Out Of The Wilderness

Out Of The Wilderness was at Bloc Projects, Sheffield between 8th-15th May.

The bloc project collective of group members came together for the first time to produce an exhibition that could be the smallest in Sheffield. The room is tiny holding 8 pieces of work but it offers a wealth of inquisitiveness and ambiguity. Curator, Robin Close, chose work that showed exploration and negotiation through different platforms and most pieces were not what they seemed on first glance.

The photographed dead lizard jumped out against the plain white wall and showed Louisa Harris’ skill to inject life into death through colour and a sense of mischief.

Sean Williams piece might be called ‘Castle’ but it immediately strips away connotations of wealth and nobility by creating a fragile and awkward looking shed. Williams’s use of watercolours emphasises its delicacy by making it look as if it will collapse any minute.

Alternatively Luke Chapman’s homage to the Holmdel Horn Antenna stands out in the form of a cosmic sculpture, which juts out in the middle of the room. Ever sat down and watched static T.V. to pass the time? I’d like to think nobody does but Chapman tries to evoke the sense that people are actually watching radiation from the beginning of time when they do. He does this by placing a T.V. underneath a dominant foil model to replicate the discovery of cosmic microwave radiation.


Luke Chapman's and Susanne Palzer's pieces.

Competing for your attention is Susanne Palzer’s twisted and broken table with blank postcards on the floor. Aptly named Postcards from Bloc the piece is a working project by which the creator plans to create a set of postcards of her studio pieces. It almost teases the audience into the type of work we can expect by cleverly keeping you guessing by not revealing much at all.

After your eyes have scanned between the prominent pieces you almost miss a pencil sketch taken straight from its pad in raw form. It’s a small A5 piece yet is placed on a whole wall to subtly show desolation and it’s like accidentally walking into a room of a person’s deepest emotion and feelings. It shows an environment lost and forlorn and the monochromatic sketched lines highlight this.

Mark Doyle’s projection of shadows catches your eye but the obscurity of it asks the audience to decide what the shadows mean to them personally. The composition shows the battle between light and dark and meaning and identity while Daniel Fogarty asks for a philosophical understand to his art.

Named Spinario it’s a page photocopied from the book Taste and the Antique: The Lure Of Classical Sculpture which tells the myth of a shepherd boy he had to deliver a message to a Senate before he removed a thorn in his foot. The artist transfixes a stapler to the page to represent the thorn that needs removing and places by the door of the exhibition it fittingly suggests the end of the boys journey.

The importance of reenacting Oscar Wilde

Sunday 25th April @ Sheffield Union's Auditorium



The Importance Of Being Earnest may have been written over a century ago but the platform festival managed to inject a fresh and lively approach.

The cast was a mixture of experienced MA theatre students to people who had never acted before in their life.

Every person managed to dive into character and immersed themselves in roles that showed off genuine talent. The set was very minimal but this allowed the acting and brilliant script to shine through.

The basic synopsis of the plot is that characters adopt a fictional identity so that they can escape from social obligations, while at the same time playing on the pun of the name Earnest.

The Platform version follows the same plot and chooses the best of Oscar Wilde’s witticisms that caused the crowd to burst into laughter.


Jack and Gwendolen

Angernon and Jack are best friends who soon find out that each of them make up the names Bunbury and Earnest, respectively, when they fancy a little break.

Two women, Cecily and Gwendolen, fall in love with the men believing that they both have the most desirable name of Earnest. Cecily is most impressed by Angernon while Gwendolen falls for Jack. But when the two women meet each other and both speak of marrying somebody called Earnest, a storm soon erupts when they initially think it is the same man.

The two girls who played these parts portrayed this friction very comically. Cecilly asks Gwendolen if she would like some tea and when her reply is “sugar is no longer fashionable” Cecilly proceeds to put as much in the tea as she possibly can.
She also throws a piece of cake at Gwendolen when she snubs her offer.

Lady Braknell, the controlling upper class mother of Gwendolen who enjoys a sip from her hip flask, was played brilliantly with apt and believable face expressions in all the right places.


Cecilly and Miss Prism


The girl who played Cecilly quickly adopted the role of a pretty and desirable young woman, while the two lead men had a chemistry that evoked everything well-off bachelors should.

The play soon has its twists and turns when it emerges that Miss Prism, the governess of Cecily, is Jack’s mother who accidentally left him as a baby on a train platform.

Due to his adoption it soon becomes clear that Jack is not his real name and it turns out that his birth name was actually Earnest the whole time. The play ends with the line "I've now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest."

It certainly doesn’t sound like the easiest story to follow but the actors pulled it off so well that it quickly became an amusing and talented piece of theatre.


Angernon, Jack, Cecilly and Gwendolen

Some of my favourite quotes of the play...

"Literary criticism is not your forte. Leave that to people who didn’t go to university."

"The amount of people in London who flirt with their own husbands is scandalous."

"Hestitation of any kind if a sign of mental decay in the young."

"Never speak disrespectfully of society. Its only those who cant get in it who do that."

My hindrance is hibernating

Forgive me for only just returning to the blogging world. For a while now I have been barricaded under a university deadline mountain and so I have had little time to do anything that would inspire me to share with the world.

The days of drinking at least three cans of red bull a day are over, as are the lonely nights where all I had for company was my ticking brain. Alas, I return to the world of culture, freedom, music, lights and people and so my fingers are more than ready to type away.

I will upload a few blogs that have been lingering in static for some weeks and from that point I will continue to convert my thoughts and experiences into a html bubble.

Ma créativité est de retour...

Amnesty International Fundraiser

The Black Light Parade played at Nottingham Arts Theatre on the 3rd April to raise money for Amnesty International. Joining them was Fists, Spotlight Kid and We Show Up On Radar.




The Black Light Parade, formerly known as The Kull, is a rejuvenated band with a fresh name and a new way of putting on events.

Instead of a generic EP launch in a venue like Rescue Rooms, they decided to host an event at Nottingham arts theatre to raise money for Amnesty International, and bought three of their favourite local bands to join them.

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First on the bill was We Show Up On Radar whose music was very fitting given the surroundings. Remember sitting in school assemblies and being overtly conscious of talking to people so you wouldn’t get in trouble? Well that’s weirdly how the tranquil theatre felt which gave the atmosphere a certain charm. But much like the recent We Show Up On Radar library tour, every beautiful note sung by Andy Wright was distinctly clear.

His heart’s on his sleeve with lyrics like “I’m not scared of anything other than being alone.” but his sweet bashful presence shows in reality it’s quite daunting to be so emotionally open. He almost whispers the words to the acoustic guitar he delicately plucks and it’s quite impossible to ignore a second of the captivating honesty.

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Next was Spotlight Kid (who actually have a Wikipedia page by the way, next stop front cover of NME?) who show us why we should be paying attention if only for their track record. Between them the band members were formerly in established acts Six By Seven and Model Morning and a local appearance is a bit of a rarity.

The instrumental track they chose to open with really lays the foundations of what this bands about. The My Bloody Valentine and shoe gaze generalisations are obvious but their genuine passion for playing live music shows there’s a bit more to that. It’s like watching each member go off in the their own little world oblivious to their surroundings. Together they create a huge sonic wave that crashes and disperses into an alternative psychedelic world.

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Next up is the quirky experimental Fists who work on different levels to keep us entertained. On one side you have the sweet and slightly sombre vocals of Angi Fletcher who clearly immerses herself in the music, while the other side you have the upbeat and kookiness when Pete Conway gets involved (who also adds humour to the band with his witty remarks)

Not keen to sit on the generic shelf they use washboards to bring out the rockabilly sound and a megaphone to make sure they’re heard. Every gig is a motley of musical dimensions, which is what makes them the exciting band they are, and tonight was no exception.

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Before The Black Light Parade made their entrance they reminded us why we were all there with Amnesty International facts shown on the big screen.

As soon as they come on stage you could tell they’d been looking forward to tonight’s gig for a while and were determined to put on a great show.

Vocalist Andrew Shipley brings the forceful and diligent sound together with his intense and passionate voice. They played the best tracks from their Amongst The Trees album and showed that the craft they hone gets more proficient as time goes by.

Highlights included the solemn and slow burner The House, which evolves into a crashing sound of guitars while Andrew sings with all his heart “We should be making this now”. In other songs there’s a subtle dark Thom Yorke tone with the repetitive “We’re all looking for something” but whatever comparisons you can think of, you can’t deny they remain original and are definitely worth keeping your eyes and ears on.

The money raised for Amnesty International was originally intended for the violence against women campaign but as this ended last month, the money will go to any cause Amnesty sees appropriate.

Liam O'Kane & The Stabilizers, Flav Girogini, Basement Forte + Mike Scott (Phinius Gage) @ The Central, Nottingham (29/03/10)

I finally decided to pay a visit to The Central after hearing many good things about it and naturally I did expect a bit of a buzz and a few folk there. But this wasn’t the case as Liam O'Kane and The Stabilisers took to the stage.


Mike Moore, the usual bassist, wasn’t there so it was just drummer Ben Farnsworth (Captain Dangerous and Jimmy The Squirrel) and a few fans on the floor to warm the evening up but it wasn’t long before they had to play in complete darkness!


Before the set barely got it self off the ground the PA and lights went off but that didn’t stop Liam playing or the crowd singing along which created a brilliant intimacy. The duo carried on with Man From The Seasons, Postman, Happy Days Sad Songs and Runaway Boy giving their grassroots ska-acoustic sound justice.

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Next up was Flav Girogini, formerly of pop-punk band Squirtgun who toured extensively with bands like Blink 182, Less Than Jake and Nofx in the 90s. Not only that he also designed Guitarpunk guitars for Alkaline Trio and his punk presence was saluted from the few fans there.

But with his solo tracks the punk-roots are subtle with an Izzy Stradlin feel to songs such as Dead, White and Blue. He merges a combination of politically driven lyrics with honest love songs that pull the crowd in.

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After making my way from the bar the stage was suddenly swarmed with a collective of musicians that made up Basement Forte. The 8-piece consist of MCs and singers joined by a band that compliment each other in a unique and inciting way and are one of the most exciting new bands in Nottingham at the moment in terms of doing something different and fresh.

They blend Trip hop with blues with a cheeky bit of dub step and drum and bass thrown in but rappers Reuben Mead and Miah Jumbo add that hint of professionalism and passion while still clearly having a laugh.

Tracks like Come On Down and Dark Matters show why we might be hearing a bit from them in the future and they got the crowd to muster up energy to have a little dance.


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But it was quite clear most people had only came for them when the floor cleared before Mike Scott came on, which is a bit of a shame as his set was warming and honest with punk rock elements.

Originally in the band Phinius Gage Mike puts his heart on his sleeve in a nihilistic and archaic way and it soon becomes clear his music is an escapism mechanism that he wants to share with whoever cares to listen.

He talks of religion, nationalism, militarism and personal tragedies that really beg you to take it in. His influences from bands like Black Flag, Propaghandi and Pennywise give his a raw and raucous feel to his sound but he still retains a bit of originality.

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Unfortunately I couldn’t stay around for Robb Blake of Whitmore but it soon became obvious most of the bands that played tonight were very happy to be touring with him regardless of whether many were there or not.

Kristi Genovese

The Craft-Off Returns to celebrate a year of haberdashery antics

It’s been a year since The Craft Off and Spinsters Emporium was launched and to celebrate a mob of artistic crafty people were invited to trade fresh creative ideas for prizes. The idea was to get into groups and to create art from the briefs given by the organisers, with live music from Ryan Lauder and Cecille Grey to get the creative juices flowing.

The first task of making original origami saw people making generic birds, cars and boats, which were all suspended from the ceiling, but the customised swan impressed the most.



After making a mountain of paper mess, Ryan Lauder took to the stage with his very own origami hat.

The Scottish acoustic-folk songwriter was joined by a couple of friends on the cello and double bass which provided the perfect chill-out sound for folding paper and creating even more mess!

Next on stage was the slightly eclectic Cecille Grey who clearly looked like they were having fun dancing away to their French pop songs.

The next task resulted in lots of gasps and confusion making us all think we had missed something historically important that day. The brief explained how the leaning tower of Pisa had collapsed and asked everyone to make a piece to emanate momentous buildings that would be missed if we never saw them again. Of course the next brief explained we had been stitched and that it was time to get our own back by creating an object that could cleverly fool people to think it was real.

The best bit was helping ourselves to whatever crafts took our fancy, from string to feathers to fabrics to empty bottles and it didn’t take long to clear the shelves.
After over an hour of clambering over paper and scissors on tiny tables the winners were soon announced.

The prizes went to groups who came up with the best pranks in visual form. One group made their own football table explaining that footballers would be made to play on the biggest football table in the world, due to the world cup taking place in brazil this year.


Another group told us that McDonalds would launch a left-handed burger priced £7.99 available until 7/7/77 and created the meal from fabrics. Even better the group snipped away at the LeftLion logo to incorporate it in their title!


The next prize was most surprising as it was my group that won! I can’t create artistic pieces to save my life which I think goes to show it’s worth taking part because you never know what you might win.

Our prank was that big corporations like Nike had chopped off Banksy's hand taking him off the creative pay roll and that we would never see a truthful piece of art from him again.


But the winner went to the group who made an amazing colourful castle and pretended that Nottingham Castle was the home of King George, which was even acted out with a sword in tow. One group even dramatised the landing on the moon dressed as astronauts.

Nottingham Craft Mafia and Spinsters Emporium proved crafty prizes galore including vouchers, haberdashery magazines, t-shirts, wallpaper and buttons.

The Malt Cross provided the perfect surrounding with chocolate sprinkled coffees and beer on offer and everyone took part to create something original. It was a great night had by all and had all our creative imaginations ticking away.

Kristi Genovese

How to push boundaries by not doing much at all

Last week I went to an art exhibition called Life: A Users Manual, which showed every day objects and experiences with a richer cultural history. From made up slang that its creators used to escape the law, to postcards of battered sea ledges, it gave the feel of a 2010 that uses art to overcome uncertainty of global change.

But the piece that jumped out at me most of all was Haroon Mirza’s ‘An_Infinito’ which got me thinking about the richness of its influence.



http://www.clickfolio.com/haroon/


His work combines the typical dangerous elements of water and electricity to create a sound for the film clip he uses, but it says a lot more about the history of music and the objects we use.

For most of us our first ever music experience was probably shaking one of the many rattles we were given as a baby, or mixing hand clapping with nonsensical babbling. The idea of simply combining sounds with every day objects is music in its most primitive form. However music makers often go back to basics to shock and inspire people and constantly look for new and weird ways to do this.

A Darwinian would say that music began as a mating strategy as many birds produced music through bird song to attract mates. Others believe that pre-historic activities such as cracking nuts on walls created rhythms, which made workers more efficient.
But whatever you think was the very first music experience, it’s clear to see the people who have been truly inspired by primitive music making.

When Frank Zappa made his television debut on the Steve Allen show in 1963, he didn’t want that to be the only debut. He decided to bring a bike on the show and play a bicycle concerto.






As you can see he was quite openly mocked about this but Zappa fans quickly recognised his modern quirkiness and he was later awarded with the Grammy lifetime achievement award, inspired artists such as Alice Cooper and Primus, and released more than 60 albums.

One of the leading artists of Avant-Garde music, John Cage, produced one of the most controversial compositions of the 2oth century. He recorded environment noises, which appeared to be minutes of silence to critics, and people began questioning his talent. Many thought it was a philosophical masterpiece rather than a musical one.



He was a teacher of experimental composition and had an inquisitive love for aleatoric music, which meant leaving composition arrangement to chance.

In 1960, on the TV show I’ve Got A Secret, he performed the composition ‘Water Walk’ using sounds created from various objects including a bath and an electric mixer.


Once again it seemed absurd and comical to the audience but John went on to influence bands such as Sonic Youth, Stereolab and Aphex Twin.

Brian Eno, of Roxy Music fame, also delved into the innovative music world creating ambient music for sonic landscapes. The best example of this is the 1983 release of Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks.


He popularised the idea that composition could be arranged by chance and emphasised theory over practise. He later worked with David Bowie, John Cale and David Byrne.

In 1996 he helped make the Koan Generative system and was very interested in the way that music was ever changing and could be created by a system.

It allows a composer to control hundreds of sounds, which a computer improvises.
A basic example of generative music is a wind chime. The materials used determine the overall sound the wind chime produces.
The idea of Brian’s system was to create a unique piece of music every time by separating the artists from the creative process.

But these are examples of people whose whole musical career was based around innovation and there are in fact hundreds of thousands of music makers out there who delve once in a while.

Take Tilly and the wall who used tap dancing instead of drums, Gallows who used a the sound of a pig slaughter to cause effect, Rush used any type of wood they could find for percussion, Paul McCartney chewed carrots and celery on Super Furry Animals- Receptable For The Respectable, Pink Floyd used rubber bands and pencils instead of a bass, and Bjork used a man who shifted sand and stones with his feet.
Many noise rock acts including Mike Patton used the circuit bending process which emphasised spontaneity by using low voltage, battery powered guitar effects and children’s toys.






You don't need a Fender 60s Reverse Headstock Stratocaster to make good music, nor do you need a drumkit as big as Keith Moons. Making music is a creative process that allows for as much or as little eccentric absurdity as you like and if you can make demented and deranged sounds from it, all the better.

But the best thing about making music is that we can use any of the strange and wonderful objects we come across every day and create something original.