Click on the links below the individual articles to download / view as either a PDF or text file.
Variant
6 Autumn 1998
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Editorial
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Back to the Old School - John
Beagles
Beagles outlines what he perceives as a terminus in contemporary arts
fascination with 'the popular'. His focus becomes the pushing
of artists such as Tracy Emin and Gillian Wearing as 'the acceptable
face of 90s feminism', articulating what might be seen as 'a generational
divide' in feminist strategy.
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Hungry Ghosts - Orla
Ryan
A review of the exhibition at the Douglas Hyde gallery, Dublin, which
presented ten artists exploring ideas surrounding representation and desire.
Ultimately, Ryan questions the reductive, highly spiritualist interpretations
of the artists' work by the gallery.
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A Means of Mutation - Matthew
Fuller
Fuller is part of a group (I/O/D) which has developed the 'web stalker',
which he describes in detail here. The 'Stalker' represents
the URL and HTML of the web in a very different graphical way. Instead
of looking like a page each link is made to resemble a spider's web.
The article puts their work in the context of the legal battles involving
Microsoft and artists' web pages.
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Sound and Vision - Brian
Keeley, Iñigo Gerrido, Lara Celini, Paul Cameron, Gillian Steel,
Martha McCulloch
A round table discussion chaired by McCulloch (of Glasgow School of Art's
Photography department). Quite a wide range of opinion is put forward
here representing: Aberdeen Arts, Café Flicker, Edinburgh Video Access,
Glasgow Film and Video Workshop, Castlemilk Video Workshop. The discussion
is wide ranging one, principle focus being the difficulties in provision
for lens based work in Scotland.
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Dumbocracy - William
Clark
The article is in two parts, both based on the conference 'The New
Scotland', held in several venues in Glasgow. It exposes the organisers
- who purport to be politically independent - as a Labour Party
front. The review of the conference exposes the political idiocy surrounding
the formation of the Scottish Parliament covering several socio-political
topics.
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To the Judges -
Ismail Besikci
This is a statement by Besikci to the Judges of the Turkish State Security
Court who, because of his writings such as 'Interstate Colony -
Kurdistan', have imprisoned him (the latest sentence being for 100
years) since 1971. It deals specifically with the hypocrisy, terrorism
and atrocities carried out by the Turkish National Security Council against
the Kurds.
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Moving History - Malcolm
Dickson, Chris Byrne
This is an e-mail exchange between the two, giving a personal account
of the development of video and film in Scotland, looking to how it might
evolve in the future.
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Porn into Art - Stewart
Home
A short account of the movement of porn stars into the art world and their
motives.
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A Quality Film Experience - Marshall
Anderson
An in-depth investigative account of the plans to build and operate a
touring bus showing films in the Highlands. Anderson unearths a catalogue
of disasters and also provides interesting insights into Highland culture.
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In the Eye of the Beholder - John
Tozer
A review of the media reaction to Adrian Lynne's recent reworking
of Nabakov's Lolita.
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New Media, Old Technology - Dr.
Future
ISEA 98 is the target for 'Dr. Future's' scorn. The festival
is presented as a victim of fashion and lacking any clear-sighted response
to the new technologies.
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Virtual Migrants -
Kuljit Chuhan
The title comes from a CD-ROM project which aimed to promote awareness
of the case of Bayo Omoyiola who was caught up in attempts to deport him.
The article also examines the relationship between art and ideology.
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Unsound Practice - David
Thompson
Thompson explores the dire state of music journalism because of the effects
of market ideology.
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Uncle Sam's new Labour -
Robin Ramsay
A very thorough investigation of the covert links the Labour party have
with semi-clandestine organisations such as the British American Project.
The essay - which is taken from Ramsay's book 'Prawn Cocktail
Party' - outlines the domination of the Labour Party by Atlanticism
and the economic forces that make up the UK's foreign policy nexus.
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Tales of the Great Unwashed -
Ian Brotherhood
A very creative departure for the ongoing story of the great Unwashed.
This is a single person narrative of a Hen Night from hell related by
the cleaner of the pub as she finally arrives at work.
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Issue
six also contained two pull-out supplements.
The first, from Street Level Photoworks documented the conference
'Tower of Babble' which
itself sought to encompass a history of art magazine publishing in the
UK. The supplement took the form of three papers given at the conference
together with related imagery.
The second, from Hull Time-Based Arts acted as a catalogue for
their festival 'ROOT' listing and describing the events.
Streetlevel supplement text
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Studio Irrational - Pavel Büchler
Büchler outlines the history of samizdat publication of art magazines
in his Czech homeland in the 60s and 70s.
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Performance - Simon Herbert
This is a personal account of the history of Performance magazine which
charted the rebirth of interest in Performance art and video in the 80s.
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Aspects of Art Criticism - Peter Suchin
Suchin explodes some popular misconceptions surrounding the role of the
art critic.
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