wearebackinsciartworld

So after 10 years I was back at the Maxwell Centre in Cambridge - very other - like a muscle memory I arrived at the station and retraced all my cycle cut-throughs as if it was yesterday. The space is the same, but surrounded by very shiney beautiful new buildings, in one of which I experienced an experimental sound piece over lunch. NanoDTC is a space very dear to my heart, where I first started working in a science context, which led me to so many wonderful people in tremendously interesting places and ultimately to Richard and Leigh and Synthetic Anatomy at Kings. A day of posters, talks and workshops - truly inspirational. The students are thoughtful and intelligent, always up for thinking laterally and creative problem solving. I ran a couple of workshops focusing on taxonomy, genetics and storytelling. It was a great to make art/science connections and to rethink my own practice as a result. When asked what complexity is their drawings were interesting in that the images resembled the ones drawn by under 7s when asked to draw energy as part of the Sizewell residency. Meanwhile onto screens – just started Last seen – harrowing but intriguing enough to continue. Spa Weekend - what was I thinking?

assaultedbysound

Yarmonics – a day created by original projects, what a fabulous day in Great Yarmouth, being gloriously assaulted by sound. Starting on wasteland with the disturbing (in a good way) @ye_yu_fam and leaving the stunning space that is @hippodromegy blinking into the dusk after being dealt with by @russellhaswell_real with @johnthemodulator and @brainwavesarebetterthanprerms wove narratives in Pauper Palace not to forget the awesome @hannannannanananannnn and @reganalana – can’t wait for the next one.  Meanwhile careful of the art. Onto screens – just started Last seen – harrowing but intriguing enough to continue.

ongoingongoing

Steaming ahead with many projects – NanoDTC Autum school preparations are underway, the latest iteration of the Aldeburgh Hospital florals has been created, and work has started on the mountain of bureaucracy that is teaching. Onto screens – Reacher Season 4 – more of the same but even more so. Started to watch La Mesías, quite possibly it has the most disturbing character on screen I have ever come in to contact with….ever! Just finished Middle of Colin from Accounts – light relief embedded into will-they-won’t-they tragedy and The Whisper Man – stressful but with DeNiro in fine form.

meetingsandworkandmeetingsabout work

A week back! As ever it’s a little bit of a culture clash going back to work but the work at the hospital is going well and conversations around projects NanoDTC, Bench, and Synthetic Anatomy are progressing. At Norwich University of the Arts we are preparing the rooms for the students and rewriting course documents and timetables. The latest show at the art station is great – an art/craft extravaganza with folds and pleats. Onto screens – One night only – odd premise but fun.

somesaints

 

returntojazzzzzz

A return to Nantes exactly a year from my last visit - such a fantasticly french town - they have a jazz festival where main streets are closed off to traffic and every year commission masses of new public art and a curated exhibition across the city - most excellent - cycling is great as there are numerous bike lanes - Jazz is everywhere and its all free saw Big Chief Juan Pardo & Nala 7 Brass Band - hiphop jazz and Dolphin hyperspace - which was mad Space jazz. Great street food and a beautiful vibe! Fantastic exhibitions in interesting buildings - highlights were Anne-Charlotte Finel's mesmerising videos in the cathedral crypt, Justine Emard's truly haunting show at le lieu Unique - if you go check out their plat du jour - always amazing. HAB has a slightly heavy handed curated exhibition about the moon. The best work were the early documents and photographs. The chateau /castle had an brillant exhibition contextualising France's and Nantes role in its colonial past by Omar Victor Diop, excellent photographs. To be fair the whole space tells France's and Nantes role in slavery through objects and testimony. After 3 days went out to Les Sables-d'Olonne, by train to pick up bikes to cycle 20 miles to Longeville-sur-Mer where cycling and swimming and eating and reading were the only activities. Stayed in an amazing Airbnb 500 yrds from the sea. In terms of reading I've got to recommend Human kind by Bregman - it will change how you cope with the world. Recursion by Blake Crouch will twist time in your mind - I would love a diagram. The things we never say by Elizabeth Strout has given a road map going forwards by enabling me to reflect on the past. Stayed here! my review!! OMG I LOVE your house - its full of the most beautiful objects so thoughtfully displayed - discovering them brings joy - the narrative between the postcard and the bookends almost too much! - ceramics to DIE for - pictures to contemplate (the seascape in the bedroom is especially special) and then the design of house itself is SCANDALOUS - wonderfully ostentatious and yet petite - like a stubborn small child proudly squatting holdingtheir ground - inside EVERYTHING is considered and followed through to create a whole, designed for a purpose. 

hothothot

A trip to France – eating, drinking, reading looking at exhibitions in Marseille. As usual a visit to Mucem was a joy and had 3 interesting shows –, mother, and a set of collaborations set up by the fashion designer Mossi Traoré, fashion too. At the newly opened Museum of Contemporary Art [mac] Clément Cogitore, Ferdinandea, the ephemeral island and Bonnes meres was ok, but the collection has some fantastic examples of French artist’s work.The Marseille History Museum has some wonderful individual artifacts.Then up to Crest and Avignon to see Lee Ufan at the Palais des Papes. The building was awesome, the work not so. Spent a lot of time with Jackson. Just finished the latest David Sedaris collection The Land and its People. Its laugh out loud funny with a great turn if phrase and comic timing - I'm in the hard part of getting old - the part where everything irritates you. The easy part comes a little later, when my short-term memory disappears. Onto screens - The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - wonderfully styled japes. The Last House - horror meets home alone with monsters. Glenrothan – great performances leading to lovely resolutions all round. We Still Kill the Old Way - Disturbing old school revenge.