02 Oct 2010

Start Point Prize 2010 given to Alexis Milne (UK)

The winner of Start Point Prize 2010 is Alexis Milne (Goldsmiths College, London, UK)

Honorary mentions given to Maruša Sagadin (AdBK Wien, AT), Yoeri Guepin (HKU Utrecht, NL), John Nielsen (RCA London, UK) and Kaweh Modiri (GRA Amsterdam, NL).

Start Point, the prize for emerging artists, is moving in its 8th edition from Galerie Klatovy/Klenova to GASK, Kutná Hora, bringing together talents from 33 art academies from 15 European countries.

All awarded artists are offered a residency in Czech Republic during 2011. More information at www.startpointprize.eu

Alexis Milne's performances and videos offer a critical analysis of the artist's potential for being a political activist from a rather detached position. In order to achieve a certain level of involvement on the part of the viewer, he makes use of an alter ego, slapstick, parody, absurd language, and an aggressive modus operandi.

Milne's works State Weapon (2009) and Safe Riot (2010) were made after his experience with the anarchist protests during the G20 summit in London in March 2009. The artist looks at the moment when a situational protest is transformed into a grandiose spectacle and spontaneously takes on the characteristics of a kind of staged performance. This happens on the basis of media images lodged in our collective memory and in situations fuelled by the presence of the media.

Milne also attended a demonstration against police brutality after the death of I. Tomlinson, who died from injuries sustained after being attacked by police dogs. In the video performance State Weapon (Re-enactment of the manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson), he created and rehearsed the part of a police dog. He screened the event in an authentic space just as it might have been experienced by the dog.

In Safe Riot, he looks at the increasing sense of engagement and excitement felt by the participants in a demonstration, including the moment when they are subsumed by an uncontrollable rage and animalistic aggression. The video was made using found film material of the G20 protests. Here, the artist interacts with imaginary members of the police riot squad from a movie projected onto the wall. In the part titled 'Ultra Safe Riot,' he uses scenes from riots in 1968 and from present-day Greece. The works include a live performance by Chamber Music for the Disenfranchised (with Noam Enbar).

Mira Keratová (from Start Point catalogue)


- The project is supported by Ministry of Culture of Czech Republic and by Central Bohemian Region.
- Main partners: AWT-Čechofracht, Imofa Praha
- Start Point exhibition 2010 is organized by Nadace Arbor Vitae and GASK, Kutná Hora.