VIDEO BIO'S

In order to give the website some life instead of it being so static, I will be uploading a series of video biographies with everyone! How exciting. So far I have conducted interviews with Taz, Jonathan, and Chris, so I will still need to conduct interviews with Kiran, Joe, Alex, Daniel, Dave and our calligraffist who is as of yet to be discovered!! Blimey. If anyone is available this week, Holla.

Also this week I will be meeting with Joe to whack out some sketches of what the hanging system may look like. This will then be uploaded here so we can have a peek.

RAGGO.

VENUE DILEMMA

Everyone, I have a dilemma. For the second time I have found out that our venue will have to change. On account of the fact that festival season is impending, I cannot change the dates or else I will lose our two very helpful very sick VJ's. I am working hard to combat this but unfortunately for the time being the venue will have to be "TBC" nearer the time if anyone asks.

Also, funding is looking tight. Once again I ask you to think about anyone that I could approach as a sponsor otherwise I'm gonna be doing a hell of a lot of cakesales!!! HAAAA! Oh well...

Peace and Cakes.

POSSIBLE DATE SWAP. FUCK.

So I have recently discovered that on the dates I want, The Sassoon Gallery may not be available. If it comes to it, would everyone still be available in the first week of August? (1st -7th) If not then we may have to sacrifice the venue and find an alternative. Consequently, if anyone knows of anything not too outrageously expensive, HOLLA.

FML.

SASSOON GALLERY

STRESS.

This morning I found out that our link at the New Gallery will be leaving in June and the future of the Surplus Purpose event looked uncertain. In light of this information I contacted New Gallery's owner, Ben Sassoon and had a discussion about the prospect of still using the space. In fact, we came to a new conclusion, that one of his other sites would be more suitable for the events! We are now re-locating to the Sassoon Gallery in Peckham Rye. This will work much better as there are no restrictions re sound and noise levels which means we will have a far less constricted environment and atmosphere to work in. Stellar. Check it out here SASSOON GALLERY.

NO STRESS.

PRODUCTIVITY

Today has been a highly productive day in terms of moving plans forward and solidifying workshops. I met with Jonathan and Taz, two highly talented musicians, dj's, vj's, designers, artists, basically there is not much they can't do, at Taz's office. (It's fucking cool, pictures to follow...)

To clarify what we have discussed:

The workshop will be quite an intense hands on experience. To begin with a demo of the basic principles of VJing techniques and tools will be given by Jonathan and Taz. Depending on how the brief develops they may also give a short tutorial on the basics of scratching. This will help the participants to fine-tune their mixes and get a little more creative. This will also help the participants to build an idea of what they can accomplish in the long-run but also give a realistic breakdown of what they can hope to achieve from the days activity.

Each participant will require the use of a Laptop so as to individually create a data-base of images and to use a temporary version of the Mixing software in order to create their own mixes. Throughout the session the participants will be able to record their mixes which Taz in turn will be able to edit into a show reel for the exhibition. Depending on the ability of the participants at the end of the session, Taz and Jonathan may select the best Vj-ers of the day to VJ live at the private view! Sick shit.

In addition to this Jonathan has suggested the use of a 3D mapping projector to display the visualistations in more of a unique way. This means that the display will be visually arresting and diverse for the audience.

The suggested number of participants for the workshop is 10 people.

Technical equipment for the workshop will include:

10 X Fast laptops (Either the participants can bring their own or loan one for a small fee.)

USB Keys for the transferral of data.

2 X Projectors for educational purposes.

Screens to accompany projectors.

3D mapping prjector for the week.

Extension Cable.

Looks to be an very good workshop. Get involved.

THE MONEY MAKER

So basically it would be really helpful if anyone were able to help us out with the project in terms of a monetary contribution, because as we all know money = more stuff, and more stuff = a better week for us all! So this is the proposal that I have been sending out so far. If you would like me to forward you a copy so you can distribute it to anyone that may be able to help us out please let me know. Sef.

THE FIRST MEET

First let me thank everyone that came to the meeting today, I know some of you travelled far to be here!

A reminder of what we covered today:

FASH PACK

Anju, Kiran, Alex.

We discussed the designers bringing in some of their own collections to contribute to the gallery and also act as an example of what the participants may strive to create.

Preliminary ideas for the fashion workshops include:

Fashion illustration, - creating a template for the participants and giving a theme to design an ensemble around.

Batik, tie-dye, exploding dye, customising and regenerating garments.

Embellishing garments, Pattern cutting.

Final outcomes to contribute to the gallery may include customised garments, pattern sheets, and sketches.

Equipment that we may need includes: Batik kits, -wax, melting pots, safety gloves, fabric, pattern paper, scissors, dyes, vats/tubs, a washing station, drying station, pins, mannequins, and possibly other stuff.

CUSTOM CHRIS

Chris Elliott & Co.

The workshop will comprise of customising items such as skateboard decks, bags and other similar objects. The day will potentially be split into 3 separate sessions, broken down into sketches and ideas, deck preparation, and painting.

Chris will have backup from others throughout the course of the day.

Equipment that we may need includes: Poscas, inks, pens, spray-paint, acrylic and enamel paint, pencils, paper, transfer paper, electric belt sander, varnishes/laquers/finishers, bolts, screws, work tables, and other materials to design with.

Additional notes..

Matt has a link for printing in Liverpool that is mega cheap (£1 - Colour A0!!!)

Jonathan of the V-Jaying session will me meeting me on monday and giving me the low down.

Everyone needs to have their Bio's for me by Weds 4th May, -for those of you not present I will discuss this with you in the week.

And also everyone needs to start thinking about a what the brief for each of their workshops will be so that we can clearly define to the participants what they can expect from each of the workshops.

Yagga Yo.

PROGRESS NOGRESS

So as of yet I have not yet been able to confirm a date when all of you will be free to discuss the events and your workshops on offer I am thinking it will be good to do this next week perhaps on Weds 27th. I will contact you all to see if you can do the evening ting.

Also today I have created a PDF about the event to send to some potential doners. EVERYTHING crossed please. PDF to follow......

FILMING

I can now happily confirm that we will have the esteemed Matthew Ritson of Holy Ghost collective on board to help document the weeks events. At my request he may conduct a short interview with each of you guys about your workshops and yourself so keep in mind that you can use the footage to go in your portfolios.

Raggo. Thanks Matt.

THOUGHTS ON THE SPACE

On Monday I had a thoroughly productive meeting with Joe about my ideas for the event, the meaning behind it, what I wanted to achieve by doing the event and of course his thoughts on the layout of the exhibition space.

So, to summise:

1. The meaning behind the events:

Relative to my research and exploration of making better use of spaces, I wanted to offer a range of alternative space utilising solutions to take my theme to another level.

2/3. In doing the events I want to highlight not only the potential of the space but also my potential as a production manager, and the skills of those involved. It's all a bit of productive PR at the end of the days guys, so if you want to blog about the events or you have any connections now is the time to start letting people know!!

4. Essentially I want to create an exhibition from the work accumulated over the course of the week, so in order to effectively do this Joe is helping me to design a considered hanging system. This means that as the work goes up it will be highlighted each day. -Sketches to follow. In addition to this we felt that there needed to be a method of story-telling associated with each of the exhibits so that all of the hard work of those involved was not lost in the process, and so we are also working on a series of info-graphics that will relate to the 'Fail Yards/Surplus Purpose' theme.

Moving on from here I will need to gather everyone so that we can discuss the event and everyone can meet each other considering you will all be the driving force behind the week!

From everyone I will need a bio about yourselves and your work, and we will also need to discuss the briefs for your intended workshops, how many people you would allow in each workshop, what materials you will require and some other things like your shoe size and apparel sizes. But I will do this individually with each of you.

-Remember if you have any queries, questions, or just want to post something you find helpful please just go ahead.

Jah Bless.

THE FIRM - TEAM MEMBERS

At current there are 3 key people that are helping me to curate this event that you should know about:

Joe Deen

Joe is an experienced designer in the field of building and making stuff. Very well. A graduate of CSM and generally Hectic. He is my right hand man in the planning of the space. He will be on hand to help with the overall layout of the space and will be designing a system to hang work daily at the end of each workshop.

Maria Paulina Socarras

Maria is a Music expert- she will lie to you and try to be modest about this, but believe me, she's got the knowledge. She will be responsible for custom designing the musical set-lists for each day of the workshops, and they will be inspired by the activities going on. In addition to this she will be writing a review for each of the workshops, so she may be interviewing some of you about your experiences. -She is not yet aware of how important her role is. Haha!

Lucy Alper

Lucy is our main contact at the New Gallery. She has hooked me up with a bloody great space and she is sound as a pound. Any questions that may be raised RE location, regulations, or generally anything that I can't answer she will help us with. Booyah.

IDEAS FOR THE EVENT - WORKSHOPS

In designing the workshops for the 5 days of the event I wanted to choose activities that I knew would be desirable, fun, and for most people something they might not normally have the opportunity to do. I wanted the workshops to be free because the object of the week is to act as an example of things you can achieve by working outside of the traditional box of life. That and, it's nice to get something free isn't it? For those involved there will be reimbursement don't worry about that!

So currently the workshops I have in mind are a Vj-ing workshop with Jonathan Hampton, an architecture 101 workshop with Daniel O'Brien, a pattern cutting or fashion orientated workshop with Kiran Gobin and Alex Oliver, A calligraphy workshop (TBC) and a skateboard customisation session/art jam (TBC).

More specific details about each one of these activities will be posted later this week, once those involved have confirmed their attendance.

Yagga, Yo.

FAIL YARDS PRESENTS "SURPLUS PURPOSE"

Guys, as you may or may not know FAIL YARDS is my final third year project. (See failyards.tumblr.com)

In the simplest terms, Fail Yards aims to creatively challenge the nature of a space and how it could be more constructively pursued.

To bring some exposure to the project I decided to create a week of events designed to show how an ordinary gallery space could be utilised into an interactive workspace, performance space, and exhibition space. The Gallery we will be using is New Gallery in Peckham. (see here New Gallery)

You may think it odd that I have chosen to curate this event in an already established gallery space, considering the aim of the project was to look at unused sites or derelict sites.

Many considerations have gone into this decision, for example the rules and regulations around involving the public in projects in spaces like those mentioned were difficult to overcome from a health and safety perspective. Secondly the locations and cost of securing venues meant that obtaining more grand locations were beyond my means. New Gallery posed a simple solution, a gallery that has recently been refurbished, built in the place of a derelict site on the side of a housing estate. In itself it is a prime example of a space that has made better use of a derelict site instead of opting for a highly predictable venue in the more metro art districts of east or west London. Ill.