makingmakingandwatching

making day on the Arts Fine Art MA for the Open College was a thoughtful experience - a moment of revelation during my making session - I think acknowledging one's learning is a possible route to actually moving forward - mine was totally random but all about recognising the possibilities within a seemingly throw away opportunity - when cutting down a structure I was left with a very thin version of the piece  - keeping the functional possibilities but adding rotational behavior to the connection- maybe I need to consider connected tubes.! stated the Testing Your Boundaries project with the OCA - its all about reconceptualising ones practice - see presentation here - https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/2019-initial-presentation-testing-boundaries meanwhile - I spend most of my time whilst watching Ad Astra in the mind of another person on a deep voyage - thinking about Martin Sheen's journey in Apocalypse Now - but this distraction or layering of meaning did not take me too far away from the often perilously life threatening set piece scenes in space and then there is The end of the fucking world - the soundtrack is truly awesome. https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2019/11/8710740/the-end-of-the-fucking-world-season-2-soundtrack-songs

behindyouohyesitisohnoitisnt

Its glorious pantomime season at Wolsey Theater in Ipswich - this year the experience is one of full on fun - with sing along tunes and 'site and time specific' jokes you know and love - it's a must see - https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/aladdin/   

meanwhile a busy week of teaching - working with year 1 students at NUA to create specific drawing tools to make marks that in turn will lead to supporting the initial ideas for the weaving induction - the session was all rounded off with a mini exhibition in one of the corridors of their submitted work - curated, created, hung and critiqued in 20 minutes. Camberwell Book Art students had theirs and the courses last unit briefing which involved a series of workshops envisaging each other's project proposals with equations and plastercine. Then back to NUA with year 3 students to present possibilities around the body https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/some-thinking-body and interiors - https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/some-thinking-space basically extended ideas around textiles relationship to fashion and interior design. meanwhile I think Once Upon a time in Hollywood could be one of the most amazing meta films ever - so much to think about and then there is Mandalorian - worth watching for so many reasons - baby Yoda, Werner Herzog as a baddie, fantastic costumes and did I mention there is a baby Yoda. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8111088/

artartart

To Margate to see the Turner Prize - Turner Contemporary as a space was a little underwhelming. Of the 3 art spaces built at the same time The Hepworth wins hands down for both the architecture and its site - and firstsite comes second even with its curved walls.The work in the show has lots to say but I have seen better examples of their work elsewhere Laurence Abu Hamdan at Chisenhale and Documenta was awesome and Tai Shan at Glasgow international was moving so it all felt a little second division. The real highlight of Margate was the small but energetic artist spaces Resort, Limbo and Crate and the show Gossamer at Carl Freeman Gallery where the work of artists who had used tights was exhibited. Beforehand a day in London so checked out a number of great spaces Shana Moulton at Zabludowicz had some transformative videos and got to play with Florian Meisenberg’s VR - Fiona Banner at Frith Street continued her exploration of punctuation with a series of interventions into romantic yet threatening seascapes. Marian Goodman had a stunning show of Nan Golding’s gloriously tragic images - the video work was so moving and I have had to re-evaluate Charles Aznavour - his rendition of what makes a man a man over black and white images was truly beautiful. White Cube has some professional Gormley’s as a sort of shop for the RA show and the Hauser and Wirth have heavily textured with big on process work from Mark Bradford. As ever the trains have been appalling - the service, or lottery that is the timetable.....cancelled, late, slow, cold, dirty and erratic with conflicting or little information as to why - the future is like some form of legend or fairytale - apparently it will all be ok when the new trains arrive - like mystical good fairies - we just await trains that are on time, clean, warm which we will exchange for money - which we appear to be doing already - more fool us.

articulatedhands

working on some new articulated models - a couple of test films to enable reflection on their movement. meanwhile assessment is in full flow at NUA and UAL, an interesting time where the spaces are empty of students and our focus is fully on them through their work. The Goldfinch was a little all over the place - the fractured narrative made one feel a little disconnected from the whole experience. Eaten by Lions was a quirky English film about tolerance and our lack of it. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6809094/

thinkingandstuff

The Big Four, a collaborative exhibition by Rosa-Maria Nuutinen and Bob Bicknell Knight considers the technological impact that humans have on the planet, concerning the Big Four tech companies - it's a great coherent show on the 2nd floor of Harlesden High Street in London https://www.bobbicknell-knight.com/ Flipside at Henham was a great day out - sitting back being subjected to ideas - wonderful - highlights include Dan Harvey talking about his practice and its connection to Culture Declares Emergency https://www.ackroydandharvey.com/, George Szirtes well, he can talk about anything and it would be engaging but the film about his new book, The photographer at sixteen was charming, it was so good I had to buy the book. With Robert Macfarlane one felt in good hands thinking and learning as provocations came thick and fast. Joanna Pocock spoke elegantly about her new book surrender which is on a long list to buy. Joker https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7286456/ is gloriously dark - of a film - Joaquin Phoenix is extraordinary, his portrayal of a full-on mental health meltdown is astounding - and the dancing!

addictedtofold

working on building new structures, thinking about movement and scaling up to take into account the body.

If you want to see what Southwold is like today check out East of Ipswich based on Michael Palin's memories of dreary holidays in English coastal towns in the 1950s! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090990/ Eddie Murphy almost carries it off in Dolemite Is My Name but the rolling scattergun delivery of his character is so monotone that it fills the film. But the clothes are most excellent. if you want a warm glowing feeling check out the lovely storytelling in Let it Snow - spoiler - everything works out okay!

makingalistofstuff

The catalogue for the book art exhibition in Wyoming - constellation has arrived - looking good.

meanwhile watching includes - Laundromat - not quite the Big Short but quite good in a sad we-really-are- all-f*#+ed kind of way.

Peanut butter Falcon was odyssey meets road movie which I guess are the same - the whole thing was charming yet blistering - the story, the acting, the landscapes - everything. The first 3 episodes of Morning Show were stunning, Jenifer Aniston stormed her role but now I have to wait for the next ones, which will be painful but there is always the gloriously parallel world of depressive nihilism that is the whirlpool of loss and pain that is Top Boy.