Lift The Lid

Another busy Lift The Lid family session with more photography in it this time. Titled “Remix 2” and building on the previous session, participants were asked to take a clipboard into the exhibition or go around the building and sketch or write down objects and colours that appealed to them. They could then make these elements into an original picture using pencils and collage.

They could also go off with one of the Pavilion's digital cameras (but not into the gallery as photography is not allowed in Myth, Manners and Memory). Children aged from about 6 to 10 proved very adept at producing well composed pictures then critically editing them down to the four they were allowed to print out (so the queue for the laptop didn't get too long and the thirsty printer didn't run dry).

Our youngest artist was a very fast crawler and chose performance art as her medium, using masking tape and scrunched up balls of paper and chewing pencils to great effect.

Here are some of the works produced in the three hour session.

Thanks to all who took part and to our excellent volunteers Corin Smith, Nik Medhurst and Ben Wade.

Thanks also to the anonymous angry person who began his/her comment on the last Lift The Lid of 3^rd October “I think that this is not art, if it was art it would need skill, this is not skill, a five year old could do better!!!” (Please add your own comment using the link below).

Gallery interaction: Your questions please!

When I first saw Myth, Manners and Memory my head was filled with questions about how and why the pictures were made and how they fitted together to make this exhibition. So I asked visitors of all ages to write down questions that came into their heads whilst looking at the exhibition in order to compare my own reactions to theirs.

Here are transcriptions of many of the questions written on the clipboards that I placed around the gallery:

William Eggleston

What is the significance of the tricycle? Is its scale and condition a factor or is this just a moment in time?

Why questions not comments? Is there a great deal of meaning I'm not seeing because I'm not American? e.g would the design style of the 'Gulf' sign make me feel nostalgic if it were part of my cultural lexicon?

Red ceiling 1969-71: Is this the ceiling of a brothel? Does the colour red have a hidden meaning or symbolism?

William Eggleston portraits

Has it been photoshopped (the blue sky is so intense)?

Is that a scar on his face? (girl aged 8)

Who are these people?

Is his name Bubba?

Alec Soth

Overheard from 10? year old boy: What's so amazing about photographs? No-one answered him – a missed opportunity?

Is Alec Soth looking for idiosyncracy (or does it just find him)?

Walker Evans

Why are there posters on the building? (girl aged 8)

Why were the blacks treated so badly?

What are those boys holding?

Who were the FSA? What was their purpose? Why were they documenting the lives of the rural poor?

Federal Writers Project

Where can I find out more about the Federal Writers Project?

Carrie Mae Weems

Why is the lady standing on the railway track?

William Christenberry

Why is that house on stilts? (girl aged 8)

“Why were all the coloured people left to live in rack and ruin? (girl aged 12)

Susan Lipper

Who are these people?

Why are there not very nice subjects?

Why take photos?

To my surprise this exhibition does not seem to lend itself to easily verbalised questions but most definitely does encourage discussion. Over the afternoon I had many excellent conversations with visitors from as far afield as Devon and Sheffield. Many of them were very knowledgeable about photography (some were touring Brighton Photo Biennial and Photo Fringe venues). Many of the people who wanted to talk about the exhibition did not want to write down specific questions.

The answers to many of the questions are of course online, but I do recommend Sean O'Hagan's Q&A with Susan Lipper available at www.guardian .co.uk

All were very appreciative of the exhibition and the building that contains it. Above all, it was clear how much people (whether informed about the medium or not) love to look at photographs.

Pavilion plays a part in marriage proposal

The Pavilion played a vital role in a carefully put-together marriage proposal last weekend. After enjoying a delicious starter in the DLWP Restaurant, Alex Munro asked the kitchen staff to prepare the remainder of a delicious three-course meal to take to a beach hut in Cooden. They were happy to oblige, so Alex and his girlfriend Hannah Van Dijk set about enjoying their al fresco main courses of roast chicken and gnocchi, followed by mango creme brulee. Alex popped the question at the end of the meal, and against an unexpected backdrop of fireworks coming from the Cooden Beach Hotel, she said yes!

Alex said: "Thank you so much. Brilliant of you to do all that, it made such a difference. The food really was fantastic."

Sally Ann Lycett of the De La Warr Pavilion said: "We are so pleased to have helped make this such a special occasion for Alex and Hannah! So many couples have told us how they met their partners at the Pavilion and it is always good to know that we are part of their happiest memories."

Good luck Alex and Hannah, and congratulations from the De La Warr Pavilion.

Instructions for Seeing through Listening 23/10/10 posted by Irene Mensah

The objective in my first workshop interacting with the public, was to explore whether or not it was possible to find a new and enhanced relationship with the exhibition, or specific images, by responding to a short set of instructions and imagining that they could listen to a soundtrack of their choice. The responses from a busy and already engaged audience were richly varied, and almost all of the different people I approached with this invitation, were willing to include this extra activity. Even the few individuals who found the idea unappealing, then defined why they didn't need any other stimulus to engaging with the work.

To help with finding an appropriate track, a laptop with headphones was made available. One couple were very happy to use their own iPod and enjoyed making a long list of tracks to accompany all the different photographers. The dramatic quality of Susan Lipper's work was a good starting point for many, with the ambiguity of being both attracted and repelled by her subject matter proving to be a common response, and also stimulated ideas of sounds related to details present in an image, as a background rather than music.

Conversations therefore moved in many different directions, evoking a father's memory of his own father singing a favourite track, "Hang down your head Tom Dooley..." responding to two of Susan Lipper's photographs, to themes of unconscious prejudice and preconceptions. A more thoughtful choice in music was found to challenge one's own stereotypical associations with the American South.

It was a pleasure to see people opening up further to more personal discussions revealing their interest in the exhibition, because of this different way of "tuning" into seeing images. The feedback was that it added a new dimension to connecting with the exhibition and encouraged a more focused and personal relationship with individual photographs. For some it was a poignancy of the gaze, the subtlety of what might be taking place out of sight of the framed moment. For others, the very fact that despite trying they couldn't think of a natural soundtrack, stimulated an analysis of their preferred photographer's personal themes.

I had great discussions with a photography teacher, a local musician, families, groups of friends, and they themselves were encouraged to debate their choices of music and what they found of interest in their favourite images. I really enjoyed the process and the generosity of people willing to think more laterally.

16th October Interaction

After getting 80 fantastic contributions to my first interaction, we managed to go slightly better this weekend, with a further 85. So many people said how much they enjoyed the opportunity to participate in an exhibition, something they had not experienced before, noting that events like this are usually geared towards children rather than adults. Contributions ranged between the surreal, the humorous, the poetic and the poignant.
I had some very enjoyable conversations about aesthetics, social documentation, voyeurism and the state of the nation (both UK and USA) with groups of visitors, many of whom stayed in the exhibition for a long time. There was even a group of local photographers from my first interaction who came back again to really get to grips with work and contributed to the spirited atmosphere of the afternoon.Thanks for coming back folks - you were great fun.
The exhibition seems to be hitting the mark with everyone: from the photo-purists who are delighted to get close to original prints of work that has hardly been seen in the UK (if at all), to the less initiated visitors who are being introduced to photographers who have influenced the types of images we take for granted now.

Talk that puts the psychological landscape of the American South "in context"

Richard Gray will be talking about what makes the American South different, special and even strange. He will be placing the photographs on display in the exhibition in the contexts of Southern history and mythology and, in particular, in the context of Southern literature - how writers from the region have created a place that seems to exist somewhere between the actual and the imagined.

Richard Gray is a Professor of Literature at the University of Essex, and the first specialist in American literature to be elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

Tickets just £5

To buy your ticket for this enlightening talk call the Box Office on 01424 229 111 or click here to book online

Photo: Susan Lipper, Untitled from the Grapevine Series, 1998-1992, Courtesy the Artist

Curator's Conversation

Photo: Alec Soth, Bonnie (with a photograph of an angel), Port Gibson, Mississippi, 2000, Courtesy the Artist/Magnum

Saturday 30th October, 2pm
Curator's Conversation

For a unique insight into the exhibition join a Walk & Talk with curators Celia Davies from Photoworks and the De La Warr’s Jane Won.

Tickets only £5

To book and for more information call the Box Office on 01424 229 111 or book online