Fighting Irishmen

A 2012 inspired exhibition in Belfast. Great example of linking to 2012 – in content and branding. Think it would go down very well in Liverpool. Any takers?

Like Never before on Belfast’s town hall

Part of Northern Ireland’s Legacy Project, Connections – carnival and ariel performance with Fly Butterfly – the first time the facade of the town hall has been used for ariel work.

October 2009 in Belfast

I have just arrived in Belfast to the Europa hotel where the US President Clinton stayed. As I stood outside its entrance and looked at what was around me, I wondered if the area had reminded him of any american town or perhaps a third world country? Shabbiness, consumer chain stores and grand old British architecture make up Great Victoria street. The Belfast Festival at Queens  is on.  Sponsored by the Ulster Bank and invested in by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the posters lining the street tell me that ‘everyone has a place’.  Its a misty day and I had an early start. My bed is beckoning before my 4 day agenda kicks in.  I am here for the monthly culture team meetings of London 2012 which are scheduled across the year and across all regions and nations. A perk of working on a UK wide project.  I am intrigued to see how Northern Ireland is embracing 2012. Do they see it as London only? How are they taking part? What might the opportunity mean for this part of the UK? Belfast on first impression is a lot like Liverpool to look at. Indeed, Liverpool is only a short hop and full of the Irish and its culture. Is Belfast full of scousers too? I love how the ID of the UK nation fuses and melds over geographical and political territories and my experience of living in the Northwest and being of the UK.

This is my agenda:

Saturday 17th October

12.00 – 3.00 Music Stage in City Hall Grounds with Love Hate racism and Homely Planet radio featuring:

12.30 Colenso Parade

1.20 Joe Lindsay

2.00 Ten Gallon Hat and the Big Salaute

2.45: The Ugly Bug Ball

2.30 – 3.oo Caterpillar Parade

3.10 Fly Butterfly ariel performance spectacle on City Hall facade with Ruby Colley playing orginal sound track

3.30: Announce City Hall open

3.35: Music and Dance Performance Beat Dancers, Beat n Drum, the ireland drummers and maSamba music set

5pm: Meet up with Creative Programmers

8.00pm: Waterfront Hall with seamus heaney and Michael Longley celebration with the Ulster Orchestra for Belfast Festival at Queens.

Sunday 18th October

8.30am pick up NITB/DCAL Tour of Northern Ireland – causeway coastal route, giants causeway visit, lunch at Dingiven Castle, quick walking your of Walled city of Derry, visit to Tyrone, arrive at Ulster American Folk Park and Fighting Irishmen Exhibit returing to Belfast for 5pm.

8.00pm: Old MUseum Arts Centre – bodies, buns and boyfriends – Ponydance Theatre Company

11.00pm: Pony Dance after party at the Menagerie

Monday 19th October

12.45pm – pick up

1.00pm – Titanic Pump House Tour

2.00pm – 8.00pm; LOOCG Agenda for Creative Programmers Only meeting

8.00pm – Belfast City Hall – The Unforgettable Choir with Oh Yeah Music Centre and Belfast Festival at Queens

Tuesday 20th October

9.00 – 4.00: LOCOG Agenda – full team

2.30pm – networking lunch with Northern Irelands 2012 projects, partners and stakeholders

4.00pm: Depart

Abandon Normal Devices – 2009 was big stuff

AND 2009 - Strange Attractors (KMA)

Something remarkable took place in September liverpool – the delivery of a community connected, socially engaged, academically contexted  and artistically highbrow event – Abandon Normal Devices, presented as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad and commissioned for WE PLAY – the Northwest’s cultural legacy programme for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. And, like the layers of a Russian Doll, this 2012 programme and festival should be commended for its weaving together of so many layers  of interaction and experience.  Symbolic of our cross and transdisciplinary age and appropriate to a city and region renowned for border crossings, pioneering, trend setting and leading industry ( health and music are  of particular note too), AND is part of continuing the long NW tradition of invention.

The AND programme had many strands – film programme, gallery exhibitions, public realm projects, community/fringe events, salons, conferences and workshops, talks and masterclass programmes. I did not get round it all by any stretch but for me the most successful elements were the public realm projects and the salons – for very different reasons.

The fulcrum for this festival could be found in the salons  -

AND Salon - Desire

a series of four lunchtime debates engaging top level international speakers who as experts in their fields were challenged to discuss sporting, scientific and technological advancements and issues in the context of art, culture and the London 2012 Olympics. These salons provided the glue that made the diverse array of events within the AND programme make sense in terms of cultural programming for a sporting event.  But it was when Natasha Vita-More (a transhumanist from the USA) was speaking at the ‘Compete ‘ Salon and said that it was the science and the military sectors that were funding research for the development of the human enhancement sector that the works in AND  which related to themes of war and social justice – for example, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Primitive exhibiton and Krysztof Wodiczko’s War Vetern Vehicle -

Wodiczko -War Veteran Vehicle

made complete sense in relation to the AND theme of normality and the North West’s 2012 cultural programme strand of  body and economy for which AND was commissioned.

Having experienced the full five days of the festival,  I came away knowing that AND was a very important initiative for the Northwest and the whole of the UK, creating a much needed platform for new cinema and digital culture, development and debate.  Not bad for year one or for legacy of the 2012  Olympics.  This region does need a festival like this and so does the new media and digital culture sector in the UK.

There was a disconnect in my view between  the film programme and all the other work, thematically i could not work out how it was tied in and neither did I see a great film (although this is by no means a comment on the programme as I barely touched the surface of seeing the full offering.  But i did see a few of them  and, from discussion with many others who has seen other films, there was the general view that the film programme was not as strong as the other activities or connected – it seemed like it has a different artistic vision and intent altogether.

Surprisingly, for a programme focussed on film and digital culure, AND was in fact a testament to the power of live shared experience. You can go see a film anytime but you won’t see a polish artist driving a war vertern vechile cum mobile cinema around Liverpool that often in a lifetime. Great stuff! I look forward to more AND events, the next phase rolling out over Lancashire and Cumbria in April 2010.

AND has the potential to be a highly topical and  debate driven long term programme of work and its worth mentioning one of its  programming methodologies as exemplary which was the integration of socially engaged practice into the programme. This was was very positive. Amongst the most community connected elements were the Small Cinema, Kino Caberet  and Kazimier party. When a producer knows its audience and is that audience you get very authentic work and experiences. AND gave a platform  to independent arts organisations  in Liverpool, invested in them to deliver events they had seeded but on a new scale and the results were good. These events could be promoted from the fringe to the core of the festival – the future of production is in hands like these and strategic partnerships such as AND have a role in supporting the professional development and practice of local organisations – and over the longer term.I can just about imagine what they could deliver  in 2012 if a 3 year relationships were established and committed to. This is the beauty of the Olympics – it gives us a four year programming perspective.

AND is providing a time, place and space for artists to grow and  is doing very valuable work linking in the new and emerging in form and content with the established and international. This is what LOndon 2012 should be enabling.

Issues raised which I personally found of interest to Olympiad programming:

• Youth and time- the 24hr world of youth culture
• Desire – abandoning normal desires – ie an impulse or indulgence
• Device - not just technical but can be explosive, a political mechanism -  Deviant devising
• Sport changing our perceptions of normality.  (It it was not for the olympics such debates would not be happening in AND,  in Liverpool, right now).
• Enhanced performance
• GET REAL- Disabled perfrmers will very soon be able to outperform able bodied performers as a result of advances in technology and we will need to look at a change in terminology
• What is artifice?
• New norm – we are all disabled.  Old norm – able v disabled. Unable, Able, Disa bled. Ultraabled. Do we want our children to be stronger and better? Most of what seems natural has been acquired or learned.
• Super enablement
• Future – less biological and more nano based – what can we become?

Acceptance of perfection – What might we lose?

1. Abandon your resistance to change and evolution

2. Abandon device of judging too quickly and segregation of cultures into groups

3. A film is never finished only abandoned

Masterclasses – can they also be radio programmes?

Abandon Normal Devices – Hand From God

In case you thought the body was just a physical entity, think again.

Check out this blog: http://creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2009/october/hand-from-above

Sports engineering, normality and abandoning normal devices

Check out this blogpost on the Abandon Normal Devices festival http://sportsengineering.blogspot.com

Association with 2012

It is at the olympic and paralympic games that cutting edge innovations are showcased and excellence comes to the fore, defined in that  moment of history as where humanity is at in relation to what can be achieved. Cultural projects that align themselves to the Olympics associate themselves with this  status and level of achievement and production and yet, it seems that getting projects to contextualise themselves within this international context is more than difficult. I believe that the reduction of association to a logo is restricting understanding of the wider vision and bigger picture. If projects want to use 2012 to advance and develop, then making the connection – in content, partnership and and in branding terms  is a non brainer.  Why don’t projects inspired by the Olympics want to associate themselves with it? I  believe that if people went to an Olympic games and fully personally experienced it, they would want the link all over everything they do at all times.

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Abandoning Normal Devices feels very good!

On Wednesday 23rd September Abandon Normal Devices (AND) was launched – a new festival of cinema and digital culture for the northwest and the London 2012  games and from over here i would say have no fear -  the benefits of London 2012 are being manifested here in the Northwest. I saw it first hand and its live!

The AND civic launch held at Alma De Cuba in Liverpool was buzzing with over 400 people. I would hazard a guess that at least a third were from outside of the region. VIP’s and artists were also bussed in liverpool and the festival from Lancashire and Cumbria, reflecting its positioning as a regional festival.  Many areas of the arts world benefit from celebrity fu**ing and the AND launch was no exception with Ken Russsell about and i heard Tilda Swinton was turning up.

The opening night film was Humpday ——- visceral filmmaking, intimate dialogue, human stupidity laid bare and the reality of our existence – that fear of transcending real boundaries – gently laid out many of the themes and issues that AND will debate, research and engage  through its programme. AND also presented and AND Commission – KMA’s  Strange Attractor’s – a playful interactive piece which got bodies all moving together in shared public space, creating and interacting with image through bio feedback loops and systems. An easy and accessible interface, dramatic visual creations, and a fun live shared experience with real people in real time and real space. Joyful digital!

AND is here to engage the public and artists in debate around normality – challenging us to abandon our normal devices – be they social, technoligical or cultural – and this theme and focus is at the heart of the programming. The opening night was a very good start.

Lakes Alive welcomes the world

Mintfest’s a family affair

It’s official.  Mintfest is established – on the international street arts circuit and in Kendal. Local residents, tourists and arts professionals from as far flung places as Korea, New Zealand and Canada wandered around Kendal for the three days of street entertainment that was this year’s Mintfest. Its organizers Lakes Alive presented a huge array of work of a great variety and high quality.

Unashamedly a family affair, there was however something for all tastes and that is the beauty of a festival like Mintfest and good programming. I can personally list five highlights (Carabosse’s Fire Garden, Theatre Irrwisch, Motionhouse, Circus Ronaldo and Salamandre) which is quite exceptional for any festival.  MINTFEST are probably promoting the best international work in street performance today.

The surprise and spontaneity of street arts practice  – the random interventions that you don’t know are going to happen – alongside the staged or sited installations, performances and theatre shows – made for an exciting if challenging experience – in a programme of such scope there will inevitably be work that is not to your personal taste.  On quite a few occasions I did wish I had brought some kids with me or some mates as it was very much a festival programme focused on family and entertainment but in terms of engagement, i cannot think of a better or more  exemplary example of reaching new audiences.  The dog really works and there is no doubt that Mintfest has embedded itself into the fabric of the community through its programming approach and that is why  it is succe ssful. I did wonder about the reactions of the 18 – 30 age group though (who dont have kids). Does Minfest have enough edge? Could Kendal cope with  a more dynamic and challenging programme ie less entertainment?

Minfest - motionhouse

As a festival linked to the Lakes Alive programme which is part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Minfest was exemplary. Its content celebrated and promoted  internationalism and cultural diversity, inspired and involved young people and generated a legacy in terms of cultural participation, audience development, tourism, social cohesion and international linkages – which it will continue to build on year on year. Mintfest 2012 is a very exciting prospect.

‘Like never before’ is the ambition and vision for the Cultural Olympiad and it’s clear that the 2009 edition of Mintfest builds on the work of the previous two years of Mintfest to take bold new steps forward – into commissioning new work (artisani) and also into large scale community participation projects (Welcoming the world).  Overall I personally would have liked to have seen the programme including process and development activities for professionals. Street artists need support – to develop their skills and practice without the pressure of delivery or the focus on being entertainment.  The sector it seems to me would benefit greatly from opportunities to explore and play free of pressure and in collaborative contexts with artists from other disciplines and other locations. Mintfest as a melting point for a diverse range of street arts practice has a role to play in promoting such support, dialogue and debate between street artists and the new generation of practitioners who work outdoors but don’t describe themselves as street artists. The Mintfest International Network Exchange for Street Arts would be a welcome addition to the Lakes Alive programme.