British Art Show 6

Commissioned by curators Alex Farquharson and Andrea Schlieker to make a new work for the British Art Show Six; we collaborated with Eileen Simpson and Ben White.

During our research, we realised that each of the host cities houses a regional Media Archive; The Northern Region Film and Television Archive in Newcastle, The North West Film Archive in Manchester, Moving Image Archive for Central England in Nottingham and the South West Film & Television Archive based in Plymouth. We have been working with these archives on a project that will evolve during the exhibition tour.

All creative work is born into copyright; every image, text or sound is automatically designated as the property of its apparent author. Copyright is founded on the right of exclusion. And even material deposited in Public Archives is considered a property, access to which is subject to the generosity of archivists and keepers; effectively copyright restricts the creative re-use of public resources.

For the British Art Show Six we sourced orphaned, or out-of-copyright material from which to edit four new films - one for each city - while simultaneously searched for copyright expired music in the British Library and Library of Congress sound archives to create appropriate soundtracks. Our intention with the project is to encourage interest and discussion into the nature of film and other public archives, the public domain and the nature of creative practice

A film was added to the exhibition, at each of the host cities during the year long tour

Screen Tests 1-4 Screen Test

Baltic, Gateshead 24 September 2005 – 8 January 2006.

The Northern Television Film Archive declined to participate, so we screened Screen Tests, made for Manchester

While the film was screened silently, Ben White remixed the soundtrack live, at the opening event

Screen Tests 1-4 Screen Test

Urbis, Manchester 28 January – 2 April 2006

Screen Tests unfolds as series of Andy Warhol-like screen tests, slowly revealing the location and the occupation of those before the camera - students and models from the Manchester School of Art.

While the film was screened silently, Ben White remixed the soundtracks live, at the Whitworth Art Gallery Live Art event

Screen Tests 2-4 Dragline

Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham 22 April – 25 June 2006

Dragline stumbles across an autonomous event; and returns the default setting of contemporary digital sampling and looping to its industrial roots, via 1970’s structuralist film.

While the film was screened silently, Ben White remixed the soundtracks live, at the Future Factory Live Art event

Screen Tests 3-4 Broadcast Times: The Birth of Westward

A Bond, Bristol 15 Jul – 17 Sept 2006

As the exhibition train leaves the platform, we are taken on a documentary journey of A happy hunting ground for tycoons the birth of commercial television broadcasting.

Ben White remixed the soundtracks live, at Spike Island on the 15th September 2006, see the British Art Show Live Art link for details

While working with the archives, we negotiated to release the source material - visual and audio- and our new films into the public domain -on a freely available Screen Tests DVD - through a version of the Creative Commons License. The new artwork and its constituent parts become, in perpetuity, a legally protected creative resource. Artists and others will be able to use and re-use the artwork as material for future creative exchange, enriching rather than depleting the public domain.

See the related and evolving Enthusiasts: archive

Eileen Simpson and Ben White have initiated the Open Music Archive

The Archives

The North West Film Archive in Manchester

Moving Image Archive for Central England in Nottingham

South West Film & Television Archive based in Plymouth.

Northern Television Film Archive in Newcastle declined any involvement

The British Library Sound Archive exactly what it says

The Library of Congress Recorded Sound Reference Centre

You could also visit the British Art Show 6 website, or read a Guardian review