agnes poitevin-navarre RGS

Fellow Artists Fellow Muses Proustian map agnes poitevin-navarre X&Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjvPq0BCwn4

This year, The Proustian Map of London - Land of Achievement is displayed at the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR. The contribution of the 1000+ Proustians appears across the 33 boroughs of London in this large wall installation. Also on display, alongside Susan's Stockwell's Money Dress and Money Maps are the Fellow Artists/Fellow Muses piece and the X&Y circular slide.

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The purpose of the Proustian Map of London is to create bonds between people who might not at first identify with each other through their social, cultural and racial backgrounds. The answers revealed many personal journeys of people who happened to live in London at the same time. The spectrum of personal tragedies and achievements that are shared here represents an accurate historical document of the lives and beliefs of these 1000+ people.

In this meditation on the individual and community, many interesting patterns appear and spread through all areas of London. Themes of everyday life emerge and are multiplied across all boroughs. Giving birth, having children, surviving childhood, cooking tips, academic success, relationships, work/sport related achievements, climbing mountains, travels to faraway lands, moving countries or counties, buying one’s house, health issues, loss, demonstrations of perseverance, etc. Names of loved ones appear, historical events, landmarks and institutions are mentioned. Many jokes are shared and vivid images sketched.

The identity of the participants remains anonymous, a decision to compel the contributors to be true to themselves at the source and to prevent the audience from making biased judgements, downstream. The boroughs are divided by postcode up to sector level [ie SW17] and the ‘villages’ or quartiers appear too, so within that area, there are cartographic clues for the participants to find their contribution, to see where they fit in.

From the man who won the Rome Prize for Architecture in Fulham to the television art presenter based in Islington who was ‘the only person in his class, aged seven, who could spell laugh  correctly’, from the security guy in Bromley who has been married to Louise for 15 years to the person in Clerkenwell who climbed the Eiffel Tower in heels, stories upon stories unravel across the map.
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The Creative Mapping exhibition, a two-women show, will be on until 2nd July 2010. Agnes will be showing iconic pieces such as the Proustian Map of London and Fellow Artists/Fellow Muses whilst Susan's Money Dress welcomes you into the space.

Agnes will give an artist talk on Wednesday 16th June at 18.30 and Susan on Tuesday 22nd June at 18.30.
To book a place or to purchase a copy of the catalogue, please contact the RGS on +44 (0)20 7591 3000 or email v.patel@rgs.org

 

 

Last year, Agnes worked with inIVA on the Creative Mapping project. She collaborated with artists Gayle Chong Kwan as well as Teresa Kiyota Rahman de Swiet on two different educational projects, 'Mapping the Creative Process' and 'Pronoic Mapping'.

The London Map Project - "The Knowledge - Land of Achievement & Land of Wisdom" was on show at the Tenderpixel Gallery in Cecil Court, off St Martin's Lane, London between 18th December 2008 and 17th January 2009.

Coupling the grammar of cartography with elements from the Proust Questionnaire entitled "The Knowledge : Land of Wisdom & Land of Achievement", Poitevin-Navarre explores notions of identity and expectations. By democratically marking survey responses of people from all walks of life onto a series of London borough maps, the artist highlights emergent patterns of collective wisdom, personal achievements and aspirations. The anonymity of each response to the Proust Questionnaire allows for a more open interpretation; contributors can be true to themselves whilst answering the questions, and the audience is unable to pass judgment based on gender, age, race and creed.

“Fathoms”, the site-specific installation that complements the show, encapsulates notions of categorization, social mobility and symbolic transition. The impeccable provenance of this set of Darwinian ladders [from the Natural History Museum] is key. So is the numerical code that suggests the meandering shape of the river that divides our city.

Agnes gave an artist talk/Q&A on Saturday 10th January at 3pm at the gallery.

Agnes worked with Tate Britain on the VerbalEyes project, a series of educational workshops in Newham. 'The Odyssey', will be on show
at Tate Britain in June 2009.

Agnes Poitevin-Navarre performed a Pecha Kucha [20 slides, 20 seconds each] on the subject of 'Motherland' on Monday 28th July 2008. The venue was a French restaurant in Hammersmith. http://www.chezkristof.co.uk/html/#home
A couple of artists and poets presented their work followed by a Dinner with the Artists.
RSVP Betsy de Lotbiniere betsypalazzo@btinternet.com

'Motherland', a new site-specific installation, was exhibited in Hyde Park, as part of the 'Crystal Palace Reappears' curated by Senaka Weeraman, on Saturday 21st June and Sunday 22nd June 2008. It was also exhibited at Crystal Palace Park, on the beautiful Italian Terraces on Saturday 5th and a rainy Sunday 6th July 2008, as part of the Crystal Palace Park Victorian Weekend.

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|crystal%20palace#map=51.42318,-0.07657|16|4&loc=GB:51.42236:-0.07338:16|crystal%20palace|

'Motherland' is an installation of life-size silhouettes relating to Queen Victoria's nine pregnancies, her iconic figure as the Head of the British Empire and England being the Mother Land.

http://www.crystalpalacefoundation.org.uk/Events/

The students from HCC collaborated with Yara El Sherbini and Agnes Poitevin-Navarre on the theme of Mapping Language. An exhibition of their work will be shown at inIVA. Private view Thursday 3rd July, 6-8pm.

The students from Stoke Newington School collaborated with Jeremy Wood and Agnes Poitevin-Navarre and 'Circle of Friends' as well as a series of GPS drawings were shown at inIVA, Education Space, Rivington Place, London EC2A 3BA, from Wednesday18th June until Saturday 21st.

http://www.iniva.org/learning/creative_mapping/young_people_s_projects/personal_cartographies

'Colour Coding Julien & Jasper - The Age of Innocence' was exhibited as part of the group show 'From Taboo to Icon' curated by Sophie Saunders and Shervone Neckles in Philadelphia at the Ice Box Project Space from January 11th, 2008 until February 11th.
The private view is on Friday 1st February.

http://www.cranearts.com/ice_box.html

http://www.cranearts.com/

'Colour Coding Julien & Jasper - The Age of Innocence' were shown at the Mapping show in Bury from April to July 2007 and with the commissioned
'Colour Coding Eva - Here & Now' at the 198 Gallery in Herne Hill, London SE24 0JT in November and December 2007.

Also the Hastings maps entitled
'The Knowledge - Land of Achievement, Land of Happiness & Land of Wisdom' were shown at the HMAG, in Hastings in October 2007.
http://www.yesyesy-all.org.uk/


I gave an artist talk at the 198, 'Colour Coding Metisse Identity' in conversation with Paul Goodwin (from Centre for Urban and Community Research Goldsmiths) on Wednesday 14th November, 7.30-8.30pm [ www.198.org.uk]

 

Update on the London Maps Proust questionnaire/The Knowledge - Land of Achievement & Land of Wisdom

I want to thank all 1000 or so of you who have, so far, contributed to the project.
I am still gathering entries for the maps and will keep you updating on this page
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Spot the artist:
ICA Alien Nation
International Playwright Festival, Warehouse Theatre
Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa at City Hall

Blondel, Pleasance Theatre
Curating the Postcolonial conference RCA at Goethe Institute
inIVA Creative Mapping Project at the Royal Geographical Society
Prevista workshop at the Croydon ClockTower

Mothers of Invention talk at the British Library

Black Urbanism Seminars at City Hall
Richard Hylton's The Nature of the Beast book launch at Conway Hall
Sepake Knitting soiree
Fringe Report networking first monday at the Cellar Bar in Soho
Facebook

 

 

Land of Wisdom [ southern detail of the Croydon Map]

© agnes poitevin-navarre 2004-2006

 

The work of Agnes Poitevin-Navarre plays with the concept of self and how it is defined through racial/cultural categorization. In her art practice, she challenges perceptions of cultural, linguistic and racial hybridity.

Agnes uses genograms, maps, blackboards, playing cards, objects in clay, oil paintings, collages and coffee stained drawings, to load these beautiful, functional, educational and recreational artefacts with subversive symbolism.

The beauty and playful nature of her work exists in stark contrast to the deeper political subtext it highlights. The viewer is invited to read and decipher layers of meanings on a conscious and unconscious level. The subject matter: the complexity of human interaction and its geohistorical effects.

The Proust Questionnaire project however signals a point of departure in her art practice. Agnes is using a multivocal rather than a personal source to explore identity issues. One recent contributor said: "You are a reflexion of what you see in others". By randomly gathering contributions from people from all walks of life, all ages, ethnicities, social classes, she is highlighting patterns of collective wisdom.

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