Take a bite
copyright www.ALandAL.co.uk / still from The Creator (detail)
Trailer for Al & Al's The Creator is now online over at the artists and filmmakers website. Exciting times! World Premiere confirmed for late May during the World Science Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, followed by the UK Premiere during the taster weekend for Abandon Normal Devices Festival on 22 June at Cornerhouse, Manchester. This is sure to sell-out, so I'd advise not waiting too long to get tickets! I've been treated to a private viewing of the first 26 minutes or so and although biased, it's a stunning and touching achievement.
This is not your standard biopic but a fantasy retelling of Turing's final moments via his Jungian dream diaries, held as 'gospels' or holy creeds by the artificial intelligence machines of the future. Proud to be credited with a production nod, although the talent is all Al & Al's. Doesn't hurt to have astonishing subject matter too. Alans of the world, past and present, we thank you.
The Man Who Would Be King
copyright www.ALandAL.co.uk / still from The Creator (detail)
On the occasion of Alan Turing's Centenary celebrations, internationally-renowned artists Al & Al have been commissioned by Cornerhouse, AND Festival and Creative England to create this long-form experimental film. A UK Premiere, it will be followed by a Q&A with the artists hosted by myself as producer. A far cry from the dry, sanitised interpretations of a man once shunned but now revered as a master of modern mathematics, Al & Al have chosen to blend fact with fantastical speculation in this, the re-telling of that fateful day when Turing chose to end his own life.
Touching upon the myth of Snow White, Turing's doomed encounter with his lover Arnold Murray (only yards from the current Cornerhouse site), his subsequent experimentation with Jungian psychoanalysis and the nature of human physicality versus artificial conciousness, this is both a dream of loss and sweat-beaded nightmare. A week prior to his death, Turing visited a fortune teller in Blackpool – this much we know for certain. He never spoke of what was foretold. In the far distant future, the Robo-Tarot re-tells the story of The Creator and his legacy...
Contains scenes of a sexual nature and optical effects/ certificate 15 (TBC), estimated running time 45 minutes. Tickets now on sale. Presented in collaboration with Abandon Normal Devices.
Pearly whites wanted
Although still in the early pre-production stages I’m delighted to tell you about my involvement as project producer in helping realise artist Gina Czarnecki’s wildly imaginative sculptural work, PALACES. Gina's current body of work revolves around stem cell research, informed consent and bio-engineering, with a retrospective exhibition of existing and new work scheduled for December 2011 at Bluecoat in Liverpool.
PALACES will be a sculpture some 2 metres high and 2 metres wide, consisting of stalagmite-like towers formed of clear cystal resin. Grouped to form a fairytale palace (more in the Jim Henson mould than Disney) and embedded with UV particles, it will be clad in an ivy-trace of barnacle clusters formed of up to 12,000 children’s milk teeth, purposely donated on the back of an international campaign.
Milk teeth are a means of extracting adult stem cells (not necessarily stem cells from an adult, but cells whose future role is limited to specific outcome/s due to their progressed stage of development), unlike embryonic stem cells, which can become any cell type. I’ll be posting more about this project, but the thinking behind it includes debate upon regeneration, how wealth will affect future health care, informed consent and ownership of our own genetic make-up.
But at heart, it’s quite simply a wondrous and beautiful sculpture that will enable mass public participation, with a UK tour already in the planning stages. Endorsed and supported by The Science Museum, Imperial College London, Welcome Trust and Medicine for Children Research Network. If you’ve got any milk teeth saved from your own childhood, or know of any young’uns with wobbly pegs, I’ll be announcing information on where to send these totemic human gem stones soon.
Oh, and before you ask, the tooth fairy remains fully consulted at every stage and is looking forward to moving into her Grand Design-styled new pad. Tokens for tooth exchange can be downloaded and slipped under the pillow so that she's aware of who is contributing to her fantastical abode (so she can advance the expected reward), while special treats await those who follow the project through development, childerlings and grown-olds alike. Let's get the word out - the Palace needs YOU!