Category: Festival

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Festival Fuiji Rock Festival travel Uncategorized

Naeba


So first couple of days on site at Fuji Rock Festival and the site is taking shape. up in the mountains, its hot as hell, but we ain’t complaining. The hospitality is amazing, incredible sushi at squishy’s (i presume its a nick name), and hot geo thermal baths after every  days work and i though i was at a festival, feels like a holiday camp! The sideshows are slowly taking shape and the collection of sideshows and attractions are going to work really well together. We even have a group of indian fakirs coming from india to eat light bulbs and generally amaze us with their feats of strength.


Tea time for the crew….none of that green stuff for our crew, someone brought a industrial box of yorkshire tea with them.

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Festival Fuiji Rock Festival show travel

Last minute dash for the plane


So been beavering away, making stuff for Fuji Rock festival and getting the show together for Tokyo on the 2nd of August. The shippers have just taken the canvases, the spray paints ordered and last minute prizes for the high strikers are being made. I wouldn’t of guessed that i would have traveled to japan for the first time with a fire bell and a large rubber mallet in my bags but that’s the life of a traveling showman for you. The above shot is the last frame in of a time lapse that Calum and Saft films helped make to promote the Show, should be posted online soon (hi res version here). Well thats almost it, got the last mad run around picking up the odds and sods for both the High Strikers and the show and then its on the plane, the next post will be from Japan, but here’s a sneak peek at some of the new work for the show in japan.

Tools of the trade with the carrier of choice….lol

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Festival Friends london

LPG


Family and friends are putting together a new festival venue down in the docklands that you will hear more and more about during the coming months. They start with a free party that is set to rock!  See you there!

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Festival Fuiji Rock Festival sideshow

On a slow boat to Japan

Finally all the pieces slotted into place this Thursday as the crew gathered down in Findon to load the mother of all shipping containers with the set for Fuji Rock Festival in late July. In a secret location deep in the woods the finishing touches were put of the Unfairgrounds sideshows which will accompany the Palace of Wonder outside the Festivals walls.
The weeks painting finished with the tightest load ever seen, it was touch and go whether it would all fit, but with some pushing and shoving the last bits slotted into place.

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Festival Fuiji Rock Festival sideshow

Knuckles

So the deadline looms for all the sideshows to be loaded into the shipping container for its two month trip by sea to Japan. Standing at 4.9m ‘Knuckle Sandwich’ is the sister High Striker for last years  7.5m ‘Old Boney’. The steel framework is still to be attached to the painted facade as is the bell and mechanism. Its going to be a long hard week with the kids striker still to be finished.  Fuji Rock her we come!

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Festival sideshow

Knuckle Sandwich

Below is the new middle sized high striker, ‘Knuckle Sandwich’
the empty scrolls will have the usual rating of strengths from loser to hero. Standing at 4.9m its the little sister of last years 7.3m ‘Old Boney’ . Together with ‘Dem Dancing Bones’ all three will form ‘The Bone Yard’ the ultimate test of strength. check out ‘Old Boney’ or here

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Festival Fuiji Rock Festival london

New High Striker

Loads happening this month. Works underway for two new High Strikers (test your strength machines) for Fuji Rock Festival in July….I know ages away, but the shipping container leaves mid May so better get a wiggle on. Above is the new Kids striker ‘Dancing Bones’ at 3m high it may be a little easier for our littlest hammer swingers to ring the bell. ‘The Knuckle Sandwich’ the sister to the 7.5m Old boney come in at a modest 5m. Hopefully you’ll see them all together at Glastonbury 2013, look out for the ‘Bone yard high strikers’ at a festival near you!

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Festival Friends murals Nuart Stavanger

Herakut outdoor at Nuart

Been waiting for this to come out since last summer’s Nuart. One of my favourite pieces from last year’s festival. What didn’t make the cut was the frantic 2 hours were Hera was caught at the top of a very broken down cherry picker,  while an international crew (an Irish man, a English man, a Canadian and an East German….i know it sounds like the start of a playground joke)  tried to follow the Norweigian instructions to rescue her. Of course filmed by the amazing Saft films.

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Festival group show london

Slag

Slag opens tonight, an anti Valentine show with Carrie Reichardt at the wheel, backed by various Mutoid associates , Nick Reynolds et al. The event will be held at Carrie Reichardt’s studios ……. 199 Acton Lane, Chiswick W4 5DA.
If you didn’t make it down before Christmas…You got to see this shop! Mental nick-nacks sit next to twisted dolls in an anarchist shop in… Chiswick, yes, I know, trust me its a weird afternoon out with a lot of affordable stuff for sale. Heres a sample of what the press said: ” Jesus christ what a whopper of a shop” Daily Mail on Sunday. ” Fuck me i couldn’t believe the bargains” The Sunday Times.

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Festival Nuart Stavanger

Nuart 2011 report

So the dust has settled and aches have been soothed and some distance has been put between myself and the city of Stavanger.  It was my 6th Nuart,  I have exhibited, curated and produced and sometimes all 3 at the same time. This year saw me in purely a production role, helping artists to navigate the beer halls of Tou Scene, Stavanger. We were blessed with unseasonably balmy weather, with a mid twenties 1st of October and weeks of little rainfall. For a year where we did a gallery show there was a hell of a lot of street work done. The sun came out and the lid came off the box of frogs.

The beer halls at the old Brewery consist of a large for hall with 6 17m by 5m chambers running off a large corridor. most people took a whole chamber for them selves. Each one becoming an environment for their characters, themes or installations.  The rooms are large and its a daunting task putting a mark on them. This years artists really took to the task and created some stunning spaces and moods making the space a stage for their art.

Herakut
Tellas
David Choe and DVS-1
Dan Witz
Escif & Huyro
Phelgm
Herbert Baglione

To top it all Nuart had Lucy McLaughlin over to paint a lighthouse just outside town. This two eek project coincided with Nuart and after finishing up early Lucy, Kate and Matt hit town, joining the artists on the streets.

This year Matt and Evan from Juxtapoz made the trip from the states to witness the fun and create a stream of posts live during the week. Couple of great guys and their posts can be found here.

We were lucky we had such good media support, things happen so quick during production that without people like Henrik  who shot stuff for Arrested Motion we would miss a lot of what goes on ourselves. Henriks photos and posts can be found here .

We had a few screw ups, some crossed wires but all in all the production team pulled of one of the smoothest years i’ve ever had at Nuart. There are too many names to mention, some i hardly met, but each one helped achieve off a city wide invasion of art that leaves a lasting legacy on the streets of Stavanger. The show is open from friday to saturday at Tou Scene, but you only have to walk around the town to see what fun we had this year. See you in 2012.