Bren O'Callaghan » curated

Curious Pursuits: open call

bren — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:45:23 +0000

Art Historian Collective Porter & Jenkinson are looking for artists and writers for their first exhibition, Curious Pursuits, at the Portico LIbrary and Gallery Manchester from February 2nd - 29th 2012. Artists are invited to respond to the idea and aesthetics of Victorian Dark Societies, the Curious and the Peculiar. Submissions are welcome from the following that wish to exhibit work fitting this theme: illustrators, printmakers, painters, zine makers, writers, book binders, photographers, sculptors and I imagine anyone working in any mediums not listed also! More information here. I've had a pop myself with some micro fiction but hurry as there are only 24 hours left before the end-of-year deadline!

Sketch-O-Matic call for artists

bren — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:56:32 +0000

In an age of buy to invest instead of buy what you like, the making of Art has been torn from human hands as mass-multiple prints flood the high street. Instead, the buying of art is seen as rarefied and reserved for a wealthy few. Sketch-O-Matic is a full size photo booth situated in the busy ground floor café-bar at Cornerhouse, Manchester's' international centre for contemporary visual art and film. But where the machinery should be is a tiny, fully equipped artist studio.

You the public are invited to sit inside the booth as if for a photograph and make a donation to an artist through an anonymous slot in return for a self-portrait. Wait five minutes (give or take) and the image will appear in the side wall, accompanied by the warm blast of a travel hairdryer. If you hanker for that still-wet sensation, they may even lick it for you. It could be a pencil drawing, doodle, cartoon, collage or even word-poem. Take it, frame it, consider it. Now you are both patron and muse!

Launching for Art Night on Thursday 24th November until Sunday 4th December 2011. News of additional activity including film screening and Cornerhouse Projects exhibition to follow. Please see booth for timings.

ARTISTS WANTED!

North-West and Manchester based artists are required to join our Sketch-O-Matic rota in one-hour slots. Lunchtime slots (1 - 2pm) and evening slots (6pm - 10pm). We're looking for pencil drawings, pastels, watercolours, illustrators, cartoonists, cubists, doodlers, poets (for word portraits), collage, ink-blot, dried pasta decoupage and just about any zany or straight-laced style you can imagine... as long as it can be dashed off in approximately 5 minutes. There is, I'm afraid, one exception. No caricaturists. We don't want anyone to walk away feeling crappy about themselves because you've managed to exaggerate a slight mole into a volcanic eruption on the scale of Eyjafjallajökull. Please contact bren@cornerhouse.org or via this website if you'd like to take part!

Santa in Space

bren — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 23:07:38 +0000

There doesn't seem to be much on in Manchester by way of alternative seasonal fare this year, which is no great surprise. Sure, the Christmas Markets are bigger than ever, the ice rinks are multiplying and the most imaginative grotto experience for children appears to involve being plonked in front of an overpriced plate of sausage, chips and beans in Santa's dining hall. One saving grace is the news of a pop-up artist's collective shop in the Northern Quarter, Grotto, which I'll be making a beeline for this weekend. Spurred into action by the lack of imagination, IABF have allowed me use of their venue to host a Yuletide reading event... with a difference.

Instead of Victorian ghost stories or Dickensian gloom, we'll be reading from vintage pulp sci-fi and speculative fiction. Hopefully this might inject that sense of awe, majesty and wonder so sorely lacking. Christmas on alien worlds? You betcha. Warring high-tech toys? Tick. The true meaning of the holidays as interpreted by a sentient Cidorian jellyfish? It's all there. Tickets for Swamp Planet Christmas: Seasonal Stories from Outer Space are now on sale at only £3 and limited in number, the price simply covering some basic costs, so join us on Thursday 16th December at 6.30pm for a glass of wine, a gingerbread space rocket and an hour of grown-up storytelling.

Harry Potty

bren — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:04:57 +0000

Len Horsey & Brian Reed / PLANTA DE ANODIZADO (2010) image by Daniel Walmsley

Unrealised Potential, the collaborative group exhibition instigated by artist/curator Mike Chavez-Dawson, draws to a close at Cornerhouse this week before heading out on tour. The public are invited to follow in the footsteps of myself and the half-dozen others who bought the right to realise artist-specific projects. Here I am waffling on in Front Row fashion about Harry Hill's concept to revisit George Cruickshank's The Worship of Bacchus, which I bagged for myself. I say myself, but the wish is very much to partner with others to create a collaborative project.

There are a few ideas knocking around my head, some more nuts than others. Watch this space. In the meantime, any suggestions in helping me compile a list of celebrity alcoholics - living, dead, the living-dead, fictional or speculative - would be welcomed. Knock 'em down, send 'em over. Number 1: Keith Chegwin...

A Whore for the Gore

bren — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:25:07 +0000

Peaches Christ / image: Jose Guzman Colon

What better date than Friday 13th to reveal the details (with some surprises still withheld) of the International Premiere of All About Evil; the directorial feature debut of cult horror hostess, Gore Couture icon and director Peaches Christ / Joshua Grannell. Appearing at Cornerhouse as part of Abandon Normal Devices (1 - 7 October), tickets will very soon be on sale - and are set to disappear just as quickly! I'm looking for contributors, volunteers and flat-out fabulous audience members, so read all about it, see some advance snapshots, roll the VT and get in touch!

Digital and Creative Futures: online footage

bren — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:48:24 +0000

Steve Furber from Vision+Media on Vimeo.

Footage is now available to view online from the recent Digital and Creative Futures event, which I produced on behalf of FutureEverything in partnership with Vision + Media, including the full keynote from Professor Steve Furber. ICL Professor of Engineering at the School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, he was recently shortlisted as one of only three 2010 Millennium Technology Prize Laureates for his role as the principle designer of the now ubiquitous ARM 32-bit RSC microprocessor. Also available to view at present with further footage due shortly is Kid Carpet's kiddy punk set, complete with a supporting cast of moulded plastic assistants and a rather tipsy policewoman.

Did you do Cthulhu?

bren — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:48:08 +0000

photo: Linda Matthew

We set the bar high with Blood Tea and I wasn't sure we could match it - at least not in volume of free-flowing alcoholic juju - but by crikey almighty, we did! The first pictures are back from our talented snapper Linda and they capture what was a brilliant group effort during Arkham Sanitarium's open evening for our expanded screening of The Call of Cthulhu. From Kev's extraterrestrial idol (actually modelling clay and spray paint rolled in dirt) to the moans and insane mutterings of The Dungeonettes, we sipped orange vodka from urine pots and scoffed enough Jelly Belly prescription beans to entice a sugar coma. But at least medical assistance was on hand!

photo: Linda Matthew

: photo: Linda Matthew

photo: Linda Matthew

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.

Arkham Sanitarium

bren — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:43:45 +0000

Thank you to everyone, both cast and audience, who made last night's expanded cinema screening for The Call of Cthulhu such a massive success. Some of those who came along were even heard to say that it was their favourite event of the entire festival! A special bow of ground-grazing gratitude to Mark Daniels of Inspace for support beyond the call of duty (including acting duties), Rebecca Guest (pictured) for filling the flat shoes of our crazed pharmacist, The Dungeonettes, Jelly Belly Gourmet Jelly Beans and MacCorns Popcorn. A review and full gallery to follow, but I need a couple of hours kip before I climb into a flight suit for this evening's performance of Moon, including an introduction from an honest-to-goodness astronaut!

Sinkhole

bren — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:46:56 +0000

Sinkhole: Director Eric Scherbarth

Prospective patients attending tonight's open evening at Arkham Sanitarium are in for a treat. In addition to the feature screening of the The Call of Cthulhu from the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, we are also thrilled to announce the European Premiere of Sinkhole by director/writer/editor Eric Scherbarth. A salesman approaches a mysterious landowner with an offer to buy the man's smouldering abandoned coal mines but finds that there is more at stake than the land. Winner of Best Short Film at the NYC Horror Film Festival 2009, it should prove a deliriously terrifying side dish alongside the likes of Eel Girl (Dir. Paul Campion) and Elder Sign (Dir. Joseph Nanni). I do so hope no one is of a nervous disposition. You may wish to bring a pillow to bite upon.

Eel Girl: Dir. Paul Campion