Come on. Don’t be shy. You know you want to.
Yoko Ono would really appreciate it if you could just send her one of your smiles. You see the artist needs them for a new exhibition as part of do it 20 13.
She wants to circulate photos of smiles to say “Hello. How are you doing?” for the show which is part of Manchester International Festival. If you feel you can spare a smile for Yoko then please upload your photo by clicking here.
The show, which opens this week at Manchester Art Gallery, brings together some big-name international artists including All Weiwei, Tracey Emin and Gilbert & George for an ambitious and ground-breaking show as part of the festival. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist the exhibition is an evolving series of works created by a series of instructions written by artists. Visitors will be able to get involved as well and can carry out some of the instructions themselves at the gallery or at home. The activities range from the thoughtful to the absurd and covers all bases in between.
It does all sound a great deal of fun and mischief. Some of the highlights to watch out for include the Ten Commandments by Gilbert & George, Michelangelo Pistoletto’s instructions to construct intricate newspaper sculptures, a web of bottles by Tracey Emin, Theaster Gates on how to entrap the Holy Ghost in a shopping centre. I like the sound of Maria José Arjona’s performance with a vulture. Can’t wait to see how that pans out. Paul McCarthy Snow White Cook Book sounds intriguing and Al Weiwei’s instructions on how to make a spray device to block a surveillance camera is a subversive and very apt contribution for our strange times.
It’s a huge show that’s taking over five rooms of the gallery. There’s lots going on in each room and too much to mention in this brief rundown. You can read full details at www.mif.co.uk. You can also document yourself carrying out some of the instructions and thus become a part of the exhibition yourself by uploading the results to doit2013.org
do it 20 13 is commissioned and produced by Manchester International Festival and Manchester Art Gallery. Developed in collaboration with Independent Curators International (ICI), New York. doit2013.org has been developed by Modern English.
