The Fool

Amy Bessone, Benjamin Brett, Matt Moser-Clark, Charlotte Develter, Ted Gahl, Tobias Teschner, Sanja Todorović

Curated by Westminster Waste

Neil Raitt: It's nice to hear my own voice actually. (a phone rings) That's good timing...

Joshua Sex: Hello? (telephone conversation)

5 minutes later

JS: So, we're gonna talk about a title for the show.

Jon Pilkington: (confirming) A title for the show. (pause) The Fool. We'll talk about Leicester.

JS: Let's talk about the people we have for the show. We're at the point now of putting together the final list...Varda Caivano? Tried to make contact with Varda.

NR: What do you think, Jon?

JP: Gotta wait and see... (inaudible) It's all resting on... (inaudible)

*

JS: So, we're waiting on Varda.

JP: And Neil's phone's not working properly so we've already missed calls by...

NR: Yeah, we must have missed her call. Already we've missed calls by Djordje Ozbolt. JP: Amy Bessone.

NR: Amy Bessone.

JS: She would be a good one. As the others are fans of her work.

NR: Some of them.

(pause)

JS: Eh... Yeah. Will we stop that there.

Tape stops

*

Jon opens a bottle of beer with his teeth

NR: I did it once and cracked the back of my tooth.

JP: I always feel like it's going to happen.

JS: So what were we talking about there? Oh yeah, the poster. I'll type into google "spot the ball competition". You kinda know what I'm talking about, don't you?

NR: Yeah.

JP: Yeah.

JS: What about this one – down in the park.

NR: Who's in this one?

JS: It's just kids playing football in the park.

NR: Oh right, yeah. There's no ball. They've removed it.

*

Jon takes the call and then the conversation commences

JS: Anyway, we haven't heard back from Varda.

JP: Do you think we will? What's the vibe?

JS: Three days ago I remember saying there' a 60/40 chance. Now it's more like 60/40 that she won't. She moved studio or something like that. It's just one of those ones, where we've sent off a question in an email form and... nobody's answered. For a few days. It's very, very quiet.

NR: We'll see Jelena on Wednesday so we can talk to her. I don't think, though, that she's Varda's liaison person. I'd say we have a slim chance.

JS: But weren't we saying that it doesn't really matter.

*

JS: We went in there to visit Matt the other day.

JP: And what about introducing the chairs now, while Sanja and Charlotte are working?

NR: We asked, we can't.

JP: Okay got to keep those clean. (inaudible)

JS: You never know, he just said "no I think it would be better, if you don't mind, because the gi- rls will have paint on their clothes and stuff. There was never a plan to intentionally make marks on the chairs anyway...

NR: Basically I think the chairs are so close to the side of design...

JS: You are saying there if they had painting marks on them they would just blend in with everything.

NR: Also, if Matt was your friend from wherever he is from and you came to see his show and you said "oh nice, these are your chairs, Matt, cool - what's on them?" Matt: "I don't know".

*

JS: We have an idea that maybe we're gonna visit Ben, I presume, are we?

JP: Ben's gonna change his mind, he's told me already. Ben doesn't want the green painting in the show anymore,.

JS: Yeah, we'll go around there, and have a chat with him.

JP: It's like 220 x 160 or something, its not.. 220 x 180 its 220. But something thin, you know. JS: A little bit thinner than your average.

JP: And it's really tall.

NR: 220's not that tall.

JP: Maybe it's 240.

JS: But like Jon said, if it's skinny, then 220 looks tall.

JP: It looks stretched, like elongated that's the thing, yeah, and he's got like these really thin arms in it...

NR: Mm.

*

NR: I think it's important, you know in the context of this show, that we're presenting the works of everybody in a way that might not be a way they've showed it in the past.

JP: Ted usually kind of pairs two paintings in the same show: more abstract ones with these, kind of, one-liners, they're kind of joke paintings in a sense, really nicely handled but they've got some kind of witty connotation to them and he likes to pair this and play them off each other, I think it's nice that we've got this playing off..

JS: ... with his against the rest of the whole show. JP: Yeah and it says "the end", you know, finished.

Postscript

JS: Final instalment of conversation.

NR: Painting now, today.

JS: I think we talked about all the artists didn't we?

NR: Probably left one person out.

JS: There's always one.

NR: They are usually the best.

JS: So has Rod got hold of the work from Amy? Have you been in contact with him, Jon?

JP: Not really, the last email I got was last week - still in discussion about transport of works from LA.

JS: So today is the first day Charlotte and Sanja have been in the space together, they've got a week and a half left...

NR: It's the 21st today.

JS: They've got a good week. Will there be beer?

JP: Yeah.

NR: What kind of beer?

JP: Cheap Belgian beer.

JS: What does Rod usually do? What did he do at your show, Jon?

JP: Cheap Belgian beer.

JS: What Brand?

JP: Not sure.

NR: No frills.

JP: Are you recording this?

JS: I hope so.

NR: Yep, two minutes thirty eight.

JS: Let's talk about the text... this conversation is the third (fourth) part, we're gonna listen back in the next days and transcribe the good bits.

NR: Yeah, which if you are reading the press release you will already know.

JS: How long are we going to spend curating the show? In the space?

NR: Maybe Wednesday and Thursday evening, go in, have a beer...

JS: Have a paly around on Wednesday and attack it properly Thursday...

JP: I will be away on Thursday day, maybe I have to put a lot of trust in you guys.

JS: It's the day.

JP: Well I'll be there, I'll get there at some point after four for sure.

Pause. Neil leaves the room

JP: Sorry, Josh, I'm dazed.

JS: I feel like we've pretty much covered it.

JP: We've covered some bases... I think the only thing left to do is to get in there and hang it... it's a game of chance, Josh.

NR: (returns) What are you talking about?

JS: It's a game of chance.

NR: Yeah, that's what I was going to say, game of chance... game of two halves.

JS: It is a game of two halves.

JP: As long as it doesn't go like Liverpool yesterday... starting well and dramatically trailing off.

NR: That's true.

NR: Well, what's the text going to look like, an interview or... I wonder what format its going to be?

JP: Have you got any inside info from Sanja?

JS: Very little, Jon.

JP: I thought you had the key, to the secrets?

JS: (inaudible)

JS: Are you going to leave that like that, Neil (referring to Neil's half-primed canvas)? I'm sorry but I think we're done here right?

JP: Yeah.

JS: We're all tired, I'm certainly lacking in any sort of ideas.

NR: Anyways it doesn't matter, we can say it's finished now.

JS: Yeah, good.