BearSpace – Isabel Rock

This project ‘The County Gentlemen’ will see Rock, dressed in county riding finery, exhibiting prints of the country with ‘a twist.’ The car will be a blue Volvo Estate decorated in hunting paraphernalia, visitors will be invited to sit on ‘stirrup seats’ drink a hot toddy from a stirrup cup and join in a hunting game whereby visitors can guess the winning horse, for a special prize against the artist. The races will be played via the Volvo stereo.

This project is responding to the current economic climate, looking at ‘new money’ versus ‘old money’ by referencing hunting and the races, but poking fun at both. The purpose of this project will be a participatory moneyed experience; the products will be a series of prints by the artist entitled the ‘County Gentlemen’ and a coloring book by the artist looking at ‘County Life.’

This project is put forward by BEARSPACE in conjunction with Isabel Rock.

www.bearspace.co.uk

Samantha Bell

I use the cityscape as the visual metaphor to explore states of transformation and illumination. To produce my ‘City Zones’ collection, I use analogue photographic equipment to make colour photographs. To create my ‘City Enclaves’ collection, I use the 3D software application Maya and its virtual environment, where I model, shade and texture a city. Once all these stages are complete, I go ahead and record my virtual city with the in-house camera apparatus, which generates electronic files that I convert into hard copy computer generated prints.

The artworks I produce belong in to the city/urban landscape genre. I make portraitures that focus on the night city, and a certain type of urban edifice and space, generally found on the fringes of the city. What Auge describes as a ‘non place’ and what I refer to as the ’dead end zone’ en route to the desirable destination.

I find the potent duplicitous nature of the city is a source of constant fascination. Its brooding, compelling, inviting, disturbing, repugnant, and seductive faces make the city a subject matter worthy of pictorial immortalization.

Richard Birdseed/////////Dan Blacklodge

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http://www.richardbirdseed.blogspot.com

http://www.lodgewars.blogspot.com/

Black Dogs

Black Dogs are a self-organised collective of artists, musicians, academics, writers, general do-ers and (radical) slackers that formed in 2003 with the agenda of making art happen in Leeds at the grassroots level, taking their cue DIY ethos so prevalent in the cities underground music scene. They have organised numerous exhibitions, events, and interventions as well as producing occasional publications that disseminate this activity in a different form.

Black Dogs propose to use the ANTIFREEZE event as a piece of action research in designing an ‘audio almanac’ by setting up an audio distribution centre from the boot of a car which passers-by can either stand by and listen to (via the car stereo), download for free (via battery powered laptops) or pay a nominal amount to take away a physical version. The audio material distributed will range from sonic works, lectures, text readings, documentation of previous works, song playlists, unusual sounds and more oral treats. It is hoped that this form of file sharing will demonstrate alternative possibilities for artistic distribution in keeping with p2p networks and the gift economies that provide the political-philosophical backdrop to the group’s activities.

http://www.black-dogs.org/

Sophie Bower

It is also the stories that we take along with us that interest Sophie Bower; she wants to hear others? stories and to tell her own. This is evident in the piece Back Bittern Banana (in collaboration with Kathryn Pattullo as part of the larger GoSuperlambananas project) where she toyed with the idea of possession by asking Liverpudlians to nominate someone or an organisation to be sent a certificate of ownership of one of the 55 pieces marked out on the Back Bittern Banana. (See http://www.backbitternbanana.com/)

Stories of Memory, her current project, Sophie is looking for the patterns and anomalies in the anecdotes that people bring to the project, rather than scientific explanations. Sophie often works around the idea of the processing of ideas and information. In her current work there is an attempt to slow down the processes in order to catch the almost invisible thoughts and actions that might normally be missed? an attempt to ?see? them in slow motion. Introduction to Stories of Memory: Have you noticed the tiny moments when something, someone or somewhere from your past pops into your head? Was there anything that could have triggered the memory? ? maybe a smell, a sound, a certain song, an object, a word, a shape, a colour, a texture, a physical or emotional feeling? What form do memories take, when they turn into stories? If memories could be created, captured or investigated in a lab, what would the lab itself look like? Come along to the Memory Lab, created as part of the project ?Stories of Memory? and see for yourself. You may get the chance to leave a memory there, or take one away with you.

www.storiesofmemory.net

Alice Bradshaw

Alice Bradshaw is an artist, curator and director and is currentlybased between Manchester and Halifax co-directing Contents May Vary and Temporary Art Space. Alice exhibits frequently across the North of England as well as nationally/internationally, most recently inGlasgow, London, Moscow, Melbourne and Chicago.

Alice works with a wide range of media and processes involving themanipulation of everyday objects and materials. Mass-produced,anonymous objects are often rendered dysfunctional caricatures ofthemselves, addressing concepts of purpose and futility. She createsor accentuate subtleties, blurring distinctions between the absurd andthe mundane, with the notion that the environment the work exists inbecomes integral to the work itself.

www.alicebradshaw.co.uk

www.contentsmayvary.org

http://www.temporaryartspace.co.uk/

Megan Broadmeadow

Megan Broadmeadow is an interdisciplinary artist from North Wales. She works in sculpture, installation and performance, and always gives permission for the audience to smile!
Megan explores serious issues in a surreal way, and finds a variety of ways to represent the contrasts and transformations within society. She has a particular interest in revitalising unfashionable or almost obsolete subjects and making them the centre of a piece of work. She enjoys playing madcap games such the ‘Water wheel of Fortune’ to link past and present, and uses interaction to engage and entertain her audience. Often inspired by local history, she particularly looks for unusual personal stories and characters to incorporate into one of a kind, site-specific performances.
Shoes are also an ongoing inspiration and she’s recently exhibited her fantasy floating shoe shaped like a sail- boat (Ship Shape) in Swansea.

With all the trudging round from car boot to car boot, you feet may feel the strain. Why not treat your feet and find the perfect boots for them? Inspired by the classic board game ‘Guess who’, on the ‘Boot Up’ stall, you will be asked simple boot related questions and through a process of elimination your host will find you the perfect boot!
Will you be a ‘boots and saddle’ cowboy boot, or a bootylicious knee high? Play the game to find you inner booty! As an added bonus your boot will be revealed to with your very own presentation and offering the chance to try them and the lifestyle they represent for size, and ensuring a memorable time to boot!

http://www.megartmix.co.uk/