zine, [zeen] noun. 1. abbr. of fanzine; 2. any amateurly-published periodical. Oxford Reference

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Saturday, August 15, 2015

The Belfie Annual 2013




The Belfie Annual 2013 - Elena Colman

A5, 16 photocopied pages with rubber stamped front and back cover. Hand bound. 
Also includes a signed and numbered artist's arse print

Edition of 50. Produced by Ladette Space. 

£4


Think of this as a contemporary re-working of Yoko Ono’s infamous 1966-67 art piece Film Number 4 (Bottoms) – an 80 minute film of the rear ends of 365 ‘saints of the time’.

At the time Ono said about the piece:

In 50 years or so, which is like 10 centuries from now, people will look at the film of the 60’s. They will probably comment on Ingmar Bergman as meaningfully meaningful film-maker Jean-Luc Godard as the meaningfully meaningless. Antonioni as meaninglessly meaningful, etc, etc. Then they would come to the No. 4 film and see a sudden swarm of exposed bottoms, that these bottoms, in fact belonged to people who represented the London scene. And I hope that they would see that the 60’s was not only the age of achievements, but of laughter. This film, in fact, is like an aimless petition signed by people with their anuses. Next time we wish to make an appeal, we should send this film as the signature list.*
Forty-seven years later we live in a very different cultural climate, where it is almost more shocking if you have never revealed your private parts in public, where the media is obsessed with almost bottom of every celebrity and near-celebrity on the planet.

The Belfie Annial – 2013 is a nod a wink to all of this, a selection of selfies reduced down to the most backwards facing portraiture. Topped off with a neon pink arse print made by the artist.



More about Elena's work here: thecolmansingularity.com


*1968 Interview with Tony Elliot, Time Out Magazine. flickr.com/photos/yokoonoofficial/3304679559



Review by Nathan Penlington

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