TL;DR:22
I went to TAA to make art,
I didn’t go to make friends,
I found out who I can trust.
Cyborg Psychopomp.
An open letter regarding the paradoxical ‘Cyborg TAAkeover’ of Sunday 9th to Tuesday 11th Oct 2022
Dear ‘TAA baton’ holders, whoever you may perceive yourselves to be…
I am aware of a chasm of understanding between us. I have heard your perspective of me repeated many times. Thank you for your clarity.
I do not feel heard, and I feel resentment towards you collectively for the psycho-social way you excommunicated me from the signal groups and the physical manner in which you evicted me from the building.
I stand by every action I took and every word I said throughout that whole experience. I hope ‘you’ will organise some form of closing circle or undertake some other form of accountability in due course and I would like to be a part of that.
If that does happen this year, I feel it would be helpful to be guided by the following explanations of TAA:
About TAA
Staged in a disused building, TAA addresses the need for free spaces which are not governed by commercial interests or exclusive institutional standards, creating a fluid space which transforms in unpredictable ways throughout the event as new interventions and responses are added to the mix. Expect the event to be slightly chaotic, full of surprising juxtapositions, and an opportunity to generate new collaborative relationships.With no selection criteria, no censorship, and a non-hierarchical mode of organisation, TAA is a laboratory for both creative and social experimentation. It is an environment of open discussion and testing of ideas, which challenges the idea of a passive audience by allowing everybody to get involved.
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What is a TAA?
TAA is an underground festival of creativity that has been taking over venues across the UK since 2001. It was an initiative by Random Artists to use free-party tactics to open temporary arts and social spaces in occupied and often derelict buildings. TAA exhibitions are creative spaces that are organised and constructed by the artists themselves. They operate under an open-access policy, meaning everyone is free to exhibit their work or perform.
Time-honoured art forms sit comfortably amongst digital work, sculptures, installations, films, performance and music. We encourage artists and audience to find their own level of creative involvement and believe that all of our voices are equally important.
This not only opens the doors to a no-cost space to exhibit within but also encourages first-timers and the artist within us all.
All contributions are welcome and there is no celebrity here – our aim is to break free of the sterile nature of traditional galleries and instead create a space which removes barriers between art, artist and audience.
TAA Website
Sincerely
Cyborg Psychopomp.