latitudetiredbutstillthere

A Quiet Place - "Kevin" Garnet Mimms

well - it's that time of year so it must be Latitude - having attended all of them from day one it's easy to see the changes that have taken place - initially an alternative space with a bold live art offer we now have a NEXT and Pepsi Max - George Ezra where once we had Kraftwerk. There is also a feeling of a general lack of care, the program had lots of difference from what was actually on the stage, each tent feeling similar, the Film and Video space appears to have no direction, or anybody actually hosting hence acts were often 30 mins late and the usual rolling program of odd and interesting short films was gone. Finally the wood feels lost and slightly sleazy rather than purposeful. Oh well - anyway the highlights for me was the almost magisterial Simon Armitage who spoke with confidence and professionalism, a really class act. Egg - a comedy duo with great energy who were very funny http://eggcomedy.com/about-us/ Luke Wright - keeping the edge of old school anger alight, an alternative island in a sea of mainstream https://www.lukewright.co.uk/ Los Bitchos, all female guitar band playing a soundtrack to a dodgy psychedelic Mexican cowgirl film https://losbitchos.bandcamp.com/ Mark Kermode - talking about the bands he has been in was just a warm glow of knowingness Underworld - a 10 minute version of Born Slippy Daughter by Adam Lazarus was a harrowing series of uncomfortable calibrated questions https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/aug/11/daughter-review-canada-hub-kings-hall-edinburgh-fringe-festival The Middle Floor - easy going hip hop garage tunes from Ipswich https://www.facebook.com/themiddlefloor/ Sons of Kemet - afro jazz madness, their entire set felt like it was on the edge of collapsing with every member of the band (two drums) playing fast and furious giant solos throughout - totally excellent. http://www.shabakahutchings.com/sons-of-kemet/ The real highlight of the weekend was John Cooper Clark on Desert Island Discs - superb tracks, thoughtful and insightful commentary - a true gentle giant of words - tremendous radio https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000701x

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Helping out on schools day at Latitude made it one of my best ever days at the festival even after 10 years and set the tone for me for the whole weekend! It was fantastic greeting the kids from the different Suffolk schools and taking them onto the site for schools day. Their excitement was beautiful and having the schools wristband and information sash meant that I felt it was possible to just go up to people ask questions and provide support if needed. Spotting sheep, fending off the Trolls under the bridge and helping pond dipping - excellent. Then after all that onto Gob Squad - very funny, gently subversive, interactive deconstruction of film - Christine and the Queens - sweet and then the crowd going wild when old school tracks are interspersed - why not just listen to the original track but then she is charming (old person comment, apologies) - Christopher Brett Bailey's this machine won't kill's all out assault on the body was grindingly awe inspiring - my second time and it just gets better with each experience http://christopherbrettbailey.com/ I really urge you to go see and be dealt with whenever you can - Grimes - squeaky electro pop - not a crime but...saturday Will Hutton excitedly talked to a room of like minded people occasionally sort of providing possible ways forward -  'seems like a good bloke'! Christopher Brett Bailey reading from this is how we die - I last heard this in a room as part of Pulse - the text felt fixed but here his adlibbing shocked me dragging and kicking back to the contextual reality of sitting in a tent in a field. The conversation at the wellcome tent around artificial intelligence with Prof Arthur I Miller & Dr Robert E Smith was constantly halted by their desire to agree their frames of reference and define concepts - most excellent. Cassette Boy = FULL ON FUN with great head spinning twists https://www.youtube.com/user/cassetteboy . Sophie - knob twiddling without much soul but great noises in there. Gold Panda - his beautiful swirling soundscapes were as ever complimented with lyrical projections. I can't talk about the awful Airnadette we will dub you - lip-syncing  is a great idea for 10 minutes but for an hour.....but back to dancing. Suggs - just no - old man wedding disco playing terrible records badly but then magically Rodigan is on the decks all old school sound system teaching us music history dropping squelching, fades all ska and dub and I am transported back in time to dodgy smoke filled rooms of my youth and all of a sudden its 3 in the morning  sunday Mark Kermode - my go-to film person was charming, thoughtful and direct talking about the responsibility of the critic. Mark Thomas's Red Shed had me in tears for an hour - it is important that people like him exist and his performance was a fairly sobering affair. Sh!t Theatre were a wonderful shambles, a new play with an interesting idea at its core, not quite sorted tech wise but I love their 'just getting on with it' attitude. Adam Green - (part of Mouldy Peaches) was just beautiful, stoner punk at its best! New Order  live - not interesting then not interesting now so wandered off around the site taking in the whole vibe for a final time. Where else can you sing along to songs from a big gay song book, dance to some old-skool jungle under the stars at the disco shed and in the Cabaret tent catch Kenny Everett arguing with princess Di and Freddie Mercury about who gets into Heaven (not the club) first. monday back on-site collecting material, tents and stuff to work with - general camping was carnage, who would ever consider recycling again?

optionsarebeinginvestigated

I love the idea of - options are being investigated. sign found in Colchester - and another boarded up space from the Yarmouth visit.

A long weekend with a chance to catch up with some films – Star Trek into darkness in 3D was loud and fast but/and I found the 3D a distraction with hyper focused elements sandwiched between the blurred and the out of focus. I'm beginning to sound like the wonderful Mark Kermode. I spent most of the time looking at the representation of material within the film - some excellent fabrics and the protective suit Spock wears is marvellous, Sightseers was disturbing and wonderfully odd. The lack of empathy and random violence within places I have visited added to the general unsettling tone. Gojoe - a Samurai film which explores the idea of pacifism and Buddhism with a supernatural flavour, and finally managed to catch up with Woman in Black but felt it was dull, obvious and generally made up of horror/supernatural clichés.

A day at Camberwell - mid-year part-time - discussing work within a group whilst the maker observes the rest of the group - a sobering experience and not for the faint hearted as your work is discussed often within a context or framework that you had not considered. The afternoon was a 'finishedness' whole group workshop - attempting to create an equation/diagram for a finished piece of work - impossible yet the point is the conversations that lead you to a conclusion. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/finishedness-2013

The exhibition at Smiths Row in Bury St Edmunds - the Suffolk Showcase has a range of interesting work - worth the time to drop in when you are in the area. http://www.smithsrow.org/index.php/exhibitions/archive_details/suffolk_showcase/
Working at Colchester Institute with post-grad Design and the Book students running a workshop around creating artist's texts. Being in the Minories was fabulous – an old school experience of art education – as a visiting lecturer I had no responsibility or paperwork just art, ideas, thinking and talking. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/colchester-presentation-2013-22132222 The show downstairs in the exhibition space is most excellent – Keith Albarn – a dizzying experience of pattern, system and structure eventually leading to philosophy – inspirational. http://www.colchester.ac.uk/art/minories/event/pattern-and-belief