saltanderosion

At a talk at the weekend an artist used the phrase 'active actors' when describing people who the artist met along a walk - no wonder the public hate us. Anyway – A busy 2 days and a night - After drinks with friends at our house a quick dash to a really friendly private view in Framingham on Friday night. Saturday saw a sauna and swim on the beach at Dunwich which were invigorating and highly recommended, then onto Spill festival in Ipswich and I was reminded of the amazing live art I've seen in previous iterations. A visit to Orford Ness to listen to the high tide sound piece based on Robert McFarland's poem on Sunday. The sound of ghostly technology as one walks in such a post war environment was interesting, yet the space itself is worth the visit. Saw a pair of porpoises on the ferry back which was excellent, along with a fabulous conversation with a warden about all the inventions that came out of the classified work there. I need to think/ask about salt in the shingle in relation to the Sizewell C build. Onto screens - Catherine Bigalows Netflix film House of Dynamite was so distressingly brilliant. 

backinthebackinthebackintheUSSR

So - a few days in Tallinn. A fascinating place with a both short and long history. The USSR looms everywhere, buildings and housing in general feels other. I had travelled far away enough from England for the shops to be full of food I had never seen before. Managed a glorious sauna and swam in a still, clear Baltic sea, ate tasty food - mainly smoked - ribs, salmon, elk, bear, deer, cods roe.... alongside some unusual cakes. Drank some of the most powerfully tasting beers infused with pine needles, juniper, and cloud berries. The extraordinary experience that is the old town is like stepping back in time, cycling through it is challenging with cobbles the size of a child's head but you gotta love buildings with hudge gothic text painted on them. A party at the art school, which actually feels like an art school, was unhinged, what a great place to study. Droped into some interesting, challeging  exhibitions.The colours of the Ukrainian flag are everywhere, which is understandable, there is a solidarity which is complicated by history. I have just begun to get my head around some of what Tallinn is about but feel I need to return.

thesmeltofpost-industrialdampness

An evening at Dance East for conversation and film to celebrate Rosemary Lee’s dance for film https://www.artsadmin.co.uk/profiles/rosemary-lee/ I loved the film of Circadian and it was fun to see myself in the audience – proof I was there!! https://www.artsadmin.co.uk/project/circadian/ but I also loved her early films, Greenman in particular, especially its visual links to say somebody like Svankmajer and absurdist Northern European cinema. A weekend in Birmingham for the Fierce Festival. A feast of live art in the second city. What a blast – highlights include Ramona Nagabczyńska’s  Silenzio, Steven Cohen’s moving and semi traumatic (watching a cow get slaughtered type of trauma) put your heart under your feet... and walk! And Untitled (Nostalgia, Act 3) by Tiran Willemse. A dance piece that slowly drags you from the challenges of gender, into race and intergenerational trauma. It was great to be amongst ‘my people’ experiencing challenging, marginalised art in spaces that smelt of post-industrial dampness! Popped into the Ikon to see an interesting show about love and war, but the most interesting show was the offsite by Exodus Crooks in the exchange, just like a heist movie. Meanwhile I’ve become a fan of sauna – I love the community aspect of Hackney Community Sauna, as well as intense body experience that is the sauna/plunge pools.