anotherandanotherandthenanother

Another week........ the VIP PV at NUA is tonight with the family and friends PV on Tuesday http://www.nua.ac.uk/degreeshows/ – the show opens on Wednesday is open till July 8th when it all comes down and we breath for another year. Cley14 PV is on Wednesday night http://www.cleycontemporaryart.org/ - there are some great events around and attached to the exhibition. 

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A long week of helping hang work in various undergrad final year shows alongside a return to one of my spiritual homes graphic design - by helping students creating mock up design objects; LP cases, book covers and folded business cards!

Managed to see/listen to a body of work by Tristan Murali under the title Klangforum Wein 1 today at Aldeburgh Festival – my favourite piece was Desintegrations - It was a wonderful muscular sound – as if Richard Serra had made music! – As Murail himself put it, “I make music by working the sound matter like a sculptor, revealing the form that is hidden within the block of stone, rather than constructing it with bricks, as is the case in a traditional approach”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRuxHVWfQtA He was there and most excellent in correcting the interviewer about his music.

Looking forward to the week to come – hanging another exhibition – the Post grad Book Art show at Camberwell, re-hanging the textiles show at NUA in a morning as work returns from New Designers and attending the event at Kings as part of Parallel Practices. The Private View of Cley14 is on Wednesday and I’m on invigilator duty Friday and Saturday which should be fun.

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Borbala Szanto

A big day out in London yesterday to see student shows – first up Chelsea – as ever the textiles was excellent – their knit was spectacular this year. The more conceptual work of Honami Nishii http://honami-nishii.blogspot.co.uk/ and Lucy Monica Poulden http://blog.tedresearch.net/explored the physical presence of textiles and was very thoughtful. In sculpture Borbala Szanto http://borbalaszanto.com/ is making work that seems to be about the presence of sculpture and also the lack of sculpture itself – but maybe before the sculpture happens - quite wonderful. The Royal College is always exceptional in every way, although the painting and print had an air of darkness and despair running through and over the work. In sculpture the seemingly slight work of Adriano Amaral http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/open_cube_masons_yard_2013/ was sublime the work’s presence made one aware of the materiality that surrounds us all. Emma Shercliff’s PhD http://vimeo.com/95431428  is looking at repetition and stitch in textile activity – the results should be interesting. The fantastic material investigation within the textile department was deep and meaningful as was textiles futures at CSM. Textiles strength was the weaving in general although the standout work was the work of Skye Gwillim http://skyegwillim.com/project3.html who had created 3D folded paper structures – clever and beautiful – what more do you want? Fashion is closer to costume at CSM although there was a fairly ‘wearable’ jacket whose construction made it seem as if it was out of focus – truly an object of desire. Seeing all the work of so many young people really does give hope to the future it’s always a great day where one feels energised and uplifted.

foldingthinkingandseriousfun

You don’t need eyes to see you need vision - Maxi Priest - Reverence - Faithless. 

Two cracking shows – whilst working on the Art, Design and the Book MA at Colchester Institute I managed to see the latest exhibit at Firstsite - an all encompassing roaming show of Bruce Mcleans work http://www.firstsite.uk.net/page/bruce-mclean-sculpture-painting-photography-film – some great pieces, both historic and contemporary – the only shame is that the exhibit of artists books is behind glass and I guess I would of liked more videos. The show at the Minories is a body of a life’s thinking – packed with moments of small events closely observed by Terry Bond both funny and serious – serious fun, it’s full of wry observations and beautiful connections that will make you see the world in a new light. http://www.colchester.ac.uk/art/minories/exhibitions/neighbourhood-watch

The work at Colchester focused on a day workshop around design, imposition and narrative with specific reference to the book – a good day with some exciting insights brought to the table by the students. The presentation - http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/colchester-narrative-design-imposition-18-06-2014

Meanwhile I am working on the final touches for Cley14 and still considering the body of work for the show in France – really pleased with both – they are at different ends of a spectrum one experimental, ephemeral and unsure of its final format – the other solid, historical and more focused. 

etherealnoisehelpstounderstandgod

Another truly wonderful faster than sound mash-up event with the collaboration bringing new understanding to each of the pieces - EXAUDI’s ethereal voices singing from the renaissance period celebrating the heavenly force of God was recontextualised by the apocalypse brought on by Russell Haswell’s noise music and in turn his random earthly noises bringing a heightened clarity to Antoine Brumel’s Earthquake Mass – just most excellent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Brumel

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Back from having spent the day at SNAP I still have the work by Lily Hunter Green in collaboration with bees in my mind http://www.snapaldeburgh.co.uk/2014/art_green.html - at Snape Maltings, there are some of the same large scale photographs that are on the Island at Orford – which is always an extraordinary space to visit http://www.snapaldeburgh.co.uk/2014/exhibition2014.html The highlight will be Earthquake Mass especially after the following email....Russell Haswell’s additions to the performance of Antoine Brumel’s Earthquake Mass will include strobe, smoke and noise levels frequently reaching more than 95 db. We will be handing out earplugs for audience members who wish to use them. https://tickets.aldeburgh.co.uk/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=B9ED09BB-8E7B-4E71-8065-6EFB44D22EA3&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=9AC70B74-E3F9-4530-ADDE-8F0319644F92

thinkingandnegotiating

It’s all go within the world of education at this time of year – hanging the textile degree show at NUA requires a skill set that includes the mediation of Nelson Mandela, the steely nerve of Amelia Earhart and the dedication to truth and fairness exhibited by the wonderful Sharmishta Chakrabarti 

Or on the other hand maybe it’s more like the truth spoken by Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinski affair, the understanding of other people’s needs evidenced in the work of Putin and the focused thought of late Elvis on pain killers. But this year has the potential to be one of the best shows having spent 2 weeks with some quite excellent work while assessing it.

Meanwhile I have been shortlisted for the Parallel Practices Craft Council project - well more through to the next round of many – it’s going to be a fascinating process of speed date matching art and craft with medicine which is very exciting

There are so many opportunities for active participation around Cley14 from walks, talks and workshops – I would check out the web site. http://www.cleycontemporaryart.org/nwt.htm

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METIS http://metisarts.co.uk/ are developing a new piece and as part of their development they have been looking at how clothes are made within a global context – I went to a sort of sharing of our research so far session at the Wolsey Theatre on Saturday – not bad – some interesting ideas were thrown up about labelling in clothes in relationship to food, the lack of direct health issues around purchasing cheap clothes (within the manufacturer of clothes it is other people’s health that is at risk). http://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/pulse14-world-factory-the-shirt/ Later New Art Club http://newartclub.org/ were as excellent as expected and a bit more – I think that I was crying with laughter within minutes and the last monologue was so beautiful - making us all evaluate the whole show – thank you. Meanwhile back to assessment today with a quick break for year 2 textile design student’s introduction to year 3 at NUA. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/introduction-to-year-3-35664784  Then off to see the Foundation show at Wensum Lodge in Norwich 

http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/Leisure_and_culture/Adult_education/Types_of_courses/Courses_for_learners_16-18/NCC086964 vested interest - my child is graduating so I will be in proud parent mode. 

gradingthebestandmakingwork

LO7 - LO12 - Learning outcomes - assessment grading matrix  - black folders and assessment forms - after 2 weeks of assessments at NUA where I have looked at some of the best practice’s I have ever been in the presence of I am spending the day working on my upcoming show in France – its in the imprints gallery at Piegros La Clastre. http://www.imprints-galerie.com/galerie

feelyourpulse

Another session of Pulse Festival wondrousness at the Dance House in Ipswich last night – first was Words into the Dark by Wendy Houston a wonderful piece – finding a way forward – an expression of a person managing – a person coping with a mass of information – creating language. Second was a piece by Hetain Patel - American Boy – a mixture of impressions and actions looking at popular American Culture it was at its best when it mashed up these ideas and expressions of Americanness – Spiderman doing impressions of Micheal Caine doing Kung Fu as Michael Jackson! There’s a double bill on Saturday with world factory the shirt first and then Feel about your body by the fabulous New Art Club I’m already looking forward to it – they are always quite marvellous http://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/pulse14-feel-about-your-body/ . I had resisted the new version of Old Boy as the original needed nothing especially not a remake. But it does have some extraordinary special effects in the form of exploding heads mainly – but.......

Part of today’s teaching at Camberwell was a visit to The London Centre for Book Arts  http://londonbookarts.tumblr.com/ - a most excellent space deep in the hinterland of Hackney almost next to the Olympic park. A great talk by Simon who in founder and runs the place, although far too modest to say so himself he really is a force for good.