 | | Detail of Bedwyr Williams' $ beermat |
Do you love art? Good, then you'll be pleased to hear that Sheffield's second city-wide contemporary art event is upon us and showing work at eight venues across the city until 27th November. Do you hate art? Also good. This year many of the new commissions in the biennial event have been designed with you in mind - art that challenges you to dislike it,Ìý destroy it or even steal it. Invitation to destruction The fictional art-hating Spectator T, who is at the centre of the event's concept, was born when artist Gavin Wade encountered the very real Tony T on Devonshire Green in 2002, whilst installing a public art commission. Tony apparently let Gavin know in no uncertain terms what he thought of the artwork and it was smashed up shortly afterwards by persons unknown.
 | | Juneau's Antler Fonts lettering |
With the exception of Gifts to the City of Sheffield, in which artefacts have been left all over the city for people to do with as they will, there is very little that invites actual destruction. But there is plenty which feels as if it is speaking to Sheffield people on their own terms and their own ground, rather than parachuting in work which is meant to edify or improve. Mystery beermats Bedwyr Williams' $ logo beermats (at Sylvester Works and throughout the city), for example, reflect the artist's experience of an intimidating Steel City of his youth. Back in 1993 he was told that the logos commonly painted on walls were to warn off students, or they were advertising a band, or perhaps both. He never found out and it's quite possible that a new generation of drinkers who come across his mats never will either. If they visit his Sylvester Works installation, they will find out that Williams is now more interested in exploring the absurd than getting to the bottom of the mystery - but perhaps you know the true story. Stickers emblazoned with epigrammatic Kurt Vonnegut phrases rather than the familiar band names, marketing and political slogans may be finding their way to a wall near you, thanks to Simon and Tom Bloor's "what filthy bombastic spin" at S1 Artspace. They share a preoccupation with audience intervention and have provided stickers to take away and play with.
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 | | Antoine Prum's "Mondo Veneziano" poster |
At the same venue Juneau's "Antler Fonts" has a more focussed interactive challenge - they wantÌý Fantasy Wargamers to design a font set based on their creative gaming. You can take part using a customised games console at the gallery and enjoy the accompanying battlefield images or take part online. In a wry nod to the risk of failure inherent in the Tony T concept, there's a deliciously funny little Rejection section to the website, which is bound to amuse veterans of flame wars and defensive communities everywhere. Other work not to miss includes, for the film afficionados, the video work by acclaimed and newer artists at Site Gallery. Antoine Prum's "Mondo Veneziano; High Noon in the Sinking City", for example, is a revenge western overlaid with art world critique with enough riffing on the western genre and beautifully composed shots to interest movie buffs. Artist For Rent
 | | Camilla Lyon's DIY praxinoscope |
Sylvester Works is a good starting point for a really engaging, if sometimes tangential look at a familiar city. Here the video evidence of Joanna Rajkowska's labours as an "Artist For Rent" is on show - you may have seen her around the city with a placard inviting you to ask her to do something artistic. Laureana Toledo has also documented her band's journey from Mexico to a city some of them seem never to have heard of to play cover versions of cult Sheffield classics (think Pulp, Cabaret Voltaire, and even the Arctic Monkeys) in "The name of this band is The Limit". It's an homage to the deceased music venue which is bleak, nostalgic and funny. Across the room Camilla Lyon has created one of the most straightforward homages to the city with a DIY animation device which plays back the demolition of Norfolk Park flats in perpetuity.
Art Sheffield 05: Spectator T is at venues across Sheffield until 27th November 2005. For full listings details follow the Art Sheffield website links on the right and below. | 
