Visual and performing artists are enjoying the opportunity to work with new digital technologies as part of the ‘Connect 2 Artists’ Lab’ at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. The Lab has given an opportunity for five selected multimedia artists to be based at the Arts Centre during April, based in the Arts Centre’s award winning Creative Units. The resident artists are from Wales and Portugal and, having established reputations in a number of different art-forms, they are now coming together to venture into the digital sphere and develop new, ground-breaking digital art works. The artists include Jessie Brett (dance and musical composition), Andy Bolton (visual art installation), Joel Cockrill (digital installation, music and poetry), Hudson and Haf (interactive performance) and JGM (installation, light and sound). The lab follows on from two courses for artists which took place in March - one on how artists and creatives can control their online presence and the other on using Arduinos in artworks (Arduinos are mini computers or programmers). Both these courses were led by specialists in their field and were sold out, showing the demand from artists to find out more about new technologies. There’ll be an opportunity to see the work created at a series of free ‘work in progress’ presentations, installations and performances taking place over the Bank Holiday weekend on Sat 2 May in and around the Arts Centre and the town of Aberystwyth. Full details will be listed on the Arts Centre’s website www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk In addition, on Tues 28 April at 5pm the Connect 2 artists also invite the public to a forum where they will talk about their work, followed by an opportunity for local artists to receive one to one advice on their own ideas for digital projects. Gareth Lloyd Roberts, Director of the Arts Centre said: ‘Connect 2 is a fascinating project, and demonstrates the potential that new digital technologies can bring to artists working in both the performing and visual arts. Having seen the development of ideas from the first Connect project come to fruition in recent exhibitions in our main Gallery, I’m very much looking forward to seeing the work created during this project and in particular how the artists have collaborated on ideas.’ Connect 2 is a development and extension of the highly successful ‘Only Connect’ project from 2012. This first project took the Arts Centre’s work with artists’ development and its engagement with the public into new territory through an exploration of new media. Only Connect revealed the appetite for understanding and using digital media among both artists and the general public; Connect 2 builds on this. From that first project, participating artists went on to develop some fascinating projects, a number of which have already been shown at the Arts Centre. They include: Anton Hecht’s ‘Angel Aberystwyth’ project which started in November and was exhibited in March as a three screen installation in Gallery1. The project drew together three separate strands: a local Choir singing a traditional lullaby; the animation of a full size artists’ dummy; and the idea that the Angel from Aberystwyth’s monument should fly protectively around the town, powered by local people. Shown in the Arts Centre’s Gallery 1 during March, the project involved around 500 local people and the final material is currently being adapted for online viewing and download. Robert Davies’ ‘Of Time and the Railway’ is a film work which follows the train journey from Birmingham to Aberystwyth, passing through all seasons and twenty four hours. Through Connect 2 the Arts Centre has been able to help the artist, new to digital work, create and integrate the specially commissioned sound track. The work was recently shown in Gallery 1, and is also being shown at locations along the train line as part of an ongoing programme. Artist Tim Skinner is about to be in residence at the Arts Centre to develop a digital project on wind farms; the results will be publicly displayed later in the project. Connect 2 is made possible thanks to support from Arts Council Wales. There is an ongoing blog for Connect 2 at http://connect2aberystwythartscentre.tumblr.com/ For more details about this project please contact either Gill Ogden ggo@aber.ac.uk or Eve Ropek etr@aber.ac.uk |
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Thursday, April 23, 2015 |
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