burningburningbooks

 rotating, folding, and flipping a sculptural bookwork – modern ritual meets old models on fire

thoughtfulthoughts

Mapping practice at NUA with year 3 TD students. And a couple of exoskeletons from Croatia. I’ve been on a Bong Joon Ho tip this weekend - The Host – a bizarre monster revenge story and then Mother – a twisted tale of madness and murder. Two extraordinary films that stay with you. Giri/Haji on Netflix is a complex, clever piece that keeps you guessing – especially the role of rain - the black and white rooftop sequence in the final episode will have you in tears. then there is the intelligent, thoughtful conversation between Obama and Springsteen in the podcast Renegades - Born in the USA.

moremoremore

More 3D printing!! Exploring the thinness of the outer layers and balancing it with the idea of limited infill. Meanwhile I’ve bought my Spill festival tickets and can’t wait to focus on memory. Screens - watching Border is an oddly earthy story with superb camerawork, Eva Melander’s portrayal of Tina whose connection with and through nature is beautiful. You will never think about nature in the same way. Watching Assassins is a little mind blowing, the audacity of the N Korean regime is truly astonishing, so much of the women’s lives was documented and the story itself makes the film strangely like a film!  Suffolk Shorts online was great – there are some glorious films – so far, the Drama category includes the calamitous A Hole directed by James Solomon, the powerful Portrait directed by Keir Siewert, the Arts and Performance category includes the bizarrely funny TREMBLE directed by Jessica Wright, Morgann Runacre-Temple, and the stunning The Circle directed by Lanre Malaolu.

finallyitsbeenalongtimefinally

The term at NUA has started, and I’m finally teaching – it’s great to be in the presence of students involved in learning – image from a pleating workshop. Onto screens - The Green Knight was stunning – some extraordinary filming, The Morning Show continues to disturb and entertain. It’s been a busy week on the going out front – New Wolsey to see Never Lost at Home, the second in the Ipswich Town story – Peter Peverley as Bobby Robinson was storming again. Aldeburgh Cinema to see Time to Die – not a great Bond yet there was great sadness in Daniel Craig’s performance. Dance East to see Alexander Whitley’s Anti-Body which I’m sure will be stunning.  

transparencyisall

More 3D prints, working with the transparency of the material the inside and outside of the structures and be really seen and start to blur. A busy week with meetings both f2f and on TEAMS and Zoom. onto screens – the much-anticipated Free Guy was everything it needed to be, great man out of place premise, some glorious set pieces, and the flow between video and gaming was excellent….so many Easter Eggs it will need to be watched again. Gunpowder Milkshake was a truly violent romp, unsure if it went anywhere other than having roles swapped with women doing violence rather than the men. I have been a little obsessed with Simon Armitage’s latest podcast the poet laureate has gone to his shed. Intelligent banter of the highest order.

breathinginout

Wow - changing the material in the 3D printer is a revelation - the transparency reveals the structure. Yesterday was a really creative day in London – several moments of breathing in - How We Live Now: Reimagining Spaces with Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative. The show at the Barbican is very revealing - flagging up the concept of privilege. Architecture critiqued from a female perspective, looking at the underpasses in Birmingham is raw and obvious, who were these men and what were they thinking? The film Paradise circus by Heather Powell is particularly revealing of alternative thinking in 1988. I was struck by the statement they have used by David Graeber within the exhibition. “The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make and could just as easily make differently”. The bookartbookshop in Shoreditch is always a real treat, Tanya and Chiara are lovely people and the space itself is full of wonderment. A real must-visit if you are in London. Cycling on the bridges, crossing the water on a bike is something to behold, another recommendation especially on such a beautiful day. And then breathing out - the focus for the day was a f2f planning session at Kings. This year's synthetic anatomy module will be a triumph. Building on the last 4 years’ experience we are honing a truly beautiful thing, which is cherished and celebrated by the people I work with there - such a joy.  Lateral thinking, problem solving, material understanding, communication, recording and presentation, all transferable skills that are valued, old school art school ways of being finding a place within the world of science education. Screens – the focus has been The White Lotus, beautifully crafted characters that get lost in the madness of luxury.

burningandtwiddling

Working on new films to project into spaces and onto things. Stills of burning books from the latest film. 2 truly great sessions at Snape as part of the Festival of the New. Highlights included Sonnen https://www.instagram.com/sonnenmusic/?hl=en with their great knob twiddling sounds and Thabo https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Xby6OpjBTxkbiGyhJU8RA a whole experience in a tent. They both created great vibes and were really nice people into the bargain. Onto screens - it took until the 5^th episode to work out the tone of The Chair – it’s a cartoon and when that’s established in the mind it moves from a what? to an ok? Our Ladies – I think I may have missed the point of this and found it not so good. Deep into Mr Corman and enjoying the male position on dealing with life and stuff!