This will be my last blog update as my residency ends today! This week has been busy with four studio visits from Isobel Harbison, writer and curator, Pieternel Vermoortel of FormContent, Rosa Tyhurst of Limoncello and Naomi Sinderfel of Beaconsfield. All four has some really interesting insights into my work and suggestions for possible future approaches, research and developments.
Some highlights were discussing the lineage of my work with Isobel, and the idea of palimpsest in the work (layer upon layer). Also the possibilities for fictional narratives within the work and the remnants or suggestions of performance, found in the implied theatricality as well as the physical presence in the works making.
The addition of the outdoor location in the new work seems to have been an interesting progression and what Naomi called ‘an appropriate response to the nature of the residency’.
The talk last week with Lucy Reynolds went well, a small crowd but was able to be quite conversational as a result. I spoke about the works thematically rather than chronologically, which I think was an interesting approach but would need some refinement for another time – we ran out of time and the images were not always in the correct order! Using other artists to frame and contexulise my ideas worked well, such as Juliette Blightman, Charlotte Moth, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Bruce Mclean and Edwards Muybridge.
I have really enjoyed the residency and have met some really interesting people who have engaged with my work and ideas in amazing ways, I think this will provide me with much to consider in the coming months.
Install view of the studio during Hannah’s presentation of work in progress, 22 – 23 September, 2011.
Slides from Hannah’s work in progress, presented in the studio at Standpoint, 22nd and 23rd September 2011
Thursday 22 September 6.30-8pm – Hannah James in discussion with artist and film curator Lucy Reynolds
Further information: Matilda Strang/Fiona MacDonald: 0207 739 4921, [email protected]
Hannah James studied BA Art and Visual Culture at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Alongside her practice as an artist, James is involved in curating, writing and collaborative projects with a broad range of practitioners. Recent solo exhibitions include Local Interference at WORKS|PROJECTS, Bristol (2011), the duo exhibition Pots Purr, respectively held at Rhubaba, Edinburgh and Chert, Berlin (2011). Recent group shows include The Potential for Windows and Scale at The Contemporary Art Society, London (2011), What does and what does not belong to words at Baginski, Lisbon (2011), Curtain Show at Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2010), and Drinnen and Draussen at Chert, Berlin (2010). Hannah James lives and works in Bristol. Website: http://www.chert-berlin.com/ita/
Lucy Reynolds is a lecturer, artist and film curator. Her area of research focuses on expanded cinema and British avant-garde film of the 1970s. She teaches the history and theory of cinema and artists’ moving image at the University of Westminster, Goldsmiths College, LUX and the Arnolfini. She has curated numerous screenings of artists film and video and her film programme, Describing Form, exploring the relationship between film and sculpture, has toured museums and galleries across Britain, from Tate Britain to Spacex, Exeter and the Henry Moore Institute. She presents talks on artists’ film and video at arts venues across the UK, including the CCA, Glasgow and the Serpentine Gallery, and her recent articles have appeared in Afterall and Millennium Film Journal.
Hannah James – work in progress
St Thomas’s Square, Hackney, London 2011
