the centre of attention

Fodder

...Some sell, and others buy; some do the deed with many tears, and some without a sigh: for each man kills the thing he loves, yet each man does not die...

The Centre of Attention presents:
Fodder (shredded proposals), Mixed media, 2005
at PILOT:2
Farmiloes Building
28-36 St John Street
London EC1 4BE)
21-24 October 2005, 11 am to 10 pm (opening Friday 21 October at 7.30pm)

The Centre of Attention commissioned a selection of artists unrepresented by a commercial dealer to put forward a proposal on paper for a show, a work or an idea etc

15 artists took part.

All the proposals from these artists were then collected by us and shredded.

This shredded material was gathered up and placed on a plinth in the gallery space. And finally it was given a name… Fodder

The artists selected represent an extremely wide variety of projects, practices and generations.

As curators we wanted to create an artwork as well as curate a group show (within a show): The first to explore the plausibility of the curator as artist; the second because of our generous nature…

For us there was a great appeal in that these artists would not have the occasion to work together without our facilitation, without us as an axis.

We wanted to create an art work with as little effort as possible (we used an assistant and even allowed her to use an automatic shredder) in the characteristic manner of the baroque povera style. For us it was important to take the work out of the art work and see what remained…

The Centre of Attention, October 2005