David Lynch, Blue Velvet, Scene 26, 1986

"The image offered us by reading the poem now becomes our own. It takes root in us.

It has been given us by another, but we begin to have the impression that we could have created,

that we should have created it." Gaston Bachelard

Act 3: Friends, You Drank Some Darkness is the final performative act of Prufrock (in three acts), an experiment in deconstructed adaptation surging from research undertaken by artist/curator Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris (born Sydney, 1984) during her time in CuratorLab, Stockholm.

During 2013/2014 Bailey-Charteris focused her research around processes of adaptation and poetics, specifically of the 1916 poem, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', by T.S Eliot. The poem is a melancholic and cadenced narration of the end of a life. Prufrock (in three acts) is a deconstructed adaptation dealing with the authority of narratology, the voice in poetics and conceptions of death and drowning. The adaptation follows the stylistic rules of a three act play; first act: meet-the-characters, second act: conflict and third act: resolution.

In collaboration with key Stockholm based contemporary artists, scientists and thinkers, Prufrock entangles intimate audiences into unexpected visions and sonic happenings. Act 3: Friends, You Drank Some Darkness takes the form of a magazine launch of Das Superpaper, Issue 32, which includes the final script for Act 3, a film screening by Nick Garner and Harun Farocki, and installation from the Centre for Inefficency. 

List of works:

Nick Garner, Acid/Gothic, 2014 Split screen film, of the exhibition Acid/Gothic, featuring the artists  Gary Carsley, Pia van Gelder, Tracey Moffatt, Sarah Mosca, Tomislav Nikolic, Jess Olivieri, Giselle Stanborough, Peter Weibel  

Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris, Till Human Voices Wake Us, 2014, Written script, Printed in Issue 32 of Das Superpaper  

Harun Farocki, Bilder der welt und inschrift des krieges, 75 mins, 1988, from the Index film archive  

Centre for Inefficiency, Act 2(3) A Soft October Night (remnants), 2014, Centre for Inefficiency is a context initiated by Clara Isaksson, Ulrika Lublin and Joanna Nordin

 

Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris (b. 1984) is an Australian born, Stockholm based curator and artist. Her interests are focused upon liveness and performance, processes of adaptation, translation and the performance of self in contemporary art. Bronwyn is currently a post-graduate research residency student in Stockholm at the Royal Institute of Art (Kungl. Konsthögskolan), after completing the research year CuratorLab at Konstfack – University College of Art and Design, Stockholm. From 2003 - 2010 she achieved a BA in Fine Arts and MA (Curatorial Studies) at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, Sydney. Her curatorial credits include Prufrock (in three acts) at Konstfack Gallery, Storkyrkabdet and Index, Bellowing Echoes at Gertrude Contemporary as part of the 2012 Next Wave Festival, Stuart’s Erogeny at Somewhere Gallery, Continuum at The Paper Mill, The Glorious Undead at Kudos Gallery and The Specialists at Blindside Gallery. Since 2013 she has also been working at Index - The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation in Stockholm. She is also the co-director of Das Platforms, an independent arts media group and works as an international freelance arts writer including as a regular contributor to Art Forum Critics Picks.

This project is supported by the CuratorLab program of Konstfack - University College of Art and Design. With special thanks to Index - The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Das Platforms, Renee Padt, Nathalie Åhbeck, Lousie Dylen, Nick Garner, Elliott Bryce Foulkes, Robyn Stuart and Peroni.