lifechangingtrip

An extraordinary weekend in Liverpool, the Biennial was amazing - so much good work - highlights were the Elizabeth Price's film about Catholic churches, Gevdet Week's work especially the football stadiums and Nandan Ghiya's fractured photographs. It was great to be with likeminded people at the an conference which gave so much to think about especially the personal and thought-provoking keynote by Larry Achiampong and the life altering wisdom of Jack ky Tan. And then out to Crosby to see the Gormley - which in my mind was reframed by the words from the conference and looking at work from interesting artists making challenging work from around the world. And of course – a cliché but the people were SO friendly!
onto screens – The Ballad of Wallis Island - totally beautiful, wonderfully beautiful.

recognitionandsomefilms

I enjoyed being disturbed by the latest film from Yorgos Lanthimos.  Dogtooth was a triumph and Lobster wonderfully strange - The Killing of a Sacred Deer lingers in the mind - the distanced dialogue and otherness of place contribute to the 'wrongness' and are just the start of the tone created which enables the viewer to see and be changed when judging those around you. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5715874/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_3 And then there was What happened to Monday http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536537/ where because there are multiple leading characters at any point anybody can die (brutally) whilst the plot can veer off to any point.

The work created by exploring the process of microscopy within unfoldingthinking has two iterations - the prints within the corridors of the building around the large electron microscopes that inspired their creation and a bookwork. The bookwork was chosen as one of the top ten this year in Sarah Bodman's an list and now in a circular fashion recognised within the Department of Material Science and Metallurgy.

seeseeseeandthink

in London for the a.n Christmas party https://www.a-n.co.uk/news - great fun with lovely committed people from all over the country.  Who knew Elton John has such poor taste? I've been looking forward to see his collection of photos at Tate Modern as they are some of the images that have inspired and informed my thinking - but the choice of framing and the frames themselves somehow managed to diminish and overwhelm the images, this with the hang, where tiny images are above head height means that you actually cannot physically see some of the work - my advice get the catalogue and really see the work, it makes you realise the skill of galleries, what they do when showing work. meanwhile http://www.carrollfletcher.com/ has an excellent group show - Looking at one thing and thinking of something else. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's Tape Recordings is great fun, I love the work of Manfred Mohr so it was good to see it again but Between Simonetta is an outstanding technical feat morphing two images into each other - sort of! http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/shows/current has a series of stunning photographs of bundles of documents within folded cloth by Dayanita Singh. http://www.mariangoodman.com/ has a very eclectic show called  Animality. it's a great show to get loads of inspiration around animals and their behaviour, for me stand out pieces are the octopus film and the joke/representation of the eye of the needle quote upstairs! A highlight of the day was The infinite mix http://www.theinfinitemix.com/ the whole experience is awesome - incredible work in a great space - it's difficult to pick out highlights because they all had excellent moments but the trees in Cyprien Gaillard's Nightlife have a bewildering sense of otherness, taking on animal forms. the whole experience is a joy go and see otherwise you will feel that you have missed out! Popped into The Museum of London to check out their 'modern' displays - they have some excellent objects and some stunning imagery of London making sense of itself and often in the process poor people appear to come off badly! At the wonderful Toynbee Studios http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/toynbee-studios saw The People Show perform http://www.peopleshow.co.uk/ a poignant comment on the 60s and their work over the past 50 years. As ever with their work it takes you on a journey to a place you didn't know existed but when you get there it makes a kind of sense. Truly marvellous. If you want a fabulous experience I recommend getting a tube to Greenwich and then biking along the Thames path from Greenwich to Tate Modern. You can pick up a bike at a Docking station just after you come out of the tunnel on the North Bank at Greenwich - an experience in itself. The whole of London is laid out in front of you and at the same time moving through it you get a real sense of change. I can remember working with Four Corners filming the building works pre Canary Wharf (yes it hasn't always existed) and being tufted off the road by heavy security guards whilst being informed that the road was owned by Docklands Development Corporation and we had no rights to be on what was the 'public highway'.