Tuesday
clerkwell
Giles Miller Studio has created the entrance to Clerkenwell Design Week in the form of a timber archway made up of 20,000 angled wooden pixels. The archway sits inside the original concrete arches of the Farmiloe building, a 150 year old warehouse that has become the hub of the Clerkenwell Design Week.
The Clerkenwell Archway has been built from thousands of hexagonal pieces of laser-cut timber, set on wedges and angled to give differing shades and create light-based pixelation. The surface has been manipulated to show classic architectural detail and reference the original detail of the building, but also to show a contrasting geometric pattern in the centre of the installation. Each of the pixels has been hand-stuck to their individual 20 degree wedge, and then stuck in turn to the walnut veneered surface.
London-based design practice Giles Miller Studio develops a range of innovative surface materials for use in interior and retail design projects. The studio is based in Spitalfields and uses the medium of pixelated light reflection to generate imagery and graphics to suit individual projects and client requests.
The archway, which was originally intended to sit outside in the external corridor of the Farmiloe Building, but now acts as a second layer to the buildings internal archway and functions as the entrance to the event, which will see some 25,000 visitors over the next three days. This is the second year running that the studio has created an installation using angled surface pixelation for the event; last years bright yellow tiled bar-front was situated in the old garage on Clerkenwell Road.
Road trip!
A long awaited road trip was on the cards this weekend. Car packed and route planned it was all go!
I have a lovely weekend catching up on tales and changes and eating my own body weight in Macaroons!
underworlds
People in Leeds are in for a revelation the weekend of 18-20 May, when the city as they know it will be turned upside down. Unexpected things – including art, music and performance – will happen on the busy streets of the city centre, taking passers-by and unsuspecting shoppers by surprise.
A talented team of local artists and organisations, alongside the acclaimed film makers and animators the Quay brothers, have conjured up Overworlds & Underworlds. The finer details of this huge-scale – and free – art event are shrouded in secrecy but organisers are promising something deeply imaginative and exciting.
As the name suggests, the overworld, or surface layer, of Leeds (the streets, buildings and people) and the underworld (the water that flows through and beneath the city) will come together in dynamic ways. The two worlds will overlap and interweave – and, it is hoped, leave a lasting impression.
Briggate acts as a bridge between the two worlds
Two landmark locations are the focus of the action – the main one for the Underworld is the vast, echoing tunnels of the Dark Arches (beneath Leeds railway station) through which the River Aire thunders; and the County Arcade is the site of the Overworld. They will be transformed with film, singing, dancing, installation, music and performance – on a more ambitious scale, the claim is, than has ever been seen in Leeds before. The main shopping street Briggate acts as a bridge between the two worlds – with a few surprises of its own.
Overworlds & Underworlds is part of a cultural scheme to celebrate this year’s Olympics – bringing some of the fun and excitement to cities outside London.
The brothers bring a fondness for the strange and macabre
Leeds Canvas, the team that won the bid to fund the event, invited the American twins Stephen and Timothy Quay to take one of the largest cities in the north as their canvas. Bringing with them a fondness for the strange and macabre, the brothers seemed a perfect choice to guide the otherworldly project.
“It’s been interesting for the brothers, who usually work on a very small scale,” says Steve Dearden, the team’s associate producer. “Part of the process has been how to translate their vision on to a street in a major northern city?”
He says the event has been geared up to enable as many people as possible to enjoy it – for free – in the public realm. “It’s on the street and we want the work to be enjoyed by as broad a range of people as possible. It’s really important to Leeds Canvas that this is an event in the heart of the city, about the city and for the city.”
What would happen if the river flowed into the city?
The essence of the project has emerged from the daily life of the city – its natural flow and human traffic. The River Aire was also an inspiration, allowing the Quays to build their vision on a tantalising idea: “what would happen if the river flowed into the city and the city flowed into river?”
Leeds Canvas brings together eight Leeds-based arts organisations: West Yorkshire Playhouse, Opera North, Northern Ballet, Phoenix Dance, Leeds Art Gallery, Yorkshire Dance, Leeds Museum and Galleries and Leeds Met Gallery and Studio Theatre. The project began two years ago, when its successful bid to run the Yorkshire event won £500,000 from the Arts Council, which gave similar amounts to 11 other cities in the UK to create something spectacular as part of the Olympic cultural programme.
Dearden says: “The idea of this amount of money to me at the beginning of the process seemed extraordinary. But then you realise how quickly it goes – there are things that we haven’t been able to do. There’s been a process of marrying the brothers’ ideas with what is practical.”
“This will be one of the last huge public arts programmes.”
He adds that it has been interesting to have the sum at a time of austerity and cuts. “For me, there is little doubt this will be one of the last huge public arts programmes. Post-Olympics, there won’t be many organisations giving out millions of pounds. But this isn’t something that has been dreamed up – the Olympic programme always has been both sporting and cultural.”
In terms of the local economy, the project has employed, supported and benefited hundreds of Yorkshire-based artists, creatives and local people. There are also three education and outreach programmes involved: Leeds Young Authors, the Space 2 project in East Leeds and the Pyramid of Arts project that involves groups of learning disabled young people and adults.
Dearden adds that there is “no better time than in a time of recession to show how effective arts and culture can be in defining a city, being part of what the city is, and to remind us how much poorer our lives would be without that strand as part of the fabric”.
Many Yorkshire artists have collaborated on the project, selected by the Quays. They include the sound designer Mic Pool, playwright Blake Morrison and choreographers Daniel de Andrade, Gary Clarke, Charlotte Vincent and Douglas Thorpe.
The musician and composer Gavin Bryars says we can expect several sounds during the weekend. “All the elements I’m using are from Leeds – the parish church, the opera players, a recording of the town hall bell, the children in the choir. If we were in a different city, the result would be very different.”
“It’s important that Leeds takes the initiative.”
But how important is this for Leeds and the north? “It’s great that Leeds is active in a cultural way, at this time. There’s a danger that so much cultural energy and focus is on London – especially in an Olympic year and the way the arts are being cut. It’s important that Leeds takes the initiative and make a positive statement.”
Ultimately, Dearden wants the way people look and listen to the city to have changed. “Later, when people walk down Briggate, we hope they’ll be aware of the water that is flowing under the city; and when they walk through City Square, that they’ll look up and see the bell tower, and maybe listen out for a strain of music above the noise of the traffic.”
At the end of the weekend, all signs of OverWorlds & UnderWorlds will disappear as quickly as they emerged. Only the shared memories and a trace of the project’s infectious energy and will remain.
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