starvideowars

I've posted all the videos that I created during the residency in Cambridge at NanoDTC.  
https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/ Find them at my website -
http://lesbicknell.wixsite.com/work/unfoldingthinking-videos Within the work there are some great collaborations with the scientists at Cambridge; Sarwat Baig, Duncan Johnstone, Giorgio Divitini, Carmen Berraquero, Dr Malcolm Longair, James Xiao, Girish Rughoobur, Diana Vulpe, Heather Goodwin, Richard Howe, David Wharton, and Dr Deepak Venkateshvaranand. There is a suite of 4 with some excellent sounds developed by Aidan Johnson https://soundcloud.com/clerk37

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is just awesome - so many points of wonderfulness - it has a room with the essence of the most evilness ever, with Supreme Leader Snoke and costumes from Hell with his Praetorian red guard and an excellent soundtrack and some clever meta references into and through the Star Wars Universe. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527336/

Within the universe that has been built for Bright to exist within everything makes sense but some wooden dialogue pulls you out of the world of belief. The Levelling portrays the somewhat isolated nature of rural life with a gloomy, oppressive look at family farming. Geostorm is nonsense but end of the evening take your brain out nonsense.

recognitionandsomefilms

I enjoyed being disturbed by the latest film from Yorgos Lanthimos.  Dogtooth was a triumph and Lobster wonderfully strange - The Killing of a Sacred Deer lingers in the mind - the distanced dialogue and otherness of place contribute to the 'wrongness' and are just the start of the tone created which enables the viewer to see and be changed when judging those around you. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5715874/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_3 And then there was What happened to Monday http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536537/ where because there are multiple leading characters at any point anybody can die (brutally) whilst the plot can veer off to any point.

The work created by exploring the process of microscopy within unfoldingthinking has two iterations - the prints within the corridors of the building around the large electron microscopes that inspired their creation and a bookwork. The bookwork was chosen as one of the top ten this year in Sarah Bodman's an list and now in a circular fashion recognised within the Department of Material Science and Metallurgy.

goldlayisrising

The work for Essex continues - Goldlay Sq is rising from the empty space, although as we know it was never empty. I have been looking closely at the designs and considering them within the context of the build and the budget. The work is developing into a focused intense experience, the pieces clustering so that they can be viewed as if a narrative. They are in themselves becoming more intense, more decorative. There will be more cutting which means that there will be less metal in the pieces but more space for interpretation. Thinking about a title for the piece - I'm interesting in the title linking in some way to an instagram account. I like the idea that I can put all the research that has informed the piece in a place that can be found by individuals if they want and also it will date the piece as instagram will obviously fall by the digital wayside as so many platforms have in the past.

bookseedcrystal

crystalstructure

bookbook

bookstructure

bookknowledge

crystalcell

crystalbook

bookcell

containedcell

knowledgeseed

bookseedcrystal

crystalbookseed

seedbookcrystal

pastnowfuture

futureknowledge

futurebookknowledge

unknownknwoledge

knownknowledge

unseenknowns

knownknows

@crystalbookseed

there is to be a sign, a plaque - wordage to follow.

printsaboutprintsandsomeexhibitions

3 hours in London so what to do? - popped into The British Museum - always a treat - after the obvious visit to the mummies - I checked out a truly stunning  exhibition of prints about printmaking. There are some truly stunning examples. On the way I found myself drawn to an extraordinary uniform made for the Qing army which 'performed' at the Forbidden City - rich in pattern and use of materials - one on its own is extraordinary and to think that these were worn by thousands moving in unison. There is also a great piece in a show that looks at war. Fariden Lashai has recreated Goya's disasters of war without the figures - the stark spaces are disturbing without a focus in themselves but the then the figures are projected back into the images. Blaine Southern has Sophie Jung downstairs which seems wildly out of place but good to see her work there.

Edel Assanti has an excellent show by Yoshinori Niwa which explores quietly yet forcefully the spaces between cultures. my first time in the space but I will be back. https://edelassanti.com/  Rosenfeld Porcini has a beautiful show full of beautiful objects titled combining materials. 

somefilmsandsomeviolencewithsomebonding

a mixed bag of films - looking for narratives where women's stories are told, or at least they are close to the centre (ish) - Marjory Prime asked questions about memory, its value and explored why and how we tell stories http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4978710/?ref_=nv_sr_6

Holiday joy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5990458/?ref_=rvi_tt another film to add to the what if - playing with the timeline can ruin your life but lessons are learnt genre. Queen of the desert a strangely stilted film, but maybe that's the point, different times etc  with Nicole Kidman strutting endlessly even when on a camel http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1837636/?ref_=rvi_tt

isthisitisthisit http://www.isthisitisthisit.com/ held the launch for the third edition of the magazine the platform runs. It doesn't take long to find new targets focuses on violence in video games the magazine is suitably unpleasant, in a good way. Managed to get the last copy in the edition http://www.isthisitisthisit.com/issue-03 The work in the exhibition was really interesting - highlights include Eva and Franco Mattes Freedom http://0100101110101101.org/freedom/ and the wonderfully thoughtful and disturbing Fair Game (Run like a girl) by Georgie Roxby Smith http://www.georgieroxbysmith.com/work/ . The work is really important and the concerns within the practice is something that the gaming industry has to fully engage in.

A great afternoon running a heat press, bonding workshop at NUA - no PowerPoint, no testing, no Learning Outcomes - a session exploring the potential of materials with students who have enquiring minds. Excellent learning and innovation all round.

outcomesfromincomes

How small is nano? Was a question I was constantly asked when working at The Maxwell Centre in Cambridge. The answer was always contextualised with something from the real world as nano scale is almost beyond comprehension. This was usually human hair which is approximately 100,000 nanometers wide. As a reminder of this fact I grew my hair for the duration of the project. It is now over and I am left with a giant hair ball which in some ways explores the idea of scale. There were many outcomes from the project including a number of artists books. It was really great that Sarah Bodman chose using a known to make an unknown to be in her top ten artist books of the year - thank you.  https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/artists-books-2017-10-best-noise-alphabet-rearranged-romance

The Synthetic anatomy project at Kings is moving along - lots of thoughts around reflective thinking and how to support individuals who don't supposedly engage in the process. The aim is to develop the skills needed to create a reflective journal as part of a 'changing classrooms' initiative. But most individuals engage in the act of reflection when making choices based on experience so the challenge shouldn't be too great.

Finally looking at the range of upcoming booked leisure activities in the diary - The Berlin Art Biennale, tickets to flight of the conchords at the O2 and Titus Andronicus at The Barbican and then the glorious pantomime at The Wolsey in Ipswich, this year Red riding hood....nothing but eclectic.

exhibitionstochangethemind

A couple of days in London - some 'just not interesting shows' but interspersed by some truly marvellous ones. Monika Sosnowska at Hauser and Wirth is truly sublime. It really is a beautiful display of work in its steady use of materials. T, Rebar 12 and Pipe are stunning. https://www.hauserwirth.com/exhibitions/3030/monika-sosnowska-structural-exercises/view/

Zach Blas at Gasworks has some interesting video work which seeks to enable us to critique the internet which is never a bad thing. 

Just a thought - if you think Rachel Whiteread is interesting look at two pieces of work by other artists - both predating this exploration of this negative space malarky - Bruce Nauman - a cast of the space under my chair 1965-8 and Joseph Beuys piece Unschlitt - 1977, 20 tonnes of beef fat which casts the underneath of a pedestrian walkway. Both fundamentally more interesting than the room full of stuff at Tate Britain and both artists have many approaches to making within their practice. 

The work to see at the Tate is Marguerite Humeau where paint is infused with artificial breast milk and snake venom is pumped around the room.  http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/marguerite-humeau-echoes

The Jerwood Space has 3-phase an exhibition which has a new piece by Mark Essen supported by an excellent gallery text by Angels Miralda. The display includes a cabinet of alternative currencies and defaced coins which are fascinating. Ilya and Emilia Kabakov at the Tate was a tour de force. Highlights include the obvious (The Man Who Flew Into Space from His Apartment) and the not so - model for healing with paintings and my highlight of the show - model for where is the place. Both simultaneously dark and humorous while commenting on hierarchy, value and access. A wonderful piece.

At the ICA their new front of house set up means that there is more space for what is one of the most exciting and relevant to the current economic and social climate book shops in London but also they have kiosk. I last saw its iteration in New York at the Cooper Hewitt museum but couldn't bring anything back due to bag size but that's not a problem now so purchases from their curated shop included pegs from Japan and lottery tickets from America. https://kiosk.ica.art/