controldocuments

SZC work continues, the ideas continue to flow alongside the conversations. It’s been an excellent week all round - We have got R&D money for the bench project at Kings with the possibility to extend it in so many ways, this is really exciting as I get to work with a wonderous group of people. I’ve been offered a show at imprints in Crest, France and I’ve been making more work around the theme of data, the show will be called control documents. Sarah B at Bristol has invited me to show work in an exhibition in Japan, the 3D printed work was chosen, and I think it will look good and hopefully go down well. I have been awarded research money to work on the project exploring Catenary. On Thursday I got to see some of the Norwich pattern books with Ruth Battersby-Tooke, the Senior Curator of Costume and Textiles at Norfolk Museums Service at the Bridewell in Norwich. It was, as ever a real pleasure to be in the presence of such extraordinary objects in the fantastically knowledgeable hands of Ruth. The books give a hint at what the past might have looked like in a similar way that the textile ‘swatches’ held by The Foundling Museum in London. Onto screens – almost finished White Lotus, the whole experience is just distasteful! Started Zero Day, unsure where its going to go yet. Life List was difficult to watch through the tears!

somestuffandsomestuff

The 3D printed pieces I have been making are slowly being chosen for exhibitions – the work is in blend, a touring show in Nottingham libraries. https://nottsbookarts.art/ In a couple of weeks I have a piece in For Folks Sake, a group show in The Cut Art Centre in Halesworth. Curated by artists Rebecca Riess and Alexander Costello it’s a Suffolk Centric Exhibition celebrating the work of 35 artists; established to unrepresented, from across the county; Lowestoft to Subdury, and everywhere in between. Went out to Southwold Theatre to see Sex and death in Southwold, a play by Robin Brooks – meta irony all round. Meanwhile a day in Yarmouth to see/hear Yarmonics – really enjoyed the gong bath and Ecka Mordecai’s set that was beautifully slight, as if the sound was almost something, on its way to being…and the wonderful drum/text/word madness of Fritz Welch. Onto screens The Perfect Couple – a series where the only likeable characters are the police. Fly me to the moon – sky high politics. Kinds of Kindness – disjointed oddness. The bike riders – great leathers but a film looking for a story. The Union – man out of place.

dualitybalance

Working on several sculptural pieces – thinking about duality, exploring the idea of setting up a dialogue. Looking at the inherent material qualities of stuff I’ve been collecting that has been waiting in the studio, some of it over 35 years sitting on a shelf! Onto screens – We are Lady Parts – funny and addressing important issues. IF – great premise but lacking a script. Drive Away Dolls – gave up. Just started Dark Matter which is turning into a real mind twister. The End We Start With – harrowing example of what is to come

insidespaces

working on a new approach with the 3D printing, thinking about using the printer to create shapes to be made into moulds, using a different material, possibly concrete maybe. onto screens – The New Look – Nazi, fashion, Paris, frocks – what’s not to like? – well…….Poor Things – plane crash, abandoned young women, desert Island – what could go wrong? - well........Suze – Empty nest, dodgy boyfriend, spoilt child - what’s not to like? – well…….

8setsinaneditionof6

Just added new work to my website – information about the 3D printing I’ve been involved in – looking good. The prizes for synthetic anatomy are ready – some 3D printed pieces for individuals who contributed to the classroom discussions making the sessions work for everyone. There are 8 sets of prints each in an edition of 6 for teams who have attained impressive examples in a range of categories.   

iminabook!

I’m in a book! Pattern and Chaos in Art, Science and Everyday Life (Book) Critical Intersections and Creative Practice. By Sarah Horton and Victoria Mitchell some work I made whilst in resident at Nanotech DTC in Cambridge. Working on some 3D structures using a present – PLA that gradually blends from one colour to another – the first one looks totally alien. Saw Little Shop of Horrors at the Wolsey in Ipswich – intriguing musical that kept me interested throughout all the show tunes in that it seems to comment on capitalism/slavery. Onto screens – Land of bad –the caring might of America demonstrated through drones and expensive technology! Code 8 part 11 – superhuman powers, robots, authoritarian state – what could go wrong. The Gentleman – wonderful, glorious nonsense. Just at the beginning of Masters of the Air – truly shocking visceral, footage that depicts the utter madness of flying in a metal box into a war zone.

badstuffandgoodstuff

Just about to start work on synthetic anatomy – this iteration is going to be better than ever. Barbie Pink! Changing the colour has an interesting effect on the structure of the latest prints. A fascinating morning at Greenwich Maritime Museum – interesting to see how embedded textile activity was in enabling Great Britians colonial history – rigging, sails, uniforms – the usual! The walk into town to White Cube along the Thames was fascinating. Great to meet friends and see for the third time The Gormley Show. Later a surprise birthday party (great fun!!) topped off the day. Onto screens – The Holdover – strangely slow but worth the effort. Infinity Pool – gloriously traumatic, fantastic. Lift – a heist on a plane lacking twists.

behindyou

boooooooo - behind you – on-no-it-isn’t, oh-yes-it-is – Dick Whittington,The panto at the New Wolsey in Ipswich was truly excellent – alternative words to well known songs, a new type of set and the addition of an evil character alongside the caustic dame – what more do you want! Meanwhile creating new 3D printed structures but have been sidetracked by the imagery in the software.  

morethinking

Working on a new strand of work – in a very meta way I’m projecting films of my hands manipulating the articulated structures onto 3D structures that have been developed from the initial investigation. Some breathing in – London - October Gallery - El Anatsui. Brunei Gallery at SOAS - extraordinary endeavours. British Library - treasures. Barbican Curve - Julianknxx. White Cube - Gormley. Raven Row - Lutz Bacher. Spruth Mangers - Fischli & Weiss. Sadie Coles - Diago Marcon. Vitrine - Luis Enrique Zela-Koort. Hauser and Wirth - Avery Singer. Then we have Bond Street Windows - Channel and Dior. The Gormley show is exceptional, I especially loved the realignment and size of the doorways! Onto screens – The Wolfs Call – the soundtrack is stunning, the foley artists having a ball. Freelance – were all having a ball making this film.

colouristhething

So…. Heaven seventeen at UEA – what a lark – grown up old people having fun – Penthouse and Pavement has been on the turntable off and on since I bought it in 1981! But the highlight for me was Glen Gregory singing The Power of Love with ‘just’ a guitar and a full on version of Being Boiled, quite possible one of my top Human League tracks – it’s always best to leave the house! Moving into colour with the 3D printing is an interesting move. The layers are more visible and the whole object feels ethereal. Onto screens - The Creator – great sets and spaceships with an awesome soundtrack. The Crown is teeth clenching awful for the family – just sad. See you on Venus – quirky best friend material. Nyad – there is a lot of swimming, relentless amounts!

newthinking

Continuing the work of exploring bookwork thoughts with 3D printing – extending some of the strands of research. The pieces with the translucent material have become more complex in their construction, seeing the internal structures gives the impression of freezing individual ‘sheets’ in time. Adding colour is something I’ve wanted to get involved with for a while, defining edges and enabling the feeling of floating. The monochrome piece takes the work back to referencing basketwork, playing with the layers gives it the ‘handmade’ quality. Onto screens - Bottoms - was fun once you get into the humor, Killer – the voice over was a decision and music choice took the Smiths to another place, deep into Minx – loving the back and forth between main characters.

insideandoutsidebecomeone

Continuing to develop my thinking and work with 3D printing. The new series of works started off looking at a single page, capturing it as it turns. The pages are bisected, fixing a stillness within the work, although the page appears trapped in time. The transparency of the material brings an ethereal quality, enabling the interior spaces too be viewed, inside and outside become one. Onto screens – Past Lives is beautiful but so painfully sad. No Hard Feelings had a very odd tone to it. Time, the woman’s prison version was too harrowing to get past the first episode.

lookingandreadingtheexquisite

I think that I’m starting to get the hang of this 3D printing! Onto London for a very old friends significant birthday – music, talking, wine and people I haven’t seen in a while but are always there….lovely – I even got to DJ a little – well I played records one after another…..While in London I went to see the show at Raven Row - Aye by Lutz Bacher. It is exquisite, truly moving. The work and shows at Raven Row are always amazing but I think this is one where the artwork has become part of the space and vice versa. Opening a closed door becomes the work. Enabling the sounds to drift in and out, doors banging, footsteps and people talking via with the sound pieces. #mostexcellent. I’m in the middle of reading Richard Wingate’s-  The Story of the Brain in 10½ Cells. https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-story-of-the-brain-in-101-2-cells/richard-wingate/9781788162968 It’s a joyous accessible read about some important stuff! – I started to make notes and I found myself almost transcribing the whole book – so I stopped – some key notes so far though include….A roadmap to an answer of a riddle - 2D drawing of a blurred 3D object - The idea of style in medical drawings - To draw is to know - Great speculation = the use of photographic solution in staining cells might enable us to see that the brain might contain frozen still images - Purkinje cell array converts time into space - Our construction of a perceptual world suddenly appeared to be a tremendous piece of theatre, engineered by our brains, to convince us that sensations are complete and reliable while concealing a script of hasty translations and omissions - The sound/language of brain cells. So compellingly enjoyable. onto screens – Mission Impossible was very funny with incredible stunts, well real things filmed! Equalizer 3 has another eclectic array of ways to effectively kill people speedily. I’m in the middle of season 3 of The Morning Show, the dark venal activity depicted is skin crawling, although not as much as Partygate – the program drips with undeserved privilege, the two worlds it presents are so disturbingly contrasting and yet nothing has changed – how about that.

collectingthinking

I have been working with 3D printing over the past 6 months with a specific idea in mind. I’ve been attempting to create work that is on the edge of collapsing, trying to explore the ‘handmadeness’ within the process. The output of 3D printing often leads to the design route, making art with it is a challenge but when pushing its structural parameters, the work starts to reference natural structures. After a great conversation at Kings this week I realised that I have been working with ideas adjacent to the engineering concept that is "form-finding”, a design process by which the shape of structures and systems is determined. The idea is to achieve the optimal form that delivers dynamic stability, adaptability, and sustainability. It considers structural stability, functionality, and beauty.

A busy weekend - Managed to get to Dance East – I’ve missed so many dance events due to clashes - being away and friends significant parties but the double bill unknown realms was too much of a pull even on a Friday night after a busy week - not excellent but interesting. Prompted conversation about what's new in dance, focused on ideas of the modern and contemporary.  Next up Laurence Edwards and Alex Jennings at Jubilee Hall. Live sculpting while talking about creating characters. A truly mesmerizing experience, I was captivated, and the 2 hours just flew by, being totally in the room was exhausting, focusing on the experience of watching somebody make something in real time.

I reflected on the visual memory I have after experiencing all the museums and galleries I have encountered, and all the objects within. The idea of learning through making, how we experience the world through our hands as much as our eyes. Ingold argues that creativity emerges from within an ongoing, improvisational process between makers, materials, and other non-human things such as tools and the physical environment. Also, Ideas around public/private, the studio and the gallery v the rehearsal room and the stage, – something I’ve thought about with the scientists and the science spaces I have worked with and in. some words from a previous experience...........

“The glove box and the laboratory are very specific spaces. That they often protect the specimen within the experiment from us rather than us from it is an intriguing idea. These spaces created to manipulate objects are contained, clean, dry in an attempt to be 'non'.   Within this extraordinary space, specific materials and situations are monitored, ready to be recreated, actions controlled to be repeated. These spaces have their parallel in the art world: the space of the gallery, the white cube where the art is on show, an anonymous space where the art is supposedly the focus. Obviously, no space is neutral and each have their meanings, which can be read, but the aspiration to create a static continuum brings to mind the words of Heraclitus 'No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.'  It appears that science and art are constantly trying to create a time and space where the river is still”.

 

modularmirroring

Exploring the idea of mirroring – some digital images captured within the 3D building software – some thoughts – the images are reminiscent of the cell division that occurs at the point where life begins within the body. The folds resemble the physical paper structures that I was working on a couple of years ago. Chelsea College of Art have been digitising some of the work in their Artists Book Collection – I have some in the collection and they have digitised a couple of them – it’s a great resource if you are interested in ideas around the book. https://digitalcollections.arts.ac.uk/collection/?code=CAB Meanwhile onto screens – catching up with the hysterically funny and cleverly written Cleaner on BBC. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – unfortunately adding time travel to the saga doesn’t make it any more interesting.