Roll on 2013...

So lots of stuff going on where we are...

&Model and XO opened this month - two brand new exhibition spaces in the centre of town. It's happnin in Leeds!

OKO will be travelling down to Flatpack on 27th March for a live film event - in one night, together with Flatpack film-goers, we'll be filming, shooting, processing and projecting some of the last cartridges of Ektachrome 100D super 8 (since Kodak discontinued its last colour reversal motion picture stock in late 2012). More info on the event soon, once the Flatpack programme's out.

We also have some exciting things in the works with Film Material Soup, and are planning a film exhibition/event in Leeds for later this spring... Our optical sound collaboration with Dave Lynch is back on too. Speaking of whom, here's what Dave has been up to...



Plus, Dave's laser praxinoscope is almost ready to fly. Mark has been helping Dave shoot and process 16mm film which will be inserted frame by frame into the praxinoscope and projected onto the clouds using a hi power laser. See more on Project Nimbus here.

And onto Chris Paul Daniels... After a stint in Groningen last year working on this live collaboration for Nordic Art - NAIP at the Groninger Museum....



....he's now just got back from Nairobi! Chris was out there for a five week residency at the Kuona Trust. Since returning to the UK, he's been back Unravelling at Turner Contemporary in Margate. Over two days of workshops, participants produced around 45 minutes of hand-painted footage to add to the longest hand-painted film in Britain.

Maria Anastassiou (also of Unravel) has also been busy down in the big smoke... A member of new artist filmmakers' group Collective-iz, she screened her new film at Now and Here at the Horse Hospital earlier in February.

Deniz: Bir, Iki, Uc

Finally,  Leeds filmmaker friends Eoin Shea and Chris Hall have been busy making shiny new websites for themselves.... definitely worth checking out.

OKO @ Flip Animation Festival 2012

Well, it's been a while since we last posted...!

This autumn we were commissioned to create an installation for Flip Animation Festival, as part of the experimental strand curated by Sam Groves (Flatpack Festival, 7 inch Cinema, Kino 10). Full programme details can be found here.

The result - p.o.v - was screened as an expanded cinema installation at the Light House, a beautiful independent cinema in Wolverhampton on Saturday 3rd November.

Utilising two 15 second 16mm loops, p.o.v. explored the ways in which we actively perceive, experience and construct animated moving images. The filmstrips document a pre-programmed, choreographed sequence of actions carried out by a performer, shot as a single frame animation, and edited entirely within the camera: inevitable human errors occurring throughout.

The film was hand-processed, and prints for screening were made by re-photographing the filmstrip frame-by-frame using a homemade optical printer, giving a flattened and grainy quality to the image.

persistence of vision/point of view...



We also facilitated a 16mm found footage/direct film animation workshop during the day at the Light House. See below for video documentation of some of the films that participants made.

Thanks to Sam Groves, Flip Animation Festival and the Light House.

Dave Lynch: Chasing Nimbus | This weekend at AND Festival Manchester

Our long time co-collaborator Dave Lynch is presenting his research into hybrid analogue/digital/laser projections onto the clouds this weekend at Abandon Normal Devices in Manchester.

Event page on the AND website is here

"Chasing Nimbus is a project that explores digital and analogue techniques for project moving images onto clouds from aircrafts. Artist, director and inventor Dave Lynch has been developing his ambition to deliver multiple projections onto water vapor canvases including urban vents, cooling towers, steam trains and clouds. Lynch has been developing prototypes through conversation and collaboration with a host of contributors including weapons experts, scientists, artists, makers, pilots, sailors and cloud appreciators. Lynch is hoping to test one of his early prototypes on the urban vents of Manchester during AND Festival."


Dave will be discussing his research tomorrow (Friday) in a special Q & A at Mobile Republic, Number One First Street - from 2-4pm. This artist's talk is drop in and free of charge. Go pick his brains! This is an amazing project that Dave has been researching and working on for a while, and he'll be talking through and demonstrating the following:

The laser zoopraxniscope
A reworking of Edweard Muybridge's motion image projector from the 1800s modified with a 1.5w laser. The zoopraxniscope is being developed with a host of collaborators and has recently received further R&D funding from the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Spectroscopy & Dynamics group for an arts science collaboration with Leeds University femto chemistry department.

Mobile Projection Paramotor
A modified paramotor (paraglider propulsion system) with either a TFT monitor or slide laser/LED projection system, see it before it takes to the skies in September.

Cloud Conversations
Dave is in the process of conversation with chemical physicists, weapons experts, meteorologists, cloud appreciators and a whole host more, some of these will be presented as part of the presentation.

He will be resident in Mobile Republic Manchester until Sunday 2nd September.

Free Film Workshops at Leeds Art Gallery: ArtSpace Residency starts on Monday...

From Monday 23rd July to Thursday 23rd August, Jo will be running free, open access film workshops in ArtSpace, Leeds Art Gallery.

Explore direct (camera-less) film techniques and multiple projection using 16mm film, 35mm slides and overhead projection (OHP) transparencies.

It's your movie...

You will be able to experiment with different hand-manipulation techniques, explore performance and live cinema, and see your work screened as a collaborative multiple projection in the gallery.

Workshops will run every Monday and Thursday, 11am-4pm, from Monday 20th July to Thursday 23rd August.

Workshops are suitable for all ages and abilities, are FREE and open access. Hope to see you there!

http://joannaruthbyrne.wordpress.com/
http://www.oko-lab.org.uk/

The Harrowing of Hell - Wakefield Mystery Tour: 17-19 July 2012

Jo's just completed a film commission for the Wakefield Mystery Tour... which will be installed at the Art House Wakefield from 17-19 July.

Wakefield Mystery Tour invites the audience to participate in an event based on the 15^th century texts of the Wakefield Mystery Cycle: "this event will take you in and around the City, where you will bear witness to the life, death and rebirth of one man, told through illustration, performance, recorded sound and film."

The film, shot on a combination of standard 8, super 8, 16mm and 35mm slides, is a post apocalyptic take on "The Harrowing of Hell", and forms the final part of the tour.

You can book (free) tickets by contacting Wakefield Theatre Royal on 01924 211 311 , or visiting theatreroyalwakefield.co.uk.

Tours are taking place:-

• Tuesday 17^th July: 2pm/3.15pm
• Wednesday 18^th July: 11am/12.15pm/1.30pm/2.45pm
• Thursday 19^th July: 10am/11.15am/1.15pm/2.30pm

Unravel @ Peripherique | Henry Moore Institute | Wednesday 22 February 2012

This Wednesday, Jo will be joining Unravel founder Chris Paul Daniels to give a presentation on the Unravel project so far, as part of the Henry Moore Institute's Peripherique artist-led event series:

As well as screening some of the raw 16mm hand-painted footage and a section of the digitised 16 hour film (with edited soundtrack), Chris and Jo will be talking about the project in relation to their own filmmaking practice and ideas relevant to the project, including collaboration, participation and a discussion around using film in a contemporary context.

The talk will run from 6-8pm on Wednesday 22nd February in the HMI Seminar Room. Free, no booking necessary.  Hope to see you there!

This Sunday - Olsen at the Hyde Park Picture House

A little something for the weekend...

OLSEN

Programmed by Will Rose & Sarah Handley

Sunday 19 February 2012
Food from 12pm, films from 12.30pm

Hyde Park Picture House
Leeds, LS6 1JD

Homemade food (cake, stew and bread-veg/vegan) for small donation
Entry: £5/4

Olsen presents a two-part screening of recent artists’ film and video, including work by Lewis Klahr, Emily Wardill, Mark Aerial Waller and Anna Lucas, alongside the UK premiere of Ken Jacobs’ award winning ‘Seeking The Monkey King’ (2011, 40min)

Still from Ken Jacobs'  Seeking The Monkey King [image: Village Voice]

Described by film critic Jim Hoberman as “beautiful, terrifying, and determined to storm the doors of perception,” ‘Seeking The Monkey King’ is a furious beatnik analysis of the state of America, and a sensory rage against the horrors of capitalism.

Supported in part by Leeds City Council

OKO @ M1 > Dark Heart, PSL [9 February 2012]

Take Me Higher: an expanded cinema experience inc. OKO > M1 > Dark Heart.

OKO created and performed "Leeds 78", an expanded 16mm/ 35mm slide piece for M1 > Dark Heart, an event series programmed by Derek Horton & Chris Bloor for Glamourie. Glamourie, curated by David Steans, is currently on show until 31st March at Project Space Leeds.

The performance appropriates and re-works Leeds 78, a film produced in 1972 to support Leeds’ bid for the Commonwealth Games in 1978.

Mark came across a 16mm print of the film in 2010. The film remains a bit of a mystery – there is no online documentation or discussion about it that we could find. This is perhaps unsurprising, as Leeds was unsuccessful in the bid.

The film contains some beautiful shots of Leeds International Pool (now demolished) and Leeds Kirkgate Market (currently under threat from outside developers). There is also a section devoted to the construction of a Commonwealth Olympic Village, shown as an architectural model, which was never built.

Repeated viewings of the film led us to reflect on the ways in which Leeds is seen from the outside, and from the inside-out, about how cities evolve and change, about a struggle for a sense of identity, about what is lost to history, and what is found, or discovered, or re-discovered.

The stories that we uncovered through our research drew us to compile a playful but critical slide commentary that accompanies the film. The commentary was inspired in part by Anthony McCall & Andrew Tyndall’s Argument (1978) and consists of 78 35mm slides, which are projected alongside the film. Each time the film is performed, the slides are evaluated and re-edited so that they remain current.

Many thanks to Derek Horton for the documentary photographs above of Leeds 78 at M1 > Dark Heart, Project Space Leeds, February 2012.

This Saturday - 16mm direct film loop workshop at Leeds Art Gallery

Jo's been busy running film workshops for Artforms, and this Saturday she will be running a 16mm direct film workshop at Leeds Art Gallery as part of SatArtDay.

Taking as a starting point the large scale, abstract paintings of Northern Art Prize nominee James Hugonin, participants will be invited to create film loops using similar compositional techniques.

Binary Rhythm I by James Hugonin (image from northernartprize.org.uk)

This accessible introduction to structural-material film practice is suitable for all ages and abilities, and is FREE and open access.

You'll be able to project your film loop in the gallery and take it home with you afterwards.

The workshop will take place in Artspace at Leeds Art Gallery, alongside art workshops run by the Education team, and by artist Robert Sharples, who will be staging a interactive and performative workshop in the Henry Moore Lecture Theatre.  All workshops will run 10am-3pm.

Hope to see you there!

This Spring - Workshops at Nowhere Lab, London

No.w.here Lab in London are running lots of film workshops this February, from introductions to super 8 and 16mm to more advanced filmmaking processes, including optical printing and direct super 8 with one of our favourite super 8 filmmakers Ian Helliwell (who also designs and builds his own electronic music machines).

See below for details. To book please email: james.holcombe|at|no-w-here.org.uk or telephone: 0207 729 4494.

no.w.here: Courses and Workshops | February 2012 and beyond

1. Optical Printing
Friday 10th February, 10.30am – 6pm. £55 members / £85 non members. Four places are available.
For more information please see: http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=3&subCat=docdetail&&id=125

2. Direct Super 8. A workshop with Ian Helliwell
Saturday 11th February, 10:30 - 4:30pm. no.w.here members £60, non-members £80. Ten spaces are available. For more information please see: http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=3&subCat=docdetail&&id=303

3. Super 8 shooting and colour hand processing.
Saturday 18th February 2012| 10.30am – 6.00pm, £75 members / £105 non-members. There are 6 spaces for this workshop. For more information please see: http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=3&subCat=docdetail&&id=190

4. Bolex 16mm camera workshop and hand processing, Saturday 25th February 2012 10.30am - 6pm.
Cost: £100 no.w.here members, £130 non-members. There are four spaces available for this workshop. For more information please see: http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=3&subCat=docdetail&&id=127

5. MARCH 2012: Cinematography and the Artists Film. March 16th, 17th, 18th and 30th. Cost: no.w.here members £300, non - members £550. There are 15 spaces available for this workshop. For more information please see: http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=3&subCat=docdetail&&id=277

6. APRIL 2012: no.w.here presents: Develop, bleach, fix, wash - Applying photographic chemistry with a brush at Aspex Gallery Portsmouth. Saturday April 28th 10:30 - 5pm. Special Aspex rate: £60. For more information please see: http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=3&subCat=docdetail&&id=293

6. MAY 2012: Expanded Cinema & Optical Sound: A workshop with Guy Sherwin and Lynn Loo. Cost: £130 members, £180 non-members, 4th and 5th May 2012, 10:30 - 5pm. For more information please see:http://www.no-w-here.org.uk/index.php?cat=3&subCat=docdetail&&id=304


All courses and workshops in February are held at:

no.w.here
316-318 Bethnal Green Road
London
E2 0AG