‘WE LIKE TO SEE HOW FAR
WE CAN GO AND HOW MUCH
WE CAN GET AWAY WITH'
Stop making sense
THE FOUND collective like mixing things up. Neil Cooper talks to the three young renegades about their and multimedia adventures.
he best things in me are all accidental. ‘I‘ake
Found. the colIective/group/band/trio/
ensemble/team/posse (delete where applicable). whose S'I‘Ul’ l.()()l\' I.I.S"I‘I:‘.«’\’ exhibition is an audacioust playl‘til melange ol‘ sound and vision. l‘ull ol‘ random acts ol‘ audio accessorising and sound collages pulled otit ol‘ thiii air over the last two years and thrown into the multimedia gloop. The dil‘l‘erence here is that. unlike more high—minded purveyors ol‘ cross-art l‘orms. Ziggy Campbell. Kev Sim and Tommy Perman make tip Found pretty much as they go along. and the whole aesthetic wears a big. dal‘t grin across its cartoon l‘aee.
‘There‘s a lot of snobbishness surrounding electronic music.‘ says Perman. the most vocal ot‘ the three. ‘liven among some ol‘ the groups who are supposed to be countering all that. there‘s a terrible preciousness about things. and a lot ol‘ the time the performance aspect isn‘t very interesting to look at. With Found. we always ptit this disclaimer on. because sometimes we don‘t know what we‘re doing ourselves. We like to see how far we can go and how much we can get away with.‘
Found. then. are about naughty fun. In terms ot‘ influence. Alan Partridge is in the mix as much as Bill Drummond and Matthew Herbert. They make records. take pictures and throw shapes. They invite audiences to remix their poster. A walking. talking bumper-sized activity pack. they‘re the artistic activity of taking games into school at the end ot‘ term. Even the name ot‘ the exhibition stngCsls something educational. a kindergarten guide to crossover.
The fact that they‘ve already toured it to the wilds of Aberdeen and Forl‘ar before arriving at the very grown tip RSA is a waggish subversion of rock‘n‘roll
cliche. ‘l‘hat it‘s a beautil‘ully packaged i'etrospectiye of a group barely otit ol‘ short trousers. a li\ ing colour show and tell ol‘ every squiggle. bleep and projection they‘ve ever conjured tip. is a scream.
‘We are serious about what we do.‘ l’ernian insists. ‘But it‘s the approach that itiatters.‘
Judging by a previous perl‘ormaiice at the RSA as part ol‘ the Bot/y l’uris live art l‘estival. where Found appeared alongside stich luminaries as Alastair Maclcnnan and George \‘v‘ylie. this approach can be summed tip as leaving every thing to chance.
'Right tip tiiitil the last minute we didn‘t know what we were going to do.‘ recalls (‘amphell
As it was. the horn section they‘d brought on board was sampled live. then distilled into a laptop— generated melting pot ol‘ clicks. liums and other noises ol‘l‘. Live video projections were led l‘rom a variety of angles. with other visuals thrown on top. Rather than mashing hrains with sensory o\et‘loatl a la art terrorists 'l‘hrobbing (iristle back in the technically primitive 1970s. the charmingly user-l‘i‘iendly'.
'You usually know how lar to ptish things depending on where )‘ttll‘l'c doing something.‘ l’erman points otit. "We don‘t want to provoke riots.‘
Future Found endeavours include a projected collaboration with l'surper. the lidinbui'gh-based duo who pert‘orm with "disabled instruments‘. which will then be bent otit ol‘ shape by Found.
‘()ne project sort ot‘ melds into the next one.‘ according to Campbell. ‘lt‘s jtist a great big expanding mass.‘
Serious t‘un for all the family. get lost in Found.
e l‘l‘ect \\ a s
STOP LOOK LISTEN, RSA, Edinburgh, Thu 28 Apr-Sat 21 May
Visual Art
llit
THE BEST EXHIBITIONS
:2: Barbara Kruger I/il‘.i'(?l‘l green. black and white tintila/oii even,» inch of tool. wail. cewrig and pillar with enlarged i‘iewsitririt relating to domestic \rioEciico. Powerful sttiti. Gei'i/l/‘i. (bastion: until Suit 2.") Sen.
it This Peaceful War - The Jumex Collection treasures from the Mex:can Juiiiex collection, including 'v‘JOl‘KS by Francis Art/s and Santiago Serra. Tléil may. Glasgow. until Sun 22 ."tr'ay.
:2: Stop Look Listen An abundance of work lg», the three- mati collective known as FOUND. MUSIC. digital :iiiageiy. prints. stickers and more adorn the walls of the RSA. See Diet/(full. RSA. Edinburgh. Thu 98 Apr 8a: Pl May.
=1: Campbell’s Soup Condensed. creamed and packaged for a Show that plots the far-reaching influence of Steven Campbell from his past. present and future. Glasgow School of Art. until Sun 8 lvi'ay
:2: Andy Warhol: Self Portraits Last chance to see the Chal‘f‘lllg face of pop tarti. Fun squiggtes make way for Polaroid pictures. prints. wall paper and photobooth strips in this revealing snow. National Gallery of Modern Art. Edinburgh. until Mon 2 May.
zi: Spencer Sweeney Glcetut painting. playing with pop. abstraction and graphics by this New York-based artist lpictured). See review. The Modern Institute. Glasgow, until Sun 7 Maj;
:l: Michael Stumpt Rich. magical sculpture and prints invoking fairytale and film traditions. Sorcna Dallas. Glasgow, until Sat 7 May.
ti: Edinburgh College of Art Fashion Show 2005 The future of fashion sashays along the catwalk in ECA's grand sculpture court. Edinburgh College of Art. Thu 72 8 Fri 73 May.
'. ;.. ’ THE LIST 103