Category Archives: fine art

Instagram Photo Competition for #smfacreatives!

March 30, 2016 mem

What is the competition?
The School of Music and Fine Art is located in the unique setting of the breathtaking Historic Dockyard Chatham, so we want you to get creative! Take a photo of our campus, the facilities, you and your mates jamming in a practice room. The choice is yours! Post it on Instagram, tag us (@UniKentMFA) and remember to use the hashtag: #smfacreative.

Up for grabs is a £20 Amazon voucher for the winner, and two £10 Amazon vouchers for two runners up. We’ll also post the winning images on all of our social media. So, #getsnapping!

We’ve just got a few terms and conditions that you must agree to in order to enter this competition.

The competition is only open to registered students at the University of Kent. Students on any campus are welcome to enter.
The Promoter of the competition is the University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NZ.
Prizes:
x1 £20 Amazon UK Gift Voucher.
x2 £10 Amazon UK Gift Vouchers.
The prizes are as stated, not transferrable to another individual and no cash or other alternatives will be offered.
Proof of student status may be required before the handover of the prize.
All entries must be made directly by the person entering the competition, and entries made using automated methods will be made void.
You must use the hashtag #smfacreative and tag our Instagram account @UniKentMFA otherwise your entry will not count.
No responsibility can be accepted for entries lost, delayed, corrupted or due to computer error in transit.
The promoters reserve the right to amend or alter the terms of the competition, and reject entries that are not entering into the spirit of the competition.
The winners consent to the use of their name, likeness and winning entry, and will co-operate with any other reasonable request by the University of Kent relating to any post-winning publicity. You are granting the Promoter an irrevocable, royalty free worldwide license to use your winning entry in any reasonable way.
You must ensure if there are people in the image that you have permission to use them in the photo.
The prize will be awarded by a team of judges, selected by the Promoter. Their decision is final, and no discussion will be entered into.
Amazon Inc. does not endorse and is not affiliated with this competition.
The competition begins at 00:01 GMT on 2nd April 2016 and ends at 12:00 GMT on 31^st May 2016, and the winners will be posted on Facebook and Instagram within 7 days.

Any queries, contact James Burns, Social Media and Communications Ambassador, School of Music & Fine Art
Email: J.T.Burns@kent.ac.uk

fine art, news, research

Huge success for innovative Artist Walk programme

March 24, 2016 mem

tumblr_o4hj4qBfkt1v8b2evo1_500 — Mike Nelson assists Sophie Brown (MA Fine Art, SMFA) in quagmire problem. Photo by Tim Meacham

An innovative collaborative project organised by the School of Music and Fine Art in partnership with Whitstable Biennale has proved to be a huge success. The recent walk on 21 March with artist Mike Nelson quickly became fully booked, attracting over 40 people, including curators from Tate Modern and the Whitechapel, a curator of the Architecture Biennial in Venice, filmmakers, writers, poets, artists and students.

Says Adam Chodzko, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art in The School of Music & Fine Art and one of the organisers: “Mike Nelson is one of the UK’s most important artists. Twice nominated for the Turner Prize and previously representing Britain at the Venice Biennale, it was his dislike of public speaking that led to us developing this different approach (walking) in order to develop a different kind of discourse between students and artists and place.”

The 4 walks aim to test the proposition that a walking journey with an artist is as valuable as hearing them address a lecture theatre, and that sharing a range of sights and sounds would reveal something that slides and video clips do not. Each route culminates at a point along the Medway estuary or river Swale, forming a string of reference points between which the connections between the walks can be contemplated.

For images from the walk go to: http://mikenelsonartistwalk.tumblr.com/

The final walk with Brian Dillon is on 9 April. For more details of the walks go to: www.whitstablebiennale.com

creative events, fine art, news

School of Music and Fine Art staff and students featured in International Festival of Projections, March 2016

March 15, 2016 mem

PROJECTIONS_ClioBarnard-2-e1452677926590-1024x683 — University of Kent’s International Festival of Projections 2016.

Cultural icon Yoko Ono is one of the artists contributing to the University’s International Festival of Projections, taking place from 18-20 March 2016. Designed to showcase internationally renowned arts together with ground-breaking research at Kent, this major new arts festival, which is free and open to all, features more than 100 artists, filmmakers, poets and musicians, who will fill dozens of spaces on Kent’s Canterbury campus with intriguing, thought-provoking and fun artworks, with additional activities at the University’s Medway campus and in Canterbury City centre.

School of Music and Fine Art staff and students feature significantly. Screenings of work from sonic artist Professor Tim Howle, Lecturer in The School of Music & Fine Art take place on Sunday 20^th March, which he follows with an evening talk On making electroacoustic movies.

Artist and Senior Fine Art Lecturer Adam Chodzko’s new film Deep Above, which engages with climate change, can be seen on 19^th-20^th March, with work from MA Fine Art student Jose Fernandez-Levy featured the same days in Confined Projections.

A group of 6 Fine Art MA students from The School of Music & Fine Art present their work The Cloudbuster – a multi-partnered project with Island Projects, and the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust – from 18-20^th March in ROOM on the Medway campus. The students – Tracey Affleck, Val Bolsover, Sophie Brown, Fiona Townend, Jose Fernandez-Levy and Claudia Chiappini – worked with Adam Chodzko on this innovative project.

For the full programme for the University’s Projections festival go to: https://issuu.com/kentdesignstudio/docs/bt_121184_projections_prog_final_we/1?e=11873757/33904657

fine art, news, research

Uncommon Chemistry Exhibition features School of Music & Fine Art Lecturers

March 11, 2016 mem

School of Music & Fine Art Lecturers Tim Meacham and Adam Chodzko are 2 of the artists featured in Uncommon Chemistry, which runs from 20 March – 17 April at The Observer Buildings, Hastings.

Curated by Dan Howard-Birt, the exhibition explores the parallel artistic leitmotifs of material agency and arcane spirituality, and how the conscious engagement with one or other of these territories provides valuable analogies for the broader understanding of art-making and art-viewing.

There is always something which lurks beyond the artist’s control, which brings a work to life and enables it to mutate and evolve through different contexts of time and place.

Visit the Facebook event for more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/221838461501852/ or go to http://observerbuildinghastings.co.uk/whats-next/

The exhibition is FREE to attend.

fine art, news

Medway inspired films, art workshops and installations from Wetlands Project

March 11, 2016 mem

Nadia Perrotta, MA Fine Art, School of Music & Fine Art, who was awarded a grant of £5,000 from the University of Kent Student Projects Grant Scheme for her project Wetlands Hub, has organised film screenings, art workshop and installations inspired and shaped by the Medway expanse, with the first event on Tuesday 15 March.

Says Nadia, “Wetlands is an art project initiated in 2015, inspired by the powerful metaphor of a possible memory retained and preserved by the waters. The aim of the project is for students and alumni of the University of Kent to involve and interact with local communities living in proximity of waters, recreating a dialogue between them, their maritime history and the wetland landscape.

For Wetlands 2016, we are running film workshops with young people, in collaboration with Youth Centres of Hoo St Werburgh, Chattenden and Grain. Students from School of Music and Fine Art will create video and sound works from the documentation collected.”

Programme:
15th March  10.30 – 12.30   Film Screening – Grain Library
3 – 5pm      Film Screening – Hoo Library
16th March from 10am. Film Installations – Brook Theatre & Sun Pier House
17th March 10.30 – 3.30pm.   Film Installations – Sun Pier House
17th March 11 – 1pm. Film Screening – Wigmore Library
18th March 10.30 – 1pm. Film Screening – Lordswood Library
24th March 6.30 – 8.30pm. Closing Event – Royal Dockyard Church, Historic Dockyard Chatham

Wine Reception with presentation of film and sound works by the Wetlands project team, followed by an insight into the project’s development.

Contacts:
Website: http://wetlandsmedway.jimdo.com
Email: wetlandsmedway@gmail.com
Facebook: Wetlands Hoo
Twitter: @wetlands_medway

fine art, news

Night in the Museum for Fine Art students on Friday 4th March

March 3, 2016 mem

On Friday 4 March, as part of an ongoing collaborative project, a group of students from the School of Music & Fine Art will be spending the night in Rochester Guildhall museum. The stay forms part of 2nd year fine art modules Place and Site and Practice and its Publics. Students are working in response to the museum and the collection. The project has included working closely with curators and museum staff who have given students virtually unlimited access to objects in storage areas, as well as public displays. The project culminates in an exhibition of student responses and proposals in the museum entitled Show don’t Tell. The exhibition will open on Friday the 1^st of April, with a Private View from 5.30pm-8pm, and the exhibition will be open until Thursday 7th April.

As part of the modules students will present their proposals to a panel of museum staff and professionals from the local creative and cultural community. University of Kent School of Journalism students will be also be writing an article, interviewing students and making a film about this exciting venture.

fine art, news, research

Whitstable Biennale Artist Walks 2016

February 23, 2016 mem

A collaborative project with the School of Music and Fine Art and the 2016 Whitstable Biennale has produced an innovative series of Four Artist Walks, which aim to test the proposition that a walking journey with an artist could be as valuable as hearing them address a lecture theatre, and that sharing a range of sights and sounds could reveal something that slides and video clips do not.

Information about the artists and the politics, history and imaginative potential of the landscape being walked through will be disseminated before/after in a document in order to keep the walk itself as ‘present’ as possible. Walkers will be invited to mix and mingle during the walks, with an emphasis on informal conversation. Midway through the walks, students will present a set of questions to the artists which later will be collated, with the artists’ responses, in the Whitstable Biennale’s online journal.

Each route will culminate at a point along the Medway estuary or river Swale, forming a string of reference points between which the connections between the walks can be contemplated.

Walk 2, on Saturday 27th February, 10:15am—1pm approx, with Ruth Ewan, will take in Kingsferry Bridge, Iwade, Ridham Dock and the strange “elephants’ graveyard” of decaying Thames barges in the mouth of the Medway. The walk will start and end at Swale Station. An artist’s pamphlet will be provided to each walker.

Booking:

Places on the walks (priced at £5 per person: All participants will receive an artist’s pamphlet from Ruth Ewan) are limited and can be booked, on a first come, first served basis, here via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artist-walks-ruth-ewan-tickets-21223515105?ref=elink

Notes for walkers:

The walks will be largely off-road. Participants are recommended to wear waterproof walking boots and warm outdoor clothing. Please also note that access to drinking water and toilet facilities will be limited.

For further information: http://www.whitstablebiennale.com/project/ruth-ewan/

Facebook event – https://www.facebook.com/events/159388467775540/

The next walk will be on 21st March with Mike Nelson, and the final walk on 9^th April with Brian Dillon. For further details go to http://www.whitstablebiennale.com/artists/artist-walks/

Artist Walks is a collaborative project organised by the School of Music and Fine Art in the University of Kent in partnership with Whitstable Biennale and supported by Kent County Council, taking place between Chatham and Faversham.

Alumni, fine art, news

Artist John Russell visits The School of Music & Fine Art

February 15, 2016 mem

On Tuesday 23rd February at 6.15pm in the stunning setting of the recently refurbished Royal Dockyard Church in the atmospheric Historic Dockyard Chatham, acclaimed artist John Russell will give a free talk about his work.

Formerly a member (and founder) of the subversive London art collective BANK (whose antics included faxing galleries “corrected” versions of their own press releases back to them), artist Russell has continued to make art on his own which likewise casts a gimlet eye on the doings of the art world and culture at large. The centrepiece of his recent NY exhibition consists of a video made up of animated gif files that tell the story of a near future, where humans have learned to extend life by downloading consciousness into the brains of small animals. A tale of technological transformation, SQRRL is also a chilling allegory for our own time.

Recent solo shows include “SQRRL” Bridget Donahue Gallery, New York, 2016, Jexus, MOTINTERNATIONAL Brussels 2012; Angel of History: I can see for miles, Focal Point Gallery Southend 2011; and Ocean Pose, Matts Gallery London.

Editor of Frozen Tears, Russell is Professor in Fine Art at the University of Reading and is Director of Research for Art. His research interests are: “Affect. Affirmation. Figurality. Event. Art/politics. Art/philosophy. Art/language. Class. Performativity. Fiction/fictioning. Visualisation. Digital media. Philosophy. Bad philosophy. Printed matter. Staging”

Although the talk is free and everyone is welcome, please book via: https://alumni.kent.ac.uk/events/john-russell-feb-2016

Links for more info:

http://www.bridgetdonahue.nyc/exhibitions/john-russell/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/25/arts/design/john-russells-sqrrl-embodies-a-science-fiction-journey.html?_r=0

http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/john-russell%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Csqrrl%E2%80%9D/

http://www.john-russell.org/Reviews/FuscoAM08.pdf

http://www.frozentears.co.uk/

http://media.rhizome.org/custom-produced-imbeciles-some-sort-interview-john/aaa/index.html

fine art, news

Funding success for Wetlands Hub project from School of Music & Fine Art

February 8, 2016 mem

Wetlands, a student group led by Nadia Perrotta, MA Fine Art, School of Music & Fine Art, has been awarded a grant of £5,000 from the University of Kent Student Projects Grant Scheme for their project Wetlands Hub, to build an archive of documentation and film works about the local maritime history and the wetland landscape. This is the second time that the group has been awarded funding to run the project!

This year the Panel was chaired by the Director of Student Services and assisted by core members including representatives from Kent Union, the three Faculties, the donor community and the Development Office. The Panel was very impressed with the application and decided to allocate the full grant (i.e. £5,000) applied for.

Said Nadia: “I feel privileged to have received the funding and I would like to thank the donors for their support. Wetlands Hub will consist of an archive of site specific, sound and video works made by the students of SMFA in Medway. The archive will be accessible online. Selections of works will be also showcased in a pop up exhibition space, in the town centre. We are a group of 24 Fine Art and Music students, but everyone across the School of Music & Fine Art will be able to submit works to the archive and be part of the events at the pop up art space.”

For more info on Wetlands go to: http://wetlandsmedway.jimdo.com/

creative events, fine art, news, research

Pioneering experimental filmmaker Tony Hill visits the School of Music & Fine Art on Wednesday 24th February

February 8, 2016 mem

On 24th February at 6pm, artist and pioneering experimental filmmaker Tony Hill will be visiting the School of Music & Fine Art to talk about his film practice. Organised and funded by 51zero/voyager – an ongoing series of events, projects and touring activities, organised by 51zero, that engages directly with the communities of Medway, Kent, Northern France and further afield – the celebrated filmmaker will present and discuss his pioneering films and groundbreaking filmmaking techniques. Internationally renowned, Hill makes experimental short films that are somewhere between sculpture and cinema. To create his visually challenging and timelessly beautiful imagery, he often develops his own camera rigs, ingeniously using mirrors and unusual lenses, and sometimes humorous vantage points to make us rethink our assumptions about perspective, gravity, scale and movement.

Born in London in 1946, Tony Hill studied Architecture and Sculpture and has been working as an independent film-maker since 1973, he also works with installations, photography and sound and has presented his work at many galleries and in film festivals worldwide. His award winning films have been broadcast on network television in many countries and published in the UK and Japan, with commercial work including directing music videos and TV commercials. He taught film and video from 1982 until 2002 at the University of Derby becoming Professor of Film and at Plymouth College of Art from 2004 until 2011.

The Artist Talk starts at 6.00pm and will explore Tony Hill’s unique film production techniques highlighting the formalistic qualities and contexts at play in his work, followed by a discussion with curator Keith Whittle exploring Hill’s aesthetic and conceptual approach and the research and production processes involved in the making of his films. The event closes with an informal opportunity to meet the artist from 8pm until 9pm.

The event is free but RSVP is required. To book go to http://www.51zero.org/voyager/

For more go to http://www.tonyhillfilms.com/