Chicks on Speed: Don’t Art, Fashion, Music

Dundee Contemporary Arts

5 June – 8 August

Press view: Friday 4 June

This is the first major solo exhibition in the UK of Chicks on Speed; an ever-changing multidisciplinary art group who apply punk-inspired DIY ethic to interrogate the boundaries of art, craft, fashion, music and new media.  

Known globally for their melting-pot-style – encompassing cutting-edge pop music, performance art, a record label, collage graphics, painting and DIY fashion. Chick’s on Speed’s practice is chaotic and firmly against sedative art. With their tongues firmly in their cheeks, they are happy to court controversy.  

The exhibition will open with a live art performance for invited guests on 4 June; featuring the ‘e-shoe’ – the world’s first wireless high-heeled shoe guitar, made in collaboration with Siberian-born shoe designer Max Kibardin and Hangar.org. These shoes will be unveiled alongside Chicks on Speed’s ever-growing collection of self made ‘objekt instruments’ – cigar-box synthesizers, super suits with sewn-in body sensors that trigger audio/video samples and two hats made in collaboration with Christophe Coppins and Hangar.org, based on illuminated drawings of Hildegard von Bingen, a 12 ^th century Christian mystic who received visions, composed ethereal airs, performed healings and even founded convents. These hats transmit the utterances of their wearers by way of microphones and speakers.

The DCA galleries will be further transformed into a giant stage and studio set for making music videos, experimenting with no-choreography and ongoing craft projects live, including loom-weaving inspired by Bauhaus design, lectures and workshops, film screenings of their fashion archive and selected video pieces. Chicks on Speed have been working with local and international artists and makers to combine traditional craft with cutting-edge technology .

Further highlights include a Theremin tapestry based on theremin technology, woven by The Victorian Tapestry Workshop, Australia , with hardware from Andre Smirnov @ the Theremin Institute in Moscow in conjunction with hangar.org.    A series of print based artworks produced with the DCA print studio and Fashion Archive.

Judith Winter, curator of the exhibition said:

““DCA are interested in working with artists that challenge the institution and the context of the gallery.   Chicks on Speed’s practice blurs the boundaries between creative disciplines but much more than that - their work counters political correctness and employs a range of feminist strategies that support creative radicalism.   I wanted to see if we could also hint at some of the connections in their practice to the history of interdisciplinary practice.

“Many of our early discussions were around the Bauhaus and in particular Oskar Schlemmer performance of the Triaddich Ballet. Conversation soon transgressed to the status and visibility of women within the Bauhaus - on to activism and early modernist performance through to conversations around the political actions of Valie Export in the 1960s.

“Anyone who is also interested in fashion or wanting an anecdote to global consumption should enjoy some element of the show.   We are looking forward to the unexpected!”

To coincide with the exhibition DCA are co-producing a book with Booth-Clibborn Editions that will be launched in September 2010. There will also be a series of events, films and workshops surrounding the exhibition. For further information visit www.dca.org.uk

Chicks on Speed: Don’t Art, Fashion Music is part of Craft Festival Scotland.

Gallery opening times: Tuesday – Saturday 10.30am - 5.30pm, Sunday noon – 5.30pm. Closed Monday except Dundee Public Holidays. Entry to the galleries is free. Tel: 01382 900 900.

Dundee Contemporary Arts, 152 Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4DY

www.dca.org.uk

www.chicksonspeed.com

ENDS

 

For more information, interviews and images please contact:

Teri Laing, Head of Marketing

Teri.laing@dca.org.uk
Tel: 01382 909241

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

1.     Craft Festival Scotland is the first national festival of craft in Scotland. It aims to challenge existing views on craft, attract new audiences, showcase the talent and skill of Scottish craft makers, and encourage debate. www.dundee.ac.uk/craftfest

2.     Chicks on Speed core members are Melissa Logan and Alex Murray-Leslie. Collaborators include Merche Blasco, Anat Ben-David, Nadine Jessen, Krõõt Juurak, Kathi Glas, Peggy Noland, Ari Fish, Michael Conrads, Steve Dawson, A.L. Steiner, Oliver Hawton, Gianluca Turini, Hangar.org, Jano and Diego del Lion. More collaborators will be announced over the coming weeks.

3.     Chicks on Speed will be in residence in the Visual Research Centre (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design) at DCA from 17 May until the exhibition opens.