Archive | January, 2010

Anish Kapoor – 2009 Brighton festival special

30 Jan

Every May, a guest curator descends upon the streets of Brighton to create cultural magic. 2009 was the turn of sculptor Anish Kapoor, which sent most of the artist community in a devilish fever. As well as writing for the Pebble, I also volunteered for the project organised by Fabrica, which involved invidulating several of his sculptures that were strategically placed around Brighton. It was a great thing to be involved with and I managed to take some great snaps of C-Curve which was situated at the downs. This was published in the May 2009 issue of the Pebble.

Brighton festival special – Anish Kapoor

The Brighton Festival, now in its 43rd year, is very lucky to have Turner prize winning artist Anish Kapoor as its guest artist director. Born in India, he is one the most prestigious and influential sculptors of his generation, producing simple yet engaging curved forms that are often shrouded in mystery. The pieces he has lent to the Brighton festival are no exception. Seven works are on display until the festivals finale on the 24th May, two of which are specially commissioned and entry to most of them is free. But what is exactly on display?

Sky Mirror – Pavilion gardens

Many of you have probably already walked past the crowds in the pavilion gardens wondering what all the fuss is about. This circular concave disk is made from £1,000,000 of stainless steel and is one of the smaller versions in a series of sky mirrors that have been previously housed in Nottingham and New York. What Kapoor is trying to explore here is the notion of the ‘void’ where things disappear into a vortex of nothingness. The positioning of the mirror has been specifically designed so that if you stand directly in front of it but behind the fence (the corner where the flower bed meets the grass) you can see birds disappear when they fly over the sky. The mirror is viewable 24 hours a day, but the specific timing (and weather conditions) greatly affect your experience of the piece, so I would recommend seeing it more than once, to witness the act of transformation in different forms. Festival guides will be present between 12pm and 8pm.

C-Curve – The Chattri

This is another famous piece of work that has been seen in other places before the festival. The Chattri site held a special significance for Kapoor, as Indian soldiers that fought for Britain during the First World War were hospitalised in the Dome and are cremated here. The memorial was built here in 1921 to honour their memory and represent the protection of the dead.

Supposedly when Kapoor visited the site, crows took flight as he approached the Chatteri and it reminded him of cremation sites in India, so he instantaneously knew that this site would be perfect for this piece and would provide a whole new meaning; death, reflection and remembrance.

To get up to the C-Curve, you need to catch either a 5 or 5A bus to the Ladies Mile Pub in Patcham, walk up to the Horsedean Recreation Ground, and there is a signposted track up to the Chatteri. Like the Sky Mirror, C-Curve is viewable 24 hours a day, Festival guides will be present between 12pm and 8pm.

Dismemberment of Jeanne D’arc – Old Market – Circus Street

This is the main work of the exhibition, commissioned for the festival and specifically realised in an old fruit and vegetable market that closed down in 2005. Showing his progression from previous exhibitions, this work incorporates Blood stick (2005), and is a part of the progression towards a major show at Grand Palais in Paris in two years time. As you walk around, you eventually come to realise the mounds, limbs, and 2 ft pit resemble a dismembered female body. The title pays homage to Joan of Arc, the young woman who led the French Army through many victories against the English in the 13th Century, and was burned at the stake when she was just 19. What Kapoor has done here is transformed a once derelict building into an almost sacred site. The rich bloody reds of the stone and gravel in one sense are barbaric, but can also imply sensual sexuality, in its raw form. And with the space itself, Kapoor has resurrected its purpose and meaning, the same way the story of the Joan of Arc was been frequently transformed throughout history.

The Muncipal Market is open from 12pm – 8pm, Festival guide will be available and entry is free.

The Festival also features Blood Relations and 1000 Names (1979 – 1980) are housed at the Fabrica Gallery on Duke Street, open from 12pm – 8pm, which are some of Kapoors older peices. Imagined Monochrome is located in the Basement, and is viewable by ½  hr appointments only, which cost £12. Not very much can be revealed about this piece, other than you will receive a massage and you will see something that you didn’t expect…

What is important to remember when looking at Kapoors works is although there is very little metaphorical stimulus to work with and your interpretation of what the works mean may be different from the person standing next to you, but this is the intended effect. Many of these works have been placed in different locations previously, so the meaning for Kapoor changes with every new place, so it will do for you too. For Kapoor, meaning is developed through the creation process, and the way that people interpret works in different ways depending on the way you look at it can only be a good thing. By being minimalistic, they encourage you to think. So when placed in a beautiful site of culture and rich history that is Brighton, and looked at with fresh eyes, these sculptures are transformed into different objects that can be easily enjoyed by all.

http://www.brightonfestival.org

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Who said only Grandmas play bingo?

29 Jan

Wednesday night, a monstrosity called Underground Rebel Bingo came to Brighton. Students were very excited. Not only were we promised that there would be no boring people or wankers (don’t know how I got in), but an experience that is apparently better than sex, or even real life. Even more, we were offered BINGO.


Under the pretence of going to an neighbourhood watch meeting to discuss the rising crime rates in Brighton, hundreds of students, (many first years) and the liberal Brightonian descended upon a ‘top secret location.’ Shrouded in secrecy like a Fight Club, you have honestly never played bingo until you have done it to the audio background of trash metal and the sight of  Femme Ferale titillatingly rolling balls in their arresting outfits, shouting out obscenities such as “Knickers full of grime – 59″, “You’re mum’s a whore – 24″ and “Man’s groovy juice on me – 30!”


There wasn’t a tin of sardines in sight (although at times it felt like we were squashed in like them), and the interval consisted less of tea and battenberg but Carling and Dubstep. The prizes were pretty impressive, so much so many a drunken student proved exactly why they failed their maths GCSE’s by failing to count above 20. But as a lovely Sussex student said to me about Brighton students; “Thats becuase you graduate with a degree in colouring.” But we are very good at it; look at our pretty faces.

And look at me after being drawn on by Doll and the Kicks!

Expect a bigger feature about this in The Pebble next month. Maybe they should do a collaboration with those geezers at Granny’s Caff?

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4th Plinth

27 Jan

When I heard about this project at the start of the year, I was keen to write about it to try and encourage students to get involved (imagining a Brighton student writing about their time on the plinth lol), but like Gormley’s ideas for the 4th Plinth at Trafalgar square, it was not as exciting as we dreamed it to be. This piece was published in The Pebble, March 2008.

What do Jesus Christ, David Beckham, and Alison Lapper all have in common?

In fact, they have all been immortalised on the infamous ‘fourth plinth’ at Trafalgar Square, by Mark Wallinger, Madame Tussaudes and Marc Quinn respectively. But the real question is, do you fancy joining them?

Antony Gormley is a sculptor is well known for his exploration of the body and its relationship to memory, transformation, and the human condition. He is best known for ‘Angel of the North’ (1998), a 66ft tall steel angel towering over Gateshead, seen as the gateway to the North of England. For his latest commission he has decided to include 2,400 members of the British public in this work, a national living monument. The concept is simple; between 6th July and 14th October, 24 hours a day, someone will be on the plinth, speaking, performing, and doing whatever the public wants them to see or hear. These events will be fed 24 hours a day via Sky Arts, thus made available to the whole world. The Fourth plinth will be transformed into a glorified soapbox, to give anyone who wishes an hour to do with what they wish. Although, in the setting, it is worth considering that voice alone will not be enough to attract attention, a much spectacular visual display is needed. For Gormley; “Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from the common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, symbol, emblem – a point of reference, focus and thought,” although he admits “I will be very upset if somebody doesn’t take off their clothes when they get there.”

The Fourth plinth at this popular tourist spot has had quite a troubled history. Initially designed by Charles Barry in 1841 to hold an equestrian statue, it was left empty after its erection due to lack of funding. Ever since, people could never agree on the appropriate figure to be placed on it. The Royal Society of Arts took ownership of the plinth during 1999-2000, exhibiting works by 3 contemporary artists. In the year’s in-between the Greater London Authority took responsibly for its lodgers, it was occupied unofficially by a Channel 4 ident, David Beckham waxwork during the 2002 world Cup, and there was even discussion of a Nelson Mandela statue. In September 2005, Marc Quinn unveiled the much publicised and critised ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’, and Thomas Schütte’s ‘Model for a Hotel’ occupies the Plinth to this day.

What is important to remember that while anyone can apply, Gormley has specified that the people selected will be representation of the whole of the UK, thus there should be equal numbers of people men/women, north/south etc. Gormley has applied for his hour, but he has just as much chance as you do. If you would like to get involved, please visit www.oneandother.co.uk.

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Joaquim Mir

27 Jan

By this point of the year, Hannah and I were pretty much writing the arts page ourselves. It was good experience but we were struggling to come up with things after a while, but this artist came upon me like God to the Virgin Mary, while I was on a little holiday with my Grand-mama. This was published in the Pebble, May 2009.

Need to Know – Joaquim Mir

Everyone loves an Impressionist. There is something intensely calming about fluid colours, oozing viscosity and light. But these artists are just too god damn popular. So when you stumble upon someone no-one has ever heard of (there isn’t even a Wikipedia page for this month’s artist) you have to share the love.

On a jaunt to Barcelona, I stumbled upon a retrospective of Catalan artist Joaquim Mir (1873 – 1940), in the fantastic independent gallery Caixa Forum. They have three (sometimes four) exhibitions on at anytime from a range of disciplines; European contempory art, Catalan art, architecture, graphic design… all of which are free. An old Art Nouveau factory, it is located opposite the entrance to Mountjuic (at the bottom of the huge double staircase) and is well worth a visit.

Back to the artist at hand, Mir trained as a realist artist, initially constructing portraits of local people excluded from increasing industrialisation, meticulously studying the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous unfinished church, dubbed ‘The Cathedral of the Poor’. But when Mir went to live on the Island of Mallorca between 1900 and 1904, he found his own way to represent landscape, beyond realism, impressionism, fauvism… he made all of his own rules. The Enchanted Cove (pictured), displays his fascination with light and colour, so expressively bold it is almost terrifying. Supposedly, Mir’s persona was synonymous with the myth of the bohemian artist who becomes so involved in their work they exhibit a trance-like ritualistic state, so much so he fell off a cliff and almost died. After a spell in a psychiatric hospital, he searches ever more for light in its most naturalistic form, gearing his way towards abstraction. All of this is accumulated in the amazing stained glass piece housed in the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya’s (MNAC) permanent modern collection.

Mir’s work is thoroughly engaging and very beautiful, particularly the series produced in Mallorca. You can really see why he became fascinated in beautifully portraying the rainbows of aquamarine and cobalt as the crash against the dreamy coastline. In front of these works you become as transfixed as he was, and it’s a beautiful feeling.

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Has Street Art Sold Out? Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’.

27 Jan

This was my first piece for the Pebble, back in November 2008. In the heat of Obama’s election fever, I cashed in on the comunal jubilation and wrote about street artist turned Graphic designer. I was pretty proud of myself at the time. Now I read it an see a ton of grammatical errors, but still very pleased with how it all came out.

Has Street Art Sold Out? Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’.

I am very happy that Barrack Obama has been voted in as the 44th President of the United States, and it appears I share these feelings with every other person I speak to about this hot topic. What is not as familiar is the street art propaganda poster, ‘unofficially’ used in his campaign, created by American Illustrator and Graphic artist Shepard Fairey, most famous for his Obey stickers. The use of the word ‘unofficial’ is debatable, primarily because Fairey approached the Obama cabinet to produce a poster for his campaign, not the other way around. However, the images Fairey produced supported rather than antagonised presidential politics and have now come to symbolize the future America (and the world) is looking for. But how was this done by an artist who’s style belongs to the street and still gets arrested for doing so? Has the common street artist sold his soul for commercialism?

The bulk of Fairey’s poster work is primarily produced in a style reminiscent of the Russian constructivists; bold colours to emphasise meaning (particulary the use of red), simple stylistic forms for reproductive properties and sporting shrewd political taglines and iconic figures. His style is very familiar and has been featured heavily in the mainstream media; he has produced Album covers for the Black Eyed Peas, DJ Shadow, Smashing Pumpkins and Led Zeppelin, made the film poster for Walk the Line, as well as a loading screen for Guitar Hero II. Even his sticker campaign ‘Obey’ has been ripped off on Family Guy (Peter paints the giant icon over the Sistine Chapel – is there anything Family Guy doesn’t rip off?).

During the previous election in 2004, Fairey produced a poster of Bush as a smiling vampire (very simalar to the ones of Sarah Palin generated this year). Guerrila artists are not known for producing positive images of political standing, so when permission came from the Obama camp, it was a bit of a shock. What Fairey had produced was ‘Hope’, a striking portrait of the candidate personifying the tagline. Fairey used this particular image (which was stolen from the internet) because he looked ‘presidential’ and made this more apparent by portraying him in patriotic American colours. When the initial run of 350 copies was sold through Fairey’s distribution company ’Obey Giant’, they sold out instantly. Two months after Super Tuesday (Day in which a large number of American States cast their votes for a Presidential candidate) in more than 80,000 of Fairey’s posters and 150,000 postcard-size stickers had been absorbed by potential voters, particularly the young and apathetic first time voters that would be crucial in winning the election.  Not bad for a weeks work and the stencil tool on Photoshop. But why has Fairey’s message changed? Can a street artist work with and against the system, without selling out? What is selling out?

While Street Art is reacting to the political and social economics of society, it is also destructive to the groups it is commenting on. The kitchness (bad taste) of this style is reminisant of Pop art, everybody’s favourite art movement of the 20th century. It’s all about taking elements from popular culture and reacting to them, often in an ironical way.  Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych has been named the 3rd Most influential piece of Modern art, and I can see the resonance. Created in the weeks after her suicide it illiterates his ideas of the cult of celebrity. Both Warhol and Fairey have immortalised Chairman Mao, not to support his principles but because of the historic symbolism behind the image. Both Street art and Pop Art challenge the viewer to question the definition of art and its sincerity when works are made to be reproduced. 20th Century art critic Walter Benjamin wrote that work that is easily reproduced does not have the same ‘aura’ as an orginal, but Warhol and Fairey have strived to create a sensation through reproduction; first with the Marilyns and the Cambell soup cans, secondly with ‘Obey’ stickers on every lampost and ‘Hope’ on every window/T-shirt/internet blog in America. Post election day, ‘Hope’ has now become one of the most iconic images of the 21st century, and as you would cynically come to expect of any popular graffiti artist, the originals are now being sold on ebay for thousands of dollars. But does the ‘aura’ of an orginal artwork equate for a high price tag?

If we looked at the work of Banksy, a graffiti artist who has now become an household name, I would say yes. His orginal prints and stencil works are now selling for hundreds of thousands of pounds with world renowned auction houses. There are problems though, as works have to be authenticated by his company Pest Control, and run the risk of not selling if not done so. This company was set up because auction houses were taking down stencilled walls and selling the whole thing, which in his eyes was unacceptable because it belongs to the street. Having a Banksy on the side of your house can be beneficial, as it can double the value of your property, but it runs the risk of being painted over by the local government for fear of degradation of the local area. This is an artist that is cleverly making you think about the Urban environment you live in, making sure you are aware of the Rat Race you live in. However, because we agree with what he is saying we all scramble for a piece of him; his work, name, anything. Thus I think it is impossible for an artist not to sell out when we all have a copy of Wall and Piece as toilet reading. And then Guy Richie commissioned a portrait of Madonna from Banksy for her 50th birthday and I lost all respect for him altogether.

As for Fairey? Well, he may of started in the street, but being a commercial artist he knows you need to pay your bills before you can start revolutions. It is a very refreshing change to have an artist being political in a positive way without saying ‘make love not war,’ but how many souls do you have to sell before you can get to that point? He is already on the way to sell out mode by the amount of admirers he has out there. And his style is so simple, so easy to reproduce… I have already asked my friend to print one of his designs onto a T-shirt for me. There are many spoof ‘Hope’ posters circulating with images in Faireys style of the Pope (Pope), McCain (Nope), Amy Winehouse (Dope), Jesus (Hope) and my personal favourite, Obama with an afro hung outside a hairdresser sporting the tagline “Time for Change – $20 Cuts”. Originality never lasts for long. When you produce something so fresh, everybody wants a piece of it.

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Those big numbers look good…

27 Jan

Wahhh!!! I gave a presentation on my dissertation that Wednesday, on Gender and Nintendo games. Got the mark back yesterday and while I already knew that I did quite well, I received a grade of 80, which roughly translates into First/Teachers Pet/Licky Licky Brown Nose. Now scrambling to make sure this mark is counted towards my degree… and hope the good vibes continue!

Also, I will be very slowly uploading all of the pieces I have written and had published by the Pebble. I have been meaning to scan them and pdf them in some way but I have no idea how lol. Everything I have had published will go into a folder called My Work – Published.

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Musical Triple – Monarchy, Mirrors and Delphic

21 Jan

I have been lucky enough to check out quite a few bands this week, as a meaty more exciting filler in a club sandwich of deadlines.

Last Friday, thanks to tweet from the recommender I encouraged the girls to check out Monarchy, a band shrouded in mystery by the Guardian’s band of the day. So mysterious in fact, that when they came on I was unsure if it was actually them, or local band Kinema that eventually followed them. Supposedly a world exclusive as the Hector’s House chalk board told the world (but failed to reveal on their website), Monarchy played catchy psychedelic pop with a twinge of regal majesticness. Synthy without being too synthetic, their delicous screams soon pulled us from our elavated seats to bum shaking in the front row, but I hope the translucent glitter vests were an exploration in performance costume, as I fear it’s just a matter of time before the face paint comes out (a la empire of the sun).

One gig that I have been looking forward to all week was a double whammy of Brightonian’s Mirrors supporting one of the band’s of the moment; Delphic. The former, I have been aware of for a while as they played at Loop last year and was probably more excited about seeing. The 80′s revival is still going evermore into the tenties, with dapper suits and jungle of synthesiser circuitry. The boys all looked like they were having fun, particularly as the lead singer dipped into his bank of dance moves that Napoleon Dynamite might aspire to have saved. I have to admit, I was lusting.

Delphic, boasted an lightshow that denied the presence of any epileptics within a mile radius. They were good, polished and progressive but a little too much so, which seams a little recumbent about bands that are on the BBC’s one’s to watch list. While I do have a soft spot for their remixes and there was a slight hint of them in the instrumental connectors, it just reminded me too much of all the typical Indie music that I always get bored by.

Oh, and we saw James Lance. Again. That boy gets around.

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NCTJ Sub-editing

17 Jan

I find it really frustrating when people (particulary on my course) post their Facebook status of something along the lines of “I hate 3rd year!”  While I understand that 3rd year of uni can be an unexpected pile of pressure and work, I am personally thoroughly enjoying it, probably because I am welcoming every new experience with open arms and always seeking out more. While at the moment I don’t think my uni work is suffering through my Pebble commitments, the skills I have learning, even from the last 3 months, will be more useful than everything I have learnt on my degree in the last 3 years. And thanks to my schmoozing, the learning curve is now about to get steeper :)

Today was the first day of a Saturday NCTJ sub-editing course a few of the editors and I are attending. Its a fast track ten week course where we get to grips with Quark (so also learning Indesign); basic photo shop, journalist law, headline writing and most importantly, how to edit copy. Even after one day my head is buzzing with ideas of how we can make the pebble a million times better, even with the basic introduction of a style guide: something that the editors always discussed in a round about way but never knew the definition. Now I am looking through magazines and newspapers analyzing their typography and creative styling. Today was a basic introduction, and basic tool learning of Quark and basic newspaper design spec. I would upload the sheet but it could be potentially embarrassing, even when I look back on it a few weeks later.

Here is a link to the the Brighton Journalist works, where I am doing the course. It great so far; in the offices of the Brighton Argus, small class with other nice people and a great tutor. Lets hope I don’t expose myself as a terrible writer and a grammatical fool.

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snowballing…

13 Jan

The Pebble is starting to take a mind of its own now. Martin, our newly appointed head editor, has just set up facebook and twitter accounts for our Brighton uni student paper – 70 members already in 18 hours! Hopefully when the new issue comes out we can see what our readership is really like, get feedback on comments… the online possibilities are endless!

As always, I have been sent quite a few stories last minute. Have managed to get a MA student running an arts night at the coachwerks called ‘Stray Signals’ to regulary contribute a poetry/short story corner, and next issue we will have a student running a comedy night providing a monthy ditty. I have also been doing investigative work of my own, but more about that at the later date. Things from me this month, a spotlight peice on Chris Cunningham in preperation for a live Brighton show later this year and a collaborative peice looking at the forgotton joys of the mix-tape, with Ellie the music editor, as well as the usual events diary.

Should be out in student union offices on the 25th January. Though I haven’t submitted anything yet so I had better get cracking…

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7 things I have just learnt about advertising…

8 Jan

New Semester, new unit. This term will be mostly learning about the perils and fortunes of advertising. It already is proving to be a very interesting topic, as most interesting facts came out of my first lecture. Some of them are:

  • Every year 30 million different poster/press ad are made in the UK.
  • The average 35 year old will have seen 150,000 different advertisements; the majority of them will have been seen at least 6 times.
  • The average well produced ad costs £1 million to make, while it costs £60 million to 10 minutes of national prime time TV airtime.
  • On average at least 10% of the product’s price is worked into the advertising budget – so the cost of advertising is always passed onto the consumer.
  • George Orwell was a copywriter in the 1930’s.
  • As was Salman Rushdie in the 50’s/60’s.
  • Ridley Scott directed this nostalgic Hovis advert as well as the first big campaign for Apple Mackintosh. It has been voted the most popular advertising in the UK, in a poll by the Independent.

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