Great to see the frames from the
Jubilant! Project displayed at the Primadonna festival over the weekend. While there I was
taken with Jordan Stephens’s left of field call for men to address their own pain as a way of supporting
women. Looking forward to reading Unwell women byElinor
Cleghorn, especially the cultural politics around access
and understanding. I have
updated my website to include two projects – Jubilant! and the bookartbookshop
show https://lesbicknell.wixsite.com/work/now onto screens - Too Old for Fairy Tales – sweet coming of
age story with a twist story. Purple Hearts – sweet love story with a
twist. Honor Society – sweet high school story with a twist. Persuasion - sweet historical drama with a twist -
the screen lights up when Richard E Grant is on it, if only he was there more
the
book created for the Jubilant! Project – full film of all pages. tattoos have
become an interesting conduit through my family – these are my dad’s tattoos – meanwhile
onto screens – the Gray Man – gloriously excessive nonsense.The Old Man – slightly wooden espionage intrigue
2 months late but made it to
the Binley Mega Chippy on the way to my Auntie Marge's funeral where I came across a great ‘found
text’! - think Bob Cobbing……I recently spent the day at
FLEXchange at Kings - so nice to be around like-minded people, although from
different backgrounds and starting points. Creative thinking fueled all the
conversations. I was there to facilitate an arts/science/well being workshop. We
had to devise, develop, and present a proposal for an actual issue. My group
focused on community building and the issue of stifling bureaucratic systems in
academic life and the way in which fear governs our decisions, both as students
and lecturers. How can you create a sense of ownership or have agency to build
a community in such a structural bureaucratic stranglehold? We came up with the
idea of using coloured paper and coloured pens to demonstrate the idea of a
curriculum that fits nobody as the participants have not been considered in the
delivery. You may have delivered content (pens) but did it land (paper)? A
truly half full kind of day. Meanwhile onto screens – the glorious Good Luck
to you Leo Grande was moving and open. Books - just finished reading
and found myself agreeing with much of Stranger Than We Can Imagine:
Making Sense of the Twentieth Century by John Higgs. It is
full of great revelations and one of the many coincidences/revelations I had
was reading about Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Laringhaven for
the first time in the book whilst simultaneously seeing her work in Venice. The
book is full of interesting facts and connections - recommended if you are
unsure about the world we are living in, there are no answers but lots to think
about - did you know the police force had a pagan society? Or that before the
Americans celebrated and courted Werner von Braun and rushed him from Nazi
Germany to build their space program, he was responsible for the death of 20
thousand slaves through forced labor whist building his underground factory
that developed the V2 rockets.
So Venice Biennale was, as
ever most excellent. I can never get over the fact that Venice is there just as
I left it.... Where to start - it all begins when you get on the water taxi
from the airport, arriving in this exciting way to the magical space of Venice
is my favourite journey ever. Entering the canals from the choppy waters
through the fortified external wall of the city and emerging in the Grand Canal
is truly wondrous. Between then and getting back to the airport the time was
spent with 3 days of art with time for eating and drinking after hard core
experiencing. So much to say but highlights of the National pavilions for me
were Marco Fusinato in the Australian just gloriously brutal. Yunchul
Kim in the Korean space was awe inspiring art informed by science. The main
exhibition had some beautiful paintings by Chiara Enzo and The Sex Robot
video of Sidel Meineche Hansen had images of which will stay in my head
for a long time. The monumental industrial narrative that was created for the
Italian space was reminiscent of childhood wanderings through abandoned
factories. Day two at the Arsenale is always a marathon, like
joining 4 or 5 Tate's together. The historical work’s highlights were the medical models of Aletta
Jacobs and Anna Coleman Ladd. The curated section had some gems that I am still
thinking about – to name a few the graphic images of Beklis Ayon, Egle
Budvytyte’s video exploring our relationship to the environment, the
startling paintings of Felipe Baeza and Pinaree Sanpitak, the smell of Delicy
Morelos’s soil installation, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe’s striking prints,
the disturbing video by Zheng Bo with men and the forest, the giant
symbols by Solange Pessoa, Joanna Piotrowska’s seemingly domestic yes
other photographs, Carolyn Lazard’s reimagining of objects, Luyang’s
animated future, dogs on the loose in the video of Janis Rafa, the
haunting video by Diego Marcon, and there is always Barbara Kruger. There was so much
textile activity on display, a way for the artists to talk of globalization,
capitalism, workers’ rights, and sexual politics among other issues. The
Philippines had some excellent ikat weaving alongside sound pieces, resembling
the noise of the looms the work was made on. Day three is about
collateral events, which gives you the opportunity to walk through the city
between extraordinary venues which is always wonderful. I can’t wait till the
next time.
The books for the jubilant! project arrived - l have to say
that they look great, the pages flow and the students work is something special,
so proud of them. The book has captured the project wonderfully – the students loved
them too. After a busy morning, first at the food museum to look at the garden exhibition there, then onto Red Stables
where the frames are now in the space waiting for the celebration
and sharing at the weekend. Onto screens - STILL – A Gecko Film is truly beautiful
– my eyes filled as the woman dances with her hands after playing with a blanket
and the balloon sequence is gloriously mad – most excellent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJTL5Lcag1U&t=763s&ab_channel=Gecko
The work with Jubilant! is going well – we had another good
session at Stowuplands High School before we hang the work at Red Gables next
week. It was full of great moments and conversations. I’ve worked at Stowupland High School over
the past month mainly outside with Colin Ley from Red Gables. We have been working together with
pupils to envisage the possibilities of a area adjacent to the school. The
space is 65m x 57m with a barrow shape created with spoil from the building of
tennis courts approximately 2m in height that runs East West to the North of
the space. It has a range of vegetation covering the space - grasses, sedges,
and plants. We set out to investigate and question the space to help us understand
and map it. Focusing on the senses we experienced what the space felt, sounded,
and smelt like as well as looking closely. The investigation included practical
concerns including testing soil ph. levels, developing alternative measurements
of the space itself and counting how many blades of
grass are growing in the space. The idea was that by mapping what is there we
could determine what could be. Some
of the process is included in a small booklet which acts as a manual for future
development of the space. We
made a set of frames,
inspired by the work of the Boyle Family, who have been making their Earth
Pieces since 1976. The system they created to establish their working practice uses
a framing device to enable them to determine what and how to view the world. The
frame acts as a form of contract with the viewer. It offers a moment of
reflection, to stop and breath, something we all need at this moment in time. The
viewer is gifted the time to contemplate the world we live in; the frame
organizes our thinking and supports our viewing. We know the world exists
beyond the frame, but in a moment of stillness we can gather our thoughts,
refreshed to go back into the world we came from. I’m interested in developing
work that leaves space for the viewer, to enable them to stop and reflect.
Framing the changing landscape means that every individual interaction with the
work is unique, the space itself becomes the work. The New Designers exhibition trade show was hung
on Monday, the NUA Textile Design course stand looked good, I get to go on
Saturday, spend time on the stand and take the work down. Meanwhile onto
screens, His House – demonstrates the shocking lack of care in the immigration
system. Love & Gelato – fluffy feel good. Spiderhead – twisted
and spiteful. The Man from Toronto – has its moments. Deep into the unnerving
Midwich Cuckoos series – disturbingly freaky.
The next set of tattoos with the wonderful @jims_skins – really pleased with the way these
lines work with the hand. Working on a great project with Stowupland Secondary School
and Red Gables through Jubilant! Looking at the potential of an adjacent space
to the school. We are asking lots of questions to map and measure what is there
to determine what could be. The book that is being created as part of the
project's legacy is developing and will be a great manual for future
conversations. A night at Snape to watch Anna Lapwood playing an organ on the
stage - a rare occurrence. I loved her talking about the idea of 'voicing the
organ' to the space and her interpretation of Britten's Four Seasons Interludes
was fascinating. Also had the chance to check out again Laurence Edward's work
around the site which is always a pleasure. Meanwhile onto screens watched The
Lazarus Project which was full of complicated time travel rules - back into
Better Call Saul with season 6 which is both dark and complicated. Just
finished Jarvis Cocker's book Good Pop Bad Pop - it's a gentle ramble through
some easy going reminiscing.
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