What’s in the blog:
Dust is the photographic collection of artist and writer Mark Brereton.

Why we like it:
Brereton’s stylish photographs include a touch of humour. He seems to be blurring the boundaries between advertising photography and art. In his ongoing project AdArt, Brereton hijacks adverts and gives them new meaning. Have a look at this one from FontShop.com:

AdArt: Shark Infested Custard by Mark Brereton

Hidden treasure:
Discover the Burger that never ages here.

Where to find out more:
Visit the Dust blog.
Follow Dust on Twitter here & Facebook here.
Dust prints are on sale at Saatchi Online here.

Featured image by Mark Brereton

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Want to take a look at more suggested blogs by artists? Look here.

I grew up glued to the TV, particularly American cartoons funded by toy manufacturers to flog their products, and playing a lot of video games that didn’t do me any harm. However, cinema was, and will always be, my first love.

Our local cinema was the mythical ABC Muirend Cinema. Designed by William Bereseford Inglis in 1933, the building exterior replicated a Spanish style hacienda while inside the auditorium had lots of Flamenco style motifs, such as balconies, amber lanterns and images of matadors painted on tiles dotted along the stairwells. Looking back as I write this, Muirend Cinema seems a bizarre prophecy of my future; I studied Spanish at Glasgow University and somehow I’ve ended up working for Glasgow Film Theatre as Learning Projects Coordinator for Young People. The range of the films it offered were the standard box office fare but I relished them all regardless. My seminal movie moments included watching Jurassic Park on the opening weekend, my mum convincing the box office grump that I was old enough to watch The Man Without A Face and stuffing my face with the cheaper sweets bought next door in Safeways to the bombast of Independence Day.

Sadly like a lot of old cinemas in Glasgow, ABC Muirend shut down in 2001 due to shrinking audiences that preferred the industrial comfort of a multiplex and the cost of maintaining a building that was well past its prime. Each time I pass it, I can’t help feel a wave of sadness for an important community relic that now functions as luxury apartments for a select few. My memories of Muirend remain but families in the Southside of Glasgow have to travel elsewhere these days for their cinematic outings.

Hopefully some of these families come to the GFT for our free Take 2 family screenings which screen every Saturday morning. I try to programme a range of films that appeal to a wide audience while sneaking in a few classic and foreign gems, like The Boy From Mercury, Mr Hulot’s Holiday and The Belles of St. Trinian’s. Unfortunately a lack of distribution of foreign titles for children and availability of prints makes screening non-Hollywood films a lot harder than it should be.

Although 41% of 15-24 year olds visit the cinema once a month* and are exposed to moving images on a daily basis, young people are often the least catered to by art house cinemas. More often than not, they tend to select films that appeal to older audiences with their youth remit left solely to ‘parent and baby’ screenings. Consequently, children and young adults miss out on the wealth of different contemporary perspectives offered by world cinema and so remain quite happy to settle for whatever is showing at their local Cineworld.

This isn’t helped by the fact that moving image education still struggles to be implemented across schools in the UK. Despite repeated efforts, teachers cite a lack of resources and adequate training to properly implement film into the classroom. As a result, DVDs can often become a babysitter for pupils rather than a key part of their cultural development and awareness. It remains to be seen whether the ambitions of 21st Century Literacy, a consortium set up by the UK Film Council and Film Education among others, can be achieved.

In response to these issues, GFT Learning set up the Glasgow Youth Film Festival to offer young people a chance to help devise, promote and run their own film festival. Programmed by a worryingly cool bunch of teenagers, GYFF aims to reach out to young Glaswegians through their love of movies while supporting their talents and aspirations. This year almost 7,000 young people attended GYFF events; it was such a refreshing sight to see so many young faces in our cinemas. (Previously, members of our Youth Group told me that they felt unwelcome by older GFT patrons who thought they’d only talk throughout the film.) The response we had was overwhelming and encouraging enough to safely say that there’s a youth audience in Glasgow interested in films from around the globe.

Over the next few years for GYFF, I hope to increase the opportunities for young people to talk to people who work in the moving image industries – not just directors or actors but writers, graphic designers, animators and editors who all make a living from their passion for film, TV and video games. Like the rest of the arts, the film industry remains horribly white and middle class, in spite of the occasional tokenistic scheme for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds. Anyone who aspires to work in this industry is expected to intern for free or live off small bursaries. I had to do this for almost 2 years and I doubt that it will change anytime soon, no matter how legally grey internships appear.

There’s more to young movie fans than a lucrative demographic to market blockbusters to. Exhibitors, distributors, not to mention teachers, should encourage young people to look at moving image in a reflective and creative way rather than be passive observers that we often assume them to be. Thankfully youth film festivals such as GYFF, Discovery and Future Film, alongside the exciting developments promised by 8 1/2 Foundation, demonstrate the growing commitment to future generations of cinemagoers. With the falling costs of HD technology and the increasing ease of distributing films online, I’m hopeful that all young people will continue to be inspired by the flickering images around them – from the glow of a TV, the hum of a projector or even the hypnotic whirl of your mum’s dirty washing.

*According to UK Film Council’s 2009 Statistics Handbook

Images of ABC Muirend taken from Scottish Cinemas site

A number of years back, The Sunday Times suggested that I was the first person in the world to create a piece of art using e.coli bacteria. Initially, it was a bit strange to be recognised for creating art out of a substance that is best known for its ability to make a human seriously ill, but I quickly got used to it as I realised that the story itself was an fascinating anecdote.

The process started when I was dealt the challenge of designing an interpretation of the MTV logo under the simple brief of the word ‘virus’. Before I continue, it is worth pointing out that in my final year of studies my aim was to experiment as much as humanly possible, and that included artistic mediums that had never been used before.

My idea was to literally grow the symbol using bacteria and record the process occurring with time-lapse equipment. Now, I suspect that some of you are wondering why I would choose to do this, so I will endeavor to explain. As a visual artist I am attracted to the investigation of the positive and the negative. In particular, I find it the greatest challenge to transform a substance that once held negative aesthetic connotations into something that is utterly beautiful.

Once I had fully resolved my concept, I approached various commercial and education bio labs to further research the practicalities of the work. After hours of e-mail correspondence, I was fortunate to get through to a professor by the name of Chris French at the University of Edinburgh, who said that growth into the shape of the famous mark would not be a problem using e.coli bacteria. I have to confess, at that point I was a little worried. The most dangerous strains of e.coli can kill, which puts a whole new spin on suffering for one’s art.

I pulled on a white coat and protective gloves and carried out several experiments by growing the fluorescent, genetically modified e.coli bacteria under controlled conditions. I continued the pursuit until ultimately, I was happy with the result. It was only then that I took the footage and carried out post-production on a Mac.

The Process

Stage 1
The invisible genetically modified e.coli bacteria was ‘drawn’ directly on to the petri dish.

Stage 2
Each experiment was carried out under ‘controlled conditions’ for optimum growth.

Stage 3
The petri dish was placed on top of a light box and the growth was recorded by using time-lapse equipment over a 48 hour period.

Stage 4
The successful result with accidental contamination.