calmingfrenchnessandsomemore

My paper/presentation at turn the page symposium  https://www.turnthepage.org.uk/  seemed to go well - it was a little rambling as I attempted to cram 27 years of thinking about book art and bookness into 40 minutes. It was great to be surrounded by like minded people and listen to inspiring presentations - Maria White speaking about the idea of collecting was absorbing and Kate Farley's thoughts about reading patterns has got me thinking!

I recently went to the extraordinary Chateau la Coste https://chateau-la-coste.com/en/walk/ a space of splendid calm where art wine and architecture are surrounded by ancient Provence landscape. The work of Tadao Ando is particularly special. After staying at imprints http://imprints-galerie.com/ in Crest  where the market is so wonderfully French - if you boiled down all of Frenchness you would get this place A quick trip to Marseilles is always a bonus and in the railway sidings I noticed this building.

It's that time of year when several festivals are in full swing - at Aldeburgh Festival I saw Bastard Assignments https://bastardassignments.com/  who make experimental sound performative work - Neo Hulcker's piece crackles was excellent. At Norfolk and Norwich Festival Shon Dale-Jones of http://www.hoipolloi.org.uk/  has been performing a trilogy which demonstrates his wondrous storytelling skills. I'm looking forward to Pulse at the Wolsey in a couple of weeks https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/pulse-festival/  Meanwhile it's also that time when assessments are about to kick in - so far a day of reading reflective thinking and professional practice thoughts has been informative.

turnthepagetalkingandsomethinking

the nicest comment so far has been that my rambling pluralistic presentation contained nothing controversial but was inclusive and allowed people to realize that its okay - relax - play. this is a link to the presentation given at the Turn The Page Symposium in Norwich @ttpABF - https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/ttp-2019-les-b-with-links

knowwherestartshere

I have a created a new space called knowwhere - it will be a place to show large scale work within a small space. the first show is of pieces that came out of a making day for the Open College of the Arts - OCA. Meanwhile I'm working on the talk for Turn the Page - its developing into 3 stages - 1 bookness explored, 2 the practice created as a result working within the concept, 3 specific deep dives using recent activity - Book as hand tool for thinking maker – object – audience, space of a book - the influence a book inhabits and rethinking the idea - the books influence. The images are sorted I just have to work out what words go with this.

meanwhile I have to recommend a couple of books - 4321 a stunning book by Paul Auster https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/27/4321-by-paul-auster-review it is a mind swivelling trip of possibilities that might just make you rethink your life - everything will be. Middle England by Jonathan Coe https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/25/middle-england-jonathan-coe-review  is a dark comedy commentating on our time. I sat through all 10 episodes of Homecoming https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7008682/?ref_=rvi_tt  in two sittings in a kind of moreish exercise where you are unable to stop watching. The show has some excellent acting in between the rather odd (in a good way) cinematography. Lunatics by Chris Lilley goes up to a mythical line of acceptable taste and sort of rubs it out - but again in an interesting way. The Orville by Seth MacFarlane is a great comedy nod to Star Trek - worth a watch but it doesn't stress the brain cells too much but again this may be a good thing. Serenity has had a tough ride with the critics, yes its wooden, yes the twist is signposted a mile away, yes everybody is a 2D trope but I really enjoyed the beautiful sadness. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6476140/?ref_=rvi_tt

teachingroundupandfolding

Planning towards the final show for OCA is well underway - the exhibition will be an eclectic affair which is what you would expect from an exhibition of international students from all over the world.  checkout the work at https://www.instagram.com/duodecimalart/  Year 3 at NUA is culminating in a few weeks - as ever it's that time in the education cycle where we have a graded engagement with the final process. The range is from people who have planned and are working through their lists through to those looking for a time machine to try and solve their issues. Camberwell starts again in a couple of weeks, it will be interesting to see what the students have been working on over the Easter 10 weeks of non teaching.  Meanwhile the work for the exhibition in Wyoming has been sent off. I am particularly excited by the editioning process and final outcome of one of the handheld pieces that started life with nanotech in Cambridge.

thinkingaboutmymum

seeingstuff

A truly lovely wedding in London (you know who you are) was a great excuse to see some exhibitions - 180 The Strand has an awesome VR piece by Gormley and Natarajan. One of the most comprehensive, all-encompassing experiences I’ve ever had - bouncing on the moon was a highlight, the effect of the equipment totally controlling my movement was dizzyingly wonderful. http://www.thestores.com/london Norah Keil at the ICA was a little underwhelming, although the audio guide was a good idea. Soft Opening, a window space at Piccadilly underground station had some nice fans by Jonathan Small. Alison Jacques had a beautiful visual conversation between Donald Judd and John Wesley. The stylish fashion photography at Somerset House by Moon and Ng was intriguing. The Serpentine had Hito Steyerl’s stunningly technological florals and Emma Kunz’s mesmerising geometric doodles - both beautiful but strangely unimportant, there was just so much of it. I recommend the truly excessively layered work of Christian Marclay at White Cube, Masons Yard. https://whitecube.com/exhibitions/exhibition/christian_marclay_masons_yard_2019 Haegue Yang at South London Gallery has some work with blinds last see in Venice in 2009. Franz West at Tate Modern was a mixed bag. As is often the case of these huge retrospectives of men there are many uncomfortable pieces - unsure if different times is an acceptable excuse.  

Got to see the Bloomberg space to check out the Roman Temple of Mithras recreation. If you consider the whole thing as an elaborate art trick rather than a rather misguided over-sold archaeological one it makes the whole experience so much more interesting. 

Fleabag was a gem,  Destroyer https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7137380/?ref_=rvi_tt is so beautiful but pay attention the screenplay has a beautiful twist if you can get past the general intentional grime of the films tone. Escape Room was a rush of WTF moments but inevitably the ending was fairly signposted.

lookingforwardandorganising

today is a busy day of organising - work for a show in Wyoming, fabric for new shirts to be made and materials for tomorrows making day at OCA - a kind of observed together yet apart day of art studio practice - wonderfully engaging. I have been buying 'interesting' fabric and getting shirts made - some examples. Beginning to get excited about a few events coming up - in the short term tonight its Russell Maliphant's Silent Lines at the Dance House in Ipswich. Later - its Latitude which has become a little main stream so it's only its location - literally 8 miles from my house which makes it almost rude not to go...wandering into Underworld outside late at night has got to be okay. On the longest day there is First light in Lowestoft a FREE 24hr non-stop, beach festival https://firstlightlowestoft.com Its the year of Venice Biennale which is always awesome - the title May you live in interesting times feels like a threat! the excitement is bursting, especially as Jimmie Durham has been awarded the Golden Lion - his smashing objects video is hilariously disturbingly sad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SOj9vumZOY I can almost taste the Aperol Spritz and feel the warmth of the sun after a long day of 'art looking'. In terms of screens the Beautiful yet chaotic Marwen is worth a watch https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3289724/ The new series remake of Hannah seems unnecessary. Glass was a little disjointed to keep up and in the end I ceased to care but Samuel Jackson wears a great suit!

Got to go to the new Escape Room in Saxmundham, Suffolk - surrounded by wondrous airstream land yachts that you can stay in https://www.suffolkescaperoom.co.uk/  based on a WW2 theme - my first time in one - it was interesting/intriguing with clues everywhere - we got out but maybe a little bit of luck helped.