benbell

My London

Today is an exciting day. Nine local young people from our Youth Work Project start work on a short film entitled ‘My London’. The Film has been commissioned by the Barbican and will be shown as part of the London Children’s Film Festival. We are looking forward to working with Tracy Bass who has produced a number of high profile music video’s. I’ll let you know how it goes…… a load of young people, camera’s and an audience, anything could happen. Let the creative process of story telling begin.

My London

Today is an exciting day. Nine local young people from our Youth Work Project start work on a short film entitled ‘My London’. The Film has been commissioned by the Barbican and will be shown as part of the London Children’s Film Festival. We are looking forward to working with Tracy Bass who has produced a number of high profile music video’s. I’ll let you know how it goes…… a load of young people, camera’s and an audience, anything could happen. Let the creative process of story telling begin.

Frieze Art Fair

I’m aware that this blog is all about Art at the moment, however, with so many great exhibitions on at the moment how can I resist!

I went to the opening of the Frieze Art Fair last night in regents park. This is a must for anyone who is interested in contemporary art and has easy access to London this weekend. I don’t think I have ever seen so many amazing pieces all in one exhibition before.

If you go look out for a video piece using six screens in the Max Wigram gallery. The piece features three friends one of whom is Margaret who is the Assistant Minister here at St Stephen’s. It’s also worth checking out mark Walliger’s video piece – a slow moving camera in a chemist – I want to go back to look at this for longer.

Banksy as ever made me smile by dropping loads of postcards of his Kate Moss/Monroe image all over the floor.

It's well worth checking out the Guardian's guide to the fair

Mustafa Hulusi

new poster!
see earlier post

Zoo Art Fair

Just been to the preview of the Zoo Art Fair at London Zoo which opens tomorrow . The art fair showcases 28 under 4 year old UK based organisations (galleries). I wasn’t blown away but a lot of much but there were a few great pieces. ‘The Penguin Repopulation Project’ places Twenty-eight pixilated drawings of individual penguins on freestanding boards are placed around the former penguin enclosure and on the curving back wall.

I saw some work by Johnnie Wateridge for the first time which I well worth keeping an eye out for (can’t find any links at the moment sorry). These pieces are constructed from a number of pieces of glass each with a different aspect of a landscape – this effect gives amazing life like perspective.

Crude Oils

Did the Banksy Exhibition the other day …….. didn’t disappoint
Well worth checking out.

Bag it with Mag-it !!!!

Had a great weekend away with young people on a narrow boat. Saw this vending machine in Waltham Abbey (the town, not the actual Abbey) It dispenses Maggots and worms in an assortment of colours (not sure whether they are different flavours too)

Weekend Away

I'm off on the second Youth Work residential weekend in three weeks. We have been running a boating project with 15 young people who live in the local community. They have been sailing, canoeing and all have had the opportunity of spending a weekend away on a Narrow boat. The last one was a great success so I am looking forward to this one. The thing about Narrow Boats is that they are A. Narrow (the opposite to me) and B. Boats. These obvious points create a different vibe to that of a land bound, wide open residential. They can be much more intense as everyone is living on top of each other (not literally, although some young people give it a go!), this offers more opportunity for significant conversations to take place ……. and they do.

I hope you have a great weekend, whatever you’re doing.

Banksy Exhibition

Opening tonight and on for 12 days. 'Crude Oils' can be seen at 100 Westbourne Grove London W2  11am-8pm

Embankment

I was fortunate enough to be at the opening of the new artwork in the Turbine Hall, at Tate Modern last night. Rachael Whiteread’s ‘Embankment’ is places thousands of white plastic boxes, made from casts of ten different cardboard boxes. The overall effect is interesting and the thousands upon thousands of boxes pilled up on each other create new forms and distract you from the single cells which make them up.

It’s almost labyrinthine in style so don’t be surprised if you see something similar, though smaller at an alternative worship service near you soon.

‘An embankment is something which is built to hold back water or to support a road or railway over low ground’ Whiteread has said. ‘I thought of it as something that was built up, and built up out of other materials.’

Make what you will out of that!

I while ago I was reflecting on how I got most of my (and Gemma’s) possessions into 50 box’s, thinking about what those 50 box’s contained. This piece looks not at what the boxes contain but how they fill (or are positioned, as they only fill about half the hall) the space in which they are stacked.

I am surprised as I read all the write up’s that there is no mention of the relationship between ‘the embankment’ on which the Tate sits and cardboard boxes - this would probably be more obvious to those who sleep on ‘it’ and in ‘them’

For more on box’s see what fun Sarah has been having after seeing a previous link here.