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spamzineglasgow · 7 years

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(REVIEW) Tinkering with the Code of Reality: An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in GTA Online, Michael Crowe (Studio Operative)

Text by Denise Bonetti

>Between the 18th and the 20th October 1974, Oulipo BAE Georges Perec - a Pisces - sits in a Parisian cafe on Place Saint-Sulpice, meticulously recording in his notebook every detail of the busy life of the square. His eyes are alert to 'what happens when nothing happens'. The more inconsequential the particulars he manages to pick up on, examine, or classify, the more excited he seems to become:

'Means of locomotion: walking, two-wheeled vehicles (with and without motor), automobiles (private cars, company cars, rented cars, driving school cars), commercial vehicles, public services, public transport, tourist buses.'

>The conceptual/obsessive experiment in cataloguing is a response to a writing prompt of his own devising, published about a month before in a collection of essays on public and private spaces (the adorably-named Species of Spaces and Other Pieces). Perec's practical exercise calls for the reader/writer to carefully observe the street around them and note *everything* down: one must set about it slowly, 'almost stupidly'; forcing oneself to see the space 'more flatly'. 'If nothing strikes you', says Perec, then 'you don't know how to see'. As it turns out, Perec himself is really good at seeing: after 3 days on Place Saint-Sulpice, his notes are over 50 pages long - mainly one-line annotations about buses, passersby, pigeons, gestures, more buses. He calls it An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris.

>Perec made of this modality (a dry and neutral encyclopedic gaze at the unnoticed) a manifesto. In both writing and living, he called for a shift of attention from the exceptional to the ordinary, for an abandonment of the charmingly exotic in favour of the invisibly unexceptional - according to a philosophy he labels 'anthropology of the endotic'. In the essay 'Approaches to What?', in a somewhat self-referential aphorism, he remarks that 'railway trains only begin to exist when they are derailed, and the more passengers are killed, the more the trains exist.' That the ordinary, in other words, only lives in our attention as soon as it stops being ordinary.

>If this statement is true as it sounds, then, the virtual world of Grand Theft Auto Online must without a doubt be more real than the one we live in. The game's universe is expansive and hyperrealistic to the extent that navigating its space is an experience of an undecidable quality; the abundance of detail is so accurately mimetic and uncannily convincing it that the digital artifice both disappears into an ambient background, and never leaves the centre of the stage. The minutia of IRL city-walking, and of existing in a world that follows its own will (flecks of dust dancing in the wind, catching the sun; overheard fragments of strangers' phone conversations; the gas station attendant's body language in between serving customers), are alienated from us, digitally re-engineered, and presented back to us in the guise of a crime-ridden fictional world. In this sense, the GTA series is one of the most Perecquian exercises to ever exist. (Of course, amusingly enough, Perec's aphorism is also appropriate here on a more literal level: the game franchise is entirely built upon the premise that derailing trains - but also provoking car accidents, and especially murdering innocent pedestrians - is recommended if not required).

>Because of these underlying continuities between Perec's 'infraordinary' and the process of hyperrealistic world-making in sandbox video games, when I first read about Michael Crowe's re-enactment of Perec's experiment in GTA online (in a cafe, open-mouthed, holding a scone mid-air), I just blurted out 'Of course!' to the stranger sitting across from me. It made complete sense; the connection was there all along, only no one had ever written about it. In his wonderful introduction to the small volume, Jamie Sutcliffe confesses that he is 'jealous and frustrated [Crowe] got there first'. Although he follows this with praise for the book's undeniable 'inventiveness, inquisitiveness and relentless mirth,' I think the underlying reason for the (admittedly shared) envy is not only that Crowe exhausted a conceptual exercise skilfully, and in beautiful prose. He also hit a nerve, exposed a crucial side of the relationship between video games, literature, realism and simulation - and he did it playfully.

>At times, An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in GTA Online time follows closely Perec's model: it obsesses over weather, numbers and registration plates, the colour of people's clothes, passersby (especially women) eating things, commercial slogans, etc. Of course, these strong echoes can only highlight the essential polarities between the two universes: what in Perec's Paris is nature or chance (clouds, the pedestrians' trajectories, their conversations), is always artifice and intentionality in GTA. Even if the the game's phenomenology might be randomised, it is always layers of carefully contrived code that engender it: the player can never forgets this.

>One other definition that Perec devised for the kind of everydayness that escapes our perception is 'the infra-ordinary' - the swarm of details that hover just below the threshold of attention. If Perec's term is certainly appropriate for his preferred subject of writing, the choice of word seems even more significant in the context Crowe's Attempt because its meaning necessarily expands to the digital nature of the space explored. In the city-space of GTA, the 'endotic' and the 'infra' quite literally consist of the hidden workings below (or behind) the surface of game: the structure of its programming, the software's rationale - mechanisms that Crowe often lingers on, his phenomenological descriptions often slipping into conjectures about the game's logical engines:

'That woman is still parked at a green light. Melt down. As other cars approach they brake differently, some jerkily in stages, others in a smoother manner. The computer players seem to have different levels of driving proficiency.'

'There's a pristine jewellery exchange store opposite. Dilapidated buildings probably cost more to design and create in this game, as they would generally have far more detail. ... Directly opposite is the Elkridge Hotel. It can't be entered. I wonder what's inside. Is the book/cube poured full of colour, or transparency, with the road/pavement continuing on the floor? If hollow, how thin are the impenetrable walls?'

Crowe's asides often touch - more or less directly - upon questions of realism and effective simulation:

'The palm trees in front of me are slightly different heights. None look copied and pasted'

'It would be great if learner driver were going around, veering off cliffs, etc.'

'It's a shame there are no birds, it would add greatly to a sense of realism ... Perec had all kinds of pigeon action in his book'

>Even more interestingly, at times his observations go as far as hinting at the inherent opacity of the concept of mimetic representation itself: what is realism, when truly accurate depictions often seem even more surreal in their uncanny effect? Doesn't GTA's lifelike graphic rendering - like meticulously inventorial writing - draw attention to the very artifice of artistic creation?

'Very light rain. This slight rain seems realistic, but in Perec's reality the rain stops "very suddenly". If that happened in GTA it would seem like poor attention to detail'.

>In a review of Auerbach's Mimesis, Terry Eagleton elaborates on Brecht's idea that realism really is a matter of effect, not a matter of technique. The definition cannot be applied at the level of production or its methods, it has to depend on reception - at the level of reading, or, in this case - playing. Realism happens between the artwork and the audience's expectations; it's not about verisimilitude, or about whether a text (or video game) recalls something familiar; it's about whether or not the experience of the work matches an unmediated experience of reality: 'Realism is as realism does'.

>Eagleton concludes that 'artistic realism, then, cannot mean "represents the world as it is", but rather "represents it in accordance with conventional real-life modes of representing it". Realism as we normally understand it, then, has more to do with convention; it is more like an autonomous process of creation than a neutral mode of reporting. At one point, Crowe wonders 'what poets like T.S. Eliot would've added [to the game] by way of details within details'; the underlying idea here is that a deeper and deeper level of realism can only come from fabrication and designed artifice. A truly realistic world doesn't exist, it has to be manufactured and carefully weaved together. Perec, Eliot, the nerds at Rockstar Games: all mods, tinkering with code to fashion a world that feels more real than the invisible one we live in.

>The most prominent strand of reflections in Crowe's Attempt, however, is dedicated to imagining a future in which GTA is so utterly realistic that it surpasses reality itself. Crowe pictures the horizon towards which the GTA series is moving not only as a simulation indistinguishable from its original, but as a utopian uber-world populated by perfect AI characters:

'In future games, players will be able to chat with all computer characters about any topic, for any length of time. The only problem would be that the computer characters would likely find us too boring and go off to chat with another computer character that has also read every line of text and seen every film/artwork.'

'I wonder how detailed these games will become. Could growing a zit in the game affect your character's day? ... Could millions of players all live as microorganisms on the face of a GTA character?'

>The beautifully apocalyptic scale of Crowe's prophecy is made somewhat more ominous by the hazy, yet closed, temporal arc that his little book follows. Whereas Perec opens and concludes every section of his Attempt declaring the time window of his observations, Crowe rarely if never talks about the passage of time in the game ('I dont keep track of time as i should, here or irl'). The only real time marks - vague, atmospheric, possibly just conceptual - are in the names of the 5 sections the book is divided into: '(Daybreak)', '(Morning)', '(Break)', '(Nightfall)', '(Night)'. Crowe's 24-hour cycle - whether referring to IRL or GTA temporality - is possibly more compellingly symbolic than Perec's 3 days. The self-contained movement from dawn, to sunset, and then darkness, lends the volume a sense of closure that it would otherwise lack - given its status as a semi-conceptual exercise aimed at an inherently unattainable objective ('exhausting' a place).

>This explicitly closed timeline also means that Crowe's subject, and thus his literary project, assume more gravitas than one might expect. What could begin in the reader's mind as a playful pastiche actually becomes more like a tragedy, with Crowe's avatar helplessly standing and witnessing unstoppably violent events, most of which utterly gratuitous. The text is so ridiculously faithful to the Aristotelian unities of time and place (one day, one place), that one might turn a blind eye on its complete lack of any unity of action ('events strictly tied together as cause and effect, adding up to one single story' sounds pretty much like everything this book is not). The book does funny, but it also does serious, poetic - although possibly not cathartic. In a sense, Crowe's avatar is a bit like a postmodern Hamlet: a passive and melancholic intellectual antihero, surrounded by farcical death in a corrupted society.

>In the last section of Crowe's Attempt, '(Night)', the more beautifully poetic descriptive fragments that populate the book gradually increase in number as if to signal the nearing calmness of closure. These are nominal phrases that choose to go nowhere; many are about things that are far away, abandoned, or circular:

'A very high crane in the distance.' '1000s of lights visible from my spot.' 'The window lights have different hues, every light isn't just white. Slight yellow, greens.' 'One side of the sky is pink, the other blue, held apart by purple.' 'A plane flying by way off in the distance.' 'An ambulance is burnt out, two people inside burnt entirely black.' 'A human is spinning around in circles in their car (...).' 'Dropped cigarette on the floor.'

>Before you know it - much, much before the last section - you'll feel stupid for ever thinking this book would be just a parody to lol at, or a kool koncept show your other Highbrow x Lowbrow friends and pat each other on the back for knowing the experimental French literature reference. You'll be moved by how beautiful Los Santos can be - the geometry of its facade architecture; its computer-generated clouds drifting above sports cars, reflecting the light in coupé red or neon purple; private (NPC) citizens relaxing on benches or outside cafes, smoking, eating donuts, eating bagels, talking into their phones to their private (NPC) citizen friends about their job, their boyfriends, their drug problem. I won't say you'll forget the world you're in is a video game you're in - because Crowe won't let you - but I think you will stop caring.

>An Attempt at Exhausting a Pace in GTA Online is published by Studio Operative, and can be bought at Glasgow's Good Press, or here.

#review

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micaramel · 4 years

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Artists: Rosa Aiello, Camille Aleña, Adelhyd van Bender, Karin Borer, Patricia L. Boyd, Manuel Burgener, Lisa Herfeldt, Samuel Jeffery, Maggie Lee, K.R.M. Mooney, Kaspar Müller, Phung-Tien Phan, Vaclav Pozarek, Marta Riniker-Radich, Julia Scher, Richard Sides, Davide Stucchi, Sergei Tcherepnin, Angharad Williams, Amy Yao

Venue: Stadtgalerie Bern

Exhibition Title: Kasten

Date: February 28 – July 11, 2020

Curated By: Cédric Eisenring and Luca Beeler

Click here to view slideshow

Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.

Images:

Images courtesy of the artists and Stadtgalerie Bern

Press Release:

SAMUEL JEFFERY

Untitled, 2017

PVC, acrylic primer, insulating tape

30.5 x 47.5 x 28 cm

Untitled, 2019

PVC, acrylic primer, vintage car motor oil

30.5 x 50.5 x 32.5 cm

Two containers, formed from cut, heated and bent PVC sheets, are part of an ongoing series of works by Samuel Jeffery. Each is placed on a plinth. The container-like objects are treated with various materials and coated with hardware store paint. Seemingly manufactured according to precise standards, they nevertheless differ from one another in detail. The outer surface of Untitled (2019) has been treated with motor oil used for vintage classic engines. Much like a car, the box-works could be imagined as carriers of sorts, transport for unidentified transmissions. The motor oil and its mechanical associations only accentuate the containers’ state of inertia and give them a slightly nostalgic, military-industrial feel. Offsetting a longing for the bygone with the anticipation of pending action, these works look both backwards and forwards.

RICHARD SIDES

The slowest plane crash ever recorded in history, 2020

1-channel HD, monitor, concrete, plywood

120 x 50 x 25 cm

The slowest plane crash ever recorded in history—the title suggests an event so drawn out as to defy the event-focused, technical logic of media. Plywood covers the front face of Richard Sides’s work. One face broken up into four parts only allows indirect views from the face into the inner space of the concrete structure. The faces move toward the back in perspective, thus drawing the eye slowly into the interior toward a flickering light source—in a hypnotizing way, like watching an unstoppable, eternally dragged-out event. The title of the work is taken from a You-Tube commentary on the Prince Andrew interview, in which he tries for fifty minutes to wriggle himself out of the Epstein scandal.

K.R.M. MOONEY

Accord, A Chord I, 2016

Wood composite, vinyl, folded aluminum, steel, spray millet, cast silver, whistle, solder

Two parts: 45.7 x 35.6 x 7.6 cm; 53.3 x 45.7 x 7.6 cm

Composite board form the outer shell of Accord, A Chord I, initially installed in a residential shed that formerly served as a mechanic’s workshop, the work consists of two small, box-like sculptures placed directly on the floor. Incorporating materials with generative qualities or structures that shift with environmental factors, obscured within their interior are seeds and plants—some cast, others dried—that are used by humans and animals alike, normalizing alliances between materials with multiple associations. Linking participatory actors such as existing systems and their adjoining surroundings with sculptural form and behavior, K.R.M. Mooney’s works occupy intermediary positions between abstract, autonomous and the site-specific.

AMY YAO

Weeds, 2015

Artificial flowers, silicone, artificial nails

30.5 x 43 x 18 cm

Silk flowers, bones, plastic fingernails and nuts fill the volume of a transparent protective cover for pillows. These materials mark spaces where a specific domesticity and industrial production meet. The preserved and ever-blooming silk flowers are confronted with a logic of circulation and production in which waste is not a by-product, but a basic prerequisite. In this sense, Weeds also illustrates the extent to which the rigid separation of the categories “natural” and “artificial” is associated with a particular form of production.

5a / 5b

ROSA AIELLO

Resolve (tritone inward), 2020

2 motion-activated loudspeakers

Dimensions variable

Detecting movements in their vicinity, the sensors of the two small devices function as electrical switches. Motion activates

the integrated speaker causing each device to play a different chord: the first part of a two-part tritone. The devices are arranged in a particular order in the room. The first chord creates a feeling of anticipation or tension. The second erodes or fulfills the expectation. The minimal variances reinforce to an even greater degree the conditions in the space that are altered by the devices and show how the configuration of the room can impact lived experience.

LISA HERFELDT

Slithering, 2019

Acrylic glass, nylon fabric, polyester fleece

23 x 67 x 23 cm

These tongue-like objects perform synthetic affects. Transparent cubes of acrylic glass serve as containers for otherwise disembodied tongues.

MAGGIE LEE

Alfred Hitchcock Microchipped Pigeon, 2020

Packing tape, flock fiber, acrylic, photocopy

33 x 27.9 x 2.5 cm

Brown packing tape on canvas. Three photographs serve as labels for this visual package: a low-resolution print of a child’s antique bedframe, a cropped magazine image of a gift of flowers and a dove with a microchip on its head. Alfred Hitchcock Microchipped Pigeon can be interpreted as a suggested title for a fictional (and non-existent) film by Alfred Hitchcock. In attempting to describe the mechanisms of tension in his films, Alfred Hitchcock coined the term “MacGuffin.” The MacGuffin more or less describes any object or creature in a film that triggers or advances the action without serving another functional purpose. The externally controlled behavior of a microchipped pigeon or an unwanted gift could assume this function within the narrative implied here.

MARTA RINIKER-RADICH

A Frame of Cast Iron Lace, 2018

Color pencil and pencil on paper

29.7 x 21 cm

MARTA RINIKER-RADICH

The Vapors, 2019

Color pencil and pencil on paper

29.7 x 21 cm

The tiny vanity cases depicted in the series of drawings by artist Marta Riniker-Radich address the privileged aspect of personal care that allows us to isolate ourselves, to think about ourselves and only about ourselves and no one else. The cases condense domestic space, with its promise of providing protection from the outside world, creating in the process an ever-threatening negative pressure. The meticulous technique of colored pencil drawings only reinforce the latent feeling of tense silence. The space of the box is often the starting point for Marta Riniker-Radich to formulate her drawings: both enclosed and infinite, like a magic box with a false bottom.

KASPAR MÜLLER

Ohne Titel, 2020

Wood, metal, coins, lacquer, acrylic paint, glitter, rhinestones

46 x 16 x 32 cm

As is evident, this object served as a historical medicine chest while it has not necessarily been stripped of its original function. In working with the object, the artist has only altered its status. As a box coated in layers, Ohne Titel is suggestive of various temporalities: the artist’s time in the studio, the time of the material, historicism. A seductive patina that serves any desire for authenticity but remains permanently unfulfilled at the same time.

PATRICIA L. BOYD

SL-1200MK2 Face: Christian Andersen, 10/25/19-12/21/19, 2019–2020

Used cooking fat, wax, damar resin, particle board

63 x 54 x 10 cm

SL-1200MK2 Face: Christian Andersen, 10/25/19–12/21/19 is part of an ongoing series of works by artist Patricia L. Boyd.

The works in the series go through various stages, forming links with the physical and logistical architecture of an institution

or gallery: the negative forms, cast from a mixture of used cooking fat, wax and damar resin, are embedded on site into

the walls of the exhibiting gallery or institution. The cast is held in place by particle board that is integrated into the gallery

wall. Like a prosthesis, the piece of particle board is not only attached to but also alters and reconfigures the work. After the

closing of the exhibition, the negative form and plate are removed and converted into a free-standing sculpture (box), which

can now be circulated and shown in any number of subsequent exhibitions. The exhibition dates and name of the location

where it was exhibited first is then added to the work’s title. The various negative forms are from components of two objects

Patricia L. Boyd purchased at the liquidation sale of a San Francisco-based tech company: a Herman Miller Aeron office

chair and a Technics SL–1200 record player.

MANUEL BURGENER

Untitled, 2017

Glass, cardboard, LED, alcoholic spirits

43.5 x 25.5 x 44 cm

The volume of the glass cube on the bottom is derived from that of the shipping package of Sia Abrasives sandpaper. The cardboard box is positioned in such a way that it defies all structural logic; opening it up is the only way to release the glass structure that supports it. Found inside is a bottle with self-distilled gin and glasses—a situation visitors can activate.

CAMILLE ALEÑA

Fortnum and Mason, 2017

9 music boxes, Arduino board

41ø x 17 cm

Fortnum and Mason consists of music boxes from the eponymous British luxury department store. Imprinted with a horse carousel, the nostalgic product is both a biscuit tin and music box. For Camille Aleña’s work the original melodies and rotary motors have been retained, transformed and rearranged into a ghostly choreography that repeats every six minutes.

ANGHARAD WILLIAMS

Wet flannel on my side like the saddle on a horse, 2016–2020

Paper, air-dried clay, acrylic ink, hinges, storage box

55 x 18 x 78 cm

Angharad William’s plastic boxes are micro scenes. Oscillating between makeshift display cases and material storage boxes, they create certain reading contexts for the texts that accompany them: stories that feed on despair, vulgarity and seduction. The objects illustrate collages of absent characters – remnants taken from the stories. The box presented at the Stadtgalerie is part of this ongoing series.

DAVIDE STUCCHI

Her Mess, 2019

Carton, various unloaded items

38 x 13 x 6 cm

Her Mess, 2019

Carton, various unloaded items

38 x 13 x 5 cm

Her Mess, 2019

Carton, various unloaded items

38 x 13 x 4 cm

Her Mess, 2019

Carton, various unloaded items

38 x 13 x 3 cm

“Personal effects is a mind-boggling way to phrase belongings. I love word plays, especially when English is not our native language so we take ‹meanings› / etymology even more literally—at least I do. It exposes the limits of one’s cognitive abilities, and the labour to keep up with everyday flows. […] Personal effects, titles of my works such as Her Mess or Neck Laced are a lovely way to situate the pieces on a timeline of actions. It definitely feels the works conjure an absent user. The many signifiers point to their class/societal position. To me it came across distinctively bourgeois. It’s incredible to grasp the residue people leave in our lives, especially how immaterial it is mostly. Scents, body areas once touched by lovers and friends, specific times of the day. I don’t know how this happened, but every now and then for years I turn my head to see the time and it is 4:40pm, or around that hour. I used to wait for a really good friend of mine, who I was deeply obsessed and in love with, to meet and have a snack after school. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”

Davide Stucchi in correspondence with Bruno Zhu

SERGEI TCHEREPNIN

Baby Box #2 (Ringing Rock Stages of Production), 2013

Steel, copper, transducer, amplifier, iPod

18 x 18 x 18 cm

The object Baby Box # 2 (Ringing Rock Stages of Production), featuring a copper tongue and a steel box, is a sound sculpture that works simultaneously as a loudspeaker and an instrument. The box belongs to a group of sound system-based works, characters that encourage interaction. The material configurations and their specific sounds allow viewers to navigate around using their ears and bodies.

JULIA SCHER

For fairness (Pink and Black box), 2019

3-print, paint, cotton glove

3 x 9.5 x 9.5 cm

Artist Julia Scher’s box is a hybrid: deeply rooted in everyday regular boxes, it nevertheless points to the hybridity of future conditions. It could provide support, protection, and nourishment for a range of functions and activities for future entities. Its construction and materiality shifts between the domestic (storage, preservation, cupboard and table) and the terrestrial: it is made out of minerals, cellulose, natural adhesives and colour. Inside the box is a white cotton glove, but it could basically host anything one might deem necessary. Based on a source code, the design is reproducible with any 3D-printer: the code merely suggests an initial state from which to derive new functions and meanings.

A hybridity of theme- a unique artwork

A hybridity of making- a formal articulation that celebrates the uniqueness of any making

A hybrid of assembly- a combination usually called montage or collage

It seems built for one hand but can suggest the expression of multiplicity.

Can (anything) work together…as one?

Julia Scher

KARIN BORER

Danger, 2018

Charred wood

43 x 6 x 190 cm

The dark surfaces of the ceiling-mounted wooden box have been burned and carbonized—a traditional technique to prevent insect attacks. The box has slits on the bottom and sides. These form links between different habitats. Karin Borer’s work aims to generate intersecting gazes: human and non-human. Here she plays with aspects of the box as addressing the registers of visibility and non-visibility.

18a

DAVIDE STUCCHI

Personal Effects, 2019

Cardboard, adhesive tape

83 x 15 x 15 cm

18b

Infusion d`Iris, 2019

Plexiglass, perfume packaging

23 x 17 x 17 cm

PHUNG-TIEN PHAN

Lil Emo, 2019

Toy trucks, photographs in wooden display cases with sliding glass panels

Each 60 x 80 x 9.5 cm

The work Lil Emo by artist Phung-Tien Phan consists of six commercial display cases. Photographs of male, international pop stars, actors, musicians, models and writers appear as reified rites of passage: a specific collection representative of certain fragile ideas, memories, concepts and masculine imagery, and also of a certain biography and its social background. The images are juxtaposed with a collection of toy trucks of primarily German companies and brands. They suggest different ideas about cultural identification, masculinity and coming of age. Beyond the aspect of adopting things for personal usage, both collections refer to larger industrial and infrastructural links. The objects are arranged into a single letter inside each display case; together they form the title of the work: Lil Emo.

ADELHYD VAN BENDER

Untitled (1–14), 1999–2014

Cardboard, metal handles and rivets, adhesive tape, varying contents

Each about 50 x 37 x 25 cm

Folders and boxes serve as physical structures in Adelhyd van Bender’s work, whose cryptic systematization employs graphic and scientific means, repetition and variation. Against the backdrop of impending self-destruction during the Cold War, Adelhyd van Bender developed an obsessive fascination with atomic radiation that preoccupied him up to his death in 2014. Repeatedly appearing in his countless drawings are geometrical diagrams reminiscent of atomic models, orders of the universe or mystical models – like the Sefiroth of the Kabbalah. These also include missile-like structures, maps of alleged nuclear power plants in Germany, plans for the city of Moscow and radiation warning signs. The status of the contents inside the fourteen commercial and variously patterned storage boxes remains unclear. The A4 sheets, often copied multiple times and in some cases showing slight variances, are most likely original material the artist intended to work on further. The boxes also contain official documents – some of which also reappear in drawings – mail-order catalogs, magazines and other material.

LISA HERFELDT

Lilac Licker 3, 2019

Acrylic glass, nylon fabric, polyester fleece

45 x 23 x 11 cm

22a

VACLAV POZAREK

Geschlossen, 2016

Wood, painted

75 x 71 x 100 cm

22b

VACLAV POZAREK

Wandrelief halboffen, 2002

Wood, painted

44 x 72 x 57 cm

Terms such as geschlossen [closed], halb offen [half-open], offen halb offen halb leer [open half-open half-empty], or offen [open] are recurring titles or additions to titles in the work of Vaclav Pozarek. They describe an object’s state. The often reappears in Vaclav Pozarek’s sculptures, drawings and photographs. Even the crates used to transport his works, made by the artist himself, look like stand-alone works. The sculptural boxes create space—both visible and invisible. They require no pedestals and most are themselves support structures. Vaclav Pozarek also frequently creates display cases, shelves and entire exhibition arrangements.

Link: “Kasten” at Stadtgalerie Bern

from Contemporary Art Daily https://bit.ly/3bCsZUj

#micaramel

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5axismachiningchina · 7 years

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Cool Swiss Machining Service China images

Posted from 5 axis machining China blog

Cool Swiss Machining Service China images

A few nice swiss machining service china images I found:

MakerBay in South China Morning Post cover Image by cesarharada.com Credits Christine Yeh www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1901185/hong-kongs-makerba…

Cesar Harada , founder of MakerBay, with "Protei", a revolutionary shape-shifting sailing robot used to explore and protect the ocean with Open Source Technologies. It took inventors Cesar Harada and Shawn Frayne just a couple of days to create their latest product – an inexpensive children’s building toy consisting of colourful plastic rods with magnetised ends.

Both men’s core expertise lies elsewhere: Harada designs flexible robotic boats that can be used on environmental missions; Frayne launched a micro-wind device company and went on to run Looking Glass, a start-up making 3D displays.

Their collaboration came about because both are part of MakerBay, the shared production space Harada set up a little more than a year ago in Yau Tong, where hobbyists and inventors alike can gather to tinker, build, invent – and learn from each other.

Cesar Harada, founder of MakerBay in Yau Tong. Photo: David Wong Cesar Harada, founder of MakerBay in Yau Tong. Photo: David Wong

“The idea is a space like this where collaboration happens organically and we can invent something quickly. [Creating something] doesn’t have to be a very long journey. If you’re in the right place, with the right people and a lot of tools, and you build a network that supports these people, then the journey can be much faster,” Harada says.

Being a maker changes the perception of the world. You don’t feel limited. You feel that the world can be changedCESAR HARADA “We wanted to make a toy for children without money, without space, and one that we can make very quickly. And so we made a drawing, found some straws in the kitchen and some magnets in the office and we put them together. We ordered more parts from Taobao next day and in 48 hours we had the prototype.”

The maker movement, which former Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson described as “the web generation creating physical things rather than just pixels on screens”, is a nascent one in Hong Kong.

Dim Sum Labs in Sheung Wan, the first hacker space in the city, has been joined only by MakerHive, a small co-working space in Kennedy Town, and Harada’s MakerBay, which occupies a 6,500 sq ft space in an industrial building and provides tools from screwdrivers and soldering irons to laser cutters and 3D printers.

Tools at MakerBay located in an industrial building in Yau Tong. Photo: David Wong Tools at MakerBay located in an industrial building in Yau Tong. Photo: David Wong

But they bring together diverse talents. MakerBay has attracted hobbyists such as Andrew Pearce, a frequent traveller using his stay in Hong Kong to create his dream surfboard, as well as companies such as Frayne’s Looking Glass.

British ecologist and MakerBay member Andrew Pearce in the MakerBay workshop. Photo: David Wong British ecologist and MakerBay member Andrew Pearce in the MakerBay workshop. Photo: David Wong

Originally based in Kwun Tong, the company moved to MakerBay shortly after it opened.

Alvin Lee Shiu-pong, an engineer at Looking Glass, says he and his colleagues find the co-working platform a great place for developing new products.

“We can meet a lot of like-minded people and share our ideas. The workshop is really convenient. Having our own tool lab would require a big investment; it’s much cheaper if we can share the tools.”

Lee says the “volumetric” displays they specialise in would be useful for the medical world and beyond.

“Instead of dissecting bodies or looking at 2D images from books, students can use a volumetric display to learn about human bodies,” he says, gesturing towards a transparent brick inked with a detailed 3D display of the structures inside a skull.

“All we need is to process the 3D information we’ve obtained [to form the display] and assign colours according to the different densities identified – a higher density would indicate bone and lower ones can be blood, flesh or tendon,” he explains.

The same process could be applied to learn about the structures of insects or even micro-organisms, adds Lee, whose team is refining the next big thing from Looking Glass – a cube which can display LED sequences based on code that a user has written.

British ecologistPearce shares his enthusiasm for the hacker space. Tired of paying hefty airline charges to ship his surfboards and of buying boards that don’t meet his preferences, he decided to make his own. He has been making good use of the tools at MakerBay and picking up skills at its workshops to experiment with different materials and methods of making surfboards.

“It’s just a nice way of learning things,” says Pearce. “It’s the first time I tried to make something. Here, I’ve figured out how to make designs in 3D and make them with the laser cutter. I’ve done an induction workshop on woodworking, too. And if I managed somehow to get this new technique of building down then I guess it can be a saleable idea.

“I do have a mini Simmons [surfboard] but I can’t take it with me because of all the charges for the airline. You’ve got this limit on the MTR as well, which is even smaller – you can’t even take something as high as yourself. That’s why I have to design something that slots together, which is difficult.”

L3D Cube. L3D Cube.

Pearce might have picked up a few ideas at the Maker Faire Hong Kong in November, when veteran model maker Chung King-yang showed a foldable canoe made from plastic foam and epoxy resin.

The two-day event, which drew entries from more than 300 individual makers and schools, was organised by Dr Choy Sze-tsan.

An assistant professor in the school of design at Polytechnic University, Choy previously sponsored a mini event run by the Hong Kong Makers’ Club. But after three years, he decided it was time to turn the faire into a bigger event and involve more schools.

Harada presented his building toy at the event and the positive feedback has encouraged him to put it on the market soon. As might be expected, Dim Sum Labs was also present and ran soldering workshops.

Hong Kong traditionally is more service- and finance-oriented. People here are less about making things. They’re more about transactionsJASON HSU Visitors got the chance to test-drive underwater robots made by German Swiss International School, get their hands on different maker items and, more importantly, be inspired.

While conventional fairs tend to be places to sell things, Maker Faires are all about nurturing creativity and sharing of knowledge, Choy says.

At its heart, design covers the broader intention to identify problems and come up with solutions to improve our world, which has a lot to do with the maker culture, he adds; it’s not simply about enhancing aesthetics.

So although some people may consider items featured at the show to be useless stuff, the ideas may be the genesis of something far bigger.

“A successful invention comes not overnight, but after tonnes of experimentations. At the Maker Faire, people can see so many different possibilities of solving problems creatively, it’s impossible for them not to get inspired,” Choy says.

“The maker culture is a great catalyst for people to reconnect back to our physical world and learn through failures and trial and error. Through making and the uncertainties that arise from the process, we venture into the unknown. And if there’re glitches, it’s OK because they keep us trying even harder.”

Harada agrees: “Everyone in their heart has the desire to do something exciting with their life and if you only work on a computer, there’re some limitations. But once you start to make something, you can build an object or change the environment.

“Being a maker changes the perception of the world. You don’t feel limited. You feel that the world can be changed and that’s true for everything from objects to buildings to politics.”

Some enthusiasts view the maker movement as holding the seeds to a third industrial revolution. Jason Hsu Yu-jen, founder of Taiwan’s MakerBar, goes so far as to say that our future may lie in the maker culture.Navigating a power drill kart made by Wheel Thing Makers. Navigating a power drill kart made by Wheel Thing Makers.

“MakerBar is more than just a co-working space. It has evolved to become a global platform,” says Hsu, who was in Hong Kong last month to speak at a symposium organised by the Hong Kong Federation of Design Associations.

“Most people think about makers as a business model. That’s wrong. The maker culture is not just about [using] 3D printing or laser cutters. [Being a] maker is a mindset. It’s a way to solve problems creatively.

“What you see as the maker movement today is what internet or software was back in the early ’80s when Steve Jobs first launched the Macintosh personal computers. In the future, because of de-monetisation and democratisation of technology, the cost for technology would be almost free and you need to use your service to make money, not with the machine.

“The maker culture is important for its social engineering effect. It could be a new tool to change society, especially in the developing world. In the countryside or farm communities in remote China, makers could be used as a hub to change villagers’ life. It will change villagers’ life the way e-commerce will change China. That’s my vision.”

Jason Hsu, of MakerBar Taipei. Photo: Jonathan Wong Jason Hsu, of MakerBar Taipei. Photo: Jonathan Wong

However, compared to the mushrooming maker spaces in Taiwan and Shenzhen, the movement in Hong Kong clearly has a long way to go.

This lag is because “Hong Kong traditionally is more service- and finance-oriented. People here are less about making things. They’re more about transactions,” Hsu says.

The perception of making as a non-profit activity is certainly a factor in Hongkongers’ lack of involvement, Choy concedes. “But in fact, besides cultural and intellectual elements, there can be economic value,” he says. “Take Japan’s Maywa Denki, for instance. Their quirky musical inventions which they perform popular shows with are their source of income.”

MakerBay’s Harada says another reason why the maker culture has been so slow to develop in the city is because “the mentality of Hong Kong has been educated too much towards competition and not towards collaboration”.

“They have been trying more to take advantage of each other instead of helping each other. This has to change,” he says.

“In Silicon Valley this culture of maker space, sharing and excellent innovation has been around for 15 years and this is why Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley. People young and old have to open their minds, be willing to experiment and share the resources instead of keeping things to themselves.”

That Was the Year That Was – 1986 Image by brizzle born and bred 1986 Following a number of trouble free years in Space Exploration the Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after take off watched by people live on TV around the world. The Internet Mail Access Protocol defined which opens the way for E-Mail and the same year the Human Genome Project is launched to understand the Human Makeup , this will open the way for great advances in the treatment of many illnesses. The worst ever Nuclear Disaster occurs as the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station Explodes causing the release of radioactive material across much of Europe. In the UK (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease is identified which causes many deaths over the next few years and a major reform in farming practices.

In the year the Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme was assassinated in Stockholm, a nuclear reactor at Chernobyl (Ukraine) exploded, and Samora Machel, the President of Mozambique, died in a plane crash. In the world of music, the most dominant chart-toppers, each with 4 weeks at number 1, were Billy Ocean, the Communards, Berlin and the Christmas hit by Jackie Wilson ‘Reet Petite’.

The mid-1980s were a time of economic uncertainty coming on the back of a deep recession. In 1986, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, Sir Alex Ferguson had just become manager of Manchester United and a soap opera called Eastenders had been running for a year. The year began with a bitter winter and average February temperatures of -1.2C (29.8F). Newspaper printers and police clashed outside News International’s printing plant in Wapping as thousands of demonstrators protested at new working conditions and the move to east London from the famous Fleet Street.

The US launched air strikes against Libya, killing dozens of people in Tripoli after President Reagan said Colonel Gaddafi’s country was behind a night club bombing in West Berlin that killed two American soldiers. Lady Thatcher had supported the campaign. At home, a new series called Bread was aired for the first time, depicting life in Lady Thatcher’s Britain. Set in Liverpool and featuring the Boswell family, the sitcom became the biggest show in the UK as it responded to the troubles many were facing at the time. The show followed the Catholic family’s struggles with money – hence the title – and attracted more than 21 million viewers when Aveline married the Protestant vicar Oswald in 1988.

Assembled In Britain (1986)

BMC Sows The Seeds Of It’s Own Destruction With The Mini?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIo_uJ2qiCI

The Christmas Day TV of Christmas 1986 proved to be a major success for the BBC…

Christmas 1986 will be long remembered for the incredible ratings achieved by BBC1 due to some very canny scheduling. But what else was going on at the time?

In the News: 1986 saw the wedding of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson, in an age when Royal Weddings still meant something. Press barons Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwell entered a newspaper circulation war. In a key year for the press, The Independent newspaper was launched and Eddie Shah launched the first full colour daily tabloid, Today.

In Sport: Maradona’s "hand of god" sank England’s chances in the Mexico World Cup. On the domestic front, Liverpool topped Division One and beat rivals Everton to the FA Cup. Oxford United won the League Cup. Frank Bruno was stateside in the big boxing clash of the year against Tim Witherspoon, while Edinburgh hosted the Commonwealth games. Motor racing driver Nigel Mansell was named BBC Sports Personality for 1986

Top of the charts: An unlikely Christmas hit for The Housemartins with the acapella Caravan of Love. Europe’s anthemic Final Countdown was at number three whilst at number two a clever claymation video ensured Reet Petite by the late Jackie Wilson was bound for the summit.

At the Box Office: Paul Hogan’s Crocodile Dundee began a nine week stay at the top holding off the fantasy adventure Labyrinth. Back To The Future was the biggest film in the UK in 1986 followed by Rocky IV, Out Of Africa and Top Gun. Brit comedy Clockwise, which starred John Cleese at his manic best, came a creditable eighth.

On TV Christmas Day (Thursday December 25th 1986)

BBC1 8am Play School 8,20am The Muppet Babies 8.45am Roland Rat-The Series 9.10am Papa Panov’s Special Day 9.25am This Is the Day 10am FILM: The Pure Hell of St.Trinians 11.30am Christmas Morning With Noel 1.25pm Every Second Counts 2pm Top Of The Pops Christmas Party 3pm The Queen 3.10pm FILM: Annie, The Musical 5.15pm News 5.25pm Russ Abbott Christmas Show 6pm Just Good Friends 6.35pm EastEnders (Part One) 7.05pm Only Fools And Horses: A Royal Flush 8.20pm Miss Marple: Murder At The Vicarage 10pm EastEnders (Part Two) 10.30pm News 10.40pm FILM: Educating Rita 12.30am Weather

ITV 6.15am TV AM 9.25am Disney At Christmas 10.00am Christmas Family Service 11.00am He Man and She Ra Christmas Special 11.40am FILM: Swiss Family Robinson 2pm Ark Royal Rock Show 3pm The Queen 3.10pm FILM: Dumbo 4.20pm Strike It Lucky! 4.55pm News 5pm Cinderella-pantomime 6.30pm FILM: Never Say Never Again 9pm A Duty Free Christmas 10pm News 10.10pm Agatha Christie’s Dead Man’s Folly

1986 saw Michael Grade’s sweeping changes come to fruition.This was the year of the EastEnders Christmas specials when an incredible 30 million viewers were glued to the soap opera as Den and Angie finally ended their turbulent marriage. The Radio Times even carried phone numbers to call "if you were affected by the issues raised". Commendable, but not really what you want to see on the Christmas Day billings pages…

At 11.30am Noel Edmonds presented a live show from the top of the Telecom tower. The show’s format had undergone some changes since its inception in 1984 as The Live, Live Breakfast Christmas Show, most notably a necessary name change. This year we were perhaps surprised to see Noel at all on Christmas Day given only weeks earlier the death of Michael Lush had ended his Late, Late Breakfast Show in the most tragic circumstances.

Annie was the big afternoon kids film and the early evening featured specials from Russ Abbot (a recent recruit from ITV) and the last-ever Just Good Friends. In the middle of the EastEnders "sandwich" was the now traditional Only Fools and Horses. In a surprisingly subdued episode, played without canned laughter, Rodney fell for an uppercrust Duke’s daughter, only for Del to see an opportunity to join the country set. Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple investigated The Murder at The Vicarage. BBC1’s late film was a premiere for Educating Rita, Willy Russell’s witty campus comedy starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters.

Meanwhile on ITV, cartoons were the order of the day with a He Man and She Ra Christmas Special and the classic Disney film Dumbo. Michael Barrymore was making his name with Strike It Lucky! and James Bond was an ITV Christmas tradition, this year in the form of a be-wigged Sean Connery making his return after a 12 year break in Never Say Never Again. The film was dismissed by the regular Bond producer Cubby Broccoli, who feared it might harm the chances of Roger Moore’s Octopussy. Duty Free presented an extended holiday episode in keeping with most sitcoms of the time. ITV also screened an Agatha Christie mystery Dead Man’s Folly, to pick up viewers from Miss Marple no doubt.

BBC2 celebrated the directorial work of Vincente Minnelli (Liza’s dad) in the alliteratively titled Minnelli Musical. Later, there was a live Christmas concert from Amsterdam, while the classic Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau film The Fortune Cookie was a part of a short season of Billy Wilder films. BBC2 celebrated the 85th birthday of composer Aaron Copeland and then screened Edith and Marcel, a film drama based on the obsessive and destructive relationship between 40s French icons, Edith Piaf and Marcel Cerdan.

A true Geek highlight followed the film as Robert Powell told the first of five "chilling tales for dark winter nights". MR James’ The Mezzotint was tonight’s chiller. If the premise seems a bit Jackanory then it would come as no surprise the Jackanory production team were behind the series! Billy Wilder film Fedora was BBC2’s Christmas Day late film. Channel Four only four years old already had something of a tradition in the regular Christmas Day showing of Raymond Briggs animation The Snowman…

And in the Radio Times… Oh dear! Okay, so I’m no fan of soap opera (least of all EastEnders) but for the Christmas issue of the (then) best-selling magazine in Britain this is, quite frankly, an awful cover. This just feels calculated at worst and lazy at best. To be fair, EastEnders was huge at the time so it would certainly generate sales yet when everyone who wanted a BBC Christmas listings guide had to buy RadioTimes there is little reason the cover should be anything other than purely decorative. This was the only year I’ve felt embarrassed buying the magazine.

On the positive side it was followed by two beautifully illustrated covers for Christmas 1987 and 1988. Tellingly perhaps, the 1988 issue is officially the biggest magazine sale ever in this country. Some 11.2 million people purchased the magazine that year. As for this one? Just over ten million sales…

1986 Timeline

January – Production of the Vauxhall Belmont compact saloon begins, giving buyers a traditional saloon alternative to the Astra hatchback and estate models.

9 January – Michael Heseltine resigns as Defence Secretary over the Westland affair.

After three successive monthly falls in unemployment, the jobless count for December 1985 increased by nearly 15,000 to 3,181,300.

12 January – Game show Catchphrase begins on ITV hosted by Roy Walker along with the computer generated character Mr. Chips.

20 January – The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel, which they hope to open by the early 1990s.

24 January – Leon Brittan resigns as Trade and Industry Secretary over the Westland affair.

31 January – Unemployment for this month has increased to 3,204,900 – a postwar high which accounts for 14.4% of the workforce.

February – Heavy snow and sub zero temperatures affected most of Britain during the month.

6 February – The government scraps plans to sell Austin Rover to Ford.

12 February – The Franco-British Channel Fixed Link Treaty is signed at Canterbury as the Channel Tunnel plans move forward.

15 February – In the Wapping dispute, fifty-eight people are arrested by police at a demonstration.

17 February – The UK signs the Single European Act.

4 March – The national tabloid newspaper Today launches. It pioneers the use of computer photo typesetting and full-colour offset printing at a time when British national newspapers are still using Linotype machines and letterpress.

5 March – The High Court disqualifies and fines 81 Labour councillors for failing to set a rate.

13 March – The Sun newspaper alleges that comedian Freddie Starr ate a live hamster.

18 March – Inheritance Tax replaces Capital Transfer Tax.

19 March – Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson; they will be married later this year.

23 March – Chelsea are the first winners of the Football League’s new Full Members Cup, beating Manchester City 5-4 in the final at Wembley, although Manchester City clawed the deficit to a single goal in the last five minutes after being 5-1 down.

29 March – The first high-speed catamaran ferry is introduced into service in the British Isles, HSC Our Lady Patricia on Sealink British Ferries’ Portsmouth–Ryde passage.

31 March – The Greater London Council is abolished, as are the metropolitan county councils of West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne and Wear, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.

A fire causes extensive damage at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey.

The Haig Pit, Whitehaven, Cumbria closes.

April – Hanson Trust concludes its takeover of the Imperial Group for £2.5 billion.

7 April – Clive Sinclair sells rights to ZX Spectrum and other inventions to Amstrad.

15 April – The government’s Shops Bill 1986, which would have liberalised Sunday shopping, is defeated in the House of Commons on its second reading: the Thatcher government’s only defeat in the Commons.

17 April – Journalist John McCarthy is kidnapped in Beirut, where three other hostages are found dead. The Revolutionary Cells (RZ) claims responsibility as revenge for the recent American bombing of Libya.

A treaty is signed, ending the supposed Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years’ War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.

20 April – Oxford United, who only joined the Football League in 1962 and are in the First Division for the first time, win the Football League Cup with a 3-0 win over Queens Park Rangers at Wembley.

28 April – The first phase of the MetroCentre, Europe’s largest indoor shopping centre, in Gateshead, is opened. The remainder of the centre is set to open this autumn.

29 April – The Duchess of Windsor is buried at Frogmore.

30 April – Rioting erupts overnight in prisons across Britain. Dozens of prisoners escape, while prisoners at Stafford Prison set the prison canteen alight by smashing windows and dumping a burning mattress onto the roof. The worst disturbances come at Northeye Prison in Sussex, where a 70-strong mob of prisoners takes over the jail and sets fire to the canteen, hospital wing and sports hall.

May – The last Talbot badged passenger cars are built in Britain and France by Peugeot, who will continue making their own cars at the former Rootes Group plant near Coventry and the former Simca production facilities in France. Peugeot is to continue the Talbot brand for commercial vehicles, and production of the Horizon range will continue in Spain and Finland until next year.

2 May – Liverpool win the Football League First Division title for a record 16th time after winning 1-0 at Chelsea. Kenny Dalglish, in his first season as the club’s player-manager, scores the goal which gives Liverpool the title.

8 May – Labour makes large gains in local council elections, collecting 37% of the votes nationally compared to the Conservatives on 34% and the Alliance on 26%.

These are the first national elections to be held since the recent abolition of the metropolitan councils.

10 May – The first all Merseyside FA Cup final ends in a 3–1 win for Liverpool over Everton, who become only the third team this century to win the double, having already secured the Football League First Division title.

21 May – The Harrison Birtwistle opera The Mask of Orpheus premiers in London.

10 June – Patrick Joseph Magee found guilty of the Brighton hotel bombing of 20 months ago and sentenced to life imprisonment.

12 June – Derek Hatton, leader of Liverpool council, is expelled from the Labour Party for belonging to the entryist Militant group.

Austin Rover is renamed the Rover Group four years after the name change from British Leyland.

22 June – The England national football team’s hopes of winning the World Cup are ended with a 2–1 defeat in the quarter-finals by Argentina, a game in which Diego Maradona is allowed a blatantly handballed goal.

23 June – Patrick Magee is jailed for life for the Brighton bombing of October 1984 as well as other IRA bombings.

24 June – Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party stage protest at dissolution of Northern Ireland Assembly.

29 June – Richard Branson beats the speed record for a transatlantic crossing by boat in Virgin Atlantic Challenger II but is denied the Blue Riband award.

The World Cup ends in Mexico with Argentina as winners and West Germany runners-up, but England’s Gary Lineker wins the Golden Boot, having finished as the competition’s leading scorer with six goals. Lineker, who has been at Everton for the last year and was the First Division’s top scorer, is reported to be on the verge of a transfer to FC Barcelona of Spain.

July – Nissan begins production of the Bluebird at its landmark factory near Sunderland.

1 July – Gary Lineker becomes the most expensive British footballer ever in a £2.75 million move from Everton to FC Barcelona.

2 July – 24 hours after Gary Lineker’s transfer, Ian Rush sets a new transfer record for a British footballer when he agrees a £3.2 million move from Liverpool to Juventus of Italy, but is loaned back to Liverpool for a season and will not play his first game for Juventus until at least August 1987.

4 July – A policeman is cleared of the manslaughter of five-year-old John Shorthouse, who was killed in an armed raid on a house in Birmingham in August last year.

10 July – Austin Rover launches its new Honda-based Rover 800 executive car, which replaces the decade-old Rover SD1 and is part of a joint venture with Japanese carmaker Honda. The car will also be sold in America under the Sterling marque. The Honda version will be badged as the Honda Legend.

12 July – Rioting breaks out at Portadown in Northern Ireland between Protestants and Catholics.

17 July – It is announced that unemployment rose to 3,220,400 in June. It has now exceeded 3 million for nearly five years.

21 July – A report finds that 20% of British children are now born out of wedlock.

23 July – Prince Andrew, Duke of York, marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London.

24 July – 2 August – The Commonwealth Games are held in Edinburgh.

28 July – Estate agent Suzy Lamplugh vanishes after a meeting in London.

30 July – A MORI poll shows that Labour are now nine points ahead of the Conservatives with 41% of the vote, with Liberal/SDP Alliance support now at 25%.

8 August – Rival gangs of Manchester United and West Ham United fans clash on a Sealink ferry bound for Amsterdam where the two clubs are playing pre-season friendlies. The UEFA ban on English clubs in European competitions is continuing for a second season, and there are now fears that English clubs may not even be able to play friendlies overseas.

13 August – The Eurotunnel Group is formed to operate the Channel Tunnel.

15 August – The latest MORI poll shows that the Conservatives have eliminated Labour’s nine-point lead and drawn level with them by gaining 37% in the latest opinion poll, in the space of just over two weeks.

16 August – Figures released by the government reveal that a record of nearly 3,100,000 people claimed unemployment benefit last month, although the official total of unemployed people in Britain is still short of the record of nearly 3,300,000 which was set two years ago.

19 August – The Privatisation of the National Bus Company begins with the first sale of a bus operating subsidiary, Devon General, in a management buyout.

22 August – John Stalker, deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester police, is cleared of misconduct over allegations of associating with criminals.

25 August – Economists warn that a global recession is imminent, barely five years after the previous recession.

29 August – Britain’s oldest twins, May and Marjorie Chavasse, celebrate their 100th birthday.

September – GCSE examination courses replace both GCE ‘O’ Level and CSE courses for 14-year olds.

6 September – First episode of medical drama serial Casualty airs on BBC One. It will still be running on television more than twenty five years later.

8 September – Margaret Thatcher officially opens the first phase of the Nissan car factory at Sunderland, which has been in use for two months. It is the first car factory to be built in Europe by a Japanese car maker.

14 September – Fears of another recession in Britain are eased by economists at Liverpool University predicting 3.1% economic growth next year.

18 September – It is announced that unemployment rose to 3,280,106 in July.

19 September – Two people are killed and 100 injured at the Colwich rail crash.

24 September – The floatation of the Trustee Savings Banks attracts a record of more than 4 million applications for shares.

7 October – The first edition of The Independent was published.

9 October – "Babes in the Wood" murders: Two girls, Nicola Fellows (aged nine) and Karen Hadaway (aged 10), are reported missing in Moulsecoomb, Brighton.

10 October – "Babes in the Wood" murders: Two bodies found in Wild Park, Brighton, are identified as those of the two girls reported missing yesterday and a murder investigation is launched; no-one is ever convicted.

12 October – Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh visit the People’s Republic of China, the first ever visit to that country by a British monarch.

14 October – The MetroCentre, a shopping complex built on the Tyneside Enterprise Zone, is opened. It is similar in concept to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre that is being developed near Dudley in the West Midlands. The MetroCentre is officially the largest shopping complex in Europe. Among the MetroCentre’s tenants is Marks & Spencer, whose department store there is its first out of town outlet.

24 October – The UK breaks off diplomatic relations with Syria over links to the Hindawi Affair.

26 October – Bus deregulation begins in the United Kingdom, except Greater London and Northern Ireland.

Jeffrey Archer resigns as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party over allegations concerning prostitutes.

27 October – "Big Bang Day": London Stock Exchange is computerised, and opens to foreign companies.

28 October – Jeremy Bamber is found guilty of the murder of his parents, sister, and twin nephews and is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum of 25 years, which is likely to keep him behind bars until at least 2011.

29 October – Margaret Thatcher opens the completed M25 London Orbital Motorway.

November – First UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the U.K. designated: Giant’s Causeway and the Causeway Coast (Northern Ireland); Durham Castle and Cathedral; Ironbridge Gorge; Studley Royal Park (including the ruins of Fountains Abbey); Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites; and Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd (Wales).

Launch of the second generation Vauxhall Carlton, largest model in the Vauxhall range. It will be sold as the Opel Omega on the continent, and all European versions of the car will be built in West Germany.

3 November – The Conservatives top a MORI poll for the first time this year, coming one point ahead of Labour with 40% of the vote. Liberal/SDP Alliance support has slumped to 18%.

6 November – 45 oil workers are killed when a Chinook helicopter carrying them from the Brent oilfield crashed.

Alex Ferguson is appointed manager of Manchester United football club following the dismissal of Ron Atkinson after more than five years in charge. United won two FA Cups under the management of Atkinson but have not won the league title since 1967 and are now second from bottom in the Football League First Division.

Chancellor Nigel Lawson announces a £4.6 billion rise in public spending.

7 November – Sir James Goldsmith’s £5 billion bid for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company is rejected.

13 November – It is announced that unemployment fell by 96,000 in October.

18 November – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, who are both still behind bars some 20 years after their Moors Murders convictions, confess to the murders of two missing children. They admit their responsibility for the deaths of Pauline Reade, who vanished in July 1963 at the age of 16, and Keith Bennett, who was last seen in June 1964 at the age of 12. Police had suspected that the pair were among the Moors Murders victims soon after beginning their investigation on the arrest of Brady and Hindley in October 1965, but did not find the bodies or indeed any evidence to be able to press charges.

20 November – Police begin their search for the two newly identified Moors Murders victims.

21 November – The government launches a £20 million campaign to warn members of the public about the dangers of AIDS.

December – The first case of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is diagnosed in British cattle.

1 December – The government launches an inquiry into financial irregularities at Guinness.

3 December – 4 million people apply for shares in British Gas in ancitipation of floatation next week.

4 December – 20-year-old roofer Russell Bishop is charged with the "Babes in the Wood" murders in Brighton two months ago but will be acquitted.

8 December – British Gas shares are floated on the Stock Exchange. The initial public offering of 135p per share values the company at £9 billion, the highest equity offering ever at this time.

17 December – The world’s first heart, lung and liver transplant is carried out at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire.

18 December – It is announced that unemployment fell to a four-year low of less than 3,100,000 in November.

22 December – David Penhaligon, a leading Liberal Party MP, dies in a car crash near Truro in Cornwall at the age of 42.

25 December – The highest audience of all time for a British television drama is attracted by the Christmas Day episode of EastEnders, the BBC 1 soap opera, in which Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) serves the divorce papers on his wife Angie (Anita Dobson) after discovering that she had feigned a terminal illness to try to stop him from leaving her in an episode aired in October this year. More than 30 million viewers tune in for the episode of the TV series which first went on air in February 1985.

29 December – Harold Macmillan, Earl of Stockton and former prime minister, dies at the age of 92 at his home, Birch Grove in East Sussex.

Inflation reaches a 19-year low of 3.4%.

Introduction of Family credit, a tax credit for poorer families.

Bank of England withdraws its guidance on mortgage lending.

Establishment of National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside group of institutions, funded through national government.

The millionth council house in the United Kingdom is sold to its tenants in Scotland, seven years after the right to buy scheme was launched.

Mathematician Simon Donaldson wins a Fields Medal.

Television

4 January – Televised football returns to British television after the contractual dispute from the previous year is resolved.

12 January – Catchphrase makes its debut on ITV.

28 January – NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger spacecraft disintegrates. Pictures from CNN in the United States (owned by Turner Broadcasting System, then owners of American superstation WTBS), are aired in countries around the world.

19 February – BBC1 airs Round Britain Whizz, an edition of the science series Q.E.D..The 30 minute programme consists of a sped up flight around the coastline of Great Britain with guest appearances from geologists and TV personalities including Patrick Moore, David Bellamy and Terry Wogan telling the viewer about the geology and natural history of certain areas.

10 March – The first advert for a sanitary towel is broadcast on British television, on Channel 4.

1 April – All commercial activities of the BBC are now handled by BBC Enterprises Ltd.

15 April – The last episode of children’s cartoon series Bananaman is broadcast.

21 May – A Very Peculiar Practice airs.

31 May–29 June – Telvised coverage of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. England exit on 22 June with a 2-1 defeat to Argentina, who go on to beat West Germany in the final to win the trophy for the third time.

18 June – In Coronation Street the Rovers Return pub is gutted by fire with landlady Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) trapped inside.

23 July – In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey. The event receives significant television coverage both in the UK and around the world.

5 August – Michael Cashman makes his EastEnders debut as Colin Russell, the soap’s first gay character.

9 August – The Yorkshire Television ITV region becomes the first UK terrestrial channel to broadcast 24 hours a day, initially simulcasting the cable and satellite music video channel Music Box throughout the night. The other ITV regions gradually switch to 24 hour television over the next two years.

26 August – In Emmerdale Farm, original character Pat Sugden dies after rolling her car down a hillside to avoid a flock of sheep.

6 September – Part One of The Trial of a Time Lord is broadcast on BBC1, marking the return to air of Doctor Who after an 18-month hiatus.

The first episode of medical drama Casualty airs on BBC1.

19 September – Central TV revives New Faces, a 1970s talent show produced by its predecessor, ATV. Styled as New Faces of ’86, it is presented by Marti Caine, a winner from the previous version.

12 October – Every Loser Wins performed by the actor Nick Berry begins a three-week run at the top of the UK Singles Chart after featuring in recent episodes of EastEnders. The song was an instant hit on release and went on to win its writers an Ivor Novello Award.

16 October – The first two-hander episode of EastEnders, featuring Den and Angie Watts (Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson), is aired by BBC1. The episode, in which Angie tells Den she has six months to live after he tells her he wants a divorce, was an experiment as the two-hander format had not been tried in a British soap before, but received well by viewers and critics.

27 October – The Australian soap Neighbours makes its British television debut on BBC1, a year after it was first aired in its homeland.

BBC One starts a full daytime television service. Before today, excluding special events coverage, BBC One had closed down at times during weekday mornings and afternoons broadcasting trade test transmissions and, from May 1983, Pages From Ceefax.

16 November – Dennis Potter’s critically acclaimed television serial The Singing Detective makes its debut on BBC1.

7 December – Jack Rosenthal’s original two hour TV movie of London’s Burning, directed by Les Blair is broadcast on ITV. It returns for a full series in February 1988.

13 December – Comedian Duggie Small wins New Faces of ’86.

23 December – Ringo Starr narrates his last ever Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends episode, the second series finale, "Thomas & the Missing Christmas Tree".

25 December – 30.15 million tune in to watch "Dirty" Dennis Watts hand wife Angie her divorce papers in EastEnders, making it the highest rated episode of any drama in British television history.

26 December – The Rainbow 30 minute Christmas special, The Colours of the Rainbow is the highest ever rating episode of the show. It was thought that Rainbow would end following this episode, but Thames Television renewed the contract after good ratings.

BBC1

10 January – Lovejoy (1986–1994) 8 February – Every Second Counts (1986–1993) 23 April – Jossy’s Giants (1986–1987) 1 May – Bread (1986–1991) 28 May – Pingu (1986–1998, 2004–2006) 31 August – The Monocled Mutineer (1986) 1 September – Brush Strokes (1986–1991) 6 September – Casualty (1986–present) 27 October – BBC News at One (1986–present) 16 November – The Singing Detective (1986)

BBC2

12 May – Naked Video (1986–1991)

ITV

8 January – Allsorts (1985–1995) 10 January – Central Weekend (1986–2001) 12 January – Catchphrase (1986–2002, 2013–present) 14 January – Boon (1986–1992, 1995) 16 February – Hot Metal (1986–1989) 3 May – Get Fresh (1986–1988) 20 October – Executive Stress (1986-1988) 29 October – Strike It Lucky (1986–1999) 31 October – The Two of Us (1986–1990) 22 November – Beadle’s About (1986–1996)

Channel 4

11 April – The Chart Show (1986–1998, 2008–2009)

Music

The first number 1 single of 1986 was the breakthrough hit for London synthpop duo the Pet Shop Boys. Their song "West End Girls" had climbed the charts during late 1985 and reached number 1 for two weeks in January. They would have three more top 20 hits this year as well as two top 20 albums, and were still reaching the top 10 in 2006, twenty years later. Another popular synthpop duo this year were Erasure, with their song "Sometimes" reaching number two in the autumn; this success would be followed by many more hits throughout the decade.

After four successful years, the band Wham! split up in the spring. Made up of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, they finished with a farewell concert at Wembley Stadium, a greatest hits album The Final which reached number 2, and the single "The Edge of Heaven", their fourth and final number 1. George Michael also reached number 1 this year with a solo release, A Different Corner, and went on to have a highly successful solo career.

The formation of the charity Comic Relief provided an unusual song from Cliff Richard, a singer with several huge hits in the 1950s and ’60s. He teamed up with the cast of the popular sitcom The Young Ones (itself named after a Richard song) for a new version of his 1959 single "Living Doll", half sung by Richard and half shouted by the Young Ones cast. With proceeds going to the charity, it reached number one for three weeks and was Richard’s first number 1 of the decade. Another novelty number one was "The Chicken Song", sung by the cast of satirical puppet show Spitting Image. With lyrics such as "Hold a chicken in the air, stick a deckchair up your nose" it was intended as a parody of novelty holiday songs which were popular at the time, and also topped the chart for three weeks.

American singer Madonna had the biggest-selling album of the year with "True Blue". All singles released from it made the top five, including the number 1s "Papa Don’t Preach", "True Blue", and "La Isla Bonita" which topped the chart the year after. The biggest-selling single of the year went to The Communards, with a hi-NRG cover of the disco song "Don’t Leave Me This Way". The band included singer Jimmy Somerville who had previously enjoyed success with Bronski Beat, and later started a solo career.

The Christmas number one single was something of a surprise, a re-issue of Jackie Wilson’s 1957 single "Reet Petite". Wilson had died in 1984, but the song been re-issued after being used in a television advert for Levi’s, with a new video made of a Claymation version of Wilson. Having first been released 29 years earlier, it broke the record for the longest time between a single being released and it hitting number 1, a record that would last until 2005 when Tony Christie’s 1971 song "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" topped the chart.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was founded in London by a group of period music enthusiasts, going on to become one of the UK’s leading orchestras. Harrison Birtwistle’s innovative opera, The Mask of Orpheus, was premièred in London, to great critical acclaim. Michael Nyman also came up with a new opera, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, a chamber work with a minimalist score.

Events

January – The Adrian Boult Hall is opened at Birmingham Conservatoire by the Duchess of Gloucester.

15 March – "Heartbeat ’86", a charity concert for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, is held at the NEC. Performers include Roy Wood, UB40, The Moody Blues, Electric Light Orchestra and Robert Plant. George Harrison makes a surprise appearance playing Johnny B. Goode with everyone at the end of the show.

7 June – Queen start The Magic Tour which becomes their final tour with all original members and also their most successful tour.

27 October – Michael Nyman’s chamber opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is premiered at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.

Charts Number one singles

"Merry Christmas Everyone" – Shakin’ Stevens "West End Girls" – Pet Shop Boys "The Sun Always Shines on TV" – a-ha "When The Going Gets Tough, "The Tough Get Going" – Billy Ocean "Chain Reaction" – Diana Ross "Living Doll" – Cliff Richard and The Young Ones "A Different Corner" – George Michael "Rock Me Amadeus" – Falco "The Chicken Song" – Spitting Image "Spirit in the Sky" – Doctor and the Medics "The Edge of Heaven" – Wham! "Papa Don’t Preach" – Madonna "The Lady in Red" – Chris de Burgh "I Want to Wake Up with You" – Boris Gardiner "Don’t Leave Me This Way" – The Communards "True Blue" – Madonna "Every Loser Wins"- Nick Berry "Take My Breath Away" – Berlin "The Final Countdown" – Europe "Caravan of Love" – The Housemartins "Reet Petite" – Jackie Wilson

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