So you’ve been down to the Museum of Club Culture haven’t you what’s it like?

Oh it’s really cool. Best night to go down is the opening night of a show, you just never know who you might bump into, the atmosphere is engaging and the hosts are very welcoming.

So what kind of shows do they have?

All sorts. Photography exhibitions, short film screenings, animations, visiting artists’ retrospectives and sometimes these creative types do talks about their work. The current one is a photography one Derek Ridgers Endless Night.

Endless Night? What is that about?

It is a kind of a peek behind the doors of some of London’s more extreme night clubs and some of the counter–culture characters inside.

Ooh tell me more.

The white wash walls are hung with black and white prints featuring club goers from four different decades, I think the black and white imagery lent a certain austere quality, made the subjects seem more alienated somehow. Club names such as Torture Gardens, Club Fantastic, Rubber Ball and Skin Two identify the location of each photo.  Some of the pictures are way out there, with punks from the seventies big badges in overcoats sharing a wall with nineties cyber-fashions goth girls and all kinds of alternative and subversive attire. There was one picture with a girl who had decided that a standard rectangular door handle made the perfect neck chain adornment. Another with a strong Germanic theme with Air Crew hat and swastika covered nipples demanded further investigation.

Bizarre costumes. Fishnets used as headgear. Piercings and body adornment galore, tattoos marking every different skin tone and body shape; a celebration of counter-culture style from as diverse a community as you can imagine.

You met the photographer didn’t you what was he like?

I was surprised actually from the flyer image I was expecting someone who was equally as extreme and wild as the images in the show…And? Derek Ridgers is a ponytailed shirt an’ leather jacket sort of guy, ordinary looking, but thinking about it artists don’t have to resemble their work, fashion designers sometimes look at odds to their catwalk creations don’t they. I got to talk with Derek about the show, he told me Endless Night was simply about ‘Recording what the different people were wearing’ throughout his club photography years.

‘I’m not trying to say any one particular thing with this show. I hope the people [in the pictures] speak for themselves. I like the inventive amateurism of the people in the clubs, if they turned up in a hired outfit then I wouldn’t be interested. There was a nurse who turned up once in an outfit made completely of rubber gloves. Aside from always looking for people with that extra spark of personality there are no hard and fast rules. I hang around people watching for 95% of the night, hanging out in corridors observing the people in the club. I might only take twelve shots in one night. Each shot is done with flash with me giving the subject as little direction as possible. They pose but I don’t tell them what they should do.’

Do you have a favourite era? Whether because of the music, the attitudes or the outfits.

‘I think my favourite era was the mid 90s and the rave generation, the era of super clubs, nineties non pc and sheer hedonism.  I’ve been doing this for thirty five years but recently the compulsion to go to fetish clubs and capture the nightlife there-in drifted away.’

Hey is this Endless Night show still on?

Yes! Endless Night by Derek Ridgers (check out his star-studded blog)  runs until the end of May. Open weekends 11am – 5pm.

Free entry!

The Hull Real Ale and Cider festival is an annual event held to deliver the finest and freshest ales in the region. The event is held in celebratory and communal fashion, representing all that is sociable for the respected interested parties, who seek to find the tastes of fine ales.

The event this year took place at Hull’s Holy Trinity Church, in the Town Centre, and ran from Thursday 19^th, to the evening of Saturday 21^st of April.

The event is aimed at promoting traditional and independent pubs and breweries across the U.K. and is the only dedicated consumer group in the U.K. to do so.

The event took place at Holy Trinity for the first time, in what is now the 34^th year of running for the the Festival. This year’s organiser was Stewart Campbell, who stated before the event about the privilege of hosting the Festival at a historic place such as the Holy Trinity.

The event is a ceremonial one that has passed through time, as it was first thought a ritual to drink within the church in medieval times.

Ale as a term is one that is used, and deviates from its origins as a compound term of wording. It was traditionally known that the word ale formed many parts of other words, to associate meaning with practise, such as the word Bridal. This term originated from Bride-ale, which represented a wedding feast.

The Parish Church held these events through the Whitsun season in Tudor Times, and the acclaimed name of Whitsun-ale, meaning to drink at Whitsun, became known.

Ale in medieval times was a highly important and social aspect of life in the Parish Church, as the ale was to honour the Church Saint, and the sales of ale helped repair the church and create alms for the poor.

Today, many Parish churches may find themselves needing to host events such as the Hull Real Ale and Cider Festival, to fund and upkeep the running of the church, so that its traditions are not lost.

It seems then that if traditions follow, this may not be the last time that the Hull Real Ale and Cider Festival may be seen held at the Holy Trinity Church.

A cynical person of my age would say that the Hull Beer and Cider Festival was just another stale-aired, unexciting cesspool of forced smiles and awkward small talk fueled by alcohol and an unhealthy appetite for middle class bickering. Unfortunately, blinkered by my own personal resentments, this is all I saw.

Having a father intrigued by the pagan faith maybe an interesting thing to drop into a hipster conversation at Starbucks, to impress alternative girls in my late teens, but growing up it sure was a hindrance, spending countless national holidays under a table at ‘The Wellington Pub’ in Whitby desperately seeking my fathers appraisal and attention by banging two, egg shaped musical rattles together whilst the pub erupted with the sound of confusing pagan folk songs…and the odd muffled squeak of another ‘table child’ being hastily pushed under a carpet of old leather jackets, allowing the parents of said child to continue on with their midlife crisis style hedonistic exploits. ‘Why can’t we just go to Butlins Dad?’ was the car journey question of my childhood life. This being said, Hull Beer and Cider Fest, if only slightly, pushed away from this imagery. Situated this year in Hull Trinity Church, it was a backdrop to be admired.

Walking around the place, even as an overly cynical, soulless, none believing mess of person, I couldn’t help but be semi impressed by the location chosen. After collecting my drink tokens, I began to see that my somewhat immature taste buds meant that I only had a fondness for the lighter ales, which unfortunately at this event were branded effeminately, after quietly requesting to try the ‘Raspberry Blonde’ I pretentiously sniffed at my Beer, I was with a couple of UNI friends at the time and it seemed to be the done thing to smell our beer and pretend to know what to say afterwards. I said mine had a ‘nice body to it’ and thankfully it was accepted, by way of collective nods. To be fair, the Beer itself, emasculating title aside, was a decent drink, it had a keen fruity kick to it and kept me happily embezzled within its liquid for around thirty minutes, before I decided to take a walk on the wild side, and try what I thought was possibly a raw, unadulterated mans ale ‘Cliffhanger’. The style of the ale was apparently ‘golden’, not going to pretend for a second what that means, could have something to do with the colour, but in reflection that was less golden, more murky urine looking. Honesty has to prevail here unfortunately; the pint was pretty gross, it made me feel slightly nauseous and I mentally thought of lemonade as I slipped it down my gipping throat. Once again I was cringingly trying to fit in somewhere I really didn’t feel like I belonged, I needed salvation, and if I wasn’t going to find it here I seriously needed to leave.

The Hull Real Ale and Cider Festival 2012 at the Holy Trinity Church. is being held from Thursday 19^th April to 21st April. The festival is organised by CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and sponsored by local drinks company Great Newsome Brewery. 60 different ales, 25 ciders and 20 bottled continental beers will be available for an expected 2000 festival-goers to sample over the three days.

Everyone likes a good deal and with the April Budget statement from the government suggesting that many of us are going to be worse off in the coming year, it’s only natural we want to find the best tipple at the least expense. We spoke to Festival Organiser Stewart Campbell (Landlord of the Hop and Vine) about the increasing popularity of Real Ale, and for some, the contentious issue of holding a drinks festival in a church.

‘We were very happy to be approached by Rev. Matt Woodcock. It’s a great venue, the church and brewing go back 800 years so it’s a great thing to be here. Real ale consumption tends to go up when the economy goes down when you’ve only got a small amount of money in your pocket you want to drink something of decent quality in reasonable surroundings.’

When asked about the rights and wrongs of holding the festival in the church Reverend Woodcock replied, ’ Overwhelmingly people have been positive about holding the festival at the Holy Trinity Church and I just think what a wonderful setting to enjoy a drink with friends.’

‘Churches are about people,’ he continues, ‘It’s exactly what the church should be doing. There are real friendships being formed at the festival, there’s a buzz about the place and I just think it’s a lovely atmosphere.’

Holy Trinity a Yorkshire beer brewed especially for the festival is much in demand, however its heavy hop-laden quality wasn’t to every drinkers’ taste. If you are one of those people who likes getting in first and sampling the very latest thing, look no further than True North from the Yorkshire Brewing Company, brewed within the sound of the churches’ bells on Humber Street in the Fruit Market.

So, a beer festival held in a church. The controversy surrounding such an event would be enough for a news story. But I’ll leave that up to the naysayers, instead I’m going to focus on a few of the ales being showcased.

Holy Trinity church is the venue for this years CAMRA Hull Real Ale & Cider Festival. With upwards of 60 different ales and 20 ciders, the choice on offer was fantastic. The church, divided into sections for ale, cider and bottled continental beer was bustling with people by midday. Hull obviously has a passion for the good stuff. Tokens are the currency of the day, swapping copper coins for plastic booze tokens.

Devil’s Elbow, quite the name for a beer. Was the first ale I sampled, a cloudy dark appearance accompanied the rather flat, plain taste. It has an uneasy, dark and stale taste that reminded me of a day old can of Tetley smooth.

The Holy Trinity brew was the second drink I tried, this was very hoppy and had a rather bitter aftertaste. I struggled to finish my half pint. The bitterness of the drink over powered any other flavours.

The last drink I sampled was Essex Boys. This was by far the tastiest ale I tried today. It has a great, fresh and crisp taste.

With a good mix of punters and plenty of locally brewed ales, in a fantastic looking location the Hull Real Ale & Cider Festival 2012 is definitely worth more than a swift one. The beer festival continues until Saturday 21^st, that is if there is any ale left.

Two artists, one inspirational North East heritage , two different mediums, one valued and valuable gallery space

Possessed by Process was a two-woman exhibition run earlier this year at  Eleven Studio by artists Dawn Brooks and Stef Mitchell Continuing Eleven’s successful series of shows in 2011 at the Humber Street venue, this show sees two artists from Teesside re-intrepreting the area’s industrial past through various print techniques.

By abstracting down a view of the landscape Dawn Brooks looks to the subconscious to create a physical connection with the past. But this dialogue isn’t all ‘woe is me’ – the north as the poor relation, rather it is an attempt to make sense of the changing landscape.

The artist works with various printing techniques to create different effects.  Collagraphy is a mixed media process incorporating physical objects fixed on to the printing plate like a collage, the plate is then varnished and paint is applied. Paper is then pressed on to the surface to create the print.  Within this mixed media process Dawn uses a carborundum technique employing a gritty substance on the printing plate to create more visually abrasive marks. She also uses dry point etching within her work; this is where marks are physically scratched on to the printing plate before the paint is applied.

Dawn suggests her practice is process led with new discoveries and learning, the more she explores the process. I was fascinated to hear that when she starts a new print, she has no way of knowing how it will turn out. Without the pressure to reach a ‘finished result’, she finds a freedom that allows her to reach instinctively, breaking down the image and recreating it, as she draws on the knowledge gained from past explorations.

For Stef Mitchell the second artist in Posessed by Process, it is the paint that leads the way. She looks to the external world for inspiration rather than the subconscious, and creates multi-layered and textured canvasses with repeated rhythmic brush strokes.

Through this rhythmic mark-making, incidents occur where paint layers interact. It is this interaction that steff explores by masking off certain areas and introducing other materials and techniques including giclee, an ink spraying technique and gouache, an opaque watercolour to reveal these areas further. The final image is dependent on the way the paint is applied and the way it gathers in some spaces then falls down the canvas in rivulets.

With some of the work Stef has used software to change the original colour from the chalky white original of the giclee. In one of the images she has recalled the view of the landscape through the van window as she journeyed to Oxford. The bold red colour represents the red branding of Corus Steel factory at Redcar, as the radio announcement of the factories closure and the story of more job losses plays out over the airwaves. The artist talks about these images in playful terms suggesting they are willful…’They don’t know whether they are paintings or drawings, they have aspirations of their own.’

Apart from previously showing work in the open exhibition at Ferens Art Gallery, it was both Stef and Dawn’s first exhibition in Hull. The two women were delighted to be showing at Eleven Studio; they both remarked how multi-purpose open access facilities spaces where gallery and workshop are housed under one roof. (much like Eleven) were highly sought after.

For details on workshops and upcoming shows see Studio Eleven.

Tel: 01482 229600

I cannot believe I didn’t see the connection between the use of balloons and the word ‘POP’ in the opening clip from Sarah Jenneson March 28th visiting speaker session for Hull School of Art and Design. The film for Nokia advertised the built-in camera using kite-aerial photography; the final image was the word POP spelled out in carefully arranged colour coordinated balloons, on top of an abandoned warehouse roof in Canary Wharf, London.

Sarah Jenneson is an Art Director who graduated in Fine Art at Leeds University in 1999. After graduating she transferred to London and worked at an art supplies shop in Islington. Whilst there she made a point of creating ties with the entire customer base and through continuous enquiry secured a position as a prop maker for children’s programme Hoobs. This is the first indication of Sarah’s persistence and tenacity that will drive her career forward and in the next ten years, see her working on major/ground breaking campaigns with some of the biggest brands in advertising.

This idea was key throughout today’s lecture. As a post-graduate it can be hard to visualise yourself in your chosen field. Wherever it is you start out from, be that journalism, film or fine art as it was with Sarah, may have no bearing on the position you find yourself working in, ten years later. Sarah stated that she is more likely to remember those who have followed up initial job enquiries with more emails and phone calls ‘…you have to be persistent, take the knock backs and keep hassling people for jobs.’

Sarah explained her job as Art Director is predominantly about problem solving, whether it’s working out how to simultaneously release thousands of helium balloons on a rainy day in London for Nokia ‘Push’ (Dir. D.A.R.Y.L.) or building LED jackets for Samsung ‘LED Sheep’ (Dir. James Rouse) This film featuring the Welsh farmers and their flock’s night-time antics would go on to become one of the most successful viral ads of the decade.

By using on screen diagrams created on presentations tool Prezi Sarah showed the different roles and responsibilities she has as Art Director from Client to Shoot. She showed how each person/team fitted together and something of the Management chain of command, in terms of budgeting, design and delivery. With the balloon project for Nokia, the first idea to use a steel frame mechanism to release the balloons wasn’t going to work, due to material costs, weight of the steel and difficult access to site. Sarah and the team managed to come up with a cheaper, lightweight solution to keep the shoot on schedule and meet the needs of the client and director.

Sarah spoke highly of the F.D.I. (Film Design International) Draughting and Art Directing course at Pinewood Studios run by Terry Ackland Snow. The knowledge learned there would aid her when coming up with set design and set layout solutions for Samsung ‘Mirror’ (Dir. Ed Robinson). This ad. features a vanishing handset that somehow manages to continue filming, thus posing a how did they do that question for the viewer. Sarah shared the secret with us in the room, but it wouldn’t be right to reveal it here.

I asked during the Q & A, about whether there was a need to go to London to get ahead: highlighting the issue of retaining skills in the city, Sarah commented that it wasn’t key to move to London, suggesting that Bristol, Manchester and Leeds would all be places where you could make headway. She couldn’t say whether Hull had a film industry; and apart from the corporate films for Public and Private Sectors and the growing number of Shorts screened each year at Glimmer, neither could I. Has Hull even got a working film studio?

Charles Hadcock has ‘…a compelling need to make things’. In his lecture 21st March 2012 to students from Hull School of Art and Design , he illustrated his creative process from inspiration and exploration of materials, through to exhibiting the finished work. He spoke about the power to be gained from doing a drawing everyday: this simple idea is transferable, whether you are a journalist, or a photographer etc: you should aim to write, take a picture and enhance your practice every day.

Charles is a renowned sculptor; he studied Fine Art at the Royal College of Art, London in the late eighties, alongside Brit Artists Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst et al. He is best known for his large-scale public sculptures that reference the natural world, combining engineering and mathematical principles. His work is equally at home inside the foyers of corporate buildings or providing points of interest for public spaces.

From a photograph showing the strata of a rock face, Charles developed a series of drawings that allowed him to explore the subject from many different angles. With each step he is building up the idea, trying things out, seeing what works what doesn’t. This process helps to eliminate problems that may arise if it were not for the thorough examination. There are scientific metallurgy studies to investigate the properties of materials, to sticking together small-scale wooden maquette to visualize possible outcomes.

He spoke about the power to be gained from doing a drawing everyday this idea is transferable whether you are journalist, or a photographer: write something every day; take a picture every day. He also made a number of points about the nature of ambition, namely, ‘Show ambition at all times whether you are experiencing successes or not’ and then one I can attest to, ‘Ambition is diluted by doing things for free’. As a graduate starting out it can be very easy to fall in to doing work in an unpaid capacity, all the time you are working in this way, you are not respecting your craft or valuing yourself. There is nothing wrong with being ambitious; there is nothing wrong with honing that ambition, to seek out commissions, work as a professional and get paid.

The finished sculptures can be extremely heavy. Charles threw around such figures as, ‘Three tons for this… seven tons for that… with this one I had to reinforce the floor of the gallery before installing it in place’. It quickly becomes clear that Charles is all about grand projects. Some of the more nautical pieces have huge fixtures that suggest the tools that made them were gigantic. Charles spoke about how his work engaged with the people through the scale and highlighted a number of instances where the art, has been welcomed and embraced by the local communities. They develop a kind of custodial role in relation to the sculpture and are loathe letting it go. Some of the sculptures intentionally draw on their surroundings; the piece set in the business park echoed the architecture of the buildings towering above it. Charles introduced a new word to me atavism – he spoke about how his work referenced back to his forbears, artists like Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth inform his practice in terms of presentation and exhibition.

For the Millennium celebrations Charles created a piece called, There’s one in all of us, not another monumental structure, but a series of shiny panels fitted together referencing the Fibonacci sequence, and suspended in a gallery. A recording was then made of people moving through the space then looped and played through the sculpture. The piece was partly inspired by the dread and apocalyptic visions prevalent in the media around the turn of the century.

I was particularly taken with a stone monolith Torsion, I liked the stepped sections that curved around the whole. I imagined giant hands taking hold of the piece and twisting it to form the irregular trunk-like shape. I also enjoyed the observation made by eventual buyers of Torsion II. The new owners likened the sculpture’s form to that of the slow unfurling of vine tendrils. The final image on the screen showed Torsion II in it’s new home in the French vineyard Château Smith Haut Lafitte; the sculpture in the foreground creates a solemn statement as the pale sun rises, to awaken the rows of vines vanishing into the mist.

It was the poster that drew me in, the promise of a visiting speaker working with video and text was just too inviting. Lizzie Hughes is a professional artist; she graduated at the Slade School of Fine Art with an MFA (Master of Fine Art) in 2002. She spent five years as resident artist at the ACME Fire Station Building in London where she worked on a number of photographic and moving image works.

Wednesday  14^th March Lizzie Hughes presented a talk to students from Hull School of Art and Design, as part of the ongoing Visiting Speakers Programme. Finding inspiration from Douglas Huebler’s most famous statement “The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.” Lizzie spoke about her early years and how she needed time and space to discover what it was she wanted to explore. Through a series of images and A/V clips she shared some of the thought processes and ideas that have interested her and informed the work over the last ten years.

It was an audio piece called Second Empire State Building created in 2002 that really grabbed my attention. Lizzie played a recording of the work that involved her asking the same question to each and every office in the whole building. That question was, “What floor are you on?’ By recording the entire process she has created an unusual audio map of the iconic building.  The piece lasts thirty-two minutes, and the repetitious question/response dynamic explores the power of the disembodied voice. I felt somewhat inspired by the piece and thought something similar could work here; with a questioner asking students about their projects and then getting them to pinpoint a success however large or small, that each had achieved that week. The piece would have the tagline ‘Success happens every day at Hull School of Art and Design’

I have included the above idea (whether it is worth pursuing or not is irrelevant) because that is what going to these talks, by visiting speakers, can result in. Ideas: Ideas about your work; ideas about working; ideas about life. Much can be gained from listening to how another creative mind processes the world around them, even when the visiting speaker has no obvious connection to your particular course.

There were other pieces Lizzie shared with us including a piece called 134 Contrails: a slideshow of stills showing airplane exhaust trails as planes flew over the London residency and edited together in such a way as to create the the likeness of a dandelion seed head.

Another work, 4007 Horizons, is created from images found on file sharing sites such as Flickr. The result is a strobe effect slideshow photographically mapping the horizons of the globe.

Lizzie Hughes is currently working on a piece inspired by a childhood passion for collecting old postcards.  The work is more concerned with the text on the back of the cards in particular words where the sender is talking about the weather. Weather in Paris 1909 will eventually give the artists a complete ‘picture’ of what the weather was like in that single year. I particularly like the idea of finding a new way to use the post cards, to display the different weather related words and connect with the past through a particularly English past time; our obsession with the weather.  The postcard work will be in an exhibition called The Present is a Point Just Past at The Stephen Lawrence Gallery in June.

Further Research:

George Perrot on: storing a map of a place in the mind and using the remembered images to navigate.

Different Language have revealed the dates and details of more warehouse parties this Spring with special guests Alex Celler, Shonky and Dyed Soundorom.
Now in it’s 5th year, Different Language continue to invite some of the scene’s finest to Hull. The party returns to the Fruit, an intimate warehouse space powered by Funktion One sound. On Easter Sunday 8th April, Alex Celler brings his energetic and intense tech and techno sound to the party. After releasing quality music throughout 2011 on Cecille Numbers, Moon Harbour and Area Remote, Alex continues to play at the world’s most respected clubs. 2012 has already seen him booked to play at Fabric (London), Weekend (Berlin), Chaca Chaca (Munich) and Escobar (Mons).

Moving into May, and Sunday 6th will see Parsian techno and house producer Olivier Ducreux aka Shonky headline. His natural aptitude for producing has always been evident with releases on Culprit, Crosstown Rebels, Lo:Rise and Bpitch Control.

Sunday 3rd June sees Different Language turn 5 years old and invite Circoloco resident Dyed Soundorom to help blow out the candles. Dyed has brought his deft touch to the hottest parties on the planet whilst releasing his deep and tech sound on labels such as Crosstown Rebels, Tsuba, Spectral Sound, Wolf + Lamb, Safari Electronique and Hot Creations.

Residents Sona Sound and Different Language will be on warm up duties at all three events.