A call for entries has been announced for the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize. The opportunity is open to all UK painters over 18. Works are selected anonymously by an independent jury.

The winner will receive a grand prize of £25,000, with a further four awards of £2,500 going to the runner ups. An additional prize of £2,016 will be awarded to the winner of the Visitor’s Choice award, voted for by the public during the exhibition.

Please read the entry criteria and rules here. An entry fee of £30 applies and all submissions are to be made online here.

Deadline: 9 November

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Find more opportunities in our weekly bulletin here.

Herman Kolgen is an internationally renowned, multifaceted artist, who has been modelling sumptuous ‘audiocinetic’ performances for over twenty years. The Montréal-based sight and sound virtuoso, continually hatches new conceptual approaches to celebrate the powerful synergy (and intimacy) at the heart of his audiovisual works. Constantly exploring, Kolgen works at the junctures of different media, as well as elaborating a new technical language and distinctive aesthetic. Kolgen’s works take the forms of installations, video, performances and sound sculptures. He has performed at prestigious international events such as Berlin’s Transmediale, the Venice Biennale, Austria’s Ars Electronica, Elektra and Mutek.

He tells us about where he makes:

During the last 7 years, I’ve been living in an old factory near an incinerator (converted into a recycling center) and a railway. It’s a refurbished space, in an up and coming area that serves me both a place to live and work and is not far from downtown Montréal. Situated near the metro, bike lanes, shops and markets, the area is both quiet and lively.

The physical and practical organisation of my creative space revolves around my different work mediums and interests. In this way, I can go from the sound studio to the digital image studio, from the painting workshop to the little film studio, and from the carpentry and metal workshop to the little electronic lab.

Throughout my working days, I fluctuate from one pole to another, constantly using these additional resources. I test and renew my point of view, my perceptions and I find new options, new approaches and creative responses. It’s a dynamic way to reach my goals while combining development phases, tight deadlines and international tours.

The workshop:

The Storyboards:

The Studio:

All images courtesy of Herman Kolgen.

To see more of Herman Kolgen’s work, don’t miss Herman Kolgen: Inject & Dust as part of Alpha-ville LIVE at Kings Place, London on 18 May. You can book tickets online here or read more about the event in our feature here.

More: Website | Blog | Vimeo

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

The Hospitalfield residency programmes are devised for artists or others developing their working lives within the scope of contemporary art practices. Applicants will have had formal art or design training or similar and will be developing projects and new work for public exhibition or developing their research with some form of future public outcome in mind.

The programmes are structured for individuals working at a range of points in their career. The following are two current programmes open for applications:

Autumn Programme:
This is a funded programme and is open to application for artists who would benefit from a period of research and production between 1 – 28 September 2014. There are 6 places available on this programme and 3 Production bursaries of £4,000 are available for production projects. Applications are invited from artists who have the confirmed offer of an exhibition or commission in a public or not for profit gallery no more than 2 years after the completion of the residency.

3 Research bursaries of £1,000 are available for artists who require the time to research and develop an idea or project. Full board accommodation is provided with all full board costs covered. This opportunity is open to UK or UK-based artists. Students on BA or MA courses are ineligible.

Deadline: 14 February

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Graduate Programme:
This programme offers graduates from Scottish art colleges –  from both art and design courses, the time to work at Hospitalfield on a specific project that they would otherwise not have the opportunity to develop within this sort of collegiate situation. This residency takes place between 6 – 24 October 2014.
To be eligible you must be graduating in 2014 or have graduated in 2013 for a BA or MA art or design course at a Scottish college.

Deadline: 7 July

Hospitalfield House is located in Arbroath, Angus. For more details and to apply to either of the above programmes, please visit here.

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Innovative textile artist, Nina Falk is from Stockholm but is now based in Edinburgh. Here, she guides us through her work process:

My work often breaks the boundaries between fashion, textiles and art – moving away from the labels that we are often given. This is something that I find really interesting – the labels within art are something that I often come across when I exhibit my work.

Even though I have shown my work at places such at Moscow Museum of Modern Art to New Designers in London I always find myself justifying what I do. Is it art or is it design?

Rend Birth 2011

Rend it 2011

Studying ‘Fashion and Tailoring’ in Stockholm, ‘Textiles’ at Norwich University of the Arts in England, ‘Textiles art’ at Osaka Seikei University Faculty of the Arts in Japan and a Masters in ‘Contemporary Art Theory’ has influenced my work and my process.

I am currently living in Edinburgh where I am running a Contemporary Textile Collective with a group called Kalopsia. Kalopsia brings attention to the field and sees textiles as a distinct artistic practice which opens up the debate on “What is Textiles”. I see Textiles as a social, historical, and cultural artefact and as an instrument to show emotions, experiences and thoughts.

Playing hard to get 2012

Alteration 2012

The way I work and the tools I use, the process and the thinking comes from my past in the ballet. I started dancing when I was three or four years old and I was quickly drawn into the world of ‘perfection’ and the strive to push oneself. You can always be better; be the best! You are brought up thinking ‘what is the point otherwise?’ and without having this mentality, you fail. It wasn’t until I was a teenager, having been a dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and done pliés for, what felt like 100 years, that I realised that it wasn’t for me. I quit a few years later and the only thing that stayed with me was the constant realisation of the pushing – the perfection. I have never found that perfection and I am now moving towards the fragmentations of it. Whatever form my work comes in, it ends up with destruction. The more stains and the more fragmentation I can create, the more satisfied I get. I am a perfectionist, but I know that perfection doesn’t exist.

Alteration – lip 2012

Being diagnosed with MS later came to influence my process and this now has a key impact on my ideas about alterations as it is a constant uncontrollable force, constantly changing my behaviour and my body.

I have tried to capture this in my work and video installations from (Un)Conscious Deformation. The rather painful process of stitching into my own skin is an important aspect. The preparation before penetrating a sewing needle through my skin was filled with adrenaline. I stitched myself in front of a mirror and sometimes with a few people around me. The mirror was there to push me – I saw myself changing and I wanted more – it was very difficult to stop. When was I done? Is there such a thing as a final stitch? When is the time to stop? You always forget the pain and it is difficult to look at yourself in a mirror and say ‘done’. There is always something that you can alter.

More: Website | Twitter

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Want to read more blogs by artists? Look here.

Alpha-ville EXCHANGE is a one-day event on 17 January at Rich Mix, London designed to offer the art, tech and creative communities the opportunity to connect, exchange ideas, get inspired and discover new talent.

Participating in Alpha-ville EXCHANGE is visual artist, Shantell Martin who is expanding conventional definitions of drawing and animation to transform visual experience in the design, fashion and music industries. Here is what she recommends:

MUSIC:
I’m excited by the release of Sasha Perera’s debut LP called Everlast. I’ve been listening to Sasha’s music for years actually even back when I lived in Tokyo, mostly in the form of the group Jahcoozi.

You can get the LP on Vinyl, CD or as a digital download via Bandcamp or Boomkat or iTunes.
Stream ‘Everlast’ via Soundcloud.

MARKER:
2013 would have looked very completely different to me if it weren’t for the Krink K-51 marker. I make sure to have a few packed in my suitcase on all of my adventures.

FESTIVAL:
The Eyeo Festival is probably one of the best festivals I’ve participated in and would love to return to in the future as an attendee. The Art Walker centre in Minneapolis is a great venue and the vibe of the festival is super open and fun with the caliber of people speaking is very hard to match.

Image source

MOVIE:
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty feels more like getting very close to someone thoughts and dreams without personally knowing them. Always want to ask Terrance Nance how much of it is real.

ARTSPACE:
More and more people are collecting art and I really enjoy how Artspace is apart of this new way or seeing, buying and sharing artworks. They have some great pieces including some of my own; two of which are rare in the sense that there is colour in them.

Only One YOU by Shantell Martin

Please visit here for the full Alpha-ville Exchange programme.

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Artistic Director of the 19th Biennale of Sydney, Juliana Engberg has revealed details for the Asia Pacific’s largest contemporary visual arts event, to be presented free to the public from 21 March until 9 June 2014 at five venues across Sydney.

With more than 90 artists from 31 countries, Engberg commented at an event held at the Sydney Opera House: “At its heart, the 19th Biennale of Sydney celebrates the power of artistic imagination. You Imagine What You Desire is an optimistic biennale that presents an exploration of the world and contemporary aesthetic experience through the inventions and desires of well-known artists, as well as many exhibiting in Sydney for the first time.”

Marah Braye, Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney added: “Juliana Engberg is curating a much-anticipated exhibition that will be remembered by audiences for many years to come. We are thrilled to be working with a group of exceptional artists, many of whom are developing new projects especially for Sydney.”

In addition to the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), venues for the 19th Biennale of Sydney include two heritage-listed locations: Carriageworks, a former rail yard; and Cockatoo Island, a former prison and shipyard in Sydney Harbour. The 19th Biennale will also present works at Artspace and include several performative projects in Sydney’s CBD.

Inspired by the exhibition title You Imagine What You Desire, Scottish artist Nathan Coley is creating a new multi-venue work. Known for his thought-provoking text-based installations constructed from lights and scaffolding, Coley’s works will be installed at various Biennale locations across the city.

Eglé Budvytytė, Choreography for the Running Male, 2012, performance, 30 mins.

Areas of the city will be infiltrated during the Biennale’s opening weeks with a range of performative works and events designed to alter the sense of the everyday. Lithuanian artist Eglė Budvytytė will activate busy streets with her work, Choreography for the Running Male (2012–14), in which a group of men run through the city gesturing emotions ranging from shame to seduction.

Douglas Gordon, Phantom, 2011 (video still), stage, screen, black Steinway piano, burned Steinway piano, monitor, dimensions variable.

At the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, the double-height gallery space will feature a site-specific video installation by renowned Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist, commissioned especially for the 19th Biennale. Elsewhere at the MCA, the Biennale will feature the work of acclaimed Scottish artist Douglas Gordon, the first artist to win the Turner Prize in the field of video. Gordon will present a large-scale, mixed-media installation featuring the haunting voice of musician Rufus Wainwright. The dramatic installation, Phantom (2011), takes the audience on a rapturous journey. Darkness and light, tragedy, and salvation through redemptive love are the ideas and emotions encountered here.

In 2014, the Biennale takes over the newly expanded space at Carriageworks, with works that explore the language, materials and narratives of the theatre and film worlds from which contemporary artists take inspiration for reinvention.

Artists at Carriageworks include Austrian artist Mathias Poledna; Israeli-born Yael Bartana; and Dutch artist Gabriel Lester. Working on a new commission and large-scale work, Lester will speak to the cinematic and its penchant for seductive illusion using modelling techniques and the unique architectural interior of the space. The Biennale of Sydney and Carriageworks will also co-present the world premiere of a new work by celebrated British artist Tacita Dean.

Artspace returns as a venue partner for the 19th Biennale, presenting work from artists including Ugo Rondinone, Maxime Rossi and Henna-Riikka Halonen.

See the full list of exhibiting artists here.

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Harvest is a new company from Scotland, specialising in artist designed skateboard decks, apparel and editioned prints. It is run by artist Jamie Johnson and tailor Kieron Forbes. Jamie Johnson tells us more:

To promote the launch of our website www.harvestskateco.com, we arranged with Edinburgh City Council access to an abandoned swimming complex, to take photographs and videos of our sponsored skateboard team using the space in a unique way. We grew up using the pool and were sad to see its closure, but felt this repurposing of the space was a positive and interesting project to undertake before the building is renovated entirely.

Here is our video edit, with music by local artist Benjamin Seeley and animations by Jamie Johnson –

This project came about through us looking for a new video project to launch our website with. We both knew about the closure of Leith Waterworld, although sad to see it go we saw potential for it as an interesting place to skateboard in and take photos. With the help of an artist friend (Dickie Webb) we contacted Edinburgh City Council and proposed our idea. We gained access and filmed and shot everything within a couple of hours.

Since we were awarded funding from Cultural Enterprise Office’s Starterfor6 creative business programme, we have launched our website alongside a line of skateboard decks, apparel and artist prints. We held preview exhibition nights at Superclub Gallery in Edinburgh and Recoat Gallery in Glasgow, where we premiered our first promotional video and product line. It’s been a very encouraging first year of existence as a company, with good press and feedback from a variety of sources.

We are currently working on a new filming project and collaborative printed publication, alongside a new clothing line. We will be releasing a new run of limited skateboard decks and artists prints, with graphics designed by ourselves and other local artists in the near future.

Hopefully we can find more interesting unseen spots to film skate videos and inspire animations, we would also like to hold another exhibition/video premiere before too long.

More: Website | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter

In Rennes, artist David Zérah had a concept – to interview five contemporary artists in their cars, asking them questions from French art magazine, Galerie Magazine (1989/90).

David started working on his ‘Artists in their cars’ project as part of the Social Landscape programme for GI 2010. He produced a short film/series of stills within the arts community of Rennes. Then he decided to take the same format to Scotland’s art world and a call went out on Central Station where artist and filmmaker Holger Mohaupt was selected.

During GI 2010, David and Holger produced the work as an online residency on Central Station. This project contains the work produced from both artists during this residency.

For GI 2010, Social Landscape appeared as a one-off event, which included a performance by Muscles of Joy, new animation by Katy Dove created during her residency in Rennes, new work by Sophie Macpherson and performances by sonic artist Damien Marchal created during a three-month residency in Glasgow. Images from the event can be seen here.

See the full Collection here.

(originally published on Central Station V1)

Rob Swain is an artist, designer and DJ who runs and curates Gamma Proforma, a London based art’s label and publisher. Born in Belfast, he’s lived in various cities around the world including Edinburgh, Melbourne, Hong Kong and London. This is what he recommends.

Music: Chrome (1975)

I’ll bet most reading this haven’t heard of Chrome (i love a generalisation or two). For me, they are one of the most important bands of all time. Tracks from their 1979 ‘Half Machine Lip Moves’ album still sound beyond our time. They were formed in San Francisco in 1975 by Damon Edge and Gary Spain, later joined by John Lambdin and Mike Low who was later replaced by Helios Creed. Edge and Creed were the movers, together they worked magic!

Having had their initial demo rejected, Edge set up his own label (Siren Records) to release their music, this go your own way spirit is evident throughout their recordings. The music is raucous, experimental, futuristic and completely outside the box. Chopped up samples (before samplers), synthesised layered drums, alien-swagger vocals, diverse movements within tracks and all round lawless punk attitude. They were punk on stage and in the studio… There has never been anything quite like Chrome. And they totally moved heads and bumped hips!

Chrome Video – Static Gravity

Film: Dark Days – Marc Singer (2000)

I’m sure a lot of you will know this, it was a well received documentary of it’s time (deservedly so) and featured music from DJ Shadow. The story follows a collection of characters who live under the New York subway system in abandoned tunnels. These down and out men and women tell their tales through the lens of Marc Singer who spent years living amongst them to make the film. More than a documentary, Dark Days is a stunning, heart wrenching film that examines how we perceive each other and the reality of how we treat each other in one of the most advanced civilisations on earth. If this film doesn’t twist you up inside, you’re obviously already dead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=vrUvQEG_djg

Art: James Choules (AKA sheOne)

Choules’ work, like all good urban art, makes subtle use of its environment. It’s about a highly advanced technique of lifting detail from the surface with subtle flourishes of light and shade. Having watched him at work, I’m always amazed by where he paints and how he does it, on one occasion i saw him paint alongside several other artists on a long wall in east London. Most of the artists chose the flattest, smoothest surfaces for their piece whilst Choules went straight for a crumbling, crooked and semi hidden wall (the last place you’d choose if you wanted people to see your work). He then set about utilising the crumbling stone and peeling paint, lifting it out further with his trademark black flourishes. On another occasion i saw him paint in a burnt out paint factory, moving through the space adding little details to old signs, doorways and even an abandoned forklift truck. Unlike a lot of the street art mob, Choules isn’t on a mission to become famous. He’s an artist traveller who uniquely inflects his persona with subtlety on the world around him. One of a kind…

sheOne’s Tumblr | sheOne’s Instagram

Book: Futurism 2.0

Time for a shameless plug, I was fortunate to work with a lot of outstanding artists from a new wave of abstract urban art for Futurism 2.0, which looks at the current landscape and reflects on parallels between now and emerging art of the 20th century.

More info at www.futurism2-0.com

A DJ mix from Rob Swain:

DJ Rob Swain – Don’t Panic Mix (Gamma Proforma / Methodblack) by Gamma Proforma on Mixcloud

More: Gamma Proforma | Facebook | Instagram

Established in Liverpool in 2008 by artists Tim Brunsden, Sam Meech, John O’Shea and Neil Winterburn, Re-Dock examine sites of cultural common ground such as cinema, dreams and open source development, by working with others to unpick and rebuild them.

‘Can you hear me? I can see you?’ is a new Re-Dock exhibition opening at FACT Liverpool on Friday 17 May. The exhibition continues until Sunday 2 June.

Over a 6 month period, we have worked with residents of sheltered housing schemes to re-examine contemporary telepresence devices such as Skype, in relation to the many waves of technology they have already ridden, and fantasy visions of communication portals from film and literature.

The exhibition will feature working prototype telepresence devices, designed in collaboration with the residents, that make use of Skype, lasers and a mixture of very old and very new optical illusions. The devices are displayed as props to send messages and think critically about telepresence and its affects.

As projects are the basic building blocks of our collaborations, it seems to make sense to introduce a couple.

The Open Source Swan Pedalo, christened Grace, was bought by Re-Dock in 2010. It was initiated as a ‘see where it goes’ artwork partly in response to the instrumental use of art in the public realm. The project offers people the use of Grace, as a platform with which to do something interesting. Uses so far have included operas, interviews and pirate radio transmissions. People submit their proposals to the community of custodians known as Swandeliers and if the proposal is viable, interesting and passes certain criteria, then we try support it. The practical and social challenges to growing an open source community around something as friendly and cumbersome as a Swan Pedalo, is both an exemplar and a challenge to the utopian vision of open source software culture.

Dave Lynch and Philip Jeck, who came aboard to discuss his music and perform live on the Swan.
Swan Pedalo Broadcasts were aired live from the Open Source Swan Pedalo over the 5th and 6th of August as part of Barrow’s FON Festival.
Photo credit: Rebecca Mulvaney

A Small Cinema is a project exploring what cinema used to be, and what form it might take in the future, through research, events, experiments, film-making and community dialogues. The aim is to understand the relationship of cinema to community, to test models of temporary film exhibition, and question what a future cinema ecology might look like. For each iteration of A Small Cinema, the archetypical cinema experience is rebuilt from memory by a community formed around the process. The most ambitious Small Cinema yet was built in Moston in 2012, resulting in a 70 seat cinema, gaining national recognition for the Miners Community Arts centre. In the first year the cinema has begun to find it’s own momentum as a functioning community film facility; showing documentaries by local film-makers, hosting regular film-clubs and screenings by other local organisations, as well as developing relationships with independent distributors to show new releases. All this, run by local volunteers, in a former miners-wash-house in North Manchester.

Karl Davies, Sam Meech, Mena and Steve Aldred standing outside A Small Cinema in Widnes.

Early in our development we were keen to avoid the Tyranny of Structurelessness, a term coined by Jo Freeman to describe the threat that a complete lack of formal structure can pose to the democracy of small groups. She argues that without formal structure, there is often nothing to stop small groups being dominated by overbearing personalities. Informed by this we try to adopt a playful, but scrupulous use of formal structures to keep each other on our toes.

Understanding art practice to be inseparable from the social fabric it works with, we try to give a great deal of consideration to the way we organise ourselves and how we relate to other communities and institutions. Working on a project by project basis, with an ever expanding network of collaborators, we rotate between leading and supporting roles. This enables us to temporarily harness the energy and direction that comes from having someone take a lead, while avoiding falling into entrenched working methods and relationships.

When we chose the name Re-Dock, it was because we enjoyed the interplay between notions of reexamination (Redux) and making use of the maritime metaphor of the Dock, to describe bringing things in, exploring them and sending them back out again changed. Over time, Re-Dock has become more porous, we have found it more interesting to open out than to scale up. The “Can you hear me? I can see you! ” exhibition is one good example of this and we have also supported the development of other artists and creatives e.g. Rebecca Mulvaney’s Chapbooks work placement.

Beyond Re-Dock, we all continue to explore our personal artistic practices, delving into biotech, videosmithery, real time film making experiments and thought visualisations.

As the intersection of art, technology and people is becoming an increasingly crowded cultural space, it seems more and more important for artist led groups to organize in ways that stimulate deeper and richer relationships between the three.