Monthly Archives: February 2015

ab in Anatum’s day 8

Posted on by Antonin Brinda

DAY 8

If it is possible to name bus travel as a „backround for thoughts“, we might call underground as „a space for meditation“. In a way that a passenger is so de-attached from the real world, from the „real city“ that one might start slightly loose sense for the reality. Or to perceive it in some differnet mode.
Under the ground there is different world, different rules works there.

I have a big mission in front of me – I am going to spend the whole day from the opening hours till closing in the Tube/Overground/DLR tomorrow – so I rather won’t continue with explanations of my todays explorations and go sleep to have enough strenght. And anyway after tomorrows exploration I will be able to bring much richer informations. …

There is just one small thought which I would like to share now – and that is the question of a documentation. I was thinking if I should take my camera to the metro tomorrow or no and after meeting this huge meat alien with whom I shared a Tube today I decided that I have to take a camera for sure.

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ab in Anatum’s day 6 & 7

Posted on by Antonin Brinda

Before I start my description of the following researche I would like to add one more thing about cycling research: once you have a bike your body is not just improved but it also brings some complications.
This link to the one famous italian movie should explain what I mean.

DAY 6

This day I decided to use only buses (which seems quite logical after walking and cycling).

In terms of paying I decided to use capping. So instead of paying regular £1.50 for each bus I paid £4.40 for 10 buses which I took. Fair enough.

The best combination of words which describe exploration by buses might be „city as a backround for thoughts“.
It is much more comfortable than going by walk or by bike – you just sit inside of the machine. Then you don’t have to create any additional activity – you just sit and travel towards your chosen destination. No private zones and no unexpected obstacles. No wrong paths – and if any appears you might simply change to some other bus.

Once you’re sitting (not walking, not running – that is important!) in comfortable position there is a time for your thoughts, for you. When it is cold outside, temperature inside of the bus is better either. Of course you’re missing all the specific smells, all the discomfort – bad weather, crazy drivers and so on.
On the other hand you become part of some kind of a different closed intimate situation. I was observing calmly the city passing around as well as the behavior of people inside of the vehicle. What a wonderful feeling it was to smell some nuts/flowers and than realize that there were two girls sitting next to me… and they were producing that specific smell. What a situation! Inhaling someone’s parfume and sweat sitting just few centimeters from the person, but still being complete stranger. Of course that experience might be completely opposite – and actually in few situations it also was. For instance where there was a guy arguing via phone with his girlfriend (or?) and was acting very rude. There were just two of us inside so I shared someone’s private anger without chance of escaping (of course I had a possibility – to get off before the destination I was heading for which I obviously didn’t want to).

When speaking about method I used: Firstly I just went somewhere randomly, after few rides I realized that I might make a circle – to go „over the overground“. With that approach I succeeded more less (check my map!). After 9 hours and 10 buses I got back to my first destination – Limehouse bus station.
I also experimentated with using LSD before the ride but unfortunately the liquid already evaporated from the paper so the dose was very weak and I didn’t enjoy the city from much a different perspective. But for sure I would like to repeat using drugs when exploring the city – I still do believe in drugs, in psychedelics especially. I think it might be very helpful in many ways for a person. Could help with understanding/exploring of some space for instance – like a city space.
Anyway LSD experiment should be repeated but bus experiment worked very well! For quite a little money it is possible to see quite a lot, to get inspired by different atmospheres (which of course you feel just -literally-from behind a glass) which creates differents ideas. I realized that to describe such a city as London is on the edge of impossibility. But also I found that maybe the goal shouldn’t be to analyze, to understand, to get a precise message but maybe to share different thoughts which city brings – in the same way as bus passenger who enjoys his city-movie is having it.

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DAY 7
I share the same idea as God whom (respectively his fans) I’d like to qoute now: „By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.“
Following the God’s approach I went today through mime exercises in the morning, visited two galleries and with Sirus prepared and enjoyed exceptional device of Anatum’s – REAL SQUATT SAUNA.
Thank you God for showing me the way.

Prologue

Posted on by Sirus Fountain

Pyramid Oracle

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Introduction-

Last Sunday I heard back from the folks at Anatumn’s that our proposal had been read and accepted for the on sight visiting artist residency.

We will be using the space to develop a series of pantings and installations examining relationships between our future, present, and past belief, education, and consciousness systems in the natural and artificial worlds.

Culminating into weekend exhibition opening on friday the 27th of Feb and closing reception on Sunday the 29th.

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Axis mundi Hunab Ku #quantumentanglement #galactic butterfly #cosmology #ancientcivilization #quantumconsciousness #paralleluniverse #occultism #hermetics #esoteric #sacredgeometry #streetart #wheatpaste #contemporary #future #pyramidoracle #nyc #newyork

ab at Anatum’s day 4 & 5

Posted on by Antonin Brinda

DAY 4

Second day of walking.
That day I continued on walking research adding a rule of landmarks. I established certain point in a city (as a skyscraper for instance) towards which I walked and once I reached the point I choose another one. Reaching points were choosen randomly not due to its height. By that I sometimes get a little bit lost because some of the points were not high enough (=> not visible enough).
By that I visited random places and explored even the spaces where otherwise I wouldn’t go.
Again I was fighting with problem of private zones but other results was quite satisfactory. It was possible to go for something, to some exact direction and yet there was a moment of unpredictable and unknown.
In a way I become – and in my research I’m trying to be – a flaneur „the man of leisure, the idler, the urban explorer, the connoisseur of the street.“ But in more exactly defined way – in my „flaneurism“ there is a specific method behind.

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DAY 5

Today I moved into cycling which get my city research in a way easier in a way more difficult.
I changed myself in some strange form of cyborg – half a man half a machine. My speed ability raised (but it was also possible to lower it again) and because of that I was able to act either as a human, either as a car.

Most of the time I acted as a car. So I was following the roads assigned for a cars and had to increase my awareness (due to the security reasons). The whole exploration became more dynamic and faster. So instead of enjoying each smell or noise I was attacked by different and frequently uneasily distinguisable impulses. I was passing through the pure Futuristic experience.

Among others I was working in a city center and was fighting with traffic jam. On the other hand there was a pleasure of long free rides in different localities.

When I dismounted a bike and walked for a while the perception changed completely. Used-to-be cyborg body changed into casual one and I felt like a disabled person.


When cycling the perception of a city as a physical entity remained and was more complex but less detailed.

Sexuality in dystopian movies – lecture | 24th February

Posted on by Antonin Brinda

LECTURE
TUE 24th 7.30pm-9.00pm

This lecture with audiovisual excerpts from movies is based on my thesis “Dystopian systems in Japanese anime.” Also it is part of my research for an exhibition which will be executed in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic, in May 2015 and which deals with interconnections between sexuality and ideology.

Throughout the lecture we explore how the state or other political institutions in dystopias might influence one’s sexuality and sexual behavior and how sexuality might be used as an ideological tool. If you come you are going to listen about such pieces as Brave New World, 1984, THX 1138, Handmaid’s Tale, Children of Men, We and others.

You are more than welcome!

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The Tube – OPEN CALL & workshop | 21st and 22nd February

Posted on by Antonin Brinda

WORKSHOP
Sun 22nd FEB 3pm-7pm

THE TUBE.
11 lines.
270 stations.
1.265 billions passengers/year

The workshop at SUN 22nd takes place inside of the Tube and its goal is to offer new perception of how to think about the (London) Underground. Participants will do few simple exercises and after that spend some time inside of the Tube’s Zone 1. There will be an important rule: Once you enter the Tube you are not allowed to leave.
What new observations it brings, what the Tube phenomenon actually is about, does it serve to the citizens or no … ? Let’s make the Tube to be our playground!

Workshop is lead by performance artist Antonín Brinda, current resident in Anatum’s Abode. It will be based on his previous research done in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as on his actual explorations in Abode.

There is no fee but you will need a ticket for the Tube. Meeting point is Anatum’s Abode from where participants will continue via Limehouse DLR into the Zone.

You are more than welcomed!

OPEN CALL
Sat 21 st FEB, 5am – 12pm

There also is a possibility of getting into more tougher version of the workshop at SAT 21st. Antonín is going to spent the whole day (from opening till closing) inside of the Tube and other London public transport system. The same experiment was already executed in Prague. During the day several small performance pieces were created and presented inside of the Prague underground.

If there are some long duration performance artists or other crazy people who would like to join (even if for shorter period of time), please write to “a.brinda@seznam.cz” There is a a lot of possibilities how this research could happen, depends just on the communication between us!

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ab at Anatum’s day 3

Posted on by Antonin Brinda

Today I decided to get out of Anatum’s Abode and extend my space exploration. I forbade myself to use any of public transport system so I was only walking.

An advantage of such an exploration is its closeness to the city as a physical entity. The city has its solid structure, it is possible to touch it, smell it, see it – in details. You realize if this physical entity is organized logically or not – you perceive its urbanistic execution. One might enjoy all the small (in)consonances,  even the tiny changes in atmosphere. The bigger ones even more of course. It is easy to stop for a while and to calmly observe some detail or to work with different speed of walking. Than your feeling is changing again – you might concentrate more on walking itself or try to absorb what surrounds you.

I realized – not for the first time of course – that city is divided into public and private spaces which leads to many difficulties for a walker (or biker, car driver … just the walker could feel the biggest discomfort as he is the slowest of these – so to overcome a wrong path takes him longer time).

Other problems for the walker might be the natural obstacles. Such as a river as I realized today. I walked cca 10 km more (! 5 km on the one side and 5 more when coming back on the other) than I planned because during my walk around the river there was no possible crossing (not counting Emirate Air Lines or Thames Clippers for which you have to pay). So I just walked and walked, looking for an underpath or bridge…and for quite a time there was no such a thing.

For more thoughts about walking and exploring the city see my further posts.
Good night 🙂
…

 

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ab at Anatum’s day 1&2

Posted on by Antonin Brinda

For my first two days I decided not to leave the space of Anatum’s Abode at all to explore the atmosphere of it better.

There were two reasons for it.

Firstly I wanted to gather materials and situations possibly useful for a short performance art piece which I executed at the evening of 14th – “Open Your Skull”  (see more below).
Secondly I thought this might be an approach how to start working on my “city exploration”. I am interested in a ways how to explore, to feel, to understand a city, especially that kind of a megalopolis like London. My idea was that I could start the research by establishing a base, by understanding of my temporary home. I found different objects and spirits around. I did some exercises and tried to explore the space with as big concentration as possible, breathing and touching the space…

This fast gathered material (because two incomplete days is really not enough for understanding of any space) resulted to the performance mentioned above. I got interested by a history of Anatum’s Abode and about the fact that the building used to be a butcher store. Later on because of the great effort of the people who runs the place it changed into a squatt and cultural place. My action followed a simple story of that transformation. I used a red costume, red glove and red light as well as the knife, candle or ink and by that reffered to the butcher practices (such as killing animals), later on all this practices were overcame, I got released from the heavy red dress and walked away playing a musical instrument. My favourite moment of the piece was me dripping a wax from the candle I was holding with my lips on the tongue of the one of the spectators/listeners. It is nice that when performing in a situation where the distance between the performer and the audience is minimal such things – which one wouldn’t expect at all – might happen.

 

Some pics from the action

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Props (for fun)

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Haitian Voodoo Ritual Dance workshop | 14th March

Posted on by anatumsabode

voodoo_ritualAnatum’s Abode is pleased to announce a whole day workshop exploring the world of Voodoo Ritual dance. Led by Zsuzsa Parrag.

We will embark on a journey of physical and metaphysical opening in movement. Through vibrance of sound and rhythm that enables a deeper connection to a mystical tradition as well as an aesthetic. We will also be introduced into the context of Voodoo ritual dance, symbols, some elements of its history and tradition;

Zsuzsa has been teaching dance for over 20 years. She has studied Haitian dance for over 10 years at the leading dance schools in Port-au-Prince. One of her most influential teachers is Florencia Pierre, a dancer and vodou priestess who accepted Zsuzsa as a private student and initiated her into the ritual origins of the dances. Florencia teaches that you can only get to the essence of the dances when you abandon pure technique and understand the spiritual function of the dances in vodou. In response to this realisation, Zsuzsa has undertaken extensive Haitian travel and research into the vodou religion in the context of dance.

Haitian dance is a beautiful, ecstatic and intense Caribbean dance form. There are many different types and styles of Haitian dance, each with its own particular significance, reflecting certain Vodou rituals.

For this workshop Zsusza will teach 4 dances that focus on liberation: Yanvalou, Ibo, Petwo and Banda. Yanvalou has a meditative and harmonious character that takes the form of flowing snakelike movements that imitate flowing water. Yanvalou is associated with various spirits within the Vodou tradition such as Erzuli Freda, the Goddess of Love, and Damballa, the cosmic snake. Ibo is a very dynamic liberation dance with lots of jumping movements. The heartbeat of Ibo is its upper chest bounces and strong, cutting arm movements, which symbolise breaking chains, representing freedom.

Petwo is the dance of revolution; it has immense energy, impressive ecstatic body movements and lightning quick steps.

And finally Banda is the dance of Gèdé. The Gèdé family combines the strangest figures of the Haitian spirit world. Due to its emphasized pelvic movements and provocative gestures the Gèdé has a very high entertainment value, both for the dancers and for the audience. You will definitely leave this workshop in a great mood.

 

The workshop will take place on 14th March at Anatum’s Abode, 613 Commercial road, E14 7NT. 12pm to 6pm with a lunch break in between.

Contribution: 30 pounds, 25 pounds concession.

Lunch included.

Please register and buy tickets beforehand by following this link!

Residency by Antonín Brinda

Posted on by Antonin Brinda

.hello.

.my name is Antonín Brinda.

.i am a new resident in an Anatum’s Abode.

.during my stay here.

.i am going to present a lecture about “Sexuality in dystopic systems – with accent on films.” by this i connect two of my interests. sexuality and dystopic systems. there will be video exctracts, so it will not be boring.

.i am going to have a workshop based on my previous experiences as well as on a new research i do here during next days. most probably it will happen inside of the Tube/DLR/Overground system or similarly crazy public space.

.i am going to perform here, at least two times – at 14th and 26th Feb together with other artists.

.and?
.my interests are golf, performance art and body art, horse riding, installations, nudity, invisibleness, art theory and cross-word puzzles. you can verify truthfulness of that statement on this webpage: http://teatr-anton.cz/ .

.sincerely yours.

 

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