Exhibitions Blog

more artverts!

2012-01-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

Nice day today. More artverts made- a homage to warhol's campbells soup, here's a link. Thanks to all who took part!

http://soundcloud.com/dmc_delawarr

more fun at the 'Factory'

2012-01-23T04:18:00.000-08:00

Although it was a rather bleak January afternoon, the DLWP was pretty busy and we had plenty of eager folks ready to dress up and pose as one of Andy Warhol's many illustrious and glamourous friends and aquaintances for a fabulous photo opportunity.

'Come up and see me sometime !"

"We are the Girls..."

"People ask me everywhere is that really all your hair ? "

"Close But No Cigar. Sharp suit, big car Who do you think you are ?"

A friend of Guy Gawkes perhaps !

"Dressed up All dandied and dressed up All feathered and pressed up And feeling so fine Dressed up"

"I tried a handlebar design and my Fu-Manchu was real fine."

"My Ronald Coleman made 'em blink, my Pancho Villa made 'em think."

"They're mysterious and spooky and all together ooky."

"Put the camera on me, I got all this jewellery on me."

"I spy for the FBI, I got an X-ray camera hidden in your house."

"We're a couple of swells, We stop at the best hotels, But we prefer the country far away from the city smells."

"Cause my hair is curly and my teeth are pearly ...."

daniels 2nd artvert day

2012-01-07T11:35:00.000-08:00

great day today! lots of artverts made. no pics this time but have set up a soundcloud, so if you click on the link below you can listen to what we've been making!

http://soundcloud.com/dmc_delawarr

All ears...

2011-12-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

We're back again at the De La Warr today for Part 3 of our participatory project - recording the voice of the Pavilion through the sounds of what's happening here during the Warhol Is Here exhibition. With the sound of Christmas carols echoing through the building, this session has been mellow and definitely festive. Here's what we heard...

Time: 14.41
Louisa de Silva
Aged 46

Downstairs a lady to another lady Looking at the Norma Jean
"Oh its Jean… Jean what was her name. Billie Jean"
Security Guy interrupts "Norma Jean not Billie Jean King"

Time: 14.58
Sandra
Aged 10

recorder
wind sssshhhhhhh waves
noisy footsteps
people walking
singing classics
music
people drinking
people talking

Time: 15.13
Sean
Aged 29

Clink,Clunk….five golden rings…
Clink,clunk,clink….three french hens
…..hmmm….squeak….bang…
Clip,Clop…lots of cows…
Click,Click,Click…….da dee dee dee
dum diddly doo dum…shuffle,sniffle,
….clap,squeak….oh well…..
Clip Clop……AAHGH

Time: 15.23
Max
Aged 10

Inside:
calm christmas music
clinking glasses
drone of people talking
Outside:
crash of waves
clatter of skateboards
screech of the seagulls

And finally thanks to David Wright for this beautiful poem inspired by the sounds of Warhol:

Vibrations in essence, resonate around and through me,
Music dances, filling the moments between chatter,
Humming creeks split the gentle motion of the sea,
Voice over voice, try to please, try to flatter,
Warhol on black, speaks in dark tone,
As the door slams behind him on a time that is gone,
Broken clicks of heels, as they stride cross the floor,
Out onto the sea and the sound of the shore.

Bobby America 10th December 2011

2011-12-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

The latest installment of Bobby America is audio only. Please do not adjust your sets...

lights! camera! action !

2011-12-08T03:46:00.000-08:00

A very busy afternoon at the "Look at me: Who am I?" photo booth with plenty of people prepared to try on groovy gloves, wavy wigs, twinkling tiaras and various superstar style accessories. The feather boa continues to be hugely popular and it is surprising how quickly the inner 'star' shines through !

Born to Boogie !

"Fetch me my longsword ..."

Ladies and gentlemen Hurry hurry hurry Step right up . .

"Who Me ?..."

Is it cos Im cool ?

"Is that a photographer I see before me?"

Abracadabra !

"I feel pretty, Oh so pretty .."

Altogether a fun afternoon with winter sunshine and a happy crowd all keen to be famous for
15 seconds.

Food Glorious Food!

2011-12-05T02:59:00.000-08:00

Andy Warhol so loved Campbell's soup - he's supposed to have eaten it every day for years - and of course he made countless artworks inspired by it too. This Sunday, young De La Warr artists took food as their inspiration for our final Lift The Lid session of the year - joining DLWP artist Wendy Ann Greenhalgh to make sculptures, collages and a grand mural of our favourite foods.


We used pieces of paper torn from magazines to make our own baked bean and soup-can collages.


Heinz 57 - with added bat!

Cereal Box sculptures inspired by Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes

And we invented our own soup flavours and made soup-can sculptures too.

Finally our mural celebrated our favourite foods.

What are your favourites?

Bobby rides again!

2011-12-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

Well, Day Two and Mr America manages to work his charm again. Each day brings different kinds of conversations and interactions, with everyone I speak to having positive comments to make about the exhibition. It's clear that Warhol's legacy is both far reaching and enduring; his "15 minutes" continues to stretch way beyond his untimely death.

we are all star struck !

2011-11-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

Another busy afternoon with hoards of excited and enthusiastic people eager to try on the lurid feather boa and do a bit of superstar pouting.

"Roll up Roll up !"
'I love dressing up - this is great, it's just like my bedroom !"

"Bring me my pipe, Watson !'

'Hows about that then ?'

It all got very busy mid afternoon when the table was surrounded by the young and the old - parents persuading reluctant children to try on a hat or a wig and then, the very same parents whilst declining to join in, when my back was turned, got all dolled up and the children raised their young eyebrows as they were dragged into the photo booth.

Lily the pink the pink the pink

2 moustaches are always better than one !

"You know I'm bad, I'm bad...'

"We gonna make you a star"

"That's why I stay blinging !"

They're creepy and they're kooky,
mysterious and spooky,
The Addams Family

'Good-bye, good goody girl
I'm changing and how'

"You know my methods, apply them."

There is something liberating about putting on a disguise and 'disappearing' and those who have had a go, have taken the selection and application of props quite seriously - it has been a really good way to get people talking about what Warhol was interested in and how he is still relevent.

Strange Sounds and Familiar Voices

2011-11-14T08:32:00.000-08:00

What would Andy Warhol have heard, if he'd been in the De La Warr this Saturday - with his trusty tape-recorder? What sounds would have found their way onto the spooling, turning strips of magnetic tape? Since Andy couldn't be there - we invited visitors to make their own transcriptions of the voice of the building - as part of our ongoing participatory text-art project. Adults and kids - joined DLWP artist, Wendy Ann Greenhalgh, in creating a creative, rich, funny and occasionally surreal account of yet another Saturday in the Pavilion. Here's what we heard...

Time: 14:45 Name: Malachi Leon Sterling
Age: 5 years 10 months

The wind
Talking
Waves

Time: 14:55
Name: Marcia

"…here or the coffee shop over the road?"
"..interior design shop..most unusual stuff.."
"It's a different sort of look, isn't it?"
"That's too old to be the 1950s!"
"There's a man in the tree."
"I'm walking around the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill with my sister."
"A waste bin! Four waste bins! God. Dear."
"..tuck his stomach in… it's different.."
"This was all walled up - just packing cases."
"Can I take a picture of you?"
"That's nice."
"Mike and Julie and Julie's sister…chucked it down the stairs"
"Is that anybody's chair?"
"I hate to ask you, but do you mind if we jump in?"
"They're nice cups and saucers! Aren't they nice cups and saucers?"
"For her to offer us that parsley was a bloody insult!" "That's two Americanos, and one's a de-caff."

Time: 15:15 Name: Martin

Most of the sound of the building is the discordant noise echoed from concrete, so low sounds, of distant voices with the detail lost & the crash of a dropped item in the gift shop, saved, and the silence afterwards.

Name: Carole Grant
Time: 15:35

'I thought he was still alive. He died'

A group of friends in their 40s come in together. Some are wearing poppies. 'They said it would take an hour to go round it. It'll take us an hour to read this [the introductory text]. It took us half an hour to park'

A man brings his father and his small son into the gallery. 'That is the man, Andy Warhol, who created all this art here', he says. The boy looks at the large photograph of Andy. 'He looks funny'. The man agrees. 'He does, doesn't he?' In the next room, the boy goes up to the painting Butterfly Day, and starts to count them. After a while, his dad moves him on, saying 'it must be at least a hundred'. They look at Campbell's Green Pea Soup. 'That's one of his most famous paintings' says the man. Then, round the corner, 'oh, there it is again'. His father, in his red anorak and beret, corrects him. 'No, that's tomato soup. It's completely different'.

'I don't know how he got away with it. Maybe they were flattered….'

A mother is looking at the pictures, pulling a small bike along while her small son runs round touching everything. 'Stop touching the pictures. I said, stop touching the pictures!'

'this is what he did, repeat images, isn't it?'

Two men stand looking at the Marilyn Triptych. 'This is definitely worth a few bob, it's got a rail round it.' One of them goes to read the caption. 'Yeah, Tate Gallery'. They move onto the Mao sequence. One of them looks at the same image on the back of his exhibition programme. 'Hey, I could get this framed and pass it off'.

A child runs up to his parents in the photograph room. 'Is this legal?'. His mother laughs 'You don't have to look!'
At the photograph Cadaver: 'lumps of meat. Looks like an abattoir. It's a leg, I'd say'

Time: 16:14 Name: Steve

humdrum
vibration
humdrum
"left wheel"
mumble, mumble
whistle w-w-whistle
ma ma
humdrum
"time's up"
vibratio
tick-tock tick-tock tick
flop
tick
cough
grrrr! Ha!
da da
ah! ah! ah!
tick-flop tick-tock
EEEEE - umama - avava
humdrum
clop clop
He he he! Grrr! Ha
har le lar la lar
"he's a monster"ea
mum mum
grumble humble humdrum

But the final word goes to Finn - Aged 8 - who told us "When I look at a picture I think myself in it and so I couldn't hear anything in the gallery except the sounds in the picture."

Lifting the Lid on Andy Warhol

2011-11-08T06:18:00.000-08:00

Young artists and there Mums and Da's join DLWP artist Wendy Ann Greenhalgh for one of our popular Lift The Lid sessions: making Happy Butterflies mobiles and murals and Beautiful Flower prints to beat the autumnal blues. Our next FREE Lift the Lid session in on December 4th 2-5pm.

Making Happy, Grumpy and Naughty Butterflies

How many butterflies can we fit on our mural?

Butterfly Mobiles hanging in the stairwell

Brightly coloured block prints inspired by Andy Warhol

Lines and colours - beautiful flowers

The end of our 4 metre mural

Saturday Superstars

2011-11-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

Another Superstars Portraits session and I approached the Saturday Interaction trolley with fear in my heart. Maybe the first session was a fluke and this time no-one would come.
Wrong. It was a grand afternoon, and 80 people made a self portrait for the gallery ( and eventually the animation) with lots of laughter, good humoured ribbing, surprises and pleasure.
I was once again amazed and delighted that so many visitors want to participate, including men, teenage boys and seniors.
I wobbled at one point when a woman asked me if she could bring a group of 17 older children to draw portraits - but they turned out to be charming, helpful, patient and genuinely enthusiastic. They left a fantastically varied set of pictures, plus one young man took most of the photographs for me - result!
I'm loving this Saturday Interaction, and it's something I will take on to another level in my own practice. Roll on Session 3.

Bobby America comes to Bexhill

2011-11-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

Bobby America is a creation of Artist & Composer Joseph Young.

On October 29th, Bobby appeared at Warhol is Here for the first time to interview and interact with visitors to the exhibition. The video shows extracts from these conversations as he makes a fictitious programme for Radio Free Warhol.

Thanks to Gabrielle for the filming.

Becoming a human tape recorder

2011-10-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

What does the DLWP sound like?

Andy Warhol used to take his tape-recorder everywhere with him and called it his 'wife'. Just imagine him in bars and restaurants or at The Factory - making recordings of the conversations and events that happened around him.

At the De La Warr today we invited visitors to become a human tape-recorder, making a unique portrait of the life and voice of the Pavilion. We'll be doing this every month of the Warhol Is Here exhibition - to create a new text art-work – with many authors/artists – in the true Factory spirit.

Here are some of our transcripts in words and pictures...

2:58

1) My Dad talking

2) plates being moved

3) People talking

4) Footsteps

5) A person saying " We usually have a seat"

6) Rewinding of a tape

7) A tape playing

8) Coffee maker noise

9) Warhol talking in a tape recorder

10) Mobile phone ringing

11) My brother talking

Dyllan Watkins
Aged 10

3.22

I can hear cups rattling

can hear people

can hear banging

can hear drawers going in and out

can hear chairs moving

can hear knives and forks

can hear people getting angry

can hear music

can hear people coughing

Katie Grimwood

Aged 7

3.35
People
Clicking
people talking
cups dinging
people walking
wheels turning
buggy
Barney Oliver Mackew and Stagecoach Bear
Aged 5

4:15 In the restaurant I can hear people chatting and cups and saucers clashing also in the restaurant I can hear chairs being moved! On the balcony I can hear the sea smashing on the rocks and pebbles. I can also hear the seagulls chirping to each other. On the stair case i can hear footsteps. I hear children and adults muttering and talking! Emily Balaban Aged 10

4:54

People Talking

Foot Steps

Wind

Glasses/Cup in cafe

People walking

Door banging

Paper being looked at

Tapping on the table

Rappers (Sweets)

People being served in the cafe

Pen

Granny talking

Waves crashiin

Seaguls

Lucy

Age: 11

Look at Me:Who Am I ?

2011-10-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

A lovely sunny afternoon and the DLWP was heaving with people taking in the exhibition and before we'd even got our photo booth up we had string of people itching to dress up and have their photo taken. Wigs, sunglasses, tiaras, gloves and hairy moustaches - all really popular for those seeking their inner 'star' and it wasn't just the children !

The overall look was a Studio 54 circa 1975 with feather boas, bowler hats in combination with cat masks and a pipe - the latter beign something of an alien object to many children who initially didn't know where to put it !

The photobooth could just about hold 4 people and their superstar qualities shone through the curly wigs and Elton John glasses - many apsired to mere disguise and others were keen try everything on simultaneously.

Exhibitions Blog

2011-10-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

https://sites.google.com/site/dmcdlwpaudio/newad1.aif?attredirects=0&d=1

2011-10-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

2011-10-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

2011-10-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

2011-10-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

2011-10-13T06:25:00.001-07:00

Great day last saturday!

Over the course of the day I worked with groups to make our own 'artverts' based on Warhol's iconographic images of classic packaging.

It was great fun and many people came and made pieces inspired by things such as Bubble gum, string, batteries, sellotape, cheese and even tornadoes (not quite sure how that one got in there!)

The response was great and I was impressed and inspired by everyones ingenuity and humour. One of my favourite moments was aiding in the recording of 'I like string'- a bonafide modern classic!

I will try and put some of them up here and some pics, just got to figure out this here blog thing!

art

2011-10-02T02:19:00.000-07:00

We're All Artists Now

2011-10-02T01:38:00.000-07:00

The day after.
I've calmed down a bit now. Yesterday was such a blast; it's exciting when projects spontaneously erupt and become something more than the original concept. This is what Joseph Beuys was talking about, I think, when he came up with the term Social Sculpture. The sheer volume of participants made it tricky to photograph, but Marcia managed to capture some of the calmer moments. Thanks to everyone who visited our trolley, discarded their inhibitions and discovered the joy of participation.

Superstars Self Portraits

2011-10-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

Was it the weather? Was it the Warhols? Just what was it that caused 142 people from 2 - 82 to stop by the Saturday Interaction Trolley today? Rapid self portraits made on acetate film soon began to fill the wall spaces attracting more and more visitors to stop, look and have a go. For three hours the area outside the cafe buzzed with laughter, energy and unselfconscious enthusiasm. People began to queue up to make their simple contributions to this goodwill-infused project. We ran out of acetate! Then we found some more! My plan to stitch all the portraits together soon became unachievable - then Marcia, a DLWP volunteer, came up with a great idea - to collate and ANIMATE all the portraits...genius. I'm really looking forward to the next stage, working with Marcia to photograph all the work and make a film. I wonder how many portraits will be made at my next session?

Warhol Is Here

2011-09-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Warhol Is Here exhibition. We would love to know what you think. Please add your comments!

Floating

2011-09-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

It was my final day as a member of the interaction team with De La Warr Pavilion and the penultimate day of the Yass exhibition. It was also the last weekend of the summer holidays. So there was a sense of things coming to a close, with many visitors, as well as myself, in a thoughtful, reflective mood. As result the afternoon was punctuated with conversations about the palpable sense of transition, looking out across the water as the clouds blew in and out. The Pavilion felt like a lookout post, for ideas as well as the weather. Our transparent, floating images, wafting in the air in the stairwell seemed very appropriate to the moment.

Quite of a number of conversations over the worktables revolved around the surprise and pleasure at being permitted/encouraged to make artwork in an art gallery. Many galleries provide opportunities for children to engage with their exhibitions, but far fewer recognise that adults of all ages take delight in and gain enormously from being invited into making creative responses to what they are seeing. This highly inclusive aspect of the gallery interactions has been one of my greatest pleasures during my year working with the Pavilion.

As usual, there were so many lovely people, making lovely work and enjoying a chat over the scissors and glue.

Thanks to Callum for his excellent assistance running the interaction and thanks to all my participants, for this day, and all the other days over the last year.

2011-09-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

A rather damp end to the summer holidays and the last Lift the Lid of the Catherine Yass season was pretty busy. Parents and children got stuck into the painting the sea, creating an atmospheric postcard and constructing a lighthouse, or in some cases a boat. The session was enlivened by the upbeat and lively Gipsy Hill Band, driven inside by the blustery rain.

Thanks to Gaby, Georgia and Ben, the volunteers, for helping out and clearing up.

Strange sunsets over the sea

2011-08-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

The third session of conjuring up a "dream-scene" was an interesting interaction between favourite images from the exhibition, the nature of the imagery provided as a basis for creating different scenes, and child and adult working alongside each other in quiet contemplation.

A deliberate choice of images involved the natural elements as settings which could be transformed into personal interior narratives. The very nature of a dream is a private and secret world where anything may happen.

In response to the activity of creating a light-box image, the qualities of Catherine Yass' films in particular were an evocative catalyst for personal narratives.

Contributors were not always able to give verbal specific explanations of their scene, such as Amelia (below) who described her piece as "loads of things which merge together".

If we consider the random nature of dreams which elude our ability to be defined, this also relates to the subliminal layers which can be perceived in the work of Catherine Yass, where an emotional response is triggered by the interplay between the intangible qualities of space and time.

The sea and the waves, a sunset with or without strange animals, a beach with rock pools recurred in different manifestations.

Much admiring attention by the passing public was drawn to the growing display of magical scenes which effectively masked the untidy urban aspect to the sea view caused by the presence of machinery.

My first group were a very creative family of three sisters: Agnes, Amelia, Lola and their brother Oscar. Agnes was inspired to create work which had two different view points in reference to the lock where the viewer simultaneously shares a boat journey going arriving and departing.

The last participants brought fire and brimstone to the final dreams:

"God looking down on the earth" by Nieve

Ellie's "Invasion" with a War of the Worlds II.

A special mention for Sonam who created the most amazing anarchic piece with a strange creature which appeared to burst forth from its own dream, see below.

The adults also enjoyed the chance to dream aloud.

As my final gallery interaction I would like to show my appreciation of all the amazing work created by Agnes, Lola, Oscar, Amelia, Kyiga, Sonam, Norpelt, Marysia, Nieve, Ellie, Jessie, Patrick, Natalie, Peter, Louis, Amelie, Daisy and Clover and their parents Tony and Charlotte, and those who worked fast and left before I could record their names or work. And thank you to volunteer Jess for such excellent and efficient support.

Lighthouse Stories 3

2011-08-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

A glittering sea day, the lighthouse clear on the horizon and a steady flow of people of all ages, locals and tourists, enjoying the De La Warr Pavilion.

This was my last gallery interaction session as a member of this year's Interpretation Team. It's been excellent. Today, I did collage with kids and recorded people's reactions to the Catherine Yass film "Lighthouse".

Many thanks to volunteer helper Callum the Chemist.

Lighthouse Stories 2

2011-08-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

Last time, collage and modelmaking were popular (see Lighthouse Stories 1, 16 July). This time, there was more text and drawing was clearly ahead of collage until right at the end. Attendance at the Pavilion was different to July, many more of the very young and those with much longer memories. People in the gap between childhood and maturity were largely elsewhere unless they had kids to entertain which is where we came in handy. The Red Arrows flew a long loop from the Eastbourne Air Show. Bob only gave them a glance as he was stationed in Cyprus for three years and used to see them six times a day.

Thanks again to volunteer Penny Hobson (www.pennyhobson.co.uk) for a good collaboration and even transcribing.

Signing the OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT!

"In 1967, I worked as a ‘temp’ for Trinity House – in the beautiful Trinity Square near Waterloo. I was working on a database of lighthouse keepers’ addresses, which necessitated me signing the Act. I still have my faded copy…"

"In around 1991, I went to the Trinity Buoy Wharf in East London where Matts Gallery [then in Bethnal Green] were holding an event. Poet Brian Catling, unshaven and dishevelled, sat muttering in a corner. The light still had its mirrors then. It is London’s only lighthouse where they used to train lighthouse keepers. I was told that before that, the site was where those transported to Australia were embarked."

Loneliness
Quiet
Shout, but no one hears you
What a sad existence

Fire!
Noise!
Sirens!
Danger
Pain
RIOTS
Anger in the cities
Seemed a good idea at the time

Trendy living
consumerism
Fancy house
now I’m not so sure

stability…. not loneliness
calm …. cwll ok …. quiet
whisper or shout, I don’t mind
what an existence!

Let everyone live in the lighthouse
it may teach us how to live with each other ♥

Linda Gill [Guildford, Surrey]

"The old Sovereign Light Ship is now in St Katherine’s Dock in Wapping, London. It is surprisingly small. People remember its light, every 15 seconds, as a comfort."

"A bit like a fairground ride it gave me vertigo. I felt a bit ‘giddy’, had to steady myself on back wall."

Commonwealth War Graves Commission
"I think if Trinity House personnel died during WWII*, they are considered to be casualties and are therefore commemorated by them [WGC] see www.cwgc.org. If you go to that website you will be able to contact them and get further information.
* it might be that they had to had to have died “as a result of enemy action” e.g. on a ship which sank."

"I visited the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse in the early eighties with the local Eastbourne MP, Ian Gow (later murdered by the IRA). I worked for the Eastbourne Herald as a snapper and he was delivering Christmas cheer to the lighthouse keeper. We all got seasick [it was December!] and were hoisted onto the platform in a balloon basket with a Christmas Tree."

lift the lid

2011-08-10T05:47:00.000-07:00

A buzzy Sunday at the dlwp and the Lift the Lid session was pretty busy all afternoon. Grandparents happily spent time constructing and helping their granchildren realise improbable ideas and fantastic forms inspired by Yass's Soveriegn Lighthouse photographs and other images of lighthouses. The lure of cardboard boxes and masking tape was strong and the desire to design, cut, build, stick and colour the lighthouses was experienced by all ages.

Watercolour painting which allowed a range of brushes to create watery shapes and patterns was also popular with parents and children - all sloshing filmy blues and greens across the paper, seeing the sea as something dreamy and insubstantial.

A productive session with many keen and able participants all inspired by the Catherine Yass exhibition to make marks, shapes and forms which refelcted her unique view of the sea and man made structures.

Dreaming Landscapes II

2011-08-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Flying through the stars by Madeleine

Red crab at large by Rhiannon

A wealth of dreams intertwined and came to 'technicolourful' life in this second interaction exploring the connection of creating personal dreams with the landscapes and surreal images of Catherine Yass. A steady flow of contributors from small children to adults, invoked strange, distorted realities which form unconscious journeys of dreaming.

The first to take part was Olivia, accompanied by her mother Kate, and aunt Ann, revealed the lovely fact that they are a 'dream sharing family', often discussing the content and meaning of their dreams. We all agreed that we were great fans of the Platypus, (see below) largely because it seems to be assembled like a living animal collage.

Listening to the key details of the wide range of conscious dreams which unrolled throughout the afternoon, I decided take a little artistic licence to use the way in which the individual art works were collaged together to create one magnificent and dramatic dream of rescue, thull-duggery with a happy ending....

Under a big red sun in a tunnel of trees, a platypus flies past over tropical trees and looks down on a fire engine driving fast through the trees to the rescue of a naughty woman stuck in a tree, narrowly avoiding a car driving fast, which is about to knock down those trees...The sun becomes yellow as it lights up the beach at Bexhill, the sky fills with birds and a big red crab running through seaweed. A rocket waits at some steps for a lady and her dog, who was lost, but rescued and returned by a ladybird and two bees.

The rocket will take them to see if any birds need rescuing. They may be lucky enough to see Madeleine (top left) by on a little ship, being shown around the stars. The sun turns red as it sets in the forest, where a monster tries to take some gold but is beaten by a knight who gets there first......

Megan's gold

Maya's red rocket taking off.

Sarah's cityscape in surreal reflection

The last two people to leave were Sarah, a scientist from Stoke Newington and Vanessa an artist based in Finsbury Park, who had both very much engaged with the exhibition. A meandering exchange which ranged from taking almost identical shots of Brighton beach, to the way in which a reflection in water can appear like an entrance to another world, integrated itself into each artwork as can be seen above and below.

Their responses concluded the strange and imaginative spaces which were conjured into new surreal realities in dialogue with the exhibition by each thoughtful and generous participant: Joe and brother Sam, Rhiannon and her companions uncle Wayne and auntie Becky, Maya, Olivia, Madeleine, Megan, Yasmin, Kasia, and several families who worked so fast that there was no time to catch their names. A big thank you to Calum and Anne for their sensitive support.

Vanessa's inside out reversed seascape

Bees and ladybirds to the rescue by Yasmin

An interaction with dreaming landscapes

2011-08-03T01:43:00.000-07:00

Amy aged 3

The way in which Catherine Yass explores the metaphorical and physical qualities of space inspired my interest in offering a way in which a space can become a personal choreography of specific elements. Bringing these varying elements together can allow us to draw out underlying thoughts and emotions from the more commonplace aspects of our individual lives.

This was the aim of the afternoon's activity, to create personal "dreamscapes" by selecting existing images on transparencies to then customise, which could be fixed to the window to use natural light and become simple light-boxes.

Unknown Cities by Phil

The afternoon began slowly due to competition from Bexhill Carnival taking place, and it was also a perfect day to enjoy the pleasure of being outside in the Summer sun. Nonetheless, the sight of colourful images attached on the window underneath the stairs, attracted interest and the resulting conversations and artwork. The first participants were Lyndsey, Phil and their french visitor Eustache. We talked about our continuing fascination with the excitement of visiting cities whilst no longer needing to live in these fast moving places. Consequently Phil's image was inspired by the theme of a poem by T S Elliot on the subject of cities and how the anonymity of the cities of the world, gave the impression that they can appear to collapse together and become one.

Eustache used the distortion of different perspectives of sea scenes to evoke the abnormality and disorientating effect of the dream state.

Whilst Lyndsey integrated together two opposing things that she loves, the urban life and trees.

These were wonderful examples of how the activity could stimulate a personal and poetic journey, as echoes from the exhibition. Throughout the afternoon, all who had seen the exhibition were very struck by the way in which their perception became heightened by the elongating sense of time. As such the smallest details become more noticeable, taking on a more extraordinary quality through following the gaze of Catherine Yass and the curious nature of her viewing points.

Art by Daniel and Sarah

A family of three young people accompanied by their mother, worked industriously to intensify and alter the existing images they chose, and positioned on the window, their art then took on the layer of existing scenery outside. Louise aged 13, who is also a keen musician, created an intricate dreamscape which incorporated lots of fragments such as her personal likes, with shadows and a sense of a story about to unfold.

Art by Louise

Wendy and lively daughter Amy, were inspired to each create work which portrayed a love of nature. Wendy's work expresses her frustration at not being able to move to live in Bexhill echoed the sense of a struggle between feeling trapped into an urban life whilst wanting to be closer to the countryside.

Finally, a family visiting from Berlin, Martin, Antonia and Nastassia, created the last surreal scenes of walking through the woods and taking steps to a house with a huge flower, and the beach in Bexhill. Martin decided that his work needed a second attempt, to be completed in his own time.

Art by Antonia and Nastassia

I much appreciated looking at all the thoughtful artwork subsequently displayed underneath the stairway like tendrils of creativity growing outwards from the core exhibition. I rather liked the fact that there was a further unintended backdrop of the details of machinery and the sky as a patchwork of nature and the manmade which infiltrated the created images. Finally I would like to say a huge thank you to volunteer Jess who was a great support throughout the afternoon.

Lighthouse Stories 1.

2011-07-16T23:00:00.000-07:00

LIGHTHOUSE STORIES

What images or words are in your head after watching the film Lighthouse? Do you have any lighthouse stories? What do lighthouses mean to you?

Make a drawing or collage, write a poem, illustrate a word or be in a short video for the Pavilion's Thinking Aloud exhibition blog.

That was the proposition for a gallery interaction on an unseasonal Saturday afternoon, the Pavilion a refuge from rain & wind. The Sovereign Lighthouse was invisible until it suddenly brightened up around 4pm. We had two big tables outside the 1st floor gallery where Lighthouse by Catherine Yass is showing, by the cafe.

Lots of talented people stopped by to sit down and make something. Ana wanted to talk to camera. Too noisy to do it indoors due to a wedding reception upstairs, kept from this summer's rooftop beach by the horrible weather, so we had to contend with the roar of the sea on the balcony. Penny remembered her wedding reception here in 1968. Sophie & Rolf, on a 4 day trip from Brussels in their beautiful car to attend an Austin A35 rally in Liphook, had found the De La Warr Pavilion on the internet and took the time to make an ingenious model lighthouse.

Some of what we tacked to the wall or photographed before it was taken home is below. Thanks to wonderful volunteers Penny & Jess.

Gallery Interaction with Sheridan Quigley: Colouring the light

2011-07-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Catherine Yass' images, still and moving, were eliciting very enthusiastic responses from gallery visitors on Saturday afternoon. Watching people viewing the work, there was a sense that they were both enthralled and unnerved.
One of Yass' tradmarks is the intense colour that radiates from her lightboxes, either as negative light that glows, such as the "Decommissioned" series, or the surreal solidity of the atmosphere in the "Sleep" series, which looks as if you could prod it.

The idea behind the gallery interaction was to give visitors an opportunity to make their own images from layers of translucent colour, which we then hung in the stairwell to collect the light from the seafront.

There was a wide array of responses, from young and old, some taking inspiration from their own dream landscapes, others responding to the sea views and the underwater qualities of the materials.

Yass' films in particular caught the imagination of the people I spoke to, with the sensation they evoke of floating or falling through spaces where up and down are not fixed. A particular favourite seems to be the "Lock", on the Three Gorges Dam of Yangtze River: quite a number of visitors commented on the menacing sense of environmental damage it expresses. The Sovereign Lighthouse film, while inducing a surprising amount of seasickness, is a fabulous sense-surround of this extraordinary local landmark.

Lift the Lid: Dream Windows

2011-07-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

For this month's Lift the Lid we took our inspiration from the new exhibition of lightbox photos and films of Catherine Yass. The artist creates quite dreamy (perhaps even slightly nightmarish) experiences for the viewer. We echoed this work by creating " dream windows", imagining we were fast asleep, going to the bedroom window and recording the dreaming landscape we could see through it.

The first task was to draw the vision with oil pastels on deep blue paper. Then we folded and cut shapes out of white paper, cutting the resulting lattice into two window frames and sticking them to the edge of blue paper. When the windows were shut, you could see glimpses of the dream land through the cut-outs. When the windows were opened, the full view was revealed.

My team (Jess, Ben and Nick) and I had a busy afternoon with many family visitors producing beautiful artwork. We hope you enjoy the results. Unfortunately, we just don't have the space to include them all.

Catherine Yass - colouring space

2011-07-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

A lovely breezy summery seaside day and lots of families in for a play on DUNE and plenty in to see Copacabana - so a really mixed crowd. It was great to be able to link all the spaces - so that people who had been on the roof might have espied Sovereign Lighthouse and we'd talk about that, and it proved a great way to point them towards Catherine Yass's photos of it - and then if people had wandered in from the film in the gallery 2 could then be directed to telescope on roof and to her photos of in gallery 1.

Had some interesting conversations with pupils from Bexhill High School about re-painting the DLWP in their preferred colours - one suggestion was to cover it in graffiti and paint the inside pink and purple. Another suggestion was the addition of a sensory room with dolphins, furry animals and music plus an array of trampolines.
Inspired by Yass's use of positive and negative photography to create an atmospherically charged atmosphere we talked about how different colours influenced how we might in different coloured spaces. There was a collection of pictures of the DLWP to work with and the aim was to colour particular spaces in the building using colours that represented indivdual's response to the selected space.

Pre-school aged participants particulalry enjoyed cutting up coloured paper and inventing their own spaces whilst older ones used the coloured crayons in fits and starts whilst disucssing a vast range of topics. The most noticable thing was the degree to which people just sat themselves down and coloured furiously - enjoying the rich and varied colours available.

Lift the Lid: Colouring with Cage

2011-06-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

The very last day of the John Cage exhibition, and our second (and final) opportunity to open the box, get out the 12-sided dice and start colouring. It was a wet and windy day, which blew many families our way. But the despite the large numbers of small children, a remarkable peace reigned: everyone had their head down, concentrating furiously on colouring squares.

The ambient sounds were rolling dice and the scratching of felt pens across paper. It was a delight to see such diversity emerging from such a simple starting point, as many visitors experimented with making up additional colouring rules. This was Cage-style creativity in full flow. We ended up with images redolent of flower gardens, shimmering sun on water, maps, raindrops in sunlight, psychedelic cities, dissolving landscapes, and so on...

As a mother of three remarked, this is actually a relaxing way to make artwork - you don't have to think about it, you just play the game and enjoy it. There is no anxiety about whether you can draw what is in your head or not.
Most visitors went away with extra colouring grids, so they could keep on working at home.

The pictures above are just of selection of the fabulous array of images which bloomed during the afternoon . "Every day is a good day", including wet and windy ones.

Many thanks to my volunteers, Ben and Marcia, who, as well as being terrific assistants, got caught up in the process of making work as much as everyone else, with wonderful results.

A poetic journey with John Cage: Saturday 4th June

2011-06-06T02:55:00.000-07:00

At first this Saturday promised to have a low rate of participation, as the gallery was extremely quiet and most of Bexhill was settling itself on to the beach to enjoy this warm and sunny day. My quest today was to develop the first workshop I'd led on the theme of creative text and the use of elongated writing tools in order to write from standing onto the surface of the floor. The objective was for words to become liberated from conscious control by this disconcerting means of writing and consequently to use the inspiration of Cage's approach to generate a new understanding and respect for the creative use of text.

I decided to frame areas within the larger surface of paper to connect with the way in which John Cage's art was hung at varying heights and amounts of space between each work. By focusing the writing to work in a defined area, the author might be prompted to explore the contrast of space and the patterning of words, as well as a literary content. The stimulus was to either create a personal title for a favourite piece within the exhibition, or to be drawn to one of the existing titles and to randomly take the word or words which stood out to the individual. This was the starting point for exploring an uncontrolled direction for a detached and yet personal expression of the original stimulus.

Despite an initial reluctance amongst the adult public, there were numerous young people who were not unwilling to take part, and some very interesting poetic journeys began to unfold.

My first family: Jasper, Louis,Ben, (and sister Flora), were extremely responsive to the concept of exploring an inventive use of text, with eloquent sophistication. Jasper, the youngest of three brothers, felt very strongly that a favourite print should be entitled "Stripey Snake" and created a beautifully spacious text to portray his new title.

Louis used the word "fire" to create a colourful and non linear atmosphere of the sensations associated with it.

Ben chose "Urban landscape" and created a dynamic text influenced by a sense of congestion, and the upright linear qualities of the man made world.

As the gallery began to attract more public, it was interesting to witness family members negotiating a collaborative approach with a respectful sense of equality. I really encouraged adults to take part to promote an integration of responses to encourage the influence of a child's inherent playfulness on the more considered response from an adult. Conversations on the theme of memory began to emerge from the words of the existing titles; "Stones" was very evocative for one gentleman who couldn't elaborate further than smiling as he enjoyed the reconnection. "Global Village" reminded a woman of the ceramic design that a very old friend of hers used to create and as such established a trigger of association.

A second Ben and his inspiration from "Rocks and Smoke"

Molly collaborating alongside her father Thor

Even if people didn't want to participate, it was interesting to have conversations which encouraged the observer to move backwards from the final artwork and examine the processes behind the content in order to gain more of an appreciation of the complexity involved in a seemingly simple image. One young woman admitted to being "blown away" by the way in which she felt that John Cage gave the viewer an opportunity to view space as a catalyst for playful and non judgmental creativity. Cordelia, a writer was keen to experiment with writing using the canes and enjoyed the surprise of words emerging on an unforeseen larger scale and differently to how she might have imagined.

Through exploring text, my activity encouraged a seemingly simple and direct connection to the nature of the random and the disordering nature of Cage's own processes of work. It was interesting to witness the range of interest at the idea of creative writing, varying from extreme mistrust, to willing and amused participation, where partners and friends were kept waiting whilst a carefree path of creativity was mapped out.

Above and below are examples by Shannon and Peter, a lovely couple who were inspired by the way in which the works within the exhibition denote a sense of space and patterning, to really play with the potential for text to take on a choreographic presence.

"Seven Day Diary" inspired Shannon's text to move in a variety of directions.

The last piece of the day created by sisters Diyanni and Nikilla drew the afternoon's activities to a wonderful circular close. Thank you to all who helped to map the afternoon's journey through the visual lines of John Cage.

"Circles" by Dyianni and Nikilla

Gallery Interaction with Sheridan Quigley: Setting the Rules

2011-05-31T03:30:00.000-07:00

My second interaction for the John Cage exhibition continued with the I Ching-driven picture-making process that I detailed in my earlier blog: "Playing games to make pictures".

It was a quiet, chilly afternoon, which meant that my interaction visitors were inclined to settle in for while, throwing coins, plotting hexagrams and drawing around stones, from anything between half an hour to one and a half hours. The comment that was uttered most regularly was " this is really hypnotic".

The key idea behind Cage's approach is devising of a set of rules for making a piece and following them through to end of the rule set (eg 50 throws of the I Ching coins) or where a natural endpoint seems to arise (eg there are sufficient marks on the paper). My interaction provided the initial parameters for creating an image - it was then up to individuals to add their own components. This is where it gets interesting - working within a very narrow set of parameters, each individual's own set of additional rules resulted in a unique and personal piece of work. Examples included:

following a sequence of colours and using a single stone which is rotated a quarter turn each time

blocking-in colours and differentiating overlaps

drawing each contour twice, shifting the second one to the right

only drawing round contours which appear within the boundaries of the chosen cell; then drawing in cell boundaries to make enclosed shapes

drawing contours which only appear outside the chosen cell, leaving the cell blank; then emphasising the empty space by colouring in the overspill (annoted with the hexagram name - in Chinese)

highlighting the most central grid axis within each contour

Aside from visitors who wanted to engage with the process of making pictures, there were a number of people who just wanted to chat about their responses to the work on show. A common issue with encountering Cage's images was the need to look for meaning, and failing to find it, leading to bafflement and frustration. The human brain seems to be wired up to seek connections and subtext. With Cage's work, you can either decide to attach your own interpretation to the marks or just revel in the playfulness of devising a game and going with the flow - be it exuberant or meditative.

Ryoanji: Drawing Around Objects.

2011-05-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

The dry garden at Ryoanji (Temple of the Peaceful Dragon) in Kyoto is Japan's most famous Zen Garden. Created c.1450, it is a 30 x 10m area of raked gravel with fifteen stones, arranged in groups of three as five mossy 'islands'. The garden can be viewed from a raised platform, but from no point can all fifteen stones be seen at once.

Inspired by Ryoanji, John Cage worked extensively with drawing around stones making his first series in 1983. Each drawing involved choosing and locating stones at an I Ching-specified point on a (non printing) grid laid over the printing plate.

Inspired by John Cage, I asked visitors to Every Day Is A Good Day to help create a single A3 drawing over three hours on a Saturday afternoon. Objects that people were carrying in their pockets or bags were placed on a grid according to the roll of two dice. A third dice was used to select a colour.

The instructions were:

1. Choose an object of a suitable size from your bag or pockets.

2. Roll two dice. The left dice is the vertical axis, the right dice is the horizontal axis.

3. Place your object on the chosen square.

4. Roll one dice. Choose the pencil that corresponds to that number.

5. Draw around your object.

Any exercise in Cage's preferred territory of chance, acceptance and non intention goes against our normal controlling conscious training and is interesting as a way of loosening up and discovering possibilities. This drawing also acutely revealed how hard it is to simply draw around a shape fluently. It was fascinating to see how the drawing changed over the afternoon, sometimes subtly and sometimes radically with the addition of a single item.

Another surprise was the way that the drawing acts as a catalogue of things that we carry. I thought it would mainly consist of mobile phones and keys but that, it seems, just reveals a limited male viewpoint.

The objects that participants chose included: Box of raisins, breadstick, coins, seahorse keyring, mobile 'phones, gallery attendant's radio, apple, lipstick, moisturiser, asthma inhalers, credit card, nail varnish, wallets, purses, digital camera, Tic tac box, lighter, notebook, single Tic tac mint, keys, spectacle cases, hair grip, key fob, bunch of keys, pebble from beach, eraser, sunglasses, hairbrush, suncream.

Gallery Interaction: Mesostics.

2011-05-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

“I have something to do, a puzzle to solve..."
John Cage.

Cage often used mesostics as part of his creative process. A mesostic is a poem or other typography such that a vertical phrase intersects lines of horizontal text: “Words come first from here and then from there. The situation is not linear. It is as though I'm in a forest hunting for ideas.” Cage used texts such as James Joyce's Finnegans Wake and regarded them as oracles, instructing him where to go next in his 'exploration of nonintention'.

Making mesostics with gallery visitors, we were immediately struck by how deceptively difficult this is. We adults are very bad at playing with words in a freeform way, maybe because they are usually so embedded in structure and intent. Only young Thomas Denton wrote a mesostic all on his own, the play hasn't been knocked out of him. The rest were group efforts and happened slowly, interspersed with lots of fine conversation about John Cage, chance and nonintention.

Lift the Lid: Games with colour and sound

2011-05-04T06:34:00.000-07:00

This month's Lift the Lid took its inspiration from the John Cage exhibition in the gallery. Cage was interested in the use of playful, game-like strategies to drive the process of making visual art and music. So we decided to play in a similar way.
Everything was based around the use of 12-sided dice, which took on the role of making creative decisions for all the activities. The dice decided which colours to use, which squares to colour, which notes to play.

We coloured grids of various degrees of complexity - including one where you had to make up your own set of rules to complete it.

We composed music on glockenspiels, using 12 notes to correspond to the 12 numbers on the dice.

Each composition was added to a musical score,

which grew,

and grew throughout the afternoon.

The anticipation and randomness of rolling dice seems to infect everyone with excitment. There is also the simple pleasure of following a enjoyable course of action, rather than worrying about having to make decisions. Nevertheless, you can always add further dimensions by contributing your own rules to the process.

Thank you to everyone who joined in and many thanks to my lovely volunteers, Pat and Ben, who kept the dice rolling.

Apparently our glockenspiels could be heard ringing out all over the Pavilion, competing with Charlie Hooker's grand piano: an impromptu performance true to the spirit of John Cage.

Gallery interaction with Sheridan Quigley: Playing games to make pictures

2011-05-03T04:52:00.000-07:00

It has often struck me that what is hard to grasp in an exhibition (any exhibition) is the sequence of time-consuming, highly involved processes an artist can go through to make a piece of work. The finished image/artefact appears in a gallery: self-contained, "perfected" and presented. The toil and the anguish are invisible. For John Cage, the process of creating the work was more important the finished image. He was interested in the adventure of defining a set of rules for himself and then setting off to explore where they took him. The objective was not to create a brilliant piece of art, but to devise an interesting game.

For my interaction with this quietly inspiring exhibition, I wanted to take the participants right inside the actual process Cage utilised to create images such as the Ryoanji (Zen rock garden) series. Cage used incredibly meticulous chance operations, based around the ancient Chinese divination tool, the I Ching, repeated over and over to create a single image.

Sheet showing the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching

Throwing coins to create hexagrams

The I Ching is made up of 64 hexagrams (sets of different arrangements of six continuous and broken lines), each with its own meaning. The enquirer asks a question of the I Ching, while throwing three coins, six times. Chance provides an answer in the form of a hexagram, which is interpreted using the text of the ancient I Ching book. We were using the I Ching to find numbers rather than asking portentious questions. However, we did focus our minds on how we might want our images to turn out.

I introduced my participants to the coin throwing process, to make hexagrams which they checked against a list. They were also given a sheet of paper printed with a grid of 64 numbered squares, on which they used their hexagram numbers to plot a drawing.

Throw a set of three coins: record how they fall as a combination of heads and tails.

Repeat this six times to create a hexagram (there are 64 possible combinations of lines).

Identify the hexagram and its corresponding number.

Locate the number on the drawing grid.

Place a stone over numbered square on the grid and draw round it.

Repeat the process as many times as you wish. Cage might do this perhaps 100 times.

Drawing around stones

Faced with the highly structured nature of this interaction, the standard response from my participants was "...oh, I'll just have a quick go." But once they'd begun, everyone got drawn into the calm, repetitive process. Cage's images in the gallery are recordings of a peaceful state of mind, free from the anxiety that creative decision-making can engender. I became aware of how this mindset overtook the participants as they settled into making their pictures. Many stayed for half an hour, or more. The playfulness of the process added to lightness with which the work was undertaken. We all laughed at lot.

Thank you to everyone who participated. I gained a greater insight into the exploratory potential of this type of process as a result of working with you. And to all of you who took extra sheets home to continue with your ideas, I hope you have had fun with it.

Gallery Interaction Saturday 23rd April with Irene Mensah

2011-04-28T02:09:00.000-07:00

Today was a very warm and sunny Saturday during the Easter Weekend and the public's minds were possibly not going to be inspired by the thought of engaging with the taxing activity of a creative writing exercise. This was born out by my first endeavours to invite members of the viewing audience to help me with this experiment. So I took a firm approach and the journey commenced.

The idea today was to draw upon the text in the titles John Cage had given to his different works and then by an instinctive and random decision to choose 3 to 5 words from 2 titles.

These words would then become the basis for a exploring a playful journey with creative writing by using them in any sequence or manner which seemed to suggest itself to the individual. With the addition of pencils being on long canes and the writing to take place from standing, the slightly disconcerting nature of this action gave a extra focus to the action and hopefully would promote a greater freedom in writing.

My first two participants, Ruth and Julia immediately took a different approach by preferring to create visual images rather than text, but once coerced into the activity they had fun and also were drawn into their own dialogue with interpreting the titles chosen which was part of the objective. I was quite moved by the writing which was created by Nick and Stephen, as they each had a piece of prose which had a wonderfully profound depth to it. This is there work which I would like to share with their agreement to a wider public:

Nick's selected words: River Rocks And Smoke

With a violent lurch

The boat was swept downstream

The thick heavy ash filling my mouth

And my cheeks raw with the heat

And rising adrenalin

Stephen's selected words: Wanting Variations Disappearances

Wanting variations in disappearance

We want to go down to the water

Every day we are discussing this

Some days we are describing it so clear that it has become in

Our imaginations. Once there

was an argument about when

we should go but we realised

that is beside the point. We

are going going going going going

An extremely mature young boy called Scott Griffiths, engaged so beautifully with the exhibition, that his comments as well as his consequent contribution were equally insightful. I think John Cage would have been pleased by Scott's comment in relation to his favourite print which he perceived to resemble a drawing by someone who has never drawn before. By this he elaborated that he meant that it wasn't like anything else he'd seen, but seemed fresh and new. I admired his clarity at the age of 8. He then drew in inspiration by this piece which you can see below.

Jeff Newnham was a humourous and playful participant who was fascinated by the fact; "that you never know how you will get from double six to double five", relating to the transition from one point in the game of dominoes to another. and his comment; " It is the gaps in between places which other people will fill in" both related to this but also seemed like a metaphor for understanding the random and uncontrollable aspects of our collective lives.

I would like to thank my last participant who concluded the afternoon's explorations, and was a charming older gentleman called Raj who was drawn to the word River in no 72 New River Watercolours. His was a lovely loose response which combined both text and imagery.

I really appreciated the efforts of all who participated on such a hot afternoon and the variety of creative pieces which were generated by this experiment. Many of those individuals found that from this freedom to take their own path starting with something as simple as a few words, that they found a different level on which to connect with John Cage's work.

They were at times surprised to find themselves stimulated by their own ability to be creative and to also enjoy the process. Such is the power of personal random journeys, and the special way in which the the thinking behind the work of John Cage can open doors to unforeseen ways of stimulating artistic expression in an ever continuing response back and forth between self and the outside world.

John Cage: Every Day is a Good Day. Gallery Interaction 16th April

2011-04-23T04:50:00.000-07:00

This was the first interaction in the gallery for the John Cage season and we were lucky enough to have beautiful weather, a packed gallery and a designated space for the interaction session. The area - in which you could also watch videos on John Cage - proved to be invaluable and along with my two wonderful volunteers, Josef Konczak and Will Richards we created a real hub of creativity, inventiveness and discussion. Those that interacted were asked to take photographs of parts of their own bodies or something close to them, randomly pressing the shutter at a time when an utterance was heard within the gallery space, that stood out above all others. The photographs were meant to be immediate and taken without traditional aesthetic framing. The images were then converted into black and white files and printed. The utterance or sound was then added to the image with pencil.

The idea was to produce images inspired by Cage’s idea of chance and forced artistic limitations. Specifically inspired by Seven Day Diary (Not Knowing), 1978, the artworks produced reflected a particular time and place, the juxtaposition between text and imagery engaging with the relationship between the self and chance encounters. For the duration of the Saturday interaction the prints were shown on the windows of the workroom.

The exercise instigated much dialogue about how easy it was to follow a specific brief and relinquish the desire for creative autonomy. Many found this challenging and liberating when they achieved a work of art created entirely by chance. Those with a more prescriptive notion of producing artworks had two or three attempts before producing something that appeared to be just chance encounters. Some discussions developed into philosophical ideas of 'autonomy' in art and whether it was still 'you' producing the artwork as they seemed so determined by chance. Each print produced was unique and represented personal artistic integrity, despite being produced from an outside brief. Interesting dialogues were instigated about the 'value' of the art object in relation to the amount of 'work' put in to the final piece. I shall be doing the exercise again on the 7th May and will be very much looking forward to the afternoon.

Lift the Lid 3 Moving Insect Portraits Sunday April 3rd

2011-04-06T03:18:00.000-07:00

Moving Bug Portaits......

For this third session the theme was to identify a favourite insect, and then create a portrait of yourself as this insect which would be able to move: a moving bug portrait!

Here is Angelica holding her selection of bees and butterflies

Whilst her brother Vinnie shows off his caterpillar...

The above caterpillar is clearly in full motion and a lively collaboration between mother and daughter.

The afternoon was less busy than usual as it was Mother's day and in between exhibitions, but everyone who came to the session quickly identified with their favourite insect, such as the multi-dimensional butterfly by Caoimhe seen below, and went straight into action.

Ladybirds and bees were very popular and some very focused concentration on making them move was inspiring to witness in participants of all ages. Below are companion dragonflies created by a sister and brother:

This last image was of a wonderful insect created by a gentleman called David who deftly used pipe-cleaners to make his 3-D artwork and sums up the imaginative approach towards the final selection of Moving Portraits...

Lift the Lid 2: Shoe Portraits March 5th

2011-04-06T02:36:00.000-07:00

It could be said that a shoe give all kinds of insights into the unique personality of any individual, the tiny detail of a type of stitching, colour, traditional style, eccentric etc all indicate sometimes unconscious facets of the wearer. By creating a shoe as a portrait, what kind of information would be passed on to a viewer?

With a lovely group of intrepid workshop participants much activity was spent creating shoes in widely varying forms from 2 dimensional as below:

To these sculptural creations... So what does a shoe portray about its owner?

The workshop drew upon the work from the preceding Lift the Lid, where portraits were created in the form of a story, drawing and or collage as reinterpretations of a selection of the Moving Portraits exhibition. From 5 instructions family groups could identify key aspects of a portrait and then eventually create their own which may or may not correspond to the way that others would perceive the same portrait.

The choice was then offered to the participants of this session to either create a shoe which they thought that the person in one of the portraits might wear, or one for themselves, taking into consideration the exhibition and own likes and dislikes.

So a fabulously colourful range of footwear emerged, and one pair of friends taking up the invitation to create a dance with their shoes, which turned one corner of the space into a dance area, see below.

The result was to create a new version of moving portraits, as the shoe portraits became alive and were danced and moved around the space before being taken home. Thank you to all those who participated so imaginatively.

Gallery Interaction 19th March

2011-03-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all who wanted to take part in the interaction with Guy Sherwin's short film, "Portrait of Parents" 1975. As per my previous post, this is a 3 and a half minute film looking at the idea of portraiture through the moving image. The participants were asked to engage with the film, which features Guy Sherwin -seen in as a reflection in the mirror- filming his parents. We discussed the relationships between the son and his parents and their 'performance' for the camera. We discovered that the viewers relationship with the film is substantially changed when also filmed and this added an additional dimension, becoming part of or extending the performance and the narrative.

There were many students visiting this week as next weekend will be the last chance to see the exhibition! If you haven't already seen this brilliant show, "Moving Portraits", I highly recommend that you do. Well worth the effort, especially to catch the film "Bernadette" by Duncan Campbell....a must see!

HOWL (15) screening at the Pavilion

2011-03-18T05:45:00.001-07:00

HOWL (15)
Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Freidman

with James Franco, John Hamm, David Strathairn and Jeff Daniels

Howl is the fictionalized account of the 1957 obscenity trial surrounding the publication of Allen Ginsberg's poem of the same name, composed from court records and interviews with Ginsberg, and animation inspired by Illustrated Poems by Allen Ginsberg and Eric Drooker.

James Franco starts as the young Allen Ginsberg - counter-culture poet and chronicler of the Beat Generation. In his famously confessional, leave-nothing-out style, Ginsberg recounts the road trips, love affairs and search for personal liberation that led to the most timeless and electrifying work of his career: the poem Howl. Meanwhile in a San Franscisco courtroom Howl is on trail. Prosecutor Ralph McIntosh (David Strathairn) sets out to prove that the book should be banned, while suave defence attorney Jake Ehrlich (John Hamm) argues fervently for freedom of speech and creative expression. The proceedings veer from the comically absurd to the passionate as the host of unuual witnesses (Jeff Daniles, Mary-Louise Parker, Treat Williams, Alessandro Nivola) pit generation against generation and art against fear in front of conservative Judge Clayton Horn (Bob Balaban).

Howl is simultaneously a portriat of a renegade artist breaking down barriers to find love and redemption, and a romantic ride through a prophetic masterpiece that rocked a generation and was heard around the world.

22, 22, 27 March (2pm) - £3

Saturday 26 March (7.30pm) - £6 including a glass of wine, half a Peroni or a fruit juice

Bookings: 01424 229 111 http://www.dlwp.com/

Chinese Whispers part 2 Moving Portraits Sat 12th March

2011-03-14T03:44:00.000-07:00

The two responses above were offered for the same original set of words:

Perspective, alien, unsettling, interesting, pleasing... The one on the left identified the portrait, the one on the right chose a different one, who do you think the description is about?

The second episode of my Chinese Whispers style of experiment with transmission of information was an interesting development from the first session. As I considered the original responses to specific portraits, what was interesting to me was how words can be so subjective as to potentially offer a description which could represent a number of other pieces. In which case, could a random recipient of such a response be able to relocate the original source?

So this was my quest, to engage the Saturday audience with 2 tasks: take one description from an unknown person and see if they could locate the original portrait and then once they had made their decision, to find their own response to this portrait.

Who was this?

...the same person as the above two responses?... in fact the same as the previous two.... Duncan Alexander Goodhew portrayed through 5 pairs of eyes.

Two things were important to identify:

1. That it was a less a case of being right or wrong to identify the portrait from the description.

2. It was of greater importance to consider why a decision was made and what this brought to the gallery experience.

A particularly wide range of people took part, and all concluded that this extra focus encouraged their interaction and consideration of what a particular portrait was communicating. It also heightened their awareness of the very subjective assumptions which we make, when looking at such an image as filmed portrait, and how this influences our subsequent memory and what we might pass on to others about our experience.

The above response was to what was actually a response to one of Peter Gidal's portraits in Heads, but encouraged some amused dialogue between a mother and son about the nature of the Cactasia!, and certainly wouldn't have been a choice of focus without my request.

I enjoyed responding myself to different conversations and by making my own decisions on who to give which kind of a trigger set of words. More subtle and less specific for some, more playful for others, sometimes giving people a portrait which was different to one they identified most with, at other times doing the opposite to see if they could recognise it through a different perception.

The above response on the right was a great visual portrait and also accurate in tracing Wearing's 2 into 1, from a first description which was relatively straightforward.

In most cases I had added my own 'noise' to the transmission process, by removing words from the original response which could make it too obvious which of the portraits was being referred to. It was something of a revelation to me to see how many people tuned in to the correct choice. Many people were torn between a correct choice and a different one, so were instinctively able to track the path back.

These were responses to Non-specific Threat, from a quite poetic original set of words by an artist and writer from the previous session, whose style in itself then encouraged an interaction of depth and creative expression.

This therefore became an opportunity to move through the perceptions of others towards the essence of a portrait, seeing through their eyes then again through the camera lens and finally with a different view both objective and responsive to a charming elderly lady smoking and laughing, or a young woman crying etc.

These words described Portrait of Ga, but were also thought to portray the subject of the Bee Fever, and who could argue with that. Thank you to all who took time to contribute, such as the art teacher Chris Mansell from Lewes, and for a great deal of intense concentration and interesting responses.

Gallery Interaction 5th March: Shadow Portraits 2

2011-03-08T01:19:00.000-08:00

Roll up, roll up! This week's interaction felt like a circus sideshow, with people crowding round to watch the action and participate. There's nothing like a spotlight to attract attention: moths to a candle.
The process of creating the shadow portraits was the same as my interaction several weeks ago: a bright light throws the shadow of the portrait sitter on to paper: the resulting silhouette is drawn around with coloured pens.

There was a wonderful diversity of approaches to posing for the portrait on the part of the sitters. Many people decided to create group portraits, encompassing the whole family. Surprisingly, there were a number of people celebrating family birthdays, which meant that their portraits became a very personal record of that event.

The lovely couple below, took a romantic approach, kissing in front of the paper, creating shadows of tender togetherness, which were truly charming.

Others decided to take over the whole drawing process themselves, discovering in the process just how fast you have to work and how still you have to sit. However, nobody is ever completely still. The more restless the personality, the more the person moves, which means that you are constantly having to shift the line, creating multiple overlays - which of itself becomes part of the description of the person in the portrait.

As with the moving portraits in the exhibition, they way we move, the way we choose to pose - even when we are just sitting and looking - says so much about us. Capturing multiple, shifting silhouettes of someone is much more descriptive than we imagine. Everyone who participated began to realise how much of themselves was being revealed.

I was struck by how delighted the observers and participants were with the simplicity of the technique we used to create these images. Just shadows and a drawn line. No complex technology. What we were doing here is probably the same as our prehistoric ancestors did thousands of years ago with a piece of charcoal on a cave wall, in front of a fire. The exploration of the self is an eternal fascination.

In the course of the afternoon around 37 people had their portraits made. I would like to thank everyone who participated for making the interaction such an enjoyable and thought-provoking event, with a particular nod to Tracey, Richard, the Lynton Vakili family, Delilah, Louise, Ruby and Rosie.

2011-02-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

32 Five Second Moving Portraits

Made over three hours on a Saturday afternoon, these moving portraits repeat the method of my last gallery interaction (22nd January, below). Visitors were asked if they'd like to design a five second moving portrait which I then shot on one of the Pavilion education department's compact cameras. Five second sections were cut from the original footage and simply joined up in the order in which they were made.

Feeling emboldened by my first go at this, and a bit more familiar with the video setting of the little digital camera, I played it a bit more fast and loose this time. So much so that the first two portraits are the wrong way around. Sorry, I've been a stills photographer for thirty years and obviously have some bad habits. The gentleman in the first clip, John, is a teacher of film and said that he didn't mind he liked it that way, so I felt better and then did it again.

I was less strict with duration this time, making longer clips from which to cut from, an intervention that I had tried hard to exclude before. Also, we (Penny Hobson, artist and De La Warr volunteer, and myself) were in a rush in a very busy gallery, dealing with people who weren't so willing to write a plan on a clipboard but were very keen to get on with it. There was a lot more improvisation from the sitters this time, and what a cast! Thanks to all for being such a pleasure to work with.

The modern digital snapshot camera makes data files that are the 8mm amateur cine films of our day. The big difference is that one isn't forced to discriminate with the digital camera. The tiny memory card is so vast compared to the quick, expensive and single use rolls of film in use from the 1950's to the 1970's. Nowadays, having method and intention behind what you put on that memory card is more essential than ever in order to make something worth saving. It might be this aspect of Moving Portraits, more than any other, that makes people respond so well to this exhibition.

Special film event The Human Face (1990)

2011-02-16T05:12:00.000-08:00

Nominated for a BAFTA, The Human Face (1990) is an experimental 60 minute documentary made for BBC Arena. American poet, artist and musician Laurie Anderson narrates an examination of mankind's obsession with its own image, looking at the use of heads and the human face in art and sculpture, and at the prejudices applied every day based solely on a person's appearance.

Nichola Bruce, the director of The Human Face and renowned film maker, will give a special talk about the role portraiture plays in her practice, followed by a screening of the film. Thanks to Anthony Wall, Series Editor, BBC Arena.

Tickets: £5
For bookings and information call the Box Office directly on 01424 229 or book online at http://www.dlwp.com/.

Chinese Whispers meets Moving Portraits Sat 12th Feb

2011-02-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

How much are we able to receive from the mass of information contained in a portrait? Add to this the possibility of confusing or intensifying the viewer's focus with the nature of portraits which are not static and the possibility for untold reinterpretations taking place becomes apparent. What does each viewer bring to the temporary encounter? Beyond the immediacy of the visible, can we connect to the subliminal layers which are part of the artist's own interpretation of their subject? What is contained in the reinterpretation which we take away as a memory. These thoughts prompted me to draw on the idea of Chinese Whispers, and the changes which occur in transmission of information to see if I could inspire viewers to find a deeper focus in responding to selected portraits.

A movement of responses to the movement within each portrait.

It was a fascinating afternoon being able to observe the public gaze interacting with that of the unseeing portraits. My initial reluctance to disrupt the silent exchanges taking place disappeared as each person or group approached, were interested to consider how and why the information we receive from a visual starting point is transformed and reinterpreted as it passes through those who receive it.

A series of intense conversations took place. Each in itself moving in response to the reactions collected to specific portraits. The subject ranged widely from the unusual nature of the exhibition, modern art found in a fortress in Cadiz, and the agreed handsomeness of David B.

My request was simple: please respond to 5 questions relating to a specific portrait with one word answers. I also responded to different individuals by loosening the constraints of the instructions to 5 words which came to mind. This allowed for a more emotional response, prompting the viewer to engage further with their own experience of particular relationships. It had the effect of expanding their sense of distance or connection to either the subject or the observing taker of the image. Sue Phipps pinpointed a moral dilemna which occurs when a strongly negative response takes place through a personal judgement defining the interaction. Do we have a responsibility to question our reactions? I pass this on for reflection.

The multitude of indicators for indifferent or strong responses ranged from the experience of having a father who was one of twins, contempt or admiration for the subject portrayed, the poignancy of a mother's recent death, to a love of dogs. The constraint of 5 words distilled the essence of a response experienced for an individual, but I liked the silent rebellion to conform, which many people exhibited towards a greater expansiveness. 2 companions who participated, Gemma and Sue, enjoy seeing art together, balancing each other as poet/artist and self described non artist. Their playful eloquence meant that they were happy to engage in reflective exploration of different portraits. They enjoyed analysing their responses and found that they developed a greater connection with the act of seeing from a more internal place. Other participants also found it intriguing to examine their responses and decided to return for further visits to maximise their experience of the exhibition.

The next stage for my interaction on Saturday the 12th of March will be to add my own transmitting noise to the information received, to pass on a further interpretation. Will the original portrait remain identifiable throughout this process of movement.......

Lift the Lid using Chinese Whispers.

2011-02-09T03:12:00.000-08:00

"My Chinese Whispers Story"

The first Lift the Lid session for the Moving Portraits exhibition was full of intense activity. The grey and rainy Sunday was a perfect time to be exploring the topsy turvy world created by following a journey of "Pass it on" with Chinese Whispers. So what was passed on?

With their ticket 'to ride' in hand, a constant stream of friends and families took as long as they wished to follow 4 simple questions relating to a selected portrait in the gallery. Returning to the workshop, the words chosen to answer the questions were whispered back and forth between each member of a group until the words were transformed into something more magical or mysterious.

These new words then inspired a surreal picture story to be created using drawing, words and collage, drawing upon the original portrait viewed in the exhibition. The next part of the journey was to swap portraits and then go back into the exhibition to try and trace the portrait which had been the source. One family completed the journey, but couldn't find the original portrait before tea and cakes became an urgent activity to attend to. A communal Chinese Whisper snaked its way around the room from time to time, helping to maintain the theme.

The objective of the theme was to explore how an original piece of information can be changed as it is passed on or ' transmitted', and becomes something which is a combination of the original memory of the word and what is perceived to be heard. In the same way each person will relate to different portraits in this exhibition according to what they think is being communicated and aspects which are personal connections or preferences. What would participants in the workshop bring to the exchange of visual and oral information?

Below are 2 different versions of the portrait of Duncan Alexander Goodhew

whose portrait was extremely popular.

These were just two of the wonderful ideas and art work which were created as a result. Other favourites were The Screen Tests:

A temporary gallery of these portraits, became physically 'moving portraits' as their owners removed them to take home or to reposition them. Parents, grandmothers and other adult members of the groups identified that it was a really positive outcome to see their children being encouraged to take notice of the details of a portrait and then use their memory and imagination to be creative.

The next part of the journey will involve taking the idea of shoes as interesting portraits of all kinds of information about an individual. Wearing and creating dance steps with individually designed shoes will turn them into...moving portraits.....Don't miss this opportunity!

Saturday Interaction February 5th. Moving Portraits: Watching Guy Sherwin

2011-02-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

What a busy day and thanks to everyone who brought their enthusiasm and eagerness to help make this short video piece. The idea behind this interaction was to add to the narrative and concept behind Guy Sherwin's self-portrait, short film called, "Portrait of Parents". Using a 16mm film camera he filmed in 1978, both his mother and father for the duration of the 16mm roll of film, approx 3 and half minutes. It's considered to be a self-portrait as Sherwin can be seen reflected in the mirror shown in the center of the movie, with his parents situated, one on each side of the mirror. The DV we produced at the exhibition on Saturday is in keeping with the time scale being of similar duration. Participants were filmed for about 30 seconds and during this period they watched closely and interacted with myself and discussed the complexity of the ideas behind Sherwin's film.

The continuous winding motion of Sherwin operating his camera created a bouncing type of movement, so the screen appears to be bobbling up and down. Some participants moved in response to this, some felt a sort of sickness motion. The film instigated a physical movement in many watchers when they were encouraged to immerse themselves fully. Trying to forget that I was filming and the other gallery goers were watching us filming, was a challenging exercise for some. Encouragement was offered to those particpant's who wanted to overcome shyness and help was provided to find strategies to help distance themselves from the distractions . Others unpicked the concept and found it interesting to include themselves within the extended narrative. We discussed the position of the viewer in this movie and whether the participants of our movie, felt more or less relaxed than Sherwin's mother and father. Most thought that because of our greater familiarity with the process of being filmed, the nervousness and obvious tension - although the parents seemed to enjoy the process - would be less apparent. The concensus was however, that the participants in our movie still had to make a concerted effort to ignore the process of being filmed and relax into the viewing process.

In essence, each participant was observing Guy Sherwin and his parents whilst Sherwin was observing himself. In turn whilst filming, I was observing all the viewers throughout their own viewing process. Confused? There's more! When viewed online - as you are now - one then extends the concept even further by viewing this new film, collaboratively made. Perhaps someone might like to video themselves viewing themselves in the video we made on the computer and then whoooaaaa...........

For my next session participants will not only be the viewers/actors but the producer as well. Couples, friends and families will be encouraged to take the position of both camera operator and subject.

Next interaction dates are 26th February and 26th March.

Gallery interaction: Shadow Portraits

2011-02-02T02:06:00.000-08:00

As a visual artist, rather than an film-maker or photographer, I designed an interaction which brought drawing to the exhibition - but a form of multiple-image capture which could mimic the dynamics of a moving portrait. The idea was to draw round sharp shadows of the subject, in a series of poses and/or a restless moving line of shapes in response to how we are never still.

Each shadow portrait was a truly collaborative affair: the choice and number of poses, colour, as well as the number of people, or props in the portrait, were art-directed by the subjects themselves. Inevitably the variety was limitless: a complete family portrait with the shadows nested like matryoshka dolls; a child holding a beloved toy bear; a precariously balanced homage to Patti Smith (who had performed in the theatre the night before). What was intriguing was how individual choice could create such a highly personal record, despite the fact that we were only working with silhouettes.

The large-scale of the works, as well as the special light conditions needed to create the portraits, meant that they were very difficult to photograph. However, the images above give a small sense of what we achieved.

Talking to visitors about the exhibition itself, I was very struck by how many were already on their second or third visit (the show only opened a week ago). There was great enthusiasm for the variety of work - everyone seemed to have completely different favourites. Such is the ubiquity of moving image in our everyday lives that only one person I spoke to raised the subject of whether a filmed portrait can be seen as art in the same way as a painted portrait.

Moving Portraits. Gallery Interaction

2011-01-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

The De La Warr Pavilion's new exhibition of video art began today. Good turnout, opening speeches by director of DLWP Alan Haydon (on right in picture) and the director of The National Portrait Gallery Sandy Nairne, who declared the show "of national importance". And he's right, there's not been anything before that can be directly compared to it.

My task, as part of this years interpretation team, was to enhance visitors' experience of the exhibition. I decided to do this by asking willing visitors to design a five second moving portrait as a way of thinking about possible decisions behind the work on show.

They did this by filling in a short form (point of view, what happens, stickman sketch of composition etc). We then filmed it on one of the Pavilion's little digital compacts, usually in one take, later simply presented in the order in which they were made. Thanks to all who are now famous for 5 more seconds and Penny Hobson who assisted and recruited.

Twenty Two Five Second Moving Portraits. 22 January 2011.

(best viewed nice and small, not full screen).

Beckham arrives at DLWP

2011-01-12T06:11:00.000-08:00

One of England's national treasures, world-class footballing legend David Beckham has entered the DLWP building!

OK, so it may not be the footballing legend in the flesh but Sam Taylor-Wood's David (2004), an hour-long silent film of David Beckham sleeping, gives us a glimpse of the star away from the cameras, in a precious moment of 'down-time'. The film was shot while he was taking a siesta after an training session with Real Madrid and shows an initmacy with its subject that the viewer does not usually see - even with the deluge of paparazzi and celebrity images taken over the years.

You can enjoy this fascinating portrait alongside Andy Warhol's series of screen tests featuring friends, colleagues and acquaintances such as Marcel Duchamp, Lou Reed and Edie Sedgwick and Peter Gidal's 1969 work Heads; filmic portraits of British personalities including Marianne Faithfull and David Hockney. You'll see experimental works, works with well-known sitters as well as more personal portraits of friends and family. Click here to read more about Moving Portraits: sixty years of portraits on moving image (22 Jan - 27 Mar).

To accompany the Moving Portraits exhibition, a programme of biographical and character-led films will be shown in Gallery 2 during the day and on Thursday and Saturday evenings. There are memorable classics by international film-makers, Hollywood productions and a selection of films by artists. Click here for a full list of what's on.

Tickets: £3 afternoons / £6 for a ticket + glass of wine or half pint of Peroni at evening screenings. Box Office: 01424 229 111 http://www.dlwp.com/

Image One: Richard Billingham, Fishtank, 1998; video installation (video still), produced and commissioned by Artangel, 46 mins 40 secs. © the artist, courtesy Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London.

Image Two: Sarah Purcill (UK) You be Mother, 1990, 16mm col, sound 7min.

DLWP sets sail with Catherine Yass

2011-01-05T06:17:00.000-08:00

It was a cold but near perfect day to sail out to sea on a boat. Catherine (Yass), Alan and I set off at Eastbourne Sovereign Harbour on a charter boat. The lighthouse is 5 miles away from the harbour which takes around half an hour each way.

I have been very curious - as have many others I'm sure - to see this structure which stands in the middle of the sea, all alone. It's only just visible from the Pavilion on a clear day and difficult to judge the real size of it. Catherine and I took many photographs for research, looking at the way the strucutre has aged and its access possibilities. We will have to wait and see what Catherine's artistic outcome from this research trip will be, but it's certainly an exciting start to the project.

Jane Won (Curator, DLWP)

Lift The Lid family session: MMXI

2011-01-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

The final Lift The Lid accompanying Myth, Manners and Memory. The Pavilion was very busy with people from far and wide catching the show before it closes and getting over Midwinter cabin fever.

The session had a nominal theme of describing hopes, wishes, predictions or expectations for 2011. However it was also intended to be a bit of a free for all with an emphasis on colour and collage. It's a bit unfair to ask someone who's only been alive for 4 or 5 years what their opinion about a whole year might be, so let's just open that glue stick.

Many thanks to all who came for all your brilliant work and also to our excellent assistants, Nik Medhurst and Ben Wade.

Myth, Manners and Memory: Photographers of the American South has been a very well liked exhibition. Both as a photography show, for which there seems to be a definite current appetite, and also as a vehicle for issues and approaches that seem relevant or interesting now. For me, that has meant a lot of very interesting conversations in the building and the pleasure of working with an exhibition that rewarded multiple viewings.

Lift The Lid is the De La Warr Pavilion's free drop in session for families on the first Sunday of every month from 2-5pm.

Lift The Lid: Do You Abstract?

2010-12-05T23:00:00.000-08:00

"Find shapes, colours and textures that you like in the exhibition and the building. Use pencils, collage, photography and whatever else you can think of to make an ABSTRACT picture".

The snow and ice were gone and it was a great day to get out of the house, but Bexhill was very, very quiet and so was the Pavilion. The car park outside the De La Warr was free for this pre-Christmas weekend but strangely emptier than usual.

Maybe sensing that they almost had the place to themselves, our compact Lift The Lid group developed an anarchic edge.

Children, of course, take naturally to abstraction (they often just don't know that's a name for it) so I was expecting a smooth ride. Maybe it was some grown ups drawing cartoon figures or quietly doing a little origami, or maybe it was Max's robot that began the shift from making abstract art to throwing paper aeroplanes around the room.

There must be very few people on Earth who have never made and launched a paper aeroplane, it's a universal experience. To do this with children is a lovely reconnection and had the great side effect of making everyone in the room focus on the same thing as watching them fly and commenting on flight style/design/launch technique is irresistible.

Towards the end of the afternoon a gentleman came in who'd been in the RAF in the 1950's. We got into conversation about early jet bombers and abstraction was completely out of the window.

Thanks to everyone for an excellent afternoon. Volunteers were Corin Smith (her last session as part of a Duke of Edinburgh Award) & Ben Wade (who, in a quiet act of resistance to the brief, made an elegantly engineered paper Christmas tree).

Lift The Lid is the De La Warr Pavilion's free drop in session for families on the first Sunday of every month from 2-5pm.

A Journey through Memory and Music 4th December by Irene Mensah

2010-12-05T04:50:00.000-08:00

The disruptive weather was not conducive to a busy attendance of the gallery, but today's public although much reduced, were extremely open to responding to my request to conduct a small experiment with their way of seeing. I decided to remain with my theme of seeing through listening, but open to taking unforeseen routes where possible.

My conversation with Matthew John was one such experience. We discussed the value of finding ways of connecting with the person behind the lens. Matthew put his thoughts very succinctly; "People stir up memories, which stir up music". As a collector and artist himself he was interested in knowing more about the mind which created the image, and what their story might be.

Through the personal connections with details within an image, such as William Christenberry's rabbit pen, we agreed that our own memories then evoked a new journey,

which will cause the original image to remain with us long afterwards as a legacy. Matthew's journey went from his childhood collection of postcards from holidays to appreciating his parent's wishes to give him the opportunity to broaden his experience and understanding of other countries, to his love of engaging with simplicity and integrity in art.

One young mother responded immediately to my request, as the music from the film "Deliverance" had already come to mind for her as she went round the exhibition.

A musician couple were delighted to think of the addition of sound, with music already an integral part of their lives. Their responses to the exhibition became more exploratory and questioning of the lives and experiences of the subjects and locations.

They were very interested in the juxtaposition of Walker Evans' work with that of Carrie Mae Weems, both of which were their personal favourites. Our discussion prompted them to observe that the work by Weems represented a true liberation from the time when the impossible injustice of slavery was a reality as documented by Evans.

I will share the different moments as they were presented to me, like stepping stones connecting the personal to communal interpretations of the photography.

A takeaway curry for Christmas day

Potential for a reminiscence exhibition from a carefully curated postcard collection

Keats poetry (to calm the anxiety provoking nature of Susan Lipper's photography)

Pulp fiction and John Travolta's dancing (to lighten the effects of Lipper's distressing portraits)

Feeling too young and British (struggling to connect with the unfamiliar nature of the American South)

Smelling burning smoke (cigarette smoke from Susan Lipper's portraits)

Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan

Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel

Like black and white photography

Don't like black and white photography

Sensory interaction.

The South is...?

2010-12-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

A snow-bound pavilion, with beautiful ghostly views across the snow-topped rotundas to a thick, hanging seascape. Not a day to attract crowds of gallery-goers, except for cold weather enthusiasts (myself included). However, we welcomed over 50 visitors into the exhibition during the afternoon.

My question to the exhibition was: “What is the South?” – how does this pejorative concept emerge from the work on show? Does a “South” exist in all countries? Is it a myth in itself? I designed my interaction around William Christenberry’s “Red Building”, which I turned into a comment card, looking for definitions. Here are some of the diverse thoughts:

The South is…”a colourful, poor, cruel, historical, segregated, vast, messy, frontier.”

The South is…”a reminder that American culture isn’t as comfortably, tediously uniform as some might have you believe.”

The South is…”being able to walk freely across the beaches and the countryside, through the towns and cities – whoever you are…”

The South is…”in search of amusement…”

The South is…”stark, colourful, barren, lush”.

The South is…”not the North. Bruised, beat-up and abandoned – “this land is condemned at the way from New Orleans to Jerusalem” (Dylan).”

Three of the most interesting conversations I had during the afternoon were with visitors who are either American or who have lived in the United States for a while. They all separately expressed the view that the sense of hopelessness and melancholia they read from the photographs are only one facet of the “South”, and that the exhibition (although they all liked it very much) reinforces the myths we tend to believe about the place. While other powerful elements, such as the dynamism of the cities and the genteel elegance of the manner of the people (in all walks of life) are invisible.

As with the other days when I have been interacting in the gallery, there were a number of visitors who were enthralled to see original prints by their photographic heroes. In particular, William Eggleston’s highly saturated surfaces are so rich it looks as if the colour could bleed on to the floor. This intensity is a vital component of his vision and cannot be replicated in books about the artist’s work.

Thank you to everyone who participated. It is always a pleasure to turn a gallery space into an environment where people can share impassioned views, rather than feeling they have to whisper.

Gallery Interaction, 20th November: Adding Information

2010-11-21T08:51:00.000-08:00

I wanted to see what visitors could add to the exhibition by way of facts and observations. I added information myself by laying out printouts as a catalyst for conversation. These were Interviews with the photographers, reviews of previous shows and articles about print processes, Federal Writers' Project and the Farm Security Administration.

There was a lot of interest in print processes. All the images in the exhibition are made on film but then printed using either analogue (C-Type, Dye Transfer) or digital processes affecting the image in subtle but relevant ways. I had an interesting chat about the Walker Evans prints with a visitor from London whose most treasured possession is a print by W. Eugene Smith.

Some of the observations and facts from visitors:

There are no trailer parks/homes in this exhibition

The cloud that looks like an angel - Alec Soth's Bonnie (with a photograph of an angel), Port Gibson, Mississippi, 2000 - is called a simulacra... but also a 'slyth' or a 'slyfth' I think - common on webpages, also thinking about 'chemtrails'.

The tree in the Alec Soth picture (Holt cemetery, New Orleans , Louisiana 2002) - they're also in Florida, we call them 'spooky trees'. The light bulbs in his pictures are all switched on (even outside Johnny Cash's boyhood home in daylight).

Eggleston's pictures have been used on albums by Big Star (Red Ceiling, Greenwood, Mississippi) and Primal Scream.

Federal Writers' Project slave narrative collection - more people are in slavery worldwide now than then (heard on radio 4 but not written down as washing up).

From a Walker Evans photograph - there was 7up in the thirties.

Susan Lipper - there's a pistol in the belt of the 'blowback man'. Hanging a deer - seen that in Robertsbridge.

William Christenberry (green barn photographed over 31 years) - no graffiti at all!

Everyone I spoke to over a 3 hour period was very positive about this exhibition. The disapproval that greeted Eggleston's work in the 1970's would seem to be unusual now. People do really enjoy thoughtful, often quiet, photographs of everyday life.

Seeing Through Listening Part II 13th November

2010-11-18T02:00:00.000-08:00

The flow of viewing public was at first less responsive to my invitation to experiment

with the idea of an additional way of engaging with an image through imagining sounds or music. However as the gallery became busier over the afternoon, this changed dramatically. There were some fabulous dialogues and wider discussions to be had.

An elderly gentleman considered that Carrie Mae Weems images would be improved

by removing her out of them.

Another lady, very stimulated by her audio journey concluded that Susan Lipper's work

caused her to see the entire exhibition as 'Lynchy', ie through a 'David Lynch' filter.

As before, choices of music when more abstract, rather than direct responses to the

location of the American South, illustrated that this stimulus conjured forth a wealth of personal memories and reflections.

Numerous people expressed the effects of viewing the kind of poverty of an earlier era,

as a sobering experience, but that the exhibition itself had such a quality of focus that

they felt enriched by it rather than depressed.

Two young american photographers had made a special journey from Edinburgh to see the exhibition and were impressed by what they found. They were surprised at how little information was available in Brighton regarding this exhibition.

They were very sorry not to have found a ready response with a soundtrack, but through further discussion revealing their understanding of both the Appalachian community

as well as Susan Lipper's work were able to explain away the mysterious nature that the hanging of a deer in Lipper's iconic image, is a common practice to drain its blood.

Younger children enjoyed considering in great detail the kind of sounds which they might hear.

Several individuals found that films were also brought to mind as connections with

hidden memories and could be an easier thread to follow than a soundtrack.

Almost all who responded were intrigued by the addition of an extra dimension

through sound, finding that it encouraged them to enter more intensely into a moment depicted within an image, which had the ability to subtly reveal so much

about the invisible individuals who left traces of their presence.

For instance, one man was intrigued when he noticed the small detail in a William Christenberry image, of what appears to be a wooden hut is in fact made from redbrick.

Three friends concluded the day with their refreshingly different ideas about music to accompany Susan Lipper from Motorhead, Depeche Mode to Blondie.

Another fascinating day.

Warhol is Here exhibition announced

2010-11-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Warhol Is Here
ARTIST ROOMS On Tour with the Art Fund
24 September 2011 – 8 January 2012

Warhol is Here at the De La Warr Pavilion will present and explore the work of Andy Warhol in the context of his beliefs, lifestyle and above all, his legacy for the 21st century.

Emphasis will be placed on Warhol’s importance to audiences, and particularly to young people, who have been exposed more to the myth of Warhol rather than the content and context of his work.

The exhibition will include early drawings, stitched photographs, self-portraits, very large screenprint canvases and a number of posters. They will be taken from a selection of works from ARTIST ROOMS, (a new collection of modern and contemporary art held by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland for the nation,) as well as those sourced from other private and UK collections.

The Pavilion will also show a programme of films made by Warhol and will publish a small handbook of essays by artists, curators, writers and musicians commenting upon the memory, influence and impact of Warhol.

Following the critical and popular success of Beuys Is Here which attracted over 45,000 visitors in summer 2009, the De La Warr Pavilion is delighted to take part in the second ARTIST ROOMS tour where 21 museums and galleries across the UK (including 17 venues outside of London and Edinburgh) in 2011 will be showing ARTIST ROOMS, exhibitions and displays from the collection assembled by the art collector and curator, Anthony d’Offay.

For further information about Warhol Is Here, please contact Sally Ann Lycett on 01424 229137 or sally.ann.lycett@dlwp.com

To find out more information about ARTIST ROOMS On Tour please visit www.artfund.org/artistrooms.

To see the full ARTIST ROOMS collection please visit www.tate.org.uk/artistrooms and www.nationalgalleries.org/artistrooms

De La Warr Pavilion
Marina
Bexhill on Sea
TN40 1DP
Information: 01424 229111http://www.dlwp.com/

Interaction Day 30th October.

2010-11-08T05:52:00.000-08:00

Better late than never. Sorry for the delay in posting chaps. The interaction day on the 30th October perhaps could have run a little more smoothly. I was planning to do a tour for this session with some interaction projects for the wee ones, but we were slightly hijacked by a Walk & Talk with curators Celia Davies from Photoworks and the De La Warr’s Jane Won. The gallery was extremely busy and their tour was brilliant. For my next session on the 11th December I promise I will factor a discussion and tour for those that felt they missed out. Any how, we had another fun afternoon with lots to think about. The brief I set was slightly different from my previous one, looking at objects and scenes that evoked a personal memory and then reflecting on that through drawing and text. This was instinctive for some and harder for others. It was interesting to observe how diverse and disparate the viewing process is. Connecting images to your own experience is not familiar to everyone and is by no means a guarantee of a good gallery experience either! Some felt it irrelevant and a distraction and others were inspired by the new insight. One lady wrote 3 pages of her own memory of her first visit to Sri Lanka which was connected to a photograph by Walker Evans. I particularly liked the story from a boy who found a snake skin in the corner of a shower in Australia. This memory was evoked by William Eggleston's image of a trailer park in 1974. Well done to all who participated. Fascinating.

Lift The Lid

2010-11-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

Another busy Lift The Lid family session with more photography in it this time. Titled “Remix 2” and building on the previous session, participants were asked to take a clipboard into the exhibition or go around the building and sketch or write down objects and colours that appealed to them. They could then make these elements into an original picture using pencils and collage.

They could also go off with one of the Pavilion's digital cameras (but not into the gallery as photography is not allowed in Myth, Manners and Memory). Children aged from about 6 to 10 proved very adept at producing well composed pictures then critically editing them down to the four they were allowed to print out (so the queue for the laptop didn't get too long and the thirsty printer didn't run dry).

Our youngest artist was a very fast crawler and chose performance art as her medium, using masking tape and scrunched up balls of paper and chewing pencils to great effect.

Here are some of the works produced in the three hour session.

Thanks to all who took part and to our excellent volunteers Corin Smith, Nik Medhurst and Ben Wade.

Thanks also to the anonymous angry person who began his/her comment on the last Lift The Lid of 3^rd October “I think that this is not art, if it was art it would need skill, this is not skill, a five year old could do better!!!” (Please add your own comment using the link below).

Gallery interaction: Your questions please!

2010-11-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

When I first saw Myth, Manners and Memory my head was filled with questions about how and why the pictures were made and how they fitted together to make this exhibition. So I asked visitors of all ages to write down questions that came into their heads whilst looking at the exhibition in order to compare my own reactions to theirs.

Here are transcriptions of many of the questions written on the clipboards that I placed around the gallery:

William Eggleston

What is the significance of the tricycle? Is its scale and condition a factor or is this just a moment in time?

Why questions not comments? Is there a great deal of meaning I'm not seeing because I'm not American? e.g would the design style of the 'Gulf' sign make me feel nostalgic if it were part of my cultural lexicon?

Red ceiling 1969-71: Is this the ceiling of a brothel? Does the colour red have a hidden meaning or symbolism?

William Eggleston portraits

Has it been photoshopped (the blue sky is so intense)?

Is that a scar on his face? (girl aged 8)

Who are these people?

Is his name Bubba?

Alec Soth

Overheard from 10? year old boy: What's so amazing about photographs? No-one answered him – a missed opportunity?

Is Alec Soth looking for idiosyncracy (or does it just find him)?

Walker Evans

Why are there posters on the building? (girl aged 8)

Why were the blacks treated so badly?

What are those boys holding?

Who were the FSA? What was their purpose? Why were they documenting the lives of the rural poor?

Federal Writers Project

Where can I find out more about the Federal Writers Project?

Carrie Mae Weems

Why is the lady standing on the railway track?

William Christenberry

Why is that house on stilts? (girl aged 8)

“Why were all the coloured people left to live in rack and ruin? (girl aged 12)

Susan Lipper

Who are these people?

Why are there not very nice subjects?

Why take photos?

To my surprise this exhibition does not seem to lend itself to easily verbalised questions but most definitely does encourage discussion. Over the afternoon I had many excellent conversations with visitors from as far afield as Devon and Sheffield. Many of them were very knowledgeable about photography (some were touring Brighton Photo Biennial and Photo Fringe venues). Many of the people who wanted to talk about the exhibition did not want to write down specific questions.

The answers to many of the questions are of course online, but I do recommend Sean O'Hagan's Q&A with Susan Lipper available at www.guardian .co.uk

All were very appreciative of the exhibition and the building that contains it. Above all, it was clear how much people (whether informed about the medium or not) love to look at photographs.

Pavilion plays a part in marriage proposal

2010-10-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

The Pavilion played a vital role in a carefully put-together marriage proposal last weekend. After enjoying a delicious starter in the DLWP Restaurant, Alex Munro asked the kitchen staff to prepare the remainder of a delicious three-course meal to take to a beach hut in Cooden. They were happy to oblige, so Alex and his girlfriend Hannah Van Dijk set about enjoying their al fresco main courses of roast chicken and gnocchi, followed by mango creme brulee. Alex popped the question at the end of the meal, and against an unexpected backdrop of fireworks coming from the Cooden Beach Hotel, she said yes!

Alex said: "Thank you so much. Brilliant of you to do all that, it made such a difference. The food really was fantastic."

Sally Ann Lycett of the De La Warr Pavilion said: "We are so pleased to have helped make this such a special occasion for Alex and Hannah! So many couples have told us how they met their partners at the Pavilion and it is always good to know that we are part of their happiest memories."

Good luck Alex and Hannah, and congratulations from the De La Warr Pavilion.

Instructions for Seeing through Listening 23/10/10 posted by Irene Mensah

2010-10-25T02:22:00.000-07:00

The objective in my first workshop interacting with the public, was to explore whether or not it was possible to find a new and enhanced relationship with the exhibition, or specific images, by responding to a short set of instructions and imagining that they could listen to a soundtrack of their choice. The responses from a busy and already engaged audience were richly varied, and almost all of the different people I approached with this invitation, were willing to include this extra activity. Even the few individuals who found the idea unappealing, then defined why they didn't need any other stimulus to engaging with the work.

To help with finding an appropriate track, a laptop with headphones was made available. One couple were very happy to use their own iPod and enjoyed making a long list of tracks to accompany all the different photographers. The dramatic quality of Susan Lipper's work was a good starting point for many, with the ambiguity of being both attracted and repelled by her subject matter proving to be a common response, and also stimulated ideas of sounds related to details present in an image, as a background rather than music.

Conversations therefore moved in many different directions, evoking a father's memory of his own father singing a favourite track, "Hang down your head Tom Dooley..." responding to two of Susan Lipper's photographs, to themes of unconscious prejudice and preconceptions. A more thoughtful choice in music was found to challenge one's own stereotypical associations with the American South.

It was a pleasure to see people opening up further to more personal discussions revealing their interest in the exhibition, because of this different way of "tuning" into seeing images. The feedback was that it added a new dimension to connecting with the exhibition and encouraged a more focused and personal relationship with individual photographs. For some it was a poignancy of the gaze, the subtlety of what might be taking place out of sight of the framed moment. For others, the very fact that despite trying they couldn't think of a natural soundtrack, stimulated an analysis of their preferred photographer's personal themes.

I had great discussions with a photography teacher, a local musician, families, groups of friends, and they themselves were encouraged to debate their choices of music and what they found of interest in their favourite images. I really enjoyed the process and the generosity of people willing to think more laterally.

16th October Interaction

2010-10-22T04:03:00.000-07:00

After getting 80 fantastic contributions to my first interaction, we managed to go slightly better this weekend, with a further 85. So many people said how much they enjoyed the opportunity to participate in an exhibition, something they had not experienced before, noting that events like this are usually geared towards children rather than adults. Contributions ranged between the surreal, the humorous, the poetic and the poignant.
I had some very enjoyable conversations about aesthetics, social documentation, voyeurism and the state of the nation (both UK and USA) with groups of visitors, many of whom stayed in the exhibition for a long time. There was even a group of local photographers from my first interaction who came back again to really get to grips with work and contributed to the spirited atmosphere of the afternoon.Thanks for coming back folks - you were great fun.
The exhibition seems to be hitting the mark with everyone: from the photo-purists who are delighted to get close to original prints of work that has hardly been seen in the UK (if at all), to the less initiated visitors who are being introduced to photographers who have influenced the types of images we take for granted now.

Talk that puts the psychological landscape of the American South "in context"

2010-10-21T05:39:00.000-07:00

Richard Gray will be talking about what makes the American South different, special and even strange. He will be placing the photographs on display in the exhibition in the contexts of Southern history and mythology and, in particular, in the context of Southern literature - how writers from the region have created a place that seems to exist somewhere between the actual and the imagined.

Richard Gray is a Professor of Literature at the University of Essex, and the first specialist in American literature to be elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

Tickets just £5

To buy your ticket for this enlightening talk call the Box Office on 01424 229 111 or click here to book online

Photo: Susan Lipper, Untitled from the Grapevine Series, 1998-1992, Courtesy the Artist

Curator's Conversation

2010-10-19T04:06:00.000-07:00

Photo: Alec Soth, Bonnie (with a photograph of an angel), Port Gibson, Mississippi, 2000, Courtesy the Artist/Magnum

Saturday 30th October, 2pm
Curator's Conversation

For a unique insight into the exhibition join a Walk & Talk with curators Celia Davies from Photoworks and the De La Warr’s Jane Won.

Tickets only £5

To book and for more information call the Box Office on 01424 229 111 or book online

Films this week at DLWP

2010-10-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

Autumn Film Season
Free Documentaries and Feature Films
1 October 2010 – 3 January 2011

To accompany the exhibition Myth, Manners and Memory - Photographers of the American South, we present a film programme comprising documentaries and feature films that explore broad aspects of the American South.

Documentaries are Free, however the Feature Films carry a £3 charge. To Book a ticket please call the Box Office on 01424 229 111.

MORNING DOCUMENTARIES
11am, free

10 - 16 October
William Eggleston in the Real World
2005 Dir. Michael Almereyda
An award-winning documentary revealing the deep connection between the photographer's personality, his groundbreaking work and passions as musician, draftsman and videographer.

AFTERNOON FEATURES
3pm, tickets: £3

11,13,15 October
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
1958 Dir. Richard Brookes 103min (15)
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Burl IvesBased on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams.

10,12,14 October
O Brother Where Art Thou?
2000 Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen 108min (12)
Starring George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson
Hilarious comedy in which three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure.

16 October
God and Generals
2003 Dir. Ronald F. Maxwell 231min (12A)
Starring Robert Duvall, Stephen Lang and Jeff DanielsAn unforgettable story of the Civil War following the rise and fall of legendary war hero "Stonewall Jackson".

Season tickets can be purchased for only £35 for the whole autumn film season. Click here to buy Season Ticket

Click here to see the Autumn Film Season

For information and bookings call the Box Office on 01424 229 111

Saturday 9th October 2-5pm Gallery Interaction

2010-10-11T02:33:00.000-07:00

What a glorious weekend. Thanks to everyone who took part in the interaction afternoon on Saturday. The gallery was very busy and as usual there was a diverse audience all engaging at different levels to a fascinating show. This was my first session on a Saturday for the De La Warr and I hugely enjoyed meeting everyone. The brief I set for this week was for participants to pick out objects within the images that they noticed as being relevant for either, how much they had changed, or how little they had changed, to the equivalent object that we might see today. I have included in this blog drawings that some of the exhibition visitors drew. For example Susan Lipper's photograph with the TV was a big hit in opening a dialogue with all age groups and all levels of visual understanding. This interaction session was hoping to instigate a deeper understanding of the images and develop the process of looking. Everyone was keen to discuss with me their choices and the relevance of the objects in both political, symbolic and historical terms. I had many engaging conversations with a number of gallery visitors who were interested in a very diverse range of topics; from camera types to film choices, printing techniques, cultural and identity politics, history, politics, advertising and so much more. The exhibition seems to be raising many questions about our relationship with photography and its reliance as a record of a place and its political history. Cant wait for my next session which will be on the 30th December where I shall be instigating some gallery discussions focused on the political implications of the photographs and their success or failure at representing history. Sorry if your image is not included I am limited by space.