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June – August 2013
(Cover image) Susanne Kriemann, Untitled (Celluloid), 2013. Courtesy RaebervonStenglin, Zurich and Wilfried Lentz Gallery, Rotterdam. (Image right) Yorgos Sapountzis, Mirror Cast, 2012. Installation view, Overgarden Institut for Samtidskunst, Copenhagen. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin. Photo Anders Sune Berg. (Back cover image) Yorgos Sapountzis, Post-canonical Forms (A - 9), 2009. Courtesy Lousiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark.
WELCOME Welcome to a noisy summer season at Arnolfini. Noisy in the sense of a lively, unpredictable ‘interference’ that is generated when you bring together different experimental art forms and ideas, and allow them to produce something entirely new in the process. This season the experimentalists include the brilliant Jutta Koether, whose paintings owe as much of their energy to the raucous noise music that she produces with contemporaries such as Kim Gordon and Tom Verlaine as they do to the classical Baroque paintings of Nicolas Poussin. Susanne Kriemann references the radical Bristol Construction School (1964 – 79) and the interdisciplinary design principles of its founder, anarchist Norman Potter. While in July, Yorgos Sapountzis re-invents the social space of Bristol, creating an imaginary sculpture park out of the city’s public monuments and our collective memory. Arnolfini has always been a space for new art and new ideas, since its foundation in 1961. Its precursor was the Jan Arnolfini Press, set up in 1958 by Jeremy Rees. Around the same time, the poet, writer, artist and gardener, Ian Hamilton Finlay was developing his own interdisciplinary practice, also founding the Wild Hawthorn Press in 1961. Today his ‘concrete poetry’ is highly influential for a new generation of artists working with sculpture and text. We are delighted that the Mayor of Bristol, George Ferguson, will lead a tour of Ian Hamilton Finlay’s sculptures sited at St George’s Bristol. Throughout the summer there are a whole host of activities for everyone to enjoy. Big Green Week includes a series of boat trips to the re-planted Floating Ballast Seed Garden, bringing to life the history of trade in Bristol through plants that arrived here in the holds of merchant ships over many centuries. The 34 Bristols project explores our links to other ‘Bristols’ around the world, through performance. We Are Family, our monthly activity day for families, is supplemented by the new Family Film Screenings on Saturday mornings. Come and make some noise! Tom Trevor, Director
Contents Exhibitions 3 – 9 Talks 12 Off-Site Projects 13 – 15 Adventureland Golf 16 Performance 17 Screenings 18 Family 19 Events for Young People 20 – 21 Big Green Week 22 – 23 Online Project 23 Reading Room Events 24 Bookshop 25 Café Bar 25 Support Us 26 Venue Hire 26 Visit Us / Access 27
Arnolfini building. Photo Jamie Woodley.
Opening Hours Exhibition spaces open: Tuesday – Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday 11 am – 6 pm Admission to the exhibition spaces is free Bookshop open: See page 25 for full details Café Bar open: Daily from 10 am
@arnolfiniarts arnolfini.org.uk
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EXHIBITION
Jutta Koether: Seasons and Sacraments Until Sunday 7 July, free #JuttaKoether The exhibition Seasons and Sacraments features a selection of new and recent works by Jutta Koether, who is among the most important painters today. Koether is known for the crossover in her work between painting and performance, music and text, collaboratiing with musicians such as Kim Gordon and Tom Verlaine. Popular culture influences and the history of painting play a decisive role in the artist’s work, often combined with unusual materials such as glitter and liquid glass. This exhibition presents a series of works that respond directly to paintings by the French artist Nicolas Poussin (1594 – 1665), including a reinterpretation of his The Seven Sacraments (1637 – 1640), re-imagined as a series of installations, and Seasons (2012), a response to The Four Seasons (1660 – 1664).
Although Koether works within the tradition of painting, she deviates and radicalises her work dramatically in order to investigate what it means to be a contemporary painter. The Four Seasons, first shown at the 2012 Whitney Biennial in New York, reflects upon the relevance of the seasons for today, such as in fashion or advertising. Koether’s version of The Seven Sacraments proposes seven different approaches to image making. Confirmation presents everyday objects encased in clear liquid acrylic, attached to vast sheets of glass, while Penance is symbolised by a contemporary Danish-designed perspex table that resembles Poussin’s depiction of drapery, and Baptism replaces a scene from classical antiquity with a painted canvas of a racing car driver. Jutta Koether, Seasons and Sacraments has been organised in collaboration with Dundee Contemporary Arts with support from the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen.
Exhibition Event
Music and Performance Programme Saturday 6 July, 11am – 6pm, free A continual programme of concerts, dj sets and performances will transform the ground floor of Jutta Koether’s exhibition into a space for listening and gathering, including a special performance by the artist.
(Image left) Jutta Koether, Untitled, 2013. Manipulated digital print. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Buchholz, Berlin and Cologne. (Images below) Jutta Koether, Seasons and Sacraments. Installation view, Arnolfini, 2013. Photo Stuart Whipps.
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EXHIBITION
Susanne Kriemann: Modelling (Construction School) Until Sunday 7 July, free #constructionschool Susanne Kriemann’s work is concerned with the power of archives. Often based on photography, her works look at specific examples of documentary images, from early photo history to surveillance cameras, and how they have shaped our understanding of reality. With playful and inventive moments, the artist suggests a reading of pictures that considers their meaning in the present. For this exhibition, Susanne Kriemann has developed a new set of work responding to the history of the Construction School in Bristol. The history of the Construction School has
been extensively researched by designer James Langdon, who has provided original material for the exhibition. The Construction School existed from 1964 to 1979 as part of the West of England College of Art and Design (now University of the West of England), and was an attempt to establish an experimental design school, similar to the Bauhaus and the Ulm School of Design in Germany, in a local English context. The Construction School’s history is closely bound to the career and concerns of its founder Norman Potter, an anarchist and a practitioner on the margins of mid-20th-century English design culture. Potter resisted the increasing emphasis on specialisation in design education and worked to encourage practical collaboration between disciplines. Susanne Kriemann’s exhibition will look at materials from the Construction School archive and their legacy of protest and change for today. The exhibition by Susanne Kriemann is organised by Arnolfini in connection with a series of events about the Construction School, initiated by James Langdon and Spike Island.
Performance
In:quest of Icarus Saturday 22 June, 7.30pm, at Spike Island, free James Langdon will present a performance of In:quest of Icarus (1974), a play by Norman Potter. The performance is accompanied by a presentation of material from the Construction School archive.
(Image left) Susanne Kriemann, Modelling (Construction School). Installation view, Arnolfini, 2013. Photo Stuart Whipps. (Image right) Ian Hamilton Finlay, This Flag is a Hull..., 1998. Courtesy of the Estate of Ian Hamilton Finlay.
EXHIBITION
Ian Hamilton Finlay Saturday 20 July – Sunday 8 September, free #IanHF This exhibition will present works by Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925 – 2006), one of the most prominent post-war British artists, with a special focus on his printed projects. His sculptures, stone works and neon signs combined language and landscape, and expanded the idea of how words can be used and distributed. Initially associated with concrete poetry, he was above all a publisher, founding Wild Hawthorn Press in 1961, which produced a great many publications, often very small in scale. The ephemeral nature of these poem cards, lithographs and booklets was intentional, and Finlay understood publishing as an ongoing process of exchange. Along with an extensive selection of Finlay’s published works, prints and posters, magazines and books, the exhibition presents a series of interventions by contemporary artists and writers, including Will Holder and Christian Flamm, who reflect the artist’s ongoing influence today. This will culminate in a weekend of events at the end of the exhibition including performances, readings, talks and discussion. The exhibition also includes a series of six sculptures by Finlay in the grounds of the music venue, St George’s Bristol as an offsite project, which was installed permanently in 2002. The exhibition will be accompanied by talks and tours, including guided visits to St George’s Bristol, please visit arnolfini.org.uk for details.
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EXHIBITION
Yorgos Sapountzis: The Protagonists Saturday 20 July – Sunday 8 September, free #TheProtagonists Yorgos Sapountzis will create an imaginary park of public sculptures in the galleries of Arnolfini. The artist often takes public monuments, such as equestrian sculptures on public squares, as his starting point – objects that represent part of the collective memory, but also form the everyday experience of a city. These sculptures become protagonists of Sapountzis’ own performances and sculptural works. Developed in collaboration with local actors and groups, including Young Arnolfini, his works explore the symbolic energy and presence of these monuments, and involves them in theatrical actions and temporary installations. The exhibition will include a series of works that result from these outdoor productions.
The gallery space becomes a space between theatre and reality - with visitors as its protagonists. With simple materials, such as fabric in bright primary colours and metal sheets and tubes, the artist constructs large-scale installations, fabricated with collaborators working alongside the artist. Referencing public sculptures symbolically, as well as literally with casts and images, the exhibition will create a different idea of public space. The exhibition will include sound works produced in collaboration with the Norwegian musician Øyvind Torvund. During the opening weekend, a series of concerts with Torvund and others will take place in the galleries.
Artist Talk
Yorgos Sapountzis & Guests Saturday 20 July, 2pm, free Artist Yorgos Sapountzis, together with guests, will discuss his new exhibition at Arnolfini and give an insight into his thinking.
(Image left) Yorgos Sapountzis, Deus Ex Machina, 2012. Installation view, Overgarden Institut for Samtidskunst, Copenhagen. (Image below) Yorgos Sapountzis, Die Welt in Teilen (Office), 2011. Installation View, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin. Courtesy the artist, Claudio Ravetto, Torino and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin. Photo Nick Ash.
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(Images) Soundplates from Making Noise.
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Please could you tell us how your work challenges some common assumptions about noise? For example, you describe noise as less a measure of the intensity of sound, as might be supposed, than of the intensity of relationships.
On Noise Hillel Schwartz is a cultural historian, poet and translator based in California. He has written on a wide range of topics, including millenarianism, the ‘culture of the copy’, the history of dieting, and recently a groundbreaking study of the Western experience and understanding of noise, Making Noise: From Babel to the Big Bang and Beyond. He will be in conversation with broadcaster and author David Hendy at Arnolfini on 2 July (see page 12 for details). We caught up with Hillel in advance of the event here, Al Cameron, Arnolfini’s Associate Curator asks the questions. Your book Making Noise represents a major project of research. What prompted you to begin researching this subject? As I write in Bang, the introduction, I came to noise from several directions: my childhood delight with Margaret Wise Brown’s Quiet Noisy Book (1950); my curiosity in the 1970s about the “Low Noise” banner printed on cheap audiocassette tapes; my consequent curiosity about the changing nature of audience in a world of recordings, and the related, revealing history of theatrical and musical encores; my subsequent determination, while at work on The Culture of the Copy (1996), that noise is figuratively what makes perfect copies implausible and literally what makes them impossible.
Noise is often popularly conceived of as something extrinsic or peripheral, a nonsensical accident or willful interruption. My book demonstrates that noise is never not meaningful, and indeed intrinsic to our lives. It is the double negative of our breathing. The sciences have taken this to heart: information theorists postulate noise as a generic and intransigently defiant (statistical) presence; astrophysicists study noise as a universal (subatomic) residue of the Big Bang; molecular geneticists find noise so insistent a predicate of replication that our double-helical systems accommodate and anticipate it. But if noise is a constant in universes large and small, it is socially and politically subject always to negotiation. This makes it a creature of time, of place, and preeminently of discourse between bodies and minds, even when it is a question of tinnitus, since those suffering from “noises in the head” only report noises with which they are familiar in their own era. So noise historically is neither simply subjective nor simply relational; it is a key to how people of different ages, circumstances, and societies differently understand the rhythms of time, the cues of place, and the balance of powers. What challenges and possibilities does a history of the auditory open up within wider historical approaches and discourse? Challenges: the evanescence of human sounding, even granted our comparatively recent ability to record ourselves in action; the unnoted problems of ototoxins and ototoxic diseases that historically disturb, distort, or constrict our hearing, briefly or permanently; the ever-shifting emotional and attentional complexes that shape our listening and our memories of what we hear. Possibilities: a greater appreciation of the substantial degree to which our making sense of the world is embodied and contingent; a greater respect for the import and perdurance of orality/ aurality in a world of ever-larger, physically dominant, ubiquitous screens.
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What new approaches would open up if researchers were to focus on the social or relational aspects of the audible? It would be richly rewarding to explore the likelihood that as (now) primarily urban animals who live in ever-larger and denser communities; we think with our tongues and act with our ears. Why? Perhaps because hearing is comfortable with simultaneities in a way that the visual and haptic are not, so the auditory establishes our own individual density and our social presence more firmly than anything other than the olfactory (which we in the West have so rubbed down, cleansed, and overridden that its capacities are currently restricted to cuisine, erotica, mulch, and certain delirious perfumes). How do you see the current interest in noise and listening in the context of the wider (and visually-dominated) cultural field; and even more specifically in the field of visual arts? How do I see? Well, I find it telling that museum goers now don headphones in order to go
through galleries, where the “art” is static but they themselves are in motion, a motion at once guided and paralleled by ongoing, authoritative, recorded commentaries. So I’m not sure exactly how “visually dominated” the museum art world is, although there remains that odd museum etiquette of hush in front of inanimate objects, as if each and every one were sacred, perhaps because many are worth more than most of us will ever be. As for the visual arts in general, those that seem today to be the most inventive and exciting (literally, intellectually, metaphorically) are the most theatrical, either involving or invoking sound or amplifying silence. The emergence of such fields as “sound studies” and “acoustic ecology” has been complemented by the appearance in traditional art venues of “sound artists” whose work usually vibrates between the visual and the acoustic. So the visual arts are losing their customary frames to performance and visual artists who, like Jutta Koether, draw much of their inspiration and energy from raucous or experimental musics, which some hear only as noise.
*Boing
Soundplate 1
Bang (A Beginning)
Round One: Everywhere [collage 2]
Model of the proposed but unbuilt Harbourside Centre for Performing Arts, Bristol, 1996, by Behnisch and Behnisch. Image © Christian Kandzia/Behnisch Architekten.
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Unbuilt Bristol: The Bristol That Might Have Been and Might Still Be Wednesday 26 June, 6.30pm, £6/£4 concs Drawing from his new book Unbuilt Bristol, author, journalist and former editor of Venue magazine Eugene Byrne will talk about some of the buildings and projects that might have changed Bristol but never made it off the drawing board - from an immense glass pyramid made from recycled wine bottles to a Barrage to turn the River Avon into a giant lake. Chaired by Andrew Kelly, Eugene is joined by Mayor George Ferguson who will talk about his vision for future projects that could transform the city. This lecture is part of Love Architecture 2013, and is a partnership event with the Architecture Centre, RIBA, Bristol Civic Society and Bristol Festival of Ideas.
TALKS Ride + Design - A Tandem Celebration of Bicycles and Design
On Noise: Hillel Schwartz and David Hendy Tuesday 2 July, 7.30pm, £7/£5 concs
Brought to you by the West of England Design Forum & Big Green Week, the day explores the close relationship between bikes and design, covering everything from branding and fashion to modern cycle culture. Featuring talks from designled industry greats, including James Fairbank of Rapha and Will Butler-Adams from Brompton, as well as films, activities and much more, it is an un-missable day for any bike or design enthusiast.
When did the “silent deeps” become cacophonous and galaxies begin to swim in a sea of cosmic noise? Why do we think that noises have colours? How loud is too loud, and says who? Attending to a surround of sounds at once physical and political, Hillel Schwartz, one of America’s most innovative cultural historians, along with the acclaimed broadcaster and author David Hendy (who wrote and presented the recent BBC R4 series, Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening) will discuss the centrality of noise to our lives and its significance throughout human history.
www.ridedesign.org
In association with Bristol Festival of Ideas
Saturday 15 June, 9am – 5pm (with afterparty), £25/£22 concs
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OFF-SITE PROJECTS
Maria Thereza Alves Seeds of Change: A Floating Ballast Seed Garden Ongoing #ballastseed Working with Brazilian artist Maria Thereza Alves, designer Gitta Gschwendtner and the University of Bristol Botanic Garden, Arnolfini has utilised a disused grain barge to create a Ballast Seed Garden on Bristol’s Floating Harbour, populated with a variety of non-native plants, creating a living history of the city’s trade and maritime past. The Garden is visible from Castle Park and can be accessed through Arnolfini’s public art programme of boat tours running from June – October 2013.
Due to the offsite nature of the project, the Floating Garden structure is not fully accessible. Please contact Arnolfini box office or visit arnolfini.org.uk for more information. Seeds of Change: A Floating Ballast Seed Garden was commissioned by Bristol City Council as part of its public art programme and designed by Gitta Gschwendtner. The project was funded by the Ashley, Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Partnership, with the kind support of Bristol Harbour Authority, Ramboll, University of Bristol Botanic Garden and Avon and Somerset Probation Trust Community Payback team.
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Festival of Nature Events (Part of Big Green Week) Seeds of Change Tent Saturday 15 June, 10am – 6pm, Sunday 16 June, 11am – 5pm, free Visit the temporary Seeds of Change tent and community garden at the Festival of Nature’s Amphitheatre on the Harbourside. Learn about Bristol’s Floating Ballast Seed Garden and take part in exciting activities, exploring ballast seed plants and the journeys they made to reach Bristol. The community garden and activities tent has been produced in collaboration with the University of Bristol Centre for Public Engagement and University of Bristol Botanic Garden
Story Hunt Saturday 15, Sunday 16 June, 2.30pm – 4pm, Saturday 22 June, 5.30pm – 7pm, £5/£3 concs, under 12’s free, booking required Join Cassandra Wye, our international storyteller for this family event. Adventure to the Floating Ballast Seed Garden and discover the secrets of the stories that are hidden there… who will dare to join her?
Boat Tours Saturday 15, Sunday 16 June, boat tours leaving from the Amphitheatre Ferry stop, £5/£3 concs, under 12’s free As part of the festivities you can take a boat tour to see the Floating Ballast Seed Garden, hear about its eco-design and the plants that inhabit it.
Tom Trevor, Director of Arnolfini Saturday 15 June, 11.30am – 1pm An introduction and welcome to the Floating Ballast Seed Garden artwork. Tom will discuss the concept behind the work with an opportunity to explore the garden.
Aldo Rinaldi, Senior Public Art Officer, Bristol City Council Saturday 15 June, 5.30pm – 7pm An introduction and welcome to the Floating Ballast Seed Garden artwork, hear how the work was developed, designed and created.
Kasha Smal, University of Bristol Botanic Garden. Sunday 16 June, 11.30am – 1pm Uncover the botanical background of the Floating Ballast Seed Garden.
(Images page 13 & 14) Floating Ballast Seed Garden, photos Max McClure. (Image right) Photo Kamina Walton.
Summer Events & Boat Tours Boat tours, £6/£5 concs (unless stated otherwise). All tours leave from Arnolfini, booking required These events have been part funded by AHRC through the AHRC Cultural Engagement Fund pilot scheme, working with Research Fellow Catherine Hunt, University of Bristol.
Hub of the World: A Historical Tour of Bristol’s Past Sunday 23 June, 5.30pm – 7pm, £5/£3 concs, under 12’s free, booking required Boat tour led by Dr Richard Stone, Department of Historical Studies University of Bristol. This boat trip will take you back to Bristol’s sea-faring past, evoking a world of great ships, wooden cranes and a bustling Harbourside.
Boat Tour and Book Launch
Tue Greenfort and the Feeder Canal Sand Martin Colony Thursday 11 July, 6.30pm – 8pm Meet and hear from artist Tue Greenfort about his recent project for Bristol which involved the creation of a roost to encourage the growth of a small Sand Martin colony on Bristol’s Feeder Canal. The event will look at Tue’s project in the context of wider public art works that explore local habitats and ecologies, such as the Floating Ballast Seed Garden. This event will also feature the launch of Tue’s new book The Feeder Canal Sand Martin Colony, produced by Foreground.
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Sailing the Black Atlantic Thursday 18 July, 6.30pm – 8pm Boat Tour led by Elizabeth Robles, Department of History of Art, University of Bristol. Find out about the role ships play in the work of two very different contemporary artists Yinka Shonibare and Keith Piper, and explore themes of shipping, migration and trans-Atlantic exchange in the cycles and circuits of the ‘Black Atlantic’.
Boat Tour Thursdays 1, 22 August, 6.30pm – 8pm An introduction to the botanical background of the Floating Ballast Seed Garden led by a University of Bristol Botanic Garden Volunteer Guide. Your tour host will explain the principles behind the design, how the plants are raised, established, and how the display will be developed in the future.
Travelling Light Summer School Summer School, Monday 5 – Friday 9 August. Performance, Friday 9 August, 6.30pm – 8pm, free See page 22 for details
We Are Family: Sea Shanties & Folk Songs Saturday 31 August, 1pm – 5pm, drop in to the Light Studio and Dark Studio, boat trip, free, 4.45pm – 6.15pm See page 20 for details
(Images right) Photos Zatorski and Zatorski (Image page 17) http://bristolindiana.net
Doug Fishbone & Friends: Adventureland Golf Thursday 25 July – Monday 26 August, £2/£1 children This summer a crazy golf course with a difference comes to Arnolfini. Artist Doug Fishbone’s Adventureland Golf, consists of nine holes, each designed by some of the UK’s most celebrated contemporary artists and includes; Jake and Dinos Chapman, David Shrigley, Gary Webb, Brian Griffiths, Jonathan Allen, Pete Fowler, Ian Monroe, Zatorski and Zatorski, and Doug Fishbone himself. These artist-designed holes range from statements on politics and life and death, to fun challenges.
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PERFORMANCE
34 Bristols Friday 5 – Sunday 7 July, free #34bristols A unique performance event showcasing 34 UK artists, 34 Bristols travels across the city via venues including Arnolfini, Bristol Old Vic, Pervasive Media Studio (at Watershed) and Spike Island. From a small village in New Brunswick to a ghost town owned by a mining corporation in Nevada there are thirty four places in the world called Bristol. 34 Bristols is a collective attempt to consider our relationship to these faraway places. Over the weekend thirty four artists will create thirty four new works across Bristol, each considering their relationship to one of its distant namesakes. These commissions will be presented together over the 34 Bristols weekend, with each chapter of the project hosted and curated by a different local organisation. Audiences are encouraged to travel throughout the city to consider each artistic response.
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SCREENINGS A programme of screenings with a focus on artists’ film and video, experimental documentary and underseen cinema. Arnolfini cinema is fully licensed.
Piercing Brightness (12A) Introduced by Shezad Dawood
Thursday 13 June, 6.30pm, £6/£4 concs
Film Exercise: The Determined: Notes on Image and Appropriation Thursday 27 June, 6.30pm, free Omar Kholeif takes us on a potted journey, which seeks to consider the form and aesthetics inherent within contemporary political activism. Kholeif will delve into work of Cairo-based activist collective Mosireen and share video works from the likes of artists such as Wafaa Bilal, Critical Art Ensemble and Queer Technologies. Omar Kholeif is a curator, writer and Senior Editor of Ibraaz.org
Piercing Brightness is a science fiction film directed by internationally acclaimed artist Shezad Dawood. Shot and set in Preston, a town noted for UFO sightings and the fastest-growing Chinese population in the UK, the film utilises the fantastical narratives of science fiction as a prism through which to reflect on questions of race and migration.
Saturdays 29 June, 27 July, 31 August, 10am – 12pm, free, suggested donation £2
Shezad Dawood, UK, 2012, 76 mins
See page 19 for further details
Family Film Screenings
(Image page 18) Shezad Dawood, Piercing Brightness, 2012. (Image below) We Are Family event. Photo George Scane.
Gromit Unleashed
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Monday 1 July – Sunday 8 September, free
FAMILY We Are Family Saturdays 29 June, 27 July, 31 August, 1pm – 5pm, free Join us for the last Saturday of every month to explore Arnolfini’s vibrant programme of events, performances and exhibitions. Our experienced learning team will engage and amaze through fun, practical activities for families to do together.
Family Film Screenings Saturdays 29 June, 27 July, 31 August, 10am – 12pm, free, suggested donation £2 As part of our family programme of events We Are Family, come along to our film screening especially for families and linked to the exhibitions and events at Arnolfini. Suitable for all ages (unless otherwise stated). Visit arnolfini.org.uk and our Facebook page closer to the event date for further details.
Arnolfini is delighted to be hosting a sculpture as part of Gromit Unleashed. This project is a new ground breaking public art exhibition, hitting the streets of Bristol this summer to raise funds for Bristol Children’s Hospital charity, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal. For 10 weeks from 1 July, the art trail will feature 80 giant Gromit sculptures, designed by well-known and local artists, which will be auctioned after the event to raise money for The Grand Appeal. The Gromit sculpture at Arnolfini has been designed by leading British artist Sir Peter Blake. gromit-unleashed.org.uk
We Are Family: Sea Shanties & Folk Songs Saturday 31 August, 1pm – 5pm, drop in to the Light Studio and Dark Studio, boat trip 4.45pm – 6.15pm Gathering Voices will run a workshop on sea shanties and folk songs from some of the places where the ballast seeds originated, including Europe, India, Africa, and The Americas.
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EVENTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Future Forward Thursdays 13, 20 June, 2pm – 6pm, free, 30 minute slots, booking required Future Forward is a free portfolio and advisory service for 16 to 25 year olds. You don’t have to be in formal education (although students are very welcome), or even be 100% sure whether or not you want to be an artist! All we expect is that you have a desire to find out more about how to pursue a future in the contemporary arts. Sessions are 1:1 with an experienced arts professional, who will be able to advise on their area of specialism. 13 June Lucy Drane – Associate Co-ordinator, Spike Island 20 June Lauren Jury – Assistant Curator (Performance), Arnolfini
Future Forward: The Event Wednesday 3 July, 6.30pm – 8.30pm, free An annual careers event, this year programmed, delivered and hosted by Young Arnolfini members. Bringing together inspiring creative professionals from diverse areas of arts practice the evening offers young people an invaluable insight into career pathways, creative networks and routes in to the industry. As part of the evening we will also be showcasing examples of Young Arnolfini members’ own creative practice and offering a sneak preview of their new contemporary arts and culture zine.
(Image right) Travelling Light Summer School. Photo Sarah Tranter.
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Travelling Light Summer School Young Arnolfini #youngarnolfini Young Arnolfini are young people from across the city aged 16 – 21. Over the summer they will be involved in a number of exciting initiatives and collaborations. They will be working with artist Yorgos Sapountzis to help create new work for his exhibition showing here in July. Their blog continues to offer the group’s take on arts and culture locally, nationally and internationally. To find out more visit arnolfini.org.uk and follow the links to Learning and Young People.
Young Arnolfini Zine Launch Events Friday 5 July 6pm – 9pm, Parlour Showrooms, free. Saturday 6 July 10am – 6pm, College Green, free Parlour Showrooms hosts the launch of the first issue of a new quarterly contemporary arts and culture zine supported by Creative Seed funding from Bristol City Council, with an evening showcasing young people’s artwork, performance and music. This will be followed by a weekend of workshops, creative activities and a picnic on College Green plus guest appearance from Duchamp & Sons, Whitechapel Art Gallery’s young people’s group, with artist Jenny Moore.
Monday 5 – Friday 9 August, 10am – 4pm, £45 (bursaries available) Travelling Light are offering an exciting summer school to young people aged 7 – 12 and 13 – 19 at Arnolfini. The summer school will be taking its inspiration from Travelling Light’s touring coproduction Varmints and Arnolfini’s Ballast Seed Garden; looking at the themes of the environment, growth and seeds of change. Working with leading professional theatre makers to create their own performances, participants will explore storytelling, physical and visual performance. Contact Georgina on 0117 377 3162 george@travellinglighttheatre.org.uk
Boat Tour Devised by Travelling Light Summer School Friday 9 August, 6.30pm – 8.30pm, free, ferry leaving from Arnolfini, booking in advance required for ferry passenger seats or viewable from Castle Park from 6.45pm This year the Summer School will be taking its inspiration from Travelling Light’s touring co-production Varmints and Arnolfini’s Floating Garden. Join us for a specially devised boat tour to Castle Park featuring storytelling and experimental theatre – a chance to see a work in progress by Traveling Light Summer School.
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BIG GREEN WEEK The UK’s festival of eco ideas, art and entertainment is back in the centre of Bristol from 15 – 23 June, with two weekends of free family entertainment alongside nine days of inspiring talks, workshops, art, music, poetry, comedy and films – Arnolfini is the main festival venue and late bar. The following events are only a selection; more details and for booking see biggreenweek.com There are a number of events during Big Green Week related to Seeds of Change: A Floating Ballast Seed Garden project, see page 14 for further details. Tickets for BIG Green Week events at Arnolfini are only available from biggreenweek.eventbrite.co.uk
Comedy Double Bill: Tony Hawks and the Ugly Animal Preservation Society Sunday 16 June, Screening 2.30pm, Comedy 6pm, £9.50 each, or £16 for both events Join comedian Tony Hawks for a screening of the film of his best-selling book Playing the Moldovans at Tennis followed by a Q&A session. Followed by an evening of comedy with a conservation twist, as six comedians compete for the audience vote.
Tony Juniper: What has Nature Ever Done for Us? Thursday 20 June, 12.30pm, £7.50 Tony talks about the ‘natural services’ that keep the economy going, and which we take for granted, until they suddenly switch off.
An Evening of Fast Food! Thursday 20 June, 8pm, £8.50 Eight speakers, ten minutes each, dish up an evening of fast food, and look at how we fix our broken food system, including Chef Allegra McEvedy, and Riverford Organic’s Guy Watson.
George Clarke: Amazing Spaces Friday 21 June, 12.30pm, £7.50 Channel 4’s George Clarke (Restoration Man, George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces) talks about the way architecture can transform our everyday lives.
(Image left) Charlotte Spencer Projects (Image right) BIG Green Week 2012
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Discussion Double Bill: Beyond (Party) Politics & Beyond (Eco) Campaigning Friday 21 June, 6.30pm & 8.30pm £7.50 each discussion, or £12 for both events. Two Independent Mayors, two former Directors of Friends of the Earth and the current UK Director of Greenpeace, reflect on what the future holds for politics and for environmental campaigning.
Alice Roberts: Survivors of the Ice Age Saturday 22 June, 12.30pm, £7.50 BBC presenter Professor Alice Roberts discusses the lives and extinctions of the megafauna that roamed ice age America and Eurasia, with some behind the scenes insights from the filming of her latest BBC series, Survivors of the Ice Age, made with the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol.
Poetry & Music Double Bill with John Hegley, Susan Richardson and Three Cane Whale Saturday 22 June, 6pm & 8.30pm, £8.50 each event, or £15 for both. An evening of poetry and music, including; John Hegley, Susan Richardson (Radio 4 Saturday Live poet), followed by acoustic three-piece Three Cane Whale.
ONLINE PROJECT Helen Pritchard & Winnie Soon: The Likes of Brother Cream Cat August 2013 project.arnolfini.org.uk/brothercreamcat The Likes of Brother Cream Cat explores the network as a co-joined experience of humans and non human animals through the figure of a popular facebook cat ‘Brother Cream’ (a cat that lives in a 24-hour convenience store with the shop owner in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong). In 2011 his fans created a facebook account, quickly he became ‘Facebook Famous’ through lots of likes and since then he has received over 1000 visits per day. The Catness, the animality, of Brother Cream permeates the network through the performativity of code and the dynamics of networked activity. The project makes this apparent using facebook’s API to draw nonhuman animal (cattime) data from the database to generate mutated traces in real-time that will eventually be posted back to the fan’s page.
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Tertulia, 4 Days, April 2013. Photo Justin Yockney
Networks Resource Wednesday 26 June, 10am – 6pm, free The online Networks Resource is a virtual studio developed collaboratively by professional artists and vulnerable women involved with the criminal justice system or facing mental health issues. A virtual art studio, it allows them to share their artwork, ideas and inspirations. Networks is a Creativity Works project based in Bristol, providing arts sessions in residential and community settings. Groups engage with the culture of their city through visits to Arnolfini and Light Box The Happiness Project. Drop in to the Reading Room to view their work.
READING ROOM EVENTS On Listening Wednesday 19 June, 6.30pm, free Taking inspiration from the music appreciation classes of the past On Listening is a forum for people to meet and listen to, share and discuss music. Sessions are themed around an aspect of Arnolfini’s current programme and research, or the work of a guest host. Further information about the host and playlist for the session in June are available from arnolfini.org.uk or Phil Owen, readingroom@arnolfini.org.uk
Reading Art and… the Public Thursday 25 July, 6.30pm, free Reading art and… is a series of informal meetings intended to introduce participants to key themes in contemporary art theory, using excerpts from seminal texts. In response to Yorgos Sapountzis’ exhibition, this session will be focussed on art in the public realm. The texts for study will be available from Arnolfini Box Office or the Reading Room before the meeting, but you will still be welcome if you don’t have time to read them beforehand.
(Image above) Arnolfini Bookshop. Photo Max McClure. (Image below) Outside Arnolfini Café Bar, Bristol Harbourside. Photo Kirsty MacKay
CAFÉ BAR BOOKSHOP
Open daily from 10 am
Arnolfini is home to one of the UK’s leading specialist contemporary art bookshops.
Arnolfini Café Bar has one of Bristol’s best locations on the harbourside. Throughout the summer, you can enjoy the view and food inspired by the flavours of the mediterranean inside or out.
Open Tuesday 11 am – 6 pm, Wednesday – Saturday 11 am – 8 pm, Sunday 11 am – 7 pm Contact bookshop with enquiries or orders on 0117 917 2304 or bookshop@arnolfini.org.uk NUS get 10% off all purchases on Wednesdays Get your sunglasses and your shorts out of mothballs, summer is definitely here and the bookshop is ready to provide a little shade and lots of goodies to keep everyone entertained and inspired until the autumn. We have a brilliant range of children’s books to keep your small people occupied throughout the holidays as well a few choice bits and pieces for the grown ups. So if you need a little beach reading with a difference or even a postcard or two to send home then drop in.
10% off food for ticket holders to Arnolfini events. Free wi-fi.
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(Top) We Are Family event. Photo George Scane (Bottom) Arnolfini Light Studio. Photo Carl Newland
SUPPORT US Help to keep contemporary arts free for everyone to enjoy! As a registered charity we believe in the power of supporting the highest quality, most innovative, risk-taking art and making it available to as many people as possible. Our mission ‘A Space for Ideas’ is to unlock the potential of all through experimentation, collaboration and engagement, in schools, the community and within Arnolfini’s artistic spaces. Arnolfini is a fully accessible building with spaces designed for innovation and ideas – and we currently welcome 450,000 people each year. Arnolfini aims to contribute to the future of art and to the future of Bristol as a vibrant, prosperous creative city. You can help us achieve this aim by joining us as a supporter, member or sponsor and benefit from invitations to exclusive events and behind the scenes tours and talks; not to mention our special discounts on hires, tickets, Café Bar and Bookshop. To find out more or discuss how you can support Arnolfini, please contact Aimée Davies on 0117 917 2337 or email aimee.davies@arnolfini.org.uk
VENUE HIRE Arnolfini is a unique venue and offers contemporary spaces for hire, including, Fifth Floor - a space for events at Arnolfini. It has a stunning 360 degree view reaching from St Mary Redcliffe, across Bristol’s historic harbourside, to Bristol Cathedral and beyond. The space is ideal for weddings, conferences and large launch events. Other spaces for hire include a 209 seater auditorium as well as smaller light filled rooms for conferences, receptions or meetings. For further information contact kate.robinson@arnolfini.org.uk or 0117 917 2313
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VISIT US Arnolfini is situated by the water at Narrow Quay in Bristol’s Harbourside. It’s a 15 minute walk from Temple Meads railway station, and Marlborough Street bus station. Most buses stop at The Centre, a short walk from Arnolfini. If travelling by car, follow brown tourism signs. The nearest car park is The Grove. For further information visit arnolfini.org.uk or ring 0117 917 2300 Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA
Supported by
ACCESS We aim to make all visitors welcome. There are parking spaces for disabled visitors outside our main entrance, access via Farr’s Lane. Wheelchairs are available inside the building, and guide dogs are welcome. Large print and Braille versions of this brochure are available on request, and an MP3 version can be downloaded from the access page of our website. There is an induction loop system within the Auditorium. Please inform Box Office of any special requirements.
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arnolfini.org.uk