Lift the Lid - hop, skip, jump . . . .

A busy afternoon for families joining in the 'olympic' theme of this month's Lift the Lid. Skipping proved very popular with all ages and several children spending a good 20mins trying to master their co-ordination in order to master their ropes. The drawing table also proved popular with whole families sitting down to draw people cycling, diving, skipping and running..... Stretching and stretching as far as possible to draw appealed to many; bamboo canes attached to charcoal and pens enabled children to reach out to make marks and shapes on the paper from behind a red guideline. Our dice game based on leaving a trail of coloured spots kept some busy for over an hour, spreading their game across the room and overlapping each other with on the spot pile-ups ! Altogether an energetic and fun afternoon .... with parents too giving the skipping a go !

Extreme Noise Terror

So, the last of my Contemporary Art Enquiries and Tea slots was on Saturday June 9th, the same day as the experimental sound art/industrial noise performances.
Great scheduling!
Quite a number of potential discussion group visitors had fled the premises by teatime.  However, a few stalwarts remained and we managed some conversation despite the prevailing conditions!

The Sound of Silence?

The Jubilee weekend meant smaller numbers participating, but  the level of engagement from those who participated was exemplary! From children to older people and art lovers, all were surprised and delighted by the experience of walking around the De La Warr in total silence. And in the silence we heard and saw the building in new and surprising ways...
 

seaside reverie . . .

The unseasonably summery conditions made for a slow session - could see plenty of people cooling themselves on the balcony, the terrace and the beach. The 'P' word tends to put people off and have tried hard not to say it ... but children and young people tend to be less easily put off by the idea of making poems ! there was a nice thoughtful piece from a student from Sussex Coast College and some local school girls were keen to express their love of Bexhill in swirly felt pen. Some are torn by the desire to just walk away thinking it's not for them and then a word of phrase catches their eye and then they play around with words for a while - sometimes happy to display their creation on the window, others preferring to just leave their verse on the table.

Well done to everyone who got creative and took part !

The Poetry Jukebox

I was back in Gallery 2 for the second Poetry Jukebox, this week, inviting visitors to choose a poem on the theme of light - and then performing them, live and unrehearsed - whilst the lights of Cerith Wyn Evans' S=U=P=E=R=S=T=R=U=C=T=U=R=E turned on and off. Over the course of three hours - I performed to 53 people. That's a lot of poems!

"Hearing the poem was quite an experience," said Lisa, who was visiting with a group of friends, "I walked past the art and thought - I don't get that. But when I went and sat and felt the lights going on and off, it gave it a different feel."

As this was the last Poetry Jukebox at the De La Warr, I also composed a poem especially for the event, borrowing text from the exhibition catalogue - rather in the way that Cerith Wyn Evans borrows words by Guy De Bord and Jimi Hendrix in the art works on show in the Pavilion. The resulting video-poem is called s_u_p_e_r_c_o_n_d_u_c_t_o_r and explores the theme of longing. So hit the play button, and enjoy the poetry jukebox one last time...

A brilliantly sunny day in Bexhill yesterday as I set up the first Art Enquiries Service  for the CWE exhibition.  After a slow start, due to low visitor numbers in general, people began to approach and enquire.  Two small girls took up the offer of Art Goggles to view the installations, and seemed very happy with the results.  More children took the Magic Mirrors downstairs in order to read the neon text piece without looking at the reflection - a nigh impossible feat for a very short person in bright sunshine!
The responses to the questionnaire were funny and charming - I walked several visitors around the exhibits personally, conversing and finding out what they think about conceptual art, installations and more....
Some responses to the work:

"Hollywood neon"

"I followed the nails, braille-like, but using my eyes"

"challenge to decode"

"transient, being both familiar and vague"

"calmness and wellbeing"

"relaxing and challenging"

"I would keep this piece ( the light columns)  in my kitchen"

"shifting patterns and relaxation"

"it makes my hearing aid go funny"

up the purple path . . . . .

An afternoon filled with carefully composed free verse, inspired by Cerith Wyn Evans exhibition, went in a flash. Cold blank skies formed a backdrop to a range of sweetly composed thoughts stuck to the windows outside the cafe. Some approach the task like an exam and like to get it over with quickly, whilst others stood around, thinking for up to half an hour, carefully selecting the 'mot juste' in order to convey their feelings and ideas.

Thanks to those of you who joined in and to Penny for encouraging all to have a go !

Dreams at De La Warr

So what does lie beyond this moment? 
On a beautiful blustery day, while the building was ransacked by an immersive theatre group, storyteller and composer Daniel Marcus Clark found refuge in the warmth of gallery one with the good people of Bexhill and beyond collecting tales and accounts of their dreams. The accounts were beautifully soundtracked by Cerith's flute piece incarnation installation, recorded and then compiled to create a collective dream piece which can be found here: 
Dreams and Cerith Wyn Evans

Participants also drew pictures of their dream landscapes on acetates, which were stuck onto the glass looking out at the horizon to show what does indeed lie beyond for us all. 

A love letter in sound

Not your average love letter, no fancy words, no paper soaked in perfume, no protestations of undying commitment, just sound. Ordinary sound, everyday sound, ignored sound. The sound of silence... This was the focus of a very successful workshop afternoon on Saturday 14th April, in and around the Cerith Wyn Evan's exhibition. I took groups of up to 4 people on a silent soundwalk around the De La Warr so that they could express their love of the building through attention and listening. Here is the one of the binaural recordings that I made, please listen on headphones.

misty blue with eerie grace !

What a lovely spring Saturday afternoon ! With over a hundred words and phrases gleaned
from Cerith Wyn Evans favourite poems and song lyrics we had plenty to play with. The building was buzzing with lots of people glancing at and toying with our collection words. Although the idea of composing poetry clearly worried some people, the idea that they could use someone else's words seemed much less scary and much more manageable.
Using the actual words to compose a bit of verse seemed to work best with some people using the window pens to add the odd word that they really needed. Suggestions of forms to follow included limericks and Haiku which some people did have a go at, but mostly they were happy to compose their own bits of free verse and blank verse. Some examples can be found below:

Falling dust
drawn away with
eerie grace. by S.Smith

Brightness around
light
brightness around sea. by Lana

Everybody out of today
looking for a better tomorrow
to find that the best day
was yesterday. by Issy

Furrow brow agony
pure eyes beam

white withered finger
come in baby

Pampered poodle come alive
a picture frame. by Fernie

Shiny Sparkles
Twinkle in my
Face
It's Pretty

magic corridors
towards misty blue
on
liquid garden. by Olivia Kennedy

Magic mirrors reflect
the moon. by Milly

Infinite timeless day
sighing white burning. by Anne

Be up a purple path sky
with little angles fluttering. by Marcie Garwell

Speed pools spray
sweet angle climbs
faithful
your upward golden rose

Where to, here in the garden

Magic corridors goin up and
up so scary scaring you
can not believe your eyes. by Molly

October hillows where
wondering sun reborn comes. by MC

Eleven moons and
weeping eyes help heavy
sleep. by SD

Sky
believe
in
Better. by Toby

By the end of the afternoon we had over 40 pieces of poetry in various forms adorning the windows - so well done to all those who took part.

Dreams of De la Warr

Drawing on some of the themes in the Cerith Wyn Evans exhibition, storyteller and composer Daniel Marcus Clark found out what lies beyond this world by collecting accounts and drawings of peoples dreams. These were compiled to create a dream map and a recorded piece which can be found here: Cerith Wyn Evans Dream track one

The accounts were beautifully soundtracked by Cerith's flute piece incarnation installation.

Participants also drew pictures of their dream landscapes on acetates, which were collated into a map of the dream realm.

A magical day!

Cerith in Colour

To mark the opening of the Cerith Wyn Evans exhibition - Lift the Lid was a creative celebration of colour and light. Using lightboxes and the sun - we made columns and sculptures - drew with cellophane - until everything was glowing.