Friday, July 31, 2009

Post Port E


See Dazed Digital for the run down of The Boathouse at Port E.

I did a show on the pirate radio station while I was there - Boat Sounds - a selection of music all about water, the sea, boats, river - you get the idea. Here's the playlist:

Let's Wade in the Water -Marlena Shaw
Jesus Gave Me Water - BB King
Beyond The Sea - Stevie Wonder
La Mer - Charles Trenet
Cry Me a River - Julie London
You Left The Water Running - Maurice + Mac
I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water - Lou Rawls
I Cover the Waterfront - Billie Holiday
Take Me To The River - Al Green
Wash my Hands in Muddy Water - The Spencer Davis Group
Caribbean Queen - Billy Ocean
Wooden Ships - Crosby, Stills and Nash
Purple Rain - Prince
Tom Cat - Muddy Waters

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Boathouse at Port Eliot


This is where I will be on the weekend... Port Eliot Festival

The Boathouse at Port Eliot Festival
Saturday July 25 2.00pm – 8.00pm
Sunday July 26 2.00pm – 10.00pm

THE BOATHOUSE is an art project space curated by artists Jennifer Lewandowski and Samuel Levack. Launched in 2007 at Port Eliot Festival, the riverside project space brings together a series of art events and performance projects. This year Lewandowski and Levack are looking at how the traditional structure and content of a festival can inspire ideas around time, space, music, public art and interactive performance.

The space launches on Saturday at 2:15pm with The Daylight Project by artist Tom Ellis, who relocates the flashes and bangs of a nocturnal firework display in broad daylight. The event closes on equally dynamic A Pair of Fires by Will Cruickshank at 7:15pm on Sunday. Throughout the weekend THE BOATHOUSE will stage One Minute Disco. On the hour every hour the first minute of Billy Idol’s Hot in the City will be blast outside the boathouse, condensing the vibe and experience of an old school rave into 60 seconds.

Artist Jennifer Lewandowski has created the interactive performance work Triptych. She has set up a traditional band line up of drums, guitar and vocals inside THE BOATHOUSE and is inviting groups of 3 to take to the intimate stage for short spells of time with only the river as their audience. The time limit fueling the urgency and intensity of their performance. X-Raydio is a sound installation by Eleanor Vonne Brown and Lucy Woodhouse featuring the ABC of Piracy and a crow’s nest listening post. Bring a radio!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Manchester International Festival


Just got back from Manchester International Festival. Marina Abramovic (who i interview in this month's Dazed) curated and introduced an amazing gallery full of performances (esp Terence Koh, Nico Vascellari and Eunhye Hwang). Rufus Wainwright's opera was bland enough story wise to walk out midway. Punchdrunk and Adam Curtis' collaboration It Felt Like A Kiss made me remember why Adam Curtis is such a fascinating filmmaker. His series The Century of the Self is unlike anything I've ever watched. For tasters of his work see in these trailer/clip from the Manchester production below. Why isnt TV full of things like this?

Friday, July 17, 2009

Jerk


Still thinking about Dash Snow a lot and how much I always liked his work. Ryan McGinley wrote about him on Vice in a very honest way. I have to also say to his many critics I was never his friend. I didnt know him. I'm not romanticising his addiction. i just thought he was a really talented honest artist.

--

On a different note I wrote this piece about Jerk on Dazed Digital. I thought I should share it here too:

Ever seen something that makes you so uncomfortable and overwhelming that it takes about two weeks to talk about it? That’s what happens when you see Jerk. Jerk is a one man puppet show theatre performance based on Dennis Cooper’s stories about real life serial killers in 1970s Texas - Dean Corll, David Brooks and Wayne Henley – who killed over 20 boys. This is the third time director and choreographer Gisèle Vienne and Dennis Cooper have collaborated – most notably in 2007 for Kindertotenlieder with music by Stephen O’Malley of Sunn0))) fame.

The performance took place at South London Gallery on the 1st and 2nd of July. It sold out immediately. A small number of people assembled in the empty gallery and sat on temporary raw wood benches. In front of the small audience was the French performer Jonathan Capdevielle, who looked more like an sweet and awkward metal band member than an obvious actor. A fanzine containing two Cooper stories and specially commissioned illustrations was handed out to the audience. At specific moments in the performance the audience would read a story, which pushed the narrative along.

Capdevielle then took us on a journey – of violent sex acts, gruesome murders, obsession, drooling, vomiting, tears, snuff films, orgies, suicide, torture. He used his voice to echo the ghost like puppet voices Corll projected onto his dead boy victims. He squelched his way through bloodied penetration. He gave a blow job to a puppet and his arm that was beyond pornographic. At times the actor’s psyche seemed to break apart, a ventriloquist’s voice coming out of his throat to describe the last murders. When the performance finished applause felt redundant. The work was so gut wrenching and physical that the only correct visceral reaction would be to vomit.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

With Love to Dash Snow


Everyone is stunned. No one is talking about anything else. Such a sad waste. These images are a reminder of why he was so good. When I wrote this piece on Dash Snow in The Guardian i added no question mark.



Friday, July 10, 2009

Burning Up


After spilling boiling water and burning myself this morning I thought of some of the good images of burning i've seen in recent years.

Sarah Pickering above.

Yo Okada



and Tom Ellis' Daylight Fireworks, which he's recreating at Port Eliot Festival at the end of the month

Monday, July 06, 2009

I Love London


Although I seem to spend half my life in transit, in Paris, on the way somewhere else... I really do love London. Even today in its summery wet brilliance. As a seasoned Londoner it was nice to be was interviewed in the The Sunday Times news section about the Trafalgar Square fourth plinth fluff.

These artists seem to like London too:

Neal Fox



Abigail Reynolds