ESA Social Club presents: 'Multitude' 

ESA Social Club presents: 'Multitude'

ESA Social Club presents: Multitude
A series of contemporary art events questioning collecting

East Street Arts (ESA) present their third Social Club: Multitude, a series of contemporary art events inviting artists, writers and audiences to explore our relationship to objects and the emotions that connect us to our future heritage.

Multitude continues ESA’s Social Club events programme and will investigate 21st Century Britain’s consumerist society. With the rise of Capitalism and the West’s ‘disposable income’ culture, we purchase, consume, cast aside, hoard and collect things searching for the ideal, the latest gadget, status symbol, investment and entertainment buzz. It seems individuals and society are defined by what they own, their identities inextricably intertwined with ideas of possession.

Within this abundance of objects, the phenomenon of hoarding, collecting, cataloguing, archiving and re-cycling creates a conveyor belt of clutter. Why do we feel the need to hold on to things, hoard and search out additions to a growing collection? From scientific and anthropological collections in museums to investment collections of contemporary art to sentimental hoarding of objects to keeping things because you can, collecting is often regarded as a malady, a madness that makes humans, human.

These ideas of consumerism, collecting and hoarding will be explored over the course Multitude through a variety of socially engaged art events, exhibitions, artist commissions and residencies.

The full programme includes:

Salon

A non-hierarchical open submission selling show for ESA members, that will take over ESA’s Project Space for the duration of Multitude. Artists who wish to enter artwork should email sarah.barrett@esaweb.org.uk to register and visit www.esaweb.org.uk for guidelines. (ESA Socialite membership included in submission fee - submission dates w/c 27 October 2008 )

Jess Wilkin 'You’re Never Alone When You Collect'

Artist Jess Wilkin will show the culmination of her two month research residency at Patrick Studios, exploring archives, collections and the motivation of their owners. During Multitude, visitors will have the opportunity to explore people’s collections in their homes on organised tours - times TBC.

'Transpennine Memorabilia Collection' and Café

Enjoy a cup of tea and cake whilst viewing artist Kwong Lee’s 'Transpennine Memorabilia Collection' which showcases discarded tourist souvenirs of the Transpennine region's villages, towns and cities.

Special events:

Launch: Friday 7 Nov 6 – 9pm

Join us in a celebration of the combined efforts of the numerous artists involved in Multitude.

Studios Programme: Friday 7 Nov 6-9pm & Saturday 8-Sunday 9 Nov 12-6pm

A selection of ESA studio holders will exhibit artwork in their studios created directly in response to their concerns of collecting and hoarding.

Socialist Jukebox: Friday 7 Nov 6-9pm

Socialist Jukebox will present a mystery collection of 7” vinyl singles get a one time 'airing' before being whisked away by their new owners to add to their collection!

Digital Lounge: Thursday 13 Nov 6pm

Digital Lounge will feature a new commission by artist and filmmaker Katy Woods, 'Dear Phyllis'. In 'Dear Phyllis', items become surplus, no longer needed, liked or wanted and are discarded. Some are picked out as desirable, sought after and valuable. 'Dear Phyllis' considers the objects that make it to the antiques centre, objects with a past and a history that are the remnants of a life. Other films showing include: Martin Hampton’s The Collector, BBC documentary The Life of Grime and AGRIFASHIONISTA’s The Librarians.

--

Multitude, East Street Arts' (ESA) series of contemporary art events exploring collecting, the Eclection exhibition at artist-run space theartmarket, talk series Questions of Collecting at The University of Leeds' Burton Gallery, Axis' new selling show Future50 at PSL [Project Space Leeds] and the Negotiated Meaning exhibition at Artemis make Leeds the place to be for buying contemporary art and learning about collecting this November. For more information on individual events, please see the organisations' websites:
www.esaweb.org.uk
www.kunstfreund.wordpress.com
www.leeds.ac.uk/gallery/events.htm
www.axisweb.org/future50

http://www.esaweb.org.uk