Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention
Miss Suzy P at the NUDE stall
It was a well-attended affair in Victoria Baths, Manchester at the weekend, held within a handsome Victorian swimming palace, now ongoing restoration project and community hub. Both the Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention and FutureEverything Handmade maker fair set up shop to provide a double-whammy, with associated art installations, live performance, screenings and workshops. It’s been a while since I was last in the building and the continuing repairs are looking spectacular.
Zine and print booty
I made the classic mistake of failing to do a full perambulation of the zine stalls, the primary purpose of my trip, before deciding upon what to buy. This meant that I ran out of money by the half-way point, but I still bagged a rich haul of booty in the process. I’m especially pleased with a series of geometric hand-pulled prints from artist Catherine Chialton, the work of local collectives OWT Creative and Ultimate Holding Company, plus the discovery of the waspish and well-written queer zine Pink Mince.
Antony Hall: Physical Oscillators
I sat and chatted with my oldest pal Suzy P (we went to University in Newcastle together, back when Jesus was a lad), who was there to represent her print baby NUDE; an independent magazine she edits with her partner Ian Lowey, covering alt-culture, indie, retro, design, music, comics and a whole lot more besides. I wrote a feature on Lomography for their very first issue. I’m pleased to say she had a great day – check out their exclusive Rachel Ortas Ai Ai creature prints, only a few remaining!
Antony Hall: Physical Oscillators
Over in the Gala Pool, VB Arts hosted an installation by local resident and artist Antony Hall, Physical Oscillators, continuing his research into oscillators to generate sound and visible patterns in a new kinetic artwork. Using the gyroscopic action of motors and fans to create a sensory walkthrough environment reflecting the behavior of small swimming or flying insects, visitors could descend the steps into the dry pool and walk amongst fan assisted blue-blurred pendulums.
Antony Hall: Wave Pendulum
In the antechamber to the café, Wave Pendulum consisted of a series of simple kitchen jars filled with water, lids firmly attached and strung from the ceiling at equal spacing. An invigilator used a plank of wood to push them off in a generous sideswing, following which a morphing waveform emerged that at first appeared ordered, snakelike even, but then increasingly abstracted. It put me in mind of the forthcoming group show Constellations at my new employment, Cornerhouse, which responds to movement, ephemerality and chance, but more on that in another post…
Purple Polly
Purple Polly is a proposal submitted to the Summer 2010 round of the Umbro Industries creative grants, who dish out up to 10k each quarter for innovation in Manchester across art, culture, music, fashion and 'other'. Heh. It's quite unlike anything I've attempted to pitch before, but why not ? During the last round I made the shortlist but didn't get invited to interview. I didn't mind - I was fortunate to find a partner to make it happen anyway. This one is a little different. I very definitely need to call in the professionals! More information and a project outline over at the official site where votes and comments (nice ones) will help, but are not essential. Hint.
Hazard MMX
On Saturday 17th July outbreaks of hazardous behaviour will once again be unleashed upon Manchester City Centre and live guerilla art returned to the streets for the third hit-and-run. Cheeky, thought-provoking and sometimes raunchy sprees of eccentricity, look for a flash of yellow and black which should just be enough to give the game away... appearing alongside my own Scratch 'n Sniff pop-up cinema will be Eggs Collective (The March of 100 Dorothys), Alex Bradley (All the demos I've ever been on), Astrid Breel (The Dating Game), Jordan McKenzie (Monsieur Finds Himself Up Queer Street), The Muffia (Ask the question), Clare Charnley (Splat), Hannah Wiles (Beeline), Larkin' About (Various) and many more. See you there. Now scatter! Full programme.
Digital and Creative Futures
Kid Carpet
I've been producing an event on behalf of FutureEverything in partnership with Vision+Media as a follow-up to the extremely popular City Debate. Taking place on Thursday 1st July, the final few tickets for Digital and Creative Futures can be snapped up for no cost for anyone with an interest in cross-discipline discussion and ideas relating to the future of our cities, technological advancement and alternative methods by which we assess and interpret the world around us.
FutureEverything
Featuring Professor Steve Furber, Millennium Technology Prize Laureate and principal designer of the ubiquitous ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor discussing 'The Relentless March of the Microchip', plus the political fist-of-thistles that is commentator and writer Gerry Hassan, addressing the dismal failure of ideologies: 'After the Century of Isms: What is the Future of the Future?' Kid Carpet will be providing an injection of kiddy punk upon poundshop instruments finishing off with a rapid-fire Unconference intended to tap into themes raised upon the day.
© Sosolimited: Prime Numerics
Installations on site will include the jaw-dropping beauty of Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir, Sosolimited's Prime Numerics mash-up of the final televised general election debate and Aaron Koblin's hand picked selection of the best in data visualisation. And all in the shadow of Salford's answer to Dubai, the emerging creative hub of Media City. Don't say I didn't tell you about it.
Sun Screen
Screenfields at Spinningfields Manchester / image: Jason Lock
My post on Manchester's Summer screening treats has appeared over at Creative Tourist (minus any mention whatsoever of the World Cup shenanigans, whoops). I wasn't a fan of Screenfields in the first year of operation, still mistakenly billed as the city's first outdoor cinema, but now I most definitely am as the march of the wooden market sheds trumpets the further expansion of retail into what little public space remains. And don't even get me started on the Big Wheel (spot the sly dig in the write-up). Sure, it's all part of a wider marketing campaign but still a valuable asset and one that should be supported. Pick a favourite from the schedule and get down there if you can.
Feed me!
Ugo Rondinone: Moonrise
Not enough public art has the capacity to invoke fear of waking nightmares formed of putty clay.... hungry lookin' putty clay at that... Public Plaza, 555 Mission SF.