Internet blogs on On Demand

on urbanjunkies.com

Lets' face it: 'interactive art' can often be shorthand for 'embarrassing art' ("please climb inside the sculpture and remove your clothes") or maybe, if you're lucky, some overcomplicated piece of hardware that doesn't seem to be working the day you visit the gallery.

Thankfully the Centre of Attention collective have managed to turn the concept of interactive art on its head to the advantage of everyone by arranging to bring pieces from their collection to you.

Over the next couple of months all you have to do is give the Centre a ring at their Clapton Common HQ and let them know when they can pop round with a piece from their pretty extensive contemporary collection, which features Ben Morieson, Oreet Ashery and Markus Vater among others.
When they arrive, you can view the artwork at your leisure and the Centre of Attention 'curators' will even sit down over a brew and discuss the work with you if you so wish. It beats squinting at those little explanatory cards in art galleries, doesn't it?

As an added bonus you can always purchase the art so you can keep it forever. But, be warned, this isn't like ordering a pizza. You don't get a free sculpture or anything if they don't get to you within half an hour.

Elena Arkell, September 2005

Markus Vater comes to visit.
I volunteered for Markus Vater to visit my home. Usually I experience Art outside my flat. This was different I was letting Art in. Now the visit has been and gone and Markus has left me with a homemade bomb.
He arrived on his bike, his plinth, of course, in an IKEA bag courtesy of Gary and Pierre (from The Centre for Attention).
Markus spoke of his seeking to explore the notion of taking a photograph, the belief that the photographic act steals a little part of the soul of the subject that becomes trapped forever in the image. Gone forever from the control or will of the subject. It seems apt to unpick this idea at a time when the line between gossip and fact has been blurred by surveillance and opportune digital evidence. Everyone is a reporter, a maker of opinion. Look I was there! It’s documentary
evidence! It’s on my phone! I thought Markus approached the series of poses he made, with the things in the flat and objects he brought with him, as a series of drawings, each mark (pose) inviting the next.
Markus began the process by stealing a few bytes of light from the computer screen. He explored the space, he set up the shots, I colluded in the acts,I pressed the button, I took the image.
My flat is awash with accumulated trash,retreived proof of extravagant consumption, things that might be still be recycled, repaired maybe remade. I gave Markus carte blanche to move or use anything in the flat. Finally he separated a part trashed alarm clock, battery exposed, functional, he found some coiled BT wire and chose a couple of refilled water bottles, somehow with his black tape they could become this other fearful object and before he left he had made the bomb.

on RollonFriday.com

Exhibition: On Demand

RollOnFriday thoroughly approve of anything that allows you to seem cultured without having to do very much, so the latest offering from individual gallery "The Centre of Attention" is right up our street. Tired of having to schlep all the way to some badly positioned gallery just to view art that you don't understand? Then let "The Centre of Attention" bring art to you. On Demand is their latest "exhibition". Call them up, pick a piece from their featured artists and then sit back and wait for them to turn up on your doorstep.

The premise is that art can reach a wider audience if you physically bring it to the audience in question. So a curator from the Centre will pop round and over a cup of tea and a biscuit they'll tell you all about the piece you're viewing. You don't even have to leave your sofa. RollOnFriday recommend "Soul Sculptures" by Markus Vater. Vater himself will come to your house and whilst there will transform himself into a sculpture of your soul. Although looking at some of his previous efforts we think he could be less talented-artist and more complete-nutter. Your home, whenever you like.