thisiswhereIwork

this is where I work! After a week of assessing work at NUA Friday was all about where science meets art - creative thinking and lateral problem solving. Working with the Materials Matter people at the wonderful Iron makers Hall in the city and then at Kings with synthetic anatomy. Two great sessions with lots of fantastic conversations and a list of things to think about whilst working out what's in the bag and building bridges. It's really nice to be told what you do is good and how you think celebrated.

finaldaysofworkandsomeplay

some images from the 2018 MA Book Art Degree show - it has one of the most interesting catalogues produced by the students in the courses long history. a link to the presentation I gave at Making Materials Matter conference for science teachers on friday. https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/presentation-for-making-materials-matter-with-video-links   I'm already looking forward to Spill Festival - https://spillfestival.com/spill-2016-brochure/ I have got the 2018 program in my hands and highlights have to be Shared Saliva, David Hoyle, Le Gateau Chocolat, Kernschmelze II, Jodee Mundy Collaborations and of course you cannot go without seeing Forced Entertainment - Complete Works: table top Shakespeare. I saw them last doing it at the Barbican and was mesmerised. Latitude was Latitude - a real highlight for me was John Hopkins whose sound and visuals always blow me away (how does he get from one set of sounds to another?) alongside a fantastic glitchy version of  open eye signal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q04ILDXe3QE he played the glorious new work I only know as trailer https://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=41150  Also came across Jimothy Lacoste which was fun. The program was a little thin and the heat and dust meant a lot of sitting around hanging out with people so a nice time was had by all.

abusytwodaysusingskills

oh my god - I am a teacher! - I've realised that I really am interested in entry points to learning. The last several projects have been looking at how to access information and how to support people to navigate it for themselves -  the fold within costume and textiles project, working with robotics in Kings, NanoDTC in Cambridge, and the latest synthetic anatomy project at Kings. I had this revelation whilst talking to science teachers at The Making Materials Matter conference today in the brain storming session, talking about how using icing sugar could be a way into 3D printing or how listening to a coat hanger gives access sound waves. My session was about lateral thinking and problem solving - using a couple of workshops that have developed out of the experience of working in a lab to talking about the image of science. I think it went down well. Last night was all about the MA Book Art graduation private view. It was great to celebrate the hard work and dedication of the students. The work looked great and again there were so many positive comments. and onto Trump - what to say but just had to be there to register my position.

buildinginvisiblespaces

the textile design degree show at Norwich is up and looks good - we created a pulley system that enabled us to work with the full height of the room. this has meant that some of the students full ambitions have been realised by taking up the opportunity to create work 5m in height. there is some stunning work within a system of walls and tables that have been designed and created in an attempt to be invisible, thus celebrating the work itself. come see - Tues 25 - Sunday 1. Next week is the continuation of the mountain - private view at NUA, building the space and hanging work for NUA at New Designers (stand  T43) and hanging work at Camberwell for the MA Book Art final show. The Berlin Biennale beckons - can't wait and have started the planning http://www.berlinbiennale.de/  . I'm speaking/running a workshop at Making Materials Matter Conference for teachers - looking at the role of art practice within a science context. I'm building the presentation today.https://www.oxfordandcambridgeoutreach.co.uk/events/making-materials-matter-2018-tea  meanwhile Rampage is great when the rock and the gorilla are on screen, I could watch an hour of that but the rest is truly banal.