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Facebook The clocks have turned back, the dark nights are setting in and the end of British Summertime 2011 is upon us…
The New Art Gallery Walsall and mac birmingham have warm summer memories of seaside adventures, long train journeys and artists’ retreats. As Jack Frost begins to nip, we would like to invite you to bask in the learning of British Summertime II – an innovative professional development programme for West Midlands-based artists who explore diversity within their work, initiated by Arts Council England West Midlands and delivered by The New Art Gallery Walsall and mac birmingham, from March to October 2011.
Wrap up warm!
The New Art Gallery Walsall and
mac birmingham
Click below to find out more about the programme: its content, delivery, findings and future aspirations. Plus profiles on the nine participating artists: Shaheen Ahmed, Dan Auluk, Pauline Bailey, Dilwara Begum, Rubina Bibi, Saranjit Birdi, Mark Anthony Carroll, José Forrest-Tennant and Karen McLean.
Bob’s Epstein Archive Gallery – Weeks 2 & 3
Hello all, the Archive Gallery is opening on the 15th of September and Bob has been really busy painting the walls of the space. See below for the films of weeks 2 & 3 of his residency. What’s next is that the cases will be installed in the next few weeks and we can begin to put the archive material alongside Bob’s fantastic wall pieces. I hope that you can make it along on the 15th, 6-8pm, free and all welcome.
Week 2 – Bob’s History of Art
Week 3 – Epstein’s Travels
Bob and Roberta Smith’s Epstein Archive Gallery
Bob has been up at the gallery this week to start his work painting the Archive Gallery on Floor 1 of the Garman Ryan Collection. Inspired by the Festival of Britain, the room is very colourful and has a distinct 1950s feel, which sits well with the time period of the Epstein Archive. See the below film for an explanation of the project from the man himself…
final posting by sean burn
so we come to my final day of the outside in residency and my final post. d/rift is a short film (1′15”) which animates selected visual poetry of mine previously made for and exhibited in the new art gallery, walsall in assocation with dash (disability arts shropshire). its first screening is as part of my open studio. yu can also download/watch it at http://vimeo.com/20373827
the text of it reads as follows:
d/rift. stranged house, a long-time friend and handfuls seed out pillboxings – wildflowers compost-downing, spore to rugs, pips under floorboardings, husks inside hand-fueled piano, and watered all in, the labels slapped on, slapped on – us uneasy swans on wolf-blue, ices no purchase, this brash, the sound/sounds of cracking up. world-as-ballgag no inspired by ‘famous anarchist’ (are there any other kinds?) official plaque blue opposite different blue ov sex shop three minutes from gallery square, fun loopy but still loopy? theres a beauty in nailing the amp for this kind of dissonance
i am also presenting cracking up – a durational performance. i will repeatedly crack open walnuts using only my left hand and offer the nut flesh up to audiences. this is intended as a small but cumulative and defiant tribute to those not making it thru the mental health system i have filmed a short clip of this which can be downloaded / watched at http://vimeo.com/20374244
weight on the nhs
so theres a lot of talk of weight in the nhs. we shouldnt be overweight. some are proposing not treating you unless you lose weight. what if the weight-gain has been because of meds – anti-depressants or antipsychotics? what then? are we supposed to sue those drug companies because of our weight gain?
A busy Saturday with: Sean Burn Outside IN Open Studio Event and Live Performance and Bob and Roberta Smith In Conversation with Bobby Baker
Do not miss!
Saturday 26 February 2011
Free – all welcome
The grand finale of Sean Burn’s yearlong residency will take place on Saturday 26 February 2011.
Sean will be opening the door to the Artists’ Studio (located on Floor 1 of The New Art Gallery Walsall) and inviting everyone in to see his new work.
The Open Studio event will take place from 12 – 2pm and visitors are welcome to pop in at anytime for an informal chat, a cup of tea and an
insight into the ‘life of the mind’ of an artist.
The Open Studio event will be followed by a new, live performance by Sean Burn at 3.30pm. Thedurational performance titled Cracking Up, continues Sean’s explorations into language, visual puns and his own of experiences of living with mental illness.
Newcastle-based artist Sean Burn has been working with the gallery over the last year to develop his interest in reclaiming the ‘languages of lunacy’. During this time, he has also produced various interventions in and around the building. Last autumn, for example, visitors were invited to ‘lose their marbles’ in a game with the artist.
The residency is part of Outside IN; a region-wide programme designed to increase the number of Disabled and Deaf artists working in partnership with mainstream galleries. Outside IN has been designed and is coordinated by DASH who are working in partnership with Oriel Davies Gallery in Mid-Wales, The New Art Gallery Walsall and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Sean Burn’s work is also featured in the gallery’s current exhibition The Life of the Mind: Love, Sorrow and Obsession, curated by Bob and Roberta Smith (until 20 March 2011). The ‘Smith’s’ describe Sean’s work as follows: Sean Burn is interested in writing and how the written word can become an iconic image that reflects forceful emotion.
Work by artist Bobby Baker also features in The Life of the Mind. Sean Burn and Bobby Baker hosted an ‘In Conversation’ event last year to celebrate the launch of Outside IN. Together they discussed art, life and the footwear choices of mental health professionals whilst baking a cake!
On Saturday 26 February Bobby Baker will also return to The New Art Gallery Walsall to lead a tour of the exhibition with Bob and Roberta Smith. This event will also take place at 2pm and will complement Sean’s Open Studio event and live performance.
http://www.thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/whats-on/event/in-conversationthe-life-of-the-mind
The day promises to be thought provoking, sociable and fun – and a fantastic way to celebrate the success of Sean’s residency and all he has brought to the gallery.
d/rift – new artists booklet from sean burn’s outside in residency
as artist in residence here at walsall new art gallery in association with dash (disability arts in shropshire) i have made an artists booklet available now. you can either download it as a pdf file for free or buy a print on demand copy at cost of paper/package and posting only. its called d / rift and all 60 full-colour pages is available at www.lulu.com/product/paperback/drift/14728770
all the languages of pillbox
here is the soundfile of all the languages of pillbox – the text has previously been posted
the sounds of not losing yr marbles!
heres a sonic realisation of not losing yr marbles in two parts and finished today – these recorded marbles keep on going, not dropping off. enjoy!
http://audioboo.fm/boos/259138-not-losing-yr-marbles
and part 2 – http://audioboo.fm/boos/259180-not-losing-yr-marbles-part-two-by-sean-burn
Xe54
a.a.s featuring AuntyNazi and Calum F.Kerr
4 – 16th January 2011
The New Art Gallery Walsall
Free – all welcome.
Do you dream? Do you have a vision for the future? Xe54 will enable you to discover your true path as an explorer of The Other Place…
Even opening yourself for a short time to these experiences will be beneficial, and you can take part for as much time as you wish. This is a time of drawing together, this is a time of focus. Many have been called by the lure of The Other Place, and although there are differing interpretations, all agree that something is shifting. The signs say that events in Walsall during the first two weeks of January will be instrumental in bringing about a transformation, that this world will be overlaid with the other, and that we will be able to move freely into a place of new potential.
Over the last two months, we have been using ‘The Cage’ as a base for our experiments. These have included Remote Viewing and Lucid Dream Training, as ways of creating portals to The Other Place – a space of dreams and ideas, a space of the future, a space of potential.
We have previously been exploring this zone by establishing temporary groups with participants, re-interpreting and re-imagining sites and experiencing our environment with ‘new eyes’. Now the moment has come for these various groups to meet together in The Other Place and you are invited to join us.
Xe54 is a performative project that will develop and change over a two week period. Participants in the project will help to explore this parallel universe and inform how the narratives and discoveries unfold. Participants can take part in taster sessions, join for a few hours or multiple days depending on availability. Drop into the Artists’ Studio located on Floor 1 or contact a.a.s prior to your visit to the gallery.
The first week of the project (4-7 January) will train participants to be able to encounter The Other Place, make use of new skills with the help of more experienced guides, and play around with their perceptions of Walsall.
Dedicated participants will be ‘inducted’ by a.a.s and grouped into various teams on Saturday 8 January and Sunday 9 January. Each induction session will last approximately 40 minutes and will involve a series of encounters that will guide you to The Other Place. Places are limited and pre-booking is recommended (see contact details below).
In the second week of the project, participants will be working together, finding coincidences and repetitions in everyday occurrences, interpreting signs and splicing them together, to build a collective ‘making strange’ of Walsall.
On Saturday 15 January, participants will develop a series of ritualised actions to create a quantum sacred event. Reality is fractured and during a ceremony on Sunday 16 January the dream universe that is Walsall will be restored.
Follow the Other Place blog to witness the events unfolding:
http://theotherplaceportal.net/blog
To sign up or for more information please contact:
aas@aasgroup.net
07806 50 27 26
http://aasgroup.net
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