Alison Berry & Sonia Griffin:
Developing further our interest in communication and language, we have produced a projected digital image with Ruth Payne’s work forming the tower of Babel and Val Bolsover’s work creating radio type signals radiating outwards through the air. The tower is situated in Piccadilly Circus, London at dusk with it’s famous illuminated boards advertising mass communication and global products. It is a garish, mad scene with members of the public looking up at the tower which itself consists of a plethora of adverts and junk mail.
Accompanying this projected image we have mass produced a small advertising paper flyer for the fictitious www.babeltower.com. It is crammed with all the ways in which we can link in, keep in touch, blog and communicate.
In the biblical story of Babel, all people originally spoke the same language and they decided to make a name for themselves and build a tower to reach the sky. God saw that with one language they possessed great power and so He confounded their speech. The tower was abandoned as the people could no longer understand each other and they dispersed over the world developing their individual languages. God could be interpreted as being resentful or as the father of multicultural diversity.
Over the top, brash and not entirely serious, our work raises questions about the bewildering forms of mass communication paper and digital, the quality of interaction and the loss of diversity.
Val Bolsover and Jo Brown
Contemplating the lines previously interpreted as music we have now embarked on north- south explorations of landscape and nature which abound with lines of contour and grain.
We are exploring processes which one partner uses but the other normally avoids thus sharing in each other’s practice. (Plus some things neither of us do but would like to try.) So it’s an adventure and a collaboration very much enabled by 21st century communications.
Niki Campbell
Collaborating with Katie & Jo, we quickly discovered many artistic connections including a musical connection. Due to our geographical distance we met on skype, Jo mentioned while we were all looking at the 3 artworks, the rythymn in Alison’s piece. We all agreed, which took the project off in a musical direction. Responding to Lindsay Connor’s piece, we decided we had all the materials in there to make & invent instruments; keeping the playful nature of her work alive. We resonded to Dawn Adam’s piece, again with sound. Using field recordings and with the help from my son, musician/music producer LYLE, who helped us create what we were looking for. We also created many other pieces, such as instruments made from paper clay, & drawings. It was great fun and very inspiring working with Katie Hayward & Jo Brown.
KG DA
Our final work on paper became a blog.
http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/5108546-transfigure
Click on Preview
Coffee, lunch and lots of flip, tear, cut. It was great working this way.
