This was a feature for the ‘Heritage’ issue of Spindle Magazine. The idea came from the idea that in the UK, there has been a shift in the economy from manufacturing to creative industries. Having studied The Great Exhibition at university, I took that as my starting point.
Movers and Shakers, Thinkers and Makers
Back in 2007, a report by the Work Foundation (a not-for-profit organisation that aim to improve the quality of working life) found that economic growth in Britain relied just as much on the creative industries as traditional ones. In an article published by The Independent, the chief executive of the Work Foundation said: “[The creative industries] profit from creativity, cultural meaning and symbolism. We need better understanding about the mechanisms through which creativity generates value, both within the creative industries themselves and in the wider economy beyond.”
In Britain today, creativity is big business. However, this is a recent development – the focus has shifted from manufacture. Let’s go back 160 years to The Great Exhibition, or to call it by its proper title, ‘The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations’.
The purpose of the exhibition was to display the newly created products of the industrial age. However, this was no mere trade show. Britain had an agenda. We wanted to be the height of modernity and technical prowess. Some strategic curation helped this. A country that presented raw materials, like cotton, was considered under-developed. On the other flip-side, a country that exhibited machinery to weave the cotton was seen as more advanced. It was in this way Britain created an ambience of a modern, high status country.
Fine art wasn’t a major player at the exhibition; the decorative arts were far more celebrated. As the industrial age progressed, new methods and techniques were developed that could be applied to the decorative arts, like the application of gold onto base metals such as lead. Fine art, skilful though it might be, was not merely as impressive as something bashed out with a hammer.
So, how did the creative industries become the powerhouses they are today? A major factor is how art evolved over the last century. The birth of photography meant art was no longer burdened with the responsibility to represent the real. Nor was it limited by skill in the conventional sense. It was the idea that made art Art.
The use of readymade objects is possibly the most influential development. The artist does not physically create the object so skill is eliminated. The most famous example of the readymade (and perhaps the first) is Marcel Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ – a urinal placed on a pedestal with his signature. If you want an ideas man today, turn to Damien Hirst, the great marketer. A team of studio assistants create his pieces, yet he is the Artist (and the person who cashes the cheques).
As Sir Alan Sugar repeatedly told us in the last series of The Apprentice, he is a ‘products man’. Millions can still be made making and selling tangible stuff. However, the thinkers are arguably the greater movers and shakers. Look at advertising – remember the Guinness advert with the domino rally? That was part of a campaign that cost £10million. What would you rather have done, brewed the pint or come up with that idea?
An article about light painting for Spindle Magazine. I have a thing about light painting; in fact there are several posts featuring it on the Tea Break Blog. This article on Web Urbanist is what inspired me to write this piece.
Light Writing: Invisible Moments
Light painting (or writing or graffiti, depending on how you do it) is a technical yet beautiful art. To be able to produce a decent image, it takes planning and precision. However, what makes light painting magical is that the ‘brushstrokes’ disappear into the darkness of the final image. What is left is a picture of something that was never actually there to begin with.
'Space Writing' by Man Ray, 1939
The photographic technique of light painting has actually been around for a while. Man Ray created his ‘Space Writings’ in 1935 using a penlight. The title suggests it was something quite futuristic. Although simple by today’s standards, Man Ray’s images are useful in demonstrating the basic principle of light painting. The swirls of light are the image, created by moving a light source in front of a camera with an open shutter. Man Ray’s face is blurred – he is just background noise.
Today, digital cameras and computers allow artists to create much more complex images. Of course it doesn’t have to be artists – anyone with an idea and a camera can create something amazing. One lovely application for light writing (and demonstrating the work involved) is this video of a wedding proposal in light. That took dedication.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/8444316]
Writing in light is just one application. Shapes can also be drawn. These ‘sculptures’ transform their surrounding but at the same time leave no mark at all. Cenci Goepel and Jens Warnecke create strange, alien yet organic shapes. They stand out in the landscape but are a part of it at the same time.
Cenci Goepel and Jens Warnecke
Artist Dean Chamberlain on the other hand paints with light almost literally. His technique places his subjects in psychedelic spaces. They are still-life enhanced.
Dean Chamberlain
Light painting offers the chance for creatives to be, well creative, as well as problem solvers. This is especially true when light painting is used in moving images.
TalkTalk’s advert was created by art director Noah Harris. The moving animation presented a difficult challenge. Light painting requires a perfectly still camera and a moving light source. For the light animation to go down the street, a whole row of cameras (think The Matrix) was set up to follow the light source while still capturing the blurred effect required.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm5_Y6OvcS0]
For a seemingly simple technique created nearly 80 years ago, light painting has created many varied and unique images. They require some imaginative thinking to create. However, they capture beautiful moments, moments that barely existed in the first place.
Last Saturday I spent the evening ‘notworking’ at Glug Brighton. This was an evening of live art, music and inspiring talks by some of the UK’s top creative people. Taking place in the lovely Brighton Museum, it was the sixth event organised by Agency Crush & Rush. Glug originally started in London as a gathering of designers, creatives, friends and clients. The concept has been adopted down here in Brighton; the perfect place some might say given the high number of design agencies located in the city.
The first of the three talks was given by Neil McFarland from ustwo, a digital design company based in London. Through the might of powerpoint, Neil took us through some of the phone apps the company had created.
Granimator - wallpaper creator by ustwo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLUvzG6CWUQ]
Nursery Rhymes was a beautifully illustrated app – this video demonstrates the ‘Storytime’ function (one reviewer described it as the saddest thing you’ll ever see).
Ustwo’s ‘Mouth Off’ app demonstrated how a simple idea can evolve with a little imagination. The app essentially lets you hold your iPhone up to your mouth and talk using an illustrated mouth. Encouraging users to video themselves using the app led to this website.
Unfortunately I missed the second talk, which was given by Coralie Bickford-Smith. Coralie is the senior cover designer at Penguin Books and has produced some lovely work in the past.
Covers designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith
The third and final talk was by art director Noah Harris. What I’ve found quite common in the design world is that you may not know the name, but you are guaranteed to know the work. Noah gave us a whistle-stop tour of his career, beginning with a video of his life so far – an amalgamation of clips and sounds that gave in fact very little indication of what Noah was all .
Much of Noah’s work has stop-frame animation at its heart. In 2007 he was responsible for rebranding E4 using a combination of animation and CGI.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/1654753]
Hotel Room for E4 by Noah Harris
Load Bay for E4 by Noah Harris
All the sets were life-size, with the idea being to merge the boundaries between reality in fantasy. Noah won a yellow pencil at the 2008 D&AD awards with this project.
Other clients in Noah’s portfolio include Ford and Google Chrome.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87nDEUscky8]
One interesting project logistically was an advert for Talk Talk. The advert featured animation with light and light-writing. For the effect to work the cameras needed to be perfectly still. To be able to follow the light animation down the street, a rig containing many cameras was set up. This had to be perfectly level so many shots were stabilised in post-production.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMAK54TQiaw]
The production stills reveal the complexity of creating seemingly simply shapes. For example, to sculpt a balloon in light, the team used a curved light on the end of a drill – when it span it created the ‘bulb’ shape. The string was then drawn in using an LED pen.
Production stills for Talk Talk
Most of the time, all we ever experience is the finished polished product. It was interesting to see the other side of the screen. In general though the whole evening was inspiring and informative. I even bought myself a souvenir in the form of one of Nobrow‘s lovely creations. Not bad for an evening spent notworking.
For the last few days, ISSUU and Facebook have been the bane of my life. I have shouted at PDFs, cursed Facebook’s inability to stay the same for five minutes and muttered bitterly at online tutorials. My head hurts but I have emerged victorious – I’ve produced an ISSUU document that looks half decent and managed to embed another on Facebook.
I am fairly confident that you know the social-networking powerhouse that is Facebook. ISSUU on the other hand is a digital publishing platform. Unlike WordPress, it lets you publish beautiful designed publications in a digital format. Users can also subscribe to a publication, receiving notifications when a new issue is uploaded.
Little White Lies on ISSUU
Many print publications use ISSUU to showcase their magazines online. Little White Lies is one of them. The University of Brighton also uses it for their student newspaper, albeit via their printer. The benefits of such a platform include being able to show your mag/paper online in its printed form; it’s more dynamic than a stream of PDFs. It is also easy to share your work with other people who may not have been able to pick up a printed issue.
Obviously using ISSUU also means you can do away with print altogether. The Retro Collective is a web-based magazine, created by Bruce Hudson. In terms of layout, this online magazine is no different from print. Bruce opted out of producing a printed magazine because of the cost. With ISSUU, he built the Retro brand and secured revenue from advertisers without shelling out for the ink.
Issue 6 of The Retro Collective
The reason I have been so involved with ISSUU lately is because of Litro. It’s a useful tool for us to showcase the printed magazine online, particularly because you are able to embed it in WordPress and Facebook. Our first use for it was to showcase the cover artwork.
ISSUU is dead simple to use – simply upload PDF files and tah-dah. This was my first headache as I received most of the covers as jpegs. After a spot of converting and re-sizing they were good to go. I split the covers into the ‘Tall’ (front page only) and ‘Full’ (front and back). On my first go the different sizes messed up the look so separating them made things look a lot better. Both sets are now on Litro.co.uk.
Litro Covers - Full
Part two of Litro’s adventure with ISSUU was to embed an issue of Litro onto the Facebook page. To assist me was this ‘helpful’ tutorial. Now this was written in October 2010 but as the way things are these digital days, it was already out of date – play spot the difference between that screenshot and Little White Lies’s current Facebook Page.
FMBL is like html only for Facebook. It was useful in the past when I created the ‘Welcome’ tab for Litro’s Page. Back then, there was a handy box in the corner saying ‘Add another FMBL box’. That box had now helpfully ceased to exist. After a bit of searching I managed to find another app that could add one. A spot of coding later (with the help of the lovely Tristan Brookes) and behold, Issue 104!
Issue 104 on facebook.com/litromagazine
The next stage is to get Litro’s comic strips uploaded. I have a cunning plan for this, which I will reveal in due course. In the mean time, browse the online publications on ISSUU. Despite my moaning, it really is an excellent tool for online publishing.
InboxQ&A conducted a survey on how people ask and answer questions on Twitter. The results are in a handy infrographic at the bottom of this post. They say: “Your business will earn more followers and increase sales by answering questions on Twitter…” It is certainly in their interest to promote this as they offer a service where questions asked on Twitter are sent directly to your browser.
Although it is clearly a marketing ploy, I have to admit I agree with what they say. It’s funny this came up today as I’ve spent much of this afternoon tweeting to Royal Mail – you can see my conversation here. Looking back, my first tweet to them was a little rude (maybe Tanya Gold is right after all). I was a bit miffed that a parcel was left outside AGAIN but the main reason for my abruptness was because I didn’t really expect a reply. This is not because I thought Royal Mail’s customer service was poor, it’s just I see Twitter as a casual way to communicate. I can tweet at celebrities and know that although I won’t get a response, I’m still speaking to them. I mention magazines, newspapers and blogs all the time so having a gripe is no different.
However, Royal Mail did reply. Of course they did. Just look at their profile – it is nothing but conversations with disgruntled or curious customers. Like many businesses and services, Royal Mail use Twitter as a way to communicate with their customers. They don’t have anything to promote (except the launch of the Christmas stamps) but customers can speak directly to a customer service person and more often than not, get an immediate reply. Personally I’m happy with how I was tweeted (ahem) by Royal Mail. My throwaway comment was taken seriously. Furthermore, I haven’t a clue who to go to with my complaint. The queue at the Post Office is always enormous so it is good to have Twitter as a first port of call.
If you search Mashable you will find loads of articles about the benefits of using Twitter as a customer service platform. There should be one about how to be a more courteous tweeting customer.
A preview of the Ejector Seat Festival written for Spindle Magazine. My friend Keiron LeVine is the Site Artist Liaison Officer so he is involved with the Park Gallery. I’ve added links and the video in lieu of pictures.
Ejector Seat Festival
12pm – 10pm
Palmerston Park, Southampton
Saturday 4th June 2011Peter and Kerry
Free Entry
Palmerston Park in Southampton will be transformed into a cultural bubble of live music, spoken word and artistic wonder this Saturday as the Ejector Seat festival returns to the city.
This free music and arts festival started over seven years ago. Last year over 3000 people attended and 150 performers and participants took part. This year it promises to be better than ever before. Mac Ince, Co-Founder of EjectorSeat, says “We are still charged by last year’s success, and are using this momentum to build an even bigger and better festival for this year.”
The festival is organised by local promoter organisation EjectorSeat. They are an integral part of the local music scene in Southampton. The festival itself began when they commandeered the bandstand for local people to hear music for free. Since then the festival has grown to include local artists, bands, filmmakers, creatives and craftspeople.
The headline musical act is Peter & Kerry (Peter Lyons and Kerry Leatham). These two were originally solo artists who came together as a side-project. They are Southampton locals; their recently released EP, ‘Clothes, Friends, Photos’, was even recorded there in a bedroom in Peter’s family home.
Mac said: “It is great news that Peter and Kerry are headlining for us, we’ve been working with Tape Club records for sometime, and this is a perfect way to show and celebrate our relationship.” The EP has been well received by music critics and the blog scene. Their folky sound, with guitars, pianos and banjos, will be a joy to listen to while lying on the grass in the sun.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/18987409]
For art-lovers, a trip to the Art Market is essential. Running throughout the day, the market will let visitors pick up works of art straight from the artists. Not only that, there will workshops ran by local professionals and creative organisations. In amongst the beat boxing, poetry, and booking-binding workshops (and many others), Brighton’s own Drinky Doodle will be there to offer drawing games with a difference.
If all this wasn’t enough for you, there will be around 30 musical acts (playing on the regular music stage and the brand new SoCo stage), an outdoor gallery, the new Spoken Word tent, the Film Tent and plenty more besides. For further details of the line-up, visit ejectorseat.co.uk.
This is a review of Jamie Shaw’s ‘Shadows’ exhibition for Spindle Magazine. I only managed to speak to Jamie briefly at the private view. However, I got in touch with him afterwards to ask a couple of questions. The high-res photos on Spindle’s website were taken by Ed Bartlett from Future Tense. I’ve included some of the photos I took.
Jamie Shaw – Shadows
“Shadows evokes the mystical and sometimes haunting experiences we have when exploring woods – the play of light through the canopy, the infinite palette of texture and shade, and the endless opportunity for adventure.”
This gives you a taste of what you can expect at ‘Shadows’, an exhibition by Brighton-based Jamie Shaw at Artist Residence Hotel and Gallery in Hove.
In his abstract expressionist paintings, trees and branches seem to loom overhead but these are merely suggested. Tied with the music in the background, one has the sense of being lost in a forest.
“I wanted to instil simultaneously a feeling of both claustrophobia and boundless freedom in the viewer.”
The project took two months to put together and was created in conjunction with the hotel. Despite it being a small space, Jamie’s large-scale paintings don’t feel confined. In fact every part of the downstairs area of the hotel is used. There are even paintings on the stairs. To get up close you are forced to explore.
You can easily get lost in the detail of Jamie’s paintings. They loom threateningly while at the same time draw you in. Stand up-close and you can appreciate the different textures that make up the picture. The heavy streaks of acrylic paint stand in contrast with the flecks of spray paint.
Stand back and you can take in the image as a whole. The shapes easily evoke thoughts of tree branches and roots, while splashes of colour simulate shadows and the sky. However, this is only a loose description and one that will change when you look again.
“I don’t have hopes for what people will see, it shouldn’t work like that. If you enjoy looking at it and if it gives you food for thought that makes me happy. What thoughts people may be having isn’t for me to determine.”
The elm leaf by the door of the gallery stands out as it is the only print there. It is actually one of three including a horse chestnut leaf but they weren’t included for practical reasons. It feels awkward next to the abstract paintings but it does offer a hint about the other projects Jamie has worked on.
‘Shadows’ isn’t Jamie’s only offering at Brighton Fringe. On May 21st, he will be doing a live collaboration with cellist Peter Gregson at Hectors House. This is a reprise of Jamie’s live painting experience originally created for the Courvoisier Revolutionary Spirit Festival. And after that? “I will be looking to get a studio in London”. We expect great things from Jamie in the future.
Where: Artist Residence Hotel & Gallery, 33 Regency Square
When: 6 weeks from 7th May
N.B. You can read a review of Jamie’s collaboration with Peter on Spindle’s website (written by Kathryn Evans).
At Brighton Journalist Works (where I am currently studying for an NCTJ qualification in Journalism), we are encouraged to find our own stories. A little while ago, this article appeared on The Argus’s website. It outlined the proposed cuts to the Disability Living Allowance and the effect it might have on the disabled community across Sussex. As you can see, it contains lots of facts, stats and quotes from ministers. What struck me was they hadn’t spoken to anyone who would be directly affected. I used to volunteer at the Federation of Disabled People, a charity based in Hove. I got in touch to see if I could get comments from them and their users about the proposed cuts. As it turned out, they were registered to attend the Hardest Hit march in London that Wednesday so they invited me along.
This was my first demonstration and one I’m happy to support on my road to political activism. As always the Fed were lovely and quite happy to talk to me. Below is the story I wrote up about the march and sent to The Argus’s news desk:
A Brighton charity showed their support for the city’s disabled residents by attending the Hardest Hit march in London on Wednesday.
The Federation for Disabled People joined thousands of disabled people, their friends, family and carers. They were campaigning against cutbacks to disability benefits such the Disability Living Allowance and Incapacity Benefit.
Chris Harrison, a wheelchair user and volunteer at the Fed, said: “I hope the MPs will be listening. They should sit in a wheelchair for a week and see what it’s like.”
The Government plan to cut 20% from the budget for the DLA. Mr Harrison explained that the payments pay for things like carers and equipment. “If we lose the benefit we lose our freedom.”
The Fed promotes independent living for all disabled people in Brighton and Hove by offering support and advice. Everyone on the board of trustees has a disability, as well as many members of staff and volunteers.
Christine Laurence, the chair of trustees, said: “It feels like we are having to fight our corner for equality.” She said the Fed was there to support the march and highlight the cuts. However, disabled people were still on the fringe of society. “It’s about changing attitudes.”
Keith Turner has been a trustee member for two years. He is blind and receives the DLA. He said making drastic cuts now could cost the government more in the long term as people who are unable to look after themselves properly will end up in hospital. “We are here to make a point. Think before you cut.”
The Government plan to reassess those who currently receive DLA, only granting it to those with the greatest need. Dick Page, Advice Centre Officer at the Fed, said that when people are reassessed, the advice centre would be inundated with requests for help.
There is still much uncertainty about what will happen. However, those on the march hope the Government take their feelings into account. Mary Oliver, Direct Payments Advisor, said: “It matters to be seen. People power does make a difference.”
The Argus covered a West Sussex County Council meeting on Friday, where cuts to adult social care were discussed. My story was added on to this one so I had a joint byline on the centrefold story of the Saturday paper:
This was certainly an interesting experience for me and I’m glad I played a (small) part in helping bring this issue to a wider audience. Below are some photographs I took on the day. Many thanks to the Fed for inviting me along.
More words for Spindle Magazine – a review of the Modern Toss ‘Modern Cloth’ exhibition at Ink’d.
Modern Toss – Modern Cloth
Modern Toss’s cartoons are small and perfectly formed, making them ideal for weekly appearances in the Guardian and on birthday cards in independent shops. Indeed, I once purchased a ‘Home clubber’ card for my mother – it went down very well. ‘Modern Cloth’ at Ink’d is their latest exhibition. As the name suggests, cloth is the medium of choice this time round, an interesting change from the prints, cards and booklets that Modern Toss is known for.
As the exhibition opened on the day of the wedding (you don’t need me to tell you whose), there are bound to be some obligatory references. Thankfully these are not the focus of the exhibition, despite them being amusing, particularly Drive-By Abuser’s Royal Wedding Mug.
Bad language and banal situations are the staple of a Modern Toss cartoon and these are all present at Ink’d. In addition to ‘challenging tea towels designs’ and cloth bags, there are also new collectable prints. My favourite item though has to be the concept book cover for ‘Britain’s Biggest Cunts’– I doubt Piers Morgan is aware of his involvement in this.
The exhibition is described as ‘ground-breaking’ and ‘innovative’. That may be a little extreme. What makes the Modern Toss cartoons so enjoyable are their simplicity, wit and bad language (naturally). These are all present at ‘Modern Cloth’ but we knew that already. The tea towels might indeed be challenging hanging from the cooker when your Nan comes round for tea but stuck up in a frame, it all becomes a bit sterilized and ‘artsy’. The cartoon may be amusing but the point is that it’s on a tea towel, something that is very easy to forget.
Having said that, the swearing jacket is certainly a novel idea; for me it was the star of the exhibition. Designed by Gresham Blake and based on the ‘Periodic Table of Swearing’, the jacket is a tantalizing suggestion of how Modern Toss’s cartoons might be used in the future. With an animated TV series under their belts plus an iPhone app, it will be interesting see what happens next.
Where: Ink’d, Brighton
When: 29 April – 29 May 2011
Article for Spindle Magazine about street art, inspired by the Credit Confidential advert. Since writing I’ve noticed that Vauxhall have done something similar.
Has Street Art Lost Its Edge?
As it enters mainstream culture, street art’s connection with the street can become superficial. Naturally there are artists who remain underground. However, many have emerged blinking into the art world and have embraced a more commercial approach. While it is easy to condemn those who try (and often fail) to keep their feet in both the ‘street’ and ‘art’ camps, the boundaries of the medium are being pushed. As it explores new territory, street art is becoming much more than graffiti on a wall. Technology and new platforms have helped ease street art into mainstream culture; likewise they have helped to bridge the gap between ‘street’ and ‘art’.
When talking about street art and it’s acceptance in popular culture, at some point Banksy will creep into the conversation. Love him or hate him, Bristol’s wonder child has made big business out of what once would have been considered vandalism. Case in point, the kissing policemen on the Prince Albert pub in Brighton. In 2008, the picture was transferred onto canvas by an art restoration company, leaving a copy in its place. There are now plans to fly the original to America to be sold. Experts estimate it could reach £1m.
Banksy, Prince Albert pub
Banksy occupies a bizarre limbo between commercial and street art – walls and buildings still remain his medium of choice but operating alongside is a million-pound business.
Anarchy and auction houses are uneasy bedfellows. This is not to say all street artists plan to lash out at the system. Shepard Fairey created his iconic ‘Hope’ poster for Barak Obama’s presidential campaign. The first print Fairey produced had ‘Progress’ as its slogan. It was when he was contacted by the Obama campaign that “Hope” was produced, carrying the campaign’s seal of approval. Estimated profits from Fairey’s Obama-themed merchandise (posters, stickers etc.) are said to have been around $400,000. Fairey says he donated it all to the campaign.
Shepard Fairey
The message of the ‘Hope’ poster is simple, making it a perfect advertisement. Advertising a president may be a long way from the skater shoes one would normally associate with the street art aesthetic, but this is not an isolated example. More mundane brands are taking advantage of the style’s popularity to push their products. The most recent has been Credit Confidential new ad campaign. It was created by Stephens Francis Whitson, the creative agency behind those strangely enjoyable ‘More Than Freemen’ adverts.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsttC3t1CVA&w=640&h=390]
The link between the animation and credit reports is that your credit history is similar to the trail of paint left. The ad campaign is said to have cost £5m.
You may be surprised to see an illegal practice being used to promote the prevention of identity theft. However, you are just as likely to marvel at the animation itself. Stop-motion graffiti by artists such as BLU are stunning films demonstrating great artist skill. They also lift graffiti from the wall, giving static images a narrative. It may not be raging against the machine but it gives street art its edge back.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMoKcsN8wM8&w=480&h=390]
It is not just stop-motion that transforming street art. Other artists are interpreting the genre in new ways, just as meaningful but this time taking the artwork back to the street. Visual artist Alexandre Orion creates stunning street art by rubbing away the grime & pollution of the city.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwsBBIIXT0E&w=480&h=390]
Street art may have come a long way from the humble spray can, but there is enough variety to keep both the auction houses and the anarchists happy.