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david barrett
david blamey
michael bracewell &
julian evans
david brock
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max davison
jeremy deller
sarah dobai
rose finn-kelcey
annabel frearson
dora garcia
david griffiths
tim head
cornelia hesse-honegger
matthew higgs
janet hodgson &
david mabb
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jian jun xi
brighid lowe
alan murray
nina pope
nigel prince
bob & roberta smith
johnny spencer
mark wallinger
26 artists ceate the news for one day, 31.10.1997150,000 copies of the tabloid newspaper distributed nationallyThe Mule Online exists for 9 months, 31.10.1997 - 30.7.1998IMAGINE A TABLOID NEWSPAPER. Familiar cheap print, familiar cheap tricks. But not quite. This newspaper was free, and - looking again - it's not a name that you recognise. All the things that you would normally find are there, just not in the way that you're used to. And there are several other things too. Things that you never thought you'd see in a tabloid. So what is this hybrid creature?
On Friday 31st October, a new national newspaper, The Mule, will be launched. Make sure you get the first issue however, because it will also be the last. 26 artists have been commissioned to create the news for just one day. 150,000 copies of the 24 page tabloid will be distributed across England: available at 198 libraries, handed out in the streets of many cities by vendors, and distributed alongside the Independent newspaper within the M25 region.
The Mule is concerned with the way information is collected, presented, and interpreted in the press - the way this information is delivered with both speed and certainty. The Mule slows the process down: breaks the pervasive narrative whose fiction we are all aware of, and yet complicit with nonetheless.
The Mule newspaper will also have an internet site, the Mule online. The internet has been heralded as the democratiser of information: producing more instantly updated information than any one person could possibly assimilate, available 24 hours a day, to every person on the globe. In theory. If the internet allows access to endless information, we must ask 'what use is information without interpretation?' And if we get interpretations, then we must ask 'what use are interpretations if they speak with the same corporate voice?'
The Mule online questions the value of this universe of information in general, and the role of online newspapers in particular. It will be accessible to the public for one month at four public art galleries, allowing feedback and discussion. It will continue to be updated online for nine months, charting the newspaper and website's reception.
The Mule takes on the big boys at their own game, knowing that it has not the resources to win. Simply having a voice for a day can be considered a victory. The media is a corporate monopoly, and the goal of corporations is maximising short-term profits for share-holders. Of course, monopolised media narrows debate, killing difference and ignoring certain home-truths. It has brought us 'infotainment' - always entertaining, rarely informative - and the 'advertorial'.
It is the Mule's contention that the media has gotten out of hand. At least, out of the people's hands. Celebrities. Horoscopes. Royal affairs. Page 3. Win-a-Ford-Mondeo. This is after all 'what the people want', isn't it? Well it sure is what they get. The Mule is aware of the problems, exploring the smokescreens and methods of media influence. It is also aware of its own inherent failure. But then, the Mule does not intend to change the world forever. Just one day.
Further information: [+44] 171 221 3247 or [+44] 171 639 8118
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