itsthattimeoftheyear

well the second exhibition I have been part of this season is finished - the Textile Design BA show at NUA looks good - some great bold images and detailed material manipulation - it opens on Monday night, although I will be at New Designers putting up the third show. Meanwhile plans for the forth, the Book Art MA at Camberwell are underway. We start building next Tuesday. This time of year is full of possibilities.

Having a week in a hotel in Barnsley meant that I caught up with all the latest Netflix offerings - Always be my Maybe - surprise, it all come right in the end............ Murder Mystery - fun, of a kind............

itsbeenalongweek

well - its been a full week in Barnsley - hanging the third year show and assessing all three years of the MA for the Open College of the Arts. It's always a full on experience but highly enjoyable with tight deadlines. Meeting people whose lives you have been linked with for 3 years for the first time in the flesh is a wondrously odd experience - it is one of the joys of the job, connecting with the familiar. 4 mini collections of images - hanging, close ups, the work and the private view. looking forward to East Anglia after the dress code and the delicacies on offer in the market - what and whose pets have they chopped up?

theaterchangesyou

a weekend of theater - Pulse in Ipswich was full of possibilities - it is such a life affirming experience to watch young people getting on with it. For me the stage is a space where human vulnerability is turned upside down. https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/pulse-festival/  For years I preferred cinema where I didn't have to worry about people in front of me but through attending festivals like Pulse (where I saw 24 shows in 2 days) I have come to realise that the human exchange is the point - the fear of failure or more like the sharing of humanity is all part of the experience. It is still on and I recommend trusting the organisers China Plate and Wolsey Theater in Ipswich https://www.chinaplatetheatre.com/projects and dropping in to see something that will change you https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/

Whitecube in Bermondsey has Sarah Morris paintings but the film Finite and Infinite Games (2017), was the highlight for me - so much so I will be returning. Titled after novel by James P. Carse, the film was shot in Herzog & de Meuron’s extraordinary Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg. Polymath Alexander Kluge is in it and is somebody I have to find out more about.

Teaching wise I am in the glorious storm of assessing, hanging, exhibitions, lists and general problem solving. It's a great time to be alive - I love this time of year, of decision making and possibilities for the future.

newspacesandnewwork

In between the busy time of assessing and creating exhibitions as part of my teaching duties I've been working on the second iteration of knowwhere, the miniature space within the studio. This is a series of works based on the structures that support works within museums. Meanwhile some exhibitions - Mike Nelson's poignant display at Tate Britain  https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/mike-nelson  Joanna Piotrowska's extraordinary photographs at Tate Britian https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/joanna-piotrowska Kate Coopers formidable videos at the Hayward https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/blog/interview-artist-kate-cooper Us https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6857112/ was truly disturbing, a dark tale of slavery and oppression in a capitalist world. Catch 22 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5056196/was another study of capitalism, another form of control. Less than a week to go to Pulse at The Wolsey in Ipswich - so much theatre in two days - scratch day and suitcase day are upon us  https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/brochures/pulse-festival-2019/ suitcase day is such a great idea - having to bring all props for the show on public transport in a suitcase.

calmingfrenchnessandsomemore

My paper/presentation at turn the page symposium  https://www.turnthepage.org.uk/  seemed to go well - it was a little rambling as I attempted to cram 27 years of thinking about book art and bookness into 40 minutes. It was great to be surrounded by like minded people and listen to inspiring presentations - Maria White speaking about the idea of collecting was absorbing and Kate Farley's thoughts about reading patterns has got me thinking!

I recently went to the extraordinary Chateau la Coste https://chateau-la-coste.com/en/walk/ a space of splendid calm where art wine and architecture are surrounded by ancient Provence landscape. The work of Tadao Ando is particularly special. After staying at imprints http://imprints-galerie.com/ in Crest  where the market is so wonderfully French - if you boiled down all of Frenchness you would get this place A quick trip to Marseilles is always a bonus and in the railway sidings I noticed this building.

It's that time of year when several festivals are in full swing - at Aldeburgh Festival I saw Bastard Assignments https://bastardassignments.com/  who make experimental sound performative work - Neo Hulcker's piece crackles was excellent. At Norfolk and Norwich Festival Shon Dale-Jones of http://www.hoipolloi.org.uk/  has been performing a trilogy which demonstrates his wondrous storytelling skills. I'm looking forward to Pulse at the Wolsey in a couple of weeks https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/pulse-festival/  Meanwhile it's also that time when assessments are about to kick in - so far a day of reading reflective thinking and professional practice thoughts has been informative.

turnthepagetalkingandsomethinking

the nicest comment so far has been that my rambling pluralistic presentation contained nothing controversial but was inclusive and allowed people to realize that its okay - relax - play. this is a link to the presentation given at the Turn The Page Symposium in Norwich @ttpABF - https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/ttp-2019-les-b-with-links

knowwherestartshere

I have a created a new space called knowwhere - it will be a place to show large scale work within a small space. the first show is of pieces that came out of a making day for the Open College of the Arts - OCA. Meanwhile I'm working on the talk for Turn the Page - its developing into 3 stages - 1 bookness explored, 2 the practice created as a result working within the concept, 3 specific deep dives using recent activity - Book as hand tool for thinking maker – object – audience, space of a book - the influence a book inhabits and rethinking the idea - the books influence. The images are sorted I just have to work out what words go with this.

meanwhile I have to recommend a couple of books - 4321 a stunning book by Paul Auster https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/27/4321-by-paul-auster-review it is a mind swivelling trip of possibilities that might just make you rethink your life - everything will be. Middle England by Jonathan Coe https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/25/middle-england-jonathan-coe-review  is a dark comedy commentating on our time. I sat through all 10 episodes of Homecoming https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7008682/?ref_=rvi_tt  in two sittings in a kind of moreish exercise where you are unable to stop watching. The show has some excellent acting in between the rather odd (in a good way) cinematography. Lunatics by Chris Lilley goes up to a mythical line of acceptable taste and sort of rubs it out - but again in an interesting way. The Orville by Seth MacFarlane is a great comedy nod to Star Trek - worth a watch but it doesn't stress the brain cells too much but again this may be a good thing. Serenity has had a tough ride with the critics, yes its wooden, yes the twist is signposted a mile away, yes everybody is a 2D trope but I really enjoyed the beautiful sadness. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6476140/?ref_=rvi_tt