tablesandvinyl

The table displays for synthetic anatomy at Kings were amazing – some fantastically imaginative contexts created for the 3D prints. A great haul in the Salvation Army shop over lunch. Onto screens – Poor Things – an excellent remake of the Pinocchio tale almost take for take.

translationasawayofbeing

A full day at Kings - What is gained through the process of translation? An initial idea, manifest in words focused into an equation and then made 3D in response. Following the process led to fantastical outcomes. I'm so excited to see how the projects develop and what the students eventually end up with. The afternoon was all about death and bodies - more drawing in the dissecting room. Being in the presence of so much emptiness is so odd yet strangely I seem drawn to the room and its otherness. The stacks of body parts can be disconcerting but when one part is laid out on the metal table, I feel able to focus my looking, making initial tentative marks, wanting to do 'right' in some way. Seager gallery https://www.seagergallery.com/matchmaking  has a great show of work that brings together 8 artists making work about video games, investigating the architecture of game spaces. It’s part of an ongoing series, the first of 4 shows. Onto screens - Upgraded – the usual strangers meeting on a plane etc Anyone but you – the usual strangers meet in a café etc – just finished Mr and Mrs Smith – what an ending!

indialoguewithourbrains

Quite possibly the best team building exercise ever - a great day at Kings running a workshop on the synthetic anatomy module. Working through Edward de Bono’s 6 thinking hats we set the task of devising an equation for a successful experiment there was many revelatory moments and simultaneously it enabled the groups to bond, each member sharing their skills and identifying their strengths. I think all courses with or without collaboration could use this idea. After lunch it was off to 3 hours of tattooing - l'm a little sore - the feet were particularly painful but it all looks amazing and as well as placement, where it explores the mechanics of the body the new work has an interesting dialogue with the existing marks - another beautiful job by @jims_skins There is a nice show @outpost.gallery in Norwich - they do a great job of supporting young practice with a scheme that gives access to free studio space. Liked the work of @alysfineart - lots of possibility in the pieces. Onto screens - Anatomy of a Fall – mesmerizing truths laid out to seduce your prejudice. The Boys in the Boat – initially unsure if this wasn’t a ‘Hallmark’ film – mawkish soundtrack. Next Goal Wins – I wanted it to be funnier. Started True Detective – 2 episodes in and I’m hooked.

magiciswithinusall

A fascinating session at Kings, working with Jon Armstrong enabled us to explore magic within a scientific context – thinking about the magic we all have, thinking about what constitutes magic - the information or secrets that we have accumulated over our practice. Reflecting on the session both in and on the moment and it gets me to thinking about the unseen, the value of stillness – the idea of direction and gesture. It will be interesting to embed these ideas into my day to day teaching as well as rethinking my approach to the studio and making. Reflecting on the idea of the secret took me to craft and the factory. How the experience of working within a scientific field has informed and influenced my making is something I’m constantly thinking about – it happens almost by osmosis – how new ideas have transformed my approach rather than thinking of the work being directly an illustration. The current 3D work explores the seen and unseen, the process of the body as an idea of the internal/external seen simultaneously. Something there and not there, fixed in the moment, the work itself and the idea of it changes as you move around the piece, in that timeframe it exists but it can shift form in a heartbeat, unfixed. This fluidity of thinking shifts away from a need to give objects fixed meaning, a move away from focusing on the object. The craft of 3D printing, using and thinking about the process, to go beyond seeing it as a tool to use, to manufacture, and to use it to explore ideas rather than a means to an end, creating rather than documenting, developing a dialogue with the machine, a language. Meanwhile I managed to see Imi Knoebel’s exhibition ‘Once Upon a Time’ at White Cube Bermondsey which was bright with possibilities. Leah Gordon’s extraordinary photographs Kanaval at Ed Cross Fine Art are extraordinary and mostly disturbing. Onto screens – Megan – disturbing in an OMG AI is taking over. Nolly – disturbing in a wasn’t the past terrible way. Infamously in love – disturbing in a tragic way. Banshee of Inisherin - disturbing in quiet dark way.

instructivepaperfolding

An instructive day at Kings, a puppetry workshop, working as part of synthetic anatomy, animating, and infusing life into inanimate sheets of paper run by Alicia Britt. Lots to think about and potentially some things to incorporate into my own workshop toolbox. If you have several lifetimes, or maybe a couple of days, there is an extraordinary show at the newly reopened Raven Row gallery – called People make Television its hours of TV from the 70s where in a modern-day short-lived experiment into public ownership of open door broadcasting the BBC provided access to cameras and the skills to make programs. All you had to do was to have an idea with a community focused issue and complete a form. Its an astounding repository, a snapshot of the 70s  in all its darkness. On the way home dropped into Big Women at Firstsite, an eclectic exhibition/collection of art made by women, the private view was solid, and it was great to meet so many familiar faces. Being in Colchester was an opportunity to check up on a large public artwork I created for Distillery Pond. Its always odd to return to former work but it was great to see that it was as I had last left it. The words cut into the stone resonated and the shape reflecting what was once there. It stands as an object that has almost lost its connection to its formation but still has purpose. Onto screens - You People – funny in parts - a return to form for Eddie Murphy, but it is what it is. The Fabelmans – awesome and so clever, a gloriously celebratory film about the making of films that explores film making. The Vow – did they run out of money at the end? The Locksmith – so many inevitable scenarios. All the bright places – just so sad. Empire of Light – gentle yet forceful.

intergenerationaltraumaexpressedthroughpaper

I've been playing with the scan created at kings after a synthetic anatomy session - very odd to see a 3D rendering of my head looking back at me. When these become our ID 'card' it will be challenged at first. The 3rd session of synthetic anatomy was all about communication, starting off by exploring symbols and graphic devices within patterns, then illustrating text with shapes and sculptural paper construction, creating creatures which led to families, touching on genetics and finally landscape building, the engagement with the process was all encompassing, developing work that was truly meaningful. Still getting over the group who created a body of work which focused on intergenerational trauma. They created one of the most striking images to come out of a workshop I have given, along with some thoughtful reflection throughout the whole group. Meanwhile onto screens Plane - it was what you expect from an action thriller staring Gerard Butler. Deep into season 2 of Hacks - truly hilarious in a painful way. 

48hoursofstuff

A busy 48 hours in London – meeting the new line up for synthetic anatomy at Kings was great – it’s going to be a good one with some interesting performative ideas to explore – it was also nice to see past models on the notice boards around the lab. Back to 3D printing – a new piece that is a replica of itself within itself. The work has the two pieces locked together reflecting themselves without touching. It’s an offshoot path of research but also related to ‘pages’ within a book in some way. Managed to check out the shows at Goldsmith’s – great work from Cinzia Ruggeri – surrealist fashion madness, Testing Ground is a wonderful set of shows at The Science Museum at Kings – Particle Shrine is particularly exciting – the installation takes live data from five cosmic ray detectors installed at Science Gallery and from the Super-Kamiokande neutrino observatory in Japan to transform invisible particles into an audio-visual experience. The Horror show at Somerset House is a promising premise but curatorially lacking. So many gaps, although it was great to see Blue by Derek Jarman again. Onto screens – deep into Hacks – which explores a dark mentorship that forms between Deborah Vance, a legendary Las Vegas comedian, and an entitled, outcast 25-year-old – darkly funny.

megachippyfindfound

2 months late but made it to the Binley Mega Chippy on the way to my Auntie Marge's  funeral where I came across a great ‘found text’! - think Bob Cobbing……I recently spent the day at FLEXchange at Kings - so nice to be around like-minded people, although from different backgrounds and starting points. Creative thinking fueled all the conversations. I was there to facilitate an arts/science/well being workshop. We had to devise, develop, and present a proposal for an actual issue. My group focused on community building and the issue of stifling bureaucratic systems in academic life and the way in which fear governs our decisions, both as students and lecturers. How can you create a sense of ownership or have agency to build a community in such a structural bureaucratic stranglehold? We came up with the idea of using coloured paper and coloured pens to demonstrate the idea of a curriculum that fits nobody as the participants have not been considered in the delivery. You may have delivered content (pens) but did it land (paper)? A truly half full kind of day. Meanwhile onto screens – the glorious Good Luck to you Leo Grande was moving and open.  Books - just finished reading and found myself agreeing with much of Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century by John Higgs. It is full of great revelations and one of the many coincidences/revelations I had was reading about Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Laringhaven for the first time in the book whilst simultaneously seeing her work in Venice. The book is full of interesting facts and connections - recommended if you are unsure about the world we are living in, there are no answers but lots to think about - did you know the police force had a pagan society? Or that before the Americans celebrated and courted Werner von Braun and rushed him from Nazi Germany to build their space program, he was responsible for the death of 20 thousand slaves through forced labor whist building his underground factory that developed the V2 rockets. 

foldedpharmacology

Working with some articulated cardboard structures redesigned, with a new intention, this time looking to explore the complex world of receptor pharmacology. The body is a truly amazing thing - actions as a result of actions. 

startingpoints

Started two new projects. 1 - Working with Jubilant! on a project for Milton Meadow with Stowupland High School and Red Gables to re-imagine a space within the school grounds. It’s exciting to be in on something from the beginning, speaking at an assembly to lay the groundwork and determine who will be involved is going to be a blast. 2 - Receptor pharmacology at Kings, creating teaching models that explore the phenomena is going to be a ride. Problem solving and lateral thinking using material understanding. It’s what we do. My voice is to be in the British Library sound archive - in the dim and distant past I worked on an MA at Camberwell College of the Arts called Book Art. Early in the course structure we initiated a symposium, that was subsequently adopted into the MA pathway - anyway an iteration of this was apparently recorded and now resides in their archives, along with a presentation I gave. So, if you ever get the inclination to hear over 14 hours of voices from another time, talking on a course that no longer exists you know where to go! onto screens - Windfall - a dark and twisted film played out by fractured characters. Time to Hunt - gangster light revenge tale. A woefully boring experience but with good acting, played for laughs - on how did that happen? Operation Mincemeat – odd stiff upper lip romp. Uncharted – 'twisty-turney' romp. Ozark season 4 complete – just so dark

sharingthelearning

An extraordinary day at Kings. The Knowing through Making conference was such a positive day. It was a great opportunity to share some of the experiences I have had from my engagement with the synthetic anatomy module and my general engagement with the world of science. Working in this world and creating and giving the talk was, as ever a joy. Constructing and presenting a talk is always a learning experience, an opportunity of reflection on the amazing journey I have had with my association and collaborative within the science world. I always feel welcome and what I bring from the world of 'art school' thinking is valued highly. Running the 3 workshops with Celia Pym was most excellent, I think we gave a flavor of the student experience to the conference delegates through presentations and especially the workshops. https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/knowing-through-making-les-bicknellppt link is to the presentation, although the many gifs embedded within the talk don't animate on the platform. Images from one of the workshops show the need of the groups to work intimately in collaboration. 

watchingandthinkingintwoplaces

a busy week – continuing to work on mapping the articulated structures – this time creating spaces rather than focusing on lines. I had a fascinating day this Wednesday – the morning with BSc Science communication students at Kings, London talking about my practice within a sci-art context. My hybrid multi-disciplinary practice fits well within an organisation that values thinking at the edges, where questions and process are valued above defined outcomes.  A mini workshop within the talk looked at how to communicate ideas by understanding the views of others and what they bring to the conversation. In the afternoon I was at artstation working with year 11 pupils from Saxmundham, Suffolk creating bookworks that explore, document, celebrate their lives. Onto screens – Dog and The Eyes of Tammy Faye were both a little too patriotic for my taste, although the costumes of the tele evangelist was wonderfully odd, Turning Red had some good animation, but the storyline had some flaws. Deep into F1 season 4 – insane, just insane.  

spacesbuildingspaces

Working to develop the roof plate project - started to explore the possibility of mapping the structures – when manipulating the form the shapes created reveal the internal stresses and connections within the structure. Joining the individual elements with angles delivers unexpected shapes.