Outa-Space Arts News and views
- Launching Solidarity Sunderland
In October 2024, I was invited by the North East Volunteers for Liberty group to present the Solidarity Park project in Catalunya and do a sculpture workshop at their annual event commemorating the International Brigades. It was a very windy day on the Hartlepool peninsula, but we braved the northern weather, and the event was … Continue reading Launching Solidarity Sunderland - All different but all the same, how Mini-Brigadistas can help ‘bring solidarity home’.
Workshop in Bedwas, South Wales 28th June 2025 to sign up email solidaritycymru@gmail.com When the Solidarity Park monument project began, we made a well-thought-out pitch to the local council in Malgrat de Mar, Catalunya. While everything in the pitch happened, the key element was our promise to engage both the international and local community and … Continue reading All different but all the same, how Mini-Brigadistas can help ‘bring solidarity home’. - The Power of Stone Sculpture
By Rob MacDonald The oldest known traditional sculpture, the “Woman from Willendorf,” is estimated to be around 29,500 years old. This figurine, along with many others from that era, reflects an early human fascination with depicting the human form. While its exact cultural significance remains unclear, some speculate that these sculptures may have represented fertility … Continue reading The Power of Stone Sculpture - Access, Freedom and Organisation in the arts
Access, Freedom and Organisation in the arts Creative struggle for revolutionary change. By Rob MacDonald – Originally written for BadArt Magazine. The establishment often peddles an illusion of artists as excessive, impractical, spoilt dilettantes. They took mind-altering absinthe in 1920s Paris. They danced naked around fires in the ’60s, or threw TVs from hotel windows … Continue reading Access, Freedom and Organisation in the arts - Support outa-space on Patreon,
Art is the struggle to be a human being. It’s the moment that we are faced with a problem and have to be creative to solve it. Art is work, it’s the labour of our existence. Everybody is an artist. My central art work is to collaborate with artists Internationally against the barriers created by … Continue reading Support outa-space on Patreon, - Pulling down the statues of oppression.
This is an Interview of Rob MacDonald by Greek Marxist newspaper Xekinima Original article in Greek During the BLM movement we saw the demolition of monuments of well-known slave traders and exploiters, such as the Statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. What kind of symbolism does the act of demolishing these monuments … Continue reading Pulling down the statues of oppression. - Outa-space podcast station launched towards earth.
An International arts and class struggle broadcast. Nobody can deny the world is in crisis. Socially, politically and environmentally things are being turned upside down. So what will the response of humanity be? Will we evolve or crash out? There are two important players in this game of humanity’s future. One is the workers’ movement … Continue reading Outa-space podcast station launched towards earth. - Happy Birthday Mr Lenin
Today is Lenin’s 150 birthday; I want to celebrate his unique role in the revolutionary socialist movement. That can only be done by attempting to understand the ideas he fought for. There are though more ways than one in grasping what he stood for and this is a story about that. 22/4/20 Background In October … Continue reading Happy Birthday Mr Lenin - Coventry 2021 – The City of Homelessness?
A memorial project to Rob Windsor: An injury to one is an injury to all. I am really pleased to announce the start of a new community participation monument art project. The object of this project for me is very clear. It is to politicise the events around Coventry – City of Culture 2021 while … Continue reading Coventry 2021 – The City of Homelessness? - Murdered for Painting
July- 2019, Stockholm – On July 8, 1973, in Uruguay, Walter Medina, 16 years old, was murdered by police. He was shot in the back when in protest he was painting “constitution popular” on a wall. Walter Medina was politically active, wrote poetry, and played theatre. Over five days in the streets of Stockholm Rob carved … Continue reading Murdered for Painting - Periphery is the Centre project takes off!
Periphery is the centre started in May 2019 and is ongoing. It is a community art project to create participation monuments in Gothenburg, Sweden. The project is supported by Hyregastforeningen (tenant union). There are presently two connected projects running, one in Angered and other in Rannbergen, and maybe others in the future. Over 600 people … Continue reading Periphery is the Centre project takes off! - Solidarity Park enters next phase
Solidarity Park started in May 2016 and is ongoing. This project is building a memorial monument to the International Brigadistas of the ship Ciudad de Barcelona that was sunk in the Spanish civil war. The project method is to have mass participation in the process of creating a memorial. over 1,000 local and international people have … Continue reading Solidarity Park enters next phase - Why I want you to donate to community participation monuments.
Monuments are political Whether they are memorials to people or events at the core monuments, public art has a political message. Who has the power to erect these works controls that message and public spaces in general? It’s almost exclusively the rich, powerful and establishment that decide. In this political context the idea of community … Continue reading Why I want you to donate to community participation monuments. - f**k have I got to learn VikingHey, I am getting involved in a new project. The idea is a similar format to http://www.Solidaritypark.com project. That project was five years in the making and is now hopefully about to enter a critical and intense phase. I am going to be insanely busy. A great time maybe I think to build the bridge to … Continue reading f**k have I got to learn Viking
- Trying to be a working artist is a stupid idea – I recommend it to everyone.Hockney sells his art for £70m at Christie’s in New York and a Banksy stunt to expose the art world at Southeby’s only increases the value of his work. We can see that the “official” or “radical” art world is just a playground for the system’s rich elites. Apart from the occasional interest as a … Continue reading Trying to be a working artist is a stupid idea – I recommend it to everyone.
- About Outa-spaceOuta-space is a platform for the artistic work and opinions of me, Rob MacDonald. My hope is it will have a wider view than just my own. The platform will grow in time so I will keep my old website operating for info for the next year. I chose the name outa-space because: I love … Continue reading About Outa-space
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