FOUR Event & Experience Design students from the School of Music and Fine Art have been awarded paid apprenticeships to work on the prestigious London Lumiere this weekend. The students with apprenticeships are: Charlotte Harding Year 3, Shu Xin Wong (Sushi) Year 2, Greta Pencheva Year 2, and Elaiza Santos Ferreira Year 1.
Described as the biggest-ever light festival to hit the capital, the event is produced by Artichoke, a creative company that works with artists “to invade our public spaces and put on extraordinary and ambitious events that live in the memory forever.” Supported by the Mayor of London, for four evenings in January a host of international artists will illuminate the city from 6:30pm to 10:30pm each night.
Discover iconic architecture transformed with 3D projections, interactive installations and other extraordinary light works in a programme that responds to the unique architecture of each location. Lumiere London 2016 is spread across four of London’s most exciting areas: King’s Cross; Mayfair; Piccadilly, Regent Street and St James’s; and Trafalgar Square and Westminster.
Kate Harvey, an Artichoke Producer, will be visiting the School of Music and Fine Art to talk to EED 1st Year students this term.
On Tuesday 26th January, 2016 in the stunning Royal Dockyard Church, The Historic Dockyard Chatham, from 6.15pm to 8pm, the School of Music and Fine Art is thrilled to welcome Jaki Irvine, an artist working in mixed media, but mainly film, video and writing. She is represented by Frith Street Gallery, London.
Originally Dublin based but now living in Mexico City, she represented Ireland at the 1997 Venice Biennale. Overheard conversations and human incidents, casually observed, often form the starting point for Jaki Irvine’s work. She weaves these real events with fictitious narratives to produce haunting films and videos. Her work makes use of the potential discontinuity between moving image, musical score and narrator to undermine any sense of linear narrative. Irvine’s work suggests the fragmented mysterious and often absurd nature of the human condition.
The talk is part of an exciting series of visiting artists, writers, filmmakers, curators and performers who will talk about their work. Each speaker is renowned in their own field and uses imagery, materials and processes differently to pose distinct and searching questions to address the urgent concerns of our age. Our guests will provide a detailed presentation of their work, share their experiences of making work and also their involvement in navigating the complex multifaceted artworld.
Our Visiting Artists have national and international profiles, many are multi-award winners and their practices include multimedia installation, moving image, sound, photography, performance, socially engaged practice, painting, sculpture, publishing and curating.
On Wednesday 27th January, from 9am-1.30pm, contemporary music trio Skintwill be performing and giving a workshop in the School of Music & Fine Art at the Chatham Historic Dockyard in the Galvanising Workshop.
Launching a project at Jazz Re:Freshed, London on January 28th, Skint consists of saxophone (Phil Meadows, award winning creator of the Engines Orchestra), bass (James Benzies, plays in MIMIKA, Myriad Forest) and drums (Harry Pope, plays in World Service Project) who play intense grooves, rip roaring solos and soaring melodies, all aimed at breaking the jazz tradition and using it to replace DJ’s in nightclubs. Harry plays through Ableton Live, adding lots of electronics and Phil also plays some keyboards/multi-effects. The rhythms come from Africa, South America and Asia and the music has been written collectively.
Says Dr Ruth Herbert, Associate Lecturer in Music Performance in the School of Music & Fine Art, “We are delighted to present another workshop/masterclass with cutting edge musicians that really cross style boundaries in their work. Skint are coming to Kent the day before their project launch in London, so the music will be debuted to SMFA students ahead of the launch! Expect lots of improvisation and definitely plenty to talk about.”
Maeve Buckenham, one of SMFA’s recent MA Fine Art graduates and winner of the Vice Chancellor’s Prize for her work in the 2015 degree show, has her first solo screening exhibition – the film screening premiere of The world is now all there is – on Thursday 17 December. Invited by 51zero, a dynamic arts organisation working in South-East England and Northern France, artist Maeve Buckenham presents new work where she uses her own video, poetry and sound design to explore the excavation of family history in relation to identity formation. With her thought-provoking and visually assaulting films Maeve opens a dialogue with the viewer on the perception of mental health conditions, particularly Anorexia Nervosa in young women.
Programme: 6:00 – 6:30pm Welcome and refreshments.
6:30 – 8:00pm Artist Filmmakers’ Salon with Maeve Buckenham
Introduction / Short film screening / Group response
Venue: No34 / 34 High Street, Sittingbourne, ME10 4PB
From 8pm until late on Thursday December 17th the award winning bar and bistro Cargo Bar at Liberty Quays welcomes bands from the School of Music & Fine Art to perform sets of original material and covers. This stunning nautical and industrial-style venue is the perfect place to sample some of the best live music acts the area has to offer.
FREE to attend, the popular gigs always draw a crowd and have a fantastic atmosphere. The SMFA gig at Cargo last Easter was a huge success, with three bands from across the stages of the School of Music and Fine Art giving powerful and exciting performances.
Wednesday 9th December, 11.15am – 6pm Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH
Sponsored by the University of Kent and organised by Dr Andrew Conio, Programmes Director, Fine Art and Event and Experience Design, School of Music and Fine Art, this cross-disciplinary forum creates a provocative encounter between philosophy, geography, psychoanalysis, high finance, film, economics, art and activism. With papers from Professor Philip Goodchild, Professor John Russell, Oliver Ressler, Angus Cameron, Anastasios Gaitanidis, James Buckley, Georgious Papadopoulos and films from Ami Clarke and Hillary Koob-Sassen, the symposium at the Institute of Contemporary Art on 9th December investigates the flows of life, money and art and the axiomatics that bind them together.
Every society in history has created economic, social and political systems to channel flows into things, functional processes and systems. This symposium asks; to what extent do the Quadrillions of dollars channeled through markets every day determine the ontological horizons and conditions of possibility of life. How are the flows of money and life’s imminent flows consiliant or forced into disjunctive relation, how does the artist capture these flows?
The School of Music and Fine Art is proud to be working with the Institute of Contemporary Art, London’s foremost multi-disciplinary arts centre. Founded in 1947 by a group of artists, poets and radicals, the ICA is an essential meeting place for anyone interested in contemporary culture. Designed as a playground for ideas, the ICA has worked with a litany of inspired artists and writers, including T.S. Eliot, Cartier-Bresson, Francis Bacon, Jacques Derrida, Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Jeff Koons, Yoko Ono and Slavoj Žižek.
A wide range of vibrant music making activities is available at The School of Music & Fine Art, from Chamber Choir and jazz ensembles through to the World Percussion Ensemble and the large-scale Choir and Band, comprising students from across the Medway campus. In December we will be showcasing the talent and skills of our students in a range of concerts that are free to attend.
On Wednesday December 9th in the Galvanising Workshop at the Historic Dockyard Chatham, part of the University of Kent’s Medway campus, students from the School of Music & Fine Art perform music from a range of traditions. The Jazz Improvisation Ensemble will perform works by Juan Tizol, Fats Waller and Joe Harriott. There will be a performance of Frank Martin’s exceptionally beautiful Piano Quintet in D Minor and the concert will be framed by works with a festive flavour sung by the Chamber Choir. This free concert starts at 7.30pm.
In the following week, there is also a chance to hear students from the BMus and MA Music programmes studying band and ensemble playing. This Ensemble Performance Lunchtime Concert is on Tuesday December 15th from 12 noon until 1pm in the Galvanising Workshop, and will include performances of jazz and contemporary popular music.
Finally, from 8pm until late on Thursday December 17th the award winning bar and bistro Cargo Bar at Liberty Quays welcomes bands from the School of Music & Fine Art to perform sets of original material and covers. This stunning nautical and industrial-style venue is the perfect place to sample some of the best live music acts the area has to offer. The gigs are free to attend, always draw a crowd and have a fantastic atmosphere. The SMFA gig at Cargo last Easter was a huge success, with three bands from across the stages of the School of Music and Fine Art giving powerful and exciting performances.
Says Director of Music Programmes and Lecturer in Music, Dr Ben Curry, “I always feel immensely proud and excited when I see our students perform. Whether they are playing innovative pop, soul and jazz or pulling off a challenging work from the classical tradition, they always give compelling performances.”
The School of Music & Fine Art offers a wide range of degrees which include: BMus Music, BSc Music Technology, BMus Popular Music, and NEW joint honours BA (Hons) Music and English & American Studies, and BSc (Hons) Music Technology and Computing; MA Music, MA Music Composition, MA Popular Music, MA Music Technology, PhD Music and PhD Music Technology.
On Thursday December 10th, from 1.30pm-4pm, students from the School of Music & Fine Art on the BA (Hons) Event and Experience Design create a choreographed journey through stunning multimedia installations and performances in explorative response to the physical, historical and social contexts of the atmospheric Fort Amherst, a Napoleonic defence system of underground tunnels and above ground deep trench earthworks known as the lines. This innovative event, which is open to the public and free to attend, produces an interpretive and immersive tour of the spaces and environs.
Based at the Historic Dockyard Chatham, part of the University of Kent’s Medway campus, our Event and Experience Design programme is the only undergraduate degree in the UK dedicated to developing skilled practitioners for the creative events industry for entertainment, commercial, heritage, tourism and hospitality environments. The programme has the 5th highest score for overall student satisfaction in the latest National Student Survey (NSS) 2015, and 100% of graduates are in employment or further study within 6 months of graduating, with 75% in professional or managerial posts (UniStats 2015).
Says Peter Hatton, Lecturer, “This project at Fort Amherst challenges the students in every way; creatively, logistically and technically. It is a great opportunity for them to devise, produce and present an event unique to its location for an audience. We are very grateful for all the support of the staff at the Fort.”
Writing, producing, recording, mixing and mastering for his band, Real Life Charm, a self contained Pop and Art Collective that bring together video, illustration and music as one experience, Frank Walker, Music Technician at the University of Kent, School of Music and Fine Art is now curating an innovative arts, music and performance exhibition called The Tame Modern. Taking place on 12th December at Norwich based Dove Studios, the event seeks to distort, critique and compliment the idea of high brow and low brow and comment on its existence in Western culture, a major influence being the works of Herbert Gans and in particular his seminal book Popular Culture and High Culture.
Run by Dyad Creative in partnership with East Street Arts, Dove Street Studios works with writers, video and sound artists, installation artists, performance artists, prop makers and multi-disciplinary artists.
Real Life Charm’s music has been played on BBC Radio 1 (Huw Stephens, Phil Taggart, Annie Mac), BBC Radio 6, XFM, and playlisted on amazing radio, I-D magazine, Clash magazine, Indi shuffle and were hailed as ones to watch in 2016, playing the Radio 1 Academy at OPEN in the build up to the 2015 BBC Big Weekend.
Members of the band are Frank Walker, TP Hyland, Adam Avery, Jason Naylor, George Welsh, Dan Fretwell and Narayan O’Hanlon. Their recent releases can be heard over at spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5KWpK5JIrAXIaUN0IOOCNe
Work by two award winning artists and lecturers in the School of Music & Fine Art will be shown in a thought-provoking film programme in India. Settlement by Adam Chodzko, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, and The Whale from filmmaker and Associate Lecturer in Fine Art, Stephen Connolly, will be featured in a film screening programme called Postcard Views on Tuesday 24 November at 1 Shanthi Road Gallery, Bangalore, an art space founded by Suresh Jayaram that nurtures creativity and cutting edge art practice, situated in the centre of the city. Artists explore landscape from the context of ‘man-made’ environments driven by regeneration processes, political spatial division and wasteland management. Allowing a dialogue between different geographical locations – India and Europe – the programme raises notions, still relevant today, concerning imperial gestures and globalisation, where colonial powers’ seem to come along in disguise of rich investors. How do we interact with public space made available by the state or a colonial power structure? How do we become aware of these strategies of power? The artistic approach seems to help trace, reveal and re-evaluate those strategies within a landscape’s or a city’s layered residues.
The Studio/Gallery at 1 Shanthi Road provides space for slide lectures, small conferences, installations, performances, screenings and informal gatherings. It is administered by a not- for- profit trust Visual Art Collective and since its inception in 2003, has grown to house artists from diverse countries in its residency programmes. To date, the space has hosted and shown artists from every continent (and virtually every country) in the world.
Context for Postcard Views:
German landscape architect GH Krumbiegel (1865-1956) went to London in 1888 in order to help design Hyde Park and the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, London. He subsequently settled in India at the beginning of the 20th century and designed major botanical gardens in Ooty and Bangalore after the model of British parks. A system of ‘park’ was thus transplanted to India and other countries, and landscape architecture became part of the British colonial programme. Bangalore is said to be both the ‘new Silicon Valley’ and a ‘Garden City’, yet is trying to come to terms with large areas of inner city wasteland. In Postcard Views, the artists map out situations where control and power seem to be firmly encoded within landscape and where parks and monuments seem to reveal or memorialise certain cultural values. Our human instinct to consistently reorganise nature and landscape ac- cording to cultural perspectives and political control is laid bare.
Programme for Postcard Views:
Mike Marshall, Days like these, 2003, 3.24 mins., UK
Johanna Domke, Stultifera Garden, 2008 11.35 mins., D
Adam Chodzko, Settlement, 2004, 10 mins., UK
Robert Crosse, The Speed of Change, 2015, 2.40 mins., UK
Stephen Connolly, The Whale, 2005, 9.15 mins., UK
Matthew Murdoch, Being There, 2006, 4.30 mins., UK
Ann Donnelly, Political Landscape, 2007, 7 mins., IE
Claudia Kapp, You lose, 2011, 4 mins., D
Semiconductor, All the Time in the World, 2005, 4.42 mins., UK
Michelle Deignan, Ways to Speculate, 2014, 4.20 mins., UK
Genevieve Staines, Ruins in Reverse, 2005, 5.50 mins., AU
Daniel Beerstecher, Mas Continua a Vida, 2014, 5.18 mins., D
Stephen Connolly is an artist filmmaker. His award winning single screen work explores the interface between spectatorship, material culture and subjectivity, and has been widely screened at film and media festivals internationally since 2002. His work is distributed by the LUX and has been acquired by the Artist Moving Image Collection of the British Film Institute and a number of US Universities.
Stephen is a PhD candidate in Fine Art, a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Kent 50 Scholar. His doctoral practice as research looks at the representation of capital as material environment in artists film and video and the use of ‘assemblage’ and an Actor Network framework can further this audio-visual exploration. Recent conferences as a contributor include In Media Res at Harvard US; Besides the Screen at USP São Paulo BR; and Critical Topographies at Kingston UK.http://www.bubblefilm.net/projects/sketches.htm
Adam Chodzko’s art explores the interactions and possibilities of human behaviour. Exhibiting internationally since 1991, Chodzko works across media, from video installation to subtle interventions, with a practice that is situated both within the gallery and the wider public realm.
After studying the History of Art at the University of Manchester and Fine Art as a Masters at Goldsmiths College London, Chodzko has exhibited at numerous venues around the world. These include the Tate Britain, Venice Biennale, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Istanbul Biennial and locally at the Folkestone Triennial. He was shortlisted for the prestigious Jarman Award in 2015. http://www.adamchodzko.com/
