Freehand

Young Liverpool Film Night

Call for submissions (Read more...)

Posted by: Laura O
28/07/2010

Freehand Summer workshop!

awesome Summer workshops! (Read more...)

Posted by: Louise @ FACT
22/06/2010

Mercy blog about Freehand!

check out the link to read what Mercy (our fanzine collaborators) have found working with us! (Read more...)

Posted by: Louise @ FACT
22/05/2010

Emma's review of FACT's current exhibition 'MyWar'

read Emma's review!! (Read more...)

My War;

Participation in an Age of War

On the 12th of March 2010 the exhibition ‘MyWar’ was opened in FACT. The exhibition is about modern technology and FACT’s personal take on war. It shows how much we need media and how Web 2.0’s, film and media overall helps us experience the nature of war. The exhibition is spread out within 2 galleries, both showing different aspects of war and how different they each are.

In gallery 1 there were different types of media shown in the exhibition. There were films, pictures, huggable cushions and many more. One of my favourite pieces in the gallery would be the ‘Huggable Atomic Mushroom Cloud’ by Dunne & Raby (2004). This piece of artwork is shown as two ‘mushroom clouds’ in the shape of cushions. People were supposed to hug it to feel ‘connected’ to it however I just think that it was a good piece and very unique. It also gives the impression of love instead of hate, which forces many people to go to war. My other favourite, from that gallery, has to be ‘One Day’ by Milica Tomic (2009). This was shown as a woman carrying a machine gun around the city of Belgrade, where many of the battles in World War II took place. She carried the weapon around casually as if an umbrella or shopping bag. She walked along streets where the many actions took place. Again, I like it because it is unique and unexpected, much like the rest. My last favourite was ‘They Shoot Horses’ by Phil Collins (2004). This was where a video shown two groups of young people who had a dance marathon, which lasted 7 hours. The dancers wore t-shirts and jeans, giving them a stereotypical look of any other teenage kid, making it impossible to locate where they are from. They are though, from Israeli occupied by the Ramallah. Their dance shown cultural translation and a wider look at the standard of living there, compared to what the media show us. It is a contrast of what newspapers, the World Wide Web and stories tell us and how different it really is.

In gallery 2 there were more pieces of Modern War however most of these were shown as video games or reality showing. My favourite piece from here was ‘Versions’ By Oliver Laric (2010). This piece was shown as continuous line of pictures, each going more over the top and weirder as the next. This piece was made because the photo shopped picture released by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. They had tried to make themselves look braver and bigger than they actually were by adding more missiles into a picture. Many people picked up on this and started to do their own take on it. In this piece they had pictures of missiles going from 4, to 40, pointing here there and everywhere, and even going backwards. I like this as it is a good mock and shows it well.

Overall I think the MyWar exhibition is a great and good for all the family to visit. Also at the end you can draw, write, or record yourself talking about your take on war and what you think about it.

Posted by: Louise @ FACT
16/04/2010