UPCOMING
09-Oct-2024 - OPEN STUDIOS >>> 3pm - 8pm (ish) - studio #241 @ Complex Lachine 4710 St Ambroise, Montreal, H4C 3E6
11-Oct-2024 - SCREEENING >>> Chroma Culture @ Altered Images festival, London UK - https://www.alteredimagesfest.com/
18-Oct-2024 - SCREEENING >>> Ten Thousand Years @ Les Instants Vidéo festival, Marseille, FR - https://www.instantsvideo.com/blog/video/ten-thousand-years/
1-3-Nov-2024 - SCREEENING >>> Chroma Culture @ Light Matter festival, New York - https://www.lightmatterfilmfestival.com
13-Nov-2024 - SCREEENING >>> Ten Thousand Years @ Gateway Film Festival, Peterborough, UK - https://www.gatewayfilmfestival.co.uk/
PROJECTION EVENT >>>
MAPP MTL: Minute Mapp
Thur 26 Sept 2024 (possibly 27 & 28 too?) from dark until 10pm @ Van Horne Skate Park, Montreal +++ FREE +++
https://www.facebook.com/events/1364927224177849
I've made a 1-minute video for the Minute Mapp event as part of Mapp Montreal. The site is the facade of the 'Million Tapis and Tuiles' store (now closed). My piece was shot in a minute, and is called '999,999'. I suspect it will stand out like a sore thumb but I'm proud of it - what it lacks in effort or finesse, it makes up for in serendipity and critique.
VIDEO INSTALLATION >>>
SMRF: STAIRCASE
Mon 30 Sept 2024 @ AFRORACK @ Suoni per il popolo - Salla Rossa, Montreal +++ FREE +++
https://suoniperilpopolo.org/program/afrorack-ony-honeydrip-dj-unas-rob-feulner-sam-meech
Myself and Rob Feulner are presneting a new work - so new it aint finished! - at this music event featuring Bamanya Brian (Afrorack) - a Ugandan synth artist and inventor - it's worth checking out his Youtube channel for some very generous tutorials on creating synths using reclaimed materials.
Anyway, while Bamanya is doing his thing onstage you'll also be able to see STAIRCASE - a six-sceen analogue crt televsion installation on a six-step stage staircase. It will feature some iconic ups and downs from cinema and television, asceninding and descending the six screens. I'm programming it in Isadora right now!
This project is another good example of where collaboration takes you - it wasn't my idea, but I'm hopefully able to help shape it into something that makes it more than the sum of its parts, and we'll both learn a few tricks along the way.
WORKSHOP >>>
Feedback Fantômes; hybridité film/vidéo
Tue 15 & Thur 17, Tue 22 & Wed 23 Oct 2024 @ Videogrape, Montreal - $95 CAD
https://www.videographe.org/formation/feedback-fantomes-hybridite-film-video/
A very special and unusual workshop for halloween. Four evenings of spooky video with myself and video artist Guillaume Vallée. Together we will all attempt to conjure ghosts using a variety of moving image processes, from paint and scratch on film, to video feedback. Through visual incantations and exposures we will open the portal to chaos and unleash the spirit of video, before attempting to capture the phantoms on film!
Sadly this is SOLD OUT, however there is a waiting list, so if you are at all interested, get your name down on the off chance a space becomes open.
full details here: https://www.videographe.org/formation/feedback-fantomes-hybridite-film-video/
WORKSHOP >>>
Introduction to Isadora – The Video Installation Toolbox
Sat 14 & Sun 15 Sept 2024 @ Videogrape, Montreal - $125 CAD
https://www.videographe.org/en/workshop/introduction-to-isadora-the-video-installation-toolbox/
I'm giving a two day beginners workshop for video artists who want to learn how to present their work as installations. This is ideal starter for anyone who is interested in working with video in a more flexible manner - exploring non linear navigation, incorporating randomness, real time effects, syncing video and screens, and basic projection mapping.
We will be using the media arts software Isadora - a really powerful toolkit which is thankfully very easy to get started with. It's must quicker to grasp than Touch Designer or using Brightsigns, but alsoextremely flexible. If you have an old mac mini lying around, you can give it a new lease of life as your video server! I used it most recently for presenting some of the works in SVP REmbobinez, including the Karaoke For ONe piece, which is still up and running.
The course includes a free 1 month isadora license. There are only 6 places I believe, so you'll need to sign up quick!
full details here: https://www.videographe.org/en/workshop/introduction-to-isadora-the-video-installation-toolbox/
EXHIBITION >>>
PUNCHCARD ECONOMY: 8 HOURS LABOUR
24 / 7: Work between meaning and imbalance
1st May 2024 > 19th January 2025 @ Kunsthauz Graz, Austria
PERFORMANCE >>> 14 JUNE >>> https://www.museum-joanneum.at/en/kunsthaus-graz/our-programme/calendar/event/sam-meech-1
LIVE STREAM @ https://www.youtube.com/@videosmithery/live
https://www.museum-joanneum.at/en/kunsthaus-graz/our-programme/exhibitions/event/24-7-2
I will be performing a new version of my '8 Hours Labour' work in June as part of an exibition on labour in Graz. Curated by Katia Huemer and cuocurated byt Martin Grabner, 24 / 7: Work between meaning and imbalance brings together many artists looking at our relationship to work and time.
The exhibition examines the often precarious aspects of artistic and cultural work, posing questions about the blurring of boundaries between letting oneself be exploited and self-realisation.
My contribution will simply be my 'work' - 8 hours of knitting on a brother punchcard machine, as an attempt to move focus away from the art object and towards the act of artistic labour. I say 'simply', but in reality this decision has dramatically inscreased the amount of admin and planning involved, so once again I seem to have fashioned a rod for my own back. Why is there always so much work invovled just to get to the work? Still, I'm looking forward to it.
The (insane) list of exhibiting artists includes:
Maja Bajević, Julien Berthier, Louisa Clement, Manuel Correa & Marina Otero Verzier, Jeremy Deller, Antje Ehmann & Harun Farocki & Eva Stotz, Aldo Giannotti, Liam Gillick, Lisa Großkopf, Andreas Gursky, Michael Hieslmair & Michael Zinganel, Tehching Hsieh, Johanna Kandl, Peter Kogler, Luiza Margan, Pia Mayrwöger, Sam Meech, Michail Michailov, Elisa Giardina Papa, Nika Radić, Martha Rosler, Sebastian Schmieg & Silvio Lorusso, Christoph Schwarz, Selma Selman, Santiago Sierra, Lia Sudermann & Simon Nagy, KURS (Miloš Miletić, Mirjana Radovanović), Oliver Walker
EXHIBITION >>>
SVP REMOBOBINEZ
1st > 31st March @ various venues (Montreal, Québec City, Val David)
Me and video artist Rob Feulner have created an exibition of video artworks in video stores across Québec. During the month of march (yeha I know I'm late), you can discover 12 different artworks in 6 different venues, on formats ranging from vhs, dvd, and interactive digital installation. I'm really proud of the range of stuff on show, and the way we have represented existing artworks and also created new pieces in response to the sites.
But the real stars of the show are the stores themselves - homes to physical media for sale or for rent, active archives and spaces for community. Initially the plan was to install our existing work in the last club video in Montreal, Le Cinoche, but their decision to close last November forced me to look for a plan B and C. In the end Le Cinoche stayed open as a selling store and the project had evolvd to look at video stores as an ecology. For me these are incredible installations in their own right, and a perfect space for video art beyond the gallery. The owners have been incredibly patient with me and my ideas.
Working with Rob again has been great - that push and pull between our overlapping sensibilities and love for video. We collaborated together on a couple of new pieces including the AMAZING Monster Movies vhs, which you can find in Video Centre Ville, QC and Horreur Fanatik, Montreal. We've also replayed some of our greatest hits, including Chroma Culture, The Burning Desire for a Dollar Bill, and Video art for Conditional Mailse, Oh, and a new version of Groundhog Day that uses a random dvd structure.
The project is supported by the Conseil des Arts et Lettres de Québec 'Présentation d’œuvres dans l’espace public et dans des lieux atypiques' program
EXHIBITION >>>
PUNCHCARD ECONOMY: 8 HOURS LABOUR
24 / 7: Work between meaning and imbalance
1st May 2024 > 19th January 2025 @ Kunsthauz Graz, Austria
https://www.museum-joanneum.at/en/kunsthaus-graz/our-programme/exhibitions/event/24-7-2
I will be performing a new version of my '8 Hours Labour' work in June as part of an exibition on labour in Graz. Curated by Katia Huemer and cuocurated byt Martin Grabner, 24 / 7: Work between meaning and imbalance brings together many artists looking at our relationship to work and time.
The exhibition examines the often precarious aspects of artistic and cultural work, posing questions about the blurring of boundaries between letting oneself be exploited and self-realisation.
My contribution will simply be my 'work' - 8 hours of knitting on a brother punchcard machine, as an attempt to move focus away from the art object and towards the act of artistic labour. I say 'simply', but in reality this decision has dramatically inscreased the amount of admin and planning involved, so once again I seem to have fashioned a rod for my own back. Why is there always so much work invovled just to get to the work? Still, I'm looking forward to it.
The (insane) list of exhibiting artists includes:
Maja Bajević, Julien Berthier, Louisa Clement, Manuel Correa & Marina Otero Verzier, Jeremy Deller, Antje Ehmann & Harun Farocki & Eva Stotz, Aldo Giannotti, Liam Gillick, Lisa Großkopf, Andreas Gursky, Michael Hieslmair & Michael Zinganel, Tehching Hsieh, Johanna Kandl, Peter Kogler, Luiza Margan, Pia Mayrwöger, Sam Meech, Michail Michailov, Elisa Giardina Papa, Nika Radić, Martha Rosler, Sebastian Schmieg & Silvio Lorusso, Christoph Schwarz, Selma Selman, Santiago Sierra, Lia Sudermann & Simon Nagy, KURS (Miloš Miletić, Mirjana Radovanović), Oliver Walker
SCREENING @ RENDEZ-VOUS QUEBEC CINÉMA >>>
TEN THOUSAND YEARS (2023)
26 FÉVRIER 17h 30 @ CINÉMATHEQUE QUEBECOIS
https://rendez-vous.quebeccinema.ca/films/ten-thousand-years
My latest film 'TEN THOUSAND YEARS' is showing at a festival 'Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma' - in the experimental strand. It is showing as part of a program of shorts entitled with a new french translation by Marilyn Farley.
The film was written by poet Ross Sutherland, originally created as part of a series of short fiction set in the world of the film 'Groundhog Day', which imagine how (still) life in Punxatawny would be experienced had the central character remained trapped in his time loop long after the events of the original film. I have appropriated elements of the original film and incoporated real-time video feedback in order to give the work its gentle underlying vibration. The sound has also been design by Raz Ullah, who worked with me on the absurd 2019 'Groundhog Day Remix'
VIDEO >>>
FABRICATIONS (2023)
>>> VIDEO NOW ONLINE >>>
READ MORE & WATCH HERE >>>
https://thedeveloper.live/film/fabrications-using-knitted-artworks-to-challenge-developer-narratives
You can now watch ‘FABRICATIONS’ online at The Developer - an organisation that supports critical discuassion around sustainable urban development. ‘FABRICATIONS’ is a 14 minute video version of my article of the same name, which looks at the displacement of long-standing South Asian textile firms from Crusader Mill, Manchester, by developers Capital and Centric. The film also talks about and my knitting work in response to the events, and questions what impact (if any) they made, or purpose they might still serve.
The film was originally presented at the Textile and place conference 2023 in Manchester in October 2023. as part of the British Textile Biennial.
FILM SCREENING >>>
"The archive that holds only dismembered memories
the fruit thrown away in favour of the root"
NOAH'S ARK (2010)
'NOAHS'S ARK' (2010)
THURSDAY 26th October 2023, 12pm - 1:30pm (screening time TBC) >>> Manchester Poetry Library (Grosvenor East, Cavendish Street, Manchester, M15 6BG)
TICKETS >>> (FREE) >>> https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/noahs-ark-film-screening-tickets-731813242107
Manchester Poetry Library are presenting my 2010 film NOAH'S ARK as their FIRST EVER FILM SCREENING in partnership with the North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University. I really wish I could be there in person, but sadly there is no ark to carry me over the water in time. However, I am so proud that the film is being shown again, and especially in this context.
When I was working on the film in 2010 with Nathan Jones, I felt his role as a poet might help to interpret and even clarify the obscure collage structure of the film. Instead he translated it, or mistranlated it, adding additional narratives on top, unlocking further associations with the images onscreen, and provoking intuition and gut feeling through his incantations. The film became more complex and far less literal. The themes became deeper, both more personal (who is 'Morwenna'?) and more universal ("the fruit thrown away in favour of the root"). As we toured the film (along with musician Carl Brown whoi wrote the score),Nathan would often change the words, and so I began to realise the text itself wasn't necessarily sacred. Hopefully one day we can make a new interpretation.
CONFERENCE TALK >>>
TEXTILE & PLACE 2023
'FABRICATIONS' video presentation
Tuesday 17th Oct, 12:10pm >>> ‘Panel 2: Regenerative Acts’ >>> Manchester School of Art, Benzie Building
Part of the British Textile Biennial
TICKETS >>> https://www.textileandplace.co.uk/
I’m talking (zooming) at the Textile and place conference 2023 in Manchester as part of ‘Panel 2: Regenerative Acts’, (12:10pm GMT) alongside Naitiemu Nyanjom (@naitiemu) and Ifeoma Anyaeji. We will each be sharing a video presentation, followed by a Q&A.
I’ll be sharing ‘FABRICATIONS’ - a 14 minute video version of my article of the same name, which looks at the displacement of long-standing South Asian textile firms from Crusader Mill, Manchester, by developers Capital and Centric. I’ll also talk about and my knitting work in response to the events, and questioning what impact (if any) they made, or purpose they might still serve.
Why am I still talking about this? Well, history is easily forgotten (or erased). I also think MCR needs to properly engage with it’s textile production communities to support them and help them develop sustainably. First part of that means acknowledging their contribution to industrial heritage and understanding the various pressures they face.
The event is part of the British Textile Biennial taking place between 29 Sept and 29 Oct https://britishtextilebiennial.co.uk.
So, Knitting nerds, urban geographers, and those interested in the history of Manchester - you should check it out! You can attend the conference in person.
Tickets here https://www.textileandplace.co.uk
WORKSHOP >>>
ATELIER de POÈSIE de la LUNE
13 - 16h (drop in) - 1st October, 2023
Quai 5160 - Maison de la culture de Verdun
I am running a super simple drop-in poetry workshop in which I invite people to write a short metaphor about the moon, as part of my project "La Lune est..". Participants will write a small poetic lunar metaphor using stratgies of chance and reflection, which will then be contributed to the larger projet, an interactive projection installation of the moon, in December 2023, at Quai 51600 in Verdun.
The poetic metaphors use a simple formula - "The moon is..." - followed by an adjective and a noun. These are most run to develop by chance, using words taken from a text, a song, or a book, or an overheard conversation. By choosing things at random, creating our poems through chance, we acoid the trap of trying to write something that we assume to sound like a lunar metaphor, and hopefully stumble into new connections and profoundly absurd combinations that spark our imagination. We want to avoid over thinking, and then let the metaphor itself inspire possible next steps.
la lune est un révolution tranquille (the moon is a quiet revoultion)
la lune est un veteran polyphonique (the moon is a polyphonic veteran)
The project is inspired by the workshops of Ross Sutherland, as discussed in his Imaginary Advice podcaste episode "Re: The Moon". Indeed, this workshop is my attempt to recreate the processes he decribes, and to use them as a starting point for developing the final insteractive installation in december 2023.
More info here: https://sites.google.com/view/laluneestverdun/latelier-d%C3%A9criture?authuser=0
You can also contribute your lunar metaphor here! >>> https://bit.ly/soumissionslunaires
SCREENING >>>
ONE MINUTE VOL.9
Wolf & Galentz Gallery, Wollankstraße 112a, 13187 Berlin, Germany >>> Sunday 30th September 2023 at 8pm
One of my short films is csreening as part of Kerry Baldry's long running ONE MINUTE project. I've been lucky enough to have several of my films join this series over the years, and in truth I can't actually remember which one is in the ninth edition, however there's a fair chance it will be a knitted animation, or a collaboration with my best buddy Chris Paul Daniels. In short, it kind of doesnt matter - the programmes as a whole are always fantastic - full of experimentation and humour and each film is mercifully short.
Anyway, more info here: https://wolf-galentz.de/en/one-minute-no-9-screening-30-09-2023/
Particpating artists: Tony Hill, Paul Tarrago, Eva Rudlinger, Kayla Parker and Stuart Moore, Rose Butler, Steven Woloshen, Erica Suderburg, Michael Szpakowski, sam renseiw, Philip Sanderson, Anna Mortimer, Karissa Hahn, Stuart Pound and Rosemary Norman, Scott Fitzpatrick, Peter Martin, Chris Paul Daniels, Kypros Kyprianou,Katharine Meynell, Grant Petrey, Jonathan Spencer, My Name is Scot, Kerry Baldry, Sam Meech, Amy Lunn, Nick Herbert, Julia Dogra-Brazell, Chris Meigh-Andrews, Gordan Dawson and Louisa Minkin, David Chatton Barker, Heather Ross, Nicky Hamlyn, Marty St. James, Maud Haya Baviera, Chris A. Wright, Rachel Allain, Ellie Kyungran Heo, Pablo Robertson de Unamuno and Zeljko Vukicevic (Zhel)
PREMIERE OF NEW FILM >>>
TEN THOUSAND YEARS
BRAZIERS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL >>> Sunday 3rd September 2023 as part of 'Radical Instincts'
I've finally completed a new film - another version of Groundhog Day - which will have its premiere at the upcoming Braziers International Film Festval. The film is a collaboration with Ross Sutherland of the Imaginary Advice podcast, and based on his own obsession with rewatching the 1993 film Groundhog Day. Additional sound design has been magicked up by my good friend Raz Ullah, with whom I have collaborated on a previous GHD project, the 2019 'remix'.
Ten Thousand Years is a quasi-sequel to Groundhog Day, supposing that the weatherman protagonist Phil Connors never left the town of Punxatawny, and instead remained trapped in his loopy existence for millenia. At this point he has chosen "a single final path" - to do nothing. The story is written and narrated by Ross Sutherland, and manages to combine profound philosophical questions with crude jokes about dog penises. The film is entirely composed of extremely short sequences from the original film, that have been bathed in a soup of video feedback.
I'm really pleased to be showing at Braziers IFF - it is a festival organised and programmed by other artist film makers who I hugely respect, such as Nick Jordan, Chris Paul Daniels and Dave Griffiths. The programme as a whole looks terriffic, especially the film focus on the work of Julia Parks. I sadly wont be there in person, but will attempt to be present via some kind of transcendental meditation.
UPCOMING ARTICLE PUBLICATION >>>
A MECCA OF INDUSTRY
THEN THERE WAS US MAGAZINE
LAUNCH PARTY >>> 24th August 2023 in Hackney, London (location tbc)
I've rewritten and reframed my 'Fabrications' article to create a much more accessible piece focused on the experiences and history of displaced South Asian textile workers in Manchester, and less about my own knitting work. I'm super pleased with it, and grateful for the encouragement of editor Jonathan Tomlinson. It is also accompanied by some excellent new photographs of Unique Knitwear, taken by James Starkey, who also used to have a studio at Crusader Mill.
The fourth issue of Then There Was Us is all about industry, exploring its impact on fashion, art, music, and culture. For this issue we have sourced innovative and thought-provoking stories that delve into the ways in which industry has shaped and continues to shape these creative spheres. We wanted this issue to examine the interplay between industry and creativity in a unique and insightful manner.
GROUP EXHIBITION >>>
EVICTION
23RD - 25TH June 2023 @ Saan1 - 5 Kelvin Street, Manchester, M4 1ET, UK
Preview and poetry evening: Friday 23rd 7-9pm
General viewing: Saturday 24th 12-6pm & Sunday 25th 12-6pm
presented by Yoghurt Labs
My short film Social Fabric (2019) will be exhibited as part of a group of artworks addresses the theme of eviction and gentrification. Social Fabric documents the displacement of South Asian knitwear businesses from Crusader Mill (Manchester) in 2017 by developers Capital & Centric. It focuses on Unique Knitwear, run by Ayub Khan and highlights the fact that the south Asian textile community have occupied these buildings in Manchester for decade, essentially saving them from deriliction.
You can read more about the context of the film in my article 'Fabrications'.
Curators: Yoghurt Labs & Stewart Knights
Artists: @salford.esk @s.el.art @em.techy @juepitah @jczee__ @judewainwright_ @jaspa.art @becky.mcgillivray @videosmithery @radhika8art
GROUP EXHIBITION >>>
VIDEOCITY - UNCERTAIN FUTURES
Socially Engaged Curating
13th - 17th June 2023 @ K–House, 70 Oxford Road, Manchester M1 5NH, United Kingdom
presented by Videocity and Manchester School of Art
Exhibition deatils here: https://www.videocity.org/manchester-2023
My short animation about the Crusader Mill fire, Trouble at the Mill (2019) will be exhibited as part of a series of socially-engaged artists works curated by Masters students at Manchester School of Art. The exhibition is being prioduced in partnership with Videocity, an international public art project founded in 2013 in Basel, Switzerland by Dr Andrea Domesle that connects video art with audiences in public spaces around the world.
My work was chosen by curator Nia Palmer, who was interested in the themes of local industry and gentrification - something touched on in more detail in my article 'Fabrications'. Though I have screened the film before at festivals, for this exhibition I made a new looping version of the work especially for the installation.
The video is also accompanied by a previously unseen knitted work - a recreation of the signage of Dream Knitwear - the factory where the fire occured. Both works attempt to mark the displacement of South Asian working class textile communities in Manchester by property developers Capital & Centric. I hope that people will enjoy the works and also let the developers know what they think!
Curators: Rowan Bell, Birce Cennetoglu, Jenna Eady, Nia Palmer
Artists: Charlie Black, Nick Delap, Molly Dickens, Habiba El-Sayed, Corrie Francis Parks, Sam Meech, Ian Rawlinson & Nick Crowe, James Stephen Wright
you can read more about the event here.
NEWS >>>
MEDIA ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE AWARDS 2023
Écran de veille / Screen Savour nominated
online - 14th - 15th June 2023
in person - 21st - 23rd June 2023 @ Toronto, Canada
See all projects here: https://mab23.org/mab-awards/
My interactive feedback installation Écran de veille / Screen Savour (2022) is in the shortlist for the Transmedial Media Architecture category for the Media Archiecture Bienniale awards 2023. MAB is founded by the Media Architecture Institute, an international research organisation examining the role of media facades in architectiure and public engagement.
You can read more about my project and see some videos of the piece in action here - https://awards.mediaarchitecture.org/mab/project/387
FILM SCREENING >>> KNITTED ANIMATIONS >>>
IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW*
Animation screening series
@ Bob Baker Marionette Theatre, Los Angeles - 13th May 2023
presented by Nihil and Friends
I have two knitted animations (Knitted Horse Firework and Ceci N'est Pas Un Spectacle) showing as part of a screening of animations (" old. Weird. New. Shelved. Revived. Reborn") in the fanatsic Bob Baker Marionette Theatre. The event is being put on by Tiffany Kimmel and collaborators who made the award winning animation 'Everybody Goes To The Hospital' (2021).
you can read more about the event here.
GROUP EXHIBITION >>>
SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLES Strelnikov's Glasses and Other Stories
@ HONG KONG ARTS CENTRE - FROM MAR 15 TO MAY 1
curated by Susan Platt & Robert Hamilton
Including work by Jonathan Hltchen, Joan Beadle, Libby Scarlett, Hilary Judd, Robert Hamilton, Susan Platt, Louise Adkins, lan Whadcock, Panrsons & Charlesworth, Jo Hitchen, Mike Harte, Birthday Studio, Nick Fleming, lucy May Schofield, Humberto Velez, Ben Kither, Loose Collective, Ian Anderson (The Designers Republic, Chris Paul Daniels, Lucy Vann, Kevin Craig, Adam Griffiths, DR.ME
My 3D anaglyph print 'NATURAL VISION' is being shown alongside many other works responding to the use of glasses in cinema. The show was originally exhibited in Manchester at HOME in 2017, but has finally made its way to Hong Kong, thanks to the hard work of founders and curatiors Susan PLatt and Robert Hamilton.
project page : http://portfolio.smeech.co.uk/natural-vision/
HK arts Centre exhibition page : https://hkac.org.hk/calendar_detail/?u=0kRtJz_ryp8\
Society of the Spectacles instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thesocietyofthespectacles/
GROUP EXHIBITION >>>
OUT OF OFFICE This isn’t working for us
@ IMPAKT - UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS - FROM FEB 10 TO APR 10
curated by Marijn Bril
Including work by Art Goss / Alina Lupu / Sam Meech / Adrian Melis / Mario Santamaría / Tytus Szabelski-Różniak / Pilvi Takala / Total Refusal / 996.ICU
I have a new version of a previous work in a show about WORK. Out of Office presents a collection of artistic responses that reveal, rethink and reject the constant drive towards exploitative productivity. My contribution is a reworking of my '8 Hours Labour' banner, this time visualising data about over-work collected from people working in academia.
The show and the work come at a weird time for me, since I quit my job teaching at Concordia just before Christmas. Consequently I spent the new year clearing out my office, and knitting a banner which expressed some of the reasons why I chose to leave. I took care to document both acts - leaving the office and the production of the banner - via a cctv system. The final videos appear in the exhibition alongside the knitting object, The final work is titled '8 Hours Labour - Limited Term Appointment' in reference to the precarious full-time contract under which I was working.
project page : http://portfolio.smeech.co.uk/8-hours-labour-limited-term-appointment/
IMPAKT exhibition page : https://impakt.nl/events/2023/exhibition/out-of-office/
Review - We Make Money Not Art : 'Indolence and other strategies to resist the 24/7 work culture'
NEW ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN A 'PROPER' JOURNAL >>>
FABRICATIONS:
USING KNITTED ARTWORKS TO CHALLENGE DEVELOPERS’ NARRATIVES OF REGENERATION AND RECOGNISE MANCHESTER’S SOUTH ASIAN WORKING CLASS TEXTILES BUSINESSES
TEXTILE: CLOTH & CULTURE SPECIAL ISSUE - Unraveling Contemporary Knitting
An important article bringing together several years of research and craftivism around the knitting factories of manchester and their displacement by developers Capital & Centric. It opens up some hugely important issues around narrative, power, and the erasure of marginalised communities from the industrial heritage of the city. I've written this article not for my job, but because these issues needed articulating in a more substantial way than a twitter thread. Anyone who follows me will appreciate that this is something I care about deeply. My first and most likely my last published journal article!
Read it here : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14759756.2022.2099628 (Concordia faculty / students >> https://www-tandfonline-com.lib-ezproxy.concordia.ca/doi/full/10.1080/14759756.2022.2099628 )
+++ PLEASE SHARE +++ craftivism, knitting, gentrification, Manchester, South Asian communities, textiles
(if you can't access it via the link above, try one of the limited 'free' links here, or failing that, give me an email at hello at smeech dot co dot uk)
NEW PUBLIC INSTALLATION >>>
ÉCRAN DE VEILLE / SCREEN SAVOUR
22nd AUGUST - 21st SEPTEMBER 2022, MONTREAL
MÉTRO ST LAURENT, QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES,
A couple of years in the making - (perhaps) the biggest video feedback installation in the world! A public digital art installation that needs no public because it watches itself. Five generative scenes and five desktop documentaries exploring pattern generation, recursive design, idle screens and mise en abymes.
more details here: http://portfolio.smeech.co.uk/ecrandeveille/
SCREENING - NOAH'S ARK - BOB BAKER MARIONETTE THEATRE, LOS ANGELES - AUG 5TH, 7pm
The Ark finally makes its transatlanic debut as part of ART IS LIFE IS ART - a special evening of short films, live art and puppet performances on the theme of AWARENESS HURTS
more details here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CgNyTf5Lcbs/
SCREENING - SOCIAL FABRIC @ SKYLINER SUMMER SCHOOL - SAT 18th JUNE, MCR, UK
The superb urban research magazine and tour guide Skyliner (Hayley Flynn) will be screening my film SOCIAL FABRIC as part of a day of activities looking at the architectural history and impact of gentrification in Manchester. The Skyliner Summer School includes two of the most provacative tours , 'Follow the BVuddliea' and 'There Was a Bench Here Once', along with lunch and screening. I'll be there too!
Tickets are just £40 for the day - http://www.theskyliner.org/summer-school
ART IN ARTIFICIAL LIFE >>> SHORT DOCS SCREENING ONLINE - FRI 22ND APRIL 2022 , 2pm
SeMy work features is one of several short documentaries looking at artists working with artifical life, produced by Jenn Karson at the University of Vermont. The films were recorded as part of the ALIFE 2020 conference, which took place online in July 2020. In the short piece on my work, I talk about the project 'Video Culture' ('Chroma Culture'), and speciically the use of optical feedback systems as a way to create generative colour-based 'organisms'.
The films premiere on PROTEUS TV on Twitch , at 2pm on Friday 22nd April - https://www.twitch.tv/proteusteevee/schedule
FILM SCREENING >>> KNITTED FILMS @ FRAMEWORK KNITTERS MUSEUM - SAT 4TH DECEMBER
Several of my films will be screening as part of LIGHT KNIT at the Framework Knitters Museum in Ruddington, Nottingham on Saturday 4th December.
My knitted animations - Knitted Horse Firework, Trouble at the Mill and Tricotone 01 (above) - as well as my documentary Social Fabric - will be part of a programme of moving image works riffing on knitting and textiles, including works by Marie Jones and Chloe Lemay.
There will also be projections of lo-res animations created by participants in my TRICOT ANIMÉ workshop that I ran with FWM earlier this month :)
The event is put together by Glassball Studio
NEW EXHIBITION / INSTALLATION >>>
UNSTABLE INTERMEDIATED FORMS is a new installation of existing works, in the vitrine d'AGENCE TOPO Montreal, CA. The installation combines several of my interactive and generative video works with video pieces by Rob Feulner.
The works are presented as unstable pairs - affecting each other through optical feedback systems and programmed displacement. PORTAL, CHROMA CULTURE, GENERATIVE FICTION and new remix of GROUNDHOG DAY all feature alongside Robs video synthesis experiments.
The installation runs from November 11th - 18th December 2021
ARTICLE >>>
WORKING 5 TO 9 - article on the work life balance in the time of trans-atlantic télé-working.Commissioned as part of PAUSE FOR THOUGHT research project at Lincoln University - READ HERE
EXHIBITION >>>
CHROMA CULTURE (a new installation version of Video Culture) is showing as part of OUTSIDE THE ALGORITHM at Newlyn Art Gallery in Cornwall, UK - from July 24th - 9th October 2021
NEW INSTALLATION >>>
TRICOT ANIMÉ has been installed in Verdun Montréal as part of the Rue Wellington summer program
'Telepresent Modular Design' - short lecture exploring the design space of the video call and the possibilities for collaborative art.
NEWS
EXHIBITION / SCREENING >>>
TRICOTONE 01 is screening as part of VISION CREEP - the summer 2021 programme by PLEASURE DOME, Toronto - available to rent online from 15th to 22nd July 2021.
TALK / Q&A >>>
VISON CREEP programme closing Q&A - July 22, 2021 at 7:00 pm EST- more info
EXHIBITION / SCREENING >>>
3 of my knitted animations are available NOW to watch now at 6x6project.com, alongside work by Ninna Bohn Pedersen, Chris Paul Daniels, Henry Bradley, Sidsel Christensen and Sidsel Becker.
TALK / Q&A >>>
WOVEN FESTIVAL - 'TEXTILES AS ART' - panel with myself and artist Seiko Kinoshita - June 17, 2021 at 6:00 pm GMT - more info
a new film project created during lockdown, initiated by Saphire Goss - featuring 23 artists contributing micro-movies stitched into a franken-film. My 90-second film is part of Strand A.
NEW EXHIBITION
you can add your own poems to the works at the links below
SPECIAL SCREENING >>>
BRITISH ANIMATION SHOWCASE FUNDRAISER for KERRY BALDRY - Mon 23rd Nov 7pm UK
A very special event to raise funds for specialist cancer-treatment. Knitted Horse Firework will be screening alongside work by some amazing animators, plus there's even a raffle (£10 - email LondonAnimationClub@gmail.com to enter)
Support Kerry's treatment directly at her Go Fund Me page
Saturday, October 17, 2020
10:15 am - 7:30pm Montreal time
3:15pm - 00:30pm Manchester time
Vidéographe's YouTube channel - Free streaming
more info and reserve your free ticket here
download the full program >>> (pdf)
cheers to Arts Council England DYCP for making this possible
WORKSHOPS >>> KNITTING
Sat 15th June 2019 - Hazuki Knit with James Medd / Gemma Potter - part of WOVEN - Queensgate Marke, Huddersfield, UK
WORKSHOPS >>> INTERACTIVE VIDEO
Fri 14th June 2019 - LJMU John Lennon Art & Design building, Liverpool - Tickets £15
Fri 21st June 2019 - Manchester School of Art - Tickets £15
INSTALLATION / PERFORMANCE >>>
Tues 11th June 2019 (7pm) BILL & TED 30 REMIX with Raz Ullah at TEST CARD, Hilary Step, Manchester, UK
Fri 12th July 2019 (from 6pm) PORTALS at Rogue Studios, Manchester, UK
EXHIBITION >>> Sat 3 November 2018 - Sun 9 June 2019 - ONE SQUARE MILE showing as part of 'Acquired: a century of collecting' at Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Salford, UK
SCREENING >>> Sun 26th May 2019 (7:30pm) - ONE SQUARE MILE screening as part of 'Surveyed Places' at MINI INDI FILM FEST Braziers Park, Oxford, UK