Art Metropole

04 Sep. 2004

*CANDY FACTORY PROJECTS & Instant Coffee YEAR OF LOVE

Artist

Instant Coffee

CANDY FACTORY and INSTANT COFFEE: a web project and CD package

Art Metropole is pleased to present two new collaborative media projects by Japan’s artistic darling, Takuji Kogo of *Candy Factory Projects, and Toronto’s own Instant Coffee collective. Candy Factory and Instant Coffee present social and artistic interaction as their art form of choice. They bridge the vast global and cultural distances between Japan and Canada with music and video.

The collaboration has been packaged as a double-CD set, with an audio CD by Takuji Kogo and a video CD by Instant Coffee. The two-CD set, titled *Candy Factory Projects / Instant Coffee Year of Love sells for $18.00 Cdn.

Takuji Kogo of Candy Factory presents 14 flash movies produced in collaboration with other visual artists or influenced by artists’ production. In particular, Takuji has produced two new works for this series, based on AA Bronson’s Healer web site at aabronson.com, and Chrysanne Stathacos’ Wish Machine project. Other works with Young Hae Chang Heavy Industries and Mike Bode are based on lyrics from SPAM email and web content. The audio tracks are all included on the Candy Factory Projects audio CD, as well as on the web project

Instant Coffee’s participation includes 8 quick time movies documenting one year of Instant Coffee Make Out Parties designed to build social relations by any means necessary. Footage includes adults goin’ for it in recreated grade 7 style settings, including blanket and pillow constructed make out forts, spin-the-bottle games, dance floor groping, and hotel room fun. These mini-videos are also included on the Instant Coffee Year of Love CD.
Takuji Kogo has made collaboration a large focus of his career. His varied publications include catalogues, artist books, audio works, web-based artworks, and curatorial projects. Many of these works focus on the everyday practical and aesthetic needs of individuals living in organized societies and the architectural and mass media structures created to serve those needs. Some past collaborators include Thomas Bayrle, Mike Bode and Staffan Schmidt, John Miller, Sean Snyder, Ola Pehrson, Tetsu Takagi, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries and Keiichi Miyagawa.

Canada’s Instant Coffee is all about collaboration. They are a service-oriented artist collective whose members include Cecilia Berkovic, Jinhan Ko, Kate Monro, Jenifer Papararo, and Jon Sasaki. They have actively promoted artist-initiated activities worldwide through their indispensable ic-events email news service. They have a rich international exhibition history, promoting many artists’ projects through their frequent group exhibitions, publications, and Urban Disco Trailer installations.

This project is produced with the assistance of the Japan-Canada Fund, a gift to the Canada Council for the Arts from the Government of Japan.

Instant Coffee is a service oriented artist collective now based in Toronto and Vancouver. The domain name Instant Coffee was registered in May of 2000. Instant Coffee’s motive for initiating “services” came from our desire to place relational activities, more directly communication, at the core of our practice. Ultimately, we believe that communication is the primary function of artistic production, but what is meant by communication or the building of relations is continually under negotiation. Together we have developed a practice that culminates in bringing together large numbers of artists, designers, musicians and other cultural producers under loosely themed events. We offer networking services that promote local, national and international activities and publish a monthly on-line magazine, Instant Coffee Saturday Edition. In conjunction with our events, we also publish bookworks, posters and other multiples. Instant Coffee’s most consistent members are Jinhan Ko, Jenifer Papararo, Kate Monro, Cecilia Berkovic, Jon Sasaki, Emily Hogg and Kelly Lycan.

Images

1: *CANDY FACTORY PROJECTS & Instant Coffee YEAR OF LOVE.
2: CANDY FACTORY PROJECTS & Instant Coffee YEAR OF LOVE.

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