handfullsofenergy

developing the folding structures - its interesting to consider their filming in the making – their functionally and ease of movement. I’m working with reflective material to bounce light, to give the impression of energy surrounding and within the hands. 

thinkingturningrethinking

Turn the page in Norwich is coming up this weekend - http://www.turnthepage.org.uk/index.htm a must see for seeing interesting books and book related objects – they have an exhibition by Brian Dettmer which will be full of obsessive cutting and the mining of alternative narratives within books http://briandettmer.com/  while thinking about Norwich check out the Relux project which is part of the festival http://dedomenici.com/redux richard has been remaking various films – most awesomely bizarre. The Thursday lecture at NUA was by Celia Pym http://celiapym.com/ really wonderful journey – the focus was on connecting, finding out who to work with and how to sustain a practice. titled Is this a thing? I started to think about the students experience of Listening – why come to a lecture that’s not what I do....she made me rethink ...make a link with the Yoko Ono – cut piece – thinking about the real violence of the act, the fact that in archives all clothes are catalogued as a personal item and also it made me think about the role of a tutor – talking and listening professionally. Beautiful.

systemssystemssystems

an interesting night running a textile company at the Wolsey theatre with the very thoughtful Metis theatre company http://metisarts.co.uk/  world factory is a complex immersive  full on experience which is quite excellent – every textile fashion student should see it and explore their relationship to their clothes. http://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/world-factory/

The Wolsey theatre is a magnificent institution full of vibrant experiences - I’ve already got tickets to the Pulse festival http://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/pulse-festival/ to go to the follow up discussion but also to see 9 new performances within 5 hours as part of the suitcase day on the 29^th May – performances supported only by what they can bring in a suitcase on public transport. This will only be a couple of days after coming back from New York with the textile students from Norwich which is taking up a lot of planning time.

The lunchbox is a deeply sad but all encompassing tale of the system of cooking and transporting food to workers in Mumbai http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2350496/ the delivery system is extraordinary and the film is worth watching just to see it in action. 

fillinguptheheadwiththoughts

A full day at Camberwell on the MA Book Arts – discussing work within a day long crit is always exciting with many starting points and directions discussed was a way of moving the work along for the students flowing back into one’s head which is always very full at the end of the day. We covered lots of ideas – the sound of sadness, books of space to travel within space, the language of stitch, book as tool, hidden narratives within the everyday, emotional colours and Wabi Sabi to name a few. The year is slowly moving mercilessly towards the final show (time does that). After that I managed a visit to Tate Modern to catch up with Marlene Dumas http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/marlene-dumas-image-burden and Sonia Delaunay http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-sonia-delaunay The Dumas was all deeply sad tonal pools of misery – quite marvellous – her handling of the paint is tragically controlled within the illusion of freedom. I was moved by the quotes on the wall in the galleries - used as an introduction or contextualisation – especially the room with the paintings of her daughter and the room of ‘war’ images – “the first mark is the worst, the drawing of a line cuts the paper in two, the drawing of maps and borders turn neighbours into foreigners. This really defines the tone of the show. With the Delaunay the work seemed right for ‘applied arts’ I was taken in by the book cover designs and especially the textile work. The strikingly modern designs within the work books, samples of printed cloth and the oddly mannered posed film showing several garments were the highlights for me. 

explodingreferencestoometaforreality

2 most excellent video recommendations – both full of truly great knowing nonsense – so many references that I need a notebook – pity about the music ....The Hoff with True Survivor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTidn2dBYbY and Snoop with Too many Pros http://www.vevo.com/watch/USQX91500044  over the weekend watched another adaptation of José Saramago's 2002 novel The Double the first was the double directed by Richard Ayoade - this was The Enemy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2316411/ with Jake Gyllenhaal playing both characters - it really is a 'wot the....' moment at the end - but two hours of discussion later its all clear.

Meanwhile finally back in the newly laid out studio working on developing the handheld structures to explore new ways of moving and eventually using them as pattern generator.  

extractingultraviolence

Spent yesterday morning extracting DNA from strawberries – like you do! Bio Hacking on the Textiles Design Course at NUA - wonderfully basic science – and fun.  Raphael Kim http://biohackanddesign.com/ set up the idea to explore the possibilities available to designers when exploring at a molecular level – I’m adding it to my list of things to do. Managed to see Layer Cake – somehow I had missed it up until now –some excellent ‘old school’ actors acting – who isn’t in it? supported by tight editing and a saucy script. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375912/ but on the other hand – John Wick http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2911666/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_7 a film with a maximum 2 two page script (mostly grunting), directions that must consist mostly of blood splatter patterns and a revenge plot that is utterly ‘over the top’ but the whole thing is an example of wondrously preposterous ultra violence which unfurls like a deadly but beautiful poisonous snake.

whydidyoudoit

Forgot to photograph the ceilings – really pleased with the crisp painting detail I've worked on and the lighting in the main rooms - a day listening to old and new sounds – ‘old’ highlights being....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHb7_steTDU a great version of Psycho Killer on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Stretch performing Why did you do it in a most odd setting – but what a great funk beat – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7SloVbbzZc  meanwhile new is from Aidan https://soundcloud.com/aidan-johnson/submotion-orchestra-worries-moegli-johnson-remix - a Submotion Orchestra remix of Worries for a competition – vote for it here https://wavo.me/submotionorchestracomp/worries-remix-competition/submotion_orchestra_worries_moegli_johnson_remix__13459863570810000?u=55243b60731d46c757000332&s=zmpH8X3LpEp6cWnR7JR0m7_ldvY&v=1

houseofswag

A joyful way of collecting stuff - Katamari http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katamari_Damacy fun! fun! fun! The experience of playing Katamari has been a little like the last days at the house – cleaning, bundling it all up, getting it outside and then burning – it’s now finished and looks good. It feels like I live in a house that’s in a magazine. It’s all about the detail. just swagging up my snapchat whilst listening to Yung Lean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX1a3JngmpI but unsure if I like it – the irony is slightly too good/close for me to get beyond. 

lifeanddeathinagame

Well watching a play in the cinema was interesting. A View from the Bridge with Mark Strong (a wonderful performance) but for me the whole point of theatre is that it operates within physical space with real living people so to have the experience mediated through film was a little unsatisfactory. This was especially exposed when considering the language of film with the framing, close up, wide shot, pan etc all seen through the film director’s eyes. The game play in Proteus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus_%28video_game%29 is just forward backward left right through a highly pixelated (think flat mind craft) but this simplicity is quite beautiful and all this happens whilst working out what the objective is – the trick is to let everything music and visuals flow over you – rethinking what a video game is for me – and again it all appears to be about life-death.

Meanwhile back to painting and a return to rebuilding the house – almost there.