I've been thinking about inserting carrots into this plastic washing basket since i got it about two years ago.It seems made for them. Though I hadn't counted on its flexibility nor their weight. Then there's the lack of symmetry in an average Pakistani carrot. These black carrots are amazing, they seem another whole species from their bland orange cousins. The bigger picture is a putting together of the product of industry and the produce of nature. Both are interventions of a sort, neither are "natural". This goes beyond my anthology of plastics.
Black and red carrots, 13 March 2010
Black Carrot juice, 26th March 2010, Lahore
Carrots in the clothes basket, 13th March 2010
Mixed carrots and plastic
Black carrots and orange plastic, 13th March 2010
The shoot
set-up with Nikon D3
Dyed eggs for Naurose,
Appo Jaffar, at Khaplu Palace, Baltistan 23rd March 2010
Khaplu village from above, 23rd March 2010
Khaplu high plateau in search of lawn-grass, 23rd March 2010
Panorama with Huna, Khaplu 23rd March 2010
Black Peppercorn Haier top-loader, detergent free twin tub, 14th March 2010
R.A. Bazaar Bombings, Friday 12th March 2010
Body parts, mobile phone advert, R.A. bazaar Bombings, Friday 12th March 2010
Washing down R.A. Bazaar, bombings, 12th March 2010
R.A. Bazaar bombings, 12th March 2010
Just outside Skardu by road, 23rd March 2010
Cabbage White's eating all my Ruccola, 26th March 2010
Working with Lawrence Gardens, Bagh-e-Jinnah.
Had an initial walk through the park on an exceptionally drab smoggy day. Met with head mali Alam and his staff and borrowed plans of the park and other parks of Lahore.
The People's Art and Historical Project. A collaboration with Adnan Madani, Karachi/London.
We are working on several new versions of the People's Art Historical Garden Centre Project, that was performed to good effect at the opening of Greynoise's recent showing on 25th October 2009, entitled "Patrons of Oh My God, I can afford Art".
Beginning work on my dissertation "The Post-Colonial Garden as a Palimpsest".
Busy reading. Recently finished K. Helphand's "Defiant Gardens", much else to write up here.
MANUFACTURER OF " " ROAD BLOCKER " " in KARACHI LAHORE ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN , WE ALSO MADE TURNSTILE GATES & REMOTE CONTROLL GATES IN PAKISTAN -NOW WE CAN STOP A BOMBER TRUCK WHO IS TRYING ENTERING & BLOW THE WHOLE BUILDING FROM HIS TRUCK .
100 % MADE IN PAKISTAN , IMPORTED SYSTEMS ARE EXPENSIVE WE ARE DIRECT MANUFACTURER IN PAKISTAN , INSTALLATION , AFTER SALES & SERVICES IS EASY FOR ALL OVER PAKISTAN CUSTOMERS -EASY SMOOTH OPERATION OF OUR OWN MADE SYSTEM IS AVAILABLE AT HALF PRICE THEN IMPORTED SYSTEMS -WE ARE DIRECT MANUFACTURER OF FORCED FULLY HARD STOP" " ROAD BLOCKER " "WE ALSO MADE - TURNSTILE GATES & REMOTE CONTROLL GATES , IN PAKISTAN - SEE OUR OTHER ADDS HERE -
NOW WE CAN STOP A BOMBER TRUCK WHO IS TRYING TO ENTERING & BLOW THE WHOLE BUILDING - WE CAN STOP THAT BASTARD -
OUR EQUIPMENT IS REALLY A LIFE SAVING EQUIPMENT -SAVE ASSETTS =SAVE PEOPLES LIVES -SAVE EGO -2 TYPES WE MANUFACTURED -A) MANUAL CONTROLLED -B) HYDRAULIC CONTROLLED -JUST 1 SECURITY GUARD IS ENOUGH TO CONTROLL THIS GATE -ONLY IMPORTANT BUILDING CHIEF SECURITY OFFICERS LETTER HEAD ENQUIRIES WILL BE ENTERTAINED -WE ARE THE ONLY 1 MANUFACTURER IN PAKISTAN & WE USE BEST SYSTEM TO EJECT & RELEASE THE SYSTEM -
I have approached a potential collaborator for this venture and we are in the process of discussing it. The open storm drains in this massive city of 7+ million (1998 census figures) provide the only channeling of sewage from homes to its ultimate discharge in the now dead river Ravi. There are no treatments plants. However the ganda-nala’s also create ecological corridors through the city where plant and animal life is left fairly undisturbed. The current heightened tension in the city is making any walking venture deeply problematic, let alone undertaking a walk through a highly suspicious no-mans land. I hope to undertake an initialwalk (and documentation) within a few weeks.
The People’s Art Historical Garden Centre Project
Completed 25th October 2009 in collaboration with Adnan Madani. We have collaborated on several projects previously, notably “The Frankfurt School” video which is also covered in previous blog entries. See the newly added page of documentation and narrated video. Akbar Naqvi’s book “Image and Identity” (Oxford, 1997) is systematically dismantled and converted into useful paper bags. It is unbound and liberated from it’s burden of assumed authority. A reclamation, a reinterpretation and dissemination. Even an insemination (seeds are added to each art-historical bag). Like seeds themselves it is finally disseminated to the public of Lahore.
Eden project
I have yet to locate specialist input for this project and I now see it as being a much longer term initiative. I hope at least part of it may be realized by next summer’s residency.
Berlin Collaboration 2009-2010
I have sent out initial emails towards this collaboration. It is intended that a dual project be negotiated that comes to fusion and fruition in Berlin next summer. Something that involves horticultural practices in the cities of Lahore and Berlin.
Readings, recent and in progress, 1st Nov. 2009
Tim Richardson. Vista, The Culture and Politics of Gardens.
K. Helphand. Defiant Gardens.
Khan. The Gardener.
Ian Sinclair. Hackney that Rose-Red Empire.
Reza Aslan. How to Win a Cosmic War.
Charles Darwin. The Formation of Vegetable Mould.
Foucault. Several Readers and The Order of Things.
Isenberg. The Nature of Cities.
Belting. Garden of Earthly Delights.
Jellicoe. The Landscape of Man.
Coverley. Psychogeography.
Reynolds. On Guerrilla Gardening.
Allen. Kipling Sahib.
Solnit. As Eve Said to the Serpent.
Driver. Nash. Landing.
Research
I will be contacting Kenneth Helphand for my research on the ”Post-Colonial Garden”. This is currently under negotiation with my mentor concerning it’s whole approach to the subject.
A collaborative project with Adnan Madani, in Karachi. We also collaborated last year on the video work, "The Frankfurt School". Here we again made use of the skills of Mahmood the book-binder.
This is the most recent completed project. Participating in the current group exhibition (curated by Mehreen Murtaza and Umer Butt) at Greynoise Gallery, Lahore.
In the show entitled "Patrons of Oh! My God i can buy Art!" opens 25th October 2009.
Our work is entitled:
"People's Art Historical Garden Centre" A project of P.A.H.P. (People's Art and Historical Project) David Chalmers Alesworth and Adnan Madani Variations: 1/12 Recycled paper and live seeds.
October 2009
PAHP: Tomorrow's History, Today.
"The P.A.H.G.C. aims to create a new and green space for supra-critical reappraisal of the use-value of art history (as written from the point of view of colonial and post-colonial
govern-mentality), by converting the plastic objects of art history into objects of everyday fetish use for the subjects of history. The dissemination of alter-knowledge and the insemination of alter-culture are the short, medium and long term goals of this project, which conforms closely to the will of the people while correspondingly attempting to shape the contours of that will and its future forms." David Alesworth
Adnan Madani
Lahore
Oct. 2009
Video documentation and context for "P.A.H.G.C.P"
Mahmood with a collection of raw material.
Oxford University Press's "Image and Identity" by Akbar Naquvi.
In this book he describes my practice in the mid 1990's as being more orientated towards
horticulture than art making.
Iqbal Geoffrey to whom this work is in part homage.
Mahmood at work with editioned works behind him.
In the gallery prior to the opening.
The rosta of participating artists in this group show.
Gallery goers and Mahmood at work producing useful paper bags from this troubled text.
Gallery visitors were encourgaded to take away free art-historical bags containing live vegetable seeds.
The work place, finished bags to the right.
The seeds in the foreground are added to each bag.
They are egg plant, melons, cabbage and chillies.
The twelve editioned works, each bag contains some live seeds,
the local seed packets are inserted into each art-historical bag.
Each bag/seed packet combination is mounted on a facsimile herbarium sheet
and framed with acid free archival materials.
This is the hebarium mount for each of the editioned works.
