MASKS, VENTRILOQUISM AND THE CREATIVE IDENTITY free workshop at SOMA Sunday 14th September

Masks, Ventriloquism and the Creative Identity, a free 2 hour workshop convened by Johnny Herbert & Eleanor Clare under B-Open. Sunday 14^th September 2014, 17.00-19.00

 

This workshop seeks to investigate the ways in which masks and ventriloquism in all their guises pervade our existence, and to create awareness of how artistic output may be channelled through these mediums - either metaphorically or literally.  

We can consider our persona to be at base a mask, and our voice a construct of our surroundings. In this sense, a mask remaining invisible to us inescapably masks us, and our voice may manifest as a reflection of another’s. These two errant prostheses of what we call ‘ourselves’ can be enhanced, distorted or disguised further (for example with a dash of mascara, or an imitating accent), stimulating experiences of liberation, restriction or transformation and perhaps providing traces of what ‘ourselves’ might actually be.

The evasive ‘self’ is a challenge to what one might consider creative originality and we will explore this though the trope of ‘finding one’s voice’. Traditional art education encourages the belief that an artist only finds their true voice through ventriloquism: learning how to replicate and reproduce in the style of the old masters. We therefore ask: does an artist have any single ‘true voice’; can the true voice be found by letting others speak through oneself first; and how can one ‘communicate’ when one is not sure who is speaking?

The workshop is for a maximum of 10 people. It is aimed at adults, but would be suitable for students of arts-related areas aged 16 & up.  We would like confirmation of people attending via email to postmaster@eleanorclare.com

All those attending the workshop should be prepared to have make-up applied to their face (which can be removed afterwards) and to take part in some simple breathing and awareness exercises which may also involve wearing masks. 

NEVER ODD OR EVEN book launch 13th-14th September, 12.00-16.00

NEVER ODD OR EVEN is an artist's book by Dillan Marsh and Eleanor Clare.  Taking as it's point of departure Basle Fasnacht, it explores the themes of carnival, revolution, extremes of experience and the ritualistic acts which lead us in and out of transformative states. The publication is a limited edition of 150 copies. 

The book was commissioned by Deuxpiece, and published by Büro für Problem in Basle, 2014.  The venture has been supported by OCA, Bergen Kommune, Merian Stiftung Basel, Swiss Arts Council, Swisslos Fonds Basel-Stadt, Migros Kulturprozent, GGG Basel, Ernst & Olga Hablützel Stiftung, Stiftung Erna & Curt Burgauer, and Flatterschafft Studios. 

Talking Art and Rave: Live streaming from Site Gallery Sheffield

 

www.sitegallery.org

streaming live from Site Gallery Sheffield

Talking Art and Rave
Sunday 3 August, 2 - 6pm

Join us for a Sunday afternoon exploring the legacy of 90s rave culture and its influence on artists today. The event will be led by E-Vapor-8 curator, Francesca Gavin, and you’ll hear from five artists in the exhibition along with guest speakers including a DJ, music critic and researcher of underground rave communities. We’ll also be screening their selection of music videos and playing vinyl records from the time.
The event is open to everyone and will be particularly interesting for artists, art and music lovers, researchers, former-ravers as well as bloggers and journalists.
Who is involved?
Francesca Gavin, exhibition Curator and Chair of the event. will give insight into how she curated the exhibition and discovered a fascination with rave culture and happy hardcore young British and American artists.
E-Vapor-8 artists, Jeremy Deller, Adham Faramawy, Harry Burden, Lucy Stokton and Rhys Coren. Whether they actively participated or were indirectly influenced by rave, these artists explore ideas such as technology, collectivity, rebellion and psychedelia in their work.
Guest speakers include:
Winston Hazel, DJ and producer. As a true originator, Winston Hazel helped gift house music to the city of Sheffield in the mid-80s, organising parties combining new American dance sounds with funk, jazz and soul. Sharing some records and speaking from his individual perspective on the rave and dance scene, he will explore ideas of experimentation, shared positive mindset and rhythms which transformed peoples lives.
Alice O’Grady, Professor in Applied Performance at University of Leeds. Alice will talk about her own experience of rave, that began in the early 90s and included warehouses, beaches, festivals and more. She will examine the impacts that rave and DIY culture had on public policy and how it inspired other social movements.
Luke Bainbridge, Following the publication of his book, The True Story of Acid House: Britain’s Last Youth Culture Revolution Luke will speak about how the second summer of love is viewed 25 years on. He has interviewed most of the key players who led the revolution, from the DJs and musicians to promoters, gangsters and ravers – giving you an in-depth look into how the rave movement changed, and continues to change Britain.

When: Sunday 3 August, 2pm – 6pm, followed by drinks at Site Gallery
Where: Showroom Cinema, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX

Anna Maria Łuczak showing at SOMA

Anna Maria Łuczak's films and sculptures embody the struggle of the emotional in understanding historical events. In recent works she explores possibilities of dialogue as a form of exchange. For her, conversation is a tool and a model for mutual set of conditions, whereby the usual roles of author and subject are shared and improvised. Meaning and form are constantly interchanged. Her research is driven by an interest in understanding past and how it is translated ...into present. As visual motifs she often works with archive video material and film, balancing on boarders between sculpture, literature, video and photography. In her installations the space between the individual works is just as important as the works themselves. Meaning is something fragmented which comes into being while the viewer moves through space.

 

Anna Maria Łuczak (b.1984, Łódź, Poland) studied in Willem de Kooning Academy (2005-09) and Piet Zwart Institute (2011-13). Lives and works in Rotterdam.
Recent exhibitions include: TENT Rotterdam, Villa Bernasconi Geneva, Kunstvlai Amsterdam Piknik Księży Młyn Łódź, Upominki Rotterdam, Three Artists Walk into a Bar Amsterdam, Obstruktionist Fribourg

 the /// project is a new Bergen-based curatorial program initiated by Mathijs van Geest.

SOMA artists showing at a former munitions factory in London

SOMA artists Eleanor Clare & Dillan Marsh will be showing work here

Nothing About Trees Group Show, London, October 2013 from Kam Wan on Vimeo.

I Am Still Within You exhibition and live performance



I Am Still Within You is devised by Eleanor Clare in collaboration with Kam Wan and Marcus Davidson.  It will be performed by Eleanor Clare, Johanne Birkeland Svendson, Natalie Sandtorv and Karoline Wallace. 

 

Singers move through the darkness.  At times they will be lit by the projections, but the emphasis will be on the affect of their voices on the space, and the movement of sound in relation to the projected images.  Nebula Fields, a sound piece by Marcus Davidson, will run durationally before and after the performance, with film by Kam Wan.  The audience can become immersed into this atmosphere.

 

More performance times may be added, please check website www.eleanorclare.com

PAB OPEN

Collaborative durational performance of the voice and active listening by Eleanor Clare, Sofie Knudsen Jansson and Elisabeth Farøy Lund.