Call Lighthouse/Dada-South Digital Arts Commission

nonsense on stilts

Introduction

Lighthouse is a Brighton-based organisation committed to providing
high quality professional development opportunities for aspiring and
practising filmmakers and artists working with digital and moving
image media.

Dada-South is the South-East's thriving Disability Arts Development
Agency, always raising the profile of Deaf and Disabled artists in
the region and creating new and exciting opportunities, to accelerate
Deaf and Disabled people's careers in the Arts.

The Commission

We are jointly inviting submissions from a Deaf or disabled artist or
artist group to create a digital artwork or moving image piece in
response to the phrase 'nonsense on stilts'.

The philosopher Jeremy Bentham
(<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=1748>1748 -
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=1832>1832) originated the
phrase 'nonsense on stilts' in his quotation:

'Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible
rights, rhetorical nonsense -- nonsense upon stilts.'

Today the phrase 'nonsense on stilts', and less frequently the
original version of 'nonsense upon stilts' is occasionally used in
the English press to scorn something, implying that not only is it
wrong, but it is wrong in a pretentious,
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=stilted>stilted and
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=grandiose>grandiose manner.
'nonsense on stilts' can be understood as something that proceeds
from false premises, it is often something confusing that makes out
to be something it is not, like for example
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Salvador%20Dal%ED>Salvador
Dalí's absurd
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=The%20Temptation%20of%20Saint%20Anthony>elephants
with long, spindly legs. It does not seem wrong when viewed in a
certain way and it can look grand if you get distracted by the
illogical constructions and its complexity.
Many people find much of
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=nonsense%20and%20philosophy>philosophy,
literary criticism,
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=postmodernism>postmodernism
and other academic pursuits to be
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Fashionable%20Nonsense>nonsense
on stilts. The phrase can, however, be applied to
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=abstract%20nonsense>just
about
<http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=trendy%20corporate%20nonsense>anything.
For this commission the artist is invited to interpret ! it in any
way that seems relevant and appropriate to them.

All artists must define themselves as Deaf or disabled, be over 18
years old at the time of application, be based in the South East
region and should preferably have some experience delivering quality
work and of working through a project from start to finish. We are
particularly interested in supporting work which is innovative and
risk-taking or process-driven.

Fee
The winning commission will receive £5000. This is to cover artists'
fees, bespoke training, materials, and installation costs. The
artist's fees will cover 20 days work at the ACE rate of £175/day.
Also included in the commission will be 3 days of bespoke digital
training (arranged according to the specific needs of the artist
involved) and 2 days of concept development support with the
commissioners. Both organisations will provide additional support to
the artist in the development of this work, and to meet the artist's
access requirements, where appropriate.

Timeframe
The deadline for the submission is 5pm on Friday 16th February 2007.
Interviews for the commission will take place on February 28th 2007.
The artist/s should commence work on the project in mid-March 2007,
and the work should be completed by the end of May 2007. We
anticipate exhibiting the work in July 2007.
Dada-South will be holding a showcase event and exhibition in 2007
and anticipates that the work produced during this commission will be
exhibited there.

Application Process
Artists are invited to make a submission to include:

1.      A current CV (2 A4 pages maximum)
2.      Visual material of past work (either 8 images as slides,
photographs or jpegs on CD or by email or max 5min of moving image on
DVD)
3.      A draft of any initial ideas they might have for the piece
(maximum 500 words)

Submit application by post or email no later than 5pm on the 16th of
February 2007 to:

Noëmi Lakmaier, Artist Development Manager, Dada-South, PO Box 136,
Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 9AD

Applications in print, large print, cassette, CD, DVD or by email
will be accepted.

If you have any further questions or to get this commission brief in
a different format please contact: Email:
<mailto:noemi-JPAi5H0RyxX2NzTCBhz801pr/1R2p/CL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>noemi-JPAi5H0RyxX2NzTCBhz801pr/1R2p/CL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
 Mobile: 079
4904 2880

You can also visit
<http://www.dada-south.org.uk/>www.dada-south.org.uk and
<http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/>www.lighthouse.org.uk to find out more
about the organisations.

This commission is funded by The Arts Council, South East, and The
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.