somanynotes

so many notes 1!!! - a 10:00 evening slot at Aldeburgh Festival with Messiaen's Petites esquisses d'oiseaux and La Fauvette des jardins played by Lorenzo Soules - its abstraction was exhilarating - it was an extraordinarily powerful experience.

so many notes 2!!! - dropped into the British Museum - while it's still there and free I thought that I would drop in on the way to new designers. it's always best to see just one room as the space can be overwhelming - decided on money - it is truly a wonderful display of mans ability to suspend belief, create abstract realities and false Gods.

some films - whisky tango foxtrot - http://gb.imdb.com/title/tt3553442/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2  a devastating chaotic film that spins gloriously out of control in so many ways. is this what we do in other places? everyone wants some!! - http://gb.imdb.com/title/tt2937696/ unsure of the films tone - glorying in sexist 'frat boyness'! or irony light? - if just a 'joke' who is it on? - it often felt like the audience. But after the film within the credits is where the film starts to explore something of the issues at hand - each character raps with thoughtful lyrics over cleverly specific music that explores and deconstructs their character and ultimately what each charter stands for. The revised fundamentals of caregiving - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2452386/ a beautiful life affirming film - you will laugh you will cry.

a day at new designers - building the stand - it really is key that year 1 and 2 students on courses  attend - without the knowledge of seeing other students work they are at a disadvantage.

the build and hang for the MA Book Art Show at Camberwell is over - it really is a dynamic exhibition with many wonderful conversations between the works taking place - curating and hanging it is one of the highlights of my teaching year - lots of learning taking place within wonderful conversations with creative people - it will be a winner - all the Postgraduate courses are they - check it out - 14th - 20th July - http://events.arts.ac.uk/event/2016/7/14/Camberwell-College-of-Arts-Postgraduate-Summer-Show-2016/?_ga=1.166516542.1278468922.1440491599

joiningandmakingsense

decided to join instagram - https://www.instagram.com/les1bicknell/ it will be a documentation on my everyday activity that supports practice. my instagram profile image is me dealing with and being dealt by the wonderful Alfedo Jaar http://www.alfredojaar.net/main.html piece at MOMA - Lament of the images http://www.moma.org/collection/works/138623?locale=en I first saw it at The Tate in another iteration and then went to see it on my last two trips to New York making the pilgrimage to be altered. His work for the Chile Pavillion at the Venice Biennale was extraordinary you had to really be there to get the full experience, comming across it - but check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFuAzBEOcMI

some films this week -  The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2113681/ a wonderful funny life affirming experience - in so many ways a better Forest Gump!  Parallels - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3479316/?ref_=nv_sr_1 nice idea but more of a tv series pilot as so many issues are either initiated in the last 5 minutes or left as cliff hangs  Dear white people - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2235108/?ref_=rvi_tt a quietly scathing look at racism and our role in it. the Aldeburgh festival threw up Tamsin Waley-Cohen on violin and James Baillieu on piano - a front row seat means that you really get the sense that playing an instrument is an endurance sport. the Debussy and Elgar were discordant and challenging - speaking of death, destruction and the context that they were created in - the new piece by Freya Waley-Cohen with its loops and forceful architecture was an interesting counter balance and gave space to consider our location. Looking forward to the pump house on Friday - The wild man of Orford a piece based on 'actual' legend http://myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/origins63-the-wild-man-of-orford.html  and maybe stay to watch Dead Rat Orchestra playing salt, sawdust and 200 shards of micro-tuned steel. Turn the page book fair is this weekend in Norwich http://turnthepage.org.uk/ its great to see so many people who are connected to the MA Book Arts Course at Camberwell attending - we have a stand this year - and I see that Rosie Sherwood will launch her new poetry book and art installation 'The Ellentree' as well as Karen Apps having her own stand -  come along - it will be interesting as the selection panel - Sarah Bodman, Su Blackwell and Jules Allen bring a wealth of knowledge to their position as selectors.

engaginginnewstuffandgettingchangedbyit

an afternoon in london - so the wonderful Carol Fletcher gallery carrollfletcher.com has a stunning show by Franco and Eva Mattes 0100101110101101.org its all darkness and the world is going to hell in a handcart with them holding a mirror to our corporate greed filled faces but in a very calm way! - i love their work - you have to admire the full on madness of their engagement with our digital selves - manipulating our behaviour in the space - yes - best video - men using tape to attach a fish to their belly and then watering them - or maybe the one about the bucket salute! Onto the Tate and the private opening for Tate members - well - the building looks space age otherness from the outside but inside the rooms are oddly pokey above the 4th floor - stairs too fiddly - lifts too small - nowhere to charge a laptop or phone and - the most odd design 'decision' I have ever seen in my life - the majority of the windows are covered by the bricks you can see from the outside. but the art was good - and what a huge view from the new platform - intriguing to see Rebecca Horn's actual textile pieces rather than just the images - a huge show of work that explores the performative and another exploring ideas around space and architecture has some excellent curatorial choices. as ever it is a joy to see anything by Louise Bourgeois (except maybe the spiders) but there were some astonishing textile limbs on display. then onto see a selection of the year 1 Chelsea fine art students work in the safe house gallery in Peckham  - bob, darius, julia, kez, laila, louis, lucia, mel, richard and qianqian - new exciting work - if you want to see more check out bobbicknell-knight.com - young people are excellent.

leavingnotleavingworking

working on the latest gloriously mad Paul Cope art combined group thing  - after chair, drain, and shop box we have 100 sq feet - I've been given a 12cm spare panel of wood to work with for an exhibition in Halesworth Gallery - after much thought I chopped it up and played tangram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangram after a few hours I got to knife.... then....using that as a mask to make 101 individual prints.....to be swapped with 100 other artists and one to auction off. http://www.paulcope.com/100_Sq_Ft/index.html

first outing to this years festival at Aldeburgh was Birmingham contemporary music group playing Julian Anderson’s The Comedy of Change and Benedict Mason’s Nodding Trilliums and Curve-Lined Angles - WOW - controlled disorder ordered and a dose of big fun as they played prepared pianos, rubber balls brushes and at one point the building.  

meanwhile some challenging multi-authorship design on the A12

theendistheend

the end is underway at Camberwell - we've started the planning process for the final show for this cohort's MA Book Art students - this year it's in Wilson's road annex as the major re-development takes over the main site. Got to see Tina C on the Southbank last night - if you like your men dressed up as female patriotic, Christian right wing country and western singers this is for you. The latest show is full of comments on the referendum and Donald Trump - go see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTli2s_QaEA The Felix Gonzalez Torres show at Hauser and Wirth is beautiful - favourites include the blue mirror piece which is starkly blunt whilst the light bulb piece hangs poignantly within the huge space. http://www.hauserwirth.com/exhibitions/2784/felix-gonzalez-torres-curated-by-julie-ault-and-roni-horn/view/ The mentoring at Kings is going well - John Grayson is doing a great job with the maker space and the work is going well - it will look excellent within the bookcase - its final resting place. The discussion/presentations today were illuminating, with lots to build on in the future. The issue of inter disciplinarian collaborative activity - its benefits, from the feel good factor, embedding fun and ways to talk about monetising activity. 

sexsexsexabdmoresexandsomedeath

Another weekend of the glorious Pulse Festival at the Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich - subjects include genocide, death, EU referendum, evil, personal testimony, war, stars, the universe, aliens, space flight, men, complex astrophysics and sex.

Highlights include the wonderful Ursula Martinez creating a wall, an actual real wall of breeze blocks between her and the audience whilst talking sex racism sex likes and dislikes sex and then sex before taking all her clothes off and walking out into the street followed by camera. She is a must see - one minute you are laughing uncontrollably - the next cringing at the silence created by the thing that she has actually said - yes she really did just say that. http://ursulamartinez.com/index.html You can't not be overtaken by Gecko - their fast paced, highly stage crafted dance washes over, then it slows, stills to a stop forming moments where tableau's that seem timeless are allowed to form and swirl around in one's head. http://geckotheatre.com/  already looking forward to next year's Pulse.

bookendyourlifenow

a great day at Symposium 2. for me the session takes the form of a bookend to the MA Book Art Course at Camberwell. Symposium 1 is a sharing of life before the course along with aspirations of what is to come. Symposium 2 is the evidence of activity - what has happened over the 2 years within the course and what could be next. Along with the opportunity to see growth and change it also gives a flavour of the final show, although that is still 4 weeks away and a lot can happen in 4 weeks. meanwhile another weekend of theatre beckons - Pulse Festival in Ipswich - https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/pulse-festival/ looking forward to it all but specifically The Complete Deaths - https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/pulse16-the-complete-deaths/ and then I've still got to catch up with PhotoEast shows http://photoeast.co.uk/ some of it is on in Ipswich and some in Halesworth - if you can't get to the Cut art centre in Halseworth to see the moving Eyes of War by Martin Roemers you can see it here http://www.panos.co.uk/stories/2-13-556-1124/Martin-Roemers/Eyes-of-War/# I forgot to mention last week - the thoughtful yet/and raucous night out at Norwich Arts Centre - Martin Figura - if you get the chance go see him - if you are middle aged, have kids, are a bloke live and your life through a soundtrack of music it is essential http://www.martinfigura.co.uk/