seeingthelight

has the world gone mad - or is it just sad? found this at Peterborough train station - it is a real thing - anyway another way of dealing with the public is trust - which was much in evidence at the free, un-gated festival in Lowestoft.

First light was a thing - Talvin Singh at 4:00 in the morning - playing in the dawn sunrise was very special but Circadian by Rosie Lee was the real highlight - it consisted of 24 on the hour 10 minute pieces. Each time it was the same movement and sound but the dancers were different, the age of the dancers grew throughout the 24 hours. I think I managed to see about 10 ish - it was tremendously moving - the security of similarity enabled the mind to be flooded with ideas about life, rhythms, death. The poignancy of the subtle differences of the dancers movements brought tears to the eyes. The piece growing and changing with each iteration.

The sound was so haunting Isaac Lee-Kronick who was there the whole time playing live was a star.

The film will be great - I hope there is a version where  all the dancers blend into each other over a 10 minute period. The exhibition Print Matters in Poland organised by Majka Dokudowicz and Mariusz Gorzelak at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Art and Design, Wrocław has just closed - I had a piece in the show as it was made up of work from The University of the West of England's collection

Meanwhile on the way to New Designers to hang the NUA Textile Design stand - there is always a sense of full-onness when attending - so many hopes and dreams crushed into such a small hot space.

itsthattimeoftheyear

well the second exhibition I have been part of this season is finished - the Textile Design BA show at NUA looks good - some great bold images and detailed material manipulation - it opens on Monday night, although I will be at New Designers putting up the third show. Meanwhile plans for the forth, the Book Art MA at Camberwell are underway. We start building next Tuesday. This time of year is full of possibilities.

Having a week in a hotel in Barnsley meant that I caught up with all the latest Netflix offerings - Always be my Maybe - surprise, it all come right in the end............ Murder Mystery - fun, of a kind............

hanginghangingmoreandmorestuff

So after the private view at NUA, which I think went well. I thought the space was excellent but I had little feedback and you never know if you are pleasing everybody/anybody - students/parents/family/staff/academics/industry and past/present/future/prospective/proto students, it has been a week in London - Tuesday hanging work at the Business Design Centre for the BA Textile Design students at New Designers and then Friday was being in the space at the show talking with 'independent designers' rather than students, although the transition is awkward for both sides, watching individuals taking responsibility is always interesting to observe. The work and stand look ok and as ever New Designers is gloriously overwhelming and every second or first year student who is serious about being a designer should go to experience the awe and fear that is seeing the work of people who have worked harder, make more work and will try and are setting out to try and take your job. I'm always a little stunned when a persons first time at New Designers is when they exhibit.

Wednesday and Thursday was all about curating and supporting the students work for the MA Book Art Exhibition at Camberwell.  

http://events.arts.ac.uk/event/2018/7/12/Camberwell-MA-Visual-Arts-Summer-Show-2018/ The show is very specific and focused with each student developing a truly individual body of work that they own from initial research to the final pieces. Whilst supporting the hanging of the Book Art I noticed some interesting printmaking worth seeing. The shows will look great - the private view for the MA is on the 12th put it in your diaries, its always a roadblock so maybe come the following day to see the work, although that is the day of the Anti Trump march so you might be busy. 

Saw the textiles and sculpture degree shows at The Royal College - textiles had lots of interesting material exploration well displayed and sculpture was full of stuff. 

Went to the Barbican to see the truly fabulous Taylor Mac: a 24 decade History of Popular Music. It was chaotically beautiful, engaging, great fun with full-on gently serious politics - I loved Taylor's take on fear and disgust and the general desire of the audience to get on with each other, to support and share. A marvellous great night out - cant wait for the 24 hour version. https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/taylor-mac-24-decade-history-popular-music-barbican_46983.html

Read this at a friends house in a book about Pompeii - seems apt.

Now the crickets pierce the thickets with their repetitive cry, now even the speckled lizard takes shelter in the coolness. If you are wise, lie back and make a libation with summer-weight glassware, or, if you wish, we'll bring out the new goblets of crystal. Come, you are weary, rest in the grape and bind your heavy head with a chaplet of roses. Cull kisses from a tender maid. Forget about those who raise old-fashioned eyebrows! Why keep fragrant garlands for ungrateful ashes? Do you want your bones to lie under a garland-carved stone? Set out the wine and the dice. To hell with him who cares for the morrow. Death plucks your ear and says 'Live now, for I am on my way!'

somanynotes

so many notes 1!!! - a 10:00 evening slot at Aldeburgh Festival with Messiaen's Petites esquisses d'oiseaux and La Fauvette des jardins played by Lorenzo Soules - its abstraction was exhilarating - it was an extraordinarily powerful experience.

so many notes 2!!! - dropped into the British Museum - while it's still there and free I thought that I would drop in on the way to new designers. it's always best to see just one room as the space can be overwhelming - decided on money - it is truly a wonderful display of mans ability to suspend belief, create abstract realities and false Gods.

some films - whisky tango foxtrot - http://gb.imdb.com/title/tt3553442/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2  a devastating chaotic film that spins gloriously out of control in so many ways. is this what we do in other places? everyone wants some!! - http://gb.imdb.com/title/tt2937696/ unsure of the films tone - glorying in sexist 'frat boyness'! or irony light? - if just a 'joke' who is it on? - it often felt like the audience. But after the film within the credits is where the film starts to explore something of the issues at hand - each character raps with thoughtful lyrics over cleverly specific music that explores and deconstructs their character and ultimately what each charter stands for. The revised fundamentals of caregiving - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2452386/ a beautiful life affirming film - you will laugh you will cry.

a day at new designers - building the stand - it really is key that year 1 and 2 students on courses  attend - without the knowledge of seeing other students work they are at a disadvantage.

the build and hang for the MA Book Art Show at Camberwell is over - it really is a dynamic exhibition with many wonderful conversations between the works taking place - curating and hanging it is one of the highlights of my teaching year - lots of learning taking place within wonderful conversations with creative people - it will be a winner - all the Postgraduate courses are they - check it out - 14th - 20th July - http://events.arts.ac.uk/event/2016/7/14/Camberwell-College-of-Arts-Postgraduate-Summer-Show-2016/?_ga=1.166516542.1278468922.1440491599

hanginglookingandlookingforward

How do you manage to make dinosaurs boring? Well Jurassic World has managed just that – dull dull dull and oddly it has a number of misjudged moments of violence towards women which I found unnecessary. Meanwhile if you are in the area the barkcloth show at the British museum is quite gorgeous – tucked away in room 91 it shows a wide range of approaches to the making of cloth from bark along with some startling graphic designs - as a bonus you get to walk past the mummies on the way there and make exciting connections between the two displays. The image of how the chief of the Nadrau Tui Nadrau wrapped the cloth around him so that with one pull it could all be removed and presented to a visitor was wonderfully odd. http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/shifting_patterns.aspx

The Agnes Martin at The Tate is quite sublime – room 5 has a number of large grid paintings – they talk of duality – inside outside, freedom restraint, closed open, random order. The room of drawings on paper gives you an insight into the process of conceiving these pieces – its a must see show. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/agnes-martin

The Norwich Textile design course has a stand at New Designers again this year – spent most of Monday building it - I left it looking very clean and structured – it will be interesting to see it with the students work in/on/around it when I have a stint manning it on Thursday. The students on the MA Book Art Course are in their last week of developing  work before we hang it next week for their graduation show. It was good to be in the space with a tape measure and begin to see how the pieces made by individuals become a collective joint show.........hopefully!

thecompetitionisoutthere

A busy week at NUA putting together the finishing touches to our stand for New Designers which starts next week. There’s some exciting work being made by NUA students specifically for the show. NUA have their degree show at the same time as New Designers so new work has to be made – the students have made some of their best work, scaling up and pulling together ideas that they have been working/thinking about for a year. Chelsea and Central St Martin’s students don’t have this issue as their show closes before. I went to see their final years work on Saturday to see what the competition is doing. Chelsea Textiles was excellent as ever – inventive use of traditional techniques, especially knit and weave, some intense use of hand stitch, bold use of colour and strong design skills. Unsure about Fine Art – I am sure they have a policy about the quality of students work in relationship to where they are hung. There is a wide range of work in terms of quality and actual making and the general level of thought or care is mixed – maybe it’s great to be a student there, next to the Tate, but the final show always feels a little underwhelming, unlike Graphics which is scarily organised – tight and professional. Back at Kings Cross Menswear Fashion at Central was a highlight but I found the Women’s wear a little tacky and theatrical, although the Look Books were exciting and full of inventive ideas. Jewellery at Central was ingenious, new uses for traditional techniques, exciting use of established materials and some new materials. The same went for the Jewellery at the RCA but just that little bit more polished. The RCA show as a whole was just so dam good – a real pleasure to walk around – excellent, totally creative work alongside a professional attitude. The work in the Sculpture Space has to be the highlight of the work at Battersea although I did enjoy the Glass and Ceramics work in the Dyson Building.

I hope that year 2 students at NUA get to New Designers to see what’s out there - their competition is very good and they need to know. Or not!!

newthingsbecomeoldthings

a day out in London to see the final show at Chelsea and both sites at the RCA. As ever the standard of the textile work at Chelsea was of a very high quality and the graphics ‘tight’ fuled by solid thinking. the spaces for the RCA show are quite wonderful and the work in general matched it in general – it really is important to see the work of other colleges to check oneself – on that note Monday was a day at the design centre in Islington setting up the stand for New Designers. the actual stand looks good – focused with a professional edge – hope the work matches it.
symposium 2 at Camberwell was a full day – 19 students presentations with me providing the chair/continuity/timekeeping role. some truly wonderful presentations – some of the best I have ever seen used the space of the presentation to test and challenge elements of their practice – a real joy.
the MA Book Art Course is moving from Wilson’s rd to Peckham rd and the rooms are all empty but for packing cases. i came across a room with empty cabinets that used to hold the Camberwell decorative arts collection. the negative space created by the objects talked of loss and time and ultimately change – which we are all heading into in higher education.