Jimmy Campbell Tribute Night
I filmed this event for Easy Money Records last month and was lucky enough to meet Jimmy’s family. Hopefuly there will be more Jimmy Campbell Tribute nights in the future.
Art-omation
Short trailer for an event on at View Two Gallery this Thursday, 6pm - 9pm. The audience can control the robot via pressure pads. Could get messy.
Playtime with Isadora
This week I made a presentation at a conference about the use of Technology in Childrens Dance Theatre, held at FACT in Liverpool. I talked about my role as a digital designer for a childrens dance show called ‘A Different Tune‘, which is currently touring the North West, as well as giving people an insight into Isadora, a very nifty peice of software for digital design.
I based the presentation on three oppositions:
1. input / output
2. Values / value
3. media / idea
The first aim was to communicate how Isadora can be used to take any number of inputs (sound, movement, colour, position, midi….) and apply that to an output (size, volume, position, speed, etc ). For this I had people cheering to make the screen brighter, waving their arms to make a movie go faster and turning two volunteers into a human mixing desk by having raise and lower coloured paper infront of a camera.
This then raised the question of ‘Whats the point?’. And of course there isn’t any, unless you have an idea to communicate.
Finally I asked three people to design an imaginary creature (like in my ‘Creatures in Motion‘ workshop). They then developed a biology and history for those creatures. And finally they created the sound of that creature. As they growled, chirped and mewed, the images of the creatures grew, but this time we had all invested a lot in their stories and ideas and so were more deeply engaged by this relatively simple input / output.
I never generally like using technology for its own sake and find myself often having to argue for the absense of it in shows. An audience needs to engage with ideas, not technology.
Point and Shoot
This is how a videosmith holds a camera. He snarls and points it at you. Photo by Pete Carr.
Liverpool to Glastonbury
Both The Huge Entity and The Model City will be going to Glastonbury Festival, along with a selection of shorts from the A Small Cinema project. One of those films is a cracking little animation called simply ‘Liverpool’ by animator Owain Bentley, a recent graduate of Liverpool Art and Design Academy. The programme has been curated by Bren O’Callaghan.
The Huge Entity - video document
Having spent much time already wondering whether something exists if it isn’t documented, I must admit I didn’ t take the chance of my work not existing and so I had it filmed. Here is the video of The Huge Entity installation being used by amused passers-by. What video can do is communicate effectively (more effectively than my writing anyway) how a piece actually works. Thanks to Neringa for making the film.
‘Maker Makes’ Made
Well it happened and its hard to even imagine the chaos that it was to prepare (screen-printing posters at 3am?!?). But if public enjoyment is any measure to go by then it was well worth it. Photos by Helen Williams.
A Small Cinema presents “Maker Makes”
A SMALL CINEMA **One Night Only** at the VIEW TWO GALLERY in Liverpool Thursday 7th May 2009 box office opens 7:15pm presentation starts 7:45pm price of admission: 250 pence +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Moving Image programme: ‘MAKER MAKES’ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + featuring: Animator Ladislav Starewicz is THE BUG TRAINER A film by Rasa Miskinyte / ERA productions *plus* A World Premiere: THE ORGANIST by Alex Gould also Tim Brunsden discovers ELVIS IN KIRBY GAZING BACK with BossFilm Sculptor Dave Webster LEST WE FORGET The World of Illustrator JAMES JARVIS revealed by Alex Gould and Ken Martin shows us his NEW BRIGHTON FLORAL PAVILION ++++++++++++++++++++++ Popcorn and refreshments will be available at the kiosk. There will be an interval with ice-cream. VIEW TWO GALLERY, 23 MATHEW STREET, LIVERPOOL