We are really pleased the remaining Jailbirds seeds from our commission for PECT are being shown as part of the Feminist Library exhibition "Archiving the Feminist Experience" at Goldsmiths College London. Instagram link here:
The best things - complete sound
The complete sound piece for The best things in life arent things commission
Sandra Keating photos from Green Fest
Sandra Keating who has worked with Katy hawkins on Wander With.. took some great shots on sat.. here are a few.
Green Festival Peterborough.
The Poly and its commissoned artists were happy to take part in PECTS green festival at Nene Park yesterday. The sun shone and we were able to guide visitors around the park in a variety of different ways. This included our sound portrait of the City using wireles headsets, a wander with walk led by Katy Hawkins, some stone skimming with Alice Pool a dissolvable poem by Clare Curie. All this was supported by small acts of kindness supplied by Ann Bellamy and the Jailbirds.
Also happily we invited women from across the city to join us to stitch picnic blankets.
Here are some photos from across the day
The best things are beautiful projections
Projection from last night in Peterborourgh for our PECT commission: THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AREN'T THINGS.
Here too is a link to a short film we made of it
The best things in life arn't things - details
Heres some further info about out new commission.....
On August 11th PECT are hosting a Green festival in Nene Park. Peterborough. We have been commissioned to develop and deliver a new participatory artwork that will take place before, during and after the event as part of PECTs wider program. The title of this artwork is: The Best Things In Life Aren’t Things - What Does the future Hold?
This artwork involves 3 major elements:
1. A series of interactive posters placed around the city prior to the Green Festival
2. A recorded sound piece shared with festival go-ers via wireless headsets generated by talking to Peterborough people during the summer of 2018.
3. The commissioning of a series of mostly Peterborough based artists/poets/makers to develop and deliver participatory artworks for the Festival.
Further artists commissioned:
Peterborough based Katy Hawkins will be leading a series of Wander With walks with card based prompts to encourage mindfulness, reflection on our city and the sharing of local knowledge. https://twitter.com/kghkaty?lang=en
Sandra Keating a Peterborough born photographer will be developing ‘snapped moments’ with Festival visitors as part of Wander With and creating an online visual essay. http://www.sandrakeating.com/
Peterborough’s Poet Laureate Clare Currie will be writing new poems to be shared in 3 ways across the day on August 11th. This will include a public reading, a dissolvable poem and a sound recording http://clarecurrie.co.uk/
Ann Bellamy and Jailbirds - a social enterprise within Peterborough Prison, are creating hundreds of ‘seed pods’ which will be given out during the day. Every pod will have a quote on to inspire and be full of seeds for you to grow your own green space. Jailbirds info
Alice Pool will be inviting festival goers to select there ‘perfect skimming stone’ from the stones she has collected for you to use. She’s keen for people to take time, choose a stone, skim it and in doing this create a memory. https://skimstones.wordpress.com
Processions is a group of women from across Peterborough who came together to make banners to celebrate the centenary of some Women getting the Vote. For Green Festival this group is inviting festival goers to sit, sew, talk and eat together with them. They will be making a giant picnic blanket to host a bring-and-share picnic.
'Wander With' commissioned
The Poly is pleased to have commissioned Katy Hawkins and photogrpaher Sandra Keating to deliver these Wandering Workshops as part of our The Best Things in Life Aren't Things project for PECT in Peterborough. This commission is the first of 5 we will be managing alongside the development of a new sound piece we are creating with city residents and visitors alike
Venice/Sheffield New Film
We are proud to have been commissioned by Peterbrough Environment City Trust [PECT] to work on their Green Festival this year in August. This is the title of our proposal which will see us collecting audio and sharing it with visitors through 'silent disco' wireless headsets. As part of the project we will also be commissioning 4 other Peterborough based artists to develop and deliver new artworks for the city and festival
Photos by Nigel
When we were printing and then projecting in Sheffield we met a kind man who was keen to join and now has sent some great photos. PLease find his Postcard site HERE and this photo above is his too. Thank you Nigel
What is Urgent?
The Poly-Technic was invited by Suffolk Libraries and Metal Southend to deliver an arts development training session that asked What is Urgent? Suffolk Libraries is one of six library groups across the country who have become NPO's for the Arts Council. As they begin their journery of change to centralise the arts for their users we were happy to help them think deeply, make and learn. Feedback from the session has been positive and includes this: "Thank you for the great session last week I think it got everyone thinking - feels like there may be a revolution a foot."
Projection in Sheffield
Our week in Sheffield was rounded off on Friday evening with a projection in the Canal Basin. Venice and Sheffield connected by us, ideas, energy and of course water. We've made lots of prints, had lots of conversations, captured lots of thoughts - here are just a few
Now Then...we're in print
The Poly is proud to be in the current Sheffield Now Then magazine talking about We are not an Island... PLease pick up a copy if your in Shef or follow this link the read the article
We are not an Island - Sheffield.....
Liceo Artistico Guggenheim coming to Sheffield - if only by Skype!
From April 30th - May 4th the Poly-Technic will be taking up residence in Sheffield culminating in a large scale projection. We will be completing the We are not an Island project with different city residents by asking What is urgent? During the week our friends and partners in Venice will be joining us over Skype from their exhibition. The work we made in Italy and now Sheffield will be connected and form an exciting pan european link between the 2 cities. If you'd like to get involved, make a poster or just see the ongoing work then please call in to Access Space Labs : Fitzalan Square. Sheffield.
"Don't drown in the water you make for yourself".
The Poly returned from our week long working residency in Venice on Monday full of ideas and new connections. It was a great week, with us feeling we contributed something to a place so often taken advantage of. We made good friends, built on exisiting relationships, undertook workshops with art students and installed an exhibition that was well recieved. Ca'Foscari University are keen to keep working with us and the Liceo Artistico Guggenheim school and we are excited to be bring work and ideas back to Sheffield in May. We met some really interesting people, who said revealing things such as the title of this blog which enabled us to generate new posters and think further around what the Poly can do to help in different sites to promote access to new ways of seeing, new ideas and new opinions.
Venice Workshops and Exhibition: 19th- 26th March
The Poly leaves for Venice on Monday and is looking forward to connecting with students and staff of Ca Foscari University and Liceo Artistico Guggenhiem School. We will be displaying the new poster based works after discussion around our provocation: We are not an Island? The responses will, we are sure, be revealing and we hope too that when shown at CFZ in Zattre further thoughts will be initiated. During the week we are also presenting as part of a lecture at Liceo Artistico Guggenhiem and then bringing the posters back to the UK for projection as part of a showcasing event in Sheffield in May for Making Ways
We are not an Island - projection
The Poly-Technic launched the Sheffield part of the We are not an Island project on Tuesday night with a projection on the Graves Gallery in Sheffield City Centre. As ever we love how this title enables everyone to find their own meaning helped sometimes by the context... In this instance we wonder if you can't help think about the Graves Gallery at the top of the building, above the library being an Art Island - both in a good and bad way?
Validation Research
The Poly is pleased to be involved in the knowledge transfer work being undertaken by Axisweb and MMU. Here is a link to further info and proudly features our photo.
Island SOS's
Over the last few weeks we have been collecting responses to our provocation. We are not an island - here are just a few: