SELECTED PROJECTS
Spike Milligan Archive Residency, Joe Magee, 2023
A series of forty stop-frame animations, made during a residency, for incorporation into a feature-length documentary, 'Spike Milligan: The Unseen Archive'. Commissioned by Yeti Television / Sky Arts
Nominated for 5 awards
Best Specialist Factual – International Broadcasting Awards 2023 (Highly Commended Runner-Up)
Best Multi Channel Production – Broadcast Awards 2024 (Highly Commended)
Best Single Documentary - Bafta Cymru 2023
Best Feature Documentary – Celtic Media Awards 2024
Best Documentary: Biography – New York Festivals TV & Film Awards 2024 (winner)
Thanks to all involved on and off screen, the Milligans, and special thanks to Producer-Director Seb Barfield @sebbarfield
Tudorland, by Joe Magee, October 2019
Tudorland is a set of images commissioned by Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for installation in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
The work considers human behaviour amid the architecture of Stratford. As a destination for tourists to connect with Shakespeare and his birthplace, the street itself becomes a site of performance as cameras capture valued moments of being in the town - observing, being observed, and of course taking selfies. Visitors create their own new picture narratives to take home and frame themselves within the Tudor history of Stratford.
Thank you to curators Simon Poulter and Craig Ashley, SBT creative programmer Louisa Davies and all at Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
The Custom House, Kings Lynn, at night with projected images by Joe Magee.
The Custom House by Joe Magee, December 2018
The Custom House is an artwork by Joe Magee. It was commissioned by Cambridge-based arts organisation Collusion to form part of their Reveal project - a series of artworks and performances in Kings Lynn (England).
The large scale projection onto the 17th Century harbourside building sees fragmented images randomly altering. Visitors can interact using their smart phones to change and resolve the images so that the building becomes like a giant Rubik’s Cube.
Joe’s images explore the themes of Reveal - soul searching about migration, borders and brexit in the English heartlands. The interactivity and coding for the artwork was developed by cutting edge digital programmer Pi & Mash.
Digital coding: Pete Cleary @ Pi & Mash. Produced by Marcus Romer and Simon Poulter. Executive Producers: Simon Poulter, Rachel Drury. Creative technologist: Richard Hall. REVEAL has been developed by the Borough Council of West Norfolk and King’s Lynn working with Collusion. Additionally, the project has been funded by Arts Council England, Norfolk County Council, Discover King’s Lynn and The Business Board. PHOTO CREDIT: Matthew Usher
JoyN+ October 2016
JoyN+ was conceived by Joe Magee and subsequently funded by Barnwood Trust as a pilot project at a GPs' surgery in Gloucestershire. Working closely with Dursley GP Dr Simon Opher OBE and staff at his surgery, the aim is to help effectively implement 'social prescribing'.
Social prescribing is a way of linking people to groups and activities where they live that they might benefit from. Instead of prescribing medication doctors are prescribing connections to things such as art groups, gardening clubs and book groups. Research has shown that this approach is beneficial to people’s physical and mental wellbeing.
JoyN+ takes the form of a pill packet that can be given to patients by the GP, or taken from the countertop box. Inside are business cards with information about individual local groups. The cards provide both ideas and contact details.
The JoyN+ concept sprung from an arts and health discussion group instigated by Create Gloucestershire.
LINKS: Barnwood Trust | Create Gloucestershire | JoyN+ © Joe Magee 2016
Remembering Jelly
Exhibition by Joe Magee,
Line Gallery Stroud, 2 April 2016. Part of SITE Festival
Images and objects in the space use jelly (jello) as a medium to explore memory, identity and the contemporary human mind. A series of related films also screened at The Goods Shed, Stroud, April 2016.
Thanks to SVA
Each Shining Hour, a short film by Joe Magee, 2013
Each Shining Hour was commissioned to mark the start of the Bristol’s Temple Quarter ‘Enterprise Zone’ – an area that initially exploded into life during the industrial revolution - helping to spearhead western industrial capitalism. The new equation ‘time equals money’ saturated men’s minds through moral propaganda as they worked to the rhythm of machines. This short film explores the concept of how we value time. Is it wrong, or even a sin, to waste time? 8mins 40secs.
Funded by Bristol City Council and Arts Council England. Co-ordinated by Knowle West Media Centre.
Thanks to Carolyn Hassan, Dick Penny, Angus Barr, Adam Laity, Luca Parasiliti.
Sleep Now, and Awake In Hell Joe Magee, 2011
Residency in the prestigious archive of the Heriot Watt University -School of Textiles and Design at Galashiels resulting in an exhibition at Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh.
The work (prints hung central in the gallery) explored aspects of the industrial revolution, people's growing relationship with technology, and the moralistic work ethos that simultaneously emerged. Heavily influenced by Time, Work-Discipline, And Industrial Capitalism, Past and Present (1967) by E. P. Thompson
The images were presented at a group exhibition curated by Mark Eley (Eley Kishimoto] at Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh 20-24 June 2011. Thank you to Alison Harley
House of Bread 2010
Multi-video installation in Elizabeth's Place, an ex-bakery, Bristol.
Films exploring the myths and mysteries of bread and bread-making were projected onto circular screens. Small sculptures made of bread were placed in the windows amongst the general objects for sale.
Commissioned by Illuminate Bristol.
Humming Paradise, 2009
Exhibition including film installation and prints. This new body of work, supported by an award from Arts Council of England, explores aspects of human communication, interaction and thought processes.
'Phishing', a large-scale photographic treescape infested with human messages in the form of braille, was encouraged to break down in a natural process of corruption by being sold off in small sections during the show - with all proceeds going to Sightsavers.
Ffotogallery, Penarth, 4 Jul-15 Aug 2009. Centrespace, Bristol. May 2009. Supported by Arts Council of England, The Arts Council of Wales, Cardiff City Council and The Welsh Assembly.
WERK No.16: Joe Magee Special INSTALLATION in collaboration with ROCKET (Tokyo), 2008
Exhibition of drawings. Following on from the publication of the award winning WERK No.16 by Theseus Chan's WORK Studio in Singapore, Tokyo's Rocket gallery invited me to present the drawings that underpinned my imagery in that book. Rocket, 28 Nov - 23 Dec 2008. 6-9-6 Jinguumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan
Seeing it in Black and White, 2003
An exhibition of black and white newspaper illustrations that I originally provided for publications such as The Guardian, Libération and New York Times.
Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts, University of Bath. Nov - Dec 2003. Funded by University of Bath ICIA
DAILY TELEGRAPH PROJECT
"Grossly Obscene" The Daily Telegraph
"Potentially Libellous" The Daily Telegraph
8 April 2002
Today I got sacked by The Daily Telegraph newspaper. One of their readers noticed I've been putting braille messages into the images in my new regular slot like "You are too fat", "Thatcher Fucked Us" and "Empty the Whitehall Cesspit". Someone with a double- barrelled name claiming to be the deputy head informed me that I will "never work for Telegraph Newspapers again". He suggested I apologise to the newspaper. I thought this request odd but have resolved to do it next time I visit a newsagent. They are refusing to pay me for the last six images - which is illegal. I might resort to the boring process of legal proceedings. Then again, maybe I'll just create a new web page about it. The Telegraph is 'Britain's biggest selling quality daily' - and also publishes artist's work without paying. Below are a selection of the images.
8 April 2003
It's now exactly a year since I was sacked by The Telegraph, and as yet I haven't been paid. I have, on regular occasion, phoned them to request the money - and sent invoices. No-one has responded or returned my calls.
8 April 2004
Two years later. On threat of legal action to claim my payment, I have received a ham-handed, attempted intimidatory letter from The Telegraph. In it they state that my work is "grossly obscene" "potentially libellous" and has "upset a considerable number of our readers". I'm intrigued as to which ones the publication considers libellous.
8 April 2014
Twelve years later. I'm still smarting from things, and pondering my next move. I won't rest until the entire Telegraph empire is a sad residue of smouldering wreckage.
The braille font set,"Disbraille", was designed and provided by Liverpool designers and font publishers BEAUFONTS.com
Hypnomart, 2001
Short experimental film in collaboration with artist Alistair Gentry. Hypnomart uses footage of shoppers to create a synthetic mall, driven by surveillance, in which the shoppers are fodder for gratuitous manipulation of body language and an investigation of how people behave in public spaces.
The film was shortlisted for two British Animation Awards (Best use of New Technology, and Most Cutting Edge Film). Commissioned by Arts Council of England and Channel 4. Broadcast Channel 4, UK September 2001. Exhibition screenings include ICA (London), Hiroshima Media Festival (Japan), Microwave Media Festival (Hong Kong), ISEA International Symposium of Electronic Arts (Japan), Encounters, (Bristol), V&A Museum (London), National Portrait Gallery (London).
Blackbird Has Spoken, 2001
Multimedia (short story, animation, printed images). Supported by an award from Arts Council of England this body of work by explores how culture (in this case language) replicates, spreads, and mutates.
Funded by Arts Council of England. Watershed, Bristol, December 2001, Flux Magazine, Feb 2002.
A Personal History of Corruption, 2002
Interactive artwork, prints, short film. This body of work by was produced as part of The Clarke Digital Bursary 2002 and explores the human and natural histories of the notion of 'corruption'. At the centre is a piece of interactive web-based art looking at the story of the Garden of Eden.
Watershed Media Centre, September 2002. Developed at PVA Media Lab and Watershed. Supported by J.A. Clark Charitable Trust, University of the West of England, Arts Council of England.
Playtime, 1998-2001
Exhibition of prints. A series of large printed images that equate the school playground with a petri dish; looking at the dynamics of 'culture' and how it replicates itself.
Hope Street Gallery, Liverpool 2001. Funded by Arts Council of England. Supported by Liverpool John Moores University.
Jesusplex 1999
Multimedia installation. Commissioned by PVA MediaLab as a piece of art to mark the turn of the new millennium, Jesusplex draws upon my Catholic upbringing to try and create something that satisfies both a desire and belief in scientific knowledge - and a deep need for some kind of spiritual experience.
The moving-image work was projected large in Bridport's Scientific and Literary Institute, at the first Swipe Festival 1999.
Thank you to Simon Poulter and Julie Penfold. Funded by Arts Council of England (also installed at Manchester Metropolitan University Holden Gallery, Manchester 2000)
Reproduction 1998
Exhibition of prints and animation.
This exhibition was the start of a long collaboration with Watershed. Initially commissioned as a print exhibition, I also created an animation for Watershed's in-house monitors, sparking an interest in moving image that has steadily grown. The work built on 'Damage' - a response to the genetic engineering revolution. But Reproduction extended the realm beyond biological engineering, to that of ideas in the human mind.
Watershed, Bristol 1998, International Symposium of Electronic Arts, Liverpool 1998, Funded by Arts Council of England and Watershed.
Damage, 1997
Exhibition, including published catalogue. Dolly the cloned sheep took 277 attempts. We do not question the reason for her existence, merely the ethics of the process. My first exhibition was a response to the genetic engineering revolution that was taking place at the time - and comprised large digitally composed prints that paralleled the work of genetic scientists and digital artists - both compulsively reconstructing in pursuit of the intangible.
Aytoun Gallery, Manchester. Funded by Arts Council of England and The National Lottery. Supported by Manchester Metropolitan University.