differently now than I did before; that to me is what art should be all about.
Here are some links to all the pledges, some images and some stories about the bonfire for your wider reading. There are some really interesting papers written about the event on the site too.
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Pledges: http://manchesterartistsbonfire2012.tumblr.com/
Facebook photographs http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.288024181251495.78376.257317420988838&type=1
BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16743360
Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/artists-set-fire-to-own-artworks_n_1234868.html?ref=arts
Art Lyst http://www.artlyst.com/articles/arts-council-england-pay-artists-to-burn-their-work Which features a photograph of me burning my effigy from last year
Josef Minta 