Thursday 11 December 2014

They Go - Stack exhibition, Gallery 202

Still from 'They go' by Juan Maria Solare and Alban Low
In the past month I’ve started a new project with the Argentinian composer Juan Maria Solare. I’ve always enjoyed using words in my work and along with Juan Maria Solare we have made a film called ‘They Go’. It is based upon the repetition of designs, the repetition of our lives, the going to work and coming home again, the cycle of our working days. Taking the subverted vernacular of advertisers and altering them to suit my own sentiments and to suggest new meanings.

The film has been selected in the online exhibition Stack at Gallery 202, Northampton, UK. They aim to bring contemporary art to rural and urban communities through exhibitions and artist involvement with the public. See the full exhibition here – http://gallery202.wix.com/gallery202#!untitled/c7xa

Watch the film HERE – http://youtu.be/Z3XuD_3A7iI

Aphorismen - Juan Maria Solare
This isn’t my first creative rub with Juan Maria Solare. Over the past year I have created a book jacket design and 3 album covers for this prolific musician.

Here are the albums on iTunes -
Gardel al Piano
Acuarelas Junto al Río Inmóvil
Aphorismen

Juan Maria Solare was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1966 and has lived in Germany since 1993 as a composer and pianist. Currently he teaches Tango Music at the University of Bremen and Composition and Arrangements at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen. At the Jacobs University Bremen he conducts the Jacobs Chamber Orchestra, which repertory a stress on classical music.www.juanmariasolare.com/
 
I already have a new film on the drawing table or tripod, this one has words by Natalie, my wife and uses a sound recording of a Parker Knoll chair being dismantled as its inspiration for the score.
AL.

Ping Pong at Greenhorn Freakatorium


ArtHouse Crouch End
We were all excited and honoured that our film Ping Pong Paranoia has been selected for the Greenhorn Film Festival this year (2014). It was screened at their Animation Freakatorium in the ArtHouse Crouch End. It was a brilliant selection of short and very short films. The production values were high but where money ran low the films sailed along on strong concepts alone. This looks like one of London's little gems that we hope to return to again and again. The backbone of the films came from The Royal College of Art it seems, which must be a hot bed of originality.

Hats off to the organisers of this bijoux festival, their selections didn't contain a dud. My favourite was 'Half Wet' by Sophie Gate which was a malleable masterpiece of surrealism. Some dazzled with visuals like 'The Elephant's Garden' by  Felix Colgrave and others with leftfield stillness like Sarina Nihei's 'Small people in hats'.

Small people in hats by Sarina Nihei
courtesy of www.greenhornfestival.com
 
Music was represented with the stylish video for ‘Fear & Delight’ by The Correspondents, directed by Naren Wilks. The strongest audience response was for 'Living with Jigsaw' by Chris Capel which tickled everyone's cinematic funny bone.

Thank you Greenhorn for a fabulous time.

Ed.

Thursday 5 June 2014

Robin Vaughan-Williams collaboration at Filmpoem Antwerp

Still from 'What's real is home'
It has been an exciting week for us all on the project, first with the news from LA about our first international screening for Ping Pong Paranoia and now with another debut for a new collaboration with Poetry. Alban Low it seems has been busier than we all assumed in the simulated mental health ward at Kingston University and St George's University London as part of his art residency.

We are delighted and surprised to learn that another film from the residency 'What's real is home' is going to screened at the Filmpoem Festival, held this year in the Felix Archief in Antwerp in partnership with Felix Poetry Festival and in association with The Poetry Society. It will be screened on the 14th June as part of the Open Programme between 3-3.45pm.

'Sandra'
This year Alban Low and psychotherapist Harvey Wells recorded the voices of the patients on the ward. They wanted to use these monologues as a creative springboard to explore a whole range of mental health themes. Alban already has both drawing/painting and film at his disposal but wanted to broaden the project's horizons even further. Earlier this year he gave the transcript of patient 'Sandra' to poet Robin Vaughan-Williams and waited to see what the young wordsmith would conjure up.

Robin Vaughan-Williams
Robin Vaughan-Williams and Alban Low met but a few months ago when they worked together on an exhibition of poetry and art to help celebrate World Poetry Day. Jawspring was held at the Village Hall Gallery in Wimbledon and proved a huge success with audiences of both genres. Vaughan-Williams wasn't daunted by the thorny issues discussed on the recording and with empathy he created a new poem from it painful themes. It wouldn't be a murder minutes production without a jazz inspired score and this time it was courtesy of Leo Appleyard and his quartet. They are just about to release their debut album, Pembroke Road, on the F-IRE label in September 2014.

'What's real is home' is the first collaboration between Art and Poetry on this project and one that we hope will continue. Please find out more about the Filmpoem Festival HERE and follow them on twitter. Download the full festival programme here if you would like to experience it first hand!

This year Filmpoem will posting all the available films live on their website from Monday 16th June on http://filmpoem.com/ 




Monday 2 June 2014

Ping Pong Paranoia at MORPOS Los Angeles

Vortex Dome LA
We have just received the news that 'Ping Pong Paranoia' will be receiving its international premiere in Los Angeles, California later this month. It will be shown as part of MORPHOS Immersive Video Dome Art festival on the 27th June 2014. MORPHOS is a one night immersive video experience featuring the world premiere of new experimental immersive and interactive video art in the Vortex LA Dome.
Alban Low has been immersing himself once again in the world of the simulated mental health ward. Now in his second year as artist-in-residence on the ward at Kingston University and St Georges University London he has already produced 2 films with 2 still to come.

Ping Pong Paranoia film
This current crop of films use sound recordings taken from the simulated mental health ward itself as its inspiration. The first film features both the voice of role-player Lindsay Shepherd and a soundtrack by experimental improvisation trio Toy Rokit. The film, Ping Pong Paranoia, explores the ever increasing anxiety and feeling of claustrophobia felt by the paranoid patient 'Sandra' as she voices her concerns about being stuck on the ward.

The film was first screened at the 'Art of Medicine' series at St George's University in April 2014.

To read more about the event and buy tickets - follow the link
MORPHOS Immersive Video Dome Art • Los Angeles





Sunday 1 June 2014

The River at the Twickenham Film Festival 2014

Special Mention Trophy for 'The River'
Its has been a busy month for us on our art and jazz odyssey at the Murder Minutes project. They'll be more to follow but we have our first collaboration and first success to report with improvisation trio, Toy Rokit. We are also just packaging the last few copies of the album we made for the Art Jazzed Up exhibition, and we're obviously excited to show you the results.

Before all that, we have some really good news. The first ever film we made, The River has been awarded a Special Mention at the Twickenham Alive Film Festival this week. Now in its second year the Festival celebrates the ingenuity and originality that is bubbling up in the local area as well as internationally.

10 films were screened on the night with 3 major awards presented for Original Cinematography, Young Filmmaker and International Drama. There were a further 7 Special Mentions, of which we were the proud recipients of one.

The River is one long continuous drawing of the River Crane in Twickenham created by Alban Low. The soundtrack is by Partikel (Eric Ford, Duncan Eagles and Max Luthert) and was inspired by the River Thames at Kingston where two of the trio used to live. There is talk of a further collaboration between Low and Partikel, as the latter's 3rd album is now recorded.