David Shrigley’s Anti-Psychotic Tea

Last year artist/curator Mike Chavez-Dawson and David Shrigley collaborated on a tea blend for Teacup, called David Shrigley’s Anti-Psychotic Tea. The tea "delivers an unequalled uplifting infusion of Damiana, Hibiscus, Vanilla and Bergamot", with no scientific claim to actual anti-psychotic properties. The tea was produced when Chavez-Dawson was participating in a six month long residency at Lionel Dobie Project Space, exploring ideas around collaboration, and during Shrigley's Cornerhouse show ‘How Are You Feeling?’ which explored the idea of art therapy.

The Anti-Psychotic Tea is available to drink at Teacup, and was also available in a limited box (edition of 200). Below Chavez-Dawson and Shrigley discuss the project:


MCD: So, we’ve made bread and now tea as a curatorial extension to your show, are you happy with the blend we arrived at?

DS: Yes. It’s delicious and makes me feel much less psychotic than normal.

MCD: I know you like a good cuppa, what are your favorites, apart from the one we have just made?

DS: Hojicha green tea cannot be beaten. But fresh peppermint is also up there.

MCD: Beyond the context of ‘How Are You Feeling?’ Would you like the ‘Anti-Psychotic Tea’ to be widely available for all tea & art lovers?

DS: I think they should give it to airline passengers to prevent ‘air rage’ and also to politicians.

MCD: How much tea do you consume a day?

DS: Green tea: 2 cups. Peppermint: 2 cups.

MCD: You created a fantastic giant ceramic tea cup and skillfully nailed a rich tea biscuit to a gallery wall – is tea often on your mind?

DS: Sort of. Perhaps tea is a metaphor for daily life, routine, the ordinary.

MCD: Do you feel there’s a kinship between art and tea?

DS: If there wasn’t before then there is now.

MCD: We know there are beautifully ritualized and meditative tea ceremonies – how would a Shrigley tea ceremony go?

DS: I read the instructions on the packet. Then I make the tea.

MCD: When formulating the blend we went for natural uplifting flavors, and ingredients such as bergamot, vanilla and damiana. Due to unforeseen circumstances the rose petal got swapped for hibiscus, but I think this was a happy accident as it blends really well without being overpowering, thanks to the floral bitterness of the damiana. Will you experiment in the future with herbal tea blends?

DS: Only with your help.

MCD: Can you give an example of another happy edible accident that surprised your taste buds?

DS: I got stoned once and had a banana and brown sauce sandwich. It was nice at the time. But I wouldn’t recommend it.


For more information: www.teacupandcakes.com/?paged=4

Laurie Anderson | Puppet Motel

Laurie Anderson
Puppet Motel 
Santa Monica, USA: Voyager, 1995
CD-ROM
Edition size unknown

Released during that brief window of time (a three month period, perhaps?) when it might've reasonably been argued that CD-Rom's represented the wave of the future as a content delivery device, Puppet Motel was produced by the Voyager Company, then a leader in the field. Named after the famed spacecraft, Voyager was founded in 1984 and released their first product that year, the 1933 King Kong laserdisc. They had subsequent success with cinephiles with a number of Criterion titles, introducing audio commentaries and other extra features that would become staples of the later DVD market. Their other CD-Roms include The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night, Art Spiegelman's Maus and The Resident's Freak Show.

Anderson's project takes its title from the third (and weakest?) song on her 1994 LP Bright Red, a collaboration with Brian Eno. Working with designer Hsin-Chien Huang, Anderson created an "immersive interactive environment" that features images of clocks, televisions, telephones, answering machines, radios and electrical outlets, all motifs familiar in Anderson's oeuvre. The viewer navigates through the imaginary spaces and the cursor acts like a flashlight, illuminating otherwise dark spaces. There's about six hours of music and classic Anderson stories, such as:

"I went to a palm reader and the odd thing about the reading was that everything she told me was totally wrong. She said I loved airplanes, that I had been born in Seattle, that my mother’s name was Hilary. But she seemed so sure of the information that I began to feel like I’d been walking around with these false documents permanently tattooed to my hands. It was very noisy in the parlor and members of her family kept running in and out. They were speaking a high, clicking kind of language that sounded a lot like Arabic. Books and magazines in Arabic were strewn all over the floor. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe there was a translation problem--that maybe she was reading my hand from right to left instead of left to right.

Thinking of mirrors, I gave her my other hand. Then she put her other hand out and we sat there for several minutes in what I assumed was some kind of participatory ritual. Finally I realized that her hand was out because she was waiting for money."

As you scroll through the above text, there's a brief feeling of dislocation before the realization that the program has transposed the left and right of your mouse, moving the pointer in reverse. Elsewhere the cursor and the content interact also, it becomes an ice-skate, a Ouija-board pointer, an eraser and a floating star.

There are 33 'rooms' in the 'motel' that a participant wanders in and out of, such as the Hall of Time, the Attic, The Breakfast Room, the Aquarium and the Music Room. The Music Room features a collection of instruments that Anderson has created, including several altered violins: the Tape Bow Violin, the Viophonograph, a digital violin and a self-playing violin. The self-playing violin has 7 buttons on it, with each button playing the same sound clip ("listen to my heartbeat") at varied speeds. Interactivity is emphasized in every room.

Anderson was probably better suited than most to attempt to elevate the medium beyond the technology demo or the gloried press release kit. Had the format caught on, it might've been the logical way for her to release new material. As it stands, it's an anomaly in her discography, an Ebay oddity.


View a brief demonstration of the work, here.

Mel Bochner | Talking Pictures

Mel Bochner
Talking Pictures
amukaT Recordings, 2008
Audio CD
Edition of 300

A spoken word disc by Bochner, who is also credited with "Cover Art And Design", which utilizes his
2005 oil and acrylic on canvas work Crazy.


Tracklist:

1 Aggrevate
2 Indifference
3 Complain
4 Contempt
5 Lazy
6 Unnameable
7 Mistake
8 Money
9 Obscene
10 Irascible
11 Boring
12 Stupid
13 Meaningless
14 Fool
15 Fart
16 Uncertain
17 Criticize
18 Useless
19 Crazy
20 Die
21 Nothing

Peter Moore | Inverse Panoramic Portrait of any Human Subject

Peter Moore
Inverse Panoramic Portrait of any Human Subject
New York City, USA: Fluxus, 1967
178.8 x 86.7 cm
Gelatin silver print with cloth backing and nailed wood strips

Edition size unknown

Initially announced in the eighth issue of the Fluxus newspaper V TRE, in 1966, when it was also discussed as being a rug. Few copies exist today and it is unclear if the work ever existed beyond the prototype. 

Katie Paterson | All The Dead Stars

Katie Paterson
All The Dead Stars
Edinburgh, Scotland: Merkske Books, 2012
uncoated paper offset printed in black, sleeve
99 x 66 cm (map sheet)
12.4 x 22 cm (folded)
Edition of 100 signed and numbered copies

A map documenting the locations of just under 27,000 dead stars – all that have been recorded and observed by humankind.

Watch Paterson talk about the project, here:

www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/video/meet-artist-katie-paterson

Sound Postcards

(Various ‎Artists)
Sound Postcards
Italy: The Bookmakers Ed., 2008
Compact Disk
Edition size unknown

Subtitled "39 Unreleased Audio Messages", this compilation was curated, produced and edited by Guillaume Sorge. It was released as part of the 16th issue of the art quarterly UOVO Magazine. The disk features songs by Akron Family, Daniel Johnston, and the Sun City Girls, as well as works by artists Cory Arcangel, Terence Koh and curator Jens Hoffman. Arcangel's track is intended to be opened with a text editor.

The set can be downloaded from Mediafire, here, courtesy of continuo, here. The issue of UOVO featuring the disk can be purchased for £11.00 from Antenne Books, here.


Tracklist:

1 Akron Family – Afternoon Rain Pennsylvania 1:03
2 Davide Balula – Swedish Lessons 1:02
3 Felix Kubin – OSR#1 Vienna Bathtub 13.9.07 0:31
4 Joana Preiss – Untitled 1:27
5 Kevin Blechdom & Christopher Fleeger / Barn Wave* – Heehaw Theme 1:03
6 Matthieu Laurette – I Am Still Alive 21. 11. 07 0:21
7 Mickey Moonlight – Music For "Responsible Reprogenetics" Public Service Broadcast 1:03
8 John Rage – 1'00" 1:02
9 Olivier Babin – The War Of The Words 3:33
10 Throbbing Gristle – Sixty Seconds @ Tate Modern 1:03
11 Sébastien Tellier – Destination Miami 0:48
12 Effi Briest – Girls' Game, Baker, Lake Inuit 1:03
13 Discodeine – Choral 1:19
14 Anri Sala – Untitled 1:05
15 Camille Henrot – My Way 1:03
16 Daniel Johnston – Devil Town 1:04
17 Jonathan Caouette – Untitled 1:12
18 Le Volume Courbe – Little Death 1:06
19 Jens Hoffman / Valerio – Valerio Never Dies 0:33
20 Nobukazu Takemura – Untitled 1:08
21 Tarwater – Holle 1:01
22 Villeneuve – Umbrella 1:02
23 Zongamin – Hrhaharhtzaha! 1:06
24 Terrence Koh – Untitled 0:12
25 Cory Arcangel – Hello World 0:04
26 Brezel Göring – Kinder Panic Acoustique 0:46
27 Alan Vega – Love 1:02
28 Joakim – One MInute To Catch Up And Forget 1:02
29 Khan – Jingle 1:10
30 Lullatone – So Happy 1:08
31 Sun City Girls – Putting Coals On The Fire 1:02
32 Cyprien Gaillard / Koudlam – Eagles Of Africa 3:38
33 Devastations, The  – The Data Response 1:06
34 Fujiya & Miyagi – Untitled 0:33
35 Etienne Jaumet – Fondo Rosso 1:18
36 Henrik Vibskov – The Fantabulous Bicycle Music Factory 0:49
37 Satanicpornocultshop – Untitled 1:04
38 Hanayo – Untitled 1:01
39 Darri Lorenzen – Untitled 0:59