thinkjamesbondvillian

A long weekend in Tallinn - it all starts at the airport - it's like an advert for the air travel itself - people sitting eating in bright clean area's, talking in pools of gentle light, water with a named glacial provenance, people playing table tennis - just pleasant. Tallinn is a fascinating place, walking within the walls of the old city you feel like time has been forgotten or at least halted. Part of the visit was to see Bob Bicknell Knight's latest show and work - it included a huge multi-part 3D printed building/monument/sculpture/model that has smoke emitting from a outlet at the top with sound effects of piledriving from the Sizewell C site. The work is a monumental thing of brutal beauty. In Tallinn the art spaces are always worth a visit, with the main spectacular gallery - Kumu always holds fantastic, well curated exhibitions inside its stunning building. A show of artists and activists connected to the Sami people - mainly presenting how a place and way of life is being systematically eradicated by, yes your guessed it capitalism. Indigenous Futurism an idea embedded within the work is something to research. Other spaces visited include the supremely odd puppet museum, the labyrinthine contemporary art space showing important work by Palestinian artists, the photography gallery which had 4 revealing shows focusing on women's experiences of the world. Think James Bond villain architecture Linnahall in Tallinn is a monumental Soviet-era building where Tenet was filmed. Completed in 1980 for the Moscow Olympics, everything is unessesarily excessive and gloriously brutal with massive concrete staircases and an overbearingly huge concert hall. Madness.In the Maritime museum you can have the claustrophobic experience of descending into a submarine and wander unchecked around a wooden, steam powered boat in the docks. Finally the experience of the open, unsupervised coat racks in every public space is a visible symbol of a beautifully civilised culture.

materialdrawingsand123.

Year 2 of the Sizewell C residency has focused on three areas. 1 - creating a plan for Leiston Town Council to have a year of temporary art residencies. The idea I proposed was to link artists with local groups to help build community and develop creative thinking towards a larger permanent artwork in the future. 2 - Working with Aldeburgh hospital staff and volunteers to create work for a corridor and waiting room, which is almost complete and 3 - a body of drawings that use materials from the site, both what was there and what remains, materials literally rooted in this changing landscape. Mostly year 2 of the SZC residency has been fairly hands off, with limited input so it was really great to get feedback over the weekend on the natural material drawings I’ve been creating and to decide to give them away. This ‘give away’ will be a feature of the exhibition; the plan is that there will be nothing left after the show. Onto screens – an evening of Suffolk Shorts at Woodbridge was most excellent – some great ideas, tight camera work and creative editing, highlights include - Three Wise-ish Men by Jonnie Howard, Crossing the Earth by Aasaf Ainapore and a fabulous idea well executed in Minic by Christopher Bonwell. Finished Furious – sex workers seeking revenge, female serial killer, maverick cop – what’s not to like! The Uprising – an epic story telling us the powerful will hold onto their power – do not trust them.

fierceart

A truly amazing weekend in Birmingham at Fierce festival. Some of the most thoughtful and forceful live art I have ever seen. There was so much but highlights included. Weathering by Faye Driscoll was electric whilst also being glacial. FREE(HOLD) by n:u demanded visceral paradigm shifts. The Recycling Issue by Shannon Cochrane was whimsically thoughtful. People Will People You by Steven Cohen’s piece was revealingly fabulous as are they. Check out Coq/Cock and the inability of the police to stop it - not knowing which cock to deal with? Traversing the Mist by Chou Tung-Yen enabled me to embody another body, truly new magic. It is important that these people exist and are supported, they reveal to us something other but also essential to understanding self 

busybusybusy

A busy week - a great meeting at Aldeburgh hospital means that the project is almost over by the printing and attaching it to the wall. 2 days of intense workshops with all 3 years of Textile Design students – 10 one-hour workshops in 2 days with an exhibition, one was 60 drawings in 60 mins, it led to iterative thinking and reflection. Onto screens – finished La Mesías and Last Seen - 2 of the most gruelling series I have ever watched, but worth it – you will be changed. I want you back – you know where this is going from the off.

afoundtextthatwasn'tlostjustmisscomicated.

found poem created wilst listening to presentations at NanoDTC last week

A found text that wasn't lost just misscomicated. 

 

Are you solving?

or

Are you created methods for understanding? 

 

Are you making supercells relaxed?

Is your learning building on foundations?

 

Are you looking? 

Have you built a map of complexity?

 

We are exploring the energy landscape

Driving electrostatically towards unstable polarons in oxygen - (creating bling worms)

 

We are vacancy

Beyond the crystal field 

Searching for defected structures 

and

the impact of electron holes 

 

Are you relaxed?

Is your feedback relevant?

Is your behaviour chaotic?

Are you delayed by time?

 

We are woven together - drowning in bulk looking for defects.

Defects make or break functionality.

We are chaotic

We are emerging 

We are active and disordered

 

Where is the beginning?

When does one thing become another

Where is the edge?

 

This is important.

 

we are delayed by time, but

defined by laws.

 

I am told that life, the idea of, is a sliding scale but dependent strongly on initial conditions. 

 

Boundaries define us

But are 

Topographically unstable

 

Are you self-similar?

Have you discovered your individual uniqueness?

Are you taking notes?

Are you hear?

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.