arrivingatanidea

ok everybody has to see Arrival - so many questions - where do memories come from? who makes them? what IS language? it's a truly beautifully heartbreaking mind twisting multiple discussion point film. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/ go now - it will make you a better person. Star Wars - Rogue One http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3748528/?ref_=nv_sr_2  Alan Tudyk as K-2SO steals the show - all the best lines and witty commentary on the overall proceedings - once you've got past the extraordinary special effects, the detailed set dressing and death star imagery the film felt like a colouring in exercise - making the links between two known places in the story, although along the way there are some creative insights into the world that is to be defined by the force. Nocturnal Animals http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4550098/ is so stylish that what feels like the central anti-women feeling underpinning the film almost glosses over you. It did instigate a house conversation where I tried to think of a film where the woman, even if treated badly doesn't turn into the person doing the bad thing! The woman in a broken relationship even if the one done-bad-by  always appears not to get the sympathy of the audience as they either turn into a psychopath or the one somehow deserving it by not conforming to the roles society has defined for them, and women in general. You will get to Thelma and Louise but it doesn't end well for anyone). Kurt Russell is in full on acting mode but Terence Stamp's acerbic witty remarks steal the show in the caper that is The Art of the Steal http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2172985/business and then..... there is the great series from Netflix - travellers http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5651844/ - if you like your sci-fi part time-travel and smart this is for you.  Meanwhile I've been working on the bookwork for the show of average sunlight for millimetre02 space, Kingsgate Workshops.

newbeginningssomeonewillcometoshowtheway

I believe for every drop of rain that falls
A flower grows
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night
A candle glows
I believe for everyone who goes astray
Someone will come to show the way
I believe, I believe

Elvis is on the turntable and all is well with the world - I hope you have a good holiday and a peaceful 2017

Doyouhearvoices?HowdidIgethere?

Do you hear voices? - How did I get here? Since I bought my folding bike and feeling the liberation that it has given me I now have another great connection/experience - I came across David Bryne's fabulous book Bicycle Diaries. Created in part from the freedom of having his own folding bike it takes the reader into the inside story. It's like having David talking to you - I would love it as an audiobook - having him directly in your ear. Not that I've ever met him, although I've followed his work from the early days of Talking Heads when the art teacher put Talking Heads: 77 on the turntable in the art room - yes a record player -can you just imagine that.  The list of 'stuff that has made me think' includes so much of David Brynes output - The album Remain in Light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remain_in_Light  with the truly extraordinary track Once in a Lifetime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU which in itself has the video where hand movements are used in a hyper unrelated way - but if we're talking about videos I have to mention Road to Nowhere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWtCittJyr0  - The mind twisting film True Stories  True Stories http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092117/ - My life in the Bush of Ghosts with Eno with the haunting Jezebel Spirit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysGjmm648ds - Here Lies Love - the Disco Opera I saw  the National https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Lies_Love  - The intriguing use of PowerPoint through Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information http://davidbyrne.com/explore/e.e.e.i.-powerpoint  and the insightful How Music Works https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Music_Works with ideas of space and time and their relationship to music.

tonight its Klanghaus https://klanghaus.co/ in Norwich.

everythingIwantIhavewheneverIholdyoutight

Sweeter than wine - Softer than the summer night - Everything I want, I have - Whenever I hold you tight - that change in tempo gets me every time...listening to the Drifters as an antidote to all the sleigh bells. 

meanwhile - some films - American Honey explains so much about America - it's a must see-American dream-dysfunctional-backward looking-romantic-entrenched-hopeful-searching-coming of age- road move- film which at its heart is about loss and longing.....for belonging and to be loved. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3721936/ With its endless choreographed chase scenes Fan feels like classic Bollywood. There is also a great slice of meta film-making - in one scene the actor Shah Rukh Khan plays a fan who is playing him playing himself! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3495026/?ref_=nv_sr_1  Spectral http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2106651/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 a Netflix construct did what it set out to do - it's a sci-fi  shoot-em-up with the most excellent costumes and attention to detail - shame about plot, story and dialogue.

This week alongside working on the films for unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk it's been all about trying to finish off a year's work around the teaching I do, including creating the timetables for the assessment presentations the students are to give and creating presentations that I am to give when I get back next year.  

benicetoeachother

this week teaching has been all good - working with eight year 3 students from the Textile Design Course at NUA who are creating work for a show at CraftCo in Southwold http://www.craftco.co.uk/ the exhibition is called made and the work in process can be followed on instagram https://www.instagram.com/nuatextiles2017/ #madeinprogress. If the work that's proposed by the students  is made it will be an exciting exhibition. Enjoying the latest output from artists and friends - a conversation set up to talk about contemporary art between sid and jim on soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/artistsandfriends/such-a-squeaky-chair  nice to reference a free art experience - a lift in the Southbank - the original (if there is such an idea with Martin Creeds work) is in the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. Looking forward to Klanghaus in St George Works in Norwich next week https://klanghaus.co/ sounds and looks like it might be a return to 80s warehouse interventions which obviously in turn references 60s happenings which probably goes back to Neanderthals hanging out in a neighbours cave.

joininginandhavingfun

I have joined in with Mathew Aldred! http://www.mathewaldred.com/ - he is working on a project called grey matters http://www.greymatters.xyz/ it's a way of collecting images but really it's about creating connections and joining people, the whole project presents a model of decent behaviour and respect as a response to current global situations. The week has been mainly about creating work for unfolding thinking https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/ which is going well.

I have almost managed to get to the end of Narcos http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2707408/ - a brutal portrayal of honour, betrayal and love. Often misplacing emotional responses in a glorious way Wagner Moura is extraordinary as Pablo Escobar - it's really nice that he never shouts at his kids!

A party in Halesworth on Saturday meant that I got to see the development of Laurence Edwards studio http://www.laurenceedwardssculpture.com/ - it looks great - very grown up and professional. 

seeseeseeandthink

in London for the a.n Christmas party https://www.a-n.co.uk/news - great fun with lovely committed people from all over the country.  Who knew Elton John has such poor taste? I've been looking forward to see his collection of photos at Tate Modern as they are some of the images that have inspired and informed my thinking - but the choice of framing and the frames themselves somehow managed to diminish and overwhelm the images, this with the hang, where tiny images are above head height means that you actually cannot physically see some of the work - my advice get the catalogue and really see the work, it makes you realise the skill of galleries, what they do when showing work. meanwhile http://www.carrollfletcher.com/ has an excellent group show - Looking at one thing and thinking of something else. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Tape Recordings is great fun, I love the work of Manfred Mohr so it was good to see it again but Between Simonetta is an outstanding technical feat morphing two images into each other - sort of! http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/shows/current has a series of stunning photographs of bundles of documents within folded cloth by Dayanita Singh. http://www.mariangoodman.com/ has a very eclectic show called  Animality. it's a great show to get loads of inspiration around animals and their behaviour, for me stand out pieces are the octopus film and the joke/representation of the eye of the needle quote upstairs! A highlight of the day was The infinite mix http://www.theinfinitemix.com/ the whole experience is awesome - incredible work in a great space - it's difficult to pick out highlights because they all had excellent moments but the trees in Cyprien Gaillard's Nightlife have a bewildering sense of otherness, taking on animal forms. the whole experience is a joy go and see otherwise you will feel that you have missed out! Popped into The Museum of London to check out their 'modern' displays - they have some excellent objects and some stunning imagery of London making sense of itself and often in the process poor people appear to come off badly! At the wonderful Toynbee Studios http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/toynbee-studios saw The People Show perform http://www.peopleshow.co.uk/ a poignant comment on the 60s and their work over the past 50 years. As ever with their work it takes you on a journey to a place you didn't know existed but when you get there it makes a kind of sense. Truly marvellous. If you want a fabulous experience I recommend getting a tube to Greenwich and then biking along the Thames path from Greenwich to Tate Modern. You can pick up a bike at a Docking station just after you come out of the tunnel on the North Bank at Greenwich - an experience in itself. The whole of London is laid out in front of you and at the same time moving through it you get a real sense of change. I can remember working with Four Corners filming the building works pre Canary Wharf (yes it hasn't always existed) and being tufted off the road by heavy security guards whilst being informed that the road was owned by Docklands Development Corporation and we had no rights to be on what was the 'public highway'.

wheninodmyheadyouhitit!

A great session this week with Nicola Naismith and Dr Valerie Woods being interviewed for their collaborative Postures of Making project. https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/postures-of-making I have a long history of art related injuries from lower back from printing to misaligned finger joints from cutting but you get on with it. I find myself constantly telling students on looms and print tables to listen to their body and timetable breaks and include yoga and pilates into their schedules.  Being measured, filmed and photographed in my studio sitting and standing enacting the multiple repetitive actions I engage in gave me pause for thought about my own practice. The work I'm engaged in for the nanoDTC work https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/ has some really nice links and similarities, the day has made me think about tools and how they are held as well as general ideas around collaboration. My family history of factory working was also an interesting issue to consider - the creation of mini production lines and the ergonomics of how this is laid out. The Ipswich Wolsey Theatre's  Panto was most excellent - oh no it wasn't - I'm afraid my dear sir it was - press night is always tricky, you get the nervous rather than the bedded in casualness but there was still some adlibbing from the more experienced members of the cast. As ever a mixture of all sorts of storytelling is thrown into the mix along with great tunes and some of the most outrageous Dame costumes ever. Timbad the Tailor along with the evil Sinistro really stand out but the whole evening is a real blast - get down to Wolsey for a great night out https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/panto-2016/