27th & 28th August master-class THE BRUCE HIGH QUALITY FOUNDATION (BHQF)

In 2011, within the framework of the “Summer in New Holland” project, a group of American artists, The Bruce High Quality Foundation (BHQF) showcased an installation called “The Apology” and a collection of video shorts. This summer, BHQF is back on the island with a two-day master-class and a screening of one of their latest films.

Master-class “Public Art and Collaboration”

On 27th & 28th August, the artists will lead a master-class in New Holland called “Public Art and Collaboration,” the name of which is connected with one of the BHQF’s best-known videos by the same name. Collaboration is the key word in the title of the master-class, the basic idea being the understanding of the phenomenon of cooperation and teamwork.

The master-class is split into two parts. On the first day, 27th August, the BHQF artists will talk a bit about themselves and show their very own “pedagogical films:” video material shot over the last few years about the history of art, visual culture and the current situation in the world.

The plots of the films are very diverse: from sandwiches, a discussion of Velazquez’s painting Las Meninas and the anonymous narrator, praising the 9/11 terrorist attacks as “the biggest work of public art there has ever been,” to an examination of labor and to the study of the working class, the American work ethic via the figure of cartoonist Al Capp, the WPA, Andy Warhol and Martin Luther. The following videos will be shown in the master-class from the series “Art History with…:” Public Art and Collaboration, 2008; Art History with Film, 2008; Five Courses of Empire, 2009, Art History with Metaphor, 2010; and the very latest – Art History with Labour (95 Theses), 2012. 

The second day, 28th August, is the practical part. Together with the artists, master-class participants will make a temporary installation using school furniture made out of construction materials. Later, these objects will be cast in metal and will become a fully-fledged part of the island space.

Participation in the master-class is free-of-charge, but pre-registration is required. All the materials necessary for the master-class will be provided. The master-classes start at 18:30 and last roughly 3.5 hours.

To register, please send an email to info@newhollandsp.com with the subject ‘BHQF.’ Please include your full name in the email, with your age, occupation and a brief explanation of why you would like to attend the master-class. Participation is limited to 30 people, and registration will end once all places are filled.

For all those interested, from 25th to 28th August in the New Holland Art Gallery, BHQF films from the series “Art History with…” will be screened. The screening on 25th August will run from 12:00 till 16:00, screenings on 26th through 28th will run from 12:00 till 20:00.

About The Bruce High Quality Foundation

The Bruce High Quality Foundation (BHQF) is a fictional Art Foundation, founded in New York in 2001. The project is named after the fictional “social sculptor,” Bruce High Quality, who was killed, according to legend, in the 9/11 terrorist attack. Having emerged like fiction, the artist’s association operates under the guise of a Foundation and deals with the subject of art history. The BHQF conducts research and organizes educational programs with an amazing wit and incredible visual literacy, bringing a new dimension to popular culture.

The BHQF legend directly touches upon an American national tragedy. Nonetheless, despite a few misplaced references towards this now-historical subject, the artists managed to use this tragedy for the serious study of contemporary art, the education system and themes of American idealism. In 2008, the group organized their first Biennial, the ‘Brucennial,’ and in 2009 the artists founded the experimental art school Bruce High Quality Foundation University, BHQFU. The BHQFU doesn’t work along the traditional lines of an academic degree, but instead puts education through doing at the heart of the process: “Our education is not seen as a protected time or space; rather, it is about placing yourself at constant risk.”