Spoken Word in the news

"The rising popularity of spoken word poetry is giving a voice to artists like Dylema.

She tells the BBC's Izin Akhabau that it's "so amazing" to have platforms to be on stage and say her truth."

Torn between her Nigerian roots and upbringing in Britain, she didn't know where to call home and so she decided to make poetry her home.

When asked how Spoken Word differs from written poetry, she explains that Spoken Word takes more of a performative stance than more conventional poetry on a page.




Her favourite Spoken Word artists are "those that are the bravest, that say it and deliver it in a way that is entertaining, striking and forges a connection between the performer and the audience."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-41770258/spoken-word-poetry-is-one-of-the-purest-artforms

Collage

Collage

Women and Sexism in the Arts

On Wednesday the BBC radio 4 programme Front Row focused on the issue of sexism and the treatment of women in the arts. 

Vicky Featherstone, artistic director of London's Royal Court Theatre, actor and director Maureen Lipman and Helen Lewis, deputy Editor of the New Statesman discussed how leaders in the creative industries are responding.


Other topics of conversation included to what extent is the portrayal of women across film, theatre, music and visual art defined by the male gaze? And how easy is it for female artists to claim ownership of their own image?


Photographer Annie Leibovitz, Feminist Art Historian Tamar Garb, Dance critic Luke Jennings and Jacqueline Springer, music journalist and senior lecturer at University of Westminster also joined in with the discussion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b099v302

'Dance Number' by Louise Hopkins

Mackintosh Building Wall Commission

The Glasgow School of Art


Artist wall commission (2017) 
Digital print on metal, on wood panels. 2.44m x 12.2m. Copyright the artist. Photo: Alan Dimmick.

"Dance Number is a new commission, situated directly opposite the Reid Building, on the temporary wall that surrounds the historic Mackintosh Building whilst restoration is underway.

The artwork responds to its location as part of a building site and busy loading bay. Dance Number forms and performs its own rhythm of hand drawn grid, with red, blue and black geometric shapes. It responds to the lines created by scaffolding, the pedestrian barriers and signs and the movement of people working on, in and around the building. Whilst Dance Number is a separate and unique piece, it has evolved from a chain of reproductions moving from the handmade to the digital.

Louise Hopkins is an artist and part-time lecturer in GSA School of Fine Art. Her practice involves working with what already exists in the world; making paintings onto surfaces that already contain information – such as world maps, patterned fabric and pages from books. Dance Number is her largest scale work to date. Hopkins is currently developing several large-scale works for outside locations."

http://louisehopkins.com/index.php/dance-number-2017/

Final few days to see REALITY CHECK at The NewBridge Project : Gateshead

Get yourself to The NewBridge Project : Gateshead before it's too late to see the current exhibition, REALITY CHECK.

Open Wednesday - Saturday
12pm - 5pm

232-240 High Street, Gateshead 
(very close to the Tesco Extra, METRO station, VUE cinema)

Final day is this Saturday 28th October

Villa Joe tapestry by Paul Noble at The Laing

This incredible tapestry by Paul Noble is currently hung in the Laing Art Gallery, and dominates the large wall space downstairs by the staircase. It is based on a previous pencil drawing by Noble, and has been created using hand-dyed yarn.



"It shows the stony landscape surrounding Villa Joe, a ‘personalised holiday villa’ near Noble’s imagined city of Nobson Newtown. The villa itself, a gigantic glass building in the shape of the name Joe, is depicted as a cabinet of curiosities filled with ornaments and stuffed animals. The stony landscape around the building is littered with allusions to Henry Moore, with rock formations echoing Moore’s reclining figures and helmet series."



I'm interested in the way that Noble has created three dimensional text. It took me a while to work out what the sentence was, which is useful to bear in mind as I am thinking about ways in which to make text more challenging to read for my recent publication, Portion Control.

Collages

I have an envelope filled with cuttings from magazines that I keep as visual research. They tend to be patterns, colour combinations, textures, shapes and designs that I am attracted to. The other day I was looking through the envelope and began to arrange images alongside each other and create a kind of visual layout board. I began to think about the comic books that I have been looking at, and the way that they rely on the layout to determine how something is read. It seems that I applied a similar strategy when placing images next to each other on the page. I was creating relationships between items and leading the eye round the board. It has been a really useful exercise to play with these arrangements, and they are more than visual research. I just haven't worked out what they are yet!

Portion Control

Having carefully considered and made the gallery furniture on which to display my new publication, Portion Control, I wanted to position the actual books in a manner that would complement the formal qualities of the table and stools. In keeping with the stools with their concertina folds, the publications were connected in a concertina fashion on the table.


This sculptural method of display provided the viewer with a glimpse into the publication as well as the outer cover. I enjoy the contrast between the inside and the outside, and hope that the viewer will be prompted to read the text.

I made the furniture child-sized and used candy colours for the work to give the impression that it is innocent and accessible. I hope that this contrast between the appearance and the written content of the publication will surprise the reader and make the work more powerful.

Live Stream footage of The Drone Ensemble performance at TUSK 2017

The TUSK Festival website features the live stream footage of the performance by The Drone Ensemble at The Sage.



It can be viewed via this link:

https://livestream.com/tusk/tusk2017/videos/164206934

Our set begins around 7mins 50seconds into the footage.



We also documented the performance ourselves and made a high quality audio recording. We will share these once we have edited the footage. So watch out for another blog post with more documentation.

Hans Grüsel's Krankenkabinet perform at TUSK 2017

Hans Grüsel's Krankenkabinet perform in a very theatrical manner. The three performers were transformed into Hansel and Grettle-like characters wearing huge fabric headgear that covered their entire face apart from a couple of holes for their eyes. Sporting a pretty pinafore dress, the violinist danced wildly around the stage in an energetic and enthusiastic manner so much so that she continuously had to readjust her headgear as it became loose. The seemingly innocent appearance was in contrast to their chaotic, wild and aggressive noise which left me feeling disquieted and in need of some fresh air!

"Hans Grüsel's Krankenkabinet is an ever-changing woodgrain diorama of dark forest characters. Using electronics, field recordings, acoustic instruments, props, costumes, and scenery, the ensemble explores the lost Teutonic rites of the past, while stumbling into the failure of the future."

http://www.hansgrusel.net/history.html

"What this band are like really can’t be done justice with a few pithy sentences. They’re genuinely like nothing you’ve heard before – and bizarre to the point of actually being quite disturbing: dwelling too long on their singular version Tea For Two can feel like you’re opening the door to a rapidly descending psychological staircase from which you may never escape. Heavy Vibes magazine had a good stab at defining the Krankenkabinet experience though – “Imagine yourself in a pre-WW1 German village where wooden children with mekanikal insides have taken over as they conspire to concoct the most demented Moog-driven kilng klang you’ve ever heard in your livenlife”. Lovers of Caroliner and last year’s sanity-tweakers Rubber O Cement will hear psychic parallels and there are rumours of shared personnel, clandestine though facts re Hans’ membership are. Whoever they are and whatever the hell they are doing though, this is going to be some kind of spectacle."
http://tuskfestival.com/artists/hans-grusels-krankenkabinet/

Staraya Derevnya performance at TUSK Festival 2017

Before the start of TUSK Festival 2017 I received an email from Gosha, one of the members of the collective, Staraya Derevnya, who was interested in The Drone Ensemble.



"Staraya Derevnya are a Russian/Israeli collective with a tangible feel of the steppe and the ice and a curious musical hybrid that suggests endless/lawless, hard-bitten territories but yet with submerged echoes of the Incredible String Band and MV+EE, or maybe Caroliner but with psychedelic stimulants forsaken in favour of eyesight-endangering homebrew hooch. Of course there are remnants of some kind of un-placeable folk music in there too, the ethno-musical signature of some imagined state long gone rotten, perhaps. And yes, fleetingly yet more than once there is a glimpse into what Comus would have sounded like had they been Russian. Staraya Derevnya make bewitching music that seems impossible to place in terms of direction and intention, like climbing into a cab only to realise its not a cab at all.."

Gosha explained that he was really excited about seeing The Drone Ensemble play as part of TUSK 2017, but that unfortunately the band had other commitments on Friday evening and so were going to miss our performance. We agreed to meet on the Saturday after Staraya Derevnya had performed in Sage 2.



I thoroughly enjoyed their performance, and found it very interesting talking to them about how they work together despite different members of the band being based in London, Moscow and Tel-Aviv. They play some of their own handmade instruments alongside sounds and noises and other instruments such as flutes, guitars, Theremin, Mbira, Shruti box and a kazoo. Vocals are in Russian. For their set at TUSK 2017 they worked with an artist to produce visuals for the performance. Hopefully The Drone Ensemble will get the opportunity to collaborate with Staraya Derevnya at some point in the future. Watch this space!

http://www.starayaderevnya.co.uk/

http://tuskfestival.com/artists/staraya-derevnya/

The Drone Ensemble perform in TUSK at The Sage

A few photos from an amazing event - more to come later!

Displaying 'Portion control'

When working with text, one of the challenges is deciding how to display it. There are many things to consider. For example, is it meant to be read aloud and listened to, is it to be performed, is it to be read individually by the audience members, and if so, how will they interact with the text? Is it on the wall so more than one person can read it at once, or in a publication that only one person can read at once. How is the text written? By hand or computer? Is it important to read the text as a whole, or does it consist of shorter individual parts to be read in any order? Are there images alongside the text? Is it part of an installation?

I am going to be exhibiting a text in the group exhibition, REALITY CHECK which opens on Friday. I know that the other artists in the group exhibition have a lot of wall based work, so I want to avoid adding to this. I personally find it quite difficult to read when I am in a gallery, so I want to give the audience the opportunity to take the text away so they can read it in their own time and situation of choice. I have therefore chosen to produce a small publication.



I want to ensure that the publications are not 'lost' amongst the rest of the work, and so I am making a table for the publications to be presented on, and some matching stools for people to sit on while they read the text. In keeping with the publication, Portion Control, I am painting the table to resemble a pie chart.

Finishing touches to my new publication for REALITY CHECK exhibition

Portion Control, my new publication that I will be exhibiting in REALITY CHECK, the forthcoming group exhibition at The NewBridge Project : Gateshead has been in the making for several months now.

In the form of a stream of consciousness, the text is an honest and raw account of a mundane activity that many find trivial, but is of significance to the narrator and others. The process of live experiential writing reveals the narrator’s meandering thoughts and preoccupations during a short period of time; self doubt, indecision, tiredness, relationships, the pressures of modern life.

Although the initial writing period was relatively quick, the text has gone through numerous edits and I have experimented with the format of the text and how it should be displayed. After much thought I have decided to make it into a publication and have incorporated my drawings into the design.

Here is a little taster:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

//// The NewBridge Project is setting up shop in Gateshead ////

Charlie Gregory, Director, The NewBridge Project, (left) with David Butler, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Newcastle University at The NewBridge Project : Gateshead (Image: Mike Urwin)

A pioneering new graduate development programme based in a new space on Gateshead High Street aims to develop the next generation of artists and creatives in the region.

The Collective Studio is a collaboration between Newcastle University’s Institute for Creative Arts Practice (NICAP) and The NewBridge Project.

It will see a formerly vacant shop unit on Gateshead High Street transformed into a base for 20 artists, photographers, curators, architects, filmmakers, musicians and writers as they begin their careers.

The Collective Studio will support the development of creative talent in the North East region and equip practitioners with the necessary skills to manage their creative practice, bridging the gap between University, studio-based practice, the gallery and the workplace.

Alongside The Collective Studio graduate programme, The NewBridge Project : Gateshead will also provide studios & workspace for artists at any stage of their career, a new home for NewBridge Project Space with a programme of contemporary exhibitions & commissions, as well as co-work and event space.



Julie Sanders, Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Newcastle University said: “Our graduates play a vital role in the cultural economy of the North East and this programme demonstrates the University’s commitment to furthering their contribution to our region’s unique cultural ecology.

“We are delighted to work with The NewBridge Project. Their development from a pop-up initiative to Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation in seven short years is testimony to the strength of talent our Universities produce and to the value of collaboration between higher education and the creative sectors.”

The Collective Studio will give participants the chance to be part of a vibrant and supportive community, shape their own programme of training and development events and provide opportunities for exhibiting and showcasing their work.

The NewBridge Project’s Director, Charlie Gregory, said: “The Collective Studio demonstrates our joint ambition to work together to support early-career artists to transition from education into professional practice.

“We are excited to be launching The Collective Studio with Newcastle University, who have shown invaluable support for NewBridge, our programme and artist-led approach as well as generating new forms of graduate support.

“The upcoming programme will see us working with a diverse group of practitioners focusing on peer-led development, radical approaches to programming and an alternative support framework helping encourage artists to live and work in the North East and develop new forms of practice.”

The year-long, cross-disciplinary programme will offer graduates subsidised shared studio and work space, helping generate a supportive and dedicated community of artists, makers, writers, architects, filmmakers, photographers, musicians and curators. Graduates will take part in professional practice workshops led by leaders in their respective fields, and peer-led events, such as workshops, talks, field-trips, performances, exchanges, one-to-one sessions and discussion groups will take place.

In addition, those on the programme will have access to a mentor and will be able to draw on expertise within Newcastle University and the region’s wider cultural sector. The programme will culminate with a showcase of work by The Collective Studio in September 2018.

/////

The Collective Studio is funded by Newcastle University Institute for Creative Arts Practice.

The Collective Studio has developed from a successful pilot trialled in 2016 and forms an integral strand in The NewBridge Project’s wider Practice Makes Practice, artist development programme which is supported by Arts Council England and Newcastle Culture Investment Fund at Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.

The NewBridge Project : Gateshead has been made possible by the support of Gateshead Council, TILT Workshop and Design Office at Newcastle University.

http://thenewbridgeproject.com/news/news-newbridge-sets-shop-gateshead/