In June 2011 Lena and Neal went to Newcastle for Mother & Son: ‘that just sounds really sad’ – residency and performance event at 25SG from the 2nd to the 5th of June. During the four days Lena and Neal explored Newcastle, ate out, went to the cinema, did some drawings, had inspiring chats with Carole Luby, the organizer of 25SG and studied together for Neal’s upcoming 11+ exam. The residency and the event which followed were an examination of failure, ambition and success through parenting and arts making. On Sunday afternoon, the audiences were presented with 11+ Mathematics exam whilst the mother layered the test taking experience by reading different text extracts ranging from Slavoj Zizek’s writing on Lacan to contemporary short story writer Helen Simpson. All the extracts which were read addressed the issues of parenthood, ambition, ‘doing it for the kids’, success and determination.
More information about the project and some documentation:
http://25stratfordgrove.wordpress.com/archive/lena-simic-neal-anderson/
Some photographs from the event:
http://www.artopolus.net/lena-simic/
Lena Simic 