Detail view, “I am the horizon”, (2015) Hugo Canoilas, 2015, Cooper Gallery DJCAD. Photo: Ross Fraser McLean.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I studied art from the 9th grade on. Since the age of 15 I wanted to be an artist. Although my perception of it developed, I have lived this activity intensively since then.

I studied my BA degree for 5 years (3 years painting and two years fine art) in a small town in Portugal called Caldas da Rainha. I believe no one made this school his or her first choice but the last possibility. The result was a hippie, very experimental school that started from 6pm, when we would return home to make dinner for friends, go out and go wild. It was the time to reinvent ourselves and do our own thing. We did a lot of self-organised projects and we worked with little means. The last 2 years of the 5-year course brought in subjects like Political Studies that increased our capacity to think and establish our own ethos.

I was an assistant to a writer and translator of philosophy who had worked as an artist for 20 years. The books he translated shaped my readings from the age of 15. I also worked for the artist Pedro Cabrita Reis who taught me a lot and gave me a greater capacity to work.

Where do you make your work?
I live in Vienna, Austria, where I have a studio that I share with Christoph Meier and Nicola Pecoraro. We have a strong sense of community, and there’s also place for critical sarcasm, since a joke can push the work somewhere else with its critical distance. I could also say that I work everywhere, because I read in the toilet, in bed, on the metro; I work directly in galleries or institutional exhibition spaces and I love to work directly in the streets. It’s hard to disconnect when I’m working and when I’m not. And this is wrong! One should be critical to this neo-liberal way of working. Labour is a key tool to transform the way we live. On the other hand, art is not exactly labour… it’s a job but it’s also a pleasure…

Detail view, Low (2013-15), from the exhibition Someone a long time ago, now., Hugo Canoilas, 2015, Cooper Gallery DJCAD. Photo: Ross Fraser McLean.

Installation view, I Like Your Art Much (2015), Hugo Canoilas from the exhibition Someone a long time ago, now., Hugo Canoilas, 2015, Cooper Gallery DJCAD. Photo: Ross Fraser McLean.

What is your work process/technique?
All and none. I do everything and nothing. I don’t want to be a specialist and I don’t want to be recognised for my skills. Art being understood as a skill is like judging the work of a writer by his calligraphy.

Can you describe what a typical day is like?
Let me say that I’m plural! I am many things… I aim to be in permanent motion. I have this erotic-Dionysian force that is the opposite of the jubilation of the fixed, achieved form or idea. So I don’t repeat many things in my everyday life (i.e. having the same breakfast for years) apart from taking my daughter to school and going back home early in the evening to have dinner with my family.

Installation view, Visitors, (2015), To be read aloud, To be read aloud (2014) and Chevy, (2015), from the exhibition Someone a long time ago, now., Hugo Canoilas, 2015, Cooper Gallery DJCAD. Photo: Ross Fraser McLean.

Performance photo, Jeffrey goes to Dundee, (2015) Performance during the Preview of the exhibition Someone a long time ago, now., Hugo Canoilas, 2015, Cooper Gallery DJCAD. Photo: Ross Fraser McLean.

Where do you find your inspiration?
I don’t know if this word is used in the right way. Usually “inspiration” pushes us back to the cliché in art and I’m not into this. Taking the word as it is I inspire as much as I can from the world, from the whole and I try to give it back to that whole that is the people. Since I aim to have what I don’t have, I think and make, in ways that will produce a change of my self; to be another or to try to live many lives in one life; following your question, I’m inspired by the absolute otherness.

What are your future plans?
When my daughter goes to University I would love to move to the countryside and build a house and have my garden with my wife. Maybe we would invite friends or open it to all, like a small non “ecophagic” way of living with the contradiction of going somewhere else to exhibit from time to time. I could dedicate my time to working in a barn, behind the house, building a secretive work that could be developed through the years. Plough in my stomach, work without serving anyone else’s project or agenda (artistic or political), that is the only way you can respect the whole. The whole should be a space of convergence of all differences, even the non-negotiable ones.

Detail view, I Like Your Art Much (2015), from Francisco Sousa Lobo to Hugo Canoilas, for the exhibition Someone a long time ago, now., Hugo Canoilas, 2015, Cooper Gallery DJCAD.

Hugo Canoilas with painting in bed, 2015, Los Angeles. Courtesy of the artist and Workplace Gallery, UK.

Someone a long time ago, now. is on display at Cooper Gallery, DJCAD until 10 April.

All photos courtesy of Hugo Canoilas, Cooper Gallery DJCAD and Workplace Gallery, UK unless otherwise stated.

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Can you tell us a bit about your background – how did you first get into photography?
It is a bit of a serendipitous story. My roommate Mike Dewey got me this vintage Minolta film camera for my birthday about 2 years ago and as soon as I held it in my hand I was hooked. There was something about the analog process that made me fall in love with capturing a moment. Ever since then I have had some sort of camera slung around my shoulder whenever I step out the door in the morning.

How would you describe your process?
As someone who is self-taught, I find the best form of education is to take every shot you would regret not taking. It is pretty simple but so far it has not steered me wrong. When I get stuck or am not sure what to do, the best way for me to break through is take a bunch of bad photos and figure out how they could be improved. Once I have done my selects I typically pull the image first into Lightroom for things like color correction and then onto Photoshop for detailed adjustments.

Film photography or digital?
I enjoy aspects of both but I have switched to digital for the most part for logistical reasons. I will never stop shooting film though. Every picture has this extra splash of color that adds to a shot’s character.

We love that you give away outstanding images for free every week, but why do you do it?
This project all stemmed from the idea that if I started to become a shutter junkie, pictures would just waste away on a hard drive. I felt that was unfair to the energy I put into each one. I am in awe day in and day out by people’s creativity and, through my web design career, owe a lot of my value to others who have taken the time to explain their process for the sake of contributing to a wonderful community. This is my response to their selflessness.

You have traveled the globe and captured some stunning images. Where would you return to?
That is a loaded question because I would probably go back everywhere if I had the opportunity. My favorite country recently was Iceland because of the culture and the out of this world landscapes.

What photographers do you find most inspiring?
I have the pleasure of being friends with some insane natural talent who continually set a really high bar. I look up to Bret Lemke and Taylor McCutchan for composition and color. Mike Dewey has a masterful eye for color, which I am perpetually jealous of, and look to everything he does as a challenge to catch up. I have also amassed quite a collection of inspiration on Instagram from people like Noah Sahady, Alex Strohl, Matt Bauer, Humza Deas, Jimmy Marble, Daniel Zvereff and Porter Counts, to name a few that I am constantly humbled by.

Tell us a bit about your day job.
By day I design websites for Thrive Consulting Group. I spend a lot of time in Illustrator trying to figure out how to make a user experience tell a story and a brand. The beauty of my job is no two things I create are solved the same way. Always being challenged in some fashion keeps things fresh and exciting.

What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring photographer?
Do not get discouraged by details or complexity when you first start out. At the end of the day taking the shot whether it be good or bad is progress. You can learn equally as much if not more from a photo that is not your best by looking at how you did it and thinking through how you will do it differently the next time around. Trying to figure out all the variables can stifle action. Go shoot! Something you get will be great and it only gets easier over time.

See Jay’s growing collection of freely downloadable images here.

More: Website | YouTube | Twitter

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In advance of their show this month, Glasgow based sound/art/performance collective 85A talked to Central Station about Cargo, Camera…Action!…

In a video about Cargo, Camera…Action! Dom Hastings describes the art scene in Glasgow as “DIY & grassroots.” How would you describe it?

There isn’t so much commercial presentation in Glasgow. There’s only really two commercial galleries. I’m sure a lot of artists would like to have more opportunities in that way, but for us it becomes more of a breeding ground for different artists getting together to create different types of events, heavily inspired from the music and arts scenes mixing.

It’s a way of getting things done and learning from each other, even from other people’s mistakes. There’s such a huge arts community with loads of people doing things and that’s really inspiring. Even if you’re not necessarily part of it, you’re friends with everyone and there’s a supportive community in what you’re trying to do.

Cargo, Camera…Action – Photo: Eoin Carey

How did the collaboration with Glasgow Film come about?

The first collaboration was Jan Švankmajer for the Glasgow Film Festival in 2013 at the closing party. Glasgow Film approached us. That was the first official commission that we did. It was a matinee to an evening performance with ten mini-cinemas in it. We were screening Švankmajer’s early animations, his short films and made an immersive environment that people could walk around in. It was a mixture between more focused theatrical sit-down performances and then just stuff that you could stumble upon. Everything was bespoke to the film and we responded to his films to create a cinema environment.

The audience had to interact with the performance, for example if they wanted to watch this one film they had to be led around by a grim reaper with a chain. You had to go to a restaurant and book your table and when you got served there was a big slab of meat with a screen in it. It brought a new audience to Švankmajer as well as bringing out the older audience. Those films are nearly twenty-five years old so we were bringing the Surrealist out from under the rug and mixing the visual arts and film audiences.

From there, they approached us. We also had some ideas about doing something for the Commonwealth. The commission came about from that, from being on the scene and doing lots of film-based works. Their brief for the commission, was to transform underused locations along the River Clyde and make them into bespoke cinemas. That’s what we’ve done consistently; take over disused spaces and make them into cinemas.

85A & GFF present Jan-Svankmajer – Photo: Neil-Davison

So if you could use any disused space in the world what would it be?

Chernobyl? There’s a few spaces in Glasgow we’ve got our eye on discovering. We don’t necessarily go out looking for spaces. Usually, something finds us. Either we stumble across a space and we all respond to it or someone gives us a space. Things are corrupt, decayed, industrial. When we’ve been asked to do something, like recently with Dark Behaviour in the Arches in a nice space, the first thing we do is go ‘where’s the rubbish, where’s the stuff?’ We make a space look messy. There’s not really any shortage of places like this. We’re quite easy on the requirements and pre-requisites.

Last year, we made ourselves a community interest company. That means we’re able to go to businesses and parks and ask for disused warehouses and are able to get rates relief. It’s a good deal because there’s an exchange which isn’t monetary. The more people that go in there, the more it keeps the place alive a little bit instead of this massive space sitting empty. That’s Glasgow, isn’t it? You just get given spaces if you start looking! We’ve never paid for a space ever and that’s been ten years of working in buildings.

How do you go about creating a performance? What’s your creative process like?

Torturous! We have brainstorming meetings and drawing sessions at the very start. It’s all heads together and then we maybe naturally split off and develop things and bring them back to the group constantly. Because we are unfunded and most of our work is commission based, we have to apply to make work. So we have to devise an answer to a brief and come up with something before it gets made and get the concept sketch. It’s accepted, if you’re lucky and then we decide to do something totally different!

It would be pure luxury to have paid rehearsal times throughout the year for different things, but it just doesn’t work like that. It comes together in a more organic way of whoever is working with whoever and creating something. Life is the stage. We get paid from our other jobs.

A lot of things start as casual conversations between a couple of people and then it’s just like ‘ that’s an amazing idea!’ and you get a call ‘ alright, we’re going to do it like this!’ It has been a real treat over the last few months, we’ve got a studio, an HQ with a rehearsal space and a warehouse. It’s where we will build our stage; a full-scale 20 metre deep, 20 metre wide stage. We can practice all the kinetic elements on set and with all the props. With the show, we’re effectively performing it five times in one day and we’ve got different music acts for each one. There will be a tempo change within that so we’re going to bring the musicians in to do rehearsals.

With such large performance elements, how do you go about rehearsing?

In Glasgow we’re blessed with big living rooms and big bedrooms. So we work like this or we work on site when we’ve built the show. On one occasion we had the workspace in The Glue Factory one week prior to the show. Right towards the end you can find a space somewhere.

Cargo, Camera…Action – Photo: Eoin Carey

What should audiences expect from Cargo, Camera…Action?

They’re totally vital to the performance. If they don’t show up, the film is not going to be complete! We’re filming the last scenes of a film that we’re making and they’re the extras of the film. They’ll have some quite important jobs to do in making the film resonate and come to life. They should expect lots of music.

It’s a promenade experience with a café and the backstage crew bar, but really since the audience are the extras, it’s for them. It’s an all day wrap party. There’s talent scouts and mobile make-up station to prepare our extras. Then they’ll come for the shoot and they’ll have to do what the director says.

We stumbled across an article in the Scotsman back in February with the title ‘Cannibal Rats in Ghost Ship head to Scotland.’ This is the film that we’re shooting the final scenes of. We’re making a big cargo set. We’ve got cannibal rats.

85A & Glasgow Film Cargo, Camera, Action! Launch Event.

Durational performances are quite long, what are some of the challenges you face when performing?

Not enough hours in the day and not enough energy drinks to go around. It’s like giving birth, really tough at the time but afterwards you forget how hard it was and you look at what you’ve created. That’s what theatre and live performances are. It’s the adrenaline people feed off. A lot of it is down to the people that come to work with us as well. It’s not for the faint-hearted!

The real challenge is making a living in between shows. Once we get to the point where there’s a week until the show, we’re in familiar territory. With a long lead-in like this one has, it’s making sure that you can be available to do the work and the devising can be tough as well. As we’re getting more established and recognised, there’s an expectation that we need to come up with another good show. Then there’s pressure and the dynamics of a big group. It’s the big family syndrome of all of us trying to get along with each other and be fulfilled creatively. As you grow or become more recognised, there are challenges that come with that; making new work together whilst maintaining an income.

Cargo, Camera…Action! is our biggest show to date in a lot of different ways. We like to make it so that each person who comes to our shows has a good seat. When you go to these big events and there’s an aerial performer 200 feet away from you and this massive crowd, you feel like nobody. That’s why we’re doing the same show five times instead of doing it just once because then everybody is going to get a good seat.

We’ve taken down the amphitheatre’s capacity quite considerably to make it more intimate. This has always been so important throughout the history of all of our work. Our cast for this show is up to thirty. So it’s thirty to three hundred. We think that’s a good ratio. People call us mad for this, saying that it won’t last, that it isn’t sustainable. We think that’s what makes this special.

See 85A in Cargo, Camera…Action! on 26 July at the Clyde Amphitheatre. The event is free but some parts of the events are ticketed. For more information see the Glasgow Film website.  For more Cargo, Camera…Action! see our featured event. Want more 85A? Read our first Q&A with them here.

Photos courtesy of 85A and Glasgow Film. Interview by Madeleine Schmoll.

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Jim took some time to answer some questions about his work:

You tell your stories using both image and text. I’ve noticed some videos as well with images and recorded text. Are you considering moving towards film?
I’m certainly embracing it, film, as another tool to share stories. I’ve found each discipline has their own ways of focusing and can be viewed, experience singularly or as a whole. Photographs and text have a great relationship when presented together, interviews render a deeper understanding and it’s always been of great importance to me to share images that have supporting text that acts as a kind of pathway into them, into the person sharing their story. Film is an extension of this. For me, all options are open, all ways of sharing are of equal importance, all have their ways of delivering information and it’d be a failing to not explore them use them as the tools they are and sharing across multiple disciplines give an audience multiple options, if they have found a particular story through stills, a film only serves to take them farther within the story.

On that note, what can photography do that film can’t?
Photography, I just love the pace of experiencing a still image, it’s so immersive, we might live in a world where time can be dictated by the short time it takes to click a mouse, the goal is to extend that time, to present images, within their context, supported by text to eliminate any overlay of assumption. I don’t intend for images to be art, for them to be a experience to leave guesswork or assumptions, they exist to document and in turn to share, vehicles of moments, they really transport us within themselves, and the people, stories they contain too, transported from one time, place to that of the viewer, ultimately it’s about bringing people closer together, closer to lives, situations, moments with the aim to break down walls of misunderstanding, stereotyping, we really need to try to cease judging one another based upon reinforced characters perpetuated by mass media and start listening to each other and discovering ways to understand all we have in common.

Which come first, the stories or the images?
They always evolve together. First though, always, comes listening. Everything comes from the fertile grounds of communication, asking questions then being quiet and really listening. I’ll make images through conversations, recording audio files of conversations, sometimes filming and that all serves as the foundations for a story, from that starting point I’m then able to follow it’s natural path, shooting straight documentary where needed, shooting portraits. It’s very organic, though, you’re planting seeds, tending to them and then watching them grow.

You mentioned that you want people to be comfortable and for the camera to disappear. You’re very involved in these people’s lives. How would you describe the relationship between what you make and the difficult emotions that come with it?
Absolutely, the last thing I’m interested in is a flying visit to the surface of someone elses life and taking a photograph of them looking at my camera. So, I spend a lot of time getting to know people, to better appreciate and understand them, though I’d say this is an extension of who I am, I love getting to know people, it just happens that this way of being is beneficial for stories, the time and self invested, by all parties, is always the key to the camera becoming invisible.

It can be hard, emotionally, shooting long form, especially when your witness to someones pain, or fear, or death. I’ve had a couple of people very close to me pass away, both played a huge part within the series and their passing hit me as profoundly as would any person close to me in life. I’ve never seen the camera as a shield to emotions, it’s not removing me, a step back, if anything, it’s bringing me closer, which is both my honour and privilege.

Life, though, is filled with beginnings and endings, as a carer I’ve become very used to witnessing pain, both physical and mental but rather than making me tune it out, harden to it, it’s just enabled me to learn to understand it, to listen and in turn do what’s needed versus doing what I perceive needs to be done, which most often is the wrong thing!, you have to learn to be more understanding, most all of the lessons I have learned caring for my mother have served me well in making documentary.

It’s important to have an internal relationship, dialogue, to know where the drive comes from, the fuel, for me, it’s always been about redressing the imbalance of how people are stereotyped, judged… I’m split between a state of continual awe at the strength it takes people to endure and angered at the often brutal ways people are treated, empathy is an energy, anger is an energy, both can be used, with the right focus, they become the hand that you hold to see you through.

When you’re editing your film how do you narrow down your selection of images? What things are you looking for specifically?
I really do a lot of what I do instinctively, that instinct is reinforced by every experience… I’ll always try to present a completed story with an element of linear narrative, chronological events punctuated with moments of reflection, so pairing images up with interviews and accounts is something I have often done.

Could you tell us a bit more about your process?
For the bulk of the series I’ve been using a Nikon D700 with an old 28mm AF f2.8, which is a lovely lens and recently a 24mm f1.4 which is such an enabler, able to shoot really fast in low light, which I often find myself shooting in,  and of course my trusty Sekonic light meter which I use for every photograph. I’m embarking on a portrait series this year, in film, and for that I am using a Mamiya 7ii with a 65mm, so I’m very excited for that.

Your method of documenting reminds me of the work of John Grierson whose documentary work focused on social issues and emphasised the extraordinary in the everyday. What do these stories mean to you?
Thank you, that’s a wonderful compliment. The people, the stories, they are a huge part of my life and from pretty much day one, I’ve viewed these stories as important within the now and important for the future, not important in the sense of my having made them, I’m merely a conduit, but important for the people within them, the issues they raise, the time we are all within. I really see it as a resistance, there is a war happening, the lower classes (what a terrible premise for any culture to have) so often are demonised in the now, maligned and used as pawns in the game, appropriated as tools to empower editorial or political ideology.

I’ve always seen the human being before the labels we are so often taught to adhere to one another and I’ve always been aware of the chapters of back story that lead to a defining moment. We live in times of fast food truths, delivered in bite sized portions, using all the tricks of advertising, we exist in a time of being sold versions of the truth with the singular goal of swaying, shaping opinion, rather than bringing us closer, honing our empathy, it’s often used to divide us, fracture us, cutting prejudice into us, my only hope for these stories is that in some way, they unite us, bring us back to a time where we took the time to not become a panel of judges, life is not about being a self appointed  judge, making snap decisions based upon a very thin experience, life is not fucking Pop Idol or X Factor, and the result of being swayed by such divisive presentation of fact via the mass media is less tolerance for many whom need only to be understood and embraced, the stories are about building communities, not tearing them down.

All images courtesy of J A Mortram.

Interviewed by Madeleine Schmoll

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Congratulations to Martin Boyce on winning this year’s Turner Prize.

We’ve been extremely privileged here on Central Station to have had Martin join us on the site. We’ve pulled out a couple of features here so you can join us in celebrating this brilliant win by a brilliant artist.

In February 2010 the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre exhibited Martin’s No Reflections. The artwork was re-housed at the DCA after being created for the Venice Biennale 2009. It just so happened that Central Station was holding a Pop-up event in Dundee during the show, and when Martin told us that he would come and talk us through the artwork we were chuffed to say the least – as were the members who joined us that day. Here is an account of Martin Boyce’s artist talk at our Dundee Pop-up.

Later that year, Martin participated in a discussion for the closing of the International Book Festival for the release of Sarah Lowndes’ book Social Sculpture: The Rise of the Glasgow Art Scene. We took the opportunity to speak to Martin Boyce before the event about his experiences of studying and working in the city. Here is the result of that conversation.

If you missed the announcement, you can see it here.

To see some photos from our day in Dundee with Martin Boyce, look here.

Martin’s winning artwork is still on display until Jan 8, 2012. Look here to find out more.

Filmmaker, artist and writer Harun Farocki has made a staggering 90 films during his 40 year career. He is best known for his experimental documentaries which explore and challenge the way we interpret visual language through subject matter as diverse as the making of bricks, the financial system, shopping malls and the Gulf War. An exhibition of his work will be on display at the CCA, Glasgow, 16 February – 3 March 2011. Here he talks to Central Station about his work and the new filmic literacy that he believes defines our era.

Tell me about your exhibition, Comparison via a Third, which will be taking place at the CCA, Glasgow this month.

Comparison via a Third is a title of a work I made some years ago. It shows how bricks are made and used in totally different societies, in rural Africa, in cities of India and in European high tech factories and constructions sites. A dual projection in which I try to compare without judging. We decided to name the exhibition so because all the works try to find approaches in which one has to compare images. A montage based on equality.

You have worked across several media: cinema, television and installations in galleries. Is there one that you feel most comfortable working in? If so, why?

Cinema is my ideal. But not the existing – quite marginalized – distribution system we find today. A quotidian and extraordinary cinema at the same time. When working for television I always tried to make works which referred to a cinema to come. Also in galleries or more generally: in art spaces I try to keep the options open. We are in a diaspora hoping for a return to Jerusalem. But I can’t imagine how this city will look.

You also are a writer, how do you see your writing relating to your work in moving image?

Film structure can profit from the textual legacy: from novels and essays. Also vice versa. The transfer is not an easy one though. One has to respects the moving image genre’s autonomy. Television was mainly a kind of illustrated radio and also the web is language based.

Today we see people in Egypt, filming the protests on their mobile phones, is everyone a filmmaker now? And what do you see as the implications of this new relationship with producing moving images?

It is the strength of the word based culture that every reader can write. In this sense already the vhs recorder was strongly influential. It was the first step to film literacy and the ubiquitous cameras are the next step. Although the cinema and television system is in a bad state, wonderful and innovative films are made worldwide. This is due to the new literacy. An audience has emerged which can “read” films far better than ever.

Which filmmakers working today do you find most exciting?

Over the last decades Godard was always the guiding figure. Due to the developments described above I could make a long list today. Claire Denis is a strong voice and Gus Van Sant too. I could also name the Iranian cinema. I try to give up the concept of the auteur and look at film from a more structural point of view.

Harun Farocki: Comparison via a Third is on at the CCA, Glasgow, 16 Feb – 3 March 2011.

Find out more about Harun Farocki at http://www.farocki-film.de/

Image: Mike Nelson Studio Apparatus, 1998. Courtesy and copyright the artist.

Acclaimed British artist Simon Starling talks to Central Station about Never The Same River (Possible Futures, Probable Pasts) at Camden Arts Centre. The show, curated by Starling, draws on the venue’s history and past exhibitions and includes work by over 30 celebrated artists and designers. It runs until 20 Feb 2011.

Never The Same River (Possible Futures, Probable Pasts) is centred on the history and space of the Camden Arts Centre. What is your own connection to the place and how did this influence your approach to the show?

I have a long history as both a member of the viewing public and an exhibitor at Camden Arts Centre. I started going to see exhibitions there in the late 80s and was invited initially in 1999 as an artist in residence and then in 2000 to exhibit. I installed a work entitled ‘Burn-Time’, which in part involved building a brick stove in one of the galleries to cook some eggs produced in a custom-built henhouse. The stove was built using bricks from one of the Centre’s walls and during the exhibition some architects arrived to start planning the refurbishment of the building – they drew my brick stove into the plans of the building as if it had always been there. This was doubly poignant as the architect of the original library that now houses was my great, great uncle, Arnold S. Tayler.

How did you go about delving into the history of the Camden Arts Centre and its previous exhibitions? What did you use as a starting point for the show?

Many of the works in the exhibition are things I’ve seen “in the flesh” over the years – things that left an impression or influenced my own practice in various ways. Added to this, I spent time rooting around in the archives, digging up works that push and pull at our understanding of time. Selecting the exhibition involved taping into the collective memory of the institution, too – talking with people who’ve been involved in one way or another over the years. I decided at a certain point that the works should be installed in exactly the same position that they had been positioned in the building the first time around – collapsing fragments of the exhibition history into a single moment.

Image: Katja Strunz, Untitled, 2009. Courtesy and copyright the artist.

Is there any one piece in the show that you feel you have a particular affinity towards or were particularly impressed by? If so what and why?

There are a number of works that were there at the beginning when developing the concept for the exhibition – things that I built the exhibition around. The film “The Relationship of Inner and Outer Space” by Argentine artist David Lamelas was made in 1969 at the moment of the first moon landings, and is one of these key works. This beautiful film starts by interrogating the infrastructure of the Centre but ends with science fiction-like musings on a future in space. Mike Nelson phantom ‘Studio Apparatus for Camden Arts Centre’ was also an important element and is perhaps the shows most disorientating déjà-vu moment. This hugely complex structure, initially built over 10 years ago, has taken Mike six weeks to rebuild, and is part of his ongoing interest in reiterating or redeploying previous works. The Studio Apparatus were a set of speculations or projections of future works and have now quite literally become that in their own right.

Your previous work has often been fascinated with the idea of circularity and transformation. Do you see this theme present in Never the Same River?

I’ve been very interested in trying to defy the temporal norms of contemporary life – turning back time, slowing things down – and that kind of interest has very much fed into the making of this exhibition.

Image: Oliver Godow, The art works that got cut away, Camden Arts Centre London, 2002 (part of the artist commission 2002-04). Silver gelatin print. Courtesy and copyright the artist.

How did the process of curating the show shed light on your own practice?

The curating of the exhibition, the hard graft was in large part taken care of by the team at Camden. I had the luxury of selecting the exhibition and my approach to this was something that’s very close to my own work – I’m often working with pre-existing artworks or design objects – finding ways to reinvent them as tools to think about the present and future.

Find out more about Never the Same River here.

New low-budget British film brilliantlove has been labelled one of the most sexually explicit films to come out of the UK in years. Central Station talks to its director Ashley Horner about the difficulties of casting such a project, his reasons for showing such graphic sex on screen and how he was influenced by queer cinema.

How would you describe brilliantlove?

As a love story that isn’t afraid to show all facets of an intense romance.

What has the reaction been to the sexual content of the film?

Outraged in the US, a little prudish in the UK, but generally it’s been considered a realistic and beautiful depiction of a young couple in love, making love.

What did you want to explore through the depiction of sex in the film?

At one stage the film was called EROTOLOGY and Sean Conway, the screenwriter and I were very interested in making a film that explored sexual love and lovemaking, within the context of what makes something erotic and the difference between the erotic and the pornographic. But actually in the film we wanted the actual ‘sex scenes’ to be about moving the narrative on and deepening the characterisation and relationship between Manchester and Noon. At the same time as providing motivation for the story, with Manchester documenting the affair with his photography.

British cinema has an uneasy relationship with sex onscreen was it your intention to challenge and explore that?

Absolutely, over the last ten years I’ve seen a lot of European and Asian cinema, and that European realist tradition never shies from all facets of a relationship or event. I was guilty of it in my first film, being coy about the act of sex in a scene. I felt it was time to make a film with a strong narrative, which also explored a sexual, loving relationship.

How did you go about casting? Was it difficult given the nature of the roles?

Almost impossible. The script was very explicit, in fact more explicit than the finished film. It scared agents and casting directors immensely. And consequently it made the casting process a lot simpler, as about 90% of the actors in the UK were immediately ruled out. I cast the film myself, via spotlight and casting call pro, I hid nothing and those that were interested were shown the full screenplay before they were invited to a casting. One agent called me up and said: “Now you can be straight with me, is it a porn film?”. It made me laugh out loud.

You use audio clips of the female character Noon telling explicit stories – how did you come up with this device and what did you want it to achieve?

When we were first writing the screenplay, my plan was to make a film that didn’t have a lot of dialogue in it, but at the same time we wanted to give both characters depth without having them talk all the time. The dictaphone diary became a way of adding another layer to Noon’s character at the same time as playing with the narrative, as the dictaphone voiceover jumps around in time. The idea came about during a session on the script in Berlin, where we were discussing things that you write about when you are really crazy over someone. Letters don’t work in movies and the dictaphone voiceover became a powerful device that frames the film.

What is your favourite scene in the film?

When I was shooting it was the scene where Manchester marks his territory by pissing on a fence, once he has spoken to Franny on the payphone. When I watch the finished film I really enjoy the scene where Noon goes to visit her Dad and he tells the story of his new penknife.

Were there any films that you were influenced by in the making of the film?

I looked at quite a lot of queer cinema, which is much braver than straight cinema when it comes telling love stories. I found a VHS at a car boot, about 3 months before we shot, it was a Japanese film called A Woman called Abe Sada made in the mid 70s by Noboru Tanaka, and while it wasn’t an influence, it was a fascinating take on what makes an erotic film, especially one shot in a confined space.

brilliantlove is currently showing at selected cinemas across the UK. Find out more at www.brilliantlove.co.uk

Andy Sim and his band Fear Wasabi were the chosen winners of our soundtrack project which saw them working with visual artist Roderick Buchanan and Glasgow’s state-of-the-art Savalas Studios to create the soundtrack to two short films, Tattoo and Lament. I caught up with them to find out about their experiences of the project and their phobia of blogging!

What was the most valuable part of the experience?

Andy: The people. I think we all learned a great deal from all those whom we worked with along the way, particularly Giles and the guys from Savalas, Gaia, and of course Roddy.

Phil: The middle, in between realisation and expectation.

Imogen: Apart from the relationships that we made with people, the technical knowledge.

What was the most memorable moment of the project?

Andy/Phil: So many to chose from…I’ll go for when Roddy really started to connect with us mixing Tattoo. What had started off as a slightly awkward process as we all tried not to step on each others’ toes, burst into life as we debated the best way of ending the piece (fade out? stop dead? when?) eventually leading us to all leaping out of our seats gesticulating wildly at the particular note which we felt it would be best to end on.

Tom: Walking into Savalas for the first time.

What was it like working with Roddy Buchanan?

All: We had some good times hanging out with Roddy. In any project, identifying roles is important. Roddy had very strong ideas of the visual content, but (I think it’s fair to say) not so much the sound…while we obviously wanted to support Roddy’s works, we also felt for ourselves that we had to make a soundtrack that had an identity beyond simply accompanying the visuals. So in a way Roddy became our boss, which we don’t think he wanted any more than us. It was interesting and educational. He taught us a lot about sticking up for your work. A good experience.

What was it like working with Giles Lamb and Savalas studios?

Andy: We had a terrific time at Savalas, and in Giles I think we found someone who was able to really connect with our approach to music. It’s mentioned in one of the blogs, but there was one point when Giles went off and left us for an hour to do some mixing, and instead we bashed a violin and recorded some weird de-tuned noise from it. On his return, Giles just grinned and said ‘cool sound’. And obviously Micheal and Ian’s astonishing speed of operation and thought just blew us away at the mixing stage.

Tom: It was blinding working with state-of-the art equipment.

How did you find the experience of documenting the project through Central Station?

Imogen: In principle it’s a great idea and I’m glad we did it, but in practise it was a tiresome obligation. I want to have the time for it, but I don’t.

Tom: I think that if I was on more of a mission, I’d have time for it, and I do see the validity in it, but it’s just not part of my life.

Andy: Initially we weren’t keen on blogging. As the project developed everyone from Fear Wasabi became more interested and keen to be involved and in a way the process fed back into our own thoughts as we created the soundtracks. The thing about the internet though, is that the process becomes an outcome, and our online diary might one day embarrass us from the past. We just have to wait and see.

From 4-7 November Glasgow will become a global focus point for those working in the performing arts as it hosts the IETM plenary meeting. IETM is a European network representing over 1000 arts practitioners from 45 different countries. The IETM plenary meeting is held biannually at locations across Europe and attracts over 600 delegates. They will be attending a packed programme of events – open to the public too – with a varied and distinguished number of guests, speakers and performers.

Central Station caught up with Steve Slater, producer of IETM Glasgow, to find out more about this exciting event.

What has been your experience of past IETM meetings?

I became a member of IETM while programming Tramway in the mid 1990s. At the time Tramway was still very much involved in maintaining Glasgow’s international profile and maintaining the legacy following the success of Glasgow’s 1990 European City of Culture celebrations. I found that being a member brought me into direct contact with many of the major ‘players’ and arts institutions in Europe. It is a fantastic way of maintaining a consistent dialogue with the wider performing arts sector, allowing for a unique perspective on performance and it’s impact on the arts closer to home.

Because the IETM plenary meetings happen twice a year, in different locations, the constant unifying elements are the people who attend, the relationships that develop over time and the opportunities which are born out of this regular framework of meetings.

What aspect of IETM Glasgow are you looking forward to the most?

I think the thing I’m looking forward to most is the prospect of showing Glasgow off in all its creative glory! The combination of 500 or so international participants, mixed with our own contingent of artists and cultural facilitators over a long weekend, packed with great performances and locations can’t be underestimated – this city is a great place to be creative…

Which guests will you be welcoming to the city?

There are so many, but I guess I’m keen to meet our keynote speakers Mike Daisey and Todd Lester, Americans who are both from New York. Mike is a well known writer and performer, who is very outspoken and confrontational. Todd is very much the academic and activist. In bringing the two of them together for IETM Glasgow, I’m hoping we can really get the participants thinking in new ways about what our sector is engaged with on a broader level; what we can affect as artists and practitioners beyond the artwork itself in social and political terms.

Tell us about the theme of ‘voices’ – how will this be explored?

‘Voices’ is a vehicle for any number of themes and subjects to be dissected during the meeting. It allows us to enter difficult territory on race, integration, activism and equality. As a professional body, the membership of IETM need to keep talking to each other, to find common ground and understanding, especially when faced with difficult times such as these, when funding is being stripped back to the bare minimum.

IETM is an international event, how does it build/draw on Glasgow’s own history of performance?

Bringing IETM to Glasgow has involved a great deal of work and commitment over the past couple of years. Initiated originally by the Scottish Arts Council and continued now as a Creative Scotland project, IETM Glasgow has been able to mark the city’s 20th anniversary of the European City of Culture status. In hosting the meeting and it’s associated programme of performances, tours and events it marks a moment in time, allowing us to witness the living legacy of 1990 and hopefully add something to the ongoing development and enrichment of the arts in Glasgow and Scotland for the future. If I were asked to sum up IETM Glasgow, I’d have to say it was a ‘truly good thing’ in these times of uncertainty. I’d urge everyone involved to make the most of the opportunity to meet, talk, plan and create the future they strive for.

Make friends with IETM Glasgow, join the group and check out the IETM blogs by performance critic Gareth Vile.

Full programme details can be found here.