Photograph courtesy of Ctrl.Alt.Shift.
Ctrl.Alt.Shift is a seriously cool experimental youth initiative dedicated to politicising a new generation of activists for social justice and global change. Last time I heard of them, link they were organising a comic book themed talk at the ICA Comica festival. Using creativity, price photography, film, stories, illustrations and music, it aims to give a voice to the silent majority- meaning you and I, dear artistic and socially motivated Amelia’s readers! On January 7th, experimental youth movement Ctrl.Alt.Shift will become the first charity to venture onto newsagent mainstream shelves with the release of its own bi-annual magazine – Ctrl.Alt.Shift: The Corruption Issue.
All photographs Adrian Nettleship
It’s hot stuff! Spanning 84 pages, the launch of Ctrl.Alt.Shift: The Corruption Issue will focus on corruption as both a key cause of poverty and the barrier to overcoming it, and represents an ongoing attempt by the organization to bring a marginalized social and political agenda back into mainstream rhetoric. Including a satirical fashion shoot inspired by Guantanamo Bay, and drawing on comment and work from contemporary artists such as V V Brown and Sarah Maple, the magazine taps into popular culture to provoke debate and counter apathy amongst its audience of 18 – 25 year olds.
Highlights of the issue include the artist Sarah Maple; described by The Independent on Sunday as ‘the heir to Tracy Emin‘s throne’, Maple unveils a bespoke piece of work influenced by corruption and sex. Richard Shoyemi looks at how Asda’s new Asian range will inspire a generation of fashionistas for the Culture club section of the magazine. There is an interview with Tim Westwood as the Radio 1 DJ talks marrying music, activism, and why he wouldn’t take Pimp My Ride to Palestine. Freelance journalist and Middle East expert Ben White is the author of Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide. White breaks down the language of corruption for the magazine. There is also Riz Ahmed; fresh from appearing alongside Jude Dench in the movie Rage, the actor and MC finds time to give his take on the effects of corruption. Ctrl.Alt.Shift’s Face the Music unearths the sounds which are making it big in Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and beyond. There will be a goody two shoes feature on how Brazilian shoe company Melissa and designer Vivienne Westwood have met in ethical style heaven. And there is ‘Murder he wrote’, an investigative feature into honor killing in India.
We love the fact that the magazine puts what it preaches into action. It’s well known that magazines add to the pollution issue we all now face; printed on completely uncoated paper using vegetable ink, the magazine is completely biodegradable and has a cover price of £3.95. It is available from most WHSmith stores, as well as www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk/magazine
Katrin Owusu, Head of Youth Marketing and Innovations at Ctrl.Alt.Shift and Chantelle Fiddy, Editor of Ctrl.Alt.Shift Magazine tell Amelia’s art editor Valerie Pezeron about their exciting new venture.
Valerie Pezeron: It’s a very brave act of faith to launch a magazine at a time when the industry is experiencing economic problems. Why should people buy your magazine?
Katrin Owusu: Ctrl.Alt.Shift: The Corruption Issue is inclusive, broad and at times controversial; with content ranging from a fashion-shoot inspired by Guantanemo Bay, to Sarah Maple creating art inspired by sex and corruption, to the music which is making the charts in Afghanistan. We hope the magazine will reach out to people who wouldn’t traditionally be interested in politics or current affairs, and encourage those people out of their comfort zones and into action.
VP: I love Ctrl.Alt.Shift and you guys are really setting the bar really high!
Chantelle Fiddy: It’s a real accomplishment to have produced a magazine that takes on board third sector objectives yet sits happily alongside consumer titles. Having had the freedom to explore new ways to package stories on global and social injustice, from Tim Westwood talking about activism to looking at the work of ethical shoe company Melissa and highlighting trends from around the world, we’ve resulted in something of a first (for the charity sector).
VP: So the new year is commencing with a bang?
CF: It’s the icing on the cake for what’s been an amazing eighteen months for Ctrl.Alt.Shift!
Run to the shops now, there aren’ t that many original magazines with a conscience out there…besides Amelia, of course!
Photograph courtesy of Ctrl.Alt.Shift.
Ctrl.Alt.Shift is a seriously cool experimental youth initiative dedicated to politicising a new generation of activists for social justice and global change. Last time I heard of them, medications they were organising a comic book themed talk at the ICA Comica festival. Using creativity, try photography, film, stories, illustrations and music, it aims to give a voice to the silent majority- meaning you and I, dear artistic and socially motivated Amelia’s readers! On January 7th, experimental youth movement Ctrl.Alt.Shift will become the first charity to venture onto newsagent mainstream shelves with the release of its own bi-annual magazine – Ctrl.Alt.Shift: The Corruption Issue.
Photograph by Luke Miley
It’s hot stuff! Spanning 84 pages, the launch of Ctrl.Alt.Shift: The Corruption Issue will focus on corruption as both a key cause of poverty and the barrier to overcoming it, and represents an ongoing attempt by the organization to bring a marginalized social and political agenda back into mainstream rhetoric. Including a satirical fashion shoot inspired by Guantanamo Bay, and drawing on comment and work from contemporary artists such as V V Brown and Sarah Maple, the magazine taps into popular culture to provoke debate and counter apathy amongst its audience of 18 – 25 year olds.
All other photographs by Adrian Nettleship
Highlights of the issue include the artist Sarah Maple; described by The Independent on Sunday as ‘the heir to Tracy Emin‘s throne’, Maple unveils a bespoke piece of work influenced by corruption and sex. Richard Shoyemi looks at how Asda’s new Asian range will inspire a generation of fashionistas for the Culture club section of the magazine. There is an interview with Tim Westwood as the Radio 1 DJ talks marrying music, activism, and why he wouldn’t take Pimp My Ride to Palestine. Freelance journalist and Middle East expert Ben White is the author of Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide. White breaks down the language of corruption for the magazine. There is also Riz Ahmed; fresh from appearing alongside Jude Dench in the movie Rage, the actor and MC finds time to give his take on the effects of corruption. Ctrl.Alt.Shift’s Face the Music unearths the sounds which are making it big in Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and beyond. There will be a goody two shoes feature on how Brazilian shoe company Melissa and designer Vivienne Westwood have met in ethical style heaven. And there is ‘Murder he wrote’, an investigative feature into honor killing in India.
We love the fact that the magazine puts what it preaches into action. It’s well known that magazines add to the pollution issue we all now face; printed on completely uncoated paper using vegetable ink, the magazine is completely biodegradable and has a cover price of £3.95. It is available from most WHSmith stores, as well as www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk/magazine
Katrin Owusu, Head of Youth Marketing and Innovations at Ctrl.Alt.Shift and Chantelle Fiddy, Editor of Ctrl.Alt.Shift Magazine tell Amelia’s art editor Valerie Pezeron about their exciting new venture.
Valerie Pezeron: It’s a very brave act of faith to launch a magazine at a time when the industry is experiencing economic problems. Why should people buy your magazine?
Katrin Owusu: Ctrl.Alt.Shift: The Corruption Issue is inclusive, broad and at times controversial; with content ranging from a fashion-shoot inspired by Guantanemo Bay, to Sarah Maple creating art inspired by sex and corruption, to the music which is making the charts in Afghanistan. We hope the magazine will reach out to people who wouldn’t traditionally be interested in politics or current affairs, and encourage those people out of their comfort zones and into action.
VP: I love Ctrl.Alt.Shift and you guys are really setting the bar really high!
Chantelle Fiddy: It’s a real accomplishment to have produced a magazine that takes on board third sector objectives yet sits happily alongside consumer titles. Having had the freedom to explore new ways to package stories on global and social injustice, from Tim Westwood talking about activism to looking at the work of ethical shoe company Melissa and highlighting trends from around the world, we’ve resulted in something of a first (for the charity sector).
VP: So the new year is commencing with a bang?
CF: It’s the icing on the cake for what’s been an amazing eighteen months for Ctrl.Alt.Shift!
Run to the shops now, there aren’ t that many original magazines with a conscience out there…besides Amelia, of course!
All photographs courtesy of Amy Hughes
Hiding in the loo from the conductor; tearing your hair out at awkward crossword clues; playing I-Spy; attempting to mop up spilt coffee with a balled-up bus ticket – there are a multitude of ways to pass the time on a mammoth journey, erectile not all of them particularly productive. For Joanna Tinsley, story though, gazing out of the windows of trains as they zig-zagged across Japan on a visit to her brother last September ignited an initiative that last weekend saw hundreds of Bristolians pack their picnics and head out into the snow.
“The Love of It started, as all good ideas do, with a list,” Jo recalls. “I wrote down a list of everything I loved doing: road trips, wild swimming, picnics, telling stories, playing Scrabble, night-walking and star gazing, climbing hills and camping, spending time with friends. It dawned on me that there wasn’t one single place that brought all these things together – so I decided to make one!”
And so began The Love of It, which Jo describes as “the source of all knowledge on good, wholesome fun.” Jo and her blossoming team of international editors seek out, promote and organise community-based events and activities of the frolicsome (and usually free) variety, from rickshaw road trips to Scrabble tournaments to – for the especially thick of skin – outdoor Boxing Day dips. After just its first fortnight, The Love of It had even had a hand in forging the Bristol chapter of the Cardboard Tube Fighting League.
“I started thinking about the all the movements that have gathered momentum recently – the slow movement, downsizing, growing your own food, green living, freeconomy, the resurgence of crafts and pervasive gaming, wild swimming and cool camping,” says Jo of her motivation for kicking off The Love of It, “and I began to think that what underpins many of these movements is the idea that doing something creative, just for fun, makes you happier. It’s the idea that spending time with the people you love, joining a community, sharing skills, making things and playing out is not only part of a more eco-friendly way to live but is a surefire way to feeling good. Or, on a more casual level, that every now and then doing something random, creative and just for the love of it can help you chill out after a busy week.”
The south west’s big chill was thawed on Sunday at Bristol’s Biggest Indoor Picnic, the event that marked the official launch of The Love of It and invited the people of Bristol to bring their hammocks, board games and cucumber sandwiches in from the cold. Jo called on the likes of Lucy and Lucy of positive psychology art workshop organisation Light Box ; the monster-making flair of Stuffed Nonsense; Cloth magazine; and long-time collaborator and Bath’s Magic Lantern film club founder Kerry to bring their skills and enthusiasm to the Indoor Picnic. The result was an afternoon of treasure hunts, International Homemade Hobnob Day nibbles , fabric fight-offs, mass Twister contests and bubble-blowing competitions. And this is only the beginning…
“Project 2010 is a series of 52 challenges to help you live for the love of it,” says Jo. “We plan to include such fun projects as having a monster swap (making a quirky little critter and sending them on adventures around the world) and pimping a board game (human Monopoly anyone?). Oodles of fun!
“Our main aim is to make 2010 the year you live for the love of it. We’d like to help people focus on all the little things that make us feel happy (building dens, skimming stones, conker fights) and spend less time worrying about the big things that keep us awake at night.”
Categories ,activities, ,art, ,bristol, ,camping, ,Cloth magazine, ,community-based events, ,craft, ,film club, ,Indoor Picnic, ,Light Box, ,Magic Lantern, ,outdoor, ,positive psychology art workshop organisation, ,The Love of It
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