On Friday we kicked off with Kirsty Almeida, who you can read more about in our interview here. My description of her music as bayou blues meets dub bass might suit her recorded material, but for this small show Kirsty ditched the big band that would later be accompanying her on the Avalon stage and instead took a more stripped back acoustic approach, dressed in a fetching stripy all-in-one pants suit.
A particularly creative course of action was required from all the percussionists who visited the Tripod Stage and, in between rattling and banging a wide variety of objects, Kirsty’s drummer once again stole the show… dancing and gurning in accompaniment to her song about the “wrong Mr Right” in a thoroughly endearing fashion.
cheeky drummer!
One of a breed of strong female musicians who have no desire to fit the normal pliable record label mould, Kirsty was relaxed and chatty during her songs: an absolute delight. Her album Pure Blue Green comes out on Decca on 31st August, and she finished painting the album artwork just last night!
Kirsty on the Tripod Stage: I loved how creative yet peaceful the area was. The stage was so beautifully bonkers it brought our bonkersness out of us and gave us a licence to be cheeky too. Kirsty’s favourite part of Glastonbury: Definitely all the street entertainers. I loved The Dead Weather too but for us as performers the highlight was definitely the chance to entertain and share our music.
Following Kirsty we had a session from Newislands, who despite worries that they would not be able to make a big enough noise managed to wow a small but perfectly formed mid afternoon crowd with their melodic post rock.
It was only after the gig that I discovered they were missing their bassist Bogart…. we are mutual friends of the Mystery Jets and met many years ago at a small festival called Blissfields that we all went to together. Later that night Bogart called on me in my tent with Marina Pepper. I was fast asleep and woke with the fear of God in me…. it wasn’t the best way to be reintroduced but apparently he insisted on seeing me “the nicest person he knows” – I look forward to meeting Bogart again one day when I am wide awake.
Lead singer David’s best bit about playing the Tripod Stage: Well apart from the lovely stage itself, complete with the best speaker system I’ve ever seen, receiving a cup of tea from yourselves midway through the set, was pretty special. David’s Glastonbury highlight: Apart from playing two amazing gigs, (one for you and one for BBC Introducing), seeing Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood on stage together was ace… “For a minute there I lost myself…”
Newislands are playing at Napa Live in Cyprus and then return to the UK to play the Farm Festival. A new single, followed by their debut album, will be released soon. You can watch their other Glastonbury performance here.
We then had our first session from Climate Camp poets Danny Chivers, Claire Fauset and Merrick – all of whom deliver brilliant spoken word commentaries on the state of the world. Danny and Claire have a way of making the environmental/political mess we are in make complete and simple sense, and Merrick takes on the whole system. Why do we work? If you’ve heard Merrick speak you’ll question the sense in ever getting a job.
After a somewhat more subdued ceilidh we were then treated to the most extraordinary live set from Danny and the Champions of the World, who decided to ditch most of the electrical amplification and instead sprawl towards their audience in a great acoustic morass.
This band was made for live gigs…. myself and Dom, the banjo player in Green Kite Midnight, were so enthralled by the set that we dusted ourselves down after dinner and set off to hear them once more at the Croissant Neuf bandstand. Danny is a massively confident and skilled musician who has clearly been playing for years: talents like his ought to be better celebrated.
Danny liked playing the Tripod Stage because: the audience was really great and there was an atmosphere that seemed very ‘other’ to the mad hustle and bustle of the rest of the festival – like a haven of good vibes and togetherness, like a family or maybe like what my minds eye would conjure up when I think of festivals in the 60′s. We really just love playing and it’s always great to pass the instruments around, have fun with friends and sing a bunch of songs, and it felt like the perfect time for that – we could’ve played for hours. The lentil dal [for supper] was a treat too!
Danny’s favourite part of Glastonbury this year: I guess the best part of it was getting to play music with friends to loads of folks. We were lucky enough to play on a bunch of different types of stages so we got a pretty broad experience of it all – we played about seven times which was amazing… but my feet still ache! It’s what we live to do: drink a few ciders and pass the guitar around.
Danny and the Champions of the World on the road: Our band really lives and breathes on the road, meeting good people and having a great time playing tunes. We’re doing… Maverick, Cornbury, Lounge on the Farm, Deershed, Secret Garden Party, Port Elliot, Truck Festival, Summer Sundae and Greenbelt – and maybe a couple more that I’ve forgotten. We’ll probably start to record a new record at the end of the year.
But, it didn’t end there…. like a magic jack-in-the-box, there were more surprises in store. Out of the band popped a duo who’s music I have loved since the very moment their album plopped onto my doormat. Like a butterfly emerging (from a particularly sexy and gorgeous caterpillar) Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou shed the rest of the musicians to perform a few gorgeous tunes of their own. I was beaming like a motherfucker by this point.
A surprise performance from Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou.
And then… I discovered that the band line up also features the delightful brothers who run Truck Festival, a great independent music festival near Oxford. They also run the smaller and folkier Wood Festival which takes place at the gorgeous Braziers Park, a sustainable community where I have camped on many an occasion. I really hope I can hook up with them some more. A nicer and more talented bunch of folk I have seldom met.
This man runs Truck Festival.
Moving on, my next blog tackles a very busy Saturday on the Tripod Stage – read it here.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday July 1st, 2010 3:55 pm
For the past 25 years Jon Young has taught groups and individuals how to create a positive vision for the future through a deeper sense of community and connection to nature. To say I am excited about the opportunity to spend a week learning mentoring skills from Jon Young alongside fellow teachers, Mark Morey and Evan McGown, (a nature based poet and musician who co-authored The Coyote’s Guide to Connecting With Nature with Jon Young) would be an understatement.
I got to meet the sparkly eyed Jon Young – who like me is a big fan of barn dancing as a way of bringing people together – when he visited London a few months ago to give a talk in a darkened room at the top of a pub in north london.
Nature connection works best in a community setting.
Many of us have lost touch with animals and the earth but it’s easy to trigger subconscious feelings of connection. This is not about passing an ecology literacy test because everyone loves trees on an energetic level… but the woods can be scary so we need people with us along the way. How can we recreate these communities?
Greetings customs and rituals matter.
Greetings have been profoundly important for many eons of humanity – sometimes being so elaborate they could take days. Even though you are lucky if you get much of a greeting in New Jersey they have become more careful, sincere and authentic since 9/1, even from those you might expect to be grumpy. Everyone feels that needs to be welcomed and able to express themselves without pressure.
It is possible to create new rituals to suit us today.
The youth today carry the subconscious weight of their woes in over-sized clothes, but Jon has mentored both privileged and deprived children and all of them thrive when given space to express themselves. He recounts the story of a scholar from the best family and school in town, forever struggling to stay the best in his class, and thoroughly depressed as a result. After a few months of mentorship with Jon he tearfully declared that he was finally able to be himself and went on to became a mentor to the younger kids. Greeting customs can forge strong bonds and that is why the elaborate bonding rituals of gangs are so successful.
Everyone needs to feel recognised and blessed, at every age.
Young people need affirmation but so do their parents, many of whom will have missed out on it themselves as youngsters. If all generations are not cared for there are likely to be cultural gaps that can cause problems; for example a whole generation can feel threatened or alienated, and the worst outcome of this could be the sabotaging of change.
Maple Syrup as teacher.
When Paul’s family makes maple syrup they thank the trees with a special ceremony before boiling up the sap. This is a delicate operation that takes 2-3 whole days of pan-watching, for if the sap burns it will spoil, which is tantamount to violating the laws of nature. If this happens it will haunt you, but you will learn. As such it is an ideal teaching tool, especially for young men.
Remember to leave the seeds behind when picking morel mushrooms.
Paul lives life by the seasons, and has just two short weeks to pick morel mushrooms from a special place in the woods – unfortunately it’s impossible to keep his spot secret in a small community. He carries the mushrooms home in knitted orange bags that allow the seeds to fall to the ground; that way ensuring a crop for the following year. So much ancestral knowledge has been lost that some of the kids make huge amounts of noise crashing through the wilderness. Even in Paul’s community there is much disconnection from nature, and he spends much of his time finding ways to empower the elders.
The government can learn from Hurricane Iniki, which hit Hawaii in 1992.
This huge hurricane stripped houses from their foundations and denuded vegetation, yet only six people died. It took the government nine days to get aid out to Hawaii, but instead of panic officials were met by people at the docks who did not want to fix things too quickly, because then they would have to return to work. Everyone was relaxing, taking it easy, having BBQs and helping each other. Because of interwoven cultural relations present before the storm there was a built in community resilience that meant the people responded collectively as one living organism, instead of separate units. Here is a lesson in how to cope during disasters.
Jon was taught to play the bones twenty years ago when he last met Gerry (then working as a labourer on the East Coast), and has since taught Paul how to play the bones too. Here’s a video of the three of them singing together. Cross generational and cultural mentoring in action!
You can read another account of the night here. I am looking forward to learning so much more next week. See you on the other side.
Amelia’s Magazine second post on the Royal College 2010 Show Two deviates from the previous’ focus on Climate Change, adiposity finding ourselves mesmerised by Design Interaction Student, Kjen Williams’ Weather Camera.
A beautiful alternative to the avalanche of public private data currently building within the corridors of the web. The Weather Camera can be used to record a special moment’s atmospheric conditions. Subsequently producing a new method of narration.
Described as a moment of empowerment, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty and self expression, that these can be extensions of the wearer’s personality.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to the way Holly acted as she spoke.
In Animation I discovered the wonderful sleeplike animation of Lauri Warsta, titled ….. the animation merged the borders between surreal dream and documentary as the calming voice, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the reporting on a global reserves of dreams.
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill.
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust them. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin has added disturbing features as displayed in the pictures below. In the installation at the RCA a screen documents the reaction of the user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is also explored by Katrina
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
What is the impact on our relationship to a world where mechanical objects interpret our daily surroundings through a variety of sensor monitors, subsequently producing endless streams of data? Are we moving into the final phrase of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction? Kjen WilkinsThe Weather Camera. is a response to the designers search for the human presence within this deluge of electronic readings of our environmental surroundings. Instead of taking a photograph to a record of a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera could record the atmospheric conditions instead. In time this may encourage new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics” and documented in the image below.
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked on the project with Holly Franklin, what I really like about the project is the development of a blog that can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly into the project.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space.
In Animation there awaited Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary” as the calming voiceover, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the date currently available on the subject of the animation: The Global Reserves of Dreams. Whilst simultaneously bearing the possibility that the entire animation is a dream itself.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome perhaps of the animator combining ” making the two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example, by bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is the Pop Up Book’s Prototype, Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a pop up book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust us. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin added disturbing features displayed in the pictures below. Thus bringing these inanimate objects to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the levels of the reaction of each user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” Is another subject explored by Katrina producing the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
What is the impact on our relationship to a world where mechanical objects interpret our daily surroundings through a variety of sensor monitors, subsequently producing endless streams of data? Are we moving into the final phrase of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction? Kjen WilkinsThe Weather Camera. is a response to the designers search for the human presence within this deluge of electronic readings of our environmental surroundings. Instead of taking a photograph to a record of a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera could record the atmospheric conditions instead. In time this may encourage new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics” and documented in the image below.
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked on the project with Holly Franklin, what I really like about the project is the development of a blog that can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly into the project.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space.
In Animation there awaited Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary” as the calming voiceover, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the date currently available on the subject of the animation: The Global Reserves of Dreams. Whilst simultaneously bearing the possibility that the entire animation is a dream itself.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome perhaps of the animator combining ” making the two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example, by bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is the Pop Up Book’s Prototype, Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a pop up book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust us. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin added disturbing features displayed in the pictures below. Thus bringing these inanimate objects to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the levels of the reaction of each user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” Is another subject explored by Katrina producing the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
What is the impact on our relationship with the environment, when we exist in a world where mechanical objects and sensor monitors constantly interpret our daily surroundings; producing endless streams of data? Are we moving into the final phrase of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction? Kjen WilkinsThe Weather Camera. is a response to the designer’s search for a human presence within a deluge of electronic readings of the environment. Instead of taking a photograph to a record of a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera could record the atmospheric conditions instead. In time this may encourage new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics” and documented in the image below.
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked on the project with Holly Franklin, what I really like about the project is the development of a blog that can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly into the project.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space.
In Animation there awaited Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary” as the calming voiceover, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the date currently available on the subject of the animation: The Global Reserves of Dreams. Whilst simultaneously bearing the possibility that the entire animation is a dream itself.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome perhaps of the animator combining ” making the two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example, by bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is the Pop Up Book’s Prototype, Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a pop up book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust us. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin added disturbing features displayed in the pictures below. Thus bringing these inanimate objects to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the levels of the reaction of each user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” Is another subject explored by Katrina producing the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
What is the impact on our relationship with the environment, page when existing in a world where mechanical objects and sensor monitors constantly interpret our daily surroundings, producing endless streams of data? Are we moving into the final phrase of Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction? Kjen WilkinsThe Weather Camera. is a response to the designers search for the human presence within this deluge of electronic readings of our environmental surroundings. Instead of taking a photograph to a record of a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera could record the atmospheric conditions instead. In time this may encourage new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics” and documented in the image below.
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked on the project with Holly Franklin, what I really like about the project is the development of a blog that can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly into the project.
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space.
In Animation there awaited Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary” as the calming voiceover, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the viewer through the date currently available on the subject of the animation: The Global Reserves of Dreams. Whilst simultaneously bearing the possibility that the entire animation is a dream itself.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome perhaps of the animator combining ” making the two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example, by bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality caught my eye; the action of turning the pages of a pop up book to read the story is suplimented by additional animation narration appearing on screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is the Pop Up Book’s Prototype, Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a pop up book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work by Louise O’Conner (Design Interaction); used experimental dance to convey the movement of Atoms as an attempt to connect us to movements beyond our awareness.
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explore’s humans relationship, both emotional and physical to things that disgust us. Using inanimate objects that we take for granted, such as Light Switches, Kartin added disturbing features displayed in the pictures below. Thus bringing these inanimate objects to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the levels of the reaction of each user.
Intimate touch or sexual disgust is and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” Is another subject explored by Katrina producing the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. The idea being to encourage children’s creativity and to “enrich their visual vocabulary.” Children can draw onto the projector screen (ideally this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and through clicking on the ‘movie’ button enable their drawings to come to life, whilst learning a sense of narrative and the multiple possibilities drawing can conjure up….
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
Bands bands bands…. how did I luck out with such a great selection for our Climate Camp Tripod Stage? Well, I can only conclude that the universe conspired to provide so brilliantly because the PRs I speak to about music for Amelia’s Magazine are PRs who share my taste in music. Many of the bands that performed for us were not ones I had heard of before, shop but without exception they all sat on a scale of varying levels of brilliant. Some played exclusively for us – jumping at the opportunity to play at the biggest music festival in the world despite being there on a punter’s ticket or working elsewhere. Others were also due to play the BBC Introducing stage or other much bigger and more prominent stages, and I like to think that we offered a bit of a warm up for them… it was certainly toasty hot on our south facing stage.
First up on Thursday we had Anna Log, erstwhile singer and uke player with We Aeronauts. In September she moves to Oxford, where she will start at drama school and share a house with the rest of her band, who on occasion help out with her solo work. During the set she was highly entertained by the small child who proceeded to climb the tripod whilst she played, but not nearly as entertained as the crowd were when Anna perfectly impersonated an entire horn section in the absence of the rest of her band. We Aeronauts release their first EP later this summer.
Anna’s thoughts on playing at Climate Camp: I was mega-grateful to my brother Mark and Sam for providing some background “Oooooos” and I absolutely loved playing at Climate Camp. It was such a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and no-one seemed to really mind that my suncream-covered hands were producing some extremely interesting and unintentional chords on the uke! I also really enjoyed the ceilidh – it was awesome to see lots of lush people in animal masks dancing about and laughing with each other. (I definitely sound like a massive hippy… that might be because I am…) Anna’s Glastonbury highlights: Laura Marling‘s beautiful set on The Park stage; she really is our modern day Joni Mitchell – and a secret, acoustic Stornoway gig up in the Crow’s Nest. I flipping love Stornoway, they are one of my favourite bands and such lovely people.
She was followed by the best Green Kite Midnight ceilidh of the entire weekend, complete with a man doing hand stands in gold spangly pants.
Then came My Luminaries, who took a very light hearted approach to the gig and caused much amusement with their stage antics. They were the first of many to take a truly creative approach to our semi acoustic set up, and I particularly enjoyed the strategic placement of their diamante keyboard in a wheelbarrow.
At one point the bassist climbed on top of one of our blue painted deck chairs and pretended to stage dive, before we were treated to a rollicking scat from their drummer which proved the ultimate crowd pleaser. Despite claiming a failing voice, lead singer James sounded fantastic, and could be found enjoying our vegan fare on the grass later on.
James liked playing on the Tripod Stage because: it was the complete opposite of the gig we’d just done on the Queens Head stage. The gig couldn’t have been more intimate and we rarely get to do such gigs. His favourite part of Glastonbury was: playing on the Tripod Stage (of course) and on the Queen’s Head stage (the biggest gig we’ve ever done, to 2500 people). Other than that, we met Prince Charles, we danced like idiots to the Phenomenal Handclap Band, and we stayed up all night in the Piano Bar and the Stone Circle.
My Luminaries debut album Order From The Chaos is out now.
The Weather Camera is Kjen Wilkens response to her search for a human presence within this deluge of electronic readings. Instead of taking a photograph to a record a special moment, the user of The Weather Camera can record the atmospheric conditions, weaving these into autobiographical memory. In time encouraging new methods of narration, titled by the designer as “Sensor Poetics.”
Described as “object of empowerment”, Becky Pilditch‘s prothestics showcase how functional pieces of designs can be both a thing of beauty and an extension of the wearer’s personality. Becky worked and developed the project with Holly Franklin .
Hand 8 the final part of the project, played with ideas of gesture and personality by creating numerous arms that related to Holly’s actions as she spoke or moved around a space. A fantastic aspect of the website is the blog, which can be used by other prosthetic limb users to feed back directly to the project.
In the Animation section of the exhibition Lauri Warsta’s Traumdeutung awaited. A wonderful animation baring the hallmarks (whatever that may mean…) of a “documentary,” the calming, not too dissimilar to the 1940′s DONT PANIC! voiceover narrated the data currently available on the subject matter: The Global Reserves of Dreams. The beauty in this short is it bared the possibility that it was itself entirely a dream.
The subtle block coloring of the animation maintained a ‘warmth’ more similar to hand drawn animation, that can sometimes be lost in 3D animation. An outcome of the animator’s experiments in combining ” two extremes (3D and Handmade) clash and merge. For example; bringing the uncontrollable movement of real hand-held footage to an otherwise sterile computer animation”
Adnan Lalani‘s experiment with augmented reality catches the attention, through being something the viewer can interact with. The action of turning the Pop Up Book’s pages is suplimented by additional narration appearing on the screen placed directly behind the book and inline with the viewers eye.
Below is a video documenting the Pop Up Book’s Prototype. Earlier this week Adnan kindly took a few moments to explain the idea behind combining the narrative structure of a Pop Up Book with Augmented reality: “The pop-up book felt like a natural compliment to augmented reality. I was hoping to see how AR could be used in a more tactile, playful context… i.e. take something we already know and play with, and allow it to be enhanced with animation and digital interactivity.”
Eventually Adnan hopes that as we grow more comfortable with the idea of Augmented Reality, ideas like the Pop Up book ” can allow a progression from the magical, novelty nature of AR, into more of a direct tool by which to communicate narratives and story telling”
The eye catching work of Design Interaction Graduate Louise O’Conner; used experimental dance to convey the movement of the smallest particles, for example: Atoms, in an attempt to connect us to movements that are beyond our physical awareness. Visit the exhibition to watch the film!
A particular lovely idea was the mapping out of the distances of the solar system along Kingsland High Street leading up to Stamford Hill. Eight Shopkeepers were asked if their shop would host one of the planets…
Photography by Mark Henderson
You can find the map and information about the project here:
Katrin Baumgarten’s Aesthetics of Disgust explores humans’ relationship and our reactions; both emotional and physical to the things or materials which disgust us. Using inanimate objects all too often taken for granted, (i.e. Light Switches) Kartin added disturbing features such as goo or hair that moved as the light switch is pressed. By ‘touching’ us back, the presence of these inanimate objects is brought back to the forefront of our attention.
In the installation at the Royal College of Art a screen documents the level of the reaction of each user.
Another subject explored by Katrina is Intimate touch or sexual disgust and how these feelings can be created “merely by inappropriate behaviours in society, such as touching another person in an intimate or sexual way in public, even though that might comfort the two persons involved and is a part of our human nature.” The outcome of which is the Intimate Touch Object, an item which enables you to touch another person secretly…
FINALLY on my second trip (yes second, it’s that big and really worth the time) I came across the brilliant work of Sivaprakash Shanmugam’s Expressive Scribble. Children draw onto the projector screen (this could be the kitchen floor, wall etc…) and an bring their drawings to life by clicking the ‘movie’ button. The idea being to “enrich their visual vocabulary,” sense of narrative and most importantly encourage children’s creativity.
Part two of the RCA show continues until 4th July 2010. It’s open from 11-8 daily at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU. Admission is free.
Images Courtesy of the Students and addition photographs by Sally Mumby-Croft
A particularly creative course of action was required from all the percussionists who visited the Tripod Stage and, in between rattling and banging a wide variety of objects, Kirsty’s drummer once again stole the show… dancing and gurning in accompaniment to her song about the “wrong Mr Right” in a thoroughly endearing fashion.
cheeky drummer!
One of a breed of strong female musicians who have no desire to fit the normal pliable record label mould, Kirsty was relaxed and chatty during her songs: an absolute delight. Her album Pure Blue Green comes out on Decca on 31st August, and she finished painting the album artwork just last night!
Kirsty on the Tripod Stage: I loved how creative yet peaceful the area was. The stage was so beautifully bonkers it brought our bonkersness out of us and gave us a licence to be cheeky too. Kirsty’s favourite part of Glastonbury: Definitely all the street entertainers. I loved The Dead Weather too but for us as performers the highlight was definitely the chance to entertain and share our music.
Following Kirsty we had a session from Newislands, who despite worries that they would not be able to make a big enough noise managed to wow a small but perfectly formed mid afternoon crowd with their melodic post rock.
It was only after the gig that I discovered they were missing their bassist Bogart…. we are mutual friends of the Mystery Jets and met many years ago at a small festival called Blissfields that we all went to together. Later that night Bogart called on me in my tent with Marina Pepper. I was fast asleep and woke with the fear of God in me…. it wasn’t the best way to be reintroduced but apparently he insisted on seeing me “the nicest person he knows” – I look forward to meeting Bogart again one day when I am wide awake.
Lead singer David’s best bit about playing the Tripod Stage: Well apart from the lovely stage itself, complete with the best speaker system I’ve ever seen, receiving a cup of tea from yourselves midway through the set, was pretty special. David’s Glastonbury highlight: Apart from playing two amazing gigs, (one for you and one for BBC Introducing), seeing Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood on stage together was ace… “For a minute there I lost myself…”
Newislands are playing at Napa Live in Cyprus and then return to the UK to play the Farm Festival. A new single, followed by their debut album, will be released soon. You can watch their other Glastonbury performance here.
We then had our first session from Climate Camp poets Danny Chivers, Claire Fauset and Merrick – all of whom deliver brilliant spoken word commentaries on the state of the world. Danny and Claire have a way of making the environmental/political mess we are in make complete and simple sense, and Merrick takes on the whole system. Why do we work? If you’ve heard Merrick speak you’ll question the sense in ever getting a job.
After a somewhat more subdued ceilidh we were then treated to the most extraordinary live set from Danny and the Champions of the World, who decided to ditch most of the electrical amplification and instead sprawl towards their audience in a great acoustic morass.
This band was made for live gigs…. myself and Dom, the banjo player in Green Kite Midnight, were so enthralled by the set that we dusted ourselves down after dinner and set off to hear them once more at the Croissant Neuf bandstand. Danny is a massively confident and skilled musician who has clearly been playing for years: talents like his ought to be better celebrated.
Danny liked playing the Tripod Stage because: the audience was really great and there was an atmosphere that seemed very ‘other’ to the mad hustle and bustle of the rest of the festival – like a haven of good vibes and togetherness, like a family or maybe like what my minds eye would conjure up when I think of festivals in the 60′s. We really just love playing and it’s always great to pass the instruments around, have fun with friends and sing a bunch of songs, and it felt like the perfect time for that – we could’ve played for hours. The lentil dal [for supper] was a treat too!
Danny’s favourite part of Glastonbury this year: I guess the best part of it was getting to play music with friends to loads of folks. We were lucky enough to play on a bunch of different types of stages so we got a pretty broad experience of it all – we played about seven times which was amazing… but my feet still ache! It’s what we live to do: drink a few ciders and pass the guitar around.
Danny and the Champions of the World on the road: Our band really lives and breathes on the road, meeting good people and having a great time playing tunes. We’re doing… Maverick, Cornbury, Lounge on the Farm, Deershed, Secret Garden Party, Port Elliot, Truck Festival, Summer Sundae and Greenbelt – and maybe a couple more that I’ve forgotten. We’ll probably start to record a new record at the end of the year.
But, it didn’t end there…. like a magic jack-in-the-box, there were more surprises in store. Out of the band popped a duo who’s music I have loved since the very moment their album plopped onto my doormat. Like a butterfly emerging (from a particularly sexy and gorgeous caterpillar) Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou shed the rest of the musicians to perform a few gorgeous tunes of their own. I was beaming like a motherfucker by this point.
A surprise performance from Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou.
And then… I discovered that the band line up also features the delightful brothers who run Truck Festival, a great independent music festival near Oxford. They also run the smaller and folkier Wood Festival which takes place at the gorgeous Braziers Park, a sustainable community where I have camped on many an occasion. I really hope I can hook up with them some more. A nicer and more talented bunch of folk I have seldom met.
This man runs Truck Festival.
Moving on, my next blog tackles a very busy Saturday on the Tripod Stage – read it here.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday July 1st, 2010 3:55 pm
