hangingworkandlearningstuff

2 great days in London hanging the end of year exhibition at Camberwell. As ever it was a creative, instructive and fun experience. It all works because of the mixture of great planning, a dedicated team working with trusting and flexible students. There is some excellent work displayed in thoughtful, provocative and revelatory ways that help the work make sense of itself to an audience. The private view is on the 19th July and there is a year 1 Book Art interim along with MA Printmakers, Illustrators, Designer Makers, Digital Media and Fine Art all within the old school art school atmosphere of Wilsons Road - come it will be inspiring..... https://www.evensi.uk/private-view-ma-summer-show-2017-camberwell-college-of-arts/204897188

I managed to get time to see the Giacometti show at the Tate - it's an excellent exhibition, the first room has a display of heads that presents a chronological explanation of influences which ends with him finding his own voice. it's a strong if a little repetitive show, but then it is Giacometti. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/giacometti In the new space Fahrelnissa Zeid http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/fahrelnissa-zeid has some dizzy paintings of awe inspiring clothes in the last room which in itself is worth a look. South London Gallery has The Place is here. It was fascinating to see again Roadworks the Mona Hatoum piece as she walks through Brixton and to be reminded of the harshness of the space and the brutality of the time. http://www.li-ma.nl/site/catalogue/art/mona-hatoum/roadworks/8990 Venice in less than 24 hours - no more need be said.

presentingpossibilitiesattheendofitall

A great day at Camberwell - today on the Book Art Course has seen the delivery of a part of the sequence of sessions set up within the course that explore the process of hanging the final show - thinking about the role of the exhibition in a practice - the meaning of the screw v the nail - looking at past exhibitions - health and safety calamities and working without restrictions in an ideal world. here is a link to the presentation https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/final-show-2017 It's going to be an excellent show - as diverse as ever, each student has been developing their own voice and the show will contain work that both celebrates and challenges notions of book - it will all make you think. come along - http://events.arts.ac.uk/event/2017/7/13/Camberwell-Postgraduate-Summer-Show-2017/?_ga=2.202896465.1912006096.1497984293-1873703396.1485343360 becoming obsessed with reply all https://gimletmedia.com/reply-all/ and their yes yes yes section - http://yesyesnos.tumblr.com/ hear the more esoteric areas of the internet explained.

backfrombarnsley

back from an absolutely excellent 4 days in Barnsley working with the Open College of the Arts. It was the final year MA Fine Art Degree Show at the Civic,  

http://www.barnsleycivic.co.uk/ a culmination of all their work and a physical manifestation of the online experience. The title of the whole event was called we are connected (WEARECONNECTED) which was so apt. One of the things I love about helping to hang the final show and then assessing the unit is meeting these people physically for the first time. It's quite a wild feeling in that one feels that we know each other, often we have been in each other's bedrooms or at least living spaces but at the same time how tall are they, how do they exist in 3D? The private view was one of the nicest I have ever been to in all my years of teaching, with supportive speeches, great comments, conversations and presents and some great work by the artists; Rob Brisco, Tanya Ahmed, Monika Brueckner, Alison South, Ines Gonzalez Cordero, Maire Keogh, Mwamba Mulangala, Emma Delpech, Mathew Aldred and Susan Miller....how good is that. The MA Fine Art course leader is Caroline Wright http://www.carolinewright.com/ and whole thing is run so professionally. I managed to get out and about on my folding bike for a couple of hours as it was such good weather.....not bad.

stayinginandgoingouttoseethings

John Wick 2 was a little like John Wick 1; a blur of fast paced close combat choreographed  fighting with unflinching use of weaponry, all structured by ritualised codes of conduct underpinned by honour......it's a certain kind of excellent. And onto House of cards - what to say with its travel ban, the closing of borders, cyber attacks and conspiracy theories around voting......A full night of theatre tonight at Pulse Festival; Lucy Grace with Lucy, Lucy & Lucy Barfield, unlimited theatre with Am I dead yet? @ithinkiwilldie and Jack Rooke with Good Grief @jackrooke after an afternoon being trained on Wellbeing and Resilience in an attempt to gain some armour in the oncoming war of looking after myself!!!

watchingandlistening

well the Netflick's War Machine was a strange one - very little happened but when I realised that it was derived from a book by a journalist embedded within the American war machine it started to make sense, the exposé being the thing and the I Daniel Blake, maybe for some a revelation but if it is a truth known by many one has to ask why?...... a full weekend at Pulse Festival in Ipswich https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/pulse-festival/ . Suitcase day is a great concept, all stuff on stage has to come on public transport... but this year many groups opted for single voice storytelling rather than clever stage craft but it was a great day and highlights included James McDermott's rubber ring, http://velvettrumpet.co.uk/rubber-ring/ George Orange's First Lady https://georgeorange.com/work/first-lady/ and Robin Boon Dale's What Does Stuff Do http://befestival.org/events/what-does-stuff-do-robin-boon-dale-uk-30-min/.  Day 2 was scratch day where stuff is still being worked out. The whole day was excellent and difficult to pick out highlights but recommendations are  Fuel's The Dark https://fueltheatre.com/projects/the-dark , Nicola Werenowska's Invisible http://www.thereviewshub.com/pulse-points-nicola-werenowska-invisible/, Johny Cotsen's Louder is Not Always Clearer https://www.experimentica17.org/whats-on/2017/2/9/louder-is-not-always-clearer.