Things I am into
A Thing What I Wrote (2020)
Delivered to the University of Cumbria Research Office, Lancaster in a suitcase at 3.30pm on Thursday 27th February 2020. Thankfully then Professor Robert Williams and family took me out for a pint. Now I have no idea what to do with myself… The Peter & nou Handbook: A Field Guide to a Speculative Practice (So…
Read MoreCathy Wilkes in Venice
Of course I’m biased, but Cathy’s show felt like an incredibly important part of the experience of this year’s biennale, carving out a contemplative space with tiny details, softly-made prints and works that needed my care and consideration at an empathic, human level. Difficult, beautiful ghosts. More on Cathy here. More Venice highlights to follow…
Read MoreStan Douglas in Venice
While I enjoyed Stan Douglas’ photographs of ‘speculative histories’ which play sound with a detailed, rich and staged kind of realism, his new film Doppelgänger could have been made to order for me. Not only is it a story of an accidental doubling (or splitting maybe) of a black female astronaut set in a series hyper-real…
Read More6 Key artefacts in Blade Runner 2049
Consummate consumer (or at least, consummate oogler) of screen-used and associated product that I remain, this bonny article highlights Blade Runner 2049’s very deliberate item choices… Can’t believe I’ve not visited Film and Furniture before now. Got there via a frantic search for a vintage blanket which looked like The Shining carpet which I slept under…
Read MoreThe Last Bohemians
Everyone! Bend your ears around hilarious and revealing interviews with brilliant women with The Last Bohemians podcast. Pauline Black! Cosey Fanni Tutti! Bonnie Greer! Break-out star Molly Parkin (‘I wake up. Have sex. With myself.’)
Read MoreDomestic Bliss – GoMA, Glasgow
Pop into Domestic Bliss up in Gallery 4 of GoMA when you are passing. Katie Bruce’s exhibition makes the space seem like new. My work, based on the life of Carson McCullers and from my solo show They are the We of Me (GoMA, 2006) gets to hang out with works by Jacqueline Donachie and…
Read MoreThe Isle of the Dead: The Jumper
Mentioned in Ballard’s The Crystal World and strongly hinted at in Nabokov’s Despair, I’ve always loved Arnold Böcklin’s The Isle of the Dead. Here’s the Basil version… And now I have the jumper. I am the Isle of the Dead – a veritable picture of goth in mohair-blend by Coach. I’ve not loved an item of clothing…
Read MoreHen Ogledd – Mogic
Thanks to CS, I got along to Platform to see Hen Ogledd, my new favourite band, who like eye imagery as much as eye do (wink) and whose new LP Mogic is, like, totally that. I’m trying to use a lyric in my PhD write-up. Let’s see if I can squeeze it in… The tunes…
Read MoreWhat is the quiet life anyway?
Mmmmmm, it involved re-watching Stalker on DVD while reading Geoff Dyer’s Zona. If you thought Stalker was a little swift at times, you know on the speedy side, then I recommend using some of your precious time in this intertextual flip-flop. I managed to stretch things out for an entire Sunday… The quite quiet life…
Read MoreEVERYBODY IN THE PLACE, AN INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF BRITAIN 1984-1992
The other week I went, in the ever-excellent company of UoC Institute of the Arts students, to see the latest at the Modern from Jeremy Deller. It’s fantastic. Of course I liked it – I’m a teacher 4 days most weeks, but it was also great to remember the pre-phone costume and spirit of the…
Read More