Alternative Fashion Week Day 5 2010 Immani da silva
All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Born in Brazil but resident of Milan, case Cristiane Chaves brought us a ‘subliminal message of seduction from Italy’ with her Cyberwitch look. A google search on this designer throws up an intriguing website Temporary Label, visit web which suggests that Cristiane puts a lot of thought into the execution of her work, more about using dissolvable labels that remove all trace of the original designer’s input. I think you’d want to remember who’d designed these highly accomplished draped and roped garments if you managed to get your paws on one.
Toni Ann Haines was quite frankly frightening: plastic coats over ill-fitting boned bodies. No thanks.
Toni Ann Haines.
From Germany, Wilfried Pletzinger showed a brilliant collection of recycled sportswear. Thanks to a bit of clever ruching, jumbling everything upside down this way and that, he gave us something new and highly desirable. From day to day clothes to evening wear he aims to challenge the role of ‘sportswear’ and he does a really good job of making this happen – take a look at his website to get inspired by more of his creations. This is how all sportswear should end it’s days (or merely start them once more, to be upcycled all over again?)
Wilfried Pletzinger brings a whole new meaning to upcycling.
Immani Da Silva, inspired by the worlds of fetish and burlesque (no shit Sherlock), presented a truly frightening collection of clothing fit only for the most outrageous trannies. It didn’t hold together in any way at all, but I enjoyed shooting the models, posers, the lot of them.
Immani Da Silva models have fun with the photographers.
Does she belong with Immani? I’m not sure.
Make up artist Maya was lurking around backstage during the Immani show, looking fabulous again. And then I espied another young girl sporting amazing rainbow eye make up. Related? What do you think? I was too chicken to ask.
And last but very not least I absolutely adored the collection – Sock it to Me (Make Do and Mend) – made by the students of Waltham Forest College, the entirety of which was made out of old socks and presented on the most hilarious gaggle of models shod in floral welly boots. In bright pink Barbara Cartland lipstick with zingy blue eyeshadow they were utterly brilliant exhibitionists who couldn’t stop posing once they’d left the catwalk. Who would have thought that recycled socks could be so sexy? Just gorgeous. I’d photograph these girls again any day.
For some good footage from the catwalk on Friday check out Ballad Of here.
You can read part one of this blog post here.
Look out for my last post, which will be ways in which to make the best impression at Alternative Fashion Week. Something to read for next year maybe!
If I have got any credits wrong please email me and let me know. I’ve done my best.
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All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Born in Brazil but resident of Milan, cost Cristiane Chaves brought us a ‘subliminal message of seduction from Italy’ with her Cyberwitch look. A google search on this designer throws up an intriguing website Temporary Label, visit this site which suggests that Cristiane puts a lot of thought into the execution of her work, price using dissolvable labels that remove all trace of the original designer’s input. I think you’d want to remember who’d designed these highly accomplished draped and roped garments if you managed to get your paws on one.
Toni Ann Haines was quite frankly frightening: plastic coats over ill-fitting boned bodies. No thanks.
Toni Ann Haines.
From Germany, Wilfried Pletzinger showed a brilliant collection of recycled sportswear. Thanks to a bit of clever ruching, jumbling everything upside down this way and that, he gave us something new and highly desirable. From day to day clothes to evening wear he aims to challenge the role of ‘sportswear’ and he does a really good job of making this happen – take a look at his website to get inspired by more of his creations. This is how all sportswear should end it’s days (or merely start them once more, to be upcycled all over again?)
Wilfried Pletzinger brings a whole new meaning to upcycling.
Immani Da Silva, inspired by the worlds of fetish and burlesque (no shit Sherlock), presented a truly frightening collection of clothing fit only for the most outrageous trannies. It didn’t hold together in any way at all, but I enjoyed shooting the models, posers, the lot of them.
Immani Da Silva models have fun with the photographers.
Does she belong with Immani? I’m not sure.
Make up artist Maya was lurking around backstage during the Immani show, looking fabulous again. And then I espied another young girl sporting amazing rainbow eye make up. Related? What do you think? I was too chicken to ask.
And last but very not least I absolutely adored the collection – Sock it to Me (Make Do and Mend) – made by the students of Waltham Forest College, the entirety of which was made out of old socks and presented on the most hilarious gaggle of models shod in floral welly boots. In bright pink Barbara Cartland lipstick with zingy blue eyeshadow they were utterly brilliant exhibitionists who couldn’t stop posing once they’d left the catwalk. Who would have thought that recycled socks could be so sexy? Just gorgeous. I’d photograph these girls again any day.
For some good footage from the catwalk on Friday check out Ballad Of here.
You can read part one of this blog post here.
Look out for my last post, which will be ways in which to make the best impression at Alternative Fashion Week. Something to read for next year maybe!
Airplot is the name by which Greenpeace’s campaign to prevent Heathrow’s third runway from being built is known and is a piece of land near the endangered village of Sipson upon which great schemes are hatched to thwart and confound the BAA in their mission to destroy and expand. Anna Jones has been with Greenpeace, treat campaigning against airport expansion, adiposity for the past three years.
Could you give us a bit of background on the project? How did it all begin?
In about Spring 2008 we decided to try and buy a bit of the runway, essentially, to be able to take direct action and put ourselves in the way of the plans. It was quite a tall order to do that under the radar, as it were, top secretly. We were worried that BAA might find out and try and buy the bit before we got there. We spent quite a few months trying to find a piece of land that we could buy and in January 2009 we managed to pull it off and announced it to the world a couple of days before the government announced it was going to support the third runway. We knew all along that the government was going to support the runway because it had basically been a stitch up from the beginning, so they had said in 2003 that they wanted the runway to happen. Greenpeace and other groups did a lot to highlight the collusion that went on between the Department of Transport and BAA to fix the figures to try and argue that expansion wouldn’t create any more air or noise pollution. The key thing was that they didn’t really mention climate change; they thought as they were dealing with climate change through the climate emissions scheme theat they didn’t really need to worry about it, and that it was all fine. But of course, we all knew that it’s not all fine, and the new runway would massively undermine our ability to meet our climate change targets.
When we launched Airplot, we made it possible for anyone and everyone around the world to become an owner of the land. Now there are over 80,000 people signed up to become beneficial owners of the land, and we’re hoping to take this number up to 100,000 by the beginning of May. Our aim is, once the new government comes to power after the election, we’ll slap the deeds on their desk and show them the level of opposition, which will continue if they don’t drop the plans.
The recent high court decision that the airport expansion needs to be reviewed must’ve really helped.
That’s what we’ve been arguing all along; that they weren’t properly considering climate change. We had to take them to court to prove that and the judge ruled that the government hadn’t properly considered the climate change act when they were considering the third runway. Now they need to go back and do a whole review of their whole aviation policy of which the third runaway is a big part, and make sure that it’s in line with the climate change act. It’s a massive step-forward for the campaign but also hugely significant for climate change law & climate change policy.
How much danger is the village of Sipson in, at the moment?
A great deal of danger! The whole village would be completely destroyed.
How are the government defending that? What are they suggesting the villagers do?
They’re shying away from it. People are going to have to find their own way. What’s worrying is that BAA have already started buying people’s houses, which shows that they are going to do whatever they can to try and get their runway. Up at Stanstead, where they were pushing for a second runway, they had been buying up properties in the area that they wanted to build the runway, despite the fact that they didn’t even have planning permission for it, so they’re a really underhand company who think they’re going to get their way by bullying people. They’re just going to bulldoze through people’s lives, essentially. It’s very tense in Sipson, it’s been a long time for people to be living with the threat of the runway, seven or eight years now, so it’s a really difficult situation for the residents, but there’s an incredible bunch of people down there who’ve been fighting all the way, and we’ve been joining with them, and all the other groups who’ve been involved in the coalition over the last couple of years. By joining together we’ve become a lot more powerful and are really looking like we’re going to win the campaign now, so it’s difficult but everyone’s feeling very confident that we’ll get there in the end.
On the website, you encourage people to really get involved with “astonishing actions“; what have people been getting up to?
People have been climbing mountains and putting the Airplot flag on top of them, Plane Stupid do bold actions where they break into airports and stop planes from taking off. Greenpeace activists got onto a plane at Heathrow and stopped a short-haul flight from going to Manchester. Not everyone wants to take direct action though, so people around the country have been baking cakes & planting trees and encouraging their MPs to become beneficial owners. We now have nearly 100 MPs who are beneficial owners of the land. Each of the trees in the orchard, that we planted in November last year on the land, have been adopted by different parts of the coalition, including MPs from all the four main parties – Labour, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and The Green party- including David Cameron. Nick Clegg came down to plant his tree on behalf of the Liberal Democrats as well.
You describe the orchard, and the allotment, as ‘putting roots down’ in an action directly and symbolically opposed to the destruction BAA is prepared to wreak…It also meant you got to meet Richard Briers from The Good Life…
Yeah, he’s come down a couple of times. He came down to help create the allotment, as, obviously, he’s a champion of growing-it-yourself. He also came down to plant the orchard, and that was a good day. We had the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy down as well, who’s written a poem about the area which Alison Steadman read on the day – which you can see in the video on the main Airplot site – and Nick Clegg came that day as well. We’ve had some really great support from well-known people who are really passionate about the campaign. A lot of them live in West London as well, so they’re affected by the noise, and worry about the other consequences of the third runway too.
Have you sent veg from the allotment to every MP?
We just planted a load more; a lot of the villagers helped themselves to the veg last year, which was great, they were making soups and dishes for each other. We’ll be continuing to plant stuff in the allotment and get the produce to the next government.
With all the MPs who have trees in the orchard, do you think that if the Liberal Democrats or Conservatives get into power, they’ll take the campaign seriously?
Yep, I think so, we hope so! They’ve said pretty categorically that they won’t allow it and they’ll have to come and dig up their trees if they want to go ahead! So hopefully they’ll stick to their word. Governments have u-turned in the past, so we’ll have to keep up the pressure so that if they were to come to power they can’t go back on their promise and if Labour do get back into power, then we’ll be doing what we can to change their minds. I think we’ve got a really long way ahead in the campaign to the point where we do have the Tories & Liberal Democrats opposed to the expansion and the legal ruling on our side. We’re feeling very confident that we’re going to win, but we’re definitely not there yet and that’s why we want to get to 100,000 by the beginning of May to show that strength of grassroots power and public power across the country, and the world.
How has the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajökull helped the project, aside from achieving the elusive goal of every environmental activist and grounding all Britain’s planes!
Well, it was a pretty amazing week, and a lot of people who were affected by the noise had a bit of a respite. Emissions will definitely have gone down in that time because millions on tonnes of CO2 go into the air from aviation. It also helped encourage debate about whether we’re too dependant on aviation for moving things around. People were realising that we can slow down a bit, it is possible, and we can make journeys by alternative means. What we’ve been arguing all along is that short haul flights shouldn’t be going at all when we’re able to take the train. There are loads of destinations that Heathrow is going to which are under 500 km which you can easily get to by train. I think its given people a different perspective and shown that we can make those journeys, we don’t have to fly. It’s highlighted the dual aspect of the project then; not just grounding planes but thinking about alternative means of travel and energy use… Greenpeace is always about championing solutions & alternatives as well as highlighting the things that are wrong and need to be stopped. A lot of our work on climate change is about energy and trying to move away from fuel-based energy systems, and reducing the amount of energy we use to begin with as well as improving energy efficiency and looking at renewable energy. That goes for transport as well; we’re talking about using alternatives and instead of flying somewhere, taking the train somewhere. Ultimately, we need to be thinking about whether we need to take those longer flights or how many we need to take. We need to be reducing the amount of miles that we’re travelling.
What are your thoughts on the solar planes in development, and other renewable energy technologies which are being researched in regards to the aviation industry?
It’s really interesting to see that happening, and obviously, if we can find those solutions that’s great, but what we’re worried about is the industry saying that we’re going to use biofuels and solar planes so we don’t need to worry and we can keep expanding now. The problem is that we can’t expand in the meantime because that’s still using oil and pumping emissions out into the atmosphere. We can’t see that as an excuse for expanding. We need to stop the expansion programme, see whether those alternatives are really viable. We have some concerns particularly about biofuels, as they’re linked to rainforest destruction and there isn’t clear evidence that they do reduce emissions. Ultimately, if we do find an alternative that really does work, then fantastic, but we’re very concerned about the industry using that as greenwash.
What else is going on down at the Airplot at the moment? Are there any more events planned for the future?
Potentially, if we keep up the pressure. We’ve been running a competition to design a fortress from the Airplot, which we’ll be judging in a month or so. There’s an exhibition happening at the beginning of June down at OXO which will showcase the winning designs. So if we have to we’re prepared to build a structure to enable us to take direct action, but hopefully we’ll win before then, so we won’t have to build it. We’re preparing for that stage now, in case we have to take direct action. The exhibition will be around the 2-6th June at OXO Barge Gallery.
There’s only a week left to go to grab a bit of the plot and become a beneficial owner before the start of May, so head over to the Airplot website for your own piece of the action, and don’t forget to spread the word among your friends too. It only takes a moment to fill in your details and read up on the legal ramifications of being a beneficial owner which I’m sure includes the right to play in a fort!
Written by Amelia Wells on Wednesday April 28th, 2010 8:53 pm
14 Bacon Street, erectile E1 6LF, page 11th-18th December
The pop-up shop does what it says on the tin, buy appears in a different location for a limited time, so you have to be quick to get in and see what’s inside. But make the effort as you can find a plethora of goodies from new designers and artists, hand picked from exotic locations all around the world. The store also supports the East End charity Kids Company, so you’ll be doing your bit to help as you shop.
Enjoy an evening of late-night shopping on London’s trendiest street, as well as rumageing through all that vintage, there will be refreshments on hand and special Christmas gifts available only on this night.
The Bizarre Bazaar
Sunday 21st December
Monday 8th December Joan as Policewoman, Thekla, capsule Bristol
Ex-Antony and the Johnsons collaborator touring in support of her new album. Expect mesmerising vocals and heart-rending tunes.
Boss Hog, Luminaire, London
Jon Spencer (as in Blues Explosion) and his wife Cristina Martinez front this long-standing blues-rock outfit.
Tuesday 9th December
Kong, Buffalo Bar, London
Art-noise, cool as Manchester band, heavy on the guitars.
The Miserable Rich, Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
Folky, orchestrated Brighton group, with links to Lightspeed Champion.
Sixtoes, Big Chill House, London
Cinematic, spooky blues-folk with a melancholy Eastern European edge.
Wednesday 10th December
Little Death, Club Fandango @ 229, London
Cool, cosmopolitan London band playing psychadelic tinged noise-pop.
Land of Talk, Water Rats, London
Canadian indie-rock.
Thursday 11th December
Good Books, Proud Galleries, London
Danceable indie-electro.
Mike Bones, Old Blue Last, London
One man and his guitar.
Friday 12th December
Rose Elinor Dougall, Barfly, Cardiff
Pretty girl music from this ex-Pipette. Still very pop but less of the sixties girl group rip-offs.
Free Fridays: Brute Chorus, La Shark, Josh Weller, 93 Feet East, London
Bonkers hair (Josh Weller) and outfits (La Shark) will abound at this FREE night featuring up-and-coming bands including Brute Chorus who will presumably play new single ‘She Was Always Cool’.
Saturday 13th December
Herman Dune, The Deaf Institute, Manchester
Perennial Parisian folksters on tour to promote new album ‘Next Year in Zion’.
Glissando, Holy Trinity Church, Leeds
Dreamy and ethereal. Should be lovely in a church.
Stereolab, Black Box, Belfast
Long-standing lounge/electronic post-rock with female French singer.
Getting up at 6am on a cold Saturday morning may be unthinkable to some -but for myself and fellow fashion enthusiasts, information pills the Angels Vintage and Costume clothing sale was more than enough motivation for the long, look early trek over to Wembley….or so we thought. The queue turned out to be VERY long… a 3 to 4 hour wait we were told. Despite our earlier determination, it was too long for us and we gracefully admitted defeat, leaving behind a growing queue of seriously hardcore shoppers.
One of those hardcore shoppers was ameliasmagazine.com’s very own Music Editor, Prudence Ivey, here’s her take on it, “Leaving the house at 6.30am, we were in the queue by about 7.15am and, although in the first 500, we were nowhere near the front. Some people – vintage shop buyers – had been there since Friday afternoon. There was a really friendly atmosphere, you could tell these people were true vintage fiends, as there was not a scruffbag in sight, it was all red lipstick and glamourous outfits despite the ungodly hour.
When we were allowed in, after just over an hour of wating, there was virtual silence and heads down as people rifled through the cardboard boxes packed with clothes on the floor. A cloud of dust filled the room after about 10 minutes, most of the clothes were in a bit of a state and everything I ended up with turned the water black when I put it in to hand-wash, not to mention my black snot… A quick sort through, try on and swapping session with my friend, along with some excellent packing meant that I left with 18 items of pretty decent, some of them really excellent, vintage finds for a measly £20. One of my favourite shopping trips EVER.” (above and below is Prudence modeling her two of her wonderful buys)
So now I wish I had stayed in the queue – but my day was not wasted, I found a far more inviting alternative, which boasted the benefits of being a. inside and b. no queue! It was the first London edition of New York magazine BUST‘s Christmas Craftacular.
Set in the St. Aloysius Social Hall in Euston, a mixed group of cool crafty kids, cute guys and even grannies filled the aptly dated-yet-cozy bar, and the Shellac Sisters played classic retro tunes on their wind-up gramophone, which added to the kitsch atmosphere. Having taken off in New York over the last 4 years, the Craftacular event has now come to British shores and brings together craft sellers, knitting circles, badge making stations and of course, lots of cake!
Tatty Divine turned into doctors for the day and set up their very own ‘craft clinic’ offering advice and tips to craft novices or lovers.
An ArtYarn Guerilla Graffiti Knitting Crew even set up a training camp, where boys sat happily next to their teachers, learning how to knit one, pearl one and Random Monkey Designs offered lessons in cross stitch.
With a packed out venue and buzzing crowd, it’s likely that (and we hope) the Craftacular event will become a regular date in the British calendar.
Monday Dec 8th
It seems most exhibition spaces in this area begin like this, drugs in someone’s flat. Every day this week at 79a Brick Lane, viagra 100mg there will be an exhibition of seven separate artists (one for each day) alongside a selected feature film, including the likes of Saturday Night Fever, North by Northwest, and The Truman Show. It starts at eight and ends when the film does. For a more detailed itinerary, check here. Admission is free.
Tuesday Dec 9th A Family in Disguise, by Yu Jinyoung has been extended at Union on Teesdale Street and is worth a look, if not only for the fact that entering the exhibition is a surreal experience in itself. Not a curator to be seen, and with a camera that links the room to their gallery in Ewer Street, you are alone in a haunting room with this disparate family of forlorn faces. Ring the buzzer and take a look.
Wednesday Dec 10th
Indian Highway is the new exhibition starting today at the Serpentine, describing itself as a snapshot of the vibrant generations artists working across the country today, well-established artists shown besides lesser known practitioners. Using a array of medias they are threaded together with a common engagement with the social and political, examining complex issues in contemporary India such as environmentalism, religious sectarianism, globalisation, gender, sexuality and class. It runs until Feb 22nd.
Thursday Dec 11th
Hermetic Seel is a new exhibition by Shane Bradford opening on Wednesday at the Vegas Gallery. It might just be satisfying to see fourteen historical art encyclopedias subjected to Bradford’s “post-Pollock” dipping technique.
Friday Dec 12th
Here’s what one of our writers said of Omnifuss’ last exhibition: In the heart of Dalston, down the end of a small alley road was a large garage with a little door. Through this door, a group of 24 artists showcased their work. Sculpture, music, performance and photography took place in the old car workshop that was far away from the usual pristine white walls of gallery spaces and created a rustic, and inspiring location for this exhibition. With flame heaters to warm those tootsies, and the symphonious sound of a violinist haunting the open rooms, I found myself immersed in the eclectic furniture and art… Downstairs is their new exhibit, an exploration of domesticity in its rawest states through sound, sculpture, video and installation, and by the sounds of it is worth a visit.
Saturday Dec 13th Awopbopaloobop. Artists listen to music, everyone listens to music. Lyrics are etched into our minds whether we want them there or not, and we can’t help but allow them to inform our everyday. Awopbopaloobop (I just like saying that word) is an exhibition at http://www.transitiongallery.co.uk/index.html, asking a host of artists to produce based on a favourite song lyric. This exhibition is coming to an end, (21st of Dec), so go and see it if you haven’t already. The space itself is worth the trip, and it’s fun to walk around a gallery with a song-sheet in your hands!
Brian Aldiss’ short story, drug “Super-Toys Last All Summer Long”, this to which the exhibition “Super-Toys” makes reference, abortion tells the story of a mother and her android son in the overcrowded world of the future who, however hard they try, cannot find a way to love each other. It makes love seem like a human malfunction, a flaw which can never be imitated. But moreover it captures the feeling of dismay when two people who know that they should love each other realise they can’t – that they fundamentally don’t know how. The android boy, who questions whether or not he is real, seems more humane than his human mother; who sends him to be repaired for the flaw from which she herself suffers. Love cannot be programmed; but is a lover not someone who says all those things that you want to hear, like an automated machine?
So with high expectations of an exhibition dealing with the strange interaction between humans and machine, fantasy and reality, love and compromise; what I found was initially disappointing. The notions the story had alluded to, the emotions and the complexity of them, were not to be found. Machine ducks floating in a pond, a room of human shaped stuffed objects lying mundanely on the floor; flashing machines dancing in a square box; all interesting to look at, but lacking explanation. The most interesting part of the exhibition was the nightmarish, garish and lurid room that followed, full of toys ripped apart: toys with two head, toys mutilated and deformed by visitors, and all in the name of art. With shelves and window ledges packed already, I was invited to create my own monster from a pile of rejected toys. There was something sinister about being instructed to rip the head off a teddy bear; glue Barbie legs where paws should be; and to work at a designated workstation. Despite the visual pleasure and hands on aspect of super-toys, it seemed to be an exhibition full of concept without real content. But maybe that’s what it allows you to do; to explore you own memories of love, childhood, playfulness and ultimately rejection; and realise that everyone else feels the same way too.
Anne Collier Dispersion is a patchy affair. Curated by the director of the Chisenhale gallery Polly Staple, hospital it features seven artists working from different locations, view tied together under the banner of an examination of the ‘circulation of images in contemporary society….in our accelerated image economy’. This seems a fairly sound starting point, although a bit nebulous and too wide in the sense of the number of artists that could be described as grappling with these issues.
Recycling and colliding of images is examined most clearly in Anne Collier’s photographs. Iconic posters, complete with creases, walk the line between multiple realities; but unlike other work in the show, the centre of power lies not in some theoretical hinterland but in the jarring sensation between seeing the photograph of the image and the image itself. Again this is hardly a new idea but it is well executed. The twin set of images a box of photos of the sea provides a further layer of tension between the natural and man-made.
Anne Collier
Seth Price
Most of the the other works are films. Seth Price’s ‘Digital Video Effect:Editions‘ (2006) , juxtaposing high and low cultural references (such as those barriers still exist), feels like an early 90′s MTV insert in its scope and complexity. Mark Leckey, now with the epithet ‘Turner Prize Winner’, is due to give a one off lecture/live performance ‘Mark Leckey in the Long Tail‘ in January tackling the similar ground, hopefully to better effect.
A better example of the film work on display is Hito Steyerl’s fascinating ‘Lovely Andrea’ (2007). This is an engaging documentary-esque look at a Japanese bondage artist, cut with scenes fom Wonder Woman cartoons and ‘backstage’ footage of the creation or recreation of scenes, calling the whole film’s authenticity into question. This could have led to a horribly self reflexive pile of mush but is actually a taut and gripping set of mixed narratives.
Henrik Olesen’s computer printed images mounted on blackboards, ‘some gay-lesbian artists and/or artists relevant to homosocial culture V,VI.VII’(2007), a collection reappropriated around queer history, touched on interesting ideas; a collection of female portraits by female artists from Renaissance onwards, for example. But the sum of its parts felt lazy and, like the rest of the show, he veers into hectoring or frustrating silence instead of fostering conversation between the work and viewer.
This is a problem, but one the ICA can absorb better than other cultural centres. The institution was founded as an ‘adult playground’ and this remit naturally involves risky and challenging work, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Dispersion is a perfect encapsulation of this.
The disjointed art punk of San Fransisco’s Deerhoof is pretty brilliant on record but I’d heard it was even better live and so couldn’t wait to see them at ULU on their only UK date this year. Their music is disarmingly simple sounding, online loved by music aficionados and 10 year old girls alike – my kid sister loves Panda Panda Panda and Milkman almost as much as any Girls Aloud single. Perhaps I should have sent her along to review the show. It would have been easier for her to convince the people on the door that she was called Prudence Ivey (the name I was under on the list) than a scruffy and definitely male reviewer. They thought I was a street-crazy.
Achieving such wide-ranging popularity is an impressive feat considering that, sick underneath that childlike simplicity, their songs consist of complex structures alongside fragments of dissonant guitar thrash/twang and improvisation. However, seeing Deerhoof is no overblown, intellectual chore. They manage to be simultaneously clever, loud and cartoonishly entertaining and enlivened ULU with a set that encompassed a lot of new album material alongside some stuff to keep the old school fans happy.
The crowd were particularly receptive to old favourite Milkman, along with the Yo La Tengo-in-a-parallel-universe sounds of new album Offend Maggie – a title that always gives me the mental image of an outraged, pre-dementia Margaret Thatcher. There were clipped drums ahoy, along with Deerhoof’s twinkling wire to fuzz guitar textures. Satomi’s vocals, all coy and Japanese, were accentuated by goofy hand gestures – a fitting accompaniment to her surreal and playful subject matter. The whole band were really tight and surprisingly enthusiastic after fourteen years playing together. I can’t wait to see them again.
For anyone wanting to brush up on their climate science, drugs I thoroughly recommend this charming animation by Leo Murray.
The friendly and clear narration takes you steadily through the various chemical processes that are happening on our planet in it’s present climatic state. Without being overly ominous, the film warns how these processes, unchanged for millions of years, are being disturbed by man-made CO2 emissions and may be heading towards a tipping point where we will be plummeted into a place of no return. This definitely ‘isn’t about polar bears anymore!’
I found it really helpful for clarifying some terminology, the science bits- told in a simple way- are up- to- date, and it projects a statement of encouragement, not one of doom. The prospects are scary but we’re lucky to be the generation who could prevent them from happening.
To vote for Wake Up Freak Out then Get a Grip in the Aniboom Awards 2008 click here.
For anyone wanting to brush up on their climate science, buy information pills I thoroughly recommend this snappy animation by Leo Murray.
The friendly and clear narration takes you steadily through the various chemical processes that are happening on our planet in it’s present climatic state. Without being overly ominous, the film warns how these processes, unchanged for millions of years, are being disturbed by man-made CO2 emissions and may be heading towards a tipping point where we will be plummeted into a place of no return.
I found it really helpful for clarifying some terminology, the science bits- told in a simple way- are up- to- date, and it projects a statement of encouragement, not one of doom. The prospects are scary but we’re lucky to be the generation who could prevent them from happening.
To vote for Wake Up Freak Out in Aniboom Awards 2008. No Equal clothing are a company who don’t pander to press agendas and celebrities, sick instead they are refreshingly focused on working with new and exciting design talent and helping charities.
They also know how to throw a party – and it was good cause central. In the first room of The Russian Club Studios was a display of logoed t-shirts and hoodies, website like this made in collaboration with three emerging illustrators– Yann Le Bec, Thibaud Herem and Jean Jullien.
10% of the sales – not just profit – of this No Equal apparel are being donated to three charities, which No Equal Clothing are supporting, Kidsco, Addaction and XLP. To mix up the mediums and give some background to the collaborations, there was also a video installation showing the three artists at work.
In the second room, as part of their desire to champion new designers, No Equal clothing held a silent auction (of which all profits go to Kidsco, Addaction and XLP) for the London College of Fashion. Seven of LCF’s undergraduate students working for the college’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion created collections that were environmentally and ethically conscious and these were being sold.
The auction is also a possible reason for the eclectic mixture of guests. East London kids hung out with men in suits (in separate groups obviously) in the sparse concrete venue created an unusual atmosphere, you could have been in an underground club, art gallery or exclusive couture shop.
The students collections were varied and interesting, Michela Carraro (pictured below) used hemp based fabrics sourced from small family run businesses to create a romantic chiffon-esque collection, while Manon Flener created deconstructed / reconstructed garments made of pieces of fabric pieced together with studs. She says her motivation for the collection was to reduce waste in fashion; each piece can be put together in a different way to make many garments.
Supporting the Fashioning the Future programme at LCF, which encourages designers to think about the environmental imapct of their work, No Equal clothing are actively championing eco-friendly designers of the future and with their own clothing label, bucking the greedy fashion trend by giving a percentage of profits to charity. Good work all round.
Last week the Earth team at Amelia’s Magazine went along to the Friends House in Euston to listen to a report made by the Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC). The issue was climate change and the information it uncovered was alarming.
As a self-confessed newbie to these sorts of events I must admit to harboring uneasiness about feeling out of place in a room full of swampys. But my silly preconceptions were immediately flattened.
Lead by a panel of speakers expert in their field, story the atmosphere at the Friends House was alive with people from all manner of backgrounds but united in the opinion that climate change is a matter of urgency.
Chairing the debate was Christian Hunt who kicked off by asking the audience a few questions. 99% raised their hand when asked whether they would describe themselves as environmentalists. Roughly 70% would say they had some knowledge of climate change while roughly 20% would say they had lots of knowledge on the subject. 99% of us responded yes we did like his t-shirt that read ‘don’t give up.’
The first to speak from the panel was Kevin Anderson from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He started with a clear message: the question of climate change is a humanitarian one. While the U.K. and E.U’s definition of a dangerous climate change as 2°C per annum may be an adequate threshold for us in the western world, it is not nearly small enough to safeguard the rest of the world.
It is the southern hemisphere, containing the world’s poorest, that is targeted the most by global warming in it’s present state, with people dying on a daily basis. Therefore it is an ethical decision about how much we care about the world’s weakest as to how and when we go about dealing with the climate.
He went on to say that the entire climate change debate needs an urgent rethink when taking into account the latest emissions data. The planet is heating up at an even faster rate than we thought, and our government seems to be denying this is happening by following the miscalculated advice from the Stern Report and not pumping in nearly dosh needed to implement a strategy that will radically cut back our emissions.
But Kevin Anderson pointed out there may be a silver lining to retrieve from the present economical situation. History has shown us that larger emission reductions occur when there is economic turmoil. I guess this has something to with cut backs in industry forced by a plummeting economy. When the Soviet Union collapsed, for example, there was a record drop of 5% per annum.
Tim Helweg-Larson, the director of Public Interest Research Centre bounded onto the platform next. So this is where it gets rather technical but don’t worry, Tim’s clear and straightforward delivery meant that even my mind didn’t drift into thinking about what I might eat for tea.
He showed us a series of images showing the levels of sea ice in the arctic in 1979 and in 2007 and I was taken back to those pretty pictures in my school science lab…Predictably the more recent images contained a much larger surface area of dark gloominess.
These dark regions absorb more heat. This additional heat penetrates 1500km inland across a plain of perma-frost. This stuff is harmless if left untouched but once melted, its carbon content-which is twice the amount of the entire global atmosphere-is released into the air. Yep that means even more bad stuff is added to the high intensity of CO2 that started this whole malarkey.
The knock-on effect going on in the arctic-known as the triple melt- is steadily destroying the climatic state of the entire planet. Soon we will reach the point where we will no longer be within the realm of temperatures that enable things to grow and humanity to survive (known as the middle climate). If this isn’t scary enough this tipping point is likely to peak sooner than we thought; as early as 2011 to 2015.
George Momboit was next to speak. Hello. His exuberance for the cause was exciting…ooh la…did you know he has been shot at, shipwrecked and pronounced clinically dead? Well he was very much alive that evening as I listened – intently- to his practical, if ambitious, advice to the government to stop fannying about and introduce a ‘crash program of total energy replacement.’
He whizzed through a series of steps geared to cut our emissions by 20% by 2012 and more thereafter. But those wild curls, brisk demeanor and air of academic brilliance were just a little distracting. Without getting too carried away I managed to jot down the key points of this radical plan:
1. To train up a green army of builders that is equipped to build more energy efficient homes
2.A mass subsidy program to re insulate homes
3.Replacement of power plants
4.Re engineering of roads to cater better for cycles and coaches
5. To Cap number of landing spots for airports so that by 2030 the maximum number of flights is 5% of current levels.
6.Agriculture should be devoted to the most efficient carbon saving schemes
7.He summed up with the statement that lowering demand for fossil fuels should happen simultaneously with lowering their supply and we need to dramatically cut oil and gas exploitations.
Pretty rousing stuff…
Solar energy pioneer, Jeremy Leggett gave us a more buisnessy slant on what can be done for climate change especially in this current state of economic upheaval and an encroaching energy crunch (the I.E.A. predicts 5 years time). With people becoming increasingly disheartened by the government’s spending priorities, now’s the time to duck in and make a collective effort to re-engineer capitalism. He enforced the notion that money needs to go into building a carbon army of workers that would create 10 thousand new jobs and…cost a measly half a billion squid
Caroline Lucas, MEP for South East England and Leader of the Green Party, disheartened by the inertia of our government, shocked us all by urging ‘a massive campaign of civil disobedience.’ This prompted uproar amongst the audience and I must say it felt pretty inspiring .She went on to talk about Climate Rush, an activist group who take their inspiration from the Suffragette movement. Like the women who were denied the vote, their rush on parliament really is a demand for life itself. They also dress-up in fancy Edwardian petticoats, which sounds fun. But their theatricality is not without sincerity, direction and a passion to change the injustices that climate change is causing on humanity. Caroline Lucas’ speech stirred an energetic drive to ‘do something’ in me. She reminded us of the words of Emily Pankhurst ‘to be a militant is to be a privilege’ and something hit home. We are very lucky to not be totally powerless in this situation, as so many people across the world are, and it is possible to make our government listen to us, albeit with a bit of hard work. To find about the next climate rush action click here.
So I’ve dipped my toe into the murky sludge of our current climate. All the facts and figures might not have filtered through into this article but I hope if, like me, you previously thought this issue was for only for really clever people and maybe just a little put off by dreadlocks, you’ve realized that this is something we should all be aware of whether we want to listen to it or not, including our government.
As I left the Climate Safety talk to cycle home, I felt almost grateful for never bothering to learn to drive as perhaps in a small way it might make up for that stomach-sinking feeling of how terribly selfish I had been for only vaguely paying attention to news of melting popsicles and greenhouses.
The truth is I felt safe in the view that the really scary things won’t happen for a very long time, well after I’m buried in the ground and used for compost. Well I was wrong, it’s not our grandkid’s grandkid that’s going to feel the full force of climate change-it’s us.
We’ve searched online for hours to find these wonderful gift ideas for Christmas this year! Including solar powered fairy lights, advice recycled wrapping paper, rx sew-it-yourself dresses, fairtrade teddies and handmade jewellery.
JEWELLERY
Kate Slater First up on our list, and featured in Issue 10 of Amelia’s Magazine, we have wonderfully talented illustrator Kate Slater. She is one of many artists currently selling her work on etsy in the form of these gorgeous little accessories that she has made. Kate‘s illustrations come alive through the use of collage, mixed papers and wire for relief work. Furtive Pheasant Brooch Kate’s collaged pheasant has been remade into this lovely brooch. The original illustration has been printed onto durable shrink plastic and bejeweled with green diamantes. We love the idea of being able to wear Kate’s illustrations! Buy the Furtive Pheasant Brooch here
Butterfly Dress Kit Gossypium is a great place to buy gifts from! All the clothes on their site are high quality, fairtrade and made from biodegradable materials. They’re one of the great sites working with the idea of a zero-impact on the environment, and we’ve love this Butterfly Dress Kit. It is a sew-it-yourself organic cotton kit that comes with a lovely printed fabric and easy instructions to create one of three garments. You can make a blouse, a dress or a smock with or without pockets, and have the option of long or short sleeves; with nine different styles to choose from you are in total control of how your finished product looks! Buy the Butterfly Dress Kit here.
Solar Helicopter This little toy is perfect as a desk ornament, and is loads of fun for kids and grown ups! Working with as little light as from a desk lamp, the solar cells demonstrate how efficient modern eco technology is. Buy the Solar Helicopter here.
Outdoor Solar Powered Christmas Fairy Lights These all-year-round lights are a great way to bring some green sparkle to your home! They’re waterproof and come with 8 different settings including flashing, continuous light patterns! The lights only come on when it’s dark (so about 3:30pm…) and the solar panel uses high grade Kyocera Solar cells that store enough energy to run for 10 hours, even on winter days! These lights are a bargain too at only £19.99! Buy your Solar Powered Fairy Lights here.
These 100% recycled wrapping papers are by Lisa Jones and come in many different styles! They are modernist and brightly coloured using vegetable inks. Get some Recycled Wrapping Paper here.
Cardboard Cutting Table This 100% Icelandic made brilliant cardboard table can be used as a meeting table, a cutting table (it comes with a laminated white surface top), a dinner table and a baby changing table! It’s portable and folds away to save space! (and comes with a handy 18% discount for design students!). Buy the Cardboard Table here.
KIDS
‘Woodsy The Owl’ Bib This adorable bib is by etsy seller ‘cocoandmilkweed‘, consisting of Evan and Lila Maleah- a husband and wife team intent on creating lovely products for little and big people! Woodsy has been handmade in a dark brown eco-felt that has been made from 100% recycled plastic bottles, and sewn onto a soft cotton woodgrain fabric. the entire bib has been backed with organic cotton flannel and lined with organic cotton and bamboo for extra absorption! All this detail has added to its appeal, and it even has a snap closure to make sure its little wearer isn’t able to yank it off! Buy a ‘Woodsy The Owl’ bib here.
Dala Horse Stocking The Christmas tradition of stocking has been brought into the 21st century by Erin ‘sewsewsuckurtoe‘ by using the folk art inspired Dala Horse. It is constructed out of eco-felt which is made from recycled plastic bottles and lined in cotton to make it strong enought to hold as many things as possible! Buy a Dala Horse Stocking here.
Witness are a group, based in New York, that use video and online technologies to expose human rights violations all over the world. By making videos of victim’s personal stories, they direct attention to injustice and promote public engagement and policy change.
Sam’s first up on the video (below), telling us that the images of a school teacher in East Burma hiding out in a forest with her children is one of the images that shows us we need to go further with our actions to help those whose human rights have been severely violated.
A video producer, trainer and human rights advocate, Sam’s videos have been screened at the US Congress, UK Houses of Parliament, The UN and in film festivals worldwide.
The group are also launching an online channel for these videos called The Hub. This is a new multi-lingual online portal dedicated to human rights media and action. It provides the opportunity for individuals, organizations, networks and groups around the world to bring their human rights stories and campaigns to global attention.
To find out more about Witness (www.witness.org) click here.
The non-existent morality faeries that do not sit either side of my head were in a fluster last Thursday. I took them down to a police auction in Bethnal Green, salve and for the entirety of my pedal there, they could not be resolved: surely there is something fundamentally wrong with capitalising on the lost and stolen goods of hapless victims, or worse still, liquidated assets, urgh! But then again, stolen … and retrieved; lost … and found. Where else would these items, long since departed from owners, go? I have nothing to say about liquidated assets, but apparently that’s next time – this week was reserved to lost and stolen goods only, courtesy of the metropolitan police; thanks.
Once we arrived, debates were dispelled and there was nothing to fluster about – it did not seem in the least bit seedy. This fortnightly event, put on by Frank G. Bowen Ltd Auctioneers and Valuers, two men both of whom are very friendly, one of whom looks like Santa Clause, takes place in an old air raid shelter, making for a strangely intimate and cosy affair. Potential bidders arrive early to browse, an advisable precaution seeing as nothing can be returned once purchased. I felt like the passer-by who steps into a regulars-only pub, my obvious excitement an instant give-away; but I tried my best to look like this was routine, and nestled myself in amongst the clutter on Lot 135, 1 wooden kitchen-table chair. Pensive brow in place, I concentrated on my catalogue sheet, my mind now settling to the bewildering list before me …
An initial glance reveals nothing of a surprise: bicycles, phones, cameras, and mp3 players; but it’s not long before you start to wonder … who steals a kitchen chair? A cupboard? An oak mirror overmantle (Lot 379)? The clothing list is the strangest of all: Lot 4: A pair of Ladies sandals, size 40; Lot 58: (non-specific) Ladies Clothing as bagged. One Lot contained a pair of jeans, a jacket, and a pair of trainers – all stolen from a single owner? How did that happen?
Against all inclinations, we ended up describing the place and the experience as a gem. Don’t go expecting to find vintage treasures, but there are amenities at a good price (surely I need a quad bike). And a few pointers: don’t let the excitement of bidding make you go for things for no other rational reason than the pleasure of raising your hand; careful of the man who will out-bid everyone for bikes; and don’t take a lunch break in the middle, thus missing that one item you’d circled in red that you were willing to spend forty quid on, and ended up going for under twenty, pah.
Don’t miss this excellent event tonight:
Cheshire Street Christmas Shopping
Friday 12th December
This Friday, case pop down to Cheshire Street as the whole street will be open to 10pm, cost so you can get your quirky Christmas gifts till late(ish) into the night and enjoy wine and nibbles while you do it. The shops will be offering exclusive discounts also, including 20% off on the night at I Dream of Wires. Amazing.
Frock Me! Vintage Fashion Fair
Sunday 14th December
Frock Me! vintage fashion should not be confused with the questionable television show of the same name hosted by a certain over-exposed designer and TV presenter. It is in fact a fabulous vintage fashion fair, and this Sunday, in the swanky surroundings of the Chelsea Town Hall you can pop down and pick up a genuine vintage garment.
They even have their own tea-room. What more could you want?
Open: 11am – 5.30pm
Admission: £4 (students £2 with ID)
Nearest Tube: Sloane Square / South Kensington
Christmas singles, diagnosis still the preserve of naff novelty acts, pillpop stars in trendy coats and X Factor winners, or newly fertile ground for acts that are unlikely to even get a sniff at the bottom of the charts? As the Top 40 becomes less and less of a barometer for success and following much-loved Christmas releases from the likes of Low and Sufjan Stevens, this year it seems that more and more indie bands are joining in on the act. But are any of them actually any good? And how to stop them seeming like lame commercial cash-ins in the style of the Christmas tunes of yore?
1. One way to quash accusations of rabid commercialism is to give your single away for free as Slow Club (see above) have done, with ‘Christmas TV’ offered as a free download in a spirit of seasonal goodwill to all mankind. A sweet little folk pop tune about travelling home for Christmas and snuggling in front of the Vicar of Dibley or some such, this is good for anyone feeling the pangs of seasonal separation. The boy/girl vocals chime prettily together in a song that has thematic echoes of ‘Driving Home For Christmas’.
2. Stay true to your signature style. If you’re usually a grumpy old misery guts, Christmas is no time to suddenly become cheerful just for the hell of it so why not whack out a truly miserable Christmas EP a la Glasvegas? A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss) is the one to pull out when your Dad forgot to turn the oven down, your mum’s sobbing into her charred potatoes and your granny’s being cantankerous.
3. Restrict your mentions of the season to atmospherically wintery weather references a la The Leisure Society with their pretty waltz ‘Last of the Melting Snow’. Cinematic strings, romantic lyrics and a slightly more upbeat B-side in the form of ‘A Short Weekend Begins With Longing’. It’s available to download but it would be far more festive to buy one of the limited edition handmade copies in the spirit of wonky gingerbread men and glitter-glued everything.
There’s just one thing we’re a little bit worried about. Where are all the sleighbells???????
Now I know I sound like a purist, medicine but sometimes I wish Photoshop had never been invented. After seeing the ingenuity of the post-war artists featuring in Estorick’s ongoing exhibition, rxCut & Paste: European Photomontage 1920-1945, I longed for the days when you could actually tell something had been done by hand. When skill was quantifiable – based on precision, patience and masterfully cut and mounted shapes; not down to your aptitude with adjustment layers, clipping masks and liquify tools. Of course these arguably require a well-honed set of digital skills within themselves, but Photoshop has cheapened photography to a certain extent. Unimaginably cool things can be done on it by anyone with a shard of creative impulse, so we can’t help but lose the eensiest bit of respect for the end product, no matter how groundbreaking this may be. Don’t you think?
Regardless, this is a little gem of a show. Small – with only around 25 pieces – it looks at the modernist manipulation of photomontage (in which cut-out photographs and fragments of newsprint from illustrated journals were pasted into drawings and paintings) by the Cubists, Futurists and Dadaists. There’s also a healthy dose of angular Russian Constructivism in there, so for such a small exhibition, they have all the seminal art movements of the early 20th Century well and truly covered.
Developed towards the end of the First World War by the Dadaists in Berlin (the word ‘photomontage’ was taken from engineering and film editing practices) it was a way of making art with a new kind of conceptual clarity. And grit. It was powerful and playful – there is one untitled image of Hitler and a devilish-looking Churchill quaintly enjoying a cup of tea together – and mixed mediums in a way which made people stop and look. And they still have that affect today.
All the works are beautifully balanced and composed. Italian Futurist Enrico Prampolini’s Broom (1922) is a punchy little piece with huge red circles and chunky text overlaid on a photo of a massive machine, while Gustav Klucis’ Spartakiada Moscow / All-Union Olympiad (1928) is packed with movement and angles so sharp you could cut your fingers on them.
Curated by Lutz Becker, Cut & Paste showcases work made almost a century ago, but which feels surprisingly fresh and modern. It’ll make you turn off your computer, pick up a pair of scissors and start attacking The Daily Mail like there’s no tomorrow. I think that’s always a good thing.
I’m not a person who wins things; Lady Luck is not my friend. Never has my name been picked from a raffle or hat, discount scratch cards always defeat me, and even when I tried to Derren Brown the ticket man at Walthamstow Dogs, “Look into my eyes, this is the winning ticket”, I still came away empty handed. So when my name was electronically selected for the Time Out Bus Tour, a heavily over-subscribed perk to First Thursdays, I was veritably excited.
I’m not sure what I imagined, a day of musing amalgamated in something entirely inconceivable bearing reference to the Playbus and set firmly beyond the realm of reality. This is the description from which I fabricated: Each month, join leading curators, writers, academics and artists on a guided bus tour visiting a selection of First Thursdays Galleries; and that’s precisely what it was, but I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed when I saw a very ordinary looking bus waiting outside Whitechapel Gallery, a bit health & safety and sanitised, OAP visit to Hastings anyone?
If you were in fact there for a guided bus tour with leading academics, curators, and artists, and not for a bus of dreams, then you’d probably be satisfied. Four selected galleries, a talk from a curator in each, and the wealth of information that only a guided tour can give, adding much more depth to your engagement with the work. My favourite part was a six-strong bowling team that unofficially tagged along, following the bus in a Transit, and innocuously joining the talks wearing matching blue team shirts, names on the breast. I did feel a pang of jealousy at the scores of people casually strolling between galleries on Vyner Street, drinks in hands, hmmms and ahhhs at the ready. I’ll opt for a home made bicycle tour next time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recommend this.
If you’re planning on going to any of these events, sale or have something you want to write an article about for the Earth Blog, email us: earth@ameliasmagazine.com!
Now here’s a lovely story: One felt-making coffee morning in South London, three suburban mums discover a shared hoarding habit, a joy in rummaging through rubbish and a desire to make pretty things (with or without the use of felt). Out from the discarded chicken-shop boxes and begrudged lotto tickets emerged, not Oscar the Grouch (think Sesame Street) but The Skip Sisters.
These ladies really know how to make-do-and-mend, rescuing shabby bits and bobs found in skips and attics and revamping them into something truly lovely. 100% eco-friendly.
From now until Christmas Eve the Skip Sisters will be selling all sorts of treasures from the debris at 14 Northcross Road in East Dulwich. (Not open Mondays).
Clocks made out of tins…found in a skip!
Jewelry…found in a skip!
Necklaces made with real human hands…found in a skip!
At 3am on the morning of the 7th of December two mini buses, thumb a 1960s fire engine and just over 50 cold, eager and very excited protesters turned up at a gate near the long stay car park of Stansted airport. Calmly and attentively we piled out of the mini buses and began to swarm around the entry point. A security vehicle happened to be passing just as we arrived, which instilled some nervous butterflies in our stomachs, but there was no stopping us. Once through the fence panel with our wire cutters we marched, as if to a temporary ark of safety (which we were to construct), two by two, carrying the tools and materials we were to need. Our objective was to reach the taxiway and setup a Harris fence enclosure around us to which we would lock-on to for as long as possible. After 6am, which was when the first flight was scheduled for take-off, every minute was to count as extremely important – directly stopping the release of ridiculous amounts of CO2 into the earth’s atmosphere.
We were all so pleased to be doing something so direct; the feeling was one of pride in knowing that we were helping to facilitate discussions, raised levels of awareness, and aid to those directly suffering as a result of raised CO2 emissions in developing countries around the world. It really won’t be long before we are seriously suffering from our selfish actions, we need to look and focus on long-term rewards not short term ones. In reading the press coverage after the action I have been surprised to read a few comments by people who were disrupted – one man was quoted to say “Why couldn’t they have waited a few hours?” if we all adopt that approach where will we be left?
I will go on to strongly encourage non-violent direct action to be taken by as many of you reading this as possible, it feels so great to be there, in the heart of potential change, to be able to say “I have tried my hardest”. It is our future generation who will suffer, and personally I don’t want my children to be struggling as much as they will be if no “green” systematic changes occur.
At The Climate Safety Talk delivered at Friends House, Euston, a few weeks ago I became scared – and directly inspired by that very fear to act, with others feeling the same way, as soon as I could, as this seems to have the most impact. I am newly accessing this level of climate science through living with some of the most inspiring women I have had the pleasure to meet and we discuss this issue of climate change daily, and innovatively focus most of our energy in the direction of raising awareness and creating social change methods and access points. Tamsin Omond lives upstairs and is helping to organize another suffragette style Climate Rush at Heathrow on Jan 12th, which I invite everyone to attend. Beth Stratford, Mel Evans, who spoke to the press after the Stansted protests, and Clemmie James from the Drax 29 also inhabit this eco-warrior house.
This action came as an opportunity for myself and others to not just discuss what is happening, but directly and physically respond, and gain immediate results – we stopped 86 flights from leaving the airport and acted as a catalyst for many many discussions.
Stansted has on average at least one flight leaving its runway every minute during working hours generating a shocking 4.2 tonnes of CO2 every single minute! Aviation is the fastest growing source of emissions and already contributes at least 13 per cent of the UK’s total climate impact. In October controversial plans for an expansion of Stansted Airport were given the go-ahead by the Government. Airport owner BAA wants to increase passenger numbers from 25 million to 35 million a year and flights leaving the airport from 241,000 to 264,000 a year. Objectors say an expansion would damage the environment, but some unions said the proposal could bring new jobs. Do we really need new jobs in this sector, should the Government not be pushing for new green jobs to go along with its emissions reduction target? The target that has been broadly accepted by many bodies including our own Government is that a rise in global average temperature of more than 2C above its preindustrial value must not be allowed. If this airport expansion is really given the go-ahead there will be very little chance of us being able to achieve the targets.
Aviation is the fastest growing cause of climate change and a major threat to the earth and everything living on it. But rather than reining the industry in and trying to reduce demand for flying, the government is promoting it through tax breaks and through its plans for massive expansion at our airports: the equivalent of a new Heathrow every five years!
Plane Stupid demands a fundamental rethink of the government’s 2003 Aviation White Paper which predicts that air travel will treble by 2030: an increase in annual plane journeys from 180 million to 501 million.
We, as Plane Stupid want to see airport expansion plans scrapped, and an end to short haul flights and aviation advertising.
Discussions and presentations are important, as the information and science needs to spread as far and wide, and touch as many people as possible, but we need to follow contact with this information with direct action as nothing else seems to be getting the results we need as soon as we need them. The Government has been making empty promises of reductions in the levels of CO2 emissions, and as nothing has happened yet we want to directly affect this ourselves.
Monday 12th Jan
Starting today: The Voice and Nothing More is a week-long festival at the Slade Research Centre that explores the voice as both medium and subject matter in contemporary arts practices. Established artists and emerging talent will work with leading vocal performers in an exploration of the voice outside language. On Wednesday the festival culminates in a presentation of objects, pilulegeneric performances, order and installations that are open to the public. There will also be performances on Thursday and Friday from 6 pm.
Wednesday 14th Jan
Now in it’s 21st year, recipe the London Art Fair begins at the Design Centre in Islington. A hundred galleries are selected to show work from the last few hundred years. This immense exhibition will encompass sculpture, photography, prints, video and installation art. It ends on the 18th of January.
There is a talk this evening at the ICA entitled Can Art make us Happy? where artists Zoë Walker and Michael Pinsky explore the notions of art as a social cure-all in times of economic and social gloom.
A new solo show from Josephine Flynn begins today at Limoncello on Hoxton Square. The Mexican was bought off a patient who was in hospital with mental health problems. When the patient talked about The Mexican she described how the process of making him had helped her – ‘healing through making’ was how she put it.
Thursday 15th Jan
Feierabend is a collaborative installation between artists Francis Upritchard, Martino Gamper, and Karl Fritsche, bringing together a shared aesthetic in their distinctive approaches to jewellery, furniture design, and sculpture. The exhibition plays with the boundaries of art and real life – looking like a workshop abandoned at the end of a day’s work, or a sitting room left in abstracted dissary, it’s only inhabitants a set of sculpted figures who seem lost in their own meditations. Gimpel Fils opens a new photographic exhbition from Peter Lanyon and Emily-Jo Sargent, 100 Pictures of Coney Island.
The Asphalt World is a new solo show at Studio Voltaire from Simon Bedwell. Drip paintings are made from advertising posters in an ironic twist or corporate seduction.
Feierabend
Friday 16th
There are two exhibitions starting today at Wilkinson on Vyner Street. In Upper Gallery a, Episode III, Enjoy Poverty, is the second in a series of three films by Renzo Martens in which he raises issues surrounding contemporary image making, challenging ideas about the role of film makers and viewers in the construction of documentaries. In the Lower Gallery, there will be the fourth exhibiton from German artist, Silke Schatz. Through the conjunction of video, sculpture, drawing and found objects, Schahtz composes a personal portrait of the city of Agsburg.
Saturday 17th Jan
We featured David Cotterrell in issue ten, where in the picturesque surroundings of Tatton Park, he explained how his visit to Afghanistan, where he was invited by the Wellcome Trust, would be likely to have a lasting effect on his future work. Aesthetic Distance is David Cotterrell’s third solo exhibition with Danielle Arnaud, and focuses on the experiences and inevitable aftermath of a flight he took in November 2007 in a RAF C17, from Brize Norton to Kandahar. He was the sole passenger in a plane loaded with half a million rounds of palletised munitions and medical supplies to join Operation Herrick 7, a strange irony not lost on the artist.
To whomsoever concerned by the biggest threat faced by humanity today-that of climate change,
You are cordially invited to Dinner at Domestic Departures. Join us for an evening of peaceful civil(ised) disobedience ahead of the government’s decision over a third runway at Heathrow. Inspired by the actions of the suffragettes, we will be calling for DEEDS NOT WORDS. The government acknowledges the huge problems we face from Climate Change but they continue with business as usual. This jolly evening is intended to produce much-needed positive change and we do hope that you would join us.
Time: 7pm (when the string quartet plays their first note).
Dress Code: Edwardian Suffragette: high collars, long skirts, fitted jackets, puffed sleeves, think Mary Poppins. Sashes will be provided. * Although advisable, it is not compulsory to arrive in Edwardian dress, the most important thing is that you your friends and family join us for dinner. To add the element of surprise, it is suggested that you arrive in a large coat to conceal your costume until the stroke of 7.
Bring: Jam tarts, scones, cucumber sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, tea cakes. Picnic blankets and table cloths. Tea and elderflower cordial. No alcohol please.
Entertainment: String quartet, art tricks from ArtPort, polite conversation.
We look forward to seeing you,
The Misbehaved Ladies from Climate Rush x
Tuesday 13th January, 6pm
Art, Activism and the legacy of Chico Mendes RSA
8 John Adam Street
London
WC2N 6EZ
Tonight will explore the ways in which the arts can help shift society’s attitudes in the face of unprecedented climate change. Elenira Mendes, daughter of environmental activist Chico Mendes, will talk alongside panelists Jonathan Dove (award-winning composer), Greenpeace’s senior climate adviser, Charlie Kronick and fasion designer and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood.
Wednesday 14th January
Wednesdays Do Matter InSpiral Lounge, 250 Camden High Street NW1 8QS
A night of music, comedy, poetry and film (and really good vegan smoothies!) in aid of global justice campaigners, the World Development Movement. Remind yourselves why everyday matters, even Wednesdays.
Winner of this year’s Grand Jury prize at Sundance and announced as a finalist in 2009 Accademy Awards for Best Documentary. This is one New Orleans’ resident’s depiction of the catastrophic tragedy of Hurricaine Katrina. Shot with a (shakily) handheld camera, Kimberely Roberts’ footage starts from the weekend before the hurricaine and covers a period of a year. Michael Moore collaborators Tia Lessin and Carl Deal edit and append the tapes with their own film of the post-Katrina clean-up effort.An astounding portrayal of resilience and bravery.
Showing at the ICA 12th-15th January
Turning The Season
at The Wapping Project
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
Wapping Wall
London
E1W 3SG
Recent crisp bright skies have been a welcome respite from the usual drab January weather. But who knows what tomorrow may bring. Turning the Season explores the social and cultural phenomenon of the British Season. It would be fair to say that the increasingly visible effects of Climate Change have further fuelled our national fascination with the weather.
Expect 100 bird houses, a roof-top lily pond and a photo story showing the break-up of a relationship against the backdrop of seasonal events shot by fashion photographer Thomas Zanon-Larcher.
Although aimed at swarms of roaring key stage 3 schoolchildren as an educational piece on the issue of deforestation, this production from Palace People’s Projects is a true delight. Set in a traditional village in the Amazon that is eventually swayed by the ghost of Chico Mendes to not fall under the developers’ bulldozers. But not until some devastation has been wreaked first. A socio-political depiction of destruction of the Amazon with a mythical slant. All set to the music and dancing of Forro. An inventive stage (a mammoth man-made tree rather resembling an electrical pole, and pools of water seperating the audience) and brilliantly gaudy costumes by Gringo Cardia.
Seriously energetic post-punk, sequinned and LOUD live act Dead Kids headline. No matter what you think of them on record, they’re sure to grab you live. Continuing the infant name-theme, as well as the intense post-punk sounds are support O Children.
With the ever-winning combo of Japanese girl singing drummer (also to be found as frontwoman for London band Pre) and jangular guitars, this is your best bet for a trendy sceney night out in London.
Tuesday 13th January
Banjo or Freakout single launch party, White Heat @ Madame JoJos, London
Part of the new-wave of ultra-hip, genre-smashing music sweeping the artier corners of the globe at the moment. Should be a celebratory atmosphere as it is his single launch party.
Intimate solo acoustic performance of debut album First Love in full, ahead of its release in February.
Push, Astoria 2, London
A massive farewell party for the Astoria 2 which will be finally demolished on Friday. Catch Cajun Dance Party live as well as DJ sets from Mystery Jets, Lightspeed Champion, Good Shoes and Neon Gold among many others and mourn the demise of the sticky-floored dingy music venue in central London.
Friday 16th January
Cats in Paris, Brassica, Braindead Improv Ensemble, The Woe Betides, George Tavern, London
Massively hyped, bonkers 70s-ish glam-electro from Manchester.
Catch this 9 piece mini-orchestra, complete with mariachi brass, duelling drummers and girl-boy vocals, for their Ennio Morricone-style soundscapes.
I Love Boxie: a web-based business in London that tailors a t-shirt especially for you based on the story you tell them. The most astute of the fashion-conscious clan know that style should reflect your spirit and not merely robotic trends. In light of this; don’t wear your heart on your sleeve– instead wear it on a t-shirt; a Boxie t-shirt.
Here, cure founder of Boxie, troche Moxie shares her views on what fashion is truly about, how her brand works and what she hopes to achieve through her t-shirts:
Tell us the story of I Love Boxie.?
Each t-shirt tells a piece of the way – a place we have been, a person we have seen. We have many lines that fit many situations and could tell a piece of your story too. If not, we offer t-spoke. You call us, tell us a story and we turn it into a line on a t-shirt. We believe everyone in the world should have an unbranded, authentic tee that sings a line of where they have been and what they have seen. We are the opposite of any company who just put a logo on a t-shirt.
?Where does the inspiration for your t-shirts come from?
?From the people who write and call in everyday with their stories. The stories are wild, heartfelt, quiet, poignant and are better than anything we could make up.
What’s the idea behind the “half a conversation” concept?
If you think about branding for the last 30 years it’s been about distillation, reducing everything to a line eg: ‘just do it’ or ‘impossible is nothing’.
Our lines are about provoking expansion. It’s just the first line of the story, or the chapter heading. We want people to come up to someone wearing a Boxie tee – and go ‘wow, what the hell happened to you??’
?
Why do you make it purposefully hard for people to purchase your t-shirts, without contacting you directly first??
The tees are written about stupid, funny, weird, deep moments in people’s lives. All of them from the heart. They feel like they need more exchange than a credit card transaction. T-spoke especially. This is a creative collaboration that begins with the customer telling us their story. It is a strange and wonderful one off encounter between them and us. The t-shirt is their battle scar of that personal story.
Is all your business Internet based? ?
As far as being web based goes, our tees are obviously a form of self expression and there is no greater arena for that than the web. This taps into what a tee originally was – a piece of underwear, something that wasn’t supposed to be seen but kept close to the chest and hidden like a secret.
These days, the web is a place where secrets can step out of the shade, where people can talk about things they wouldn’t usually talk about in real life. Most times, you can learn more about someone from reading their status report than talking to them for an hour in reality, because the web has taught us the language of openness and sharing.
Boxie exists in the ether as part of that fluency. More importantly those web values – openness, sharing, community – are overflowing back into real life now. So, yes, soon we’ll be on the streets in some form, although the tees will never ever be in a retail space, hanging limply on a rack.
Your favourite Boxie T-Shirt to date??
So High and Solo
Any advice for the penniless fashionista?
Everything great creatively comes from being up against it and with no cash. You can’t ever see it when you’re in it but, as far as imagination goes, you are in an infinitely better position than someone with a million dollars. Do something great with this time. And then call us to get the t-shirt. ?
Advice for those wanting to purchase something Boxie??
Write to us directly at moxie@iloveboxie.com
New York is spawning many a catchy-tuned electro based band at the moment – meet The Discoghosts, more about firstly they have a brilliant name, look secondly, approved they do what they say on the tin, this is a disco fest. Their ethos is nicely summed up in their lyrics, “We love ladies and they love us, cos we’re cool and disco plus.”
Otherwise known as M-Boy and Tracky, they meant their album title – BAD – literally it seems, rather than a tribute to the King of 80′s pop, as they are apparently, “trying to break the taboos of “good” music, while playing with clichés of club sound like repetition, climax, stupidity, autofilter, and sound fetishism.” I see.
This album could be the OST to many an 80′s movie – it’s true, it may be the decade that taste forgot but it produced some pretty good tunes – there are obvious Ghostbusters references ie: track 2 being called Ghostbusters Busters and there’s also hints of the Beverley Hills Cop riffs in there, along with and slinky soul beats, electro voices, rubbish rapping and a guy that sounds suspiciously like the chef from South Park…
That’s not to say they’re stuck in the past, their mellower synthetic beats, such as Jellyfish, track 9, have a Hot Chip vibe and that’s not a bad thing at all.
If their aim was to produce an awful album – they failed, maybe it’s just that I have a soft spot/great love for the 80′s but I very much enjoyed this, catchy, listenable songs that don’t take themselves seriously. My favourite line, from Straight but Gayish (sung by a high electro voice), “your boyfriend’s hetro but he looks homo.”
And they dress like this to perform:
How could you not love them?
It was legitimate for us to feel nervous. With indiscreet bullying from BAA and no knowledge as to how the police were planning to receive us, sick we tucked our dresses beneath our over-coats and shuffled through the throngs of intimidating fluorescent jackets at Heathrow Departures, illness passports at the ready and an impromptu conversation about flight times – very subtle. I wish I could have seen the briefing, look out for pretty girls in dresses and large jackets.
Once in, all subtleties were abandoned, a charming sight when the order of the day was Edwardian dress and dinner, an evening of very civil (ised) disobedience. Instruments, top hats, high collars and puffy sleeves – all were revealed as the clock struck seven, the string quartet took to its first note and picnic blankets were unfurled for the beginning of the Climate Rush organized party, Dinner at Domestic Departures.
Music played, food passed cordially from plate to plate, and sashes were handed out. It was not long before currents rippled through the crowd into cheers, claps, and chants, “Deeds Not Words”, “Trains not Planes” and, “No Third Runway”, with a contingency singing to the tune of 90′s classic There’s no Limit. The complete transformation of Zone C was helped along by Artport, a collective of artists working in collaboration with Cilimate Rush to redefine the space as we know it. Green all-in-one clad waiters weaved through the crowd with a planet for a cake and planes for spoons, whilst a parachute game bounced a blow-up earth from edge to edge.
In amidst this electric and elevating atmosphere, it was a spectacular delivery of a serious message. Climate Change is a very real threat and many people feel let down by the powers that be to address this threat.
We don’t want a third runway and call for cheaper train fares and better transport hubs instead of domestic short-haul flights. It is of course just part of a bigger picture: the greater threat of Climate Change of which aviation expansion is just a part, and the wider feelings of concern and dissatisfaction amongst citizens for whom civil disobedience is also, just a part.
Describing herself as an ex-Camden townie, link the self-taught illustrator, Zarina Liew, has thrown her arms up at the big smoke and a career in marketing; and has chosen instead the serenity of the Cambridgeshire countryside, pencils, watercolours, and strange lonely creatures ridden by lust and self-ruin.
Her Hunter Series, eight inked paintings which exhibited at the Shoreditch Shuffle Festival, started life as a 24-page graphic novel. It tells the story of a gramaphone and a lonely creature, who forms an unlikely friendship with three musicians. She is driven by a need for company and music, they are captured by her beauty and seduced by her authority. The musicians fall into her charm and into her gramophone where they are trapped and eventually perish, singing songs of solidarity and love.
Over a virtual cup if Green Tea, we ask Liew a bit more about her curious creatures of emotional turmoil, her illustrative inspiration and whether or not she misses Camden.
Tell us about the Hunter Series.
I wanted The Hunter Series to be an extension of the original story both visually and metaphorically – a story within a story. You get a sense of the narrative from the different pieces, but as a whole, you see the Hunter for who she is – a hungry, lonely and melancholic being. It’s an illustration of lust and self-ruin; both the musicians and the Hunter are acting on impulse, blind to their terrible fates. Even though she is the one to end the men’s lives, the Hunter does not get what she wants. With no one to listen or play with, she’s alone again.
Where do you draw information for your characters from?
I draw most of my information from observing the people around me. I never assume that what you see in someone is what you get – everyone has a hidden interior of ambition and desire. Music plays a large part as well. I found the musicians for The Hunter listening to an unsigned band playing at the Dublin Castle in Camden – the Parallel Animals. After falling in love with them – and the front man! – I offered to sketch them during rehearsals and help out at their gigs. Seeing how hard local bands work at this music business, and how ruthless the whole industry is, gave me a sense of direction in depicting the musician’s fate in my artwork.
The emotional context of the characters is strong; the nature of lust and self-ruin… is this an expression of your own emotional turmoil?
I suppose yes – in a sense that all of my work is an expression of myself, my feelings and thoughts. I wouldn’t say that I am strongly affected by the nature of lust and self-ruin though, let’s just say that I am extremely aware of it in myself, and all too conscious of letting myself go, or losing control of who I am. As I mentioned earlier we all have a hidden interior of ambition and desire – acting on lust however (whatever the desire – money, sex, fame) can only lead to self-ruin. Sometimes I wonder if I’m making the right choices, I question why I did certain things and what is behind my motivations. It’s a constant cycle of self-reflection.
And finally, Camden vs Cambridge countryside… who wins?
This is a real toughie. Can I be wayward and say that weekdays are for Camden and weekends are for Cambridge?
During the week I get a lot of inspiration from the Camden kids, lovely hidden-away galleries and sweaty underpriced indie nights. By the weekend though it’s full of puffy tourists and very long queues for nothing.
That’s when I retreat to the gentle Cambridge countryside. It’s perfect for lethargic country strolls and relaxing afternoon teas; this is also where I get a lot of my inspiration down onto paper and start to paint. All the week’s bustle leaves my mind ready to draw in peace and quiet!
You can see more of her work here, or catch her at the Alternative Press Fair on Sunday 1st February where she will be featuring the Hunter Storybook alongside other homemade creations, and apparently, lots of Green Tea.
.
Why is it no-one tells you that when you leave uni, approved your life will have a huge vacuum and those 3 years you spent studying illustration suddenly seem wasted when all the available jobs are in call centres? What to do? Give up the creative dream? Not if you’re Brighton girl Anna Wenger. She decided that if there was no jobs out there, adiposity she’d start her own business, viagra dosage and Sacred Stitches was born. Her idea of stitching classic tattoo designs onto clothes and homewares has really taken off in recent months, and she’s kindly chatted to us about it:
How did your business come about?
I needed to give my family and friends Christmas presents but without spending much money, so made everyone cushions. I got a lot of attention from these cushions and created more and more and now embroider onto everything I can lay my hands on!
Who are your favourite designers?
I love Angelique Houtkamp, her work mixes classic tattoo imagery with Hollywood romance and her eye for style is very inspirational.
Others include Inka Tattooist James Robinson, Alex Binnie, Jon Burgerman, Tara McPherson and Crush Design Studio.
How would you describe your personal style?
A very modern graphic twist on an old school tattoo style. I like to think that with my designs everyone can appreciate the art form of tattoos without having to get one.
Do you wear your own designs?
Oh yes, and so does my boyfriend, his friends, my flatmates. My flat is completely covered in sacred stitches cushions!
Who or what inspires you? (i know the obvious answer here is tattoos –
but if there’s anything else!)
I live with a tattooist who influences my work; magazines and art exhibitions are good for getting new ideas. My boyfriend and friends are covered in tattoos and will come home with a new piece of art on their skin, so its hard not to be inspired when your surrounded by moving artwork.
Have you got any tattoos?
No, the design is still in progress.
Do you have a favourite tattoo design / what’s the best you’ve seen so
far?
My favourite so far is by Judd Ripley of an amazingly haunting pirate ship. (pictured below)
Do you still love Brighton/can you see yourself living anywhere else?
I am originally from Brighton and moved back here after University, as it’s a creative city. I do love Brighton as it’s a very receptive place for my designs because people here like to buy from small businesses.
Can I have a t-shirt please?
Yes, what size are you, xxl?!?
How very dare you. A medium at the very most!
Thanks for your time Anna. Talent and ambition, the best combination.
Contact Anna about getting hold of your own personalised tattoo(ed piece of clothing) here.
So it may have looked like I was deserting my post last week, cheap swanning off to Paris to slide down hills on the ice and hibernate in nice restaurants. However, whilst my trip may have involved quite a lot of that sort of fun, I was not just being a bone-idle holiday-monger. Au contraire. I also had my ears opened to some great new music and had this excellent first EP by Hold Your Horses! thrust into my sweaty and eager palms (fine it was in a nice restaurant that this transaction took place but we were just following the model of most international business).
Most recent French bands seem either to do an excellent line in electronica or a terrible one in punk rock – you just can’t do attitude if your beige converse match your cashmere v-neck and your hair is cleaner and shinier than a Pantene advert. Hold Your Horses! have most in common with the second school, essentially a guitar band augmented with some strings and wind. However, perhaps the fact that they are a motley crew of diplobrats and true Frenchies contributes to the broader and more interesting range of influences discernible in their music. Sure, The Strokes are probably in every single member of the band’s record collection and at moments on this record, if you were to replace singer Flo’s Chrissie Hinde delivery with a Casablancas drawl, you would be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped back to Strokes-fever 2003, but this is really just what provides the catchy backbone of these songs. There’s a pleasantly shambolic tone – perhaps a little too shambolic at times due to the slightly rough-around-the-edges self-done mix – and when the boy vocals kick in partway through track two, a vaguely Celtic edge emerges.
Opener Cigarettes and Lies, the strongest song on the record, fanfares its arrival with a blast of trumpets before launching into a danceable meditation on youthful lust and confusion. After that, the titles get longer and the violins more prominent as they have a bit of an Irish-ska moment (fine that’s not like, an official genre but listen and you’ll know what I mean) before ending on the sultry Argue and the sweet Flo’s Folk. Although not perfect or polished, this EP is really promising and tips HYH! as a band it’s definitely worth catching live when they hopefully make it to this side of the Channel.
Now you see him now you…hang on, search is that? Yep a giant bunny in a smoking jacket who is theatrically drawing my portrait and grimacing at the fur collar of the girl standing next to me. ‘It’s mink!’ she frantically mimes through Wieden & Kennedy’s shop window on Hanbury Street. ‘Minks are bastards’ he mouths back.
I’m witnessing some of the day-to-day activity taking place outside Imaginary Friends, medicine a rather bizarre shop front exhibition that takes me back to long days spent in the airing cupboard as an only child. Back then, store my imaginary friend was a replica of the devilish dog that encouraged Tintin’s canine companion Snowy to do naughty things (don’t worry, no one else understood that either).
From now until Sunday your imagination takes the form of a wine glugging, abusive life size bunny rabbit (aka recent Central St. Martin’s graduate Jack Bishop).
I managed to catch him on a carrot break.
LJ: I say ‘carrot’ you say?
IF: Parrot? Ok it is the main component of one’s diet but I much prefer Beef Wellington. I shall not be marginalised.
L.J. Can you be taken for walks?
I.F. Of course I can darling. I’m imaginary after all, I can go anywhere you chose. Usually down the local.
L.J. Do you get along with cats?
I.F. So-so. We have a mutual respect for one another.
L.J. Do you breed well with Holland Lops?
I.F. Most definitely. Although my ideal breeding partner would have to be Jessica Rabbit.
L.J. Of course what a babe, got any celebrity bunny mates or rabbits in high hutches?
I.F. Well Harvey is a dear friend as we’re very alike. I used to be drinking buddies with Bugs but…(he drifts) he said a few things about me…said I drank too much. Lightweight.
L.J. Oh dear, well hopefully you’ll settle your differences over a good carrot or a nice seed selection. What are your thoughts on the following high-profile bunnies?
L.J. Peter Rabbit?
I.F. Wet lad.
L.J. Easter Bunny?
I.F. Fatty boy (all that chocolate).
L.J. Energizer Bunny?
I.F. Nympho.
L.J. Thumper?
I.F. Good Kid.
L.J. Nesquick Bunny?
I.F. He’s sold out. Such a shame. Corporate bastard now.
L.J. Got any plans for Easter?
I.F. (He humphs dismissively) I’m not the religious type. I’ll most probably be alone listening to Smokey Robinson and Sam Cook, drinking fine wines.
L.J. That sounds fun, I’ll be your friend if you want.
I.F. You fool! I can’t chose to be someone’s friend, I’m imaginary, they decide what I am to them, it’s annoying. Sometimes I feel degraded. I’d much rather be on my own.
With that he lolloped back down Brick Lane.
CarrotMobbing! No it’s not a bunny invasion in the run up to Easter, sick it’s the new consumerist activism from San Francisco. The idea is to sway more businesses to adopt greener habits. An alternative to boycotting, more aboutCarrotMobbing operates in a way that appeals to businesses by offering cash rewards.
In return for a percentage of a day’s takings to be spent on environmentally-friendly practises (e.g. better energy-efficient appliances, organic produce) a CarrotMob will descend on the establishment on a certain day and spend, spend, spend.
It is the brainchild of American environmentalist Brent Schulkin and it is unique in working alongside businesses that could be greener by offering them the ‘carrot’, as opposed to the ‘stick’ approach of boycotting or picketing.’We recognize that corporations must keep profit as their top priority.Historically, this fact has meant that the environment has suffered. We hope to change that by putting rewards in place that will make environmental responsibility the more profitable choice.’
The concept has already started to make an impact over here. The first UK Carrotmob was in September 2008 at the Redchurch bar in East London and since then carrotmobs have sprung up around the country including the restaurant La Ruca in Bristol.
When I proposed the idea to local cafe Yummy’s, Jason and his brother were really keen! Stay tuned for an Amelia’s Magazine CarrotMob expected to take place in a couple of weeks time.
Bristol’s Thekla is a down-with-the-kids venue by anyone’s standards. The ship is moored in a floating harbour, approved featured in Skins, shop has been played by Massive Attack and was once graffitied by Banksy. To see a band there tipped as number two in the BBC’s ‘ones to watch 2009′ is incredible. White Lies quite literally rock the boat.
Anticipation crackles in the air before they mount the stage. I’d fallen deeply in love with the singles months before: deathly, desperate melodies with the lyrics of a romantic poet born in the 80s set to gut-grinding electronica. And I’m praying they won’t let me down. In a swell of turbulence, the band storm on with Unfinished Business liquefying into To Lose My Life. Later, Farewell to the Fairground also stands out as a stark winner, perhaps a forthcoming single?
Harry McVeigh haunts his audience, both in voice and form. Recalling the two great Ian’s of post-punk, McCulloch and Curtis, he’s skinny with a voice that’s anything but. Glimpse him between the strobe lights and he’s a beautiful alien visitor. And the possessor of a truly spectral set of vocal chords.
Through White Lies’ unique ability to craft tangibly spooky scenes with their lyrics, as each new song rumbles into being, I’m by turns walking in an abandoned fairground at night, taking off in an aeroplane, wrestling a ghost in a dream. Captivating. Sound groans in the iron belly of the ship, the guitar rips through thundering drums and Harry wails into the watery deep. There’s no banter, no real movement and yet everyone’s rapt because they’re witnessing something really special.
A few technical hitches mar the proceedings and drown out the vocals, but not to worry, the finale is Death and we’re all singing along. White Lies have mesmerized their crowd good and proper and we pursue them from the boat like crazed rats into the night. Drunken fan’s yelps of ‘yes this fear’s got a hold on meeee’ follow me all along the dark waterfront home.
It’s half way through January – a long way from pay day and you want some new clothes. It’s the only thing that can cheer you up in this depressing month. Visiting an actual shop is out of the question, decease you can barely afford the bus fare there, visit this let alone any of the goods for sale inside the shop.
So here’s an idea – acquiring new clothes without having to actually spend a penny (on the clothes) – via the medium of clothes swapping.
This can be done in many ways, buy more about the first is attending this event:
However, if the idea of not having complete control over what you actually end up with isn’t exactly what you had in mind, then try this, a swishing event – yes it is £5 entry but for countless amounts of clothes, well worth it. It’s a similar idea to the flyered event above but you can choose what you pick.
If you don’t fancy actually leaving your house, then Bigwardrobe.com is an online swapping platform which is similar to e-bay in that you put your unwanted clothes online and people buy them off you – it’s better than eBay as it has a swap function and it gets even better than that! – you can get actual cash for your unwanted xmas goodies or fashion mistakes of the past. You can use a combination of money and swapping to barter for goods, eg:, “ I’ll give you this blouse and £3 for your skirt,” or something along those lines.
In these lean times, clothes recycling is the best way to update your wardrobe.
St Davids, website on the far south-western tip of Wales, viagra approved is a city of contradictions. Being the smallest city in the UK, it is really more of a village with a great big cathedral plonked down at one end. It is a tranquil little place but alongside the tea-and-scones brigade is a growing community of surfers who ride the waves on the beautiful beaches nearby all year round. Beyond the shoppers rummaging through baskets of souvenir tea-towels are legions of walkers and nature-lovers who explore the coast paths, the sea and the cliffs in between in search of puffins, seals and the delicate, beautiful Manx Shearwater birds that migrate past the headland every summer. Even the visitor centre (known as Oriel Y Parc, which means ‘the park gallery’) is an odd mixture, for if you walk through the coffee shop and past the leaflets on local attractions you will find yourself in a world-class gallery.
The gallery, a recent addition to the visitor centre, is itself beautifully harmonious in form and content. The environmentally sustainable building that houses it heralds what we can expect from a gallery in the 21st century. The graceful arc shape of the building catches the sun all day, keeping heating costs to a minimum. The ceilings are insulated with lamb’s wool and a green roof with its swaying grasses also brings warmth and helps to regulate the demand on the drainage system. Rainwater is used for the toilet cisterns and solar energy panels heat water for the kitchen. Recycled and second-hand materials have been used wherever possible – much of the stone for the walls comes from old derelict buildings.
Perhaps it is when you see what is on display inside the gallery that you truly understand the importance of all this low-impact building and energy conservation: to preserve the precious Pembrokeshire landscape that has inspired so many artists including London-born painter Graham Sutherland. Sutherland loved the landscape around St Davids, painting it again and again, and when he died in 1980 he left a great body of work to the people of Pembrokeshire.
Sutherland’s work will form the permanent central focus of the gallery’s exhibitions. For those used to gentle water-colour scenes of the Welsh coast, Sutherland’s paintings are a hand grenade assault on the senses – fierce, energy-filled evocations of the landscape, both challenging and fascinating.
For Oriel Y Parc to be given permission to exhibit the bequest it had to meet a stringent list of standards, including careful regulation of the humidity and temperature in the air and a complex and highly sophisticated security system. Meeting this criteria has meant that the gallery has been awarded ‘Class A’ status, which means that the work by Picasso and Rembrandt that is displayed alongside Sutherland’s paintings in the current exhibition will be the first in a long line of world-class international art to be shown at the centre.
Prompted by Sutherland’s extraordinary visions of the surrounding countryside, the gallery plans to use future exhibitions to investigate art’s relationship with the landscape and with nature. Brendan Burns a Cardiff-based painter has been making paintings of the Pembrokeshire coastline for about fifteen years. Being the first artist-in-residence at Oriel Y Parc is, he says, ‘so exciting because everything is new. It feels important, like you’re part of something major.’ He is thrilled by his proximity to his subject, as until now he has had to make the 100-mile journey home before he began to paint. He is also pleased to have Sutherland’s work in the next room, where he can pop in and refer to it whenever he pleases, and says he particularly draws inspiration from the photographs, drawings and writing in the bequest.
He can’t predict how the residency will affect his work, but says he is starting out by ‘taking walks on new beaches’.
• The work produced by Brendan Burns during his residency at Oriel Y Parc will be shown at Oriel Y Parc or the National Museum in Cardiff, towards the end of 2009.
This week’s environmental hero award goes to Dame Vivienne Westwood. Not only has she created unashamedly fabulous clothes for the last four decades, more about she also wears her heart on her sleeve. Quite literally, viagra buy in the form of a badge with the ubiquitous image of a rebel in a beret. But this is not Che Guevara, but Rembrandt who, according to Viv, was as much a freedom fighter as the Argentine revolutionary.
She explained this at the Art, Activism and the Legacy of Chico Mendes talk at the RSA a couple of nights ago. We were there to find out how art can be used to promote environmental causes. Unfortunately we left none the wiser, other than to have our suspicions confirmed that Dame Viv is slightly bonkers but an extraordinary creative mind (even if she did refer to the president of Guatemala as the ‘boss of the jungle’).
Amongst mutterings on plumbers and the evils of watching too much TV were moments of clarity; ‘Activists and art lovers are the same thing, through active pursuit of art and resistance to propaganda, they stop becoming consumers and start becoming thinkers.’
She seemed to address the point of the discussion more than any of the other panellists who struggled to reach a conclusion as to how the art world can break through the cloud of elitism that surrounds it and communicate social issues, such as environmentalism, to the average Tom, Dick and Harry.
The most striking thing about Viv (apart from the neon hair) was her honest and heartfelt concern for the state of the world. At times this came across as cringingly naïve; ‘we need to get Gordon Brown to pool all the money and buy the jungle.’ But she’s a wise woman who has campaigned for social causes for several years with the same unashamed eccentricity as her clothes. Read how Pinocchio finds art (among other tales) in her manifesto. Monday January 19th
The link between altered states and creative activity is not a novel one, buy more about but altered states is the order of the day for the next few months at Riflemaker. Voodoo “Hoochie Coochie and the Creative Spirit” is an exhibition that draws its artists, writers, and musicians on the common ground that they each recognise the need for altered states to in order to create their work. It begins today and goes through to April. Expect to see the non-doing before the doing …?
Tuesday January 20th
Get Müllerd And Dance – separately known as Jessica Dance and Robert Muller – are a multidisciplinary creative duo who featured in issue 10 with their ‘Crafty Scraves’. Jessica describes their work as, “ playful and using several different mediums, that often experiment with typography and play with the realms of scale and proportion – combining 2D traditional methods with more experimental 3D techniques.”
Their ethos is to have fun with ideas and not worry about the troubles that reality can bring. Creating a moment of escape whilst still communicating a message – evidence of this is in Topshop, Oxford Street, where an installation can be found on the lower ground floor for the next 2 weeks.
Check out a video of the piece being installed here.
The Universal Now, the first London show from Abigail Reynolds, is the new exhibition starting today at Seventeen on Kingsland Road. The work features a series of collages using imagery sourced from publications such as guide books and atlases, combining photographs of landscapes or monuments, and enmeshing them together. What you get is a three dimensional object, a grid-like construction that changes and moves with your perspective, underlining your presence as viewer.
Thursday January 22nd
Transition Gallerycontinues along the theme music and obsession in their new exhibition Too Much is Not Enough. Four artists deal with the delerium of fandom and the darker underbelly of the worn out and deprived celebrity.
Saturday January 24th
In or near Manchester? Today begins Interspecies at the Art Catalyst. All the artists question the one-sided manipulation of non-human life forms for art. They instead try to absorb the animal’s point of view as a fundamental part of their work and practice … I myself have been talking to my cat for years.
Sunday January 25th Indian Highway at the Serpentine has been going for some time now, a multi-media circus of Indian art old and new, with a strong emphasis on film. This Sunday at the Gate cinema they are showing A River Called Titas, an epic depiction of the tragic lives of a small fishing community living on the River Titas. “a raw and powerful tale of a drying river and with it a dying civilisation” says the BFI.
Last Thursday the transportation secretary Geoff Hoons approved BAA’s plans for a third runway at Heathrow. John McDonnell hurled a mace (some sort of ancient hammer) and the villagers of Sipson put their heads in their hands, yet again.
Over the past few months, viagra this ordinary post-war village- that happens to be nestled in the armpit of one of Europe’s largest airports- has had the attention of the world’s media. Thursday’s decision marked a major step towards the expansion of Heathrow Airport. All BAA needs to do now is meet EU standards next year and cross their fingers for a Labour victory at the 2010 election. The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Green Party all promise to scrap plans if elected.
If BAA’s wishes are actualised then the entire village of Sipson and part of neighbouring Harmondsworth will be demolished and replaced with a runway that would increase the airport’s flight capacity by 222, 000 per year. It is estimated that 700 homes will be bulldozed evicting some 2000 people. Undoubtedly it would also flatten the government’s legal commitment to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
Three days after Sky News covered the commons’ decision from the George IV pub, the anti-expansion placards remained clung to lampposts and front doors weather-beaten and worn. One of the more decorated front gardens along the otherwise modest row of houses that runs through the village belongs to Lynn Davies. She kindly invited me in for a cup of tea in between cooking Sunday lunch and what she admitted was ‘long-over-due ironing’.
She apologised for the clutter then, partly out of defiance and partly out of what struck me as exhaustion, explained how she has become less and less concerned about maintaining the house as while the kitchen flooring may need replacing, she thinks ‘why bother? If BAA are going to take my home away from me, which looks likely, it would just be a waste of time and money.’
Mrs Davies lives with her 16- year -old grandson Daryl in the house she bought with her ex-husband 39 years ago. For eleven years previous to this she lived in another house in the village. Her son lives in nearby Eastcote. Her story is not unusual in a village she describes as ‘a community united.’
Ever since she can remember there have been threats to expand the airport whose presence shadows us with the constant hum of low-flying aircraft and the stream of imposing high-rise hotels that runs along the perimeter of the village. But plans were constantly deferred and new ones emplaced that it wasn’t always easy to keep up. Her ex-husband returned home once with a map detailing plans for a runway that would cut strait through their house. When she split from her husband she threw the map out with him. Unfortunately, this would come back to haunt her.
I approached Bryan Sobey’s house with hesitancy as I had heard he had been unwell. I was relieved to be greeted by a robust man in his seventies and his very friendly dog called Dev. I had been pointed in his direction because, as president of the resident’s association, he is a glossary of dates and calculations of the numerous plans for expansion that have been proposed over a 57-year time span.
‘The government don’t know what they are doing,’ he says. Aside from the 700 homes inside Sipson and Harmondsworth, a further 480 homes would need to be demolished in order for the project to be granted EU planning permission. These are the houses either situated so close to any new runway they would sit inside a Public Safety Zone, or in areas that would be subject to noise in the 69-decibel band, which is deemed intolerable. Mr Sobey also points out those houses that would have an airport fence or security wall yards from their front door, these could well number 500 homes. The government has offered no provision for compensation for what could be as many as 2000 people.
Mr Sobey moved to the area in 1951 with his late wife and their twelve-day-old baby. Their home was in one of many new housing developments built to accommodate the Nation’s growing number of young families. He remembers the first airport expansion took place during 1951 and 1952. The resident’s association was set up at the same time-it’s raison d’etre was to prevent airport expansion that would further impose on their new homes.
In the late eighties, tentative expansion plans began to creep to the surface. Then in 1990, a major study was carried out to find out how an increase in flight capacity would impact on society at large as well as on the communities that reside in the expansion area. In 1995, after 5 years of research, the plan was rejected as it was deemed ‘too great a social upheaval’. Yet in 2000, BAA put forward a proposal for a ‘small’ runway. Mr Sobey hastened to add that a small runway would mean landing aircraft would be forced to use powered reverse thrust in order to stop in time. This would contribute to noise pollution and be a massive disturbance to 5000 homes.
At this, he sunk back into his armchair weary and surrounded by small reminders of his late wife whom he ‘misses every minute.’ As I left for the George IV pub, I imagined what the village must have looked like to Mr Sobey and his wife when they first moved here just after The Second World War. Neat rows of bright houses radiating a newly instated optimism.
Over a bitter shandy and a packet of cheese and onion crisps at the pub, I overhead a motley circle of residents discussing Thursday’s decision. ‘Money-grabbers’ ‘liars’ and rather more offensive terms were used to describe Gordon Brown and Geoffrey Hoons.
The future of Sipson is uncertain. Although encased in a cloud of bleak resignation, the village continues it’s fight with the support of numerous activist groups-some of whom are prepared to move into houses in the village if BAA’s expansion reaches the point of evicting people. Greenpeace have bought a patch of land behind the pub further complicating BAA’s plans to buy people out of their homes. There is talk of planting vegetables on the plot of land, which has cheered many villagers. Although it would be a jolly reminder of the countryside that once was, it strikes me that there is something anachronous about a vegetable patch in the midst of an increasingly concrete wilderness that has remained in limbo for over half a century.
Written by Lucy Jones on Monday January 19th, 2009 11:15 am
On Monday evening a collective of artists known as ‘ARTPORT‘ will be supporting The Climate Rush at Heathrow Airport. Hundreds of the capital’s artists are expected to attend bringing with them installations, interventions and performance pieces to accompany the Dinner at Domestic Departures.
As the string quartet plays its first note, picnic blankets will be laid, the dinner guests will reveal their Edwardian dress and enjoy the music and food. A la Carte at the Climate Rush dinner is cheaper train fares instead of short-haul domestic flights, with a delectable accompaniment of better transport hubs and coach links. There will also be higher taxation for airlines according to carbon dioxide emissions to wet one’s appetite for the piece de resistance…a Green New Deal.Yum.
This evening of Edwardian refinement will be all the more enjoyable with the artwork brought by ArtPort, a dynamic and non-hierarchical collective.
A central concern of Artport is to stimulate through entertainment in the hope that a public engaged through humour, imagination and creativity will be more willing to reflect and act upon the problems of today’s world. Public spaces will be accessed and reclaimed in order to find a voice which is often stifled by political and corporate collusion.
Monday’s collaboration will see artists from a host of backgrounds come together with bold, legible pieces, ranging from performance to poetry and installation to illustration. Actors, musicians, painters and writers united by the urgency of action in a deteriorating climate will come together and collectively make themselves heard. The result may well be somewhat cacophonous, but it will be better than silence.
Everyone is welcome to submit work for Artport. Please contact Artport directly at artportist@gmail.com here we will be able give advice regarding logistics, practicalities and legalities, as well as encouragement.
Monday 12th Jan
Starting today: The Voice and Nothing More is a week-long festival at the Slade Research Centre that explores the voice as both medium and subject matter in contemporary arts practices. Established artists and emerging talent will work with leading vocal performers in an exploration of the voice outside language. On Wednesday the festival culminates in a presentation of objects, pilulegeneric performances, order and installations that are open to the public. There will also be performances on Thursday and Friday from 6 pm.
Wednesday 14th Jan
Now in it’s 21st year, recipe the London Art Fair begins at the Design Centre in Islington. A hundred galleries are selected to show work from the last few hundred years. This immense exhibition will encompass sculpture, photography, prints, video and installation art. It ends on the 18th of January.
There is a talk this evening at the ICA entitled Can Art make us Happy? where artists Zoë Walker and Michael Pinsky explore the notions of art as a social cure-all in times of economic and social gloom.
A new solo show from Josephine Flynn begins today at Limoncello on Hoxton Square. The Mexican was bought off a patient who was in hospital with mental health problems. When the patient talked about The Mexican she described how the process of making him had helped her – ‘healing through making’ was how she put it.
Thursday 15th Jan
Feierabend is a collaborative installation between artists Francis Upritchard, Martino Gamper, and Karl Fritsche, bringing together a shared aesthetic in their distinctive approaches to jewellery, furniture design, and sculpture. The exhibition plays with the boundaries of art and real life – looking like a workshop abandoned at the end of a day’s work, or a sitting room left in abstracted dissary, it’s only inhabitants a set of sculpted figures who seem lost in their own meditations. Gimpel Fils opens a new photographic exhbition from Peter Lanyon and Emily-Jo Sargent, 100 Pictures of Coney Island.
The Asphalt World is a new solo show at Studio Voltaire from Simon Bedwell. Drip paintings are made from advertising posters in an ironic twist or corporate seduction.
Feierabend
Friday 16th
There are two exhibitions starting today at Wilkinson on Vyner Street. In Upper Gallery a, Episode III, Enjoy Poverty, is the second in a series of three films by Renzo Martens in which he raises issues surrounding contemporary image making, challenging ideas about the role of film makers and viewers in the construction of documentaries. In the Lower Gallery, there will be the fourth exhibiton from German artist, Silke Schatz. Through the conjunction of video, sculpture, drawing and found objects, Schahtz composes a personal portrait of the city of Agsburg.
Saturday 17th Jan
We featured David Cotterrell in issue ten, where in the picturesque surroundings of Tatton Park, he explained how his visit to Afghanistan, where he was invited by the Wellcome Trust, would be likely to have a lasting effect on his future work. Aesthetic Distance is David Cotterrell’s third solo exhibition with Danielle Arnaud, and focuses on the experiences and inevitable aftermath of a flight he took in November 2007 in a RAF C17, from Brize Norton to Kandahar. He was the sole passenger in a plane loaded with half a million rounds of palletised munitions and medical supplies to join Operation Herrick 7, a strange irony not lost on the artist.
To whomsoever concerned by the biggest threat faced by humanity today-that of climate change,
You are cordially invited to Dinner at Domestic Departures. Join us for an evening of peaceful civil(ised) disobedience ahead of the government’s decision over a third runway at Heathrow. Inspired by the actions of the suffragettes, we will be calling for DEEDS NOT WORDS. The government acknowledges the huge problems we face from Climate Change but they continue with business as usual. This jolly evening is intended to produce much-needed positive change and we do hope that you would join us.
Time: 7pm (when the string quartet plays their first note).
Dress Code: Edwardian Suffragette: high collars, long skirts, fitted jackets, puffed sleeves, think Mary Poppins. Sashes will be provided. * Although advisable, it is not compulsory to arrive in Edwardian dress, the most important thing is that you your friends and family join us for dinner. To add the element of surprise, it is suggested that you arrive in a large coat to conceal your costume until the stroke of 7.
Bring: Jam tarts, scones, cucumber sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, tea cakes. Picnic blankets and table cloths. Tea and elderflower cordial. No alcohol please.
Entertainment: String quartet, art tricks from ArtPort, polite conversation.
We look forward to seeing you,
The Misbehaved Ladies from Climate Rush x
Tuesday 13th January, 6pm
Art, Activism and the legacy of Chico Mendes RSA
8 John Adam Street
London
WC2N 6EZ
Tonight will explore the ways in which the arts can help shift society’s attitudes in the face of unprecedented climate change. Elenira Mendes, daughter of environmental activist Chico Mendes, will talk alongside panelists Jonathan Dove (award-winning composer), Greenpeace’s senior climate adviser, Charlie Kronick and fasion designer and activist Dame Vivienne Westwood.
Wednesday 14th January
Wednesdays Do Matter InSpiral Lounge, 250 Camden High Street NW1 8QS
A night of music, comedy, poetry and film (and really good vegan smoothies!) in aid of global justice campaigners, the World Development Movement. Remind yourselves why everyday matters, even Wednesdays.
Winner of this year’s Grand Jury prize at Sundance and announced as a finalist in 2009 Accademy Awards for Best Documentary. This is one New Orleans’ resident’s depiction of the catastrophic tragedy of Hurricaine Katrina. Shot with a (shakily) handheld camera, Kimberely Roberts’ footage starts from the weekend before the hurricaine and covers a period of a year. Michael Moore collaborators Tia Lessin and Carl Deal edit and append the tapes with their own film of the post-Katrina clean-up effort.An astounding portrayal of resilience and bravery.
Showing at the ICA 12th-15th January
Turning The Season
at The Wapping Project
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
Wapping Wall
London
E1W 3SG
Recent crisp bright skies have been a welcome respite from the usual drab January weather. But who knows what tomorrow may bring. Turning the Season explores the social and cultural phenomenon of the British Season. It would be fair to say that the increasingly visible effects of Climate Change have further fuelled our national fascination with the weather.
Expect 100 bird houses, a roof-top lily pond and a photo story showing the break-up of a relationship against the backdrop of seasonal events shot by fashion photographer Thomas Zanon-Larcher.
Although aimed at swarms of roaring key stage 3 schoolchildren as an educational piece on the issue of deforestation, this production from Palace People’s Projects is a true delight. Set in a traditional village in the Amazon that is eventually swayed by the ghost of Chico Mendes to not fall under the developers’ bulldozers. But not until some devastation has been wreaked first. A socio-political depiction of destruction of the Amazon with a mythical slant. All set to the music and dancing of Forro. An inventive stage (a mammoth man-made tree rather resembling an electrical pole, and pools of water seperating the audience) and brilliantly gaudy costumes by Gringo Cardia.
Seriously energetic post-punk, sequinned and LOUD live act Dead Kids headline. No matter what you think of them on record, they’re sure to grab you live. Continuing the infant name-theme, as well as the intense post-punk sounds are support O Children.
With the ever-winning combo of Japanese girl singing drummer (also to be found as frontwoman for London band Pre) and jangular guitars, this is your best bet for a trendy sceney night out in London.
Tuesday 13th January
Banjo or Freakout single launch party, White Heat @ Madame JoJos, London
Part of the new-wave of ultra-hip, genre-smashing music sweeping the artier corners of the globe at the moment. Should be a celebratory atmosphere as it is his single launch party.
Intimate solo acoustic performance of debut album First Love in full, ahead of its release in February.
Push, Astoria 2, London
A massive farewell party for the Astoria 2 which will be finally demolished on Friday. Catch Cajun Dance Party live as well as DJ sets from Mystery Jets, Lightspeed Champion, Good Shoes and Neon Gold among many others and mourn the demise of the sticky-floored dingy music venue in central London.
Friday 16th January
Cats in Paris, Brassica, Braindead Improv Ensemble, The Woe Betides, George Tavern, London
Massively hyped, bonkers 70s-ish glam-electro from Manchester.
Catch this 9 piece mini-orchestra, complete with mariachi brass, duelling drummers and girl-boy vocals, for their Ennio Morricone-style soundscapes.
I Love Boxie: a web-based business in London that tailors a t-shirt especially for you based on the story you tell them. The most astute of the fashion-conscious clan know that style should reflect your spirit and not merely robotic trends. In light of this; don’t wear your heart on your sleeve– instead wear it on a t-shirt; a Boxie t-shirt.
Here, cure founder of Boxie, troche Moxie shares her views on what fashion is truly about, how her brand works and what she hopes to achieve through her t-shirts:
Tell us the story of I Love Boxie.?
Each t-shirt tells a piece of the way – a place we have been, a person we have seen. We have many lines that fit many situations and could tell a piece of your story too. If not, we offer t-spoke. You call us, tell us a story and we turn it into a line on a t-shirt. We believe everyone in the world should have an unbranded, authentic tee that sings a line of where they have been and what they have seen. We are the opposite of any company who just put a logo on a t-shirt.
?Where does the inspiration for your t-shirts come from?
?From the people who write and call in everyday with their stories. The stories are wild, heartfelt, quiet, poignant and are better than anything we could make up.
What’s the idea behind the “half a conversation” concept?
If you think about branding for the last 30 years it’s been about distillation, reducing everything to a line eg: ‘just do it’ or ‘impossible is nothing’.
Our lines are about provoking expansion. It’s just the first line of the story, or the chapter heading. We want people to come up to someone wearing a Boxie tee – and go ‘wow, what the hell happened to you??’
?
Why do you make it purposefully hard for people to purchase your t-shirts, without contacting you directly first??
The tees are written about stupid, funny, weird, deep moments in people’s lives. All of them from the heart. They feel like they need more exchange than a credit card transaction. T-spoke especially. This is a creative collaboration that begins with the customer telling us their story. It is a strange and wonderful one off encounter between them and us. The t-shirt is their battle scar of that personal story.
Is all your business Internet based? ?
As far as being web based goes, our tees are obviously a form of self expression and there is no greater arena for that than the web. This taps into what a tee originally was – a piece of underwear, something that wasn’t supposed to be seen but kept close to the chest and hidden like a secret.
These days, the web is a place where secrets can step out of the shade, where people can talk about things they wouldn’t usually talk about in real life. Most times, you can learn more about someone from reading their status report than talking to them for an hour in reality, because the web has taught us the language of openness and sharing.
Boxie exists in the ether as part of that fluency. More importantly those web values – openness, sharing, community – are overflowing back into real life now. So, yes, soon we’ll be on the streets in some form, although the tees will never ever be in a retail space, hanging limply on a rack.
Your favourite Boxie T-Shirt to date??
So High and Solo
Any advice for the penniless fashionista?
Everything great creatively comes from being up against it and with no cash. You can’t ever see it when you’re in it but, as far as imagination goes, you are in an infinitely better position than someone with a million dollars. Do something great with this time. And then call us to get the t-shirt. ?
Advice for those wanting to purchase something Boxie??
Write to us directly at moxie@iloveboxie.com
New York is spawning many a catchy-tuned electro based band at the moment – meet The Discoghosts, more about firstly they have a brilliant name, look secondly, approved they do what they say on the tin, this is a disco fest. Their ethos is nicely summed up in their lyrics, “We love ladies and they love us, cos we’re cool and disco plus.”
Otherwise known as M-Boy and Tracky, they meant their album title – BAD – literally it seems, rather than a tribute to the King of 80′s pop, as they are apparently, “trying to break the taboos of “good” music, while playing with clichés of club sound like repetition, climax, stupidity, autofilter, and sound fetishism.” I see.
This album could be the OST to many an 80′s movie – it’s true, it may be the decade that taste forgot but it produced some pretty good tunes – there are obvious Ghostbusters references ie: track 2 being called Ghostbusters Busters and there’s also hints of the Beverley Hills Cop riffs in there, along with and slinky soul beats, electro voices, rubbish rapping and a guy that sounds suspiciously like the chef from South Park…
That’s not to say they’re stuck in the past, their mellower synthetic beats, such as Jellyfish, track 9, have a Hot Chip vibe and that’s not a bad thing at all.
If their aim was to produce an awful album – they failed, maybe it’s just that I have a soft spot/great love for the 80′s but I very much enjoyed this, catchy, listenable songs that don’t take themselves seriously. My favourite line, from Straight but Gayish (sung by a high electro voice), “your boyfriend’s hetro but he looks homo.”
And they dress like this to perform:
How could you not love them?
It was legitimate for us to feel nervous. With indiscreet bullying from BAA and no knowledge as to how the police were planning to receive us, sick we tucked our dresses beneath our over-coats and shuffled through the throngs of intimidating fluorescent jackets at Heathrow Departures, illness passports at the ready and an impromptu conversation about flight times – very subtle. I wish I could have seen the briefing, look out for pretty girls in dresses and large jackets.
Once in, all subtleties were abandoned, a charming sight when the order of the day was Edwardian dress and dinner, an evening of very civil (ised) disobedience. Instruments, top hats, high collars and puffy sleeves – all were revealed as the clock struck seven, the string quartet took to its first note and picnic blankets were unfurled for the beginning of the Climate Rush organized party, Dinner at Domestic Departures.
Music played, food passed cordially from plate to plate, and sashes were handed out. It was not long before currents rippled through the crowd into cheers, claps, and chants, “Deeds Not Words”, “Trains not Planes” and, “No Third Runway”, with a contingency singing to the tune of 90′s classic There’s no Limit. The complete transformation of Zone C was helped along by Artport, a collective of artists working in collaboration with Cilimate Rush to redefine the space as we know it. Green all-in-one clad waiters weaved through the crowd with a planet for a cake and planes for spoons, whilst a parachute game bounced a blow-up earth from edge to edge.
In amidst this electric and elevating atmosphere, it was a spectacular delivery of a serious message. Climate Change is a very real threat and many people feel let down by the powers that be to address this threat.
We don’t want a third runway and call for cheaper train fares and better transport hubs instead of domestic short-haul flights. It is of course just part of a bigger picture: the greater threat of Climate Change of which aviation expansion is just a part, and the wider feelings of concern and dissatisfaction amongst citizens for whom civil disobedience is also, just a part.
Written by Luisa Gerstein on Tuesday January 13th, 2009 2:47 pm
Fifteen typefaces designed for commercial use, seek 2010 (A2-TYPE, doctor London)
On a bitingly chilly but sunny Saturday afternoon, sildenafil I sauntered down to the A2/SW/HK design studio in the heart of Hoxton to meet Henrik Kubel, one half of the talented A2/SW/HK duo. With a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it entrance, the studio is housed on the third floor of an old textile warehouse, exuding understated coolness. On entering, I feel as if I have reached some kind of design nirvana where the huge windows splash a radiant bright light onto the pristine white walls, furniture and Macs. I quickly glance around the room to see work tops sprawled with rolled up papers and intricate-looking sketches; a vintage Remington Standard typewriter nestles comfortably amongst a collection of art titles on the glossy white shelves – the mother of type. Standing tall and smart-nonchalantly dressed in a well-fitted navy blue jacket with a thin red trimming, off-white shirt and faded blue jeans, Kubel looks picture-perfect in his surroundings.
Zadie Smith: On Beauty, 2005—06 (Penguin Books, New York); hardback and paperback cover designs including bespoke typefaces
For typography and branding enthusiasts, viewing the latest A2/SW/HK typeface collection that recently launched online is the equivalent of setting a restrained, hyperactive child free in a sweet shop. Spanning over 15 years of work, the array of fonts range from the delicate, swirling Zadie, commissioned by Penguin Books New York for the US version of the novel On Beauty by Zadie Smith (hence the name), to the heavier, more robust Impacto, which cuts a dashing and authorative figure, as its name suggests. Similar to walking into a department store to choose an appropriate outfit for a function, A2/SW/HK have meticulously crafted a typeface for every occasion, depending on the message and feeling the consumer would like to convey.
The impressive collection comprises of 15 typefaces, many of which have multiple weights (fonts), with each font containing 256 characters. Overall, there are 53 fonts to marvel at totaling 13,568 individual glyphs (these include all members of the alphabet, diacritics, numbers, symbols and punctuations).
Psycho Buildings, 2008 (Hayward Gallery, London); art direction, bespoke typefaces and design
The typefaces were previously designed for bespoke projects across various media platforms including print, screen and interiors, however, the launch of the collection in their entirety means that, for the first time ever, the fonts are available for general use. “The typefaces can be used for any type of advertising now; even by two different fashion brands if they want,” says Kubel. “A typeface can work for many people in different ways, depending on who the creative director is and how they choose to use it. You’d be surprised at how many times a single typeface can be used to present different meanings for different jobs.”
Lisson Gallery, 2008 (Lisson Gallery, London); redesign of existing identity
Although A2/SW/HK is essentially a two-man strong team, don’t be fooled by their size. Formed in 2000, the pair have worked with a number of leading national and international clients, providing design consultancy, art direction, brand identity, website design and bespoke typography. Their recent client list includes Hayward Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Tate, Design Museum London, Phaidon Press, Faber & Faber, Penguin Press New York, Royal Mail, Danish Post, Vogue UK and MoMA. “I don’t see ourselves in the category of a small business,” says Kubel. “We are a creative design studio and it doesn’t matter whether we are ten people or two people. If you look at big businesses, they might have a work force of fifteen people but from a creative point of view there’s only two. We’re very self-sufficient.”
Fabric of Fashion, 2001 (British Council, London); bespoke typefaces and design
Born in Denmark, Kubel was exposed to art from an early age (his mother was an artist and encouraged painting) and developed a passion for type at the age of eleven when he discovered graffiti. In 1997, after graduating from Denmark’s Design School in Copenhagen, Kubel moved to London to do his Masters at the Royal College of Art where he met his design and business partner Scott Williams. “When Scott and I graduated, we just thought ‘lets do our own thing’ which is ridiculous now come to think of it. We had no network, no clients, no idea of anything – all we had was our creativity.” Yet following their graduation, with minimal resources, their gritty determination and hard work led to them being selected by highly acclaimed visual communications magazine Creative Review to feature in their annual ‘Creative Futures’ show, an initiative showcasing the most promising graduates to watch from across the country.
Radical Fashion, 2001 (V&A Museum, London); art direction, bespoke typefaces and design
Although Kubel downplays his and Williams’ achievement, attributing their selection by Creative Review to ‘just luck’, it is clear the raw talent that the duo possessed was enough to capture the attention of a representative at the British Council who subsequently signed them up to their first ever commission. “We ran a very successful project called Fabric of Fashion in 2001 and at the opening of the show, we met one of the editors who worked at the V&A so landed our next stint, which was about radical fashion – it was all very exclusive.” Post-radical fashion, more commissions ensued and as word got out of the duo’s work and their creative circles widened, their client list began to grow.
With an eclectic (and damn cool) portfolio which includes the cover design and bespoke typefaces for the complete works of Samuel Beckett (2009-2010; commissioned by Faber and Faber), sheet and typeface designs for Ian Fleming’s James Bond limited edition stamps (2008; commissioned by Royal Mail UK), and the ‘Reading Room’ exhibition design and print campaign for the Turner Prize Exhibition (2002-2007; commissioned by Tate Britain), which also made the front page of The Independent, to name a few, it is a collaboration with Margaret Calvert, an old tutor of Kubel’s at the Royal College of Art, on the New Rail Alphabet, which he names as being one of his career highlights. A revival of the British Rail alphabet originally designed by Calvert in 1965, which was used nationwide with British Rail, BAA and the NHS, was digitised, updated and re-launched in 2009 with a family of six weights.
New Rail Alphabet, 2009 (A2-TYPE, London); typeface in six weights; designed in close collaboration with Margaret Calvert
Despite a well-decorated mantelpiece, complacency is not something that festers within the fabric of Kubel’s work ethic. “We may have achieved a lot but it doesn’t get any easier. You’re always judged by your last piece of work and I’m worried about looking back at my career and not being happy with the work I’ve produced.” He pauses briefly before calmly adding: “But there are only a few pieces that I feel this way about. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the work we’ve done and don’t mind looking back.”
Ian Fleming’s James Bond, 2008 (Royal Mail, UK); miniature sheet design and bespoke typeface
The weekend that I meet Kubel, he is in particularly fine form. Earlier in the week, he received news that he had been awarded a three-year working grant by the Danish Art Foundation, which is one of the most sought for and prestigious working grants awarded by the Nordic country for exceptional quality of artistic production and artistic talent. Kubel has worked almost non-stop over the past decade, and the grant means that he can now afford to invest some time in himself, creating more headspace for new ideas. “I shed a tear when I found out and called my mom; imagine how proud she is?” he says with a content but tired smile.
Turner Prize Exhibition design, 2002—07 (Tate Britain, London); art direction, design and bespoke typeface
In an industry which constantly strives to be ‘achingly hip’ and ‘cutting-edge’, A2/SW/HK’s approach to their work is refreshingly non-pretentious, which is what many of their clients may find appealing. “It’s the thinking and sensibility behind the solutions that makes us strong. I don’t see us as being ‘trendy’ but I don’t see us as being ‘old fashioned’ either – we are probably somewhere in between,” Kubel expresses. “We don’t work to trends, we work on what we feel best complements our clients’ brand values.”
Ergonomics — Real Design, 2009—2010 (Design Museum, London); exhibition identity, applied graphics and brochure including bespoke display typeface; exhibition design by Michael Marriot; photography courtesy of Luke Hayes & A2/SW/HK
In the design and communication industries, the choice of type may have many different connotations and certain typefaces are chosen to represent a brand because they effectively embody the product’s philosophy. This may, in turn, help to explain why we have a certain affinity for some brands more than others. For A2/SW/HK, understanding this psychological aspect of branding is the crux of their trade. “Typography is hugely important. Everything you look at contains letters – it’s used for direction, it’s used for instruction, it’s everywhere. If you can’t read and write you’re lost, aren’t you? That’s what binds society together, it’s communication.”
In a market that already contains 200,000 typefaces, does Kubel think there will be a day when the typeface market will be saturated and there will be no more typefaces to explore? “It’s already saturated but that doesn’t mean you should stop designing. It’s been said many times before, we need new films, new music, new exhibitions, new chairs, new painters and we need new typefaces.”
Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era, 2005 (Tate Liverpool); art direction, design and bespoke typeface
During the course of the interview, Kubel shows me some of his sketch books, a collection of sketches and scribbles, images torn out of newspapers/magazines, and various other eclectic items which looks like an art project in itself. “It’s very personal but this is how I keep my inspiration and ideas,” he says. As we talk at his spotless white ‘consultation’ table, there is a moment when I mentally take a snapshot of him casually drawing a letter ‘R’ with a graphite pencil on a sheet of paper in front of him. The letter is so perfectly formed that it looks as if it has been produced with a Letraset font style pack, with angles and lines drawn like a ruler has been pressed against their edges – I couldn’t help but comment. “People say that if you spend 10,000 hours on something, you become a master…,” he coolly replies. “…I’ve probably spent 8,000 drawing typefaces.”
A2/SW/HK Process AGI Poster, 2010
Typography Workshop Posters, 2000—06 (Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College); posters (40+ in series)
Kubel strikes me as somewhat of a paradoxical figure, humble yet self-assured, content yet massively ambitious. Speaking of his life prior to London, he says: “I remember when I was at the Danish Design School and we visited the Royal College (of Arts) and I knew I wanted to get in. I knew I wanted to go to London, learn the language and find someone to set up a design studio with. I was very naïve.” Naïve he may have been but in effect, he has achieved everything he set out to do – and then some. Having realised his dream of studying at the Royal College of Arts, he now teaches at the world-renowned institution twice a month. “My students are scarily talented – I am teaching my competitors of the future but I was taught there myself. The Royal College means a lot to me and I will give back as much as I can for as long as I can.”
Cold War Modern, Design 1945—1970, 2008 (V&A Museum, London); art direction and bespoke typefaces
As our interview draws to a close, and my mind is buzzing with more questions about typefaces and I entertain myself with the thought that on some level, humans and fonts are quite similar in relation to their variety, heritage and what they stand for, I ask Kubel which font he thinks would best describe him. He ponders for a moment, cocking his head to one side and glances out of the window onto the terrace, which is beginning to speckle with raindrops, to gather his thoughts. “You’d have to put a lot of typefaces together to describe me; I’m not one, I’m very broad,” he says with a glimmer of mischief in his eye. “I draw all styles, from very eclectic to very bland; it’s me and my personality. I’m a chameleon typeface.”
The new A2/SW/HK typeface collection is now available online and can be found here.
A2/SW/HK have also teamed up with Playtype who will releasing additional fonts from the A2/SW/HK library in December 2010.
Written by Kat Phan on Tuesday November 2nd, 2010 10:10 pm
