spillmemories

so Spill – https://www.spillfestival.com/whatson a long weekend of thoughtful work. It was great to feel held by the curatorial hand of the director Robert Pacitti – links and connections were all around, strands flowing and fleeting creating - on memory was an opportunity to reflect on the past 10 years and at the same time make new memories. Highlights include the glorious Naked Life by Olja Grubic’s which has given me PTSD flashbacks when I grate carrots, 60 acts by Wendy Huston was on the right side of hopeless cynicism, Charlie Barlow’s Alone Together was a moment of contemplation, Robin Deacon’s thoughtfully rigorous Screen Memories was a joy, and John Bowers Memorygrinderresonancemachine in an abandoned silo was a great rounding up, the ideas behind the work resonating with thoughts of my own psychographic relationship to Coventry. But there was also Albesila Luminarium with its light and Instagramable possibilities, The gentle throbbing of Chorus, a big earth of Gaia in a dark room, growing vegetables in Eden, the thoughtful films Daughters and I want to be traditional, TheThe’s Comback Special and in conversation was a little mainstream angst with prog jazz thrown in, the hypnotic immersive Gone, Gone Beyond, Jenny created a cyborg space while exploring the gender reveal wars, Atari Punk Girls was serious techno fun, and Shabnam Shabazi’s silent stillness was all encompassing.