Wednesday, November 12^th , 2003 Velan presents Rehearsal of Memory  by the London group MONGREL, formed by Yokokoji Matsuko, Mervin Jarman, Pierre-Davis Richard and Harwood Graham. Mongrel is, according to their own definition - a mixed group of people, machines and intelligences working to celebrate the “street culture” of London. We do socially committed works, that is to say sometimes art, sometimes software and some time workshops -. Their work ranges from the diffusion of computer literacy in suburban quarters, to projects of strong social polemic. These may be found on the web, like “Natural Selection” about racial problems to be found in certain web sites, or like “Color Separation” or “Cultural Heritage”, manipulation plays of racial stereotypes presented as websites, an evident critic to the problems of integration tending to crash social differences. This group of “Digital Activists” uses cross strategies between web projects and installations, even in urban areas, between CD Rom and interactive devices.To the latest category belongs the work Rehearsal of Memory, interactive collage of the bodies of patients in an English  penal madhouse, a digital and interactive installation, projected on a large screen. The work let us “surf” through an uninterrupted collage formed by the patients’ bodies. By activating some parts we can hear sounds, texts, memories, the memories and the stories of the patients. Starting from their “wounded body” Rehearsal of Memory analyzes the ideas of normality and abnormality and compares them to the “cold” language of computers. The Mongrel group has recently transferred their activism also on the website of the Tate Modern London (which dedicates a sector to the Net Art), by creating an ironic discourse about the history and function of modern art museums  and of their current growth. Their website is www.mongrelx.org

Mongrel is a London group composed by Yokokoji Matsuko, Mervin Jarman, Pierre-Davis Richard and Harwood Graham. Mongrel is, according to their own definition, a mixed group of people, machines, and brains working together to celebrate London’s street culture. We make engaged social works, that is to say sometimes art, sometimes software and sometimes workshops.