Extending on the topic of Internet from the talk with Luci and Steve, creators of the Everything editorial, Issey and Alex guided participants through the concept of aestheticism in the age of the Internet and its cultural effects.
As participants entered the studio, they were greeted with a box of cookies placed on top of a sign reading “Do you accept the cookies?”—a playful touch that sparked laughter. We were then led through a discussion on the modern development of the Internet and how it has given rise to various subcultures. The group was challenged with locating these subcultures on a timeline, which we later learned whether or not was accurate.
An interesting point from this discussion was the observation that earlier subcultures often aligned themselves with a certain movement or political stance. However, as these subcultures evolved into more modern forms, they seemd to lose their purpose as symbols of activism, shifting intead toward an emphasis on the identity and personality of the aesthetic itself.
Using much older technology—in this case, a typewriter—we typed out a caption based on one of the images from the rolled dice. Once it was typed out (with a clink), it was passed onto another participant, and we created collages from these captions. The act of typing something into a physical note, which then determined what someone else drew, gave the typist a certain level of responsibility and awareness of being perceived, making the interaction very engaging.
After this task, we split into two groups, each positioned on either side of the large sheet of paper hanging from the ceiling, also known as “The Wall of Misinformation”. We were given a handful of news headlines and tasked with determining whether or not they were true. After dividing them into two piles, we drew from the headlines we believed to be true.
Participating in this workshop after listening to Luci and Steve’s talk made the information even more engaging, and I appreciated seeing how much care and atention to detail Issey and Alex put into preparing for it.
What have we learnt from ‘everything’?
The early days of the internet were dark and mystical, still shaped by hand. Forget the slickness of Wix and standardised user interfaces, websites could be medieval follies that morph into subterranean tunnels harbouring novels, hand drawn gifs and imaginary boroughs. This was the world in which Luci Eyers and Steve Rushton crafted their artist-run ‘Everything’ editorial (circa 1990s); long before the seeds of ‘content’ were sewn into the contemporary imagination.
Artists Alex Heard @alexheardalloneword and Issey Kang @isseyyyk gather lessons from this twilight era of the internet. In an experimental performance/drawing workshop they will guide you through our age of ‘aestheticism’ and the influence of mass media and popular culture on individual lifestyle. We will study the pastel goth, technology in the physical and abstract as we move further and further away from Web 1 into digital privatisation.
This workshop responds to Luci Eyers’ and Steve Rushton’s talk about their collective on Monday 28th October at 6.30pm. (Tickets are still available on the Eye to Pencil website.)
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT FROM ‘EVERYTHING’?
with Issey Kang and Alex Heard
Tuesday 29 October, 6.30-8.30pm
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBf2rSGp5XE/?img_index=1
