UKC

The Marmot "On Sight" Film Clip Competition

The Stationary Climber by Abraham Ferraro

You can watch here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1295

There are more than £1,000 worth of MARMOT prizes on offer

CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES IS OCTOBER 31st

What You Have To Do?

Film or have filmed a short climbing or mountaineering clip, it could be of your mate leading or even a short piece acted by a whole troupe of climbers, the brief is wide open, it could be a clip of beautiful mountain scene with an environmental theme, the ascent of a boulder problem, a fall, or a funny sketch. It's up to you, but it must be your own work.

Full details here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1202

Sorry, contrived yawnfest for me.

Surely an Etchosketch would have sufficed?

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

clearly the work of a derranged mind....

In reply to petellis:


mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Oh come on! That was great!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

A system which turns meaningful activity into pointless, unintelligible gibberish?

What a splendid metaphor for almost all modern art.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: "The Stationary Climber is a Sisypean tragedy for artists".
Wow, that's pretty pretentious.... Other than that it was quite interesting.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Excellent stuff. Something tells me it's not going to win, however.

Interesting comments about the conversion of meaningful activities into something pointless. An uninterested spectator might view the idea of driving for hours to complete a single boulder problem as fairly pointless (see other entrant), so it's obviously a relative value.

In reply to niggle:

See Niggle, I always thought (and was taught) that art really made systems (which have meaning) out of the unintelligble gibberish of everyday life. Take John Franklands boulders. Maybe this is a poor example.

He dreams about and devises a project that cuts two boulders out of a quarry in Cornwall and brings them to Shoreditch, London at a cost of thousands. A big team of people work on installing them safely. One day a small team of proper climbers draw colurful lines in chalk on them, give them catchy names and grades and post them on UKC so we can all dream about them and fill our lives with hope. Hope that one day we could be good enough to climb them.

In reply to Martin76:


Not really.

Bouldering or climbing routes has objective - which is to say agreed by consensus - value because it is difficult. Not many people can climb a font 8c problem, so doing so has value. That's not subjective, it's a definition of "value" which we as a society agree to.

Now on the other hand, a lobotomised monkey could draw scribbles on a table, so it has no value outside of the purely subjective and neither should it.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:I wish I had that much time on my hands!

In reply to niggle:
The value which society in general places on someone completing a hard boulder problem is possibly significantly less than you believe. And could be eclipsed by the value it places on some fairly ramshackle examples of modern art, if recent auctions are to be taken as a guide. Doesn't mean I share that valuation, but I am sufficiently humble to think that my view, and even the views of some others within a niche sport, does not a consensus make. You only have to listen to the preaching of general opinion on the 'pointless endangerment' within high altitude mountaineering every time there is a tragedy to get a flavour of this.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Stationary climber?... I could have sworn that I saw him move? Anybody?

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Some people see art, I see a great way for training endurance...

In reply to niggle:
Martin76 has summed valuation quite well, but what left out is that a lobotomized monkey could not conceive the idea and then build the structure that makes the drawing. Conceiving of the idea, engineering the concept, and then building the machine that metaphorically depicts the artists struggle is my 5.14, which takes years of training and practice to complete this boulder problem (Art).

Art is reflective of life and my artistic career is summed up in this piece…I’m climbing an endless wheel restricted mostly to climbing in the middle of the track…neither falling nor rising and my Art is drawing in circles…repeating itself and laboriously spinning its’ gears.

The value of Art is the expression of yourself though it, just as climbing a hard route is a physical / mental expression of your being, which gives meaning and satisfaction to your life.

In reply to Martin76:

Well said...thanks for making some interesting points! I glad my Art has caused some debate and discussion…Art is a successful only successful if it can do this. I love climbing and it was a natural for me to make Art that involves climbing, but I am glad see my Art has now had some effect back on the climbing…very cyclical! Hmmmm…kind of like my drawing.

In reply to Martin76:

Well said...thanks for making some interesting points! I glad my Art has caused some debate and discussion…Art is only successful if it can do this. I love climbing and it was a natural for me to make Art that involves climbing, but I am glad see my Art has now had some effect back on climbing…very cyclical! Hmmmm…kind of like my drawing.