Bren O'Callaghan » built environment

Purple Polly

bren — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:53:37 +0000

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

bren — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:47:12 +0000

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

bren — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:55:21 +0000

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.

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

bren — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 18:05:55 +0000

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!

bren — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:48:00 +0000

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.

Tales of Two Cities

bren — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:27:48 +0000

With an OCD fury not seen since the woman in the Shake 'n Vac advert ground her Valium and mixed it with a glug of Bacardi, I've been plugging the cracks in this site and pasting up former production duties with a vengeance. My personal favourites A Wall is a Screen now have a page to themselves, as do the rapidly expanding MegaPhone team - flying the flag for those of us who see no reason why computer games should progress beyond the Atari era. Once upon a festival, The Light Surgeons conjured up a storm in a Gothic salon and The Royal Opera House treat us to no fewer than twelve outdoor relays in the past five years.

Architectural Punch Bowl

bren — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:02:27 +0000

Having missed the opportunity to attend Alcoholic Architecture (a walk-in cocktail fog of vaporised gin and tonic), Futurist Aerobanquet and Hendrick’s Horseless Carriage of Curiosities, there was no way I could pass up the chance to sample the latest culinary creation of Bompas & Parr (co-conspirators in this year’s summer silliness). Courvoisier's Architectural Punch Bowl was billed as the world’s largest cocktail, inspired by grandiose gestures of old by eminent gentry who really knew how to throw an OTT knees-up.

The Decontamination Chamber

Tickets sold out fast, but at a reasonable £6.50 for a one-off experience with drinks thrown in proved exceptional value. After hopping on a train south (as ever, it was to be in London, hosted in the bowels of 33 Portland Place – a Victorian mansion favoured by the celebrity party set and location of Amy Winehouse’s music video for Rehab), I met up with my pal Suzy P, creator/editor of counter-culture magazine Nude and bible of all things offbeat.

Positive discrimination... dirty beards, dirty!

Staff were dressed in surgical whites and requested visitors to sign a medical disclaimer before entry was allowed. I was tickled by a very specific question about whether or not we had recently suffered a seeping ear infection, which led to unhelpful throughts about cheese-like crumbling or projectile squirting. Having ticked NO to all, we passed through to the scrubs room, there to be disinfected and dressed in disposable pinnies, hairnets and beard snoods for those who required them.

HRH Suzy, Queen Ribenaberry

A strong scent of booze wafted through the entire building, the source being the adjacent games room and our ultimate destination. Here a small crowd had gathered, similarly attired, around the star attraction: a giant pool accessed by steps glowing a deep, regal purple, containing an estimated 4,000 litres of adult pop - enough for 25,000 servings. Lit by sunk lamps and garnished with radio-controlled lily pads laden with plastic fruits, we were served a generous glass directly from the waters while I eagerly signed up for the lucky dip… the chance to take a punt across the surface.

: My life on the ocean wave

It wasn’t long before my name was called and I gingerly stepped up and onto a raft in the shape of a man-sized slice of orange. Long suppressed ambitions to appear on The Crystal Maze bubbled to the surface as I propelled myself across the waters using a system of ropes installed at head-height, with no purpose other than sheer bloody wonderment at straddling a giant plastic citrus fruit.

Tea break at the Mr Kipling factory

All profits from the 3-day installation are to be donated to Article 25, a UK registered charity that designs, builds and manages projects to provide better shelter wherever there is disaster, poverty or need.

Magical, inspirational and completely unforgettable.

Places of Public Resort

bren — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Pending confirmation of the technical wizardry required to pull this sort of project together, I’ve received the full support of the folk at the North West Film Archive in plundering the 15,373 news and feature stories recorded to 9,763 cans of 16mm film and magnetic track containing items inserted into live studio shows at BBC North between 1973 - 1986. The archivists will be helping me to select content relating to those moments and occasions when large crowds descend upon Places of Public Resort

Initially intended as a response to the development of a new public plaza on the banks of the River Mersey, I began thinking about the authoritarian fear of large crowds when - in direct contradiction - footfall or turnstile numbers are massaged and multiplied beyond recognition to quantify success for outdoor activity or civic projects. Either we stay at home playing LardArse 5: Colonic Assault, berated for not dusting off our fringed parasols, or we’re being accused of loitering with intent for tying our shoelaces.

I’m old enough to remember the former Belle Vue Fairground and Zoological Gardens in Manchester, live not far from the former White City Amusement Park, attended with my parents and a then-unbelievable 250,000 others the Pope’s visit to Heaton Park, recall the long-derelict International Garden Festival site in Liverpool and hanker for Great Exhibition styled opportunities to wonder - point - pay homage - peer and gather en masse without having to source legal representation in advance.

Don’t you?