Alex Robert Head
Graduated 2006 - Glasgow School of Art, Fine Art
Lives/Works London, Berlin, Lanzarote
Statement
The pursuit of a collective sub-consciousness is pursued through by investigation into national flags, functional signage and corporate logos, forming the driving force behind public installations, workshops and published writing. As an emerging artist working primarily in the field of public installation and intervention my ambition to engage with multiple audiences has developed into a body of work operating under the title of Micro Communities Art.
Micro Communities Art
Micro Communities Art is an evolving practice working with small groups of individuals to discuss commonalities and the complexity of human identity. Here the artist takes the role of facilitator creating scenarios for participants to enter into and meet one another. In this way the art form draws on both the broad history of Conceptual Art (in which the viewer steps-in to complete an artwork), and Public Art discourse (characterised by a direct engagement between the artist and audience). Micro Communities Art is a series of activities such as art workshops, installations and other events that often revolve around the production of site-specific flags.
As a largely voluntary practice, the Micro Communities Artist makes an important distinction between creatively responding to global re-localization (made inevitable by dwindling oil reserves), and the patronizing rhetoric of Tory millionaires waxing lyrical about developing and strengthening communities. His involvement with the Transition Town Movement – brought about to facilitate the shift from a high to low-carbon society, reflects this concern.
Exhibitions/Events
2011 – Sounds of the Surround – One-week Arts course on Lanzarote with Art Aspects
2011 – The Parakeet Parade – Workshops leading to public parade in Finsbury Park area
2011 – SCULET & GUNSMOKE – Sculptural exhibition, The Green Lens Studio/Gallery
2011 – Circuit – Exhibition of four flags
2011 – OBRA – Flag commissioned by Arte De Obra
2010 – Absorb Arts, Open Studio - From Ignorance to Bliss remade for the gallery
2010 – Residency at Arte De Obra, Haria, Lanzarote
2010 – From Ignorance to Bliss – Outdoor walk-through Installation coordinated with Well Oiled Festival
2010 – Well Oiled Festival – Project Organiser, see Projects below
2010 – PAUSA – Flag commissioned by Art Aspects for exhibition at closing show of The Foreign and Me
2010 – Visiting Artist to the Art Aspects Seminar The Foreign and Me
2010 – Yetimen - Talismanic Figures - Installed in the Skoda Yeti
2010 – Ceremonial Handkerchief of the Exotic Tourist – Flag commissioned by Tate Modern
2010 – Twenty For Harper Rd – Flag Making Workshop at the first off-site project of Tate Modern's youth program, Raw Canvas.
2010 – Live Semaphore Event – site specific conversation with participants of the 6 week project Signs, Symbols & Sewing
2010 – Signs, Symbols & Sewing – 6 Week Course at The Institute Art Centre
2009 – Ongoing, You Don’t Need A Weather Man To Know Which Way The Wind Blows Flag Installed at Absorb Studios, Dalston, London
2009 – Absorb Open Studio, Dalston, London
2009 – Flag making workshop at Stroud Green Primary Summer Fair
2009 – Encarta, Limazulu Space, Manor House, London
2009 – Flag making workshop, Jamboree Project, Finsbury Park Youth Centre, London
2009 – Leftovers, 118 Gallery Notting Hill, London
2008/09 – Flag making workshops, Absorb Studios, Dalston, London
2008 – Absorb Studios Open Studio Week, Dalston, London
2008 – Dada’s Jerk Chicken, Finsbury Park, London
2007 – Drawing/Disegni, Perso Camera Space, Florence, Italy
2006 – Braille, Raised, Installation in the Mackintosh Building, Glasgow School of Art Degree Show
2006 – Zone 3712, Pollockshaws, Glasgow
2005 – Gunsmoke, The Attic, Glasgow
2005 – Cursory, The Barnes Space, Glasgow
2004 – Loose Change, Temp Space, Glasgow
2002 – Foundation exhibition, Chelsea School of Art
Projects
The Parakeet Parade Thursday 7th April 2011
The Parakeet Parade will involve groups from the local area including 40 young pupils from Stroud Green Primary School. Activities acting as an extension of SCULET & GUNSMOKE such as gallery visits followed by Parakeet Mask and Flag making workshops will be held over the 4th, 5th, and 6th of April. The fruits of these workshops will be displayed as the parade lights up the Finsbury Park area
Well Oiled Festival 11th September 2010
Collaboration with The Transition Network - Well Oiled Festival explored our creative and practical potential in the face of adverse climate and energy scenarios. This year's event delivered an array of activities which brought together families, friends, estranged Finsbury-parkers, the Castle Climbing Centre, the guys from Pedal Power, Green Lens Photographic Studios, Finsbury Park Drummers, The Handweavers' Studio, Transition Highbury, Transition Crouch End, Highgate Climate Action Network, artists, weavers and urban healers!
Flag Trail Weekend 26 – 28th June 2009 (Ongoing) Self initiated project/event.
Flag-making, flying and discussion involving Stroud Green Primary School, Dada’s Jerk Chicken and Absorb Open Studios. An offsite space adjacent to Absorb Studios presented an exhibition of the process behind the work You Don’t Need A Weather Man To Know Which Way The Wind Blows. These events coincided with Stroud Green Primary’s Summer Fair and the Summer Absorb Open Studios.
Flag Making Workshop April 2009.
Self initiated Workshop, Jamboree Youth Centre, Finsbury Park.
Parents and carers were encouraged to bring young people of all ages to take part in a session of learning and improvisation. Roughly 20 participants between the ages of 2 and 46yrs enjoyed designing and making flags.
Dada’s Jerk Chicken April 2008 – ongoing. Self initiated project.
A series of flags based on internationally recognisable icons are flown atop Dada’s Jerk Chicken stand, Finsbury Park. The project has been realised through the production of a permanent flag made by the artist, in exchange for the space of exhibition.
Zone 3712 - March 2006.
A collaborative project between Charlie Yetton, Alex Head and Gabriel Birch, which took place in Pollokshaws, Glasgow. Following several weeks of door-to-door discussion we made work in and around the area that we felt reflected its culturally dislocated nature due to the housing projects provided for different asylum seekers. The group used the steel cabin provided by cabinexchange to create a wild garden of exotic plants borrowed from the Botanical gardens. The Garden served as a central point from which to guide people to works made on site. Informal discussion took the form of a leisurely stroll around a space that was both familiar and altered for the community. We enjoyed positive feedback from all those who came down or passed through the site.
Reading Exercises 2006 – Present
For four years I have organised and run short day-long projects structured around the sharing of information and critique. These Reading Exercises continue to provide an opportunity for individual artists’ research to be applied in bursts of creativity followed by feedback from the group. Volumes of research are published periodically as documentation of these projects.
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