Glittermouse Visual Arts

  Last weekend peaked at a new high of ‘being busy’ even for the constant missions of Glittermouse.  Saturday the 27th of March saw the return of Chorlton’s Big Green Festival, the second year this has been hosted by Green Chorlton. Recent reports suggest approximately 6000 people visited the event which aims to promote sustainable living in an accessible fashion. A workshop based revival of the recycled crafts certainly fitted in with that agenda, albeit with a decidedly urban twist. Participants were invited to create a local souvenir using images they had sourced of their areas that meant something to them. From road signs to lampposts, various images came together to generate craft outcomes using glass painting techniques and salvaged objects. Green Festival visitors of all ages enjoyed learning basic art and design theory as well as practising their new skills. You can see more images from the day here.

As if that wasn’t enough for one weekend, A return to Norvun Sunday at The Roadhouse was the first opportunity to publically showcase all the recent 3D developments involving laser etching and multiple projections. With a set up using two slide projectors and one data projector, multiple visual sources including photos, vector graphics, pixel and digital video brought the etched surface of the new object to life. This provided an interactive opportunity for traditional drawing techniques in much the same vein as the previous 2D installations, however the inclusion of multiple projection and the response to 3D space lent an additional freedom to the piece where the contrast between static and moving image could be much more thoroughly referenced. Focusing on the use of images including environmental text, this installation provided an exciting opportunity to warm-up for and gains an insight into the forthcoming work at Marking the Territory – the first full 3D installation of the work at The Link Gallery from April 14th.

In addition to the installation work, a new public urban interactivity project has just been launched. This Belongs To invites participants to share moments of Urban Ownership by using laser cut cards to project their name (or other identifying mark) directly onto the urban environment.  Best experienced when it’s sunny, the cards do still provide opportunities to Mark your Territory on duller days and even potentially at night. Check out further details of the project and request your own card here. All you have to do is write on it and go out to make stuff yours (not forgetting to upload a photo or two of course!).

  The pace quickens still further this weekend with a return (for the last time sadly) to Breakpoint in Bingen, Germany. I haven’t quite decided if I have an entry or not... It might be leaving it a bit late...and in case you thought it had been forgotten, here’s the latest update in the (slow) progress on the St Peter’s Square commission. Hmmm... Now there’s an idea...

Updates this week include the good news that GBP is now the main currency in the Glittermouse shop! It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally possible to make purchases of craft items and from the recent series of digital prints without having to convert to USD and back again!
In terms of practical developments in the art work, you can now see a newly updated image of the St Peters Square commission (below)...

... and a video of the most recent experiments with digital video on laser etched objects on the Mouse in Progress page here, however the most exciting news comes in the form of a newly confirmed installation event for April!

Marking The Territory will be a visual and audio installation exploring cities and the sounds and artefacts found within them. Drawing on the writings of Michel De Certeau and Marc Auge to tell stories of Place and Space, a contrast between moving image and static drawing will aim to describe the duality of transience and permanence in urban settings. The work will aim to illustrate human interaction with city spaces and question issues around public ownership.  Situated at the Link Gallery in the Manchester Metropolitan University Chatham Building, the Installation will be open to the public from April 14th – 19th during the following times:

Live Installation Creation:
April 14th - 16th 9.30am - 4pm

Exhibition of Completed Installation:
April 19th 9.30am - 5pm

Private View Closing Event:
With Live Audio Mixing by Ne7
April 19th 5pm - 7pm

Don’t forget to head down to The Roadhouse tonight too (if you’re Manchester based)  for the February excitement that is Norvun Sunday; Live music, arts and hot toasted bread products, how could Sunday get any better?

This week saw some exciting test outcomes in a couple of new areas relating to the development of the installation work. Firstly I received back my transparencies. I haven’t used these since I was doing my undergrad and they were starting to become outdated even then.  I’ve decided to start experimenting with using slides alongside digital projection not only to give me a bit more flexibility with the number of projections I can use simultaneously but also as it does have a different quality which seemed worthy of exploration. As I am still working primarily with digital images, the first challenge was finding a way of ‘devolving’ the technology back a step, but that done I’ve been able to start using them in some preliminary tests this week. The resulting projection does not have the same digital signature in the visible pixel like grid which covers the image yet is still derived from a digital process.

 The most exciting update of the week however, is the outcomes of the laser etching which I picked up on Friday. You can now see images of these combined with the slide projection here. Continuing the experimentation in combining new and traditional media, the laser despite being a digital method of interacting with the surface, results in a very direct outcome, physically burning the surface of the material. The resulting texture and degradation still retains traces of the digital in the rows of dots that remain from the points of the laser, yet the burnt and ashy nature of the surface is still rooted in traditional methods and techniques.  

Last thing: check out the new Noise Lab space in Manchester - lots of interesting work going on there!
 
Until next time... Stay productive...!