somethoughtsandclips

I had a clip of the work made whilst at NanoDTC in ‘Making Bread with your Feet’ at the recent Midlands Conference of Critical Thought as part of the Gentle Gestures strand curated by Alice Bell, Danica Maier and Mark Kasumovic. The work is made up of many small/short moments of action whilst reflecting. Just heard that murmur, a film made within synthetic anatomy at Kings is to be included in Aperiodic, an exhibition, and catalogue curated by Lucy Ward in Bristol. Really pleased that the work is been seen by a wider public, beyond the Kings community as it is a beautiful document of human behaviour. Onto screens – struggled with Fallout, stopping after the first episode but am deep into Ripley, just tense through every episode, with the black and white giving extra gravitas. Saw Nye – a live stream of the National Theatre play. I am sort of caught between the hybrid nature of the exercise, neither theatre nor film but the play was truly wonderful – recommended if you can get a ticket but watching a film is still pretty good. Currently obsessed with Out & About by Amplify and P Money – play loud! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EA32_-v_b8 

walkingandreadingandsittingandwatching

a wonderful artifact that contains all the elements from the crucifixion story from Santa Maria de Cadaqués. Onto screens - I was drawn to This Town – a great 8-part drama series on BBC – it explores the culture and context of how the music we call 2tone was developed. It was particularly interesting to me as I literally grew up in the midst of this phenomena in 70s Coventry, my first gig was The Specials at Tiffanys, which is now the Central Library. The show was great fun which some nice performances. Dune 2 – sand, sand, sand.  On the walk in Spain I read Good Pop Bad Pop by Jarvis Cocker – fun, with some insightfully, thoughtful comments that made one consider the stuff we surround ourselves with. The Big Midweek: Life Inside the Fall by Steve Hanley and Olivia Piekarski is a monster of a book with each tragic moment of madness captured in raw detail. A great insight into a great band.

spanishwalkingeatingdrinkinglookingthinkingtalking

So 6 days in Spain - walking eating drinking looking thinking talking. Walking for 3 days covering 56 miles with 2 days staying in a hotel at the beginning and 2 days in a hotel at the end. It's part of a walk we are undertaking from Blamed to Portbu This is our third year, we started at L' Estartit and we arrived at the totally beautiful town of Cadaques. In between there was the extensive GrecoRoman remains at Empuries, huge WW2 bunkers commanding spectacular views, and Dali's house, which he lived in for 30 years in Portlligat which was totally excellent. You got a real feel for him and the context of his making. Highly recommended, but make sure you buy tickets in advance, they are made available in 3-month batches and go fast. Dali's house in, the next bay to Cadaques is totally fantastic. Not a guided tour but somehow better. You are introduced into each room for 15 minutes with 8 other visitors by a hugely knowledgeable guide of whom you can ask the most obscure questions and they know the answer. The welcoming spaces reveal themselves like a labyrinth, making the whole experience disorientating. There is so much to see and get your head around - stuffed swans, the tremendous bedroom with matching beds, strategically placed mirrors and windows with exquisite views but my favourite was the circular room where if you stand and make a noise in a certain place the reverberation is unnerving. You can then spend as long as you want in the extensive garden which has a charming swimming pool and lounging area. Most excellent, highly recommended. Got the bus to Figueres to see his museum which was fairly underwhelming - crowds not really looking at some of the stuff left over from the 70s. For the good stuff go to the Prado. But Figueres does have a totally fantastically bizarre toy museum full of tremendously dubious stuff, you will be on your own and be far more entertained. The food was, as ever in this part of the world overwhelming some days - sharing small plates you gotta have tomato and anchovies on bread with a crisp white wine along with sardines for lunch but for truly extraordinary eating shout out to MF in Cadaques  https://martinfaixo.com/ca/celler-mf.html and Hostel Empuries  https://hostalempuries.com/

insidespaces

working on a new approach with the 3D printing, thinking about using the printer to create shapes to be made into moulds, using a different material, possibly concrete maybe. onto screens – The New Look – Nazi, fashion, Paris, frocks – what’s not to like? – well…….Poor Things – plane crash, abandoned young women, desert Island – what could go wrong? - well........Suze – Empty nest, dodgy boyfriend, spoilt child - what’s not to like? – well…….

tablesandvinyl

The table displays for synthetic anatomy at Kings were amazing – some fantastically imaginative contexts created for the 3D prints. A great haul in the Salvation Army shop over lunch. Onto screens – Poor Things – an excellent remake of the Pinocchio tale almost take for take.

8setsinaneditionof6

Just added new work to my website – information about the 3D printing I’ve been involved in – looking good. The prizes for synthetic anatomy are ready – some 3D printed pieces for individuals who contributed to the classroom discussions making the sessions work for everyone. There are 8 sets of prints each in an edition of 6 for teams who have attained impressive examples in a range of categories.   

iminabook!

I’m in a book! Pattern and Chaos in Art, Science and Everyday Life (Book) Critical Intersections and Creative Practice. By Sarah Horton and Victoria Mitchell some work I made whilst in resident at Nanotech DTC in Cambridge. Working on some 3D structures using a present – PLA that gradually blends from one colour to another – the first one looks totally alien. Saw Little Shop of Horrors at the Wolsey in Ipswich – intriguing musical that kept me interested throughout all the show tunes in that it seems to comment on capitalism/slavery. Onto screens – Land of bad –the caring might of America demonstrated through drones and expensive technology! Code 8 part 11 – superhuman powers, robots, authoritarian state – what could go wrong. The Gentleman – wonderful, glorious nonsense. Just at the beginning of Masters of the Air – truly shocking visceral, footage that depicts the utter madness of flying in a metal box into a war zone.

modernistdream

Wow - Faro - a modernist dream. https://www.myboutiquehotel.com/en/boutique-hotels-faro/the-modernist-architecture-experience.html The apartment was stunningly minimal and beautiful. Simple living with formal systems, exquisite choice of materials with superb attention to detail. The building forms part of modernist walking tour of which there are so many amazing examples in the city. Spent the days wandering, eating, drinking, looking at architecture and enjoying the weather. Got to fulfil a psychogeography dream of walking to and from the airport. You walk out of town through unloved, non-defensible, seemingly unowned spaces, into a landscape of salt marsh, creaks, littered fences, under big skies. Watching planes taxi, land and take off through a perimeter fence. Faro is a great place to eat, as ever heading to dark back streets gets you the best food. As well as fresh food and general otherness the central market is awash with great cafe style eating. It’s difficult not to get excited about repeat pattern in a town covered in tiles. Churches in the area are full on - startling religious imagery, reliquaries, and garments. The museum reenacts various traditional activity through life-size dioramas and models.

itsallgogogo

A morning of Pecha Kucha’s at Kings on the synthetic anatomy course. There were some excellent presentations covering a huge range of topics underpinned by specific anatomy and biology in plants, animals and humans. The projects are going to be most excellent. Listening to Nile Rodgers speaking with Louis Theroux on his podcast - loved the idea that the concept behind Chic that it was thought of by themselves as a support band for a hugely famous band. This meant that they had to come out and be full on. Most excellent. Went to Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art at the Barbican. A good show with some excellent examples displayed in an interesting space. Most of who you would expect are all there with some interesting work from other parts of the world. Onto screens – One Day – how can you not get emotional at all that loss? F1 - how can you not get emotional at all that excess?

translationasawayofbeing

A full day at Kings - What is gained through the process of translation? An initial idea, manifest in words focused into an equation and then made 3D in response. Following the process led to fantastical outcomes. I'm so excited to see how the projects develop and what the students eventually end up with. The afternoon was all about death and bodies - more drawing in the dissecting room. Being in the presence of so much emptiness is so odd yet strangely I seem drawn to the room and its otherness. The stacks of body parts can be disconcerting but when one part is laid out on the metal table, I feel able to focus my looking, making initial tentative marks, wanting to do 'right' in some way. Seager gallery https://www.seagergallery.com/matchmaking  has a great show of work that brings together 8 artists making work about video games, investigating the architecture of game spaces. It’s part of an ongoing series, the first of 4 shows. Onto screens - Upgraded – the usual strangers meeting on a plane etc Anyone but you – the usual strangers meet in a café etc – just finished Mr and Mrs Smith – what an ending!

homagetodonald

Another great day with synthetic anatomy at Kings - this week was all about recognizing and harnessing graphic communication tools - how do we communicate without words? In 11/2 hours we went from literally nothing to full table displays of environments containing characters with extensive narratives via genetics, translation and family trees. Glorious. Part of the workshop was to pay homage to a work by Donald Rodney - the film is one outcome. Popped into the curve gallery Barbican to revisit Julianknxx exhibition - choras in memory of flight. It is very moving, especially the first film, the character seemingly taken over, their body convulsing. Onto screens - I rewatched Ad Astra - so moving - the attempt at connecting with a father over a huge distance only to let it all go left me a little bereft. Zone of Interest - I was so worn by it - the endless everyday banality of living next to a concentration camp! And the sound track which feels like both background and a leading character - truly disturbing. American Fiction – a slow dark uncomfortable burn, glorious.

exposingunderneath

Week 3 on the synthetic anatomy module at Kings was fantastic – the bag anatomy session was a treat as proto scientists gave meaning to inanimate objects, just as I said artist's have titled their work, the titles giving entry points and meaning. The module goes from strength to strength It’s great to value each years’ experience, with our learning building on and with each years knowledge rather than a wholesale rewriting of the course every year. What is it to communicate without being able to talk? I like the idea of rules, systems, choice and how intuition is navigated within the workshop.The afternoon was spent drawing in the dissecting room. Alone in a room with dead people and fridges of many random parts of dead people was 'interesting', a strange privilage. I spent a lot of time looking, and marvelling at what I had on the table in front of me. It was only after that I realized that I had focused on hands and feet, the places I had just tattooed. Exploring the bones and tendons under the skin explains the intense pain the week before! Juxtaposing the images of my tattoos with my drawings seems to make sense as resolved outcomes. It was a real privilege. Onto screens – Ferrari – a strangely predictable story but set in beautiful countryside. Welcome II the Terrordome – more odd dystopian future. The Beekeeper – the Stath doing Stath things (killing people creatively) American Star – yes I am a killer, but with a heart! Started Mr and Mrs Smith – nonsense but great fun!

indialoguewithourbrains

Quite possibly the best team building exercise ever - a great day at Kings running a workshop on the synthetic anatomy module. Working through Edward de Bono’s 6 thinking hats we set the task of devising an equation for a successful experiment there was many revelatory moments and simultaneously it enabled the groups to bond, each member sharing their skills and identifying their strengths. I think all courses with or without collaboration could use this idea. After lunch it was off to 3 hours of tattooing - l'm a little sore - the feet were particularly painful but it all looks amazing and as well as placement, where it explores the mechanics of the body the new work has an interesting dialogue with the existing marks - another beautiful job by @jims_skins There is a nice show @outpost.gallery in Norwich - they do a great job of supporting young practice with a scheme that gives access to free studio space. Liked the work of @alysfineart - lots of possibility in the pieces. Onto screens - Anatomy of a Fall – mesmerizing truths laid out to seduce your prejudice. The Boys in the Boat – initially unsure if this wasn’t a ‘Hallmark’ film – mawkish soundtrack. Next Goal Wins – I wanted it to be funnier. Started True Detective – 2 episodes in and I’m hooked.