07 April 2009

Richard DeDomenici
Gadfly|Trimtab|Quipnunc

Gadfly Person who upset the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions, or attempt to stimulate innovation by proving an irritant.

Trimtab System specifically designed and placed in the environment at such a time, in such a place, where its effects would be maximized, thereby effecting the most advantageous change with the least resources, time and energy. Bringing about the most change with minimum effort. Doing more with less.

Quipnunc Person who responds to current events, especially tragic ones, with quickly devised, sometimes callous jokes.

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Live Art Olympiad London, Oct 2009




Edinburgh Fringe 2009





Click images for more info.


Rub Me Up The Wrong Way 2 Norwich, July 25 2009

To celebrate the second coming of the infamous live-art micro-biennale Rub Me Up The Wrong Way on Saturday July 25th at Norwich Arts Centre, here is some footage from the last one in 2007, previously available only to owners of the Richard DeDomenici DVD Normalisation of Deviance.




Triple Threat Residency Germany, Jan-Mar 09









Here is some footage from my ongoing residency at the Berlin Academy of Art, commissioned as part of the exhibition Embedded Art.


Hairdomenici London, Jan 09




Richard invites people to cut his hair live on the internet.

Click here to watch the documentation.



LossRail
London, Dec 08




Before construction begins on Crossrail in 2009, hundreds of structures must be demolished. Richard is on a mission to document them.

He submitted the above footage from his new project to a Channel Four documentary competition, and it has subsequently been shortlisted for a prize.


99 Red Balloons
PigPen, London 16 Dec 08



A truncated version of Richard DeDomenici recent 99 Red Balloons performance was recently uploaded to this site. Unfortunately that clip is all that exists - Richard's videographer experiencing technical problems on the night.

This evening, in his final live show of 2008, Richard repeated 99 Red Balloons at PigPen, an autistic-friendly event in Stoke Newington, although this time his camera operator accidentally missed out the second half of the performance.

However, by playing both clips in succession, it’s now possible to stitch together an almost complete performance of 99 Red Balloons for the very first time.

It’s a real breakthrough, we're sure you agree.


Benefit gig in support of Haringey Justice for Palestinians London, 11 Dec 08






















Richard compered the HJfP pub quiz at the Emperor Banqueting Suite in Green Lanes.


Southbank Sound Installation 10 Dec 08



To mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Richard was invited to make a discreet sonic work in the foyer of Southbank Centre. The installation comprised overlapping readings of The UDHR in Esperanto, Africaans, Malay, Walloon, and German. The work can be heard faintly in the background of the above video if you turn the volume up and use your imagination.

In association with the Refugee Council.


Did Priya Pathak Ever Get Wallet Back? Colchester, 12 Nov 08





















More info
here



FREE BALLOONS LONDON 30 Oct 08

To celebrate the opening day of Europe's largest city centre retail project - Westfield London, Richard DeDomenici handed out helium-filled balloons bearing the slogan BORED OF SHOPPING. Richard's t-shirt read FREE BALLOONS.
FREE BALLOONS is a Bluecoat commission.


99 Red Balloons London, Oct 08

Richard DeDomenici disseminates 99 red balloons to the audience before inviting them to sing 99 Red Balloons, whilst inhaling helium from the red balloons.
Documentation: Becs Lyle, Videography: Alex Bradley, Policeman: Anthony Roberts, Music: Nena. Performed at Duckie. Residency commissioned by Helen Cole on behalf of New Greenham Arts.

Reviews here and here and here.


This Used To Be My Playground Oct 08

At the beginning of his 2008 residency at Greenham Common DeDomenici decided to purge any emotional baggage by filming this overly sentimental music promo exploring his contradictory relationship with the aforementioned former American nuclear airbase.


FREE BALLOONS LIVERPOOL Liverpool, 31 May - 01 June 08

To mark the opening of Europe's largest retail project, Liverpool ONE, artist Richard DeDomenici handed out helium-filled balloons bearing the slogan BORED OF SHOPPING in the privately managed shopping district.

Each balloon came with a flyer showing how to get to the nearby Bluecoat, and details of their latest show Variable Capital, which presents international artists' timely, critical, and often humorous responses to today's consumer culture.

The next day, DeDomenici displayed edited footage from the previous day's performance at the Bluecoat, and distributed balloons with BORED OF ART written on them.

FREE BALLOONS investigates the intersection between culture and commerce, exploring the notion that art is another form of consumerism, and that art and shopping are just two different lifestyle choices.

FREE BALLOONS is a Bluecoat commission.


Beijing Olympic Torch Relay London, 06 April 08


DeDomenici takes advantage of the inexact schedule of the London Olympic Torch Relay to show off his own torch (which was subsequently confiscated in Whitehall by the Metropolitan Police).


J'accuse!
10 February 08

Richard DeDomenici hosts a heated but informal debate on the ethics of the live art industry at the National Review of Live Art in Glasgow.


NRLABLOG February 08

Richard will be attempting to blog from this year's National Review of Live Art in Glasgow using his new mobile telephone.

It may not work.

Click here to find out.


- A D V E R T I S M E N T -
















Out Now! Richard DeDomenici - The DVD

Only £10.00 each. Purchase Here
Contents details Here


If You Don't Remember It, You Were There October 07
PHOENIX SCRATCH IN SECOND LIFE
COMMISSION #1: RICHARD DEDOMENICI
The architect Le Corbusier used the book as a way of disseminating his ideas, showing off future visions and solidifying abstract theories into print. Artist Richard DeDomenici updates this approach, unveiling a series of as yet unrealised projects in Second Life. Some have so far been logistically infeasible, while others have proved too contentious to carry out in real-world scenarios.


Edinburgh August 07


Solo Gallery Show April 07

NORMALISATION OF DEVIANCE

RICHARD DEDOMENICI

Pump House Gallery, London

19 April - 28 May 2007

Private View: 18th April, 6:00pm

A term used in industrial psychology - specifically in reference to NASA shuttle disasters - Normalisation of Deviance describes the gradual shift in what is regarded as acceptable after repeated exposures to aberrant behaviour.

Artist and self-styled 'one-man subversive think-tank' Richard DeDomenici ascribes this phenomenon to the fact that after six years of instinctively making work that sidesteps the gallery system, He has been offered, and has accepted, a solo London gallery show.

The ground floor of Pump House Gallery will screen a rolling video retrospective of DeDomenici's street interventions, while the first floor will comprise recent 3-D work. Floor two will host a resource area for his current BetterBanner project ≠ to design a lightweight, durable and ultra-portable protest banner fit for the 21st Century.

Pump House Gallery

Battersea Park, London

SW11 4NJ

Tel: 020 7350 0523

The gallery is closed Monday and Tuesday.

Open Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday and Bank Holidays from 11am - 5pm and Friday and Saturday 11am - 4pm.

Normalisation of Deviance is part of The Art of Protest.


Power of Art Nov 06

A series of short films premiering on YouTube in association with the new landmark BBC Two series Simon Schama's Power of Art.

New! Part Three

Part Two

Part One

Teaser


Black Cylinder Gallery: Unofficial Launch 21 September 06

Richard recently held the unofficial launch of the gallery housed within his wristwatch during a special event at the Repatriating the Ark exhibition at the Museum of Garden History. Click here for more.


Did Priya Pathak Ever Get Her Wallet Back? August 06

You can now book tickets online for my forthcoming show at the Edinburgh Festival!

It's about the complicated relationship between my work and the police.

Described as "Sometimes Slapdash" by the Russell Herron Blog, I promise to tidy it up before it gets to The Pleasance Dome.

Hi-Res Promotional Image and Production Stills #1 and #2.


Fame Asylum 16 June 06

I am now the proud manager of a newly-formed vocal harmony boyband comprised of asylum seekers and refugees.

From left to right: David (17, Nigeria); Aaron (22, Albania); Long (17, Vietnam); Saeed (17, Iran).

They are doing their very first (and possibly very last) performances of their first song 'A Guy Like Me' this Sunday at 3:50 and 5:05pm at the Celebrating Sanctuary festival on London's South Bank.

The band is designed to alter attitudes towards immigration issues among the difficult to-reach opinion-influencing female adolescent demographic, harnessing pester-power and the trickle-up theory to change minds, alter behaviour, shift paradigms, and transform societies.

If you are a record company executive and/or a screaming girl, please come.

Read articles about the band in today's Guardian and last Sunday's Observer.

More info on the Fame Asylum project here. Hi-res still here.


Interview 16 June 06

I spoke to Professor Jennie Klein at the National Review of Live Art in February. Here is the transcript.


Forthcoming 'Did Priya Pathak Ever Get Her Wallet Back?' Lectures

Glasgow National Review of Live Art 08 February 06

Cardiff Howard Gardens School of Art 15 February 06

London The Bishopsgate Foundation 16 March 06

London BAC 04/05 May 06

Ipswich John Mills Theatre 09 June 06

Bristol Arnolfini 28 June 06

New York July

Washington DC July

Reykjavik July

Edinburgh Pleasance Dome August 06-28 (not 15)


Forthcoming 'Embracing Failure' Lectures

London Camberwell School of Art 27 February 06

London South Bank University 25 April 06

Watford Camera Club 6 March 07


The Richard Dedomenici Blog 1 March 06

It's quite good, but I find it difficult to dedicate the time to updating it. Thus I'm developing a less labor-intensive, more intuitive way to upload my thoughts onto the Internet. But don't expect it anytime soon - the technology doesn't yet exist.

Click Here.


New Book 1 February 06

According to the printer, it's one of the most interesting things he's manufactured in a long time.

Available from the Dedomenici Shop now!


Recognition In The Absence Of Information 23 January 06

Click Here for to magnify image. Click Here for the answer.


EscalatorChair 23 January 06

Exhibited as part of Failure To Do So Is An Offence at Galerie der Hochschule f¸r bildende K¸nste Hamburg 23.01.06 - 02.02.06

Click Here for footage of EscalatorChair in action.

Photo: Mark Wayman


Oh Little Robin 25 December 05

View Richard's Christmas Message Here.


An Englishman in Toronto 23 December 05

Miss Courtney Scott (left) and Richard Dedomenici (right) proving that there is such a thing as a free lunch.

To watch three minutes of video collected on my Pentax Optio S5n compact digital camera

during my trip to the Creative Places and Spaces2 Conference in Canada in October, click

Here.


Politioke 23 December 05

View 20 seconds of footage Here.

Watching Fireworks Through a Pair of 'Dreab Shower' Glasses 23 December 05

View 12 seconds of footage Here.

But what are 'Dreab Shower' Glasses?


Crazy Golf 25 November 2005

De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill-On-Sea

Given the plan to replace the Bexhill-On-Sea crazy golf course - located adjacent to the De La Warr Pavilion - with a new Boutique Hotel , I thought it prudent to amalgamate the crazy golf course into the Pavilion itself, thereby ensuring that the town s cultural heritage is preserved.

View Footage of Crazy Golf Here

Read a review of Crazy Golf by the esteemed Miniature Golfer publication Here


You Wait For One Piece In Time Out London To Do With Buses And Then Two Show Up Almost At Once 01 November 2005

Read The Other Article in Time Out London in Full Here


Political Top Trumps 26 October 2005

Richard Dedomenici presents an innovative solution to the problem of declining

rates of participation in voting amongst young people.

By reworking the classic playground card game of luck and skill, and

distributing inexpensive and portable packs of Political Top Trumps throughout

British schools, Dedomenici hopes to politically educate the young, many of

whom will be eligible to vote at the next general election in 2009.

Richard hopes that the social benefits of the project will persuade Hasbro,

owner of the Top Trumps brand, not to take legal action.

You Could Have Played Political Top Trumps Here


Pedestrian Congestion Charging 09 August 2005

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland

View Footage of Pedestrian Congestion Charging Here


Unattended Baggage 11 May 2005

Helsinki Railway Station

What happens when a seemingly unattended bag is actually being attended, but the person who is attending it is doing so from inside the bag?

Find out Here

With thanks to My Dads Strip Club


Mobile Mobile 03 April 2005

A kinetic mobile made out of mobile telephone handsets.

Installed in a building that bears an uncanny resemblence to The Guggenheim, New York.

But isn't.

Click here to see footage.


What I did in Colchester 01 March 2005

The above Lampost/Cable Tie liaison is located in the south-west

corner of the Homebase, Tollgate East carpark.

It was made as part of Ben and Holly's Spend and Make.


The Big Flyposter Draw 15th October 2004
The major music companies save over eight million pounds annually by advertising on illegal flyposting sites.

Graffitiing something that has itself been illegally stuck to the wall theoretically isn’t illegal.

Traditionally, graffiti has been the preserve of nocturnal adolescents.

I advocate flyposter graffiti as an exciting new legal pastime for the whole community, which will both unleash the creative potential of the population, as well as discouraging the use of flyposters by major corporations.

I say ‘theoretically’ because I haven’t conclusively checked.

Risk is an important aspect of my artistic practice.

But it may not be of yours.

So please don’t take part if you feel uncomfortable about the possibility of unintentionally breaking the law, and all that implies.

And don’t take part if you’re worried about getting paint on your clothes.

Oh, and don’t get any paint on the wall or pavement - because that would be vandalism.

Made for The Laboratory of insurrectionary Imagination


Liverpool Biennial 21st October 2004
The day after Boris Johnson's stage-managed visit to Liverpool I dressed up as the aforementioned tory buffoon and wandered the city saying sorry to all those Liverpudlians that didn't get to meet him in person.

Some accepted my apology, others threatened to break my legs.

What Richard did in America April 2004

World Trade Jenga
Richard Dedomenici's sculpture 'WTJ' is a scale model of the World Trade Centre assembled from 198 wooden Jenga blocks, individually hand coloured with a marker pen.

Cable Tie
Dedomenici's solo attempt to navigate Chicago with a plastic bag on his head and his hands tethered behind his back with a nylon cable tie - the US military’s brutally efficient method of choice for detaining illegal combatants.

Cable-Tie video: Dial-up or Broadband


Grid Reference
A guided tour of the Scottish city of Glasgow, albeit on the streets of Chicago, achieved by overlaying maps of both cities‚ grid-pattern street layouts.


Quit Your Flapping (Part 2)
In this yet-to-be-edited film, Richard Dedomenici attempts to disprove Chaos Theory (popular example thereof: a butterfly flaps its wings in New York and causes a tidal wave in Tokyo) by dressing up as a butterfly, flapping his wings in New York, and then phoning the Japanese coastguard to see if any tidal waves have actually struck.


Richard went to America with My Dad's Strip Club and The Vacuum Cleaner. Collectively they made work at the Version04 festival.


Gulf Sale 19 Nov 2003
Today, in a cunning attempt to bypass police cordons around Buckingham Palace and Downing Street, I carried a seemingly innocuous 'GOLF SALE' placard around Central London:

Once past police barricades, and at a moment's notice, the slogan can be transformed into the more incendiary 'GULF SALE'

(a reference to the lucrative post-war reconstruction contracts, funded by revenue from Iraqi oil reserves, that have been handed to US corporations with close links to the Bush administration.)

From benign-sign to asinine-sign in a flick of the wrist:

One of the banner's innovations is that it can be easily dismantled to enable convenient public transportation:

Unfortunately, the tubular arrangement of the banner's collapsible pole caused suspicion amongst security services at Buckingham Palace, who thought I may be about to launch a crude pipebomb attack at the Royal residence.

I realised that any attempt to erect my sign may result in being shot in the head by one of the four police marksmen on the roof of the Palace.

I had therefore discovered a flaw in my hypothesis.

Scared, I walked into St James' Park and decided to erect my banner in the presence of a policeman on a bike.

He was impressed, and said I should patent the design

The banner cost about five pounds to build, and is the first prototype in my research project to design an lightweight, ultra-portable, protest banner for the 21st Century.

Photography: Luci Briginshaw



06 April 2009

STATEMENT

This has been Richard’s Mission Statement since 2001:

Richard Dedomenici is a one-man subversive think-tank primarily dedicated to the development and implementation of innovative strategies designed to undermine accepted belief systems and topple existing power structures.

By approaching the limits of conventionally acceptable behaviour, Richard Dedomenici’s poetic acts of low-grade civil disobedience forcibly ask pertinent questions of society, while his subtle anarcho-surrealist interventions create the kind of uncertainty that leads to possibility.


However, as part of the ongoing professionalisation of his artistic practice Richard is thinking about refurbishing his Mission Statement, and, moreover, subcontracting the job to a third party.

COMPETITION

Do you think you can succinctly clarify the unifying theme of Richard's work?

If so, email your proposal, with the subject header ‘Rewriting Other Peoples Manifestos', to this address.

All entries will be displayed below, and the winner will receive a 'special' prize.


From: me at mydadsstripclub.com
Date: 02 March 2006

How about this ?

"twat"


Richard Comments: Yes, quite good, but whilst I'm all for brevity, I need something that will sufficiently differentiate me from other artists.


From: P.Clarke at signal.QinetiQ.com
Date: 03 March 2006

Mission statement: "To be recognised as the leading children's entertainer in the Hertfordshire area*".

* Dedomenici worked for several years as an undercover agent for the Department for Social Uniformity, fostering an image as a political dissident and social anarchist. Known simply as Agent D he successfully infiltrated extremist groups with baffling acts of public disobedience and was directly responsible for closing seven festivals, issuing 89 ASBOs and "removing" two Turner Prize nominees. This sham came to a close in 2006 as a result of the Freedom of Information Act (2000), precipitated by a written request from probing Guardian journalist Jan Reese. Dedomenici describes his move into light entertainment as a career evolution rather than revolution - "I can tolerate kids, and the money's reasonable".

Richard Comments: A few factual errors, but still too close to the sworded, painful truth, sorry.


From: AdaDav646 at aol.com
Date: 27 October 2006

Richard Dedomenici is in a still space standing in an invisible catalyst he is metallic with a squidgy soft centre and shoots off shards of this metallic pink soft squidgy stuff into walls of preoccupation causing them to split and squirm like ice. He is in the business of antimatter and its definitely in the right hands.

In any case he can certainly tickle and he has very long arms.

Richard Comments: This is my favourite one yet - but it doesn't win a prize, as it was obviously written by a robot. Keep 'em coming!


From : anna_howitt at hotmail.com
Sent : 22 November 2006

One day, while following the dead end trail of yet another piece of so-called 'art', he tumbled down the rickety stairs of the basement where all supposed art is made and laid to rest. It was empty.

After cleverly concluding that there's no such thing as art anyway, Richard decided a much worthier pursuit would be to descend the depths of other people's basements in search of that ever elusive dusty cardboard dressing-up box of contemporary creative action.

DoIWinDoIWinDoIWinDoIWin?!!!!

Richard Comments: It's too soon to say. I'm still trying to come to terms with your central premise that there's no such thing as art.


From: newartonmondays at yahoo.co.uk
Date: 23 February 2007

Richard Dedomenici is a unique individual. In addition to having three heads, numerous imposters and a huge reptilean following (mainly in the Galapagos Islands), he is a sartorial guru with an exceptional ability to find the negative in any social situation. Moreover, he is physically and psychologically very flexible. These traits make him an excellent artist to work with as he can bow down to commissioners before scrunching himself up into a small ball to be inserted into a briefcase and brought to funding application meetings. Above all, Richard Dedomenici represents good value for money, labour-wise (i.e. in UK speak, he is cheap).

Richard Comments: Oh, that may be the best one, actually. The competition's not over yet though. Interesting you should mention the reptiles; the man behind the ticket desk at Watford Junction recently compared my work to that of David Icke. History does not record my response.


From : anthony at colchesterartscentre.com
Sent : 10 March 2006

Richard Dedomenici is going bald. His new practice is primarily dedicated to the development and implementation of innovative new strategies designed to underpin and expand existing hair structures.

By approaching the limits of conventionally accepted hairdressing, Ricahard Dedomenici's poetic acts of low-grade follicile manipulation ask pertinent questions of the barber community, while his subtle anarcho-surrealist hair styles create the kind of uncertainty that leads to comb-overs.

Richard Comments: How dare you.


From : info at hillbillyhop.com
Sent : 12 May 2007

Be a cunt desperate to get his arse kissed by other cunts. create 'art' that reinforces the idea that artists are wankers.

Richard Comments: This is more like it, although these days many institutions frown upon the repeated use of the word "cunt". Perhaps you could rework your submission, replacing one of the cunts with a twat, prick, or jobby-jobby-plop-plop?


From : megan.davies at ccsd.ac.uk
Sent : 19 October 2007

Everything is this. Everything is that. Nothing is this, that and the other is everything. And nothing.

Richard will piss on everything, and nothing that suggests a fixture of these states. :D

Richard Comments: This is the kind of high standard that I've come to expect from Central School of Speech and Drama students. I like it very much, Megan, particularly the emoticon, which I think adds a satisfyingly existential denouement. My only concern is that I don't really understand the bits before the emoticon.

It is imperative that I fully understand my own artistic statement.

Please advise.

05 April 2009

LINKS

Friends, Associates, Co-Conspirators:

www.mydadsstripclub.com
www.thevacuumcleaner.co.uk
www.timewasting.net
www.wauwausisters.com
www.vaginaldavis.com
www.tomvek.tv


Related Links that probably don't work anymore:

www.wonderfulwebsite.net/docs/artscience/dedomenici.html

www.newmoves.co.uk/archives/newterritories2003/richarddedomenici.htm
www.tobyslater.com/specialschool/richarddedomenici.html
www.daytodaydata.com/richard.html
www.bigshinything.com/?p=401
www.zprod.org/stock/item31.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2157383.stm
www.lgihome.co.uk/images/art_money25_large.jpg
www.lgihome.co.uk/images/art_money26_large.jpg
www.physoc.org/publications/pn/archive/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=884512003
http://archive.balticmill.com/showmediaframe.php?file=H35067.mp4
www.vaginaldavis.com/blog/2005_02_13_arc.html
www.artifact.ac.uk/displayoai.php?id=7642

Richard DeDomenici is the only Richard DeDomenici in the known universe. It's a lonely existance, but on a positive note it does make him incredibly easy to find on the internet. Google him here.