What I Did See In January

So here is a January update on a couple of art I have seen or been involved in.

Around mid-January the art scene of Leeds kicked back into its flow with the realization of one of Dennis Oppenheim's firework sculptures MIND TWIST at the Henry Moore Institute , which was very beautiful and quite spectacular. There was even a talk on his work afterwards by Luigi Kurman who worked closely with him in Germany between 1979 and 1985. It was very interesting to hear about the art from someone who had involvement in its assembly.

MIND TWIST by Dennis Oppenheim

Then came Vantage 3: Live Art Edition which commissioned my first new work of 2014. It was very exciting to be one of 8 artists commissioned to create work for this event! Vantage 3 was part of an art extravaganza alongside Hoard and Hutch as part of the Departure Foundation's programme.

My performace 'Out of House and Home' was interactive which created a great relationship with the participants and audience.
More information and Documentation to follow soon so keep your peepers peeled!

Students from Leeds Metropolitan University had begun to take over unoccupied offices in Wellington Street to hold a series of exhibitions.

Contemporary Art Practices and Fine Art have both held exhibitions there culminating in several small exhibitions and collaborative installations.
I was great to see external exhibitions from the students and some of their very exciting work which I look forward to see develop throughout their practice.

Pavilion hosted a series of talks and discussions on Contemporary Art in Heritage spaces. 
The talks came from five different perspectives; a funding body (Daniel Cutmore of Arts Council England), a producer (Linzi Stauvers of Pavilion), an artist (Harold Offeh), heritage (Patrick Eyers of the New Arcadian Journal) and academic (Nick Cass of University of Leeds).

Afterwards we were led into discussions, by a representative of our which ever perspective we were from, to consider what had been presented earlier. This gave everyone a great opportunity to see the types of people/institutions that engage with Contemporary Arts in Heritage spaces, how they do this and what they feel about it. 
It was fascinating to understand so much more about this subject and has definitely gained my interest!

Daniel Cutmore talking about the Arts Council England's policy on Contemporary Art in Heritage spaces

Harold Offeh talking about his experience with Heritage and Contemporary Art

Patrick Eyers talking about Heritage sites such as 'Capability' Brown landscapes

Nick Cass discussing his working essay on Contemporary Art in Heritage spaces

I also attended steering group meetings for a Queer Culture Festival centred around the exhibition the Leeds City Art Gallery will be holding around the work of Claude Cahun and Marlow Moss starting in June.
The continuation of Pavilion's Follies of Youth programme, exploring lost 'Capability' Brown landscapes in the run up to the 300th of his birth, is also something I am going to be involved with. An exciting two year project and all research of which will be recorded on the Follies of Youth blog here: http://pavilionypp.tumblr.com/