Revolution Revolution

Revolution Revolution is performance and video work by Gillian Dykeman that activates the latent radical potential of the human energy amassed through engaging fitness. Operating as a home stationary bike workout, Revolution Revolution delivers fitness instruction in tandem with revolutionary rhetoric. Utopia is latent within the everyday, so how do we move from sliding over its radical possibilities and instead find a way to activate it? What is the energy of revolution? How do we better engineer our energetic outputs to formulate collective ways of being out of a culture that glorifies individualism …to radically reimagine what it is we’re doing with our lives?  Our life-force? Our love? See more on Vimeo and HERE

Revolution Revolution has been presented over dozen times as either a exercise-bike or aerobics based performance both live and as video installations. The performances include fitness instruction and revolutionary rhetoric, usually tailored to a given location or exhibition theme. Below is the documentation from the development and presentation of this work at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

I did an independent residency in November and December of 2017 at the Banff Centre, where I developed Revolution Revolution work substantially. I made a large backdrop painting 7′ x 12′ for the video version of this work.  It’s a watercolour on canvas. At this time, the major focus of my revolutionary rhetoric was on the needs of contemporary workers; the Precariat in particular.

Thanks again to artsnb.

*Number subject to depending on friends willingness to participate / actually check their facebook messages.

Gillian Dykeman, C.E.O. of Human Services Inc. pitched ideas for creative office space design, integrating creativity into the workplace, and increasing worker efficiency at the DNA Artspace opening on November 29, 2013.

I spoke at length about these ideas with the Other Business Collective in the fall of 2012.

Human Services Inc. undertakes creative office space design as a means of engaging with corporate culture. This project opened at the DNA Artpsace in London, ON for November 29, 2013 as part of “No Boys With Frogs”. The research, development and production of this work has been generously funded by a Creation Grant from ArtsNB. An accompanying performance by the C.E.O. of Human Services Inc. (me) performed and pitched the company’s philosophy at the opening of this show.

The desire to make a workplace cool in appearance functions much the same way as all-too-familiar green-washing: the appearance of changing is allowed to stand in for making actual long-term and fundamental changes to power structures and systems.

Capitalism is genius at allowing people to harm each other, and institutional distances (per Arendt’s thoughts on the banality of evil) allow human beings to do great violence to other human beings and the planet while sitting comfortably at their desk in their benign office. How much can coolness and design mask these machinations?

I made this, and was a barista for 6 hours at the white rabbit open-air arts festival, a site-specific wilderness art residency/ one day art festival. Fellow participants included Amy Belanger , Matthew Carswell, Joshua Collins, Patrick DeCoste, Abby Fry, Zachary Gough, Wes Johnson, Gary Markle, Hannah Newton, Penelope Smart, Ella Tetrault, Danika Vandersteen, and Andrea Williamson

photo cred above: Andrea Williamson

]]> 172 https://www.gilliandykeman.com/archives/132 Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:38:53 +0000 http://www.gilliandykeman.com/?p=132 On the day of the Go North! festival, I had a bicycle wash in front of the Nauss bike shop in North End Halifax.  In exchange for writing the stories of their first real bike love, I cleaned the bikes of participants who happened by. I created swag (flags, patches, spoke cards, art fresheners) and gave them away to everyone who shared their story, and some who just liked the swag. Over 50 people wrote down their bike love story in the notebooks provided. The stories may be found in a free zine entitled “Halifax Bike Love” now being distributed.

I kept detailed documentation of my runs, swims, walks, meals, etc. I’ve put this project on hold for now, but I’m took away a lot from the process. Professional sport and professional art aren’t as different as they seem on the surface, and I think the parallels are worth investigating.

I participated in the group show “Re: Directions” which was installed at the SEEDS gallery in March, 2008. This show was co-curated by Emily Davidson and Scott Rogers. For this show, students fron NSCAD and ACAD exchanged directions. I sent directions to create a tin can telephone long enough to connect the two schools, which Jen Crieghtoninstalled at ACAD. I followed her directions and took pictures of myself in places that matched tourist postcards of Nova Scotia, creating a pic-nic scene at them all, and then installed the picnic with the photographs at SEEDS.