The Occasion Collective - SLOW at Durham Castle

Last Saturday evening I had the pleasure of experiencing SLOW, an immersive live sound performance and promenade held in the majestic grandeur of Durham Castle, hosted by The Occasion Collective (TOC).

"TOC is a curatorial and practice-based artist-led collective which provides artists with the opportunity to exhibit, develop and collaborate.with a focus on engaging new audiences with spectacular and speculative creative practice. TOC champions transdisciplinary collaboration, and creates a much-needed platform for artists of varied disciplines for mutual benefit."

SLOW by Jamie Cook, looks to explore the possibilities of acoustic/electronic collaboration through large-scale, immersive, meditative, promenade performance and installation. Cook’s work often utilises mixed media collaboration, exploring the relationships between art/music/dance/film and how the lines between these practises can be blurred to create new and interesting possibilities.

In response to Cook's work, the history and heritage of Durham Castle and it's surrounding research, TOC artists Bex Harvey, James Pickering and Adam Goodwin displayed a number of audio-visual installations. 

As the musicians played in the Castle's Great Hall, the complex, poly-rhythmic, surround-sound textures created were channelled throughout the winding stairs and underground chapel and a number of other hidden locations within the Castle grounds. The Castle came alive and there was a really special vibe as people bustled round trying to find all that was to be seen. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and was not expecting for it to be as extensive as it was. The only slight downsides were that it was very difficult to hear the audio from the videos as the audio from the Great Hall was so well circulated throughout the entire Castle. 

My other mildly critical comment would be that it would have been useful to know how many video works or other artworks there were to find. A map would have guided us round, but I appreciate that the artists may have wanted for things to be less obvious and add to the sense of discovery as one wanders around.

SLOW - Composed by Jamie Cook

Performed by

Jamie Cook (electronics)

Will Hammond (vibraphone)

Merle Harbron (fiddle)

Ceitidh Macleod (cello)

Adam Sams (bass clarinet)










https://youtu.be/YSlu5WpGZJQ

Plan of action

If you step inside the Newcastle University Fine Art department at the moment you are likely to detect an unusual energy in the atmosphere. This is an energy consisting of multiple emotions, from excitement and anticipation to frustration and anxiety.

We, (the 10 current MFA students) are less than 2 weeks away from the opening of the Master of Fine Art Exhibition. For half of the cohort, this will be the final exhibition marking the end of their 2 year postgraduate studies, and the other 5 students have another year to look forward to! When I look back at what I have done in the 2 years, I can see how far my work has travelled, and am pleased that I have really challenged myself and tried out new ways of working. I started the first year making plaster cast sculptures, and am now working with audio and video installation alongside some performance! I love how this multidisciplinary approach gives me the freedom to remain true to my ideas and realise them in the most appropriate way.

There are, of course, many problems associated with such a way of working, and my unfamiliarity with some of the things I am using has lead to some sleepless nights and the occasional curse erupting from my mouth!

My head feels bombarded with things to remember and tasks that need to be done. I am an avid list writer, and at the moment this is the stage that I am at:

 

It's easy to be totally consumed by your own work, and it is exciting to venture into the other students spaces and see the changes and progression of their work.

I shared a wonderful moment of satisfaction with Bex Harvey as we admired the set that she is constructing. Just look at that column!

For more photos of other works in progress keep checking the MFA Exhibition Facebook page and event page

https://www.facebook.com/events/999149123537368/1025413827577564/?notif_t=admin_plan_mall_activity&notif_id=1470662454055115

MFA Summer exhibition website up and running!

As we head towards the MFA Summer exhibition, check out the MFA Summer exhibition website containing information and images about all the artists involved:

http://fineart.ncl.ac.uk/ma2016/













Anna MacRae
Bex Harvey
Hannah Elizabeth Cooper
Harriet Sutcliffe
Helen Shaddock
James Quin
Jim Lloyd
Liying Zhao
Mehan Fernando
Michael Mulvihill
Mirela Bistran
Yein Son