October 2006
Hello
Thunder, lightning and flooding across the city of London,
bring the summer officially to a close and an excuse to run to warmer climates.
It has an almost apocalyptic edge as darkness devours the daylight and the rain
washes away at everything in sight.
September began with adventures in The Netherlands, collaborating with motion graphics artists D-Fuse on our Light Turned Down project, performed as part of their Transmit exhibition at MU gallery. A show at the impressive Effenaar venue, and a subsequent outdoor performance in Arnhem, were most enjoyable, especially watching ingenious audience members bring their own sofa to a live performance and setting it up in front of the stage! Further shows across Europe will emerge to align with the launch of the book A/V Audiovisual Art + VJ Culture by D-Fuse, published by Laurence King.
Cham's Soul choreographed by Anh Ngoc Nguyen premiered at
the Place Theatre London to critical acclaim, and Night Email was broadcast on BBC
Radio Scotland, featuring actor Bill Paterson reading a specially commissioned poem
by Robert Crawford on the wonders of the internet and how it has transformed the
lives of people living in Scotland. It was an expansion upon the original 1936 Night
Mail film with WH Auden and Benjamin Briten, though my work could hardly compare
to such fine figures. You might still be able to find this archived on the BBC Scotland
website.
American artist Stephen Vitiello was recently in London
and we had a good conversation which you can follow online at kultureflash.net (http://www.kultureflash.net/archive/178/priview.html).Â
Whilst a more detailed exploratory conversation about art
and collaboration between us can be found in the forthcoming '8 Artists Try Not
to Talk About Art' published by Space Studios in London. This pocket-sized book
is the conclusion of
an intensive professional development
and mentoring scheme at Space in London. Copies should be available soon at posteverything.com.
Three days in Philadelphia were pleasantly spent in the
company of English composer Gavin Bryars, where we shared duties delivering talks
to Temple University, and began our research towards projects to be realised in
2007. A man with a schedule as absurd of mine it was a delight to find another committed
worker. I will be returning for performances and an installation at the Wagner Free
Institute of Science which was established in the mid-nineteenth century to provide
free science education for local people and amazingly continues its mission to this
day. Incredibly too, it's like stepping into a time machine with a collection
arranged in Darwinian order, fossils, insects and animal and human skeletons taking
their place in line.
Climbing mountains in North Wales has continued this month to prepare for the beta test of Night Flight (www.night-flight.co.uk) in October, in preparation for the big shows in 2007. It's an adrenaline fuelled experience in the hills and over the borders in the darkness of night on the ridge of the Clywdian hills, where I'm designing the sound for this unusual location. Four hours of sound, fire, sculptures, performers and the occasional light, an experience not to be forgotten quickly.
For a moments beak, I was fortunate to experience two extraordinary
exhibitions recently. For any visitors or interested minds, I'd recommend checking
out Jem Finer's permanent installation, 'A Score for a Hole in the Ground,'
a ten metre high steel structure up a steep incline in King's Wood, Challock,
near Ashford in Kent. It's installed over a seven metre deep well and acts as
an acoustic chamber for rainfall. If in London then visit Whitechapel Gallery to
see the work of Hans Bellmer, the first major show of his work in this country since
his death in 1975. It's an extremely rare opportunity to view his sculptures,
photographs, notebooks, sketches in this outpouring of obsessively detailed work
that imagines strangely sexual depictions of the human body, with the craftsmanship
of a master.
This week I'm escaping the storms and dashing back to
Aix-en-Provence to install 'Colour Planes,' my show opening at 3 BIS F there,
as part of Arborescence (www.arborescence.org)
and performing alongside Schneider TM in Marseille. Then it's directly to Rotterdam
and a week of rock and roll studio engagements with Githead to finish writing and
recording our second full-length album. By-passing Athens, Denmark and places it's
closing the month with a Parallax Beat Brothers tour. Onward and upward!
See you in November!
Best wishes
Robin Rimbaud
::: listen :::
Various: Jukebox Buddha (Staubgold)
Phelan Sheppard: Harps Old Master (Leaf)
Kangding Ray: Stabil (Raster-Noton)
DJ Wally/DJ Willie Ross: Mrs Millers House (The Agriculture)
::: read :::
Joan Didion: Slouching Towards Bethlehem (FSG)
Patrick Radden Keefe:Chatter (Random)
Janet Cardiff & Georges Bures Miller: Pandemonium (Eastern State)
Rough Trade: Rob Young (Black Dog)
Exhibitions
Colour Planes
3 BIS F (Lieu d'arts contemporains)
Aix-en-Provence
07-14 October 2006
This project explores an idea of landscape and the resonance and meaning of your surroundings. Using the Provence countryside as its inspirational focal point, the images and sound have been distilled into an imaginary narrative, woven into a work that breaks down the visual field into planes of colour and texture. This contemplative work charts a contemporary reading of Cezanne and his visionary eye.
www.3bisf.org
Night Haunts
By Sukhdev Sandhu
Design Mind Unit
Sound Design Scanner