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Creative Director - Drew Wolf Canvas Project Director - Dan Watt Smith Director of Arts & Outreach - Susannah Simons Content Producer - Andrew Poole Content Producer - Aurelie Chassot Canvas Partner Manager - Carly Verhey

CANVAS@BRAVEBISON.IO

CANVAS ARTS

CANVAS ARTS ONLINE

CANVAS ARTS UK

CANVAS ARTS OFFICIAL

Canvas is an Arts Council-funded initiative bringing together arts organisations across England with a series of wide-ranging objectives - making arts content more discoverable and engaging; increasing the number of people engaging with the arts; increasing the volume and quality of creative media; and supporting the skills and digital capacity of the arts sector.

It consists of two interrelated projects; the Canvas channel and the Canvas network. The Canvas channel publishes, curates and promotes video across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter with the aim of inspiring 18-35 year olds to explore the world of art. The Canvas network helps arts organisations develop their online video strategy and output through advice, support, training and collaborative projects.

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SURVIVING THE POST TRUMP APOCALYPSE CHIH CHIU

With Donald Trump threatening to break the US's commitments to bring climate change under control, artist Chih Chiu confronts the looming environmental crisis with Voyage on the Planet, his self-contained survival kit, which recycles the oxygen produced by a single plant.

It's a nightmarish vision of a world where the air is no longer fit to breathe. As Obama once mentioned: "We will condemn our children to a planet beyond their capacity to repair."

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Voyage on the Planet was one of several works shown at Somerset House's exhibition, Space to Breathe, curated by Cape Farewell and Shrinking Space, in partnership with King’s College London’s Environmental Research Group.

Filmed on location in and around the shingle headland of Dungeness in Kent, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve, as well as the location of a nuclear power station.

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E LE PHANT IN THE ROOM LANRE MALAOLU - PROTOCOL

'Elephant in the Room' explores the complexities of experiencing mental illness from the perspective of a male. This choreographed piece

by Protocol Dance Company's Lanre Malaolu attempts to dissect the stigma attached to mental health by following a day in the life of a victim, highlighting the constant internal and external battle to be 'normal'.

Malaolu explores the thin line of having a banal 'bad day' and one that continually saps your life of energy and hope. Many men suffer from mental health without coming to terms and dealing with it. Macho or masculine behaviour tends to

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stop men from openly talking about their issues resulting in the suppression of emotion, forcing them to explain their mental state as just another 'bad day'. But what happens when that bad day spills into a bad week, a bad month and so on and so forth...

Suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 45 years old in the UK. For this to change the attitude towards mental illness has to shift.

Instead of viewing mental health as a selffabrication, there needs to be the same attention and gravity we give to a physical illness or injury, in order to truly heal the wounds of the mind.

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L A Z ARUS

BIRMINGHAM OPERA COMPANY

The award-winning Birmingham Opera Company has created this new production channeling Giorgio Battistelli's two existing pieces of work.

Orazi E Curiazi (retitled Drums of War) and Coro di Morti (retitled The Soul Searchers).

Drums of War (Orazi e Curiazi) is the flashmob’s choreographed dance piece written by Giorgio Battistelli. Two drummer warriors battle to the death. With each brutal blow, primal hiss and howl, the Fallen spring to life.

This is in preparation for the up and coming production 'Lazarus' a collaboration with Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli, Midlands writer Sarah Woods and Graham Vick, Artistic Director of Birmingham Opera Company.

Taking the “Myth of Lazarus”, the crowning miracle, Birmingham Opera explores how the young generation perceivedeath and life after death.

Birmingham Opera showcased a flashmob at Birmingham New Street Station (aka Grand Central) on the 22nd of April 2017. It was comprised of two stand alone pieces that are part of the build up to their new production 'Lazarus' that launches in March 2018.

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The Soul Searchers (coro dei morti) is the flashmob’s chorus piece and written by Giorgio Battistelli. 100 souls unite in search of a happiness they never found in life. They sing from beyond the grave at Birmingham New Street. The piece is originally sang in Italian but is subtitled in English on the channel.

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MISS ME E NA & THE MA SAL A QUE E NS RIFCO

Two performers from Rifco and Watford Palace Theatre's new production Miss Meena & the Masala Queens - written by Hollyoak's Harvey Virdi - laid bare their brush with drag.

Harvey Dhadda (Preetho) and Vedi Roy (Pinky) discuss vulnerability and stereotypical attitudes towards Queens, the controversial Indian Hijra community and the beautiful fashion that goes along with it.

Miss Meena owns a failing Birmingham Asian drag club of the same name. The club is in trouble, with other drag queens strutting their stuff in opposing clubs and the property developers breathing down their necks, it's all a bit close

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for comfort. Under all the glitz and the glamour, the production touches on taboo subjects but ultimately is a story of family and friendship.

Created with the consultation from the LGBT community, the untold stories of men who choose a female persona of a night time is brought to life.

In this film, we see one of the younger drag queens, Preetho (played by Harvey Dhadda, transform himself from Asian male to stunning drag queen.

Produced by award-winning British Asian Theatre Company, Rifco and Watford Palace Theatre in association with Warwick Arts Centre.

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DAVID SHRIG LE Y SKIP GALLERY

Skip Gallery is back in Hoxton Square for its second show and has brought along one of the UK's 'really good' artists, David Shrigley.

While Shrigley's thumb stands atop the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, 'Look At This' lies within a yellow skip where the sentiment is the same, but the means are very different. People's reactions are the pivotal element to the very nature of Shrigley's work.

Skip Gallery was created by co-founders and creative partners, Catherine Borowski and Lee Baker, two London-based artists who take the

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mundane and every day and try to re-imagine them in new situations.

Hate the art elite? Want to know what makes a really good artist? David Shrigley has you covered.

With the right recipe, you can be one too!

When art takes itself too seriously there's only one thing left to do, talk seriously about art... kind of. Alongside the Skip Gallery and Shrigley's 'Look at This' sculpture, pissing off Daily Mail readers and the absurdity of art speech are on the agenda.

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E ME RG E NCE MAX COOPER

Max Cooper’s ‘Emergence’ tells the formation of the universe through music and visual art in this audiovisual project. The audience is lead by the hand through five acts that represent the scientific theory of the development of life in our universe.

It starts in a time before the Big Bang right through to the digital age of artificial life and robotics.

Cooper collaborates with visual artists to illustrate each track as well as working with scientists and mathematicians along the way.

With a PhD in computational biology, Max Cooper’s music is naturally informed by science, and the early audiovisual performances inspired him to create the Emergence album.

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Sometimes in life the “cat shits in the shower,” sometimes “shit” doesn't make sense and London-based artist, David Shillinglaw, is trying to make sense of it all.

Mindfulmess is a portrait by artist David Shillinglaw. This piece is a literal representation of some of the mental processes that David confronts as a person, an artist, and from a broader perspective, the type of issues people deal with on a day-to-day basis. The vibrant colours of David's work juxtapose some of the unsettling issues his work raises.

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MINDFULLMESS DAVID SHILLINGLAW

In terms of practice, David's work has both covered the faces of Shoreditch buildings as well as being hung on the walls of the white cube respectively. Throughout his style, the application of emotive keywords with typography act as "mental bubbles" that convey feelings and memories. These snapshots are both present while he paints and also exists in the past through earlier memories.

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OLIVE RBE E RS IKON GALLE RY

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Did you realise everyday objects have their very own unique sound?

British artist Oliver Beer creates musical instruments out of everyday objects. He uses a set of microphones to form a feedback loop that exploits the objects individual musical note.

Alongside the pots and everyday objects is a selection of other works including a set of glass spheres that contain actual-size gold replicas of the bones inside the ear. These important aspects of hearing are ironically cased in silent glass.

Like revealing the hidden sound within the sculptures, Beer also reveals the workings inside of a shotgun displayed on the wall. This is part of his 'dissected' series that become drawings of themselves as they are laid out like a blueprint.

The concluding artwork 'Alpha to Omega' is a large organ pipe created by Beer which plays the lowest frequency (20 Hz) we can hear, as well as a tiny organ pipe that plays the highest frequency (20,000 Hz), which can only be heard by babies and dogs.

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INCOMING RICHARD MOSSE

Richard Mosse's new exhibition ‘Incoming’ at the Barbican Curve utilises military-grade cameras to highlight the refugee crisis enveloping Europe and how we perceive the refugee as an entity.

This type of technology has never been used before aesthetically and is regarded as a weapon under the international treaty of arms regulations. The camera picks up heat, as opposed to light, showing the starkness of the situation in monochrome.

Canvas sheds a light on a serious body of work that affects the world's view of a controversial subject, new aesthetic and technological advances in photography.

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Mosse is renowned for his documentary photography that displays war and conflict in its most terrible state, while gently extracting the beauty of humanity from harsh situations.

‘Incoming’ is his latest exhibition hosted at the Barbican Curve. He is a Irish-born, New Yorkbased photographer.

This immersive experience is projected across three 8 metre-wide screens, while supported by a soundtrack that incorporates both ambient field recording with manufactured sound design.

The project is part of a wider collaboration with composer Ben Frost and cinematographer Trevor Tweeten.

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THE LIG HT COMPOSE R LEAFCUTTER JOHN

Leafcutter John is a London based songwriter, electronic musician and artist. The bulk of his performances are created by material from his recorded works. But he also performs solo sets that are generally improvised. They incorporate unusual soundscapes informed by different light sources, taking on the form of sporadic songwriting.

He uses an interface that has 16 light sensors, these sensors pick up light sources and through the programming of the mini super computer arduino, sounds are made.

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These experiments in light and sound are breaking sonic barriers. His expansive research is delving deep into the way we associate light with sound. He invited us into his home to show us how he conceived the Light Interface in all its strobe rave glory.

This set was filmed at the Folkestone Fringe’s Profound Sound Festival mixing live music & sounds, projections, performances, spoken word & sound installation.

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ASIAN ARTS AGENCY

PunjabTronix is a newly commissioned music project by Asian Arts Agency that combines contemporary electronic music with traditional Punjabi instruments.

DJ Swami, through his electronic music production, has always explored the hybrid diaspora identity of the British-Punjabi community. With PunjabTronix, he brings this to life on stage adding a group of handpicked Punjabi folk musicians alongside his beats.

He has been nominated for a Mercury Music Award, Ivor Novello and has won Best Producer category twice at the UK Asian Music Awards.

Swami is part of the new generation of Punjabi music and is trying to push his Punjabi heritage in the right direction.

The visuals in the interview piece (as well as the tour) are supplied by Bristol-based filmmaker, John Minton. John accompanies PunjabTronix when they play live and uses analogue and digital techniques to create live bespoke visuals.

John has provided live tour visuals for the likes of Portishead and Noel Gallagher.

The premiere UK tour of PunjabTronix took place in July 2017, with performances at Horniman Museum & Gardens (London), Arnolfini (Bristol), Norwich Arts Centre, Cambridge Junction, Rich Mix (London), Mac Birmingham and New Art Exchange (Nottingham). There are plans to tour PunjabTronix internationally in 2018.

Gurtej is the voice of PunjabTronix. His

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ability allows him to sing both traditional and contemporary Punjabi songs. He released his debut album ‘Taroo’ which came out on the Finetone Music label. He also got the final stages of the ‘Voice of Punjab’ talent show.

Coming from celebrated musical stock, Vijay is the grandson of Punjabi folk singer, Yamla Jatt.

Vijay is a multi-instrumentalist of the highest calibre and his vast knowledge of traditional Punjab instruments is second to none. Here he plays (in order of appearance) the Tumbi, Algoza, Bugchu and Murchang. On stage, Vijay adds to the eclectic mix with sounds you may have never heard before, which compliments Swami's electronic melodies.

Dheera performs a rendition of the Sarangi in this film, a stringed instrument, which is played with a bow. It is said to be the instrument that most resembles the human voice. He also displays his skill on the Dhad drum, a smaller hand drum normally used by folk singers. The pitch is changed by pulling on a cloth around the waist of the drum. As one of the most sought after Sarangi players from the Punjab, he has performed and recorded alongside a number of leading Punjabi musicians, featuring on their albums.

Naresh Kuki is is one of the most talented Dhol and Dholak drum players of the Punjab.

Alongside Dj Swami's electronic beats, Kuki adds his traditional rhythms. In this performance we see it stripped back to basics.

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DANSE DU NUIT SADLERS WELLS

Presented by Sadler’s Wells, danse de nuit by French dancer, choreographer and agitateur Boris Charmatz and MusÊe de la danse is performed at the edge of the city, after dark, in a place where dance does not usually go, by six dancers moved by a palpable sense of urgency.

Made as a response to the Paris terrorist attacks of 2015, this new work performed outdoors meshes with the city itself. Like playing truant after hours when we should be safely at home, this is an invitation to not play it safe.

Within the current context of sustained attacks and loss of life in the UK and abroad, this film is respectfully presented as a reflection of the atmosphere created when terror challenges the spirit of a city.

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TRIM MATT

On World Piano Day, this unconventional performance from East London's Grime MC Trim as well as pianist Matthew Bourne seeks to break boundaries of how the piano and Grime are perceived as art forms.

World Piano Day was started by contemporary composer Nills Frahm, which falls on the 88th day of the year, representing how many keys there are on a piano. In 2017 it falls on the 29th of March.

Led by the likes of Stormzy, Skepta and Wiley, grime has taken the UK music scene by storm.

What happens when it is taken from its origins in the estates of Britain's largest cities and placed in a church? What happens when we take away its original sound and pair the genre with a piano?

This collaboration was part of an event hosted in the Union Chapel in Islington, organised by Float PR to celebrate Piano Day.

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STE VE RE ID AWARD

NUBYA GARCIA

PRS FOUNDATION

Nubya Garcia is one of the leading figures in the recent resurge of jazz-influenced sounds in the UK. Born and raised in London, at 25, she is starting to make headway as a composer and saxophonist. Her signature style combines the use of live electronics with a traditional band format.

Using a Korg Kaoss pad interface combined with a Boss vocal effects pedal, she uses it to manipulate the natural sound of her saxophone.

She also creates custom patches through Ableton Live and Max MSP to add new dimensions to her performance and composition. Alongside her on keys is Joe Armon-Jones, a musician/composer/ producer part of an exciting new wave of Londonbased talent.

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Nubya was funded through the Steve Reid Innovation Award, a partnership between PRS Foundation, the Steve Reid Foundation, and Key Production. The Steve Reid Foundation was set up by Gilles Peterson, Brownswood Records and a collective of Trustees who worked closely with and were inspired by legendary jazz drummer, Steve Reid. Nubya was funded through the Steve Reid Innovation Award, a partnership between PRS Foundation, the Steve Reid Foundation, and Key Production. She will perform at the Steve Reid Innovation Showcase at Total Refreshment Centre on 12th September 2017.

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OLA SZMIDT

Ola Szmidt is a York-based singer-songwriter who utilises her technical knowledge in music technology to push her songwriting to new levels.

As a multi-faceted musician, Ola incorporates her voice, flute & guitar into her music as well as instrumental improvisations and self-produced electronic sound art. Through the use of loop stations, Ola is able to manipulate her vocal output as well as the flute to create original soundscapes. Her musical style shifts between eastern folk traditions, jazz, ambient and soul.

When performing she sings in both English and Polish. Ola also secured funding from the Steve Reid Foundation through the PRS Foundation and also played the Showcase alongside Nubya.

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DIGITAL FE E LS LUCY HARDCASTLE

“A lot of people say about my work that it makes them want to lick the screen,” says Lucy. “People say, ‘I wish I could just reach out and grab it,’ so I really wanted to break that seal and burst that bubble of what we think of as an interface.”

Lucy has designed a conductive, hand-blown glass sculpture named Qualia which responds to touch with light and colour – triggering liquid ripples and a comforting glow as your hands move across it.

This kind of responsive glass surface has never been applied to a curved object or used in a creative setting – a breakthrough with great potential for educational tools.

It just goes to show that in an era of unimaginable connectivity, when it feels like every original idea has been exhausted, a new generation of switched-on artists are ready to redefine the spectrum of possibility.

Heightened Senses is a collaborative video series between Huck and Canvas showcasing young artists determined to rewrite the rules of artistic engagement. In this episode, Lucy Hardcastle unveils an innovative, touchresponsive glass sphere that combines technology with tangible experience.

In a world ruled by technology, engaging your sense of touch can feel undeniably satisfying – whether it’s running your fingers through sand or just bursting some bubble wrap.

But as people increasingly search for a tangible experience beyond the touchscreen, digital doesn’t have to be demonised.

Artist Lucy Hardcastle is all about reconnecting people by bridging the gap between both realms.

In the first episode of Heightened Senses – a collaborative series between Huck and Canvas showcasing daring young artists – Lucy shows us how to get the most out of being a “sensorial human”.

Specialising in tactile technology, she draws from various mediums – whether it’s digitally rendered objects or moving images – to push boundaries and express something new.

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IMAG INE D ARTE FACTS ANOUSHA PAYNE

Anousha Payne uses 3D printing to carve out a niche between ancient materials and modern technology, rewriting the context of cultural objects. or centuries, people have trawled the earth plundering cultural relics from sacred sites, appropriating them for the benefit of others.

Anousha Payne is an entirely different kind of treasure hunter. She makes ‘imagined artefacts’ – digital creations rendered in physical form – that explore ideas of ownership, identity and representation in the modern age.

Using 3D scanning and printing, the 26-yearold London artist makes semi-abstracted forms that feel both familiar and new – carving out a niche between ancient materials and modern technology.

“I was thinking about whether an object still has spiritual qualities when it’s replicated,” she says.

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“Is it still the same thing when I’ve imagined it huge and in another material?”

To find out, Anousha crafts ornaments that could have existed in another world, then has them blown-up in size by a 3D printer at MyMini Factory.

When you create a handmade object, she explains, you don’t always know what form it will ultimately take. With a 3D-printed object, however, every step is an exact science.

That gives her work the feeling of a collaboration between human and machine. But it also poses some pretty questions in the mind of the viewer.

These creations upend the traditional dynamic of cultural appropriation. They inspire you to reconsider how sacred objects change when they’re taken from their intended context, what they represent and who really ‘owns’ them to begin with.

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WHY I SHRE D

PARTITIONS

CARA MILLS

Ever felt like tearing an idea to pieces? London artist Cara Mills feeds her imagination into a giant shredding machine, which then spits it out in a pile of snowflakes. In this episode of Heightened Senses, a collaborative video series between Huck and Canvas, she shows us how thinking outside the box can liberate your creativity.

Cara Mills was staring down a deadline when a flash of inspiration struck. With her art degree at London’s Central Saint Martin’s coming to an end, pressure was building to let people see her work – the first significant opportunity for any young artist.

The only problem was that Cara’s imagination teemed with ideas. She’d dart between creative avenues: getting excited by some, growing bored with others, but never quite sure which one to pursue and which one to leave behind.

So instead of committing to one idea halfheartedly, she decided to make a work of art about the entire process: an artist’s journey between thinking and making.

After documenting every idea she had, Cara fed

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them all into a giant machine which methodically rated and then shredded each one – spitting them out like a shower of snowflakes.

The five-foot pile of plans that amassed at her feet effectively democratised Cara’s creativity.

Reduced to little pieces, all ideas had become equal: the good and the bad, the practical and the unfeasible, the polished and the incomplete.

“I feel like I’ve created an ecosystem where I’ve turned my digital ideas into something tangible, which are then put back onto the online platform for other artists to be inspired by,” says Cara.

The shredding machine is a form of autodestructive art: drawing from the concept that something can be destructive as well as creative.

At a time when our attention spans are being bombarded, when even a fertile imagination can feel overwhelmed or stumped, Cara’s work serves as a reminder that there are endless opportunities to hit the creative ‘reset’ button and start again.

ASIAN ARTS AGENCY/PUNJABTRONIX

Partitions is the distinguishing track from PunjabTronix, it tells an inspiring British Asian story in the month that marks 70 years since Partition created India and Pakistan. To mark the 70th anniversary we have commissioned a special film to accompany their track.

The film, directed by Vivek Vadoliya an up and coming director supported by Somesuch Productions, focuses on London's Southall where, through portraits of the people who reside there, we see the thriving Punjabi community. The music, composed by DJ Swami for PunjabTronix, mixes traditional instruments with contemporary sounds and the film also celebrates the traditional yet modern side of the people of Southall.

PunjabTronix is a newly commissioned music project by Asian Arts Agency that combines contemporary electronic music with traditional Punjabi instruments. Led by electronic music producer DJ Swami, alongside him are a group of hand-picked Punjabi folk musicians that consists of multi-instrumentalist Vijay Yamla, Dhol drum player Naresh Kuki, Sarangi player Dheera Singh and Punjabi folk vocalist, Gurtej Singh.

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