Adrift sound files
Adrift, a new commission for Art Sheffield 08 Yes No Other Options
ART SHEFFIELD 08
ART SHEFFIELD 08:
Yes, No & Other Options
16 February - 30 March 2008
City-wide Contemporary Art Event
+ Symposium 28 & 29 February
http://www.artsheffield.org
Contemporary art festival ART SHEFFIELD 08: Yes, No & Other Options takes place from 16 February - 30 March 2008 in venues across the city including Bloc, End Gallery, Millennium Galleries, S1 Artspace, Site Gallery, Yorkshire ArtSpace, Sylvester Space, The Winter Garden and the public realm.
Taking as its foundation a specially commissioned text by art critic Jan Verwoert, this city-wide exhibition addresses the fact that in a post-industrial condition, one particularly pertinent to Sheffield, we have entered into a service culture where we no longer just work, we perform in a perpetual mode of ‘I Can’. (Even advertising tells us that ‘Life gets more exciting when you say yes’).
Verwoert asks, “What would it mean to put up resistance against a social order in which high performance and performance-related evaluation has become a growing demand, if not a norm? What would it mean to resist the need to perform?” He suggests that certain means of resisting are in themselves creative - that as well as embracing exuberant performativity, art has also used the ‘ I Can’t’, by creating moments where the flow of action is interrupted, established meanings are suspended and alternative ways to act become imaginable. He suggests that as well as yes and no, there may be other options.
A mix of both emerging and established Sheffield-based, nationally and internationally-based artists were selected for ART SHEFFIELD 08 as their work was felt to have a close relationship to this contextual text. In a range of media, from site specific to painting, sculpture and video, the pieces examine the issues raised by Verwoert.
Artists include Tomma Abts, Michal Budny, Phil Collins, Andrew Cooke, Kerstin Kartscher, Silke Otto Knapp, Július Koller, Jiri Kovanda, Ruth Legg, Hilary Lloyd, Deimantas Narkevicius, Ines Schaber, Sean Snyder, Frances Stark, Mladen Stilinovic, Esther Stocker, Nasrin Tabatabai, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tsui Kuang-Yu, Gitte Villesen, Eveline Van Den Berg, Ryszard Wasko, Nicole Wermers and Xu Tan.
For the event there will be new commissions from Katie Davies, Annika Eriksson, Tim Etchells, Vlatka Horvat, Host Artist's Group, Janice Kerbel, George Henry Longly, Roman Ondak, Kirsten Pieroth, Paul Rooney, Dexter Sinister, Esther Stocker, Neil Webb, Katy Woods and Kan Xuan.
Symposium - Thursday 28th & Friday 29th February
Speakers: Jan Verwoert, Nikolaus Hirsch, Deimantas Narkevicius, Babak Afrassiabi, Irit Rogoff, Jennifer Johns, Annika Eriksson, Nasrin Tabatabai, Stephen Beddoe & Russell Martin, Jeanine Griffin & Katy Woods, Cylena Simonds. Chaired by Jan Verwoert & Becky Shaw.
Tickets: See http://www.artsheffield.org for details
ART SHEFFIELD 08 is the fourth city-wide event organised by Sheffield Contemporary Art Forum (SCAF) and is co-curated by Berlin-based critic and art historian Jan Verwoert & SCAF. For further information please see http://www.artsheffield.org
The project is funded by Arts Council England Yorkshire, Yorkshire, The Henry Moore Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Goethe Institut.
SHEFFIELD CONTEMPORARY ART FORUM
PO Box 3754, Sheffield, S1 9AH
http://www.artsheffield.org
The Stars in Us All Review in January A-N Magazine
Neil Webb, ‘The Stars in Us All’, backlit aluminium panels with surface-exciting speakers, each panel 2x1m, 2007.
Photo: Christiane Thalmann.
NEIL WEBB: THE STARS IN US ALL.
Bloc, Sheffield 3-18 November
The simple power of a bold and pure vision. In Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Oddysey’ the monolith encountered by Dave Bowman has become a classic of contemporary iconography – a symbol for what we do not and may never know. It places us on a threshold of awe and wonder. In the latest of a prolific series of installations Neil Webb invites us to take this as a starting point. He uses resynthesised versions of Bowman’s final transmission (“My God, it’s full of stars”) to deliver a striking example of spatial aesthetics which considers the interrelationship of objects within given dimensions. The aim is to encourage reflection and the inner quiet espoused by authors like Paul Wilson in ‘The Quiet’, and feed the imagination so vital to David Lynch in his treatise on transcendental meditation ‘Catching the Big Fish’. The first point that strikes the visitor is the unconventional symmetry. Webb has worked his design to suit the space. Three large glossy black aluminium panels dominate the walls and a wooden resonating bench, which gives the feel of a sanctuary or a chapel rather than a gallery. This is definitely a strange, imposing but ultimately uplifting experience. The steel black panels framed in a thin glowing band of neon blue-white light initially offer us nothing, standing resolute, unscrupulous – daring us to gaze at them as our eyes adjust to the light and the portal-like reflections in the panels, whereby our imagination may look into or pass through. The overall experience is one of looking outward rather than inward. We soon begin to realise that it is the panels that are alive – transmitting the sound by vibration. Objects are sonified. The panels shape the tone of the sound, giving a metallic alien sheen to the human sound elements – voices in choral form stroke the walls with spaced intervals like controlled breathing, while a heartbeat gently throbs inside the bench. Although his approach is musical, Webb is not a typical sound artist. He is approaching work where sound is part of a total artistic vision and a transmitter of ideas. Here he is dealing with the spaces in between places, words, thoughts and actions – the territory between inertia and activity where energy forms. Immediately on leaving the gallery I received a text from a close friend telling me that his father, after a prolonged struggle, had finally passed on. This is what we all must come to. As I dip my head against the biting cold I can only hope that, as he stood on the threshold, all he saw was stars.
Ron Wright is a sound practitioner in film and art, and is Senior Lecturer in Sound at Sheffield Hallam University, Northern Media School.
Contacts:
Bloc 71 Eyre Lane, SHEFFIELD, UK S1 4RB 0114 2723155 info@blocspace.co.uk www.blocprojects.co.uk
First published: a-n Magazine January 2008 © Writer(s), artists, photographers and AN: The Artists Information Company 2007 All rights reserved.
A Little Bit Goes a Long Way
Neil Webb and Ron Wright will be showing a new audio-visual work titled The Breach.
A Little Bit Goes A Long Way
An exhibition at Consortium, Amsterdam.
Curated by Pieter Hensen.
Opening Sat. 08 December, 20 hrs.
Until Sun. Dec. 29 2007. Friday, Saturday, Sunday 14-18 hrs.
New works by:
Neil Webb and Ron Wright
Andy Eccleston and Ron Wright
Mathew Harrison
Looppool
Ping Pong
Live performance by Ron Wright
‘A Little Bit Goes A Long Way’ zooms in into the field where ‘sound’ meets ‘the visual’. Both aspects are considered equally important.
‘A Little Bit…’ will be Consortium’s last project series to take place in the current exhibition space. From 2008 on Consortium will go nomadic.
Parts 2 (exhibition) and 3 (an evening programme at the Lloyd Hotel) of this series will take place in December 2007, and will feature contributions by Chris Watson, Touch, Ron Wright, Andy Eccleston, Neil Webb, Matthew Harrison a.o., including several unique live performances.
For more information about the exhibition and the gallery programme see:
www.consortium-amsterdam.nl
Contact: Pieter Hensen, gallery director at: conso@xs4all.nl or +31(0)6 26118950.
Consortium Gallery visiting address: Veemkade 570, 1019 BL Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Neil Webb Artists Talk Thursday 15th November 6pm
You are invited to Bloc this Thursday 15 November at
6pm for a talk by artist Neil Webb about his current
exhibition, The Stars in Us All.
Image courtesy of Christiane Thalmann (C)
2007
GALLERY OPENING
TIMES:
Entrance to the gallery is
free
EXHIBITION RUNS FROM: 3 - 18 NOVEMBER
2007
Thursday to Sunday
12-6pm
CONTACTS:
Bloc Space (gallery), 71 Eyre Lane,
Sheffield S1 4RB
Bloc Projects (office), 4 Sylvester
Street, Sheffield S1 4RN - 0114
2723155
info@blocprojects.co.uk
FURTHER INFO:
Further information about the
exhibition space and artists at Bloc Studios can be
found at www.blocprojects.co.uk
The Stars in us All reviewed in the Guardian Guide
EXHIBITION RUNS FROM: 3 - 18 NOVEMBER 2007
Thursday to Sunday 12-6pm
Private view: Friday 2 November 7-9pm
Artists Talk: Thursday 15 November 6pm
CONTACTS:
Katie Owens 07799 270777
BLOCspace (gallery), 71 Eyre Lane, Sheffield S1 4RB
BLOCprojects (office), 5 Sylvester Street, Sheffield S1 4RN - 0114 2723155 info@blocprojects.co.uk
FURTHER INFO:
Further information about the exhibition space and artists at Bloc Studios can be found at www.blocprojects.co.uk
The Stars in us All exhibition
[Immediate]
| Bloc Space
71 Eyre Lane Sheffield S1 4RE 0114 2723155 www.blocprojects.co.uk info@blocprojects.co.uk |
Press release
|
Neil
Webb
The Stars In Us All
Artist Neil Webb presents an
immersive sonic environment for his new exhibition The
Stars In Us All at Bloc in Sheffield. Drawing influence
from Brandon LaBelle’s Perspectives On Sound Art,
as well as sonic artists William Basinski, Brian Eno
and Thomas Köner, Webb’s new work provides an
absorbing space that invites contemplation and
meditation.
The exhibition features a number of monoliths attached
to the gallery walls, referencing the mysterious alien
intelligence encountered in 2001: A Space Odyssey. In
the film, the Monolith transmits messages throughout
deep space, communicating to different elements of
itself. When astronaut Dave Bowman encounters the
Monolith, his final transmission before entering the
stargate is, “My God, it’s full of
stars.” Bowman is eventually transformed by the
intelligence into a timeless existence and born again
as the ‘star child’. He later becomes a
messenger between the Monolith and the human race.
Each component of the exhibition doubles as a source of
unearthly sounds, using NXT surface-exciting speaker
technology that allows objects to be transformed into
speakers. A mixture of virtual classical instruments,
Mellotron and field recordings of choirs, transmission
signals and signal tones are emitted through multiple
channels into the space, whilst a bench in the gallery
also produces a low vibration, functioning as a
sub-woofer. The use of this technology allows every
element of the work, as well as the fabric of the
gallery itself, to be connected through sound
vibration. The glossy black surfaces of the monoliths
themselves invite quiet, inward reflection, completing
the work’s all-encompassing ambience.
A further influence cited by Webb is the theory of
Quantum Holography, as championed by Apollo astronaut
Ed Mitchell. The concept considers that the information
of the whole exists in every constitutional part; that
a tiny particle might contain all the information
pertaining to everything that exists or has ever
existed. Through his use of hypnotic sounds and minimal
aesthetics the artist encourages the audience to
transform into ‘star children’ themselves,
and to connect with the universe beyond.
NOTES TO EDITORS/
GALLERY OPENING TIMES:
Entrance to
the gallery is free
EXHIBITION RUNS FROM: 3 - 18 NOVEMBER 2007
Thursday to Sunday 12-6pm
Private view: Friday 2 November 7-9pm
Artists Talk: Thursday 15 November 6pm
CONTACTS:
Katie Owens 07799 270777
BLOCspace
(gallery), 71 Eyre Lane, Sheffield S1
4RB
BLOCprojects
(office), 5 Sylvester Street, Sheffield S1 4RN - 0114
2723155
info@blocprojects.co.uk
FURTHER INFO:
Further
information about the exhibition space and artists at
Bloc Studios can be found at www.blocprojects.co.uk
Oisen present 'and and and' exhibition
Press Release
OISEN "and...and...and"
October 20th - October 26th 2007
Opening Friday 19th October 19:00 - 21:00
Sylvester Works
Sylvester Street, Cultural Industries Quarter
Sheffield
Admission free
Contact: oisenoisen@yahoo.co.uk
Amanda Lane, Robert Lye, Simon Feydieu, Sarah Hughes, Neil Webb and Darren Flint.
"and...and...and" is an exhibition that takes Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's texts on social structures as a starting point to consider art, history and the social construction of places, spaces and identities from both a local and global perspective.
OISEN has invited a group of artists to develop a discourse between artist and viewer through the shifting identity of a city, and how one places themselves within it.
The exhibition uses the concepts from Deleuze and Guattari to inspire and inform the artworks, displayed in an exhibition space on the edge of Sheffield's Cultural Industries Quarter, a dilapidated 'island' in the heart of the city that reflects both the city's industrial past and regenerative aspirations.
Deleuze and Guattari argue that our social system is a schizophrenic system. Because it is interested only in the individual and their profit it must subvert or deterritorialize all territorial groupings and social arrangement, but at the same time, since humanity lives as a super-organism, it requires social distinctions in order to function. It must allow for reterritorializations, new social groupings, new forms and states. The life of any culture is always both collapsing and being restructured. The exhibition aspires to encourage the viewer to recognise their place and displacement within one of the largest forms of social organisation; to consider the city as a demonstration of human endeavour that has no discernable beginning or end, a huge body in a constant state of flux.
The artists will either exhibit a new work especially conceived for the exhibition or an existing work that fits with the questions raised by the their place and displacement within social constructs. The artworks encompass sculpture, installation, sound, film, photography and text based media.
Associated events: Chris Watson: lecture and performance, Mike Harding: 25 Years of TOUCH August 1st 2007, Heeley Institute.
"and...and...and" is jointly curated by Sarah Hughes and Robert Lye.
Oisen are supported by the Arts Council England.
Spool Exibition at Consortium Amsterdam
Invisible Resonance installation,Pop exhibition 2005.
27th March 2006
Neil Webb will be showing in the exhibition Spool at the Consortium Gallery,Amsterdam. He will be screening the piece Tide Time and installing an installation called Invisible Resonance 2.The exhibition is guest curated by Carl von Weiler and includes the artists Tacita Dean,Imogen Stidworthy,Juan Cruz and Lucy Gibson.
The private view will be on the 8th April 8pm
Opening hours are:
Until Sunday 14th. May.
Friday - Saturday - Sunday 14.00 - 18.00.
CLOSED ON Sunday 16th.(Easter Sunday)and Sunday 30 th. April (Queens'Day in the Netherlands).
Consortium Gallery
Veemkade 570
1019BL Amsterdam
bocman will be playing live at the Lloyd Hotel, Amsterdam on the 7th April at 9pm.There will be a talk by Carl von Weiler and an informal discussion about sound by artists.
For further information :
info@consortium-amsterdam.nl
www.consortium-amsterdam.nl