8 minute read
SPOTLIGHT
Festivals ONWARDS AND UPWARDS Colour us excited; Upfest is returning to the streets of South Bristol once more for 2020 with an earlier date, a tweaked location. a whole new vibe and its biggest ever line-up of local, national and international artists.
From 30 May 30 – 1 June, Europe’s largest live street and urban art festival will take over Greville Smyth Park for the first ever ‘greenfield’ festival, bringing together the boards and canvases previously spread between several South Bristol venues for a massive weekend-long celebration of street art in the park.
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The celebrations continue at Upfest’s original Tobacco Factory venue, but this year the huge murals and wall paintings that were traditionally made over the festival weekend will now be created in the two weeks running up to the event, “giving more people the chance to witness these spectacular creations come to life first hand,” said fest director Steve Hayles. The completed work will then be on show while over 250 artists paint live, with music, food and drink experiences alongside.
Upfest is free to attend, but needs your help to reach its £25,000 crowd-funding target. If supporting an amazing event isn’t quite enough to sway you, the Upfest artists have sweetened the deal, offering up such tasty rewards as designs, artwork and clothing to those who make a pledge, regardless of whether it’s a fiver or five hundred pounds. Let’s make it happen people. For more: www.upfest.co.uk
top and first left: Jody’s Greta was succeeded Kobra’s Lennon on the Tobacco Factory walls photos by Neil James), and we’re in no hurry to see it go; right: Unmistakeably Doctor Love, photo by Paul Box
Apropos, just a few days after we wave goodbye to Upfest, M Shed brings us ‘Vanguard’ Bristol Street Art: the Evolution of a Global Movement, from 6 June-1 November – a spectacular collection of works by British and international artists, that celebrates the pivotal role of Bristol and its creatives as the birthplace of street art and graf.
Seminal works from Henry Chalfant, Banksy and Be ezer will feature, through todeepfake viral sensation Bill Posters, and Conor Harrington. A selection of the works on display have not previously been seen, and some not shown in public for over 20 years. Spotlight features will also include the work of artist, musician and activist Robert Del Naja (Massive Attack’s 3D), one of Bristol’s earliest street artists. Vanguard will address the development of the movement from the subcultural perspective of Bristol, exploring the triumphs and hardships of street art’s anar chist origins in the ’80s and ’90s, the explosion of works in the early noughtiess to ‘Then and Now’, which takes a closer look at Bristol artists’ stylistic development over the last three decades, with some big names in the line up.
Moving beyond Bristol to the United Kingdom and Ireland, the exhibition reflects on the diversity of practice brought about by the momentum of the movement, concluding with a spotlight on artists evolving globally from street art practices to affect meaningful change in the world.
“Bristol is the undisputed home of British street art,” says councillor Craig Cheney, deputy mayor of Bristol, “so what better place to host this landmark show than M Shed? With plenty of exciting details still to come, it promises to be one of the biggest cultural events in 2020.” For more: www.bristolmuseums.org.uk Exhibition STREET DREAMS
Hotwells Road, back in ye olden days
Books SOME LIKE IT HOTWELLS Bristol’s Hotwells district has witnessed some major changes over the centuries. Now, a new book by local resident Sue Stops tells the story of this remarkable area and the resilience of the community spirit, which is still alive and well, and which manifests itself – among many other things – in an annual pantomime every year. Hotwells – Spa to Pantomime tells the story of the fascinating area next to the River Avon, created in the 17th century by rich merchants, keen to take advantage of the natural hot springs to provide a spa that would rival fashionable Bath and Cheltenham.
As well as a canter through history, the book chronicles the remarkable story of how the community rolled up its sleeves in the late 1970s and renovated the derelict Hope Chapel, turning it into a thriving and vibrant Community Arts Centre. For 20 years, Hope Centre has hosted an extraordinary array of bands, performers and touring theatre companies. It reverted to a place touring theatre companies. It reverted to a place
of worship in the late 1990s, but the annual pantomime lives on and the book celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.
The book will be launched at this year’s pantomime The Mardyke Mermaid; you can pick up a copy at Hope Chapel or buy online from Bristol Books, below. For more: www.bristolbooks.org
Art and science A BUG’S LIFE In tribute to the huge global scientifi c and medical eff ort to combat the coronovirus pandemic, Bristol’s multidisciplinary ninja Luke Jerram has just added a glass sculpture of the germ to his Glass Microbiology series. The sculpture is one million times larger than the actual virus – and in keeping with its fellow glass models, is bizarrely beautiful. For morewww.lukejerram.com
TRUE OR FALSE? In our last issue, we amused ourselves by running a bunch of ‘true or false?’ facts about Bristol. @weirdbristol kindly supplied the former, @timmersfacts the latter. In fact, we liked them so much that we’ve decided to carry on the fun in every issue; we’ll even try to tie it into a news piece on the same page, if we can be bothered.
WHICH IS TRUE, AND WHICH IS FALSE? 1 Did you know that Hotwells gets its name because of the hot springs that used to be prevalent in the 18th century? The springs were heated by the lava fl ow to the now dormant volcano which is today known as Brandon Hill.
2The jetties in Hotwells were built for wealthy day trippers who’d used the Clifton Rocks Railway to board cruises on the Bristol Channel.
THE TIDE WAS HIGH In the second week in March, an exceptionally high spring tide fl ooded parts of Bristol three times in two days. Inconvenient for many; but a bit of a gift for our local ‘grammers and puddlegram-chasers…
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