participating at
Materials Research Exchange 2020 was
an eye opener - as I walked through the stands promising materials that on
first glance appeared to be closer to magic than reality I felt that my
practice was one held together by string.... the talks around military and
material research linked to concepts of strategic advantage were truly fascinating for so many reasons. The Biomimicry talk
brought together by Ann Toomey was good - lots to reflect on all round.
For my talk brought
together by MaDE through their connection to the Crafts Council I focused on
work undertaken with NanoDTC in Cambridge and Kings robotics department at
Kings with a little bit of bookness philosophy thrown in - lots of thoughts
about the role of artists within so called non-art situations. In some ways it
celebrated the lo-fi nature of the materials I use and concentrated on the creative
process. I have in some ways already shifted the focus of what I do from
galleries, although I have been invited to show work in the old sorting office
in Saxmundham as part of The Art Station new space development https://theartstation.uk/. A further reframing
of my practice from pure research and academia into industry is something to
consider
For the final final book art MA show
at Camberwell college it looks like there will be an element of an archive show
within the show - the students are working with Rosie of turn the page and Gustavo the man
behind the special collection so it should be both thoughtful and through.
There is also an element of celebrating the past - there is a proposal being
created by a student for a call out to all previous Book Art Alumni - their
responses will all be collated into a book. It will be intriguing to see how
many can be found and how many will respond. The first 2 catalogues actually
had physical addresses for the students so we shall see. A weekend of films included Little women - charming and disturbingly
precedent with a nice twist bringing together past and present, autobiographical
and fiction. Jamanji: The Next Level
was not as good as the last one but held its own and had some fun body swap
moments with Danny Devito holding it all down. The Wolsey had The Ballad of Maria Marten a play about
the Red Barn Murder cleverly spoken from the life and times of the dead women's
perspective. Akram Khan at Dance East had Chotto
Xenos a piece for families which was a little too illustrative for me but
when the dancing connected to the projections it was very powerful and the
child next to me was on the edge of his seat. looking forward to the next
session of Synthetic Anatomy where I'll be reacquainted with anatomic models.
