PROTESTING THE POPE'S VISIT TO LONDON

artist Fernando Arias with his Rat/zinger placard

filmmaker John Waters


Pope Benny arriving to the demonstration




Why “Protest the Pope”?

The diverse groups who support this campaign have many different reasons for not approving of the State Visit to the UK by the Pope in September 2010. They all however share the following view:

* That the Pope, as a citizen of Europe and the leader of a religion with many adherents in the UK, is of course free to enter and tour our country.
* However, as well as a religious leader, the Pope is a head of state and the state and organisation of which he is head has been responsible for:
1. opposing the distribution of condoms and so increasing large families in poor countries and the spread of AIDS
2. promoting segregated education
3. denying abortion to even the most vulnerable women
4. opposing equal rights for lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender people
5. failing to address the many cases of abuse of children within its own organisation.
6. rehabilitating the holocaust denier bishop Richard Williamson and the appeaser of Hitler, the war-time Pope, Pius XII.
* The state of which the Pope is the head has also resisted signing many major human rights treaties and has formed its own treaties (‘concordats’) with many states which negatively affect the human rights of citizens of those states.
* As a head of state, the Pope is an unsuitable guest of the UK government and should not be accorded the honour and recognition of a state visit to our country.

If you believe, as we do, that the Pope should not come to the UK without hearing from the millions of people who reject his harsh, intolerant views and the practices and policies of the Vatican State please get involved.

http://www.protest-the-pope.org.uk

'RADICAL NATURE: ART AND ARCHITECTURE FOR A CHANGING PLANET 1969-2009' CURATED BY FRANCESCO MANACORDA AT BARBICAN

Henrik Håkansson


Buckminister Fuller


Tomas Saraceno



Lara Almarcegui


Philippe Rahm


Tue Greenfont


Francesco Manacorda

http://barbican.org.uk/radical_nature

VANESA DOES LONDON!

Vanesa Fernandez, editor and publisher of Celeste Magazine, in London.

'RETRACING EXHIBITIONS' CURATED BY KARI CONTE AND FLORENCE OSTENDE AT RCA, LONDON

Reconstruction of the 1953 exhibition 'Parallel of Life and Art' by members of the Independent Group at the ICA and Pierre Leguillon's 'Placement'


Kim Levin 'Downtown Announcements, 1975-1991' and 'Notes 2 1995-2004', invitation cards and annotated press releases. Mark Sladen, director of exhibitions at ICA standing to the left


Hans Haacke, 'Photographic Notes: Documenta 2' 1959


Joelle Tuerlinckx, 'Drawing Inventory-Drawing Center New York 2006' chosen extracts for Retracing Exhibitions, 2009

Retracing Exhibitions, 

curated by Kari Conte and Florence Ostende

Retracing Exhibitions addresses the difficulty of experiencing by-gone exhibitions in the present. As the primary, yet, ephemeral medium through which art is made public exhibitions form our understanding of art and its institutions. Despite the plethora of shows that have been produced, there is insufficient exhibition literature and pictorial archives to document them. Retracing Exhibitions assesses how we think about both temporary and permanent exhibitions in retrospect, in order to preserve what they realise for the future.

This exhibition juxtaposes a reconstructed fragment of the 1953 Institute of Contemporary Arts London exhibition Parallel of Life and Art, an exhibition by The Independent Group including Nigel Henderson, Ronald Jenkins, Eduardo Paolozzi and Alison and Peter Smithson, which featured blown-up photographic images arranged in a non-hierarchal order from the fields of anthropology, biology, technology and art. Through contemporary artworks and a past exhibition, this project looks at the capacity of the viewer to recollect exhibitions from historic, experiential, and intellectual positions.

Artists and contributors: Benoit Broisat, Hans Haacke, Pierre Leguillon, Kim Levin, Sarah Pierce, Kirsten Pieroth, Joelle Tuerlinckx, the interview archives of Hans Ulrich Obrist and a reconstruction of the 1953 Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) exhibition Parallel of Life and Art

http://www.cca.rca.ac.uk/friendsofthedividedmind/retracing

GEORGE AND DRAGON AT ICA!

Beatriz Lopez welcoming visitors to the ICA!


exhibition view


Richard Battye at the bar



Deborah Castillo's 'South American Cleaner' White Cubicle Installation


Prince Nelly's Retro Countdown


Liliana and Pablo


David Waddington and Claire Bishop's Raffle


Jens Hoffmann's Guacamole


Richard's parents and Richard preparing Liliana's birthday party


Mariachis


Lucas Sampellegrini and Johnny Woo


Madamme Diane Pernet


Jason Rhoades, Liliana Sanguino and Sebastian Ramirez


Sunday finale, Back to the George on the doubledecker


George and Dragon at ICA
London in Six Weeks
ICA, London
Richard Battye, Gregor Muir, Pablo Leon de la Barra, Liliana Sanguino, Beatriz Lopez, Nuno Antunes, Kerie Anne and the George and Dragon Staff are happy to invite you to the exhibition:
George and Dragon Public House at ICA
from Tuesday, September 20 to Sunday, September 25, 2005, 12:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Opening Night: Tuesday, September 20, 2005, 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
ICA, The Mall, London SW1

Once upon a time, on a Friday 13th back in December 2002, in the midst of the
coldest most obdurate winter to have afflicted London in forty or maybe seventy
years, there appeared a small glowing light at the Shoreditch end of Hackney
Road. Drawing closer, shivering but inquisitive passers-by discovered that these
lights were not Christmas decorations, but the tawdry decor of a newly reopened
pub. The George and Dragon's sumptuously low-budget interior - a hospice for
kitsch ephemera - beckoned them inside. This eclectic grotto was complemented
by an equally disparate clientele that seemed to catalysed a new mood in
Shoreditch. Within moments it was clear that the George and Dragon public house
promised an intoxicating polysexual future for a community of locals fatigued with
Old Street's metamorphosis into a meat-market for Ben Sherman-clad lads on the
pull.

The George and Dragon is uniquely a provincial public house in the inner city,
albeit one with an exuberant fiesta feel courtesy of its predominantly Latin-
American bar staff. Under the visionary fervour of landlord Richard Battye, the
George and Dragon has won the hearts and livers of London's fashion and art
bohemia, passing international art visitors, and a morass of sweaty queens, trannies
and bears. Great amount of the magic resides in George and Dragon's soundtrack,
a compelling roster of Djs programmed by Richard Battye, the most conceptual of
which is Prince Nelly, whose Retro Chart Rundown comprises every top 40 single
from a given week in the 80s played in meticulous order, accompanied by an
informative commentary. Through events such as Nelly's Countdown, the George
and Dragon pays homage to the decade that most shaped the souls and psyches of
its clientele, side-stepping cheap spectacle such as SchoolDisco.com for a more
adult and therapeutic emotional release aroused by Bonnie Tyler.

In Richardette the curly-locked landlord, barman Pablo Leon de la Barra found a
willing collaborator for his experimental social programming. First there came
24/7's Guacamole Monday, in which selected friends and customers were invited
to bastardise Mexico's most popular canapé. Then came White Cubicle, also
known as WC3, a sporadic gallery event taking place in the ladies' loo. This
project unequivocally encouraged viewers to re-evaluate conventions of sociallyengaged
and site-specific art by bringing a roster of both established and unknown
artists into a location already heaving with established and unknown artists.
Nearly three years since the pub's inauguration, Richard Battye has achieved his
ambition of running an institution that functions as “something between a drop-in
centre, a rehab clinic and his teenage bedroom”. The George and Dragon is more
than just a place to consume stingy British shots of vodka during bad weather, it is
an anti-essentialist essential in our increasingly corporate capital.

Within the ICA exhibition space, elements and events that form part of the George and Dragon will be displayed and displaced: this is not a recreation of the George and Dragon, it is an abstraction and translation of that that defines the George and Dragon experience.

Please join us for the following events that might happen during the week:

Saturday 17 and all week:
6:00 PM to 11:00 PM at the George and Dragon 2 Hackney Road, London E2
White Cubicle Toilet Gallery presents the exhibition Federico Herrero, Institutional Tropical Critique, curated by Jens Hoffmann

And at ICA all week during exhibition times:

All week:
DJ’s as Live Musical Sculptures including among others The Lovely Jonjo, Mrs. Elin Andersen, The Sizzle Sisters, John and Andy The Straight Boys, The Thank You Boys, Johnny Woo, Lady D.I.E., Richard Mortimer, Spanky and Angie, Danilo, Hazel Robinson, Seb Patane, La Viuda and others.
Friends as Barmen and Barmaids

Tuesday 20:
Opening Night 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
B-Lo’s Coming Home Party which might include Clarita’s Tombola, David’s Copacabana and Total Strip of the Heart
Jens’ Guacamole
White Cubicle Toilet Gallery at ICA presenting the exhibition Deborah Castillo, South American Cleaner
Rocky our star carpenter on the musical decks
and Gregor Muir’s MC curator’s talk!

Wednesday 21:
4:00-7:00 PM Prince Nelly's Retro Chart Rundown

Thursday 22:
Radio Egypt Drag Rehearsals
and the arrival of Richard’s Parents and Monsiuer Robin Schulie

Friday 23:
Margaritas Friday
Liliana Sanguino’s Birthday including Nuno’s Décor and Kerie Anne’s Birthday Cakes

Saturday 24:
Lady D.I.E’s Jumble Sale
The Thank You Boys Creche
The Main Ones (maybe)
bring your records and be a DJ with Six Foot Stereo

Sunday 25:
Yorkshire Style Sunday Buffet
and Country Club

Grand Finale:
And to end the week on Sunday 25 at 7:30 PM board the Double Decker going to the original George and Dragon Public House at 2 Hackney Road and join us to celebrate the end of George and Dragon week and the closure of London in Six Easy Steps exhibition.

All this might happen plus special unannounced events, blackouts and non working toilets, just like in the real George!

George and Dragon at 2 Hackney Road will continue open as usual except on Tuesday 20 when we will be closed.

G+D Guacamole Cookbook specially customized by B-Lo available at ICA’s bookshop.