Monthly Archives: May 2012

36th IAPL Conference: Archaeologies of the future, tracing memories, imagining spaces

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28 May – 3 June 2012, Tallinn University, Estonia

Ioannis Belimpasakis, Senior Printmaking Technician is presenting at the next IAPL annual conference with his lecture/performance entitled, ‘Re-mapping the Aura of Brain Activity IV’.  Ioannis’ lecture will take part in the session on ’Democracy to Come.’

DEMOCRACY TO COME
Organized and introduced by Sophia Panteliadou (Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria)

How is it possible to speak of democracy? The partage of political space as intervention of an impossible demand or as event (Ereignis) inscribes itself into language and into the democratic body. The interminable displacement of the present signifies the sense of ‚democracy to come’ referring to both meanings of différance: renvoi and spacing; becoming-space of time and becoming-time of space. Thinking the political as the experience of a performative act shapes the formation of everyday life enabling its transformation through the arts.

1. Sophia Panteliadou
Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
“Differantial Autoimmunity. Between Eleutheria and Exousia“

2. Ivo Gurschler
Department of Philosophy, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria
“Considering Psychedelic Studies (?)From Psychotomimetics to Entheogens“

3. Kasimir Sandbacka
Department of Literature, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
“All that is lasting goes up in smoke”— journeys through the future ruins of utopias in the works of Rosa Liksom

4. Thomas C. Was
Department of Philosophy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA
“Derrida on Carl Schmitt’s Absolute Philosophical Hostility”

5. Ioannis Belimpasakis
Department of Arts, Design and Architecture, Kingston University, London, U.K.
“Re-Mapping the Aura of Brain Activity IV“

For more information, please visit:
www.iapl.info/upcomingconference.php
www.iapl.info

 

 

Kingston landscape architecture graduate’s Edible Bus Stops transform London bus route

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Kingston landscape architecture graduate Will Sandy is aiming to change the hours that people spend at London bus stops for the better – with a landscaping project that will transform the spaces around bus stops into colourful, blossoming gardens.

His initiative, the Edible Bus Stop, was shortlisted in the grassroots community category of the Observer Ethical Awards, and is quickly gathering interest and support from communities around London.

The project started last year along the 322 bus route from Clapham to Crystal Palace, when more than 40 people turned up to guerilla garden a neglected plot of land next to the 322 Lambeth Hospital bus stop. Endorsed by the council, the project’s mission was simple – to create a lush, organic growing space for edibles and non-edibles, supporting community cohesion along the way. “One of the most interesting parts of working on the Edible Bus Stop is the opportunity it creates for conversations and meetings to happen, spaces for people to stop and engage, where normally they would walk past each other,” said Will.

Now, each disused plot of land along the route will become an attractive community landscape, based on designs submitted by university students, recent graduates and emerging practices across London. Installations of the Edible Bus Stop will be exhibited at the Chelsea Fringe Festival, the Hampton Court Flower Show and the National Gardening Show, as well as at London City Airport for the next three years.

With the long-term aim of rolling the project out to neglected or forgotten patches of earth all over London, Edible Bus Stop may well become part of the city’s vocabulary. Previously marked by silence and sullen faces, bus stops are set to become hubs of colour, cohesion and pride.

Kingston Landscape Architecture student achieves film success on an Olympic scale after winning a script writing competition

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Daniel Bailey, 22, took up the challenge to write a script that would reflect one of the seven Olympic and Paralympic values. Choosing the value ‘inspiration’ for his film The Boxer, the budding writer’s success has seen him catapulted into the film industry.

“Everything has happened so fast, I can’t quite believe it,” Daniel said. “I’ve always had an interest in film but never imagined my first script could end up making it on to the big screen.”

Daniel’s film explores the relationship between Michael – a young boxer just starting out in his career – and his grandfather who lies ill in a hospital bed. Facing his first bout without his granddad, Michael struggles to find the strength to go it alone and so goes to visit him looking for inspiration.

“The film is less an examination of the sport, instead the boxing provides a setting for the relationship between the characters to develop,” Daniel from Neasden, North London, explained. “Michael’s granddad inspires him and that is something that I can really relate to as I’m incredibly close to my own grandparents.”

The competition, set by Scruffbag Productions, was designed to engage young people in education through the arts. Daniel’s prize-winning script, one of 60 entries, was selected to be made into a 10-minute film.  “What made Daniel’s script stand out was the very human and touching relationship he created between his characters,” Henry Blake, co-founder of Scruffbag Productions and director of The Boxer said. “Daniel’s film impressed us so much that we even hope to enter it to the Cannes Film Festival next year.”

With the Olympics fast approaching, Daniel is already busy promoting his work in the run up to the games. The Boxer has already been screened at the Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise, London, and the Horse Hospital in Russell Square. It will be promoted across the United Kingdom as part of the 2012 Olympic celebrations and it will also be entered into the Raindance Film Festival in September.

Daniel was delighted when he heard that actor Paul Barber, best known for his roles in the film The Full Monty and as Denzil in long-running British comedy Only Fools and Horses, was keen to be involved in the project. “Being given the opportunity to work with Paul was amazing but a bit surreal,” Daniel said. “I’ve watched him on TV and in films since I was a kid and now I’m walking down the street with him after a production meeting. Everyone recognises him and I’m just so pleased he’s going to be in my film bringing the role of the grandfather to life!”

After making a name for himself appearing in films Sket and Anuvahood, up-and-coming actor Ashely Chin has been cast alongside Barber and plays the role of boxer Michael.

Working with a 13-strong crew, Daniel was able to have some hands-on experience the creative process. “I was given the chance to film a scene and also to get to grips with using a camera on a track,” he said. “Visually the cinematography looks great and seeing it all brought together in the editing process, I think the story comes across equally well in the finished film.”

Scruffbag Productions set up the Project 7 competition after receiving a commission from Brent Council and the West London Partnership of London 2012. The film will be promoted at events in the run up to this summer’s Olympic Games and there are hopes that The Boxer will feature as the arts contribution for Brent Council.

Daniel has not let his new-found fame get in the way of his landscape architecture studies at Kingston University though. “I think having other interests can help your studies and it’s good to have something to show for my free time,” Daniel said. “Being creative with words is very different to designing something physical like a building which uses shape and space. I’ve found having something completely different that challenges me creatively and personally has been incredibly rewarding.”

Master studentships 2012/13 – Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture

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Masters studentships for 2012/13

Applications are invited for AHRC studentships for masters programmes across the broad areas of:

Design 
Fine Art, including aesthetics and art theory

Funding & eligibility

 AHRC awards are fully funded with tuition fees at Home/EU fee level and, where eligible, a maintenance grant. Awards are available for both full-time and part-time students. AHRC eligibility criteria apply. Full information on AHRC eligibility criteria can be found in Section 7 and Annex A of the AHRC Studentship Funding Guide (PDF).

Please note that if you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, you will not be eligible for this funding.

How to apply

Please apply online for a place on the programme and email the address below to notify them of your wish to apply for AHRC funding:

Fadaresearch-enterprise@kingston.ac.uk.

Deadline and interviews

For masters funding, complete applications must be received by 12.00noon on 25 June 2012.

Further information

Jane Nobbs
Research and Enterprise Support Manager
Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture
Kingston University, Knights Park, KT1 2QJ
020 8417 4295 (extn 64295)
J.Nobbs@kingston.ac.uk

 

i-D online feature 2 MA Curating Contemporary Design graduates

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Wilhelm Finger and Melita Skamnaki came from creative backgrounds, met on the MA Curating Contemporary Design course at Kingston University and upon graduation formed Double Decker, a London based curating agency.

Read the Double Decker feature in i-D online. 

Double Decker: www.double-decker.org.uk

MA Curating Contemporary Design in partnership with the Design Museum at Kingston University.

Kingston Navigation Wheel: Walking Tours with Designer Paul Farrington

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Kingston Navigation Wheel: Walking Tours with Designer Paul Farrington
May/June 2012

The Stanley Picker Gallery has now kicked-off its No Competition! programme - taking place off-site whilst the venue itself is closed for refurbishments – with the Kingston Navigation Wheel, a special revolving cardboard disc that maps five new cultural walking trails around Kingston on the themes of Bridges, Death, Muybridge, 3 Fishes and Made Here.

Throughout May and June the Kingston Navigation Wheel’s creator Paul Farrington of Studio Tonne is leading special walking trails around the town, following the routes on the Wheel itself, with residents and Kingston visitors already finding many new and unusual features about the town, including viewing the site of the original wooden bridge across the Thames and discovering a small museum hidden within a funeral parlour!

Further tours with the designer are scheduled for 1pm and 3pm on the following dates:

Wed 23 May 3 Fishes Walk
Sat 2 June Bridges Walk
Sat 16 June Made Here Walk & Death Walk

To reserve your FREE place contact picker@kingston.ac.uk or call 0208 417 4074

Free copies of the Kingston Navigation Wheel are also available from The Market House, The Rose Theatre, Kingston Museum or Kingston University’s Knights Park Campus Reception.

Kingston Navigation Wheel forms part of No Competition! a programme of free off-site events exploring the relationship between art and non-competitive sport, with new commissions by Paul Farrington, Ian Whittlesea and Charlie Murphy staged at sites in Kingston, in central London and online whilst the venue itself is closed for refurbishments.  

Transforming lens-based practice: photography / film / screen at the ICA

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Transforming lens-based practice: photography / film / screen
Thursday 17 May, 6.30 – 7pm
ICA Studio

Free admission
*Seating will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis

How do we understand the transformation of lens-based media? How do contemporary practitioners respond to the different possibilities posed by still and moving images? And how do institutions respond to these changes? By thinking across the spectrum of lens-based image making, this session will explore transformations in research, practice and display.

Speakers include:
- Bridget Smith (photographer / Kingston University)
- Stuart Comer (Curator of Film, Tate Modern)
- Gilly Booth (Filmmaker)
- Steven Cairns (ICA Associate Curator of Artists’ Moving Image)

The session will be chaired by Chris Horrocks (Kingston University), and will be followed by a gallery tour of the exhibition Remote Control.

Please RSVP to Deborah Herring at deborah.herring@ica.org.uk or telephone on 0207 766 1455.

This event is part of an on-going collaboration between The School of Art and Design History at Kingston University and the ICA.

ICA
The Mall
London
SW1Y 5AH
www.ica.org.uk

Kingston alumnus sculptor David Nash becomes artist in residence at Kew Gardens

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Black Sphere 2004, charred oak
©David Nash
Image Jonty Wilde

Kew Gardens have announced that Kingston alumnus David Nash, one of the UK’s most prolific sculptors, will produce and exhibit his work across the Gardens from April 2012 through to April 2013.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is delighted to announce that David Nash, one of the UK’s most prolific sculptors, will produce and exhibit his work across the Gardens from April 2012 through to April 2013.

The exhibition will open to members of the public in June 2012, with sculptures, installations, drawings and film in place throughout the Gardens, glasshouses, and exhibition spaces. Nash will work at Kew on a ‘wood quarry’ from April 2012, creating new pieces for the exhibition using trees from the Gardens that have come to the end of their natural life. This ongoing work will form part of the exhibition, with the fruits of his labour on display from October 2012.

In a career spanning 40 years, David Nash has created over 2,000 sculptures out of wood, many of them monumental in scale. These sculptures are sometimes carved or partially burned to produce a charred surface. His main tools are a chainsaw and an axe to carve the wood, and fire to char it. Through his work, he has gained a deep understanding of the properties of trees. The artistic process itself is, for Nash, deeply collaborative – between the artist, his material, and the natural world. He adopts a responsive and adaptable approach, allowing nature to dictate the direction that his creations will take. This approach reflects the character of the exhibition as a whole – the viewing experience will change and evolve from visit to visit, due to the nature of the materials used, the changing seasons that shape and colour Kew Gardens so dramatically, and the display of new work that will be created on site, throughout the course of the exhibition.

Working with wood made available naturally (for example by storms, lightning or disease), Nash excavates the tree by means of a ‘wood quarry’. His chosen term indicates the sheer physical effort of working with a whole tree, as well as suggesting a sense of drawing on something pre-existent. The quarry is an outdoor workshop – a work of art in itself – and takes place over several months.

A shared commitment to the environment make Nash and Kew the perfect partnership; a combined force that will inspire visitors to understand their place in the natural world. Nash’s philosophy places particular emphasis on the fundamental role that nature plays in humanity’s continued existence. He sees the environment as our ‘outer skin’; we are not separate from it or its master – everything that we do impacts upon it, for better or for worse. His work results in sculptures in which form and material have a deep mutual sympathy, and retain some of the essence of their original form. Many of these wooden sculptures take forms that allude to man’s dependence on nature, and specifically wood, through the ages. Tables, ladders, chairs, and shelters, all basic human survival tools and utensils, all recur in Nash’s work.

This idea of nature as not only hugely inspiring, but also as a provider of our most fundamental survival materials, is reflected in Kew’s Economic Botany Collection, which illustrates the extent of human use of plants around the world. The huge variety of objects within the collection ranges from artefacts made from plants to raw plant materials, including a large collection of wood samples. Uses range from food, medicine and utensils, to social activities and clothing. The collection underpins the notion, that plants maintain the health of the world we live in – allowing us to have clean water, fertile farmland, productive seas, and a balanced climate.

Nash’s relationship with and ever-growing knowledge of his chosen material – wood –sits in perfect accordance with the conservation work that Kew carries out both in the UK and across the globe. Kew’s work with trees involves identifying new species, protecting areas of forest diversity, researching their ancestry, DNA, anatomy and chemistry, and studying the fungi that helps them to grow, and eventually, to decay and be recycled. Through projects such as the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, Kew can share information, assist in research and in planting new areas of forest, and advise on long term planning.

Steve Hopper, Director (CEO) and Chief Scientist of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, says: “We are extremely honoured to host an exhibition of the work of David Nash, a significant and innovative artist whose approach resonates with an important facet of Kew’s work – to encourage people to look at plants and the natural world differently. An exhibition of this kind really helps to convey a simple but vital concept; that we are part of the web of life and nature responds to how we care for it. David Nash at Kew illustrates that nature can act as a great source of inspiration for artists and scientists alike, and brings these two exploratory disciplines together.”

EXHIBITION TIMELINE

• April 2012 – The Wood Quarry (Nash working on site)

The wood quarry will be sited on Cedar Vista, within view of the Pagoda. A group of volunteers will answer visitors’ questions whilst Nash and his team will work with the trees and offcuts. A black board with chalk drawings will illustrate the ‘work plan of the day’ and how this evolves over the wood quarry duration. The sculpture that emerges from the wood quarry will be positioned in situ and also relocated to both indoor and outdoor spaces in the Gardens.

• June 2012 – The launch

The exhibition, which will open to the public in June, will run throughout the Gardens as well as within the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, the Temperate House, and, in the autumn, the Nash Conservatory. Twelve existing outdoor works will be situated throughout the grounds, and will be supplemented with new works created on-site during the exhibition period.

The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art will be used for the duration of the Nash exhibition, with additional work to be added in October 2012.

The centrepiece of the gallery exhibition will be a large scale cork dome sculpture, which will be accompanied by cork tree drawings. Key works from the Nash collection, including Ash Dome and Bluebell Ring, as well as Wooden Boulder, will be presented in the gallery through drawings, photography and film. The Family Tree drawings will be presented in the gallery’s foyer. These illustrate the development of Nash’s practice from Tower I (1967) to the present day, depicting the different branches of thought and expression that Nash’s work embodies.

The Temperate House will house a host of Nash’s sculptures. These pieces, placed inside the house, will enable a narrative to unfold between the sculptures, the plants and the structure of the glasshouse itself; evoking the form and scale of the building, and the relationship between the living plants and wood-derived sculptures.

• October 2012 – Autumn

The Nash Conservatory will be used as an exhibition space, when a new phase of the exhibition opens in October. Nash will select sculptures with forms that are in sympathy or juxtaposition with the architecture of this historic conservatory. The Crack and Warp series will be a key feature for this space, and new columns will be made using wood from Kew and Wakehurst Place. The Crack and Warp seriess are a wonderful example of the collaboration with nature that characterises Nash’s work. The artist selects the wood and makes the cuts, the air then takes over and dries the wood, producing astonishing cracks and warps in accordance with the characteristics of the particular wood species used.

 

 

Models of Reality, Rhetorics of Control: The Stanley Picker public lectures 2012

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Image: Jennet Thomas

The Contemporary Art Research Centre, Kingston University presents 2012 Stanley Picker Public Lectures on Art

Tuesday 15 May, 6pm

MODELS OF REALITY, RHETORICS OF CONTROL
ART, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Keith Albarn & Jennet Thomas

Introduced & Chaired by Rob La Frenais (Arts Catalyst)

Keith Albarn asks: why is pattern so pervasive? The whole of Nature is informed by pattern. The survival of most fauna and much flora depends on pattern recognition. Our thought is built of pattern, our artifacts are adorned with pattern. We are seduced by the self-similar and are troubled or excited by difference and we seek to categorize it, pattern it. We see only pattern. Pattern determines our model of reality. Our models of reality are built of patterns whose form is determined by our physiology [neurological hard wiring] and reinforced by our cognition [neurological programming]. This physiological and cognitive perception of pattern is the engine of learning. What we perceive or learn is dependent on our response to and/or recognition of patterns [patterns as abstracts of prior experience, as networks of the relationships that give form to the idea, event or thing ]. If we do not “see” [consciously or unconsciously] the pattern [the relationships between things/ideas etc.] then we do not recognize, we do not understand what we see. If we do not under – stand, we do not “see”. Eureka … its just like …! Where Art meets Science! Where Synthesis meets Analysis Be a Seer not just a See-er! The Dangers and Delights of Pattern the pattern of learning and the learning of pattern.

Jennet Thomas will speculate briefly on: the invention of new kinds of life, maths, and matter, the ‘game-ification’ of reality, the thrill and horror of new discoveries in mechanisms of control.  Videos  ‘The Man Who Went Outside’ and an excerpt of ‘SCHOOL OF CHANGE’ [the Sci-Fi musical soon to open at Matt’s Gallery] will show how these concerns play out in poetic/fantasy forms in my recent work.

With sensors implanted in everything you consume, enhance your pleasure by measuring your score, with sweet loyalty points on the flexible credit of your learning outcomes…

This event takes place:

UPSTAIRS AT THE CRICKETERS
20 Fairfield South, KT1 2UL

FREE ENTRY

Bios:

Keith Albarn, born 1939, studied architecture [3yrs.] and sculpture [N.D.D.] and later became a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers, began his career working in the theatre, then formed an environmental design consultancy [‘64] whose work included modular furniture and building systems, learning aids, toys and exhibitions, contributing to “Cybernetic Serendipity” [I.C.A. London ’70], researching, designing and building “The World of Islam” [I.C.A. ’74, reworked as “Islamathematica” for Rotterdam [’75] and “Illusion in Art and Science [I.C.A. ’76 and New York ’77].Meanwhile, he was drawn into teaching, firstly as a Visiting Lecturer to a number of Universities etc., then as Principal Lecturer in Fine Art [’74 - ’81] at the now University of East London, then moved to Colchester Institute [A.P.U.] as Head of School of Art, Design and Media [’81 - 97].

Publications include articles and papers for journals, broadcasts on radio and television and coauthored the books, “Language of Pattern” ’74 and “Diagram – the Instrument of Thought” ’77 both for Thames and Hudson, and chapters for “Teaching Art and Mathematics” for Stanley Unwin, ’91.As an artist, he has contributed [installations, sculpture and prints] to solo, two person, group shows and architectural commissions throughout his career, here and abroad and has work in a number of private collections.Currently, he lives between London and Devon, furthering his inter-disciplinary exploration into the nature of creativity, pattern and belief and preparing for another solo exhibition.

Jennet Thomas makes films, performances and installations exploring the connections between my lived everyday, fantasy and ideology, experimenting with collective constructions of the meaningful. Using a collision of genres, my videos can look like T.V. news, experimental film, childrens’ drama, or performance art behavior, and are frequently comic, uncanny and entertaining.

My numerous film works have screened extensively in the international Film Festival arena (Rotterdam, Oberhausen, New York Underground Film Festival) Recent  solo gallery shows include: ‘All Suffering SOON TO END’ at Matt’s Gallery 2010, ‘Return of the Black Tower’ at PEER in 2007, and ‘The Advice Shape’ at OUTPOST, Norwich, November 2010 with a forthcoming major film/installation project SCHOOL OF CHANGE in June- July at Matt’s Gallery London. My work emerged from the anarchistic, experimental culture of London’s underground film and live art club scene in the 1990′s, where I was a cofounder of the Exploding Cinema Collective.