saltanderosion

At a talk at the weekend an artist used the phrase 'active actors' when describing people who the artist met along a walk - no wonder the public hate us. Anyway – A busy 2 days and a night - After drinks with friends at our house a quick dash to a really friendly private view in Framingham on Friday night. Saturday saw a sauna and swim on the beach at Dunwich which were invigorating and highly recommended, then onto Spill festival in Ipswich and I was reminded of the amazing live art I've seen in previous iterations. A visit to Orford Ness to listen to the high tide sound piece based on Robert McFarland's poem on Sunday. The sound of ghostly technology as one walks in such a post war environment was interesting, yet the space itself is worth the visit. Saw a pair of porpoises on the ferry back which was excellent, along with a fabulous conversation with a warden about all the inventions that came out of the classified work there. I need to think/ask about salt in the shingle in relation to the Sizewell C build. Onto screens - Catherine Bigalows Netflix film House of Dynamite was so distressingly brilliant. 

giveitallaway

Working on SZC is a joy – the bookwork/catalogue for the show is coming along, choosing images and designing the layout is informative, giving me a moment to reflect on the past year – planning the next stage of work in schools to generate imagery to cover fences, at the same time focusing on the achievements around power in this part of the world. Went to Parrs model shop in Lowestoft and found myself coming out with models of men in construction, a lick of burning ore (colour) and they are all PPE’d up. Editioned a give-away. Going to a club night at Snape was a thing, I started my clubbing experience on disco and grew up on funk and ska and reggae, interspersed with psychobilly! I missed house music as a formative experience so.....spending a whole night subjected to what began to realise is effectively nazi marching music for the clueless was depressing. Each to their own but to enjoy the 'dancing' means that you have to bring your own soul and creativity to the occasion.........dull dull dull. Hang on it sounded a bit like that..... for 3 hours and I sound like an old man! But watching the mirror ball and thinking about Sizewell domes………Going into London to celebrate Synthetic Anatomy’s win with lunch was lovely, it was great to see everybody after the wonderful summer and to plan the next iteration. I popped into see to Do Ho Suh show at the Tate - quite beautiful and ethereal, although it was very full. The Turbine Hall had Goavve-Geabbil" by Máret Ánne Sara. It is let down by the fixings into grey painted wood on the base. It would look great planted directly into dirt. Onto screens – The Hack is devastating for so many reasons, mainly watching lives being torn apart, catching those responsible to watch everybody concerned get away with it (with bonuses).

collectingcollectingcollecting

Collecting sweet chestnuts to make an amazing spread and acorns to make a piece of work. The spread tastes great and the work, a homage to disputed oak trees and a piece by John and Yoko is a little sad. A busy week - working on SZC stuff – creating a bookwork for the show at Snape, creating a series of works around concrete and the Dome, looking at the negative space and relating it to the archaeology, and some images rethinking saints. The commission for Battery of Ideas is sorted and just needs to be made on site; it will be tight timewise. Onto screens – managed to endure (in a good way) How are you, Alan Partridge. Freakier Friday – actually quite complicated with so many body swaps! Loved the twist in Woman in Cabin 10.  

enclosed two living sculptures. acorns taken from the ground under disputed trees, mirroring the two domes of Sizewell C. it is hoped that you will plant them.

the ring

 

resourcesdiverted?

It feels like we have been there at least a month but its Week 1 at Norwich University with new students. Nice to be back actually teaching rather than timetables and admin. Away from teaching it was a busy week which saw visits to Southwold Theatre to see Salacious Secrets in Southwold ~ A Shocking Sordid Seaside Thriller, the latest show written by Robin Brooks and Directed by Fiona McAlpine.  Akenfield at Framlingham Theatre had a fantastic background created by Laurence Edwards. A day at artstation talking with/to pupils from Thomas Mills – invited to ask questions they were all about my tattoos, but it gave me an excuse to talk about Jim. A visit to Duxford on the way back from Luton airport. If you could get past taking in all the materials and resources were used and how one could divert this all to making the world a more positive place it was a great place to observe colour palettes. Onto screens – finished The Summer I turned pretty – 1 season is enough. Hot Milk – couldn’t get into its speed or tone, Relay – excellent, Naked Gun – why.

lifechangingtrip

An extraordinary weekend in Liverpool, the Biennial was amazing - so much good work - highlights were the Elizabeth Price's film about Catholic churches, Gevdet Week's work especially the football stadiums and Nandan Ghiya's fractured photographs. It was great to be with likeminded people at the an conference which gave so much to think about especially the personal and thought-provoking keynote by Larry Achiampong and the life altering wisdom of Jack ky Tan. And then out to Crosby to see the Gormley - which in my mind was reframed by the words from the conference and looking at work from interesting artists making challenging work from around the world. And of course – a cliché but the people were SO friendly!
onto screens – The Ballad of Wallis Island - totally beautiful, wonderfully beautiful.

saintsrus

I’ve been working on an idea that came from a conversation with the Revd Clive Mobbs the wonderful cleric attached to Sizewell C. We spoke about Patron Saints; he mentioned Saint Barbra the patron saint of explosions, who knew. It connects with an idea linked to the needs of the people who build/dig tunnels, that their work would be blessed.  On reflection I’ve been thinking that it also links with the theme of construction workers as heroes. The idea was to create a team of saints, one for each worker/job, this has proved challenging as there does not seem to be a list – anyway…...a month later and I have created a whole periodic table of saints with what I think are SZC related jobs.