anewbeginning

I’ve just spent 4 straight hours in the company of Brothers: a tale of two sons - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers:_A_Tale_of_Two_Sons - if you are interested in engaging in the game don’t look at the wiki page as part of the experience of game playing is obviously not knowing what is coming – not plot spoiling doesn't appear to be part of the game playing community - anyway the landscape is sublime, the narrative very moving and the dynamics of the playing fairly unique in my experience of gaming (not huge) – you are left with the feeling of a profound sense of loss – this might be my first empathic gaming experience.

meanwhile - some films watched over the break – so far

The Equalizer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455944/ – Denzel – the man with a past – he plays the isolated-lost-loner-character well with the twist of extraordinary fighting skills and empathy – predictable but fun. 

Get Santa – well http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935940/ if I was 6 I might find it wonderful and Jim Broadbent is a glorious ‘gansta santa’ but.......I'm not 6. 

Boxtrolls – http://www.theboxtrolls.co.uk/ yes it’s all good with some very clever animation backed up with a strong script. 

Toy Story That Time Forgot - toy story short –http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3473654/ lots of knowing fun – it takes us from the moment ‘the gang’ are joined to Bonnie with some great 'in jokes'. 

What we do in the shadows http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3416742/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 – a laugh out loud mockumentary about vampires in new Zealand. 

Eagle v Shark http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0494222/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 more ‘indi-fare’ from new Zealand – a cast of outcasts – tragic-comic with the funniest attack on a disabled person I have ever seen! 

Batman - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096895/ – its difficult to beat Jack Nicholson being Jack when he’s on form! But talk about slow.......and the dated clothes ....shoulder pads wtf were we thinking. 

The Interview - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2788710/?ref_=nv_sr_1 – not as bad as I thought it would be but a film that offends everybody – is that a good thing? 

Chico and Rita – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235830/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 beautiful drawings with a great dream America sequence underpinned with a narrative that takes in a slice of Jazz history.  

Blue valentine – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1120985/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 another tragic wandering around Gosling film, a film about loss, loss of love, 1 hour and 20 mins – seems longer.  

Darkman - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099365/ ludicrous plot, special effects, acting and overall concept ..........don’t even start about the science - but in its own way its charmingly odd.

somefoldedfolds

as part of the squeeze
fold bend and expand - Structural Memory in Deformable Objects project I’ve
been involved in over the past 2 months I’ve made a film. It shows some
of the over 180 sculptural forms and how they move when manipulated. filming by
Bob editing by Jim http://jimbicknellknightart.tumblr.com/.

allchange

A research day at NUA – some interesting thoughts and conversations were had – along with the opportunity to meet new staff members who could prove fruitful in terms of possible collaborative activity. I presented the work I’m involved in at Kings College within the robotics department. I had some good feedback and some supportive comments but the system meant that 4 people presented within a carousel structure – so I showed the work 4 times but never got to see the work of others which would of being more interesting that talking about myself (I didn’t think about this when I volunteered – also it would be useful to see everybody’s research strands so that we can get to talk and possibly work with each other – maybe next time.  

A trip to Coventry – it’s always a little odd going home – or to a place I grew up in – there is a lot of new building (on the space where my house was) but it was good to see the market still operating, unlike Sheffield’s 

goseenowifyoucan

Then there was interstellar http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/  – for me it was a slow burn and it wasn't until they got to Saturn and the conversation after that I really started to connect the dots and make sense of what is a truly intelligent film – the layers of meaning and truths... it makes me want to be able to see it again for the first time.  Here Lies Love http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/here-lies-love - at the National Theatre was wonderful – glorious – not a fan of the musical but of David Byrne there was an element of being unsure but from walking into the space to the final in-joke around musical rebellion I loved every minute – there are some bonkers mad costume changes, great voices and visuals that question and play with the real, imagined and documented – it’s a must see.

darknessinamessyworld

An interesting weekend of films – Defenders of the Galaxy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2015381/ – a bonkers mad experience – leave your brain at the door and enjoy. Starlet http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2035630/?ref_=nv_sr_1 – will it be ok or won’t it? a young woman surrounded by darkness in a messy world but quite wonderful and finally Nightcrawler http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 – what happens when you learn all you know off the internet oh yes and there’s the little issue of a morally corrupt society hell bend on exploiting the vulnerable! Meanwhile work at Norwich is winding down into Christmas with feedback tutorials and academics presenting their research. I’ve volunteered for this and will be exploring the robotics work with four 15 presentations back to back to a range my colleagues – sounds like fun - I can’t wait to get feedback.

wedon’tloseanythingevenifwefail

Reflection on the 'robot' project whilst spending time in two material libraries today.

So what’s next?

“We don’t lose anything even if we fail”.

I was very taken by Thrish’s answer - to his approach – to his reasoning - to his engagement – to creative thinking with others.

This opportunity to work within King’s College has presented many possibilities – of which many require further research to fully engage in the benefits they offer.

The opportunity to engage in alternative ways of thinking is essential if ones practice is to grow and evolve. Otherwise we risk isolation – relegated to the role of creating expensive ‘baubles’ for collection. We have a more ‘useful’ role in society to take up. Our ability to think laterally, to problem solve creatively make us valuable. Our material knowledge and understanding is highly specialised and we can communicate concepts and emotions across language and cultural divides, globally we are essential.

I have felt valued and respected during this project but one starts out by trying to find a position of worth, of usefulness – What is my job? What is my point in being here? There is a sense of being slightly in the wilderness when attempting to explore ones value as a maker in a society underpinned by the search for the lowest common denominator and a love of

We have been making thinking opportunities. The process has enabled sessions where we have developed ways of working that enabled an understanding the problem and the solution at the same time – there was a sense of natural evolution – of working towards something intuitively – allowing space to reflect on activity – leading to possible direction – outcomes.

This cross fertilization must be used to address the misguided and in fact false categorization that separated science from art. I have found scientists to be open and transparent in many ways that makers are not. There is recognition of and a building on existing knowledge. This creates a sense of shared community – contributing and exchanging information towards a common good – that of gaining knowledge.

The connection to science thinking needs to be expanded to a larger number of people – this could be a limited exposure, although the 2-3 months timescale feels appropriate if there is the intention not to have a final outcome. For me it has acted as a kind of boost – an introduction to what I already did, an intervention of research that although connected to what was there has built or at the very least redirected a piece of my brain somewhere more interesting. I have been making tools for thinking and I intend to do so. 

somethoughtsandtextstothinkabout

Another set of interesting texts to read from the MA Book Art Students – it really is a privilege to have access to such a range of interesting strands of research – this important opportunity enables me to feed this thinking back into the teaching I’m involved in both at Camberwell and Norwich. cross fertilization is the key. Titles to this year’s dissertations......

Eastern Art and Philosophies Influencing John Cage and Western art Influencing Huang Yongping Xu Bing: representing the characteristics of their time or acts of imitation

How book artists represent memory of a place and how these memories are translated to communicate with the readers

How do Kenneth Goldsmith and Simon Morris use compositional stratergies of copying to produce new works within the context of a digital age?

The Work of Seance: How materiality affects absence in translation in Anne Carson’s Nox and Christian Hawkeys’s Ventrakl.

Colour in the Book How colour contributes to the sequential flow, structure and meaning within in artist books.

Image: consciousness and bliss A play of Visual Perception and Meanings

THE INVISIBLE BOOKPRINT

How are different interpretations of place and memory reflected in the imagery, design and structure of two different artists’ books?

Meanwhile ... Godzilla – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831387/ was most excellent – check out the sound track – the sounds are part electricity part pure fear and always ‘other’. The film is a great thrill seat of your pants experience with the action stopping not once in the entire film – something or someone is always moving or in jeopardy. On the work front – I’ve submitted some pieces for the proposed staff show at NUA titled in plain sight – should be interesting 

oldschoolinformation

Managed to see the show at Raven Row - http://www.ravenrow.org/current/ – most excellent – looking at the work of KP Brehmer who found new ways to visualise global capitalism which are of increasing relevance today – an agent of social and political change the show explores ways of communicating data in indirect ways rather than an ‘information is beautiful’ way. As ever the space is the star and the incredibly detailed and professionally produced printed matter. Rise of the planet of the apes – is just that with guns and apes on horseback – it all felt a little unnecessary.

thenorthgetsunderyourskin

Just watched Under the Skin http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441395/ - it’s what happens when a music video director gets to make a ‘science fiction’ feature film. There are some extra-ordinary moments - images and sequences that stay with you - specifically the walking backwards sinking sequence, the overlapping movements of people and the peeling skin in the forest but as a feature film it lacks .......something. The extras reveal an interesting sequence of images around the design of the poster.  2 days in the North working on hanging the show and assessment for the first cohort was a lot of serious fun. Sheffield was a shock - large significant buildings within the centre were boarded up, including a huge market space, although giant (slightly out of proportion) fountains/falling water construction outside the station was a bold attempt at a renewed civic pride thing.

thefutureishere

Well – fame by association ish – I appear to be a (small) part of the winning team working on the MA Fine Art, Open College of the Arts (OCA). The team, nominated by students has won the best teaching team (arts and humanities) at the Prospects Postgraduate Awards beating well....everybody! Especially the shortlisted - School of Architecture/Landscape Architecture Team, Birmingham City University and the Fine Arts Team, University for the Creative Arts Canterbury. Working in the future is very exciting – the technology sometimes is a little fuzzy/cluttered but in general it brings order and discipline to the creative thinking. Looking forward to the show in Sheffield.

An image of my work with Naomi Mcintosh features on the blog for parallel practices at the crafts council - it looks good http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/articles/craft-and-healthcare/  

rulesrulesrules

Thinking about working within rules – as part of an excellent talk around the body as a tool - Dominic Johnson http://www.sed.qmul.ac.uk/staff/johnsond.html set out the MANIFESTO ON DANCE BY MEHMET SANDER – strenuous -

The subjects of each dance are the movements themselves. Dance is to be performed and perceived primarily on a physical level. Accordingly, risk taking is an essential factor when performing a task in order to defy the audience’s analyzing process. The task should be used to create a sense of urgency. A risk-taking technique enables the dancers to be both observed and experienced physically first. Furthermore, creating dance on an emotional basis is self-indulgent, since as human beings we are already emotional. It is senseless to incorporate an additional layer of emotion to movement. This non-emotional approach also enables the execution of a task to be clearly manifested; rejecting a ‘performance’ element on the dancers’ part. From the commencement of the dance piece to its conclusion, the dancers never cease movement unless their range of motion is impeded by physical forces such as the confinement of space or the impact against a wall or other dancers. Consequently, the confinement of space increases new movement possibilities. Another physical element in dance is the utilization of gravity as an enchancement rather than an obstruction. Gravity should be demonstrated as the initiator of movement rather than be camouflaged as it is done in ballet. There are no transitions between tasks. The dancers proceed to the next task as quickly as possible. Music is deleted. The timing of the work stems from whatever patterns are natural to the execution of the task. The concepts of the soloist and of unison movement are also omitted. The choreography should create the space that exists between the dancers instead of emphasizing on how the dancers move within the space. Rather than being conditioned to accept the proscenium stage as standard space, the performance space should be questioned with every dance piece. Evidently. The use of the stage wings is also omitted. Horizontal and vertical orthogonals are applied to the occupancy of space. Thus, geometric shapes such as the triangle, the circle and the square are used as the performance space. Movement is approached scientifically; like a scientist working in a lab. Physics is used to create locomotion through invisible forces such as impact, rebound, inertia, velocity and ricochet. Correspondingly, movement systems are developed without the use of the bottom of the feet, i.e. popping, splatting, thumping.

wearehereandwehavehadenough

Reflecting on Spill – considering the position of creativity in society.

The edge is recognised, acknowledged, subsumed, mopped up and assimilated by a kind of Borg-like-conventionalism within a capitalist paradigm that atomises individuality then reconstructs and regurgitates it as a commodity for the individual.  The main-stream is veracious in its overwhelming consumption of the ‘other’. Initially spurning what it does not understand, then consuming but never acknowledging or validating the deep roots that initiated the creative thinking that underpinned its watered-down presence in our everyday. This is repeatedly the case – be it the role of the arts in the gentrification of derelict and disregarded areas of the city or the alternative death celebrations that have arisen, initially created by a generation questioning coming to terms with early death. This lack of recognition and respect is on-going thanks to ignorance and fear. Thoughts collated from the last 35 years whilst sitting within a like-minded group of people waiting.

The MA Book Art students have an exhibition for three weeks in the library at Camberwell of altered books – the results of a short set project. The crit yesterday focused on discussing the creative strategies the students had employed to develop work from the books they had been given, finding and developing texts or alternative narratives embedded within the initial books. How much to leave, remove, alter, add or possibly use the book as a starting point to other work. Onto the Polar Institute in Cambridge where I gave a paper for SHARE on the work I have undertaken with The Costume and Textile Study Centre at Norwich Castle.  All went well – myself and Ruth were a wonderfully unscripted double act – it’s all about trust - in the other parties involved, knowing what you do and finally believing in and understanding your role.

Managed to see The Polar Muse at the Polar Institute Museum. http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/ It’s a number of texts specially commissioned as responses to objects from the collection. The textual interventions were vinyl cut onto the glass of the cases that hold the collection – it was an interesting experience to see the objects through a veil of words. They also have the wonderful Caroline Wright working in residence there de-constructing de-accessioned objects – powerful stuff.

The current show at the Whitechapel is most excellent – the work by Richard Tuttle explores his use of textiles; everything from single threads that protrude from the wall and play with the real and imagined, cut canvas sheets through to complicated constructed pieces. http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/richard-tuttle-i-dont-know-the-weave-of-textile-language The current children’s commission by Fraser Muggeridge: Mimeographica Alphabetica - work using stencils and old technology of the rotastat machine – the Proustian rush! (I can still smell the chemicals) is very playful and explores an interesting intersecting place between Graphics, Typography and Fine Art practice. http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/fraser-muggeridge-mimeographica-alphabetica

allencompassingthinking

Four days immersed in the world of live art.... Spill Festival Ipswich. http://spillfestival.com/all-events/ Starting with the sounds of fleeing souls of Siren at the opening party – and ending with INCORRUPTIBLE FLESH: MESSIANIC REMAINS with Ron Athey - with 42 events in between. I could just list everything on the programme that I saw – it’s crept into my though process, providing images to stimulate and contemplate. Some people to look out for in future - standout moments - which in turn become recommendations have to be - the graphic simplicity of Jamie Lewis Hadley, Kris Canavan’s procession through Ipswich, the full on frontal assault by Swagga with Project O, Keijaun Thomas’s seductive complicity, the joyous deconstruction of Peter McMaste’s all male Withering Heights and Get in the back of the van’s The best little whorehouse in Texas, the intensity of Jon John and Adam Electric’s endurance. Then there was the experience of an almost continual dialogue throughout the 4 days, these were focused by the more formal Spill Salon conversations -the idea of the/a safe world with Ron Athey, John Bowers and Domenic Johnson was inspirational.   

stuffstuffandmorestuff

The opening party for Spill http://spillfestival.com/ saw machine spirits in the name of Siren, a night train through Ipswich, a man surrendering by staple gunning a white flag to his arm and clashing Asian and Britishness in the form of Bishi – most excellent – all with chips and sparkling wine. 20,000 days on earth http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2920540/ is a stunning film that explores the idea of creativity – its a joy to behold within today’s miss-guided skewed version of creativity – ploughing his own furrow Nick Cave is important – important that he exists to point out what we should be concerned with, or at least to provide a model, a route – the film will want to make you collaborate with the nearest sentient being after you have gone out and listed to the back catalogue. Baraka http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103767/ – is a stunning film – a Koyaanisqatsi http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085809/ for 2014 – its a wide ranging set of images that explore the world we live in/on – no narrative or voice-over to tell you what to think just stunning images - there is a particular shot of the Kuwaiti oil fields burning accompanied with bagpipes and drumming that is haunting. The shots of mass production of food juxtaposed with people on escalators going underground is something we’ve seen before but here there is a new spin with multiple images and incredibly speeded up film so that almost the souls of the people are filmed rather than their physical self 

excitedandlookingforward

Spill tickets have arrived with 6 days to go till the opening party – can’t wait. Meanwhile – with many references to Brazil, although without the humour and a nod to David Lynch the Double is worth a watch http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825157/  Work wise - after a day of assessing on the MA in Book Arts course on Monday it was straight into 3 days in a chalet with the new year 1 students in Hunstanton making, bonding, drawing and encouraging lateral thinking and problem solving – most excellent – some wonderful moments despite the driving wind coming straight off the sea – or maybe because of it! and then there are the issues of economics made visual in the buildings.

stringistheanswer

An excellent dance experience at The Dance House in Ipswich – Park by Jasmin Vardimon was somewhere between narrative and abstract, sometimes this was good and at other times quite annoying. There were a number of extraordinary moments and sequences where individuals became part of a larger group – moving in unison and then breaking off and becoming individuals again. A nice touch was covering the dance area in corrugated cardboard – their steps leaving a trace of what was........a form of mapping or documentation - uuuuummmh

I’ve spent the day in Colchester at the Minories with The Colne and Colchester Embroiders Guild – a really fascinating workshop with a group of thoughtful, individuals who come together as a really supportive group – the discussions were wide ranging and encompassed such issues as fame, authorship, the role of the artists in society, contexts for looking and displaying, technology as a driver of creativity and material understanding. This was all within a practical framework of the exchange of skills, although the day turned out to be really about thinking and developing starting points.

I spent some time in a pound shop buying goods for the year 1 students at NUA who are going on the trip to Hunstanton. One of the many fun exercises planned is to create work in a team from a pile of everyday stuff – so far one packet of rizlas, a ball of string, one paperclip, an envelope and a chain like the one you have on a plug for the sink – it will be fun.

makingarchivesdance

Looking forward to watching Play at the Dance House in Ipswich on Friday. It’s a 3D-imaging-dance-fest by the Jasmin Vardimon Company. Teaching at NUA and on the OCA so far this week has been all about audiences and the makers relationship(s) to making - http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/context-audience-understanding2014 why do we make the things we do and who are they for?

meanwhile – it’s nice to see that Glasgow School of Art are pointing out the work I undertook with archives as having some value  http://gsaarchivesandcollections.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/artists-using-archives-les-bicknell-unpicking-and-rebinding/

twitterKennethGoldsmithvKennethGoldsmithconversation

a mixed week, in terms of types of activity rather than quality! of interesting teaching, especially running a workshop around reflective thinking at nua http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/001-09-10-14-reflective-thinking-pdp - its quite a concept to ‘get your head round’ and it was a joy to watch individual students ‘get it’ in front of me. in the studio I spent most of the week folding for http://de-reform.blogspot.co.uk/

meanwhile over at twitter it’s been interesting to watch from the sidelines the collaborative meta conversation that is Kenneth Goldsmith - Kenneth Goldsmith https://twitter.com/OnBeingKennyG - its important to know that Kenneth Goldsmith is a founder of ubuweb http://www.ubuweb.com/ and a little background on his practice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Goldsmith to ‘get’ it.

bonkerschairarttalk

Secured tickets to see Here Lies Love at the new Dorfman Theatre http://herelieslove.com/ can hardly wait as it sounds a little bonkers. We now own a little piece of live art history – securing La Ribobs ‘chair’ http://www.laribot.com/home at a gala auction in the Vauxhall Tavern to support Live Art Development Agency. http://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/ I really like Marcia Farquhar’s comment -  LADA is a place for people who don’t know their place.’  

Lawrence Weiner at South London Gallery is quite a statement! – the main gallery has one statement on the wall and a graphic response on the opposite wall whilst upstairs the domestic space battles interestingly with the scale of the text. http://www.southlondongallery.org/page/all-in-due-course

Some interesting teaching this week – presentations, seminars and tutorials – an interesting world of specific and particular language- a space of intention and discussion that really is quite wondrous – so much so that I often feel so elated that I feel some sort of sorrow for the rest of the world who aren’t part of it!! – check out https://twitter.com/OnBeingKennyG

creakingsoundsawaitingarole

I've been thinking about tension within textile activity for some research I'm involved with and I came across this video from Venice - I love the creaking of the rope as it works against itself.
A couple of days at the Flipside festival at Snape Maltings – http://www.flipsidefestival.co.uk/ the opening party was an interesting event – Giles Peterson providing Brazilian sounds, although unsure where Rod Stewart fitted into this concept.  I really enjoyed Lionel Shriver and Paulo Scott talking about their work – it provided a number of beautiful insights into the reasons for writing and specifics around particular pieces of their writing – went onto read Lionel Shriver’s  short story http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/01/kilifi-creek-lionel-shriver-bbc-short-story-2014-winner and loved the crafting of words – the until – and unless.
Looking forward to delivering year 3 briefings tomorrow at NUA – it’s their first day back – that means only 228 days till they leave.

cassetteboysenablesatruth

distracted by cassette boys latest - 

itsgoingtobeagoodone

having trouble getting this track out of my head today ..... while working on the session for year 1 textile students induction at NUA - its going to be a good one.

lookingtalkingwalking

a good day working with Book Art students from Camberwell – out and about using London as a resource. First stop the Treasures of the British Library in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery. After setting a research task we moved around the gallery listening to each person’s new found relationship to specific individual pieces. They were asked to construct connections between the work on display and their interests, starting to form the beginning of their research practice. The books and manuscripts on display are truly magnificent each time I go I find something else that informs me of my own work, often with the support of the student’s insights.

Then onto the Photographers Gallery to see  Dalston Anatomy by Lorenzo Vitturi- the work is totally of place - the market on Ridley Road and was a great example of how to use London as a resource as well as bringing up conversations around display, referencing work within work and reading images – all in all a great day. As ever a pity about the train service – again....

There are clutch of great shows coming up which I intend to visit – here’s a list - check them out.

Matthew Barney – Sadie Coles HQ 10 oct – 13 dec http://www.sadiecoles.com/ecards/press/119.html

Lawrence Weiner – south london gallery  26 oct – 23 nov http://www.southlondongallery.org/page/all-in-due-course

What Marcel Duchamp taught me – the fine art society contemporary 10 oct – 5 nov http://www.fadwebsite.com/2014/09/25/preview-what-marcel-duchamp-taught-me-faslondon/

Lizze fitch / ryan trecartin – zabludowcz collection 2 oct – 21 dec http://www.zabludowiczcollection.com/london/events/exhibition-preview-lizzie-fitch-ryan-trecartin

Plot – Jose Damasceno an Artangel project at Holborn library 3 oct – 23 nov http://www.artangel.org.uk//projects/2014/plot/about_the_project/plot

bookcritleadstoshow

A great day at Camberwell - the first crit with the Book Art students work had a range of exciting starting points that I am sure will inform their personal projects. The week-long brief is a site specific structural book one where students engage with a particular space and make bookworks in response.

Rosie Sherwood http://rosiesherwood.tumblr.com/ , ex Book Art student from Camberwell  has a show at www.bookartbookshop.com titled In the Gutter - Private View  2nd Oct 6.00-8.30pm shows on 3rd Oct- 16th Oct bookartbookshop 17 Pitfield St London N1 6HB Wed-Fri:1-7pm Sat: 12-6pm.

bonkersbesson

a totally bonkers film entwining moments of madness,
a lecture, special effects, car chases, and theories around time and space!!
Lucy is Luc Besson squared; it’s so drenched in ‘Bessoness’ that its laugh out
loud preposterous but it comes at you so thick and fast that you stop thinking
about notions of reality...... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872732/  Desert Islands Discs is back and it starts with the wonderful Steve McQueen – it’s a beautifully straight and honest
session especially his answers to his supposedly prickly reputation – all surrounded
by some excellent tracks http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/35a73c40#b04hml41 meanwhile working on presentations for next year at NUA feels good – considering the developing needs presented to lecturers by new cohorts of students and finally creating work for  squeeze fold bend and expand http://de-reform.blogspot.co.uk/ coming to Nicholas Jarr late but enjoying his remixes of familiar tracks esp Mulatu Astatke - Yegelle Tezeta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Y3g8ccMgA Nina Simone - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G24es4IS8E
Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KavN_f0-lnU and also his solo work and Darkside http://www.nicolasjaar.net/

workworkworkthink

A most excellent and full day at Camberwell working on the book art course. In the morning– a demonstration/workshop that explored holistic bookmaking including idea initiation, image and text generation in relation to each other, sequence as spaces in time, the concept of structure in relationship to the core of an idea and form as content. In the afternoon two presentations; 1 – http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/001-reflective-practice-38892095 looking the value of the reflective journal included building diagrammatic explanations of practice and its relationship to the connections in our lives. 2 http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/what-is-book-bookness exploring the idea of the book and our relationship to it. 

sisterfrank

finally managed to get round to watching Frank – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1605717/
Fassbinder yet again manages another intense performance - presenting a range
of powerful emotions – this time from behind a giant papier-mâché head! – a glorious
film about illness, hope, dreams and the purity of the creative act – a must
see.

It was great to see the skip sisters - http://www.skipsisters.co.uk/diary.html
featured in the Saturday guardian over the weekend – they made some great stuff
out of what is left behind – wonderfully creative. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/13/how-to-create-treasures-out-of-rubbish-easy-skip-projects

and even though Frank isn’t about Frank Sidebottom it made me

reach for my Frank Sidebottom vinyl - enjoy

juxtaposingfixings

Giulio Paolini’s show at The Whitechapel Gallery To Be or Not to Be is a body of quizzical, clever work that repeatedly refers to itself within each artwork as well as outside to the 'tradition' of looking and referencing. Clever in that the viewer is constantly deconstructing and decoding visual game play (artist as master thief or serial killer leaving clues to be unpicked and solved by downtrodden detectives) one feels as if a spectator in a temporal game whose rules are in flux.
I last saw the work of Kader Attia at Tate Modern - it was a powerful dual slide show juxtaposing images of WW1 soldiers facial reconstruction with images from an archive of everyday items that had also had their lives extended by ingenious fixing(s). The show at the Whitechapel continues this theme with disfigured marble busts of soldiers next to repaired Arabic leaning boards. Within the building there is a lot to see if you throw in a series of films shown in the Zilkha Auditorium, the socially engaging work by Stephen Willats, Francis Upritchard's Zabludowicz collection Project where he has worked with Brazilian rubber to create a series of intriguing animals and the selection of sculptural pieces by Mike Nelson from the V-A-C collection. But I'm waiting for the Richard Tuttle show which coincides with the Tate Turbine Hall Commission that I saw being built the other day - it is very large and I think could be a winner.

Its the Chinese moon festival – yes the moon has been quite incredible over the past week – so a trip to China Town to buy moon cake in celebration.

thinkingsmoothlyusingangularshapes

Well a full-on two days so far this week – finalising timetables at NUA for the textiles design course – building on our previous experience and introducing current themes as ever - its going to be a full year! Then delivering on-line a briefing session for a module that I’m running for the OCA. It has its focus in testing boundaries by considering audiences and the spaces where the work that we make is made public. Off to London and symposium 1 at Camberwell, the new cohort of Book Art students is eclectic and wonderful – my notes of the session include – looking at things I didn't understand – failure is wonderful – unconscious recollection – the invisible in books – the choice we made to know something – ritual as transformative – codes for communication – house as a container – book as opera – information is beautiful – visible and invisible graphics – what does reading look like? – thinking smoothly – recognising the whole life of an object – using photographs rather than taking them – there is something there but I'm not sure what it is.

Then off to Tate Modern – the Malevich show is quite breathtaking in a cerebral thinking way – the room of works on paper mapping his developments over a number of crucial years is incisive, outlining the importance of drawing as a tool for thinking – the recreation of the seminal supremacist exhibition is marvellous, to be in the presence of work after being enamoured by the images for so long was quite moving but the real gem was the ‘education’ room where Malevich’s theories on painting and the relationship between colour and music is laid out on huge charts. If you are interested in art and education you have to see this work. http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

platonicfolding

The program for the wondrous SPILL festival is out http://spillfestival.com/all-events/ with the theme ON SURRENDER it’s going to be a storming few days in Ipswich between 29 Oct – 2 Nov 2014. Already looking forward to it especially Incorruptible Flesh by the iconic Ron Athey. http://ronatheynews.blogspot.co.uk/

Meanwhile work continues on researching new ways of thinking about folding, collapsing, bending and expanding – maybe platonic solids are the answer... 

opportunitylostandfound

last night’s poetry prom at Snape with John Hegley and Ian McMillan was a nice evening of light entertainment – sounds like a negative but nice is ok. It was all very cosy and maybe asking for a little grit would be calling for the wrong thing in the wrong place but I can’t help thinking that with 800 people in the audience for poetry you couldn’t have introduced them to more voices – Byron Vincent http://www.byronvincent.com/  is the lost child of Hegley and Richard Dedomenici http://dedomenici.com/ would connect with McMillan’s acquired/stolen signage. Now that would be an interesting evening.

Anyway – I’ve started to look through the folded paper archives in my studio with a view to starting work on Squeeze Fold Bend and Expand - Structural Memory in Deformable Objects along with some light reading about rat skeletons.

meanwhile on the watching front the beautifully shot, colour saturated Utopia – the first series, although fractured with no explanation of anything story wise was quite startling with utterly arresting imagery. The original version of House of Cards is fascinating – cluttered with class war and leaden 80s-ness! 

bookcull

bank holiday - rain - time to cull the books -  bought for type face choice, odd illustrations or cover design, some of them haven't been touched since they were placed on their shelf 20 years ago - above - some of the 'gems' that are now in second hand shops in the N Suffolk area!!.