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Matthew Cowan
Artist Talk
Monday 27 February
Room 207
12.30pm
All Welcome
Residency Project at Howick Historical Village
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I have been spending some time working in the grand old Bell House at the Howick Historical Village. This is a place that I visited as a seven year old, and the experience I had then has been shaping the work that I am in the process of making.
The memory of a school visit to the Historical Village in costume is particularly strong. In the week previous to the visit, I must have tried on all the hats in the house in order to authenticate my costume.
I am not sure that I understood what I was tapping into then, but the idea of the authentic presentation of history is obviously very important at the Howick Historical Village, and the attention to detail of the staff and volunteers who work there is impressive.
Thirty years later as an artist revisiting both the village itself and my childhood memories of visiting it, I am aware of the necessary make-believe that occurs in the process of presenting history in this way. There are uncanny spots on the path around the village where it is possible to stand and not see a single modern structure past the trees that have grown up amongst the cottages. In places like this I am most touched by the tricks that we can play on ourselves in order to make this kind of historical theatre come alive.
Perhaps the most obviously striking thing about the rows of cottages and the painted signs with information about their former inhabintants is the realisation that these people are part of the continuous story of immigrants to this place, a story that started long before their arrival, and which is still very much happening today.
In the past my work has touched on the mythical fantasy land of Cockaigne. This promised-land-of-plenty was a far off paradise for the imagination of medieval peasant farmers in Europe. It was a place where one could literally live on the riches and abundance of the land. This mythology had a strong place in the English folk imagination, and in 1901, when Edward Elgar was writing his Cockaigne Overture (In London Town) he was referencing the perceived riches and over-indulgence of the capital of the British Empire. This was a land of plenty for a privileged few however, and the promise of a new life in the antipodes, an upside-down England on the opposite side of the globe must have seemed too good to be true to the Fencible retiree-soldiers and their families. Perhaps they would grow younger on the bounty of the new land?
It is little wonder that in its early days the courthouse in Howick was predominantly processing those arrested for turning to drink.
I have been spending some time working in the grand old Bell House at the Howick Historical Village. This is a place that I visited as a seven year old, and the experience I had then has been shaping the work that I am in the process of making.
The memory of a school visit to the Historical Village in costume is particularly strong. In the week previous to the visit, I must have tried on all the hats in the house in order to authenticate my costume.
I am not sure that I understood what I was tapping into then, but the idea of the authentic presentation of history is obviously very important at the Howick Historical Village, and the attention to detail of the staff and volunteers who work there is impressive.
Thirty years later as an artist revisiting both the village itself and my childhood memories of visiting it, I am aware of the necessary make-believe that occurs in the process of presenting history in this way. There are uncanny spots on the path around the village where it is possible to stand and not see a single modern structure past the trees that have grown up amongst the cottages. In places like this I am most touched by the tricks that we can play on ourselves in order to make this kind of historical theatre come alive.
Perhaps the most obviously striking thing about the rows of cottages and the painted signs with information about their former inhabintants is the realisation that these people are part of the continuous story of immigrants to this place, a story that started long before their arrival, and which is still very much happening today.
In the past my work has touched on the mythical fantasy land of Cockaigne. This promised-land-of-plenty was a far off paradise for the imagination of medieval peasant farmers in Europe. It was a place where one could literally live on the riches and abundance of the land. This mythology had a strong place in the English folk imagination, and in 1901, when Edward Elgar was writing his Cockaigne Overture (In London Town) he was referencing the perceived riches and over-indulgence of the capital of the British Empire. This was a land of plenty for a privileged few however, and the promise of a new life in the antipodes, an upside-down England on the opposite side of the globe must have seemed too good to be true to the Fencible retiree-soldiers and their families. Perhaps they would grow younger on the bounty of the new land?
It is little wonder that in its early days the courthouse in Howick was predominantly processing those arrested for turning to drink.
Howick Historical Village RESIDENCY | Bell House Open
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'the courtship of want and misfortune' 2012
'the courtship of want and misfortune' 2012
Open House
Sunday 19 February 11 - 4
Bell House
Pakuranga, Auckland
New Zealand
Aberystwyth
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There are three projects that I have been working on mainly….
This photograph provides no immediate clues about its origin or its intention, but this is what I like the most about it. Why had this bearded man gone to the trouble of being photographed in a welsh folk costume, and who was the photograph intended for?
Straw Devils
I made two straw devils, one a mainly white one, with a dash of colour, that I decided was a 'devil of the daytime', and partnered this with a black devil, the 'devil of the nighttime'. I ordered 10,000 drinking straws to make these suits, and started by sewing them into strings, and then sewing these strings onto an undersuit. Like some of the ritual devils that you see in folk processions in eastern Europe, each costume has a long red tongue hanging down from its head.
I got the chance to use the costumes to film a short ritual involving a couple of other costumes I have made, and the University Cheerleaders.
The Sheep Stealer
One part of the residency at the Art Centre was to make an artwork with a group of people in the area. In the first few days that I was in Aberystwyth I came across the films of William Haggar in the Screen & Sound Archives at the National Library of Wales. I thought these films were amazing, and the humour and life in the stories he was telling seemed like a great point to start work with a group of people in the area. The same day that I had been looking at the Haggar films in the library, I had come across a photographic exhibition on the top floor of the library celebrating the history and the 70th anniversary of the Young Farmers Clubs in Ceredigion. The YFC seemed to be an amazing combination of rural skills and amateur dramatics taking place in fairgrounds and fields across the county.
My residency at Aberystwyth disappeared even quicker than I had expected it might. The last few weeks fell through the hourglass at breakneck speed as I tried to get all the things that I had started to a completed state.
We had an open studios on the 24 November, which was a nice way to catch up with a lot of people that I have met over the last three months, and to show some of the things I have been working on. This included a set of portraits, some costumes, some masks entitled 'three quack doctor's masks for the purposes of self diagnosis - the coroner, the psychologist & the surgeon', and a chair banner/costume that I just finished. [also we had a chance to finish off the packet of fireworks I had left over from making a film].
There are three projects that I have been working on mainly….
A series of portraits based on an image that I found at the Ceredigion Museum.
I was interested in the history of the Welsh folk costume, an image that you know as the ubiquitous dress of women on postcards of Wales. I was lucky to discover that Michael Freeman, the curator at the Ceredigion Museum is an expert in the history of the Welsh women's folk costume. How this dress came to be associated with a national identity is a curious process in itself, but I wanted to look a little beyond this history. Through the process of going through some victorian examples of people wearing this costume we came across a very curious image indeed…
This photograph provides no immediate clues about its origin or its intention, but this is what I like the most about it. Why had this bearded man gone to the trouble of being photographed in a welsh folk costume, and who was the photograph intended for?
Perhaps this image was intended simply as a joke, but it led me to discover more about the Rebecca Riots, a series of protests by farmers and agricultural workers in Wales in the 1840s over unfair taxation. The protesters dressed as women for disguise and invoked a short verse from the bible. The image is also familiar to me as the man/woman character in European folk drama and ritual, a figure that plays with the topsy turvy nature of folk celebration, and a distant relative of the modern pantomime dame.
Working with Stuart Evans at the museum, I created a series of portraits of men wearing traditional women's folk costume, using the image above for a starting point.
Straw Devils
There are many examples of straw costumes for folk rituals across Europe and the rest of the world, but I was curious about the possibility of constructing some costumes from drinking straws. These costumes became two devil characters after I had been reading Edmund Jones' accounts of appearances and sightings of the devil across Wales during the 1700s. After his his admission that he never really bothered to come to Cardigonshire and his firm belief that had he made it to these parts then he would have "received many accounts" of devilish activity and appearance, I decided that my characters would be a kind of example of a devilish occurrence in these parts.
I made two straw devils, one a mainly white one, with a dash of colour, that I decided was a 'devil of the daytime', and partnered this with a black devil, the 'devil of the nighttime'. I ordered 10,000 drinking straws to make these suits, and started by sewing them into strings, and then sewing these strings onto an undersuit. Like some of the ritual devils that you see in folk processions in eastern Europe, each costume has a long red tongue hanging down from its head.
I got the chance to use the costumes to film a short ritual involving a couple of other costumes I have made, and the University Cheerleaders.
The Sheep Stealer
One part of the residency at the Art Centre was to make an artwork with a group of people in the area. In the first few days that I was in Aberystwyth I came across the films of William Haggar in the Screen & Sound Archives at the National Library of Wales. I thought these films were amazing, and the humour and life in the stories he was telling seemed like a great point to start work with a group of people in the area. The same day that I had been looking at the Haggar films in the library, I had come across a photographic exhibition on the top floor of the library celebrating the history and the 70th anniversary of the Young Farmers Clubs in Ceredigion. The YFC seemed to be an amazing combination of rural skills and amateur dramatics taking place in fairgrounds and fields across the county.
The film that stood out to me initially had been 'The Sheep Stealer" made by Haggar in 1908, and after a few weeks of trying I managed to make contact with a group of YFC in Tregaron, not too far from Aberystwyth. After a few meetings we set a date and filmed a new version of the film on the farm belonging to the dad of one of the girls in the group. I shot both a digital and a super8 version of the film, and next year the both the original William Haggar film, and the new one we have worked on will be shown at the National Library.
Third Annual Disguised Sundown Procession
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The Nine Deaths of Saint George at Experimentica
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Film screening as part of Culture Colony’s presentation at Experimentica.
Chapter, Cardiff Wales
October 12 - 16, 2011
Fulgura Frango Performance
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Performance stills from a performance at the Lincoln Drill Hall as part of the Lincoln Art Programme's Eccentric England season, August 2011.
The performance involved the ringing of bells using a variety of devices including Morris dancing bells, Lincolnshire sausages, handbells and a bellrope that lifted its ringer from the ground. The performance hinged on the past belief that the ringing of church bells drove away lightening strikes, and this is reflected in the inscription 'Fulgura Frango' on many large church bells.
photo credits: Julian Hughes
Performance stills from a performance at the Lincoln Drill Hall as part of the Lincoln Art Programme's Eccentric England season, August 2011.
The performance involved the ringing of bells using a variety of devices including Morris dancing bells, Lincolnshire sausages, handbells and a bellrope that lifted its ringer from the ground. The performance hinged on the past belief that the ringing of church bells drove away lightening strikes, and this is reflected in the inscription 'Fulgura Frango' on many large church bells.
photo credits: Julian Hughes
Film Premiere: The Company
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Matthew Cowan
The Company
The Company
Saturday 3rd September, 2.00pm
Drill Hall, Free School Lane, Lincoln, LN2 1EY
New performance and film screening in response to working with the Company of Ringers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln.
The Company of Ringers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln was formalised on 18 October 1612, in a constitution granted by the Dean, and is the earliest known Company of Ringers still performing their duties for which they were set up. A patent, dated 23 September 1614, confirming the Rules of the Company and granting the use of the "one Chappell scituate and beinge within the dore that leadeth upp to saincte Hughe steeple to bee theire meetinge place". Thus the Lincoln Cathedral Company were granted their own Chapel, known today as The Ringers' Chapel, and unique in the field of bell ringing.
Matthew Cowan has been working with the Company of Ringers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, and has produced a new film of their meeting and practice which will accompany a performance. The ringers operate the 13 bells of the Cathedral in the Bell Ringer's Chamber high in the West Tower of the Cathedral. The film is a record of the ritual of the practice of the ringing of the cathedral bells, in a space that has been dedicated to such activity for nearly four hundred years.
Alongside the film will be a new live performance involving the repetitive ritual of bell ringing, the mechanism of the bell ropes, and the artist's own take on the physicality of campanology.
Edinburgh Art Festival: Art Late Performance at 400 Women Installation | 25 August, 2011
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25 August · 19:00 - 22:00
INTRODUCTION by Arthur Smith
IN THE BASEMENT: We present the first showing in Scotland of Micachu's new live score for Lotte Reiniger’s film Hansel and Gretel (1955) commissioned by and in association with Birds Eye View Films and courtesy of the BFI.
CONVERSATION: Artist Tamsyn Challenger and curator Gemma Rolls-Bentley, followed by Q&A.
IN THE PLAYGROUND: Performance by 400 Women collaborator Matthew Cowan;
IN THE BASEMENT: We present the first showing in Scotland of Micachu's new live score for Lotte Reiniger’s film Hansel and Gretel (1955) commissioned by and in association with Birds Eye View Films and courtesy of the BFI.
CONVERSATION: Artist Tamsyn Challenger and curator Gemma Rolls-Bentley, followed by Q&A.
IN THE PLAYGROUND: Performance by 400 Women collaborator Matthew Cowan;
The Bellman, inspired by the Burryman of South Queensferry, will process from the Royal Mile to the Canongate Venture playground.
The Art Late DJ SET: Micachu
Please give generously to the Hester Foundation; Put some money in a bucket, find a 400 team member or make a donation online www.hester.nu/donaties.htm
Hester van Nierop was found dead in her hotel room in Ciudad Juarez in September 1998, having been raped and murdered. After a short holiday with her parents and younger sister, Hester was on her way to the U.S., where she hoped to find an architecture internship. She never reached her destination. In 2004, Hester's mother, Arsene van Nierop, decided to take action by creating Foundation Hester to fight the injustice and raise money for Casa Amiga Rape Crisis Centre in Ciudad Juarez.
Thanks to Rekorderlig Cider for sponsoring the event.
http://www.rekorderlig.com
http://www.facebook.com/Re
http://twitter.com/rekorde
Dutch food is available by donation and is kindly given to support the fundraiser by private sponsors.
The Art Late DJ SET: Micachu
Please give generously to the Hester Foundation; Put some money in a bucket, find a 400 team member or make a donation online www.hester.nu/donaties.htm
Hester van Nierop was found dead in her hotel room in Ciudad Juarez in September 1998, having been raped and murdered. After a short holiday with her parents and younger sister, Hester was on her way to the U.S., where she hoped to find an architecture internship. She never reached her destination. In 2004, Hester's mother, Arsene van Nierop, decided to take action by creating Foundation Hester to fight the injustice and raise money for Casa Amiga Rape Crisis Centre in Ciudad Juarez.
Thanks to Rekorderlig Cider for sponsoring the event.
http://www.rekorderlig.com
http://www.facebook.com/Re
http://twitter.com/rekorde
Dutch food is available by donation and is kindly given to support the fundraiser by private sponsors.
Art OMI International Artists Programme | Performance at the Open Studios
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Video of the performance 'A Quack's Brag' at the open studios at Art OMI, as part of the International Artists Programme.
July 2011
The performance draws on the archetype of the 'quack doctor', and his boasts of nonsense cures and topsy turvy travels, resulting in an exit on a flying turtle.
performance at Art OMI open studios
July 2011
Video of the performance 'A Quack's Brag' at the open studios at Art OMI, as part of the International Artists Programme.
July 2011
The performance draws on the archetype of the 'quack doctor', and his boasts of nonsense cures and topsy turvy travels, resulting in an exit on a flying turtle.
performance at Art OMI open studios
July 2011
Art OMI International Artists Programme | Open Studios
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Images from the open studios at Art OMI on 17 July, 2011.
Images from the open studios at Art OMI on 17 July, 2011.
Art OMI International Artist Programme | JUNE & JULY 2011
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Omi International Arts Center is a not-for-profit residency program for international visual artists, writers, musicians and dancers as well as the site for The Fields Sculpture Park, a year round public exhibition space for contemporary sculpture.
In June and July I was part of an international selection of resident artists at the Art OMI International Artist Programme in upstate New York.
Omi International Arts Center is a not-for-profit residency program for international visual artists, writers, musicians and dancers as well as the site for The Fields Sculpture Park, a year round public exhibition space for contemporary sculpture.
The residency was an amazing coming-together of diverse practices, approaches and cultures. Although the programme was very busy, with many visitors from New York and beyond, there was time to make some new work, and an open studios day was held in the Art OMI studios at the end of the programme.
During the residency I worked on a series of quack doctor's masks, based on a very simple American folk disguise using a handkerchief. I had a chance to work with some of the children from the summer programme at OMI, and we made some costumes and a short performance.
During the residency I worked on a series of quack doctor's masks, based on a very simple American folk disguise using a handkerchief. I had a chance to work with some of the children from the summer programme at OMI, and we made some costumes and a short performance.
The Whelk Man
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the Whelk Man
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opens Saturday June 25, 2011 1pm.
www.matthewcowan.net
Folkestone Triennial Fringe: Vernacular Folk
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Club Shepway present their second season of Vernacular Events, Vernacular Folk, featuring artists, groups and projects responding to themes of folklore and the uncanny.
Artists:
Russell Maurice, Duncan Weston, Gail Burton, Bridgette Ashton, Matthew Cowan, Matt Rowe, Sarah Sparkes, Ricarda Vidal, Ruth Calland, Cathy Lomax, Mélanie Lecointe, François Coadou, Luke Godfrey, Annabel Dover, Hayley Lock, Alex Pearl, Mimei Thompson
Russell Maurice, Duncan Weston, Gail Burton, Bridgette Ashton, Matthew Cowan, Matt Rowe, Sarah Sparkes, Ricarda Vidal, Ruth Calland, Cathy Lomax, Mélanie Lecointe, François Coadou, Luke Godfrey, Annabel Dover, Hayley Lock, Alex Pearl, Mimei Thompson
Projects:
Tall Tales (Matt Rowe) GHost Club (Sarah Sparkes and Ricarda Vidal) , Field, The Count of Monte Cristo: The Unknown
Tall Tales (Matt Rowe) GHost Club (Sarah Sparkes and Ricarda Vidal) , Field, The Count of Monte Cristo: The Unknown
Publications:
Monkey Puzzle Tree Cub, Bridgette Ashton, Russell Maurice, Duncan Weston
Monkey Puzzle Tree Cub, Bridgette Ashton, Russell Maurice, Duncan Weston
Throughout the build up to the Folkestone Triennial 2011 the B&B Project Space will become a residency venue for artists researching and developing work for the Folkestone Triennial Fringe. The selected artists have been asked to respond to the theme of folklore and the uncanny.
The works produced will form content for the Folkestone Triennial Fringe Events and will be documented in a publication, which will be published by Club Shepway.
The works produced will form content for the Folkestone Triennial Fringe Events and will be documented in a publication, which will be published by Club Shepway.
Background to Theme: Folklore and the Uncanny
Folkestone is a gateway town, a portal to other cultures and areas, which has lead to the creation of a place with mingled and confused identities. Looking back over the town’s history it becomes apparent that the town’s denizens have courted their transitory environs seeing the opportunity in the ability to confused and myotholgise.
Folkestone has been inhabited since the Roman period running as a successful trading port, but it wasn’t until the Saxons c. AD 630 when Princess Easnwythe, (later canonized), made water run up hill and expelled the birds from her crops that the miracles and uncanny happenings were recorded.
Folkestone is a gateway town, a portal to other cultures and areas, which has lead to the creation of a place with mingled and confused identities. Looking back over the town’s history it becomes apparent that the town’s denizens have courted their transitory environs seeing the opportunity in the ability to confused and myotholgise.
Folkestone has been inhabited since the Roman period running as a successful trading port, but it wasn’t until the Saxons c. AD 630 when Princess Easnwythe, (later canonized), made water run up hill and expelled the birds from her crops that the miracles and uncanny happenings were recorded.
Acting as a Limb to the Cinque ports of Hythe and Dover Folkestone benefited from the entitlements bestowed on the members of the confederation such as an exemption from tax; self-government, including it’s own justice system and possession of lost goods that remain unclaimed after a year, goods thrown overboard, and floating wreckage. This leeway led to a lawlessness, which resulted in the creation of a self styled place with water running up hill conveniently at a port on the pilgrimage to Canterbury.
Folkestone emerged as a thriving Edwardian seaside resort frequented by Edward VII himself, HG Wells and Agatha Christie. It was badly damaged in both the World Wars and it tails can be seen in the architecture and denizens of the town today.
Folkestone emerged as a thriving Edwardian seaside resort frequented by Edward VII himself, HG Wells and Agatha Christie. It was badly damaged in both the World Wars and it tails can be seen in the architecture and denizens of the town today.
New Commission: The Trivia of Eccentric England
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Eccentricity is widely regarded as a slowly diminishing behavioural trait in today’s society, compressed and pressured to conform to popular consensus of normality. Yet looking closely throughout our England and Lincolnshire pockets of eccentric behaviour are still rife.
The Trivia of Eccentric England explores through a series of new commissioned projects and accompanying talks and films, the nature and role eccentricity plays in today’s modern lifestyle, and asking what role an artist can have in reviving and reinventing English eccentricity in Lincolnshire. A film programme looks at past examples and explores in wider sense societies eccentric behaviours, which teeter on the edge of popular conformity.
www.lincolnartprogramme.co.uk
Eccentricity is widely regarded as a slowly diminishing behavioural trait in today’s society, compressed and pressured to conform to popular consensus of normality. Yet looking closely throughout our England and Lincolnshire pockets of eccentric behaviour are still rife.
The Trivia of Eccentric England explores through a series of new commissioned projects and accompanying talks and films, the nature and role eccentricity plays in today’s modern lifestyle, and asking what role an artist can have in reviving and reinventing English eccentricity in Lincolnshire. A film programme looks at past examples and explores in wider sense societies eccentric behaviours, which teeter on the edge of popular conformity.
www.lincolnartprogramme.co.uk
B&B Space, Folkestone Triennial Fringe Research Residency
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B&B Space, Folkestone Triennial Fringe Research Residency
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The B&B Project Space is situated in Folkestone's creative quarter, and is a former bed and breakfast, brothel and tobacconist. It has been renovated maintaining many of its original Edwardian features.
Playing with local histories, hidden memories and current affairs Club Shepway is fundamentally concerned with the social and commercial development occurring in the area, locking onto its fading histories and current myths.Club Shepway aims to create a diverse and critical dialogue within the boundaries of Shepway and beyond.
During late February and early March, Matthew Cowan will be resident in the B & B Project space in Folkestone working on a new research project and developing new work at the B&B project space, curated by Club Shepway. The new work will fundamentally be concerned with the local, utilising materials such as folklore, place and created customs. There will be a chance to view the work during the upcoming Folkestone Triennial Fringe in the summer of 2011.
The B&B Project Space is situated in Folkestone's creative quarter, and is a former bed and breakfast, brothel and tobacconist. It has been renovated maintaining many of its original Edwardian features.
New Exhibition: EL ARTE SOBRE LA MESA
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El Instituto Cervantes de Londres presenta / Instituto Cervantes London presents:
EL ARTE SOBRE LA MESA /
ART ON THE TABLE
Una exposición de creadores de arte contemporáneo españoles y británicos en diálogo sobre el tema de la comida y el banquete /
An exhibiton of Spanish and British contemporary artists in dialogue on the theme of food and banquet.
9 February - 11 March 2011.
Inauguración con presentación de los artistas Miércoles 9 de Febrero 6:30pm /
Opening with artist presentation Wednesday 9th February 6:30pm
Instituto Cervantes London-102 Eaton Square, London SW1 9AN
Artistas/Artists: Greta Alfaro, Lynne Collins, Marisa González, Natuka Honrubia, Kate Squires, Matthew Cowan & anak
Instituto Cervantes London
El Instituto Cervantes de Londres presenta / Instituto Cervantes London presents:
EL ARTE SOBRE LA MESA /
ART ON THE TABLE
Una exposición de creadores de arte contemporáneo españoles y británicos en diálogo sobre el tema de la comida y el banquete /
An exhibiton of Spanish and British contemporary artists in dialogue on the theme of food and banquet.
9 February - 11 March 2011.
Inauguración con presentación de los artistas Miércoles 9 de Febrero 6:30pm /
Opening with artist presentation Wednesday 9th February 6:30pm
Instituto Cervantes London-102 Eaton Square, London SW1 9AN
Artistas/Artists: Greta Alfaro, Lynne Collins, Marisa González, Natuka Honrubia, Kate Squires, Matthew Cowan & anak
Instituto Cervantes London
London Art Fair: Art Projects Video Booth, curated by Club Shepway
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ART PROJECTS VIDEO BOOTH: FOLKESTONE TRIENNIAL FRINGE
18TH 23RD JANUARY 2011
18TH 23RD JANUARY 2011
Folkestone Triennial
A Million Miles from Home
25th June – 25th September 2011
18 international artists including Martin Creed, Cornelia Parker, Hew Locke, Charles Avery and Cristina Iglesias have been commissioned to create new works for the second Folkestone Triennial. More details can be found on www.folkestonetriennial.org.uk
Folkestone Triennial Fringe, Club Shepway
June – September 2011
Club Shepway will be working in Folkestone during the 2011 Folkestone Triennial to explore the town’s folklore and the uncanny in a series of residencies and events in the Old Town.
The showreel will showcase work by Matthew Cowan, Matthew Rowe and films made available through GHost, led by Sarah Sparkes and Ricarda Vidal
A Million Miles from Home
25th June – 25th September 2011
18 international artists including Martin Creed, Cornelia Parker, Hew Locke, Charles Avery and Cristina Iglesias have been commissioned to create new works for the second Folkestone Triennial. More details can be found on www.folkestonetriennial.org.uk
Folkestone Triennial Fringe, Club Shepway
June – September 2011
Club Shepway will be working in Folkestone during the 2011 Folkestone Triennial to explore the town’s folklore and the uncanny in a series of residencies and events in the Old Town.
The showreel will showcase work by Matthew Cowan, Matthew Rowe and films made available through GHost, led by Sarah Sparkes and Ricarda Vidal
SHOWREEL PLAYLIST
Matthew Rowe, The Four Winds, UK, 2004, Super8mm transferred to Digital Video, cardboard house and Earthenware, 1.29 min
Super8 film is projected onto a blank ceramic house to the scale of model railway scenery. In this work the efforts and signatures of ceramic processes are veiled by the luminosity of the film as it coats the fragile ceramic blank. The film plays homage to nostalgic interpretations of the English seaside aesthetic.
Super8 film is projected onto a blank ceramic house to the scale of model railway scenery. In this work the efforts and signatures of ceramic processes are veiled by the luminosity of the film as it coats the fragile ceramic blank. The film plays homage to nostalgic interpretations of the English seaside aesthetic.
Matthew Rowe, Relic, UK, 2010, Super8mm transferred to Digital Video and porcelain, 0.40 min
The screaming skull pays homage to historical accounts of displaced human relics that posses supernatural powers. It is alleged to relentlessly harass the culprit who is responsible for removing it from a designated resting place. The projection of an animated veil onto the surface of a blank porcelain skull activates the screaming skull’s wail in infinity.
The screaming skull pays homage to historical accounts of displaced human relics that posses supernatural powers. It is alleged to relentlessly harass the culprit who is responsible for removing it from a designated resting place. The projection of an animated veil onto the surface of a blank porcelain skull activates the screaming skull’s wail in infinity.
GHost lead by Sarah Sparkes and Ricarda Vidal, have selected three films from their Hostings archive for the London Art Fair:
Michelle Hannah, I AM THE SUN AT NIGHT, UK, 2010, HD, 4.30 min
The video harnesses the precarious and fleeting aspects of our world, evoking the spiritual and visceral attachment to nature, faith and the existence of life after death, ideas very much founded in the Romantic traditions. Yet the transcendental and meditative experience at the core of this tradition is disrupted here by the disturbing presence of a singular unsexed voice.
Michelle Hannah, I AM THE SUN AT NIGHT, UK, 2010, HD, 4.30 min
The video harnesses the precarious and fleeting aspects of our world, evoking the spiritual and visceral attachment to nature, faith and the existence of life after death, ideas very much founded in the Romantic traditions. Yet the transcendental and meditative experience at the core of this tradition is disrupted here by the disturbing presence of a singular unsexed voice.
Neil Wissink, Pugwash, Canada/UK, 2007, 16mm, 5.44 min
Pugwash depicts a farm in Nova Scotia which was originally settled by Wissink’s ancestors, but which he had never before visited as it was abandoned shortly after he was born. In London he showed the rushes to a professional psychic medium, whose ‘reading’ of the film became its soundtrack, offering a highly subjective and contentious proposition for what representations of place can mean.
Pugwash depicts a farm in Nova Scotia which was originally settled by Wissink’s ancestors, but which he had never before visited as it was abandoned shortly after he was born. In London he showed the rushes to a professional psychic medium, whose ‘reading’ of the film became its soundtrack, offering a highly subjective and contentious proposition for what representations of place can mean.
Kate Squires, Unheimlich Gäste, Germany, 2009, Lumix still camera, 4.29 min
Rare footage of ghosts sitting down to enjoy a normal spaghetti dinner. This film uses the common ‘ghost white sheet’ with eye holes and shows it’s unsuitability beyond the spirit world. With haunting music by Tomita.
Rare footage of ghosts sitting down to enjoy a normal spaghetti dinner. This film uses the common ‘ghost white sheet’ with eye holes and shows it’s unsuitability beyond the spirit world. With haunting music by Tomita.
Matthew Cowan, Felix, UK, 2011, Digital Video, 3.33 min
A grotesque looking carved wooden jig doll dances to the tune ‘Princes Royal’, whilst hanging from the wires and harness attached to his master,
musician Phil Tyler.
Matthew Cowan, A Morris Dancer Should Never Appear to Touch the Ground II,
UK, 2010, Super8mm transferred to Digital Video, 2.15 min
Recorded at Kennedy Hall, Cecil Sharp House, the Headquarters of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Filmed by Stewart Morgan, soundtrack by Paul Wyborn, audio production by Claire Cowan
A grotesque looking carved wooden jig doll dances to the tune ‘Princes Royal’, whilst hanging from the wires and harness attached to his master,
musician Phil Tyler.
Matthew Cowan, A Morris Dancer Should Never Appear to Touch the Ground II,
UK, 2010, Super8mm transferred to Digital Video, 2.15 min
Recorded at Kennedy Hall, Cecil Sharp House, the Headquarters of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Filmed by Stewart Morgan, soundtrack by Paul Wyborn, audio production by Claire Cowan
Matthew Cowan, Lumps of Plum Pudding & Pieces of Pie, UK, 2009, Digital Video, 1.07 min
A short video inspired by the Cotswold Morris Dance jig ‘Lumps of Plum Pudding’, from the village of Bledington. The video is a literal take on the words of the jig’s song, a tale of gluttony, dishonesty and woe.
A short video inspired by the Cotswold Morris Dance jig ‘Lumps of Plum Pudding’, from the village of Bledington. The video is a literal take on the words of the jig’s song, a tale of gluttony, dishonesty and woe.
Live Art Performance: 'Objects of Desire' at the Freud Museum, London
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7pm-10pm
An evening of live art and intervention
An immersive evening of live art, performance, intervention and film, inspired by the notion of the self-portrait, taking in Freud’s theories and his final home. Works range from the delicate and the profound, to the surreal and the absurd. Curated by artist and co-founder of the Red Velvet Curtain Cult, Lili Spain.Artists include, Cradeaux Alexander, Matthew Cowan, Folie a Trois, Jemima Burrill, Jack Catling, Camila Fiori, Sarah Grainger-Jones, Sally Madge, Rebecca Page, Bernadette Russell, Alexandra Santos, Julian Semilian, Nicola Singh, Lili Spain, James Topple & Colin Riddle, Richard Webb and Dawn Woolley.
This event is part of an exciting season we have planned at the museum to coincide with the Objects in Mind exhibition, which includes a new Self-Portrait by Maggi Hambling. The exhibition runs from 24 November 2010 - 27 February 2011.
www.freud.org.uk
'400 Women' Newsnight Review show
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400 Women
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