Wednesday 26 June 2019

seeingthelight


has the world gone mad - or is it just sad? found this at Peterborough train station - it is a real thing - anyway another way of dealing with the public is trust - which was much in evidence at the free, un-gated festival in Lowestoft.
First light was a thing - Talvin Singh at 4:00 in the morning - playing in the dawn sunrise was very special but Circadian by Rosie Lee was the real highlight - it consisted of 24 on the hour 10 minute pieces. Each time it was the same movement and sound but the dancers were different, the age of the dancers grew throughout the 24 hours. I think I managed to see about 10 ish - it was tremendously moving - the security of similarity enabled the mind to be flooded with ideas about life, rhythms, death. The poignancy of the subtle differences of the dancers movements brought tears to the eyes. The piece growing and changing with each iteration.
The sound was so haunting Isaac Lee-Kronick who was there the whole time playing live was a star.
The film will be great - I hope there is a version where  all the dancers blend into each other over a 10 minute period. The exhibition Print Matters in Poland organised by Majka Dokudowicz and Mariusz Gorzelak at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Art and Design, Wrocław has just closed - I had a piece in the show as it was made up of work from The University of the West of England's collection
Meanwhile on the way to New Designers to hang the NUA Textile Design stand - there is always a sense of full-onness when attending - so many hopes and dreams crushed into such a small hot space.

Thursday 20 June 2019

itsthattimeoftheyear


well the second exhibition I have been part of this season is finished - the Textile Design BA show at NUA looks good - some great bold images and detailed material manipulation - it opens on Monday night, although I will be at New Designers putting up the third show. Meanwhile plans for the forth, the Book Art MA at Camberwell are underway. We start building next Tuesday. This time of year is full of possibilities.
Having a week in a hotel in Barnsley meant that I caught up with all the latest Netflix offerings - Always be my Maybe - surprise, it all come right in the end............ Murder Mystery - fun, of a kind............

Sunday 16 June 2019

itsbeenalongweek


well - its been a full week in Barnsley - hanging the third year show and assessing all three years of the MA for the Open College of the Arts. It's always a full on experience but highly enjoyable with tight deadlines. Meeting people whose lives you have been linked with for 3 years for the first time in the flesh is a wondrously odd experience - it is one of the joys of the job, connecting with the familiar. 4 mini collections of images - hanging, close ups, the work and the private view. looking forward to East Anglia after the dress code and the delicacies on offer in the market - what and whose pets have they chopped up?

Tuesday 4 June 2019

theaterchangesyou


a weekend of theater - Pulse in Ipswich was full of possibilities - it is such a life affirming experience to watch young people getting on with it. For me the stage is a space where human vulnerability is turned upside down. https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/pulse-festival/  For years I preferred cinema where I didn't have to worry about people in front of me but through attending festivals like Pulse (where I saw 24 shows in 2 days) I have come to realise that the human exchange is the point - the fear of failure or more like the sharing of humanity is all part of the experience. It is still on and I recommend trusting the organisers China Plate and Wolsey Theater in Ipswich https://www.chinaplatetheatre.com/projects and dropping in to see something that will change you https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/
Whitecube in Bermondsey has Sarah Morris paintings but the film Finite and Infinite Games (2017), was the highlight for me - so much so I will be returning. Titled after novel by James P. Carse, the film was shot in Herzog & de Meuron’s extraordinary Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg. Polymath Alexander Kluge is in it and is somebody I have to find out more about.
Teaching wise I am in the glorious storm of assessing, hanging, exhibitions, lists and general problem solving. It's a great time to be alive - I love this time of year, of decision making and possibilities for the future.