the
textile design degree show at Norwich is up and looks good - we created a pulley
system that enabled us to work with the full height of the room. this has meant
that some of the students full ambitions have been realised by taking up the opportunity
to create work 5m in height. there is some stunning work within a system of
walls and tables that have been designed and created in an attempt to be
invisible, thus celebrating the work itself. come see - Tues 25 - Sunday 1.
Next week is the continuation of the mountain - private view at NUA, building
the space and hanging work for NUA at New Designers (stand T43) and hanging work at Camberwell for the
MA Book Art final show. The Berlin Biennale beckons - can't wait and have
started the planning http://www.berlinbiennale.de/
. I'm speaking/running a workshop at
Making Materials Matter Conference for teachers - looking at the role of
art practice within a science context. I'm building the presentation today.https://www.oxfordandcambridgeoutreach.co.uk/events/making-materials-matter-2018-tea
meanwhile Rampage is great when
the rock and the gorilla are on screen, I could watch an hour of that but the
rest is truly banal.
well
a busy couple of weeks and we are still in it - assessments on the Textile
Design at nua was smooth with some wonderful work - the show at nua is almost up - we have built
an extraordinary series of structures, creating an environment to show off the work to its best - I've been
north working on the assessment for OCA on the MA Fine Art Course and staying
in the Premier Inn in Barnsley, there was some really excellent thinking
underpinning great work. The next two years graduation shows could potentially
be wondrous. The Degree Show Private View at Chelsea was gloriously old school
- a packed space of randomly dressed individuals all enjoying being there -
some excellent textiles and of course fine art - highlight was a #proundparent
moment - Bob Bicknell-Knight. meanwhile A
very English Scandal https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p065sk93
was tragically funny but I spent most of the time marvelling over Hugh Grants
stunning performance. I got to see Solo -
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3778644/
wonderfully geeky - with something for everyone - great back story infilling
alongside swashbuckling set pieces. Christopher
Brett Bailey https://christopherbrettbailey.com/
was the standout session at Pulse 18
last weekend - I cannot recommend him enough - I think this was my 5th outing
and he just gets better. Meanwhile Snape Festival had a new opera - a kind of
brutalist Jacques Tati set in a Kafkaesque modern space with a nod to the
Truman show aesthetics. The Appalachian Spring session by the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Huw Watkins on the piano and conducted
by Oliver Knussen was viseral. Playing Coplands Music
for a Great City, The world premiere of The Book of Ingenious Devices by Philip
Cashian, Feldman Structures and Coplands joyous Appalachian Spring one was
swept away. On the way to see the Pavillion next to the Serpentine Gallery
..............I bumped into Christon next to the Christo in the Serpentine which was and which is
fantastic and worth seeing offline.
a
fabulous 2 days and one night at Pulse Festival http://www.chinaplatetheatre.com/pulse-festival
in Ipswich - the opening night and then Suitcase day and Testing Ground - my
two favourite sessions where experimental work is experimented. It saw me
watching 23 pieces of theatre. Highlights were Nikki's extraordinary strength
in KNOT, the disco energy of Dan
Watson in Venus, The storytelling in
Sophie Woolley's Augmented and Not
Now collective's http://notnowcollective.com/
Pepper and Honey. The deconstruction
of Invisible Flash's http://www.invisibleflash.co.uk/
The blind traveller, Fig's in wigs https://www.figsinwigs.com/ production
values is always excellent and Brick Wall's https://www.facebook.com/brickwalltheatre/
Henry 5th was just storming good. Meanwhile
I'm watching the pattern and chaos conversation that is happening in my garden
as the work for Chelmsford is rusting nicely and been taken over by random
growth.
it's been a busy few days but full of really interesting
moments - Book Art Symposium 2 at
Camberwell was so extraordinarily profession, the students truly owned their
practice and presented a fully engaging morning of ideas and work, so much so
that my timing was almost a full 45 minutes off and as students had only 7 mins
to present and 3 minutes for questions you can see how interesting it was. In
the afternoon we went to Kingsland
Projects http://www.kingsgateworkshops.org.uk/43-billboard
to see the work of and talk with Fox Irving & Katarina Kelsey. They have been collaborating and evidence of this can be
seen in the thoughtful billboard that can be viewed from the surrounding street
and park.
Turn
the page - https://www.turnthepage.org.uk/ the wonderful Book Art Fair organised by equally
wonderful Rosie Sherwood, Alumni of The Book Art MA at Camberwell at The Form
Norwich was really interesting, full of excellent work and committed makers. I
missed the symposium, assessments and marking had overtaken my life. But the
work at NUA is some of the most professional I have seen in my years of
teaching. The students practice submitted for assessment leads me to believe
that this year could be one of the most exciting final shows I have been
involved in.
our blue heaven - the story of Ipswich Towns
FA Cup Victory at the New Wolsey https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/whats-on/upcoming/
is a triumph - it's a complete sell out so you will have to wait for its
revival in 60 years time!! will the whole squad turn up on Saturday? still deep
into assessments - by the end of the whole thing I will of written over 7,000
words and checked numerous boxes - every word from my team is carefully
considered, I hope the students manage to read the comments.
The
CSM final year show felt like you
were at the epicentre of people engaging with what it is to be cool alongside slightly
confused parents - it was full of the most excellently beautiful looking
individuals - the work was also interesting - full of collaborative groups
working together - the future is bright. You still have till Saturday to go see
it - make sure you check out the basement and The Sculpture Garden http://sidandjim.blogspot.co.uk/. Turn
the Page - the fantastic Book Art Fair is on in Norwich on Friday and
Saturday - it's a must see https://www.turnthepage.org.uk/
Looking forward to PhotoEast https://www.photoeast.co.uk/ at the
weekend. Meanwhile its back to assessments and then building a presentation for PALs
for Wednesday. Undergraduate courses have a system of
peer support known as Peer Assisted Learning or PAL. This means that Year One
students have ready access to trained Year Two students from their course, from
before they arrive through to the end of the first year. The advice and support
given by the PALs is directly relevant to first year students and is delivered
by Year Two or Three students who have had similar experiences themselves. This
extra layer of support for first year students has been found to be very
effective in helping to smooth the transition to higher education. Looking forward to the symposium on Tuesday at Camberwell. Its a point where the students journey is really captured as one is able to reflect on their first symposium in year 1.
assessment,
assessment, assessment - yes it's still that time of year - but meanwhile I
have managed to be enthralled by Seven
Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo
Rovelli. It is quite beautiful with a great set of drawings which detail
our relationship to where we are - wonderful. late to the party but I am deep
into Westworld season 1 - it really
is brilliant and asks some excellent questions about existence. Who are we, are
we real, what is it to exist???? Game
night https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2704998/?ref_=rvi_tt
was almost good - some interesting moments almost is harsh but.....
The
work for Chelmsford is rusting nicely in the back garden - the colour is quite
beautiful. Meanwhile ....I had to go back to see Ed Atkins at Cabinet - and on second viewing it just gets better - it's
still head swivellingly odd but then when spending more time you see the
interlinked nature of the films - the baby from one frame wandering into
another the boy in the field moving across to play the piano etc etc http://www.cabinet.uk.com/index.php?ed-atkins-olde-food
. The Tate has the extraordinarily bleak coloured
sculpture by Jordan Wolfson - this is also starkly eye wateringly cruel and
a truly must see - after the last Tate mess having this in the tanks has resurrected
my faith in them a little. Age of Terror
at the War Museum was okay - but most of the work was not about terror but war and
most of it seen elsewhere so £15.00 seemed a little steep (maybe that was the
terror?) - the two stand out pieces were Francis Alys video work of soldiers from
both 'sides' stripping and rebuilding weapons and the very raw footage by Tony
Oursler at the 'ground zero' site days afterwards as he prowled around the site
videoing the carnage and the human fair that arrived - so many stalls selling
prayer as the answer. The real terror is
laid out in the Holocaust exhibit on the 4th floor - it is very clever,
starting off with a little bit of nationalistic pride and snappy sloganeering
and ending with war trials World just after harrowing images of concentration
camps and testimony from survivors. World
without us at Battersea Arts Centre was just that a one person show that
explored the before and after of our existence on earth. Some nice ideas and
the narrative visualised what it would look like when we are gone. quieter with
a lot of plastic.
