An interesting fact; on The Smiths first tour they performed at HMV Ritz, Manchester.
Press Play Above
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Lisa Sanditz
Tie Dye in the Wilderness
Just researching tie dye artists and this american artist Sanditz came up. Not my favourite type of art work although apparently it was put on a large bill board in New York and has made quite an impact on the city. I think the colours used in in the work are quite dark but I can understand the meaning she is trying to express here; which is being isolated in a large city by commercialism and industrial parks feeling trapped. Only being here nearly nine months I have felt like that at times, but love the frills you get in the city. Looking forward to returning home to my small town on the green island.
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
DAVE HASLAM "question everything, don't consume, participate".
Dj Dave Haslam shows us an image of himself at work, explaining that this is his natural habitat. His time at the Hacienda is only a part of his experience and knowledge of the sub cultural scene in Manchester. This experience and philosophy could be adapted to any art form. He used some inspiring language as he told his story of how the many (now world famous) bands started "life" in Manchester. Words I collected to start thinking about Unit X; mainstream versus marginal, start small, hidden, find a space and allies, make something happen, raw draft, fanzines. Visit YouTube to see his interview with Turner prize winner artist Jeremy Deller, ("Memory Bucket" 2004). Deller talks about his work "Procession", in the Manchester festival of 2009.
Jeremy Deller, a man with ideas.
Jeremy Deller's Procession celebrates Manchester in style.
Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer, guardian.co.uk, Sunday 5 July 2009 20.27 BST
The parade, part of the city's international festival, was organised by Turner prize winning artist Jeremy Deller, who enlisted friends including David Hockney.
At twenty minutes to two, it's a normal, albeit spectacularly sunny Sunday afternoon in Manchester: shoppers, idlers, lunchers. At ten to, the long, straight expanse of Deansgate is suddenly lined with expectant crowds. As the town hall clock strikes, you begin to hear it: the boom of a bass line, the shrilling of brass and wind.
Gradually the slow-moving, bellowing beast moves into focus. This is Manchester international festival's Procession, organised by Turner prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, the man who got the Women's Institute arranging flowers in the Tate and re-created, with historical re-enactment groups, the Battle of Orgreave, the 1984 miners' strike conflict with police.
First up in the parade is the Scouts' marching band. "You've got to have the Scouts in a procession," says Deller. "It's almost the law, isn't it?" Aside from the fact that he has asked them to play the Fall's Hit the North, this is one of the most conventional parts of the parade, for next up comes a large float beautifully done out as a brick factory, complete with smoke-belching chimney and former mill workers.
Deller likes the idea that there are people who, according to conventional wisdom, ought not to be celebrated – which is why, wandering gloomily into view, come the emos and goths who hang out in Cathedral Gardens on a Saturday afternoon. Before and behind them putter local authority mobile libraries.
Suddenly, there are nodding black plumes as a horse-drawn hearse appears – inside the glass-sided carriage, the word HACIENDA picked out in cream chrysanthemums. It's the first of a fleet of hearses, each bringing a floral tribute to another lost, loved club of the north-west: Wigan Casino; Bolton's Burnden Park. This gets the local vote: "Very poignant", says Rachel Cook, 36.
It's time for royalty – a whole dynasty of rose queens from Stretford. The queens, all dressed in white, wave regally – and look, there's Britannia, and after her, a banner celebrating Ian Tomlinson, who died during the G20 protests. Ed Hall, who often collaborates with Deller, has stitched beautiful banners, including one designed by David Hockney, depicting an ashtray, for a chain-puffing group, the Unrepentant Smokers. There's a Smoking Kills banner just behind, for balance.
Matters of appetite are not neglected, for here comes a quite magnificent, giddyingly camp cavalcade devoted to the notion that Oldham was the home of the first ever fish and chip shop. "Choose the chip!" bawls one of the float's outriders, her headdress a sky scraping affair of fries in newspaper. On one float sings and dances a legion of fryers and a 3ft-tall vinegar shaker.
Revving behind are the local boy racers, sound systems booming. They are the crew that speed round the back of the Stockport Toys R Us car park on a Thursday night, and not everyone is pleased. James Clayden, 79, says: "All those fumes – it's enough to kill the smell of the fish and chips. We're supposed to be thinking about the environment."
He likes the Shree Swami Narayan Gadi Piping Band from Bolton, though – a group of Asian-British Hindus kitted out in full dress kilts piping as if their lives depended on it. But what brings the tears to the crowd's eyes is the last float. It bears a steel band playing, at Deller's request, Joy Division and Buzz-cocks songs. They ring out Love Will Tear Us Apart, the melancholy memory of Ian Curtis's singing mingling oddly with the steel band's glorious, passionately joyous treatment. It's vintage Deller, and, somehow, pure Manchester.
In the rear, like an apologetic coda, the sight of a municipal motorised road sweeper. Next time maybe there'll be room for a fleet of these, too.
Jeremy Deller's Procession celebrates Manchester in style.
Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer, guardian.co.uk, Sunday 5 July 2009 20.27 BST
The parade, part of the city's international festival, was organised by Turner prize winning artist Jeremy Deller, who enlisted friends including David Hockney.
At twenty minutes to two, it's a normal, albeit spectacularly sunny Sunday afternoon in Manchester: shoppers, idlers, lunchers. At ten to, the long, straight expanse of Deansgate is suddenly lined with expectant crowds. As the town hall clock strikes, you begin to hear it: the boom of a bass line, the shrilling of brass and wind.
Gradually the slow-moving, bellowing beast moves into focus. This is Manchester international festival's Procession, organised by Turner prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, the man who got the Women's Institute arranging flowers in the Tate and re-created, with historical re-enactment groups, the Battle of Orgreave, the 1984 miners' strike conflict with police.
First up in the parade is the Scouts' marching band. "You've got to have the Scouts in a procession," says Deller. "It's almost the law, isn't it?" Aside from the fact that he has asked them to play the Fall's Hit the North, this is one of the most conventional parts of the parade, for next up comes a large float beautifully done out as a brick factory, complete with smoke-belching chimney and former mill workers.
Deller likes the idea that there are people who, according to conventional wisdom, ought not to be celebrated – which is why, wandering gloomily into view, come the emos and goths who hang out in Cathedral Gardens on a Saturday afternoon. Before and behind them putter local authority mobile libraries.
Suddenly, there are nodding black plumes as a horse-drawn hearse appears – inside the glass-sided carriage, the word HACIENDA picked out in cream chrysanthemums. It's the first of a fleet of hearses, each bringing a floral tribute to another lost, loved club of the north-west: Wigan Casino; Bolton's Burnden Park. This gets the local vote: "Very poignant", says Rachel Cook, 36.
It's time for royalty – a whole dynasty of rose queens from Stretford. The queens, all dressed in white, wave regally – and look, there's Britannia, and after her, a banner celebrating Ian Tomlinson, who died during the G20 protests. Ed Hall, who often collaborates with Deller, has stitched beautiful banners, including one designed by David Hockney, depicting an ashtray, for a chain-puffing group, the Unrepentant Smokers. There's a Smoking Kills banner just behind, for balance.
Matters of appetite are not neglected, for here comes a quite magnificent, giddyingly camp cavalcade devoted to the notion that Oldham was the home of the first ever fish and chip shop. "Choose the chip!" bawls one of the float's outriders, her headdress a sky scraping affair of fries in newspaper. On one float sings and dances a legion of fryers and a 3ft-tall vinegar shaker.
Revving behind are the local boy racers, sound systems booming. They are the crew that speed round the back of the Stockport Toys R Us car park on a Thursday night, and not everyone is pleased. James Clayden, 79, says: "All those fumes – it's enough to kill the smell of the fish and chips. We're supposed to be thinking about the environment."
He likes the Shree Swami Narayan Gadi Piping Band from Bolton, though – a group of Asian-British Hindus kitted out in full dress kilts piping as if their lives depended on it. But what brings the tears to the crowd's eyes is the last float. It bears a steel band playing, at Deller's request, Joy Division and Buzz-cocks songs. They ring out Love Will Tear Us Apart, the melancholy memory of Ian Curtis's singing mingling oddly with the steel band's glorious, passionately joyous treatment. It's vintage Deller, and, somehow, pure Manchester.
In the rear, like an apologetic coda, the sight of a municipal motorised road sweeper. Next time maybe there'll be room for a fleet of these, too.
Lemn Sissay poet, born in Manchester
His first Landmark poem was painted on the side of a pub called Hardy’s Well in Rusholme in the 1990’s. His latest poem was unveiled at the MMU in University Place on Oxford road, on February 29th 2012. His work can be seen in several areas of the city, on walls and pavements. Check out his poems “Invisible Kisses” and “Colour Blind” two very different pieces, both brilliant. He writes books, poems and radio plays. He broadcasts on TY and radio. He collaborated with Leftfield on their album “Leftism”. His work has recently been projected onto the exterior of the Turner Contemporary Gallery. See the images of this “outside installation” work on:-
Underground Manchester
Check out the mysterious world under your feet in Manchester, the subterranean rivers and canals, the abandand tube line, the 1950's atomic bunker under China Town, and the Second World War air-raid shelters - New Manchester Walks organises tours for £8 each on Saturdays only, or they do group visits which I could organise if anyone is interested?
Budge Cafe - Hotspur
I had a bit of a wander around Hotspur House on friday, and written on one of the tables was a plan for the new cafe, Im loving the new sign "Budge" and some of the ideas for the cafe are brilliant.
Im imagining it will be a hub of creative noise in a fab atmosphere. Put in your orders for your choc chip cookies ladies!
Cube Gallery
Infra _MANC
24 February 2012 - 17 March 2012
Infra_MANC at Cube Gallery provides us with a chance to look at the processes involved in the procurement, marketing and delivery of key infrastructural projects of the post-war era. The Mancunian Way, the never realised Picc-Vic tunnel, the Guardian Exchange and fanciful dreams of a city centre heliport are all presented using artefacts found and recovered from the various archives and museums of the region.
Visual Resources
Here is a copy of the sheet about visual resources which Kate gave to our group today. John Davis' email is : j.davis@mmu.ac.uk if you want to email him to see if he'll be there on a certain day/time.
Some interesting things that John mentioned:
- MOVING OUT, as in people start taking photos in and of the art school, then from the school looking out, then moving out from the school but looking back, then away from the school completely looking at different things
- MAPS, they give you the ability to compare the past with the present
- CONSTRUCTION IS A KEY SIGNIFIER OF CHANGE TAKING PLACE
- EDGES OF BUILDINGS, he kept pointing out these strips of buildings at the very edge of the photograph which I would never have noticed unless he pointed them out. Maybe we don't always see the things that are at the edge, but those are the things which help us see the whole picture of what is happening.
- BLACK BUILDINGS, which were black because of the quantity of air pollution, smoke, smog...
- COMMENTS ON THE FLICKR IMAGES, showed that people use and respond to things differently than you may expect them to. Who expected a conversation about tripe? And who thought that comment about tripe would end up being thought about somewhere else like on here?
Dave Haslam
Thought provoking statements from Dave Haslam's talk last week:
- What happens at the margins is where the future lies
- smallscale and informal or mainstream
- Cultural significance means how much difference it makes, not how many people know about it
- FANZINES are the mouthpiece of marginal activity
Article about Fanzines by Dave Haslam
- There is a feeling now of going against technology, being low-fi
- the waters broke, giving life
- have a street-level connection
- don't be a consumer, participate (or maybe pARTicipate is more appropriate for us as artists who are meant to be collaborating?)
- Linder Sterling is someone he talked about a LOT
- For some people, a great day out is a visit to Southern Cemetery
- shift the earth off its axis
- Salon des Refuses, or exhibition of rejects
- Manchester is an industrial ruin, therefore there is space for growth
- when the mainstream catches up, the marginalised becomes normal
- Don't go to places with a capacity of more than 300 people
- poets and ranters
- the independent and non-corporate people just get on with it
- intervene, change the times
Does anybody want to make a fanzine together?
Painting Reality
When asked what inspired his thought process, he said "it started in front of a hardware store. in front of every store, a bucket of paint is spilled and cars drive over it. its that simple"
Watch the link http://www.painting.iepe.net/
Do you think anyone would have a problem with me recreating this on Oxford Road?
Visual Resources
The Rescued Slides
The blue tint in this one is just great!
Capture of the hand writing.
Those dirty browns and yummy greens.
Lantern Slides
I quite enjoyed the talk yeatserday from the curator, interesting to see how much Manchester has changed. And why did they bother keeping Salutation up for so long and still? I preferred the more technical side of using the slides, and how they are made. Quite interesting to know that we could make out own slides :) Will have to look further into that! The slides he showed us weren't just slides though, they were little pieces of Manchester History, old school and new school! THe hand writing and distoned colours of each slide were nice to see as a colection. Trying to read each artifact was a struggle. I thought the slides the curator had tried to save were the best ones though, because they look almost abstract as a picture.
Dave Haslam
Take a break from exploring and have a fab dance for The Smiths X
Hulme before 1960
Some images of the houses that were demolished in Hulme, the link below is a film of local people in Hulme and Moss side recalling their memories of the area in the 1960's and 1970's.
news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and.../8475536.stm
Crazy Mohair Crochet and Guerrilla Crochet
I was rooting around on Trend Tablet, which is produced by Li Edelkoort, the woman who does the 'Bloom' trend forecasting magazine. They have the magazines in the library, or you can see some of the archive on the website.
Anyway, on Trend Tablet, I found this page about a group from South Africa called 'Mohair South Africa', promoting the mohair produced there.
This is the Trend Tablet page about them: http://www.trendtablet.com/478-mohair-3/
This is the official Mohair South Africa page: http://www.mohair.co.za/
Here's a video of some crocheting they did. It is some of the craziest knitting and crochet I have ever seen!
Which got me thinking about guerrilla crochet/yarn bombing. I found both of the images below here. I think I might start having a go at doing some things like this which interact with their surroundings, that are humorous or surprising.
Take a Tag Posters
Maybe something else we could do as a group and put up around the city?
I found all of these images on this website: Street Art Utopia
Pips Update On Tours
I have asked about independent tours in the week for those interested in discovering underground Manchester, but they have come back to me, with a negative, the tours have to be over 30 people and its £10 a head, sorry guys, but if anyone wants to go independently then you can book through www.quaytickets.com, its only on Saturdays and you have to be quick as they get booked up fast.
But check out their calender of alternative tours around the city, Christina, you might find the canal cruises interesting. http://www.newmanchesterwalks.com/events/month/
Hulme Tour on Saturday
If anybody is interested in learning more about the history of Hulme and it's redevlopments, there is a free tour by an MMU Geography lecturer on Saturday. It's free, and you can book here:
http://arphulme2-eorg.eventbrite.com/
Street Art
Street art is interactive. It redefines a space. It creates a community. It can be humourous. It suggests that somebody cares about this wall, this pavement, this tree. Perhaps like Lemn Sissay, who puts his work around Manchester? Maybe flash mobs are a part of street art too?
Urban knitting, fuzzy graffiti or obsession?
Urban knitting is also known as Yarn Bombing DIY and Guerrilla Knitting. It can be described as graffiti with yarn and stitch. Trees, street furniture, and other objects are “dressed” in bold and multi coloured knitted and crocheted patterns. The woolly pom-poms and iron railing “hats” look so interesting. Actually getting the knitted shapes to fit the trees is a mystery to me. Do you sit up a tree and knit like mad? Check out the VIMEO link to see what could happen to urban knitters who become addicted to this harmless hobby.
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