Pieces of Play installed

A patterned path designed by Nils Norman has been installed in Hengrove Park, south Bristol. The path is made of tiles that reference local people’s driveways and garden walls. It provides improved access for pedestrians, buggies and wheelchair users and prevents motorbike users from entering the site.

The project is one of three distinct elements of Norman’s commission for Hengrove: a curtain for the community hall, a series of play areas for children, and a public pathway, collectively entitled ‘Pieces of Play’.

The project was commissioned by myself and curator Theresa Bergne and is part of our Future Perfect commissioning programme.

What Lies Beneath

I’ll be chairing an event at the Wellcome Collection with literary critic Caroline Edwards and artist Tania Kovats on Saturday 2 May 2015.

We’ll be discussing the murky depths of the ocean deep, looking at utopian and dystopian tales, science fiction and the subconscious in art and literature.

The programme is organised by Invisible Dust.
More info here

History Rising at FeliXart, Brussels

FeliXart in Brussels have invited Marjolijn Dijkman and myself to take part in their forthcoming exhibition and events programme. This activity is part of our History Rising  programme, which includes a series of events and installations in London, The Netherlands and Belgium in 2015.

More info here

Public programme for next season at firstsite

I’ve organised the next season of public events at firstsite which includes talks by artists Carla Zaccagnini and Maria Loboda; curator Pablo Leon de la Barra (curator, Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum, New York) and Gavin Grindon (University of Essex and co-curator of Disobedient Objects, V&A).

The programme runs alongside firstsite’s two current exhibitions:
The Parliament of Things (artists: Pedro Barateiro, Mariana Castillo Deball, Maria Loboda, Simon Martin, Melvin Moti, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Paul Sietsema, Lucy Skaer)
Carla Zaccagnini, Elements of Beauty
14 March - 31 May 2015

Image: newspaper cutting on the destruction of Diego Velasquez’ Rokeby Venus, by Suffragette Mary Richardson, 1914. Research carried out by Carla Zaccagnini.

Book tickets here

Parts Per Million

I’ve been working with Anna Hart and Tilly Fowler at Central Saint Martins over the past two years, on a programme of commissioned artworks in Archway and Finsbury Park in North London. A Million Minutes came to an end in 2014. I’ve contributed various texts on failure, fragility and presence to a book on the project, which has recently been published.

More info on A Million Minutes here

Hospitalfield residency programme 2014

I’m taking part in the residency programme at Hospitalfield Arts in Arbroath, Scotland in November 2014, carrying out research for my destruction project.

More info on the residency programme here

The Pose

firstsite is once again joining up with the School of Philosophy and Art History at the University of Essex for this annual event. Five Art Historians and Philosophers address a theme relating to firstsite’s current exhibition.

The pose has long been a subject for discussion in art and is something that Bruce McLean has played with throughout his fifty-year career. The following speakers will take the subject of ‘the pose’ as a starting point for their ten minute presentations:

Matt Lodder
Caspar Pearson
David McNeill
Fiona Hughes
Ana Bilbao

More details and ticket info here

This event is part of the public programme for firstsite’s Bruce McLean season, programmed as part of my role as Associate Curator of Public Programmes. Other speakers in the season have included Lynda Morris (Norwich University of the Arts), Jon Wood (Henry Moore Institute), Bruce McLean, Klaas Hoek (Slade School of Art) and a selection of Bruce’s past Slade students: Claire Dorsett, Chloe Steele, Corinna Till and Eddie Farrell.

Loose Monk -  book launch

Loose Monk: Fabian Peake’s new book of poetry, published by Akerman Daly and Ridinghouse.

I was invited to read a poem at the launch, along with Heather Phillipson and Fabian Peake, held at Sacha Craddock’s house, on 29 Oct 2014.

Listen to Fabian read from Loose Monk here

Flood House, Thames Estuary

I’m working with architect Matthew Butcher on a public programme for a temporary architectural structure to be sited in the Thames Estuary in 2015.

Matthew is a lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL and has recently been awarded the 2014 Bartlett Research Materialisation Grant in order to take Flood House forward.

Flood House is a small-scale prototype structure which is both a practical and poetic investigation into the living conditions of a seasonally flooded landscape. The structure will function as part projected future dwelling, part practical laboratory and part 1:1 case study for how construction materials operate and perform in the very particular tidal environments of the Thames Estuary.

More details here

Vandalism and Art - talk at South London Gallery

I’m taking part in a panel discussion on the destruction of public art with artists Simon and Tom Bloor on Tues 22 July, 7pm at South London Gallery.
This is linked with my long term research project on destruction - more details here

Simon and Tom Bloor will talk about ideas developed during their recent residency at Flat Time House where they researched the intentional destruction of public art and the construction of degenerate street furniture. Investigating public space and the paradox of unintentional creation, the discussion considers how artists might appropriate acts of vandalism and how those acts might be seen as an extreme abstraction or performance. This event coincides with their current exhibition, Residency Works at FTHo, and also draws on ideas of urban play and utopian pursuit explored in their 2011 exhibition at SLG, Happy Habitat Revisited.

Other panel participants include art historian Richard Clay and artist Nils Norman. The discussion is chaired by Jo Melvin, art historian, curator and lecturer.

More info here and here

Image: Simon & Tom Bloor, Residency Works, Flat Time House 2014