Ayling & Conroy City Gallery

Ayling & Conroy went for a fairly traditional 'gallery minimal' style for their show in Leicester, rather than their immersive installation at Spectacle last year (which suited my own tastes more). Still, there were some really interesting things there, particularly the painting series based on the prints of Katasushika Hokusai but done in the style of teach yourself to paint guru Bob Ross. Mark Hutchinson (seen talking to Hannah) wrote a good text for the handout publication too.



There was an after show party at The Function Room, Ed DJing, and a small group of us dancing wildly to make up for the lack of participation from everyone else

Le Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe

The Please Excuse Our Appearance residencies & Jacques Nimki's closing party was a picnic on the field at Ikon Eastside. "Smart dress required.”

Planet Alice

Junkplanet were playing in Brum, here's John making a Junk Voodoo stick. It was at Alice's birthday party (left) and I met her lovely friends Tanya & Jon (middle & right). We decorated the living room with junk too, you can see my rubbish bag chain and toilet roll tower in the background

There was string across the room with various things from their bag o junk hung up on it

John and Chris played most of the gig with their backs to the audence, the cool fucks. It was a really intense experience, people crammed against the walls, held there by noise and drones, shaking our organs and working peculiar magic on our brains. They finished off with a humming chorus from the audience which was pretty special, I felt like we were all being initiated into an esoteric cult of Junk worshippers. Hmmmmmm.

larger versions on this Flickr page

Fierce Launch

Went to the opening party for Fierce, there was a big queue for the party, they let people in a block at a time and then we all had queue again for our one free drink, Although somehow, Jo got two, the little party animal

It was Charlie's birthday bash, here she is eating cake with Caitlin, later we all danced ourselves silly as there was nothing else to do there except watch the fish behind the bar

larger pics on this Flickr page

Springhill BCAF Party

Apologies for my lack of blogging, it's been pretty hectic. Here's a quick photo blog for ya!

Reuben and Karin put on a party for the steering group* and friends, we were served by Arnie all night which was lovely. I spent most of the evening playing tunes with David and Liz, Reuben had got a load of old records out and it was like a disco in a charity shop

Ed W rocking out, probably to Sabbath, maybe Motorhead, then he went a bit Fight Club with Joe

Never one to turn down a hat when it drops in front of him, David sporting Ed's, lost when headbanging

links to larger pics on this Flickr page

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* The BCAF steering group organised The Event and are made up of representatives from the artist-led groups a.a.s.; Capital Art Projects; COLONY; [insertspace]; IPS; Modulate; Periscope; 7inch Cinema; Spectacle; Springhill Institute.