sometimetoreflect

Work on POWER the show at Snape Maltings continues, it’s an admin moment – price lists, interviews, social media activity. But I’m also making new work, which I love to do, anything to disrupt the experience and seek to be in a place of not knowing. The interviews are interesting in that they provide moments of reflection on what has been a full-on year. Some are listed here

Q: How would you describe your work?

The work is a way to mediate existence in this world, this is, I hope a two-way street. From my point of view the work is made as a way to make sense of the world. But I want the work to leave space for the viewer, to enable them to stop and reflect. To facilitate moments of contemplation. My practice often sets out to reposition and redirect. The work is a question rather than an answer, a collaboration in the mind and hand between me as maker and audience as reader/viewer.

Q: What about the residency with Sizewell Creative interested you?

The residency with First light, a great organisation whose primary visibility is the free festival on the beach in Lowestoft but their engagement with the community has extended to this project and they have been wonderfully supportive. I spend my life as an artist travelling to work in different parts of the UK and this was a chance to be involved in something local that was going to affect me personally. I have been working within Sizewell C bearing witness to the changes that are taking place, responding, artistically, to both the construction and ultimately the human side of this project. It was almost as if I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this since I moved to Suffolk in 1990, when I would go to watch the building of Sizewell B. I remember reflecting at this huge undertaking, which at its core was about utilising something so small and yet so fundamental to our existence. Spontaneous, collaborative tattooing that I have been engaged in with @jim_skins over the past 2 years added another connection. The lines and marks on my body are similar to the lines of evidence created during a neutrino particle interaction event within atomic energy.  Finally, I live in a house that was created in opposition to Nuclear Power, designed by Clive Latimer, an anarchist, pacifist, and a vocal member of Stop Sizewell B. I have recently realised that I had been living this residency for longer than I knew.

Q: What is your medium of choice and why?

Each opportunity has a different need or outcome dependant on the circumstances of the situation. I'm generally interested in systems, the idea of control and power. This manifests itself in a range of different types of artworks. I have developed a practice where physical outcomes are dependent on the opportunities available; each individual context requires flexibility and so a huge range of outcomes can be defined as my practice from permanent sculptural installations to ephemeral giveaways and presentations.  Within this residency I have made assemblages, sculptures, 2D and 3D prints, films and gifs. I trained as a graphic designer, so the work often uses design processes within a fine art context. I think I am happiest when there are practical processes to be negotiated between the idea and the final artwork.

Q: What are your processes and where did you find inspiration for your exhibition?

Sizewell C is such a huge and complex activity that inspiration can come from anywhere and everything. Going on site one is dwarfed by the scale of the physical activity taking place, the endeavour is truly monumental. I have also been fascinated by the systems involved in preparing the site and its potential workforce, the logistics, gannt charts, the language used within the legal paperwork, which is its own mountain to climb. Talking with people who work there has been inspiring, I felt that their worlds required engagement, be it the archaeologists, the Chaplin, branding managers, data analysists or the community engagement team. Then there is the space the work will be exhibited, Snape. Although the work I’ve made is not site specific the specificity of the spaces will be considered when I am hanging the work, attempting to collaborate with the quality of the spaces to enhance the work.

Q: If you could own any piece of art what would you own and why?

This is a challenging question, my walls are quite small and would not accommodate most of the art I love and anyway the answer changes with each art experience; I have just been to MONA in Tasmania and encountered The Divine Comedy by Alfredo Jarr, a 30-minute art experience that was transformative. But within the context of this residency, I would have to pick The Ambassadors by Holbein. The work is clever, something I admire, a clever idea executed with skilled craft. The realistic portraits stare down at you, wearing fine robes and jewellery, you can feel the weight of the fur and believe if you touched it, it would be real. The work appears to be about the demonstration of power, but there is also discord and the meticulously rendered objects displayed on a shelf have knowledge embedded in them. There are so many clues and readings to be had if you take the time to look. If the code is understood there are messages that can be decoded. The tools of science are rendered with precision for all to see. Finally, there is the anamorphic scull. Who could not be impressed by the artists potential to show off. I can remember standing in just the right place in the National Gallery, I felt that I had unlocked the knowledge and had become part of a parallel, hidden world that was always there but unseen by most.

Q: Have you always wanted to be an artist?

I don't think I could have expressed it in those terms – I didn’t know what an artist was and I had never met one. As a young child I loved drawing, I was always doing it, my art teachers at school were interesting and showed interest in me. I felt that it was the only place you could express yourself and were seen as a person. The art room was a sanctuary from 70s comprehensive teaching. They played music and appeared to exist in another world. I took myself off see art in galleries, another type of sanctuary, and was drawn to arts transgressive nature, although again I would not have had the words to explain why. But I was enquiring. Going to a foundation course was an eye opener, there were people in the world like me, I had found my people. Although without the government position on tuition fees I don’t think I would have made the journey into the world of the art school in London.

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring artists?

This depends on if you want it as a ‘career’.  Making art is a glorious activity, manifesting the ideas in your head into a physical being, wow…magic. But as a job for this to happen you have to be doing it, not thinking about it, planning to do it but be doing it. Eventually those around you will have given up and you will be left doing it. This sounds brutal but having a job as an artist is challenging. It is undervalued within the society we live in, so you have to have belief that what you do is of value.

Q: Is there any piece in the exhibition that you found particularly challenging to create?

As an artist I often I find myself between positions and states of being. Artists are and have to be many things to exist and to make work. Not fitting, slipping between is often an artist’s default position. For artists, being invisible is often a mode of operation especially when bearing witness, creating testimony to what has happened. A person posited that this residency was like being a war artist, a comment I initially rejected, I felt that building a power station has little to do with the horrors of war. But I came to realise that the remark was not about the physical situation, Sizewell as a battle ground, but rather an observation on my role as a neutral observer. For this residency my intention was to make work that people could find a connection to regardless of their position on Sizewell C.  As an artist there are many challenges to making art, of choosing the right materials and processes when making an idea, often one that is beautifully formed in your mind, into a physical state. The technical aspects of 3D printing, the frustration of AI prompts and negotiating access were all challenging.  I often ask myself where the work is. I think the work is around the work. The work of making the work happen is hidden. Conversations create the work, and the conversation is embedded in the work, in the negotiation of opportunities within what is a complex, hierarchical, organisation run on strict rules and systems, with a specific outcome, the building of a nuclear power station. A process diametrically in opposition to that of an artist working randomly, and rhizomic, towards an unspecified goal. But that is the job and it has been fascinating placing myself in a position where I don’t know.

Dead and Alive - the book of essays by Zadie Smith – is insightful and instructive – it’s like having a really knowledgeable, interesting person standing next to you elevating your thoughts on stuff you thought you knew about. onto screens About Fate – a beautiful example of will-they-won’t-they. Trap House – madness about taking control and delivering justice, with weapons. Forever – interesting time-travel premise twist. His and Hers – talk about a twist – twister madness, will you see any of it coming -fabulous?

livinghistorymorewithless

Just finished reading Stuffication - living more with less by James Wallman – the book has some excellent strategies to cope with the capitalist industrial complex! Issues around objects has been a thing for a while. My rethinking started with clothes and has moved into the kitchen. Onto screens – Nobody wants this – kooky and sweet. This time next year – sweet and kooky. 

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I think that I’m starting to get the hang of this 3D printing! Onto London for a very old friends significant birthday – music, talking, wine and people I haven’t seen in a while but are always there….lovely – I even got to DJ a little – well I played records one after another…..While in London I went to see the show at Raven Row - Aye by Lutz Bacher. It is exquisite, truly moving. The work and shows at Raven Row are always amazing but I think this is one where the artwork has become part of the space and vice versa. Opening a closed door becomes the work. Enabling the sounds to drift in and out, doors banging, footsteps and people talking via with the sound pieces. #mostexcellent. I’m in the middle of reading Richard Wingate’s-  The Story of the Brain in 10½ Cells. https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-the-brain-in-101-2-cells/richard-wingate/9781788162968 It’s a joyous accessible read about some important stuff! – I started to make notes and I found myself almost transcribing the whole book – so I stopped – some key notes so far though include….A roadmap to an answer of a riddle - 2D drawing of a blurred 3D object - The idea of style in medical drawings - To draw is to know - Great speculation = the use of photographic solution in staining cells might enable us to see that the brain might contain frozen still images - Purkinje cell array converts time into space - Our construction of a perceptual world suddenly appeared to be a tremendous piece of theatre, engineered by our brains, to convince us that sensations are complete and reliable while concealing a script of hasty translations and omissions - The sound/language of brain cells. So compellingly enjoyable. onto screens – Mission Impossible was very funny with incredible stunts, well real things filmed! Equalizer 3 has another eclectic array of ways to effectively kill people speedily. I’m in the middle of season 3 of The Morning Show, the dark venal activity depicted is skin crawling, although not as much as Partygate – the program drips with undeserved privilege, the two worlds it presents are so disturbingly contrasting and yet nothing has changed – how about that.

jabjabjabbutstillitcomes

After 2 years of careful rule following, of mask wearing, of hand washing, of social distancing, of jab, jabbing, and jabbed I have had over a week, so far of covid. Whilst wiping out the whole week of work this has meant quite an impressive 4-day headache, a colossal sore throat and among other things has lead to a loss of taste, general woozyness and weakness. How did my eyes get to ache? But in the positive column a by-product of sleeping outside in the day has been the beginning of a summer tan and in the last couple of evenings an easing of symptoms but an inability to sleep has meant I have read and read. The Go-Between: A Portrait of Growing Up Between Different Worlds by Osman Yousefzada an interesting and slightly reminisce led book of a childhood that wasn't mine but returned me to another time. The parallel experience of the Asian children of my youth is exposed in a thoughtful and open way. https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/13904/the-go-between-osman-yousefzada-book-review-author-interview-202 The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World, the story of Rudolf Vrba's life by Jonathan Freeland was told with exquisite precision. What an extraordinary life. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/08/the-escape-artist-by-jonathan-freedland-review-the-first-jews-to-escape-auschwitz Reading it has meant that I went on to watch episode 20 of World at War, reliving the fear I felt as a child, the burning faces within the opening titles. Whilst it was fascinating to see a man whose life I had just read about living and talking the death camp footage was as shocking as the day I first saw it and images of men marching through streets with burning torches, and the talk of purity and nationalism had a disturbing resonance. So, then there is the obvious move onto rereading Primo Levi's If This is a Man, more detail of pain and human degradation but also strength. Onto screens - Coda, a beautiful feel-good story, smart, clever, and funny. Bull, a brutal revenge tale with a twisting reveal, wince inducing and a little traumatizing. Meddler, a tale of loss and connection, sad and yet warming. Hustle, Adam Sandler is on a roll, fast paced and believable, especially enjoyed the travel montage. Chivalry – the tone of the series sometimes feels random, each episode feels almost separate from the next - there is a handbrake turn of a direction in episode 3 - the whole thing pervades a sense of unease and discomfort - which I think is the point. Fresh – it has comedy thriller on the box but I struggled to find laughs with the level of oppressive activity, the central premise is a believable, interesting internet niche market idea but ultimately sad and dark.

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Some drawing/thinking - attempting to work out how to create a structure that explores some of the functionality in the zebrafish brain plate as part of an ongoing investigation at Kings that is generating strands of investigation in my own practice. Onto screens - In the shadow of the moon - time travel consequences of living and letting go. Take me – lessons learnt the hard way, iboy – sci-fi light with added menace, Parallel Mothers – a deeply meaningful layered work from Pedro Almodóvar, Choose or Die – a by-the-book controlled horror infused, Furioza – the futility of violence, Dune – fantastic spaceships and beautiful sets but….All the old knives – sad twisty spy tale. The final episode of Severance went beyond the idea of a cliff-hanger - can't wait for season 2.

The Every by Dave Eggers should be required reading about where we are going before we get there! The satire is so close that at times it feels like a documentary. Sections that describe a trip out of campus and the future of marking in universities are disturbingly close to life experienced, and the plethora of insightful observations is alarming - Capital-P Play was last year’s management theory, following multitasking, single tasking, grit, learning-from-failure, napping, cardio working, saying no, saying yes, the wisdom of the crowd, trusting one’s gut, Viking management theory, Commissioner Gordon workflow theory, X-teams, B-teams, embracing simplicity, pursuing complexity, seeking similarity, creativity through radical individualism, creativity through groupthink, creativity through the rejection of groupthink, organizational mindfulness, organizational blindness, microwork, macro sloth, fear-based camaraderie, love-based terror, working while standing, working while ambulatory, learning while sleeping, and, most recently, limes.

Subjectivity is just objectivity waiting for data. “You hear about the art students?” he asked. She had. A growing number of undergraduate and graduate art students were lobbying for the Hermosa app to be given equal or greater power than the subjective assessments and grades traditionally given by their professors. Fairness and Objectivity in Beauty, these students insisted in a fast-moving meme, quickly nicknamed FOB. Humans are error-prone knots of biases, they insisted, and should not be involved in determining what was beautiful or good. 

ohyesididohnoididntandsomefilms

watched the Wolsey pantomime - oh no I didn't, well actually I did but live streamed from Ipswich into my house meant that it really wasn't the same - the covid context of its production was really considered but there is nothing like shouting out boooooo when the villains arrive surrounded by people who have all made the effort to be in the same place  - hopefully next year. films this week include the terrible - Best man and Best mans holiday, Sky fire - utter nonsense CGI overload, Color out of Space - made no sense. the ok - The vast of night - slow but with good character acting. Nightmare before Christmas and Wonder woman 1984 and the good - Soul https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2948372/ really quite beautiful, Host - really well done and scary reflection on how we engage with each other, The sound of metal https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5363618/ - heartrendingly beautiful journey into trusting oneself,  Bacurau - wonderful psychedelic madness and finally the ever-present Die Hard. Chalie Brooker's Screen wipe 2020 was disappointing, effectively a list of terribleness without the usual acerbic comment, only Hugh Grant's character could save it. John Cooper Clark's I wanna be me is an raucous upbeat read that I consumed with a wry recognition. 

mentalgymnastics

At NUA we are now moving into a blended teaching experience. There are many elements to consider and with time and due diligence they can be addressed.My latest obsession is Arboretum by David Byrne - it's a book of diagrams or mental maps that explore a range of idiosyncratic lines of mental gymnastics - there are so many starting points for great conversations. You might be interested in checking out his website - there is great thinking and commentary there http://davidbyrne.com/ meanwhile work in the studio is all about films and gifs of crushed structures.

housebecomeshome

This week on the Book Art Course at Camberwell the email project has been all about mapping home - where it starts and stops - I used the video the RIBA Suffolk Design Awards made when the extension that was designed by architects Kirkham Sheidow was up for an award (we won!) thinking about my mum and the idea of a house becoming a home and then a house. Adding time lapse films made of the site of the house I grew up in was a little too much and video of the last time I saw my mum was just too sad.

Above are some screen grabs.

Irresistible by Adam Alter is an addictive book about addiction, focusing on the screens that surround us - there are some truly frightening and instructive moments that will see me altering my behaviour. http://adamalterauthor.com/irresistible

Who you think I am - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7552686/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0  Juliette Binoche is extraordinary as a woman adrift from her sense of self, developing narratives within narratives to make sense of a/the world. Truth with Binoche and Catherine Deneuve https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8323120/ explores versions of truth within collective and individual memories. Days of the Bagnold Summer was so sweet, you feel for both sides until they become at one The King of Staten Island had great moments of thoughtfulness where you are taken out of your own soul to reflect on oneself https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9686708/  Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee's  latest is a long mixture of every film genre you have thought about and a few you haven't. there are some extraordinary moments worth watching.

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Transference, the show at Halesworth Gallery has a couple of days left to check out - based on inviting artist's to work with dry transfer lettering.  Enjoying some great parking at Luton airport lately - The City and The City by China Mieville was checked by Ralph Rugoff, Curator of the 58th Venice Biennale in his forward to the exhibition May You Live in Interesting Times. It features two separate cities that occupy the same space simultaneously with areas that can be seen from both with the idea of training yourself in the act of unseeing and unknowing. A book full of ideas but a little lacking in characters. meanwhile deep into Urban myths - a great series exploring moments in popular culture that may or may not of happened - a must see https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6413094/  

Backstage at Live Aid, Public Enemy (feach Kev Wells), Bob Dylan; Knockin on Dave's Door and Hitler the Artist are winners.

radicalreflectivethinking

I've been thinking about next years teaching and the importance of reflective thinking in the learning process - I think that it's essential and without it there is no development or actual learning - so I have decided to photograph some pages of my notebooks to illustrate the process.

Deadpool 2 continues with its tongue in cheek slightly mawkish tone but is only really laugh out loud with Dice and her luck.  Swiss Army Man https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4034354/?ref_=nv_sr_1 is truly odd but/and you will be talking about it for days after. I've started to fold and use thread with a view to developing a bookwork of some kind. And finally Radicals outsiders changing the world by Jamie Bartlett is stunning a real must read...."The one constant of history is that everything changes. We should not assume that liberal democracies are the natural order of things.........if they fail, it won't be because of the existence of radical ideas, but rather their absence".

truthtruthtruthsandsometruthsaboutlies

weeks into my Annual Leave and working on timetables for next year - in-between I continue to read books that explain that we have little hope in terms of technology. Marcus Gilroy-Ware details the psychology behind social media in his book Filling the Void. It's a must read if you want to know why we really use social media, who gets to win and what it's doing to us while we do it - plot spoiler - it's all about rich and powerful people using capitalism to continue to be richer and more powerful - who knew! but his argument goes beyond the usual conspiracy theorist - the page gives you a flavour of the tone. Well - some films.... combine every scenario about immediate danger even including I am Spartacus and you have The Commuter,  Dark Crimes - who cares and Tully - cares too much and that ending......anyway working on creating covers for books made in a reflective mood after working at NanoDTC exploring sequence and handling of objects.  

buildingcuratingassessing

more building, curating and assessing - the MA Book Art show at Camberwell looks fantastic. There is some really considered work that is underpinned by exceptional research and has at its core conceptual thinking around personal notions of book. meanwhile 2 films with 'interesting' premise's at their root that should of been funnier  I Feel Pretty and Blockers do not watch these. back at The Bridge season 4 all is dark and menacing https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m2k24 I am obviously very late to the party but have become interested in Daniil Kharms and am wading through the wonderfully obsessive book - I am a phenomenon quite out of the ordinary by Anthony Anemone and Peter Scotto. it's the notebooks, diaries and letter and is a fantastic insight into the man.

There was a red-haired man who had no eyes or ears.
Neither did he have any hair, so he was called red-haired theoretically.
He couldn't speak, since he didn't have a mouth. Neither did he have a nose.
He didn't even have any arms or legs. He had no stomach and he had no back and he had no spine and he had no innards whatsoever. He had nothing at all!
Therefore there's no knowing whom we are even talking about.
In fact it's better that we don't say any more about him.

assessmentassessmentassessment

assessment, assessment, assessment - yes it's still that time of year - but meanwhile I have managed to be enthralled by Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli. It is quite beautiful with a great set of drawings which detail our relationship to where we are - wonderful. late to the party but I am deep into Westworld season 1 - it really is brilliant and asks some excellent questions about existence. Who are we, are we real, what is it to exist???? Game night https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2704998/?ref_=rvi_tt was almost good - some interesting moments almost is harsh but.....

finallygottogotoaTransmissionparty#inapopsong

It's that time of year in the 'art school calendar' when final year shows are being conceived and that means the organisation that supports the students kicks in - which is where I come in.

Just returned from Glasgow International http://glasgowinternational.org/ which was a whirl of art and parties - some interesting work and some interesting spaces - sometimes those two things came together - sometimes the space was truly awesome - highlights for me have to be Urs Fisher's mechanical snails, Sol Le Witts black boxes under a magnificent skylight, Augustas Serapinas's piece blue pen at David Dale Gallery - I loved the highly specific story (whether true of not) that informed its making, it was just pitch perfect, Mark Lecky at Tramway rethinking thinking and Corin Sworn had created an interesting movement work within the space and showed the video of the work in the altered space....wonderful.

Just finished reading - Do no harm by Henry Marsh https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/30/do-no-harm-stories-brain-surgery-review-henry-marsh it will blow you away with his honesty - what is it to be a neurosurgeon? - a 5% failure rate is okay for us but for a patient its 100% fatal.

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'A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world' - Edmond de Goncourt, art critic. The Orange Balloon Dog by Don Thompson uncovers the systems of money that support the art world and how the art world supports money making - a must read but be weary it's got nothing to do with actual art making. In 1899 economist Verlem defined luxury as 'a form of waste designed to confer status on an essentially useless class of people'. Russell Brand's podcast Under the skin 045 - What's the biggest threat to Freedom? islam or Consumerism?  Had an excellent conversation with Sam Harris taking in thoughts around learning which I extended to education. 'Real learning is hard because it's usually painful, you have to recognise that you are wrong in some way, you have to let that part of you that is wrong die' - acquiring a new way of thinking is never easy so, although never a truer word but maybe it could be more about building and developing rather being than such a binary experience. In the film The Shape of Water the sense of loneliness in all the characters lives is truly heart breaking. This extends to the sign language used by Sally Hawkins - it's just so mournful - truly excellent direction and great acting from the whole cast within spaces that are believable and add to the tone of the whole piece. It's been mid-point review time at Camberwell on the Book Art Course. It's where the students whose work is being discussed and critiqued by the group cannot respond and they have to listen and watch the group deconstruct their work without defending it. It can be a hard core challenge if the student holds onto their original intention. They have to become flexible, finding a way to engage with the groups thoughts and incorporate it into their own understanding of their work. It is one of the great learning sessions within the course. More images from Bilbao - to add to my collections of 'buildings covered in stuff' and 'doors blocked up'.

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looking through more images from Lisbon - love these -

meanwhile just read the latest book by/from Goldie - a totally mad (wonderfully box of frogs mad) with each sentence on every page spinning off into numerous fractured multiple looping tales, evening scores and developing the myth - a boisterous take no prisoners read. Latest podcast’s the dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds- two guys chatting - the premise being that one person doesn’t know the subject- they have a great 'bloke' rapport and are very funny. Start with episodes 310a and 301b and also get to be horrified (even more so) by Trumps history. Whatever you think of him Russell Brand's Under the skin is a very intelligent listen, start with Billy Brag. The Boring Talks takes off-beat subjects and drills down to explore it. some films - if you like your family saga  films messed up watch The Meyerowitz Stories  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5536736/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt if you like your coming of age, sexual awakening films all lingering in European heat Call me by your name is for you http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5726616/​ and if you desire your relationships fractured and lost but trying Lady Bird is for you http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925292/?ref_=nv_sr_1

and finally the debut EP from Clerk 37 has some deeply haunting intelligent sounds https://soundcloud.com/8-mana/sets/clerk-37-or-u-waited-mana003-1 check it out now.

Doyouhearvoices?HowdidIgethere?

Do you hear voices? - How did I get here? Since I bought my folding bike and feeling the liberation that it has given me I now have another great connection/experience - I came across David Bryne's fabulous book Bicycle Diaries. Created in part from the freedom of having his own folding bike it takes the reader into the inside story. It's like having David talking to you - I would love it as an audiobook - having him directly in your ear. Not that I've ever met him, although I've followed his work from the early days of Talking Heads when the art teacher put Talking Heads: 77 on the turntable in the art room - yes a record player -can you just imagine that.  The list of 'stuff that has made me think' includes so much of David Brynes output - The album Remain in Light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remain_in_Light  with the truly extraordinary track Once in a Lifetime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU which in itself has the video where hand movements are used in a hyper unrelated way - but if we're talking about videos I have to mention Road to Nowhere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWtCittJyr0  - The mind twisting film True Stories  True Stories http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092117/ - My life in the Bush of Ghosts with Eno with the haunting Jezebel Spirit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysGjmm648ds - Here Lies Love - the Disco Opera I saw  the National https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_Lies_Love  - The intriguing use of PowerPoint through Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information http://davidbyrne.com/explore/e.e.e.i.-powerpoint  and the insightful How Music Works https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Music_Works with ideas of space and time and their relationship to music.

tonight its Klanghaus https://klanghaus.co/ in Norwich.

busybusybusyallgood

after a week attending the NanoDTC Autumn school I'm back  - for more information on this follow https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/ which is the blog that will document the project with NanoDTC at the Maxwell Centre. meanwhile Its been a busy week of opportunities - The Crafts Council have invited me to present my work in Manchester as part of Crafts Council's Make:Shift conference - already looking forward to it as it's an opportunity to share the advances my practice has had as a result of working within a science context. Nicola Naismith has contacted me to be part of her interesting project Postures of Making - exploring what happens beneath the surface of the skin when engaged in art practice and how we work with the idea of repetitive acts. I have several art related body malfunctions!!! as a result of creative making over the years and have been interested in the ergonomics of art practice for some time, especially when considering the of concept of the space of reading and idea of page turning as a performance. Confirmation of the upcoming work for Open College of the Arts has come through - I'm running an interesting project which focuses on creating an online exhibition. meanwhile managed to read  I love Dick by Chis Kraus it's a wonderfully incisive book. I loved the descriptions and general critique of a number of art pieces, films and artists I am familiar with - it really is very funning, I now want to go back and check out the work I was unfamiliar with - this book should be read by all artists. I've been invited to Unfold a show at The Roundhouse on October 8. The Catalogue for ALL is out and the work looks good - can't wait to see a physical copy in my hands - the events on the 13th October if you are in Cambridge https://artlanguagelocation.org/ Dan Tsu of Lyrix Organix very kindly mentioned that this is the project I inspired them to develop last year! but I think that is really down to all the hard work they do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SQ_K_WQl0A

listeningandwatchingthefuture

I may of found a new space to show work for Art Language Location in Cambridge - in

the Land Economies building  - as a result I've been working on a new film adding and then stripping away backgrounds to create dialogues within the work. I so loved sing street http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3544112/ a tender beautiful film that will make you laugh and cry sometimes at the same time - it's a 'must see' that captures something wonderful about the importance of music in a young person's life and you have to adore the big brother and his wonderful words of wisdom. high rise - great style but all the actors looked like they were asking the question - what happened? please no more films of so called unfilmable books that I love (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a high/low point) - The everything store by Brad Stone is a disturbing insight into how Amazon became Amazon. It's a brutal read that explains why and where we are now as a society that is underpinned by Amazon's founder Jeff Bozos' belief in a quote by Alan Kay 'It's easier to invent the future than to predict it.' 

networktrainbook

so three days in the South of France for New Year. blue skies, sun and -5 with good friends, food, and drink. Most of the time was spent hanging out at imprints new base in Crest http://www.imprints-galerie.com/ . The wonderful Euro Star and French trains in general (clean, on time, restaurant cars, plug sockets and an ice bucket in the bar) gave me the chance to catch up on a couple of books – Failure - http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/failure a fantastic manual of how to think about making work and Off the network disrupting the digital world - https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/off-the-network - its powerful stuff – it critiques how the Internet and the digital network changes users understanding of the world.