#arnofini

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Loving Grayson Perry exhibition in Bristol.. Feeling inspired

[lostcarcosauk-blog]

Resin cast with ink bleed #resin #resinart #ink #inkblending #casting #moldmaking #dimonds #art #artists #artpublicist #artsy #uwe #fineart #glassart #blackglitter #bristol #arnofini (at Stokes Croft)

[lostcarcosauk-blog]

fear and loathing in Las Vegas #fearandloathinginlasvegas #johnnydepp #drugs #crazy #film #classic #digital #digitalart #art #artpublicist #uwe #bristol #arnofini #graphicdesign #sevensins #pencil #instagood #instalove #instadaily #instagraff (at Stokes Croft)

[lostcarcosauk-blog]

Views from the studio @arnolfiniarts #arnofini #bristol247 #bristol #uwe #drawing #print #studio #art #uk #illustration #artistsoninstagram #university #instagood #instadaily #instafollow #artsy #stokescroft (at Arnolfini)

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Westworld Lino print #westworld #print #printmaking #hbo #maninblack #lino #linocut #linoprint #art #artists #artistsoninstagram #stokescroft ##illustration #uwe #uk #arnofini #bristol #bristol247 #ink #inkart #prints (at Stokes Croft)

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Obviously this celebration of Sarah records will be held in Bristol and will include a preview of the Sarah documentary and a few Sarah bands will be playing, one for definite will be Secret Shine.

BETWEEN HELLO AND GOODBYE: THE SECRET WORLD OF SARAH RECORDS

Saturday 03 May 2014 to Monday 05 May 2014, 11:00 to 18:00

Concert: £18/£16 Exhibition: Free → Book

Over the bank holiday weekend, a programme of concerts, exhibition, film and activities celebrate the legacy of Sarah Records.

Concerts and screening Saturday 3 May, 7.30pm, £18/£16 concs

Exhibition Saturday 3 May - Monday 5 May, 11am - 6pm, free

Operating at first from a telephone-free basement at the top of Blackboy Hill and then from a house overlooking Bedminster station, Sarah Records released 100 7” pop singles between 1987 and 1995. Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes, the label’s young founders, then took out adverts in the music press headed ‘A Day For Destroying Things’ announcing that the label was over and that they didn’t do encores.

Since then, Sarah has acquired almost legendary status around the world, and is now the subject of both a documentary - My Secret World, made by filmmaker Lucy Dawkins - and a book, Popkiss: the Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records (forthcoming from Bloomsbury).

As well as displaying a healthy DIY punk attitude, the idiosyncratic label saw its productions as something of a love letter to its home city, featuring photos of Bristol on the centre labels of its singles, naming its compilations after local places, and giving away postcards that formed a jigsaw of Temple Meads station.

On the Saturday evening, My Secret World will be previewed during a concert programme featuring performances by some of the label’s bands. Over the bank holiday weekend, there will be an exhibition of Sarah memorabilia (including original artwork, sleeves, posters, fanzines), themed walks, and more.

Part of the Bristol Art Weekender.

Share your comments and pictures @arnolfiniarts

Arnolfini  16 Narrow Quay Bristol BS1 4QA Box Office [phone]

[insideencounters]

NEXUS - Forms Installation

Film festivals for many are about the big names, catching premieres and getting to meet their heroes in person. Unfortunately many events often fall by the wayside, this year that seems to mostly fall upon the fringe events like the outdoor screenings and live acts.

Perhaps you managed to get over to the Arnofini for a screening? Perhaps you even managed to watch Bob being animated live or find the Aardman sculptures from long ago? After some investigation (and some very uninformative staff), i discovered there was an installation on physical motion on the top floor of the Arnofini. After taking a long walk to the top of the building, i found a member of staff engrossed in his mobile who looked vaguely shocked to see me. 

I followed the sound of slowly shattering glass into the darkness and was amazed at what i saw. Nexus - Forms Installation showcases the work of Memo Akten and Quayola whose work was commissioned for the Olympics this year.

Go and find the exhibition.

Go and sit in the space.

It's a short film (around 3/4 minutes) but watch it at least 3 times and allow it to wash over you.

The film stylistically combines the work of Muybridge and Duchamp, creating an abstraction of movement not unlike the Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2. The animation is both playful and powerful to watch, showing the varying stages of design from the original source video (of Olympic sports) all the way through its computer design. The end result is a colourful tidal wave of balls, lasers, swirls and needles creating the impression of the original movement but extrapolating it and heightening the movements to generate a powerful recreation of human motion, removed from the personality.

The level of detail here is vast and one could watch for hours, as human forms drift in and out of correlation, getting lost in the chaos. For anyone seeking something different at the festival and doesn't mind a lack of narrative, I wholeheartedly recommend this, although you will never be able to look at your screen saver the same again.

Forms can be found on the top floor of the Arnolfini until 6pm today and is entirely free so I urge you to see it in person. If you're outside of Bristol then head on over to... http://www.nexusinteractivearts.com/work/dQ/forms

Benji Corless

[insideencounters]

Paranorman Review

After speaking to Sam Fell at the festival and with Bristol's strong links to Aardman, I was keen to catch Paranorman at the Arnofini. Sam was giving a Q&A afterwards as well, making it an opportunity I couldn't refuse.

Context and viewing experience are paramount for cinema regardless of a films format. In "To Score or Underscore" one of the panelists mentioned, "A film can never recover from its opening". Paranorman has slapstick, wit and campy Scooby-Doo horror right out the gates. Hitting its audience with a 4:3 Universal Pictures parody, the film plays a movie within a movie, setting up the protagonist's taste in cinema and the film's overall tone.

Although the hook caught the horror fan in me (for reference Night of the Living Dead spent a long time as my all time favourite film), the film's projection left much to the imagination. Broken surround sound, buzzing speakers and a combination of low audio with an excruciatingly loud high pitched frequency, left many with fingers in their ears. 

But we made do. 

The entire audience was leaning forward, desperate to give the film a real chance but honestly it never recovered for me. From these technical difficulties, one is left to concentrate on the lacklustre projection and the lip synching which felt to me a little too clunky.

After the film was fixed, I was left soaking up the golden era hour vibes and taking note of the intelligent references that carefully never crossed into parody territory (children after all are too young to recognise parody anyway). After my short film vs. feature epiphany yesterday (see my review of "Hold on Me") i feel I was doomed to shoot this film down but i appreciate it is created (largely) for children and thus I suppose my opinion is moot.

Paranorman does a lot of things right. It twists the idea of zombies and utilises the horror genre as a motif rather than its genre. The film is witty throughout (with a striking belly laugh at the end for me) and provides tactile slapstick that children will adore. Sam has passionately worked on the title, keen to retain its "edges", which i feel is incredibly apparent. In the Q&A afterwards he discussed how he really didn't care so much about the age of his audience or the specific demographics, instead intending on telling a story visually and working with a format that he admires.

Sam said that using stop frame made him "an old git going back". The animation industry has grown stale in CG, he discussed before lording the new technologies in stop frame such as 3d printing and Microsoft's Kinect cameras for lighting rigs. The movie's look could quite easily be mistaken for computer graphics which may put off some die hard fans but the photography here simply captures the pristine smoothness of design by combining Maya graphics with 3d printing to replicate each digital movement physically (although producing a colossal library of printed plastic heads).

Paranorman is a fun movie which doesn't outstay its welcome. The film's conceit is a little thin in places and Norman's power is quickly forgotten amongst the mayhem but overall I would much rather see a smart character drama with a message over most of the low grade CGI sequel feature films being released in the recent months.

Paranorman is in theatres now and for a more in depth look at Sam Fell, delve into our blog's video content!

Stay tuned!

Benji Corless