BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.5//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:4558@artinliverpool.com DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London;VALUE=DATE:20190706 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London;VALUE=DATE:20191014 DTSTAMP:20190829T124914Z URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/bluecoat-grace-ndiritu-the-ark/ SUMMARY:Bluecoat: Bluecoat: Grace Ndiritu: The Ark DESCRIPTION:Grace Ndiritu: The Ark: Centre For Interdisciplinary Experiment ation\, 2017\n\n6 July – 13 October 2019\n\nExhibition Preview: 5 July\ n\n \;\n\nThe Ark: A Historic Archive Show is an exhibition based on the Grace Ndiritu's research created before\, during and after her ambitio us post-internet living research/live art project\, The Ark: Center For I nterdisciplinary Experimentation\, that took place from 1 to 10 July 2017 in Paris. Part scientific experiment and part spiritual experience\, it fo cused on the role of art\, science\, spirituality and politics. In order t o encourage creativity and vulnerability and to come up with radical\, new ways of thinking about life and the problems of today's world\, The Ark h ad no audience for the first six days\, so the 15 participants (scientists \, artists\, gardeners\, economists\, chef\, spiritual workers) could go d eeper into this process. The Ark aimed to firstly open a dialogue between its own participants through a multiplicity of themes including Plants\, B iology\, Shamanism\, Meditation\, Food\, Philosophy\, Communities\, Educat ion\, Architecture\, Future of Cities\, Democracy and Activism\; and secon dly with a wider audience during the Public Weekend - performances\, film screenings\, BBQ party and Academic Roundtable. The Ark originally took pl ace at Les Laboratories Aubervillers art space.\n\nNow recontexualized at Bluecoat\, Liverpool a space with a history of working with ecological act ivism\,  The Ark archival materials generated will serve as a foundation for an exhibition dealing with a complex dialogue between differing ideas of viewing the world through the lens of both postmodernism and modernism. Ndiritu writes "There is no coincidence in the fact that a resurgence of interest in Modernism in the western art world is occurring at the same ti me as countries in the ‘South’ – Brazil\, India\, China\, South Afri ca– are starting to flex their global economic muscle. Most modern insti tutions are out of sync with their audiences’ experiences and how global changes have eroded the relationship between audiences and collections. M useums are dying. Ndiritu sees shamanism as a way to re-activate the dying art space as a space for sharing\, participation and ethics. From prehist oric to modern times the shaman was not only the group healer and facilita tor of peace but also the creative\; the artist."\n\nThese are ideas are n ow given full expression at Bluecoat through the mixing of non-rationalist pedagogy\, videos of a traditional modernist painting school in Morocco a nd her lived research on community\, farming\, permaculture\, ecology to c reate a platform to discuss these topics. For example during the run of th e show Ndiritu will hold on Saturday\, July 6\, A History of Resistance w ith Grace Ndiritu on the intersections of hippie counterculture and radic al leftist activism. The conversation will begin with a discussion of Simo n Sadler's text "Mandalas or Raised Fists? Hippie Holism\, Panther Totalit y\, and Another Modernism" which unpacks California’s Bay Area 60s activ ist scene and the overlaps and distinctions between the Black Panthers and the activism that emerged around the Whole Earth Catalog\, a hippie alman ac published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972. The discussion will b e punctuated by short silent meditation breaks led by the artist.\n\nThis performative action is done to activate the exhibition at Bluecoat and ani mate its presence\, as a 'living' research project and not just as a 'dead ' historized' archive. And this rendering is displayed further within the exhibition publication that incorporates texts from The Ark participants a nd Ndiritu herself..\n\n \;\n\n \;\n\n \;\n\n\n\n \;\n\n&n bsp\;\n\nMore about Grace Ndiritu\n\nGrace Ndiritu is a British-Kenyan ar tist who\, in her work\, refers to issues of re-activating 'the dying art space' as a space for sharing\, participation and ethics i.e. Healing The Museum - as well as to problems connected with transformation of contempor ary world including\, in particular\, the impact of globalisation and aggr essive geopolitics.\n\nNdiritu took the radical decision in 2012 only to s pend time in the city when necessary\, and to otherwise live in rural\, al ternative and often spiritual communities while expanding her research int o nomadic lifestyles and training in esoteric studies such as shamanism\, which she began over 16 years ago. Her research so far has taken her to bo th Thai and Tibetan Buddhist monasteries\, permaculture communities in New Zealand\, forest tree dwellers in Argentina\, neo-tribal festivals such t he 'Burning Man' in Nevada\, a Hare Krishna ashram and the 'Findhorn' New Age community in Scotland. Her research into community life has so far res ulted in the founding of The Ark: Center For Interdisciplinary Experimenta tion.\n\nNdiritu has been included in the group exhibition In the Peaceful Dome at Bluecoat in 2017 and her work was also selected by Sonia Boyce fo r inclusion in her exhibition Like Love at Bluecoat in 2010. In 2018 Ndiri tu launched COVERSLUT© a new ‘Pay What You Can’ fashion label focused on democracy &\; class struggle\, that involves working with refugees and migrants. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload s/2019/02/Grace_Ndiritu_The_Ark_MED.png LOCATION:Bluecoat\, School Lane\, Liverpool\, L1 3BX\, Liverpool\, United K ingdom GEO:53.404542;-2.984173 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=School Lane\, Liverpool\, L 1 3BX\, Liverpool\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Bluecoat:geo :53.404542,-2.984173 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20190331T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR