Seasons Greetings from Unravel and our upcoming installation at the IKON Gallery in Birmingham

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Yeeeeeeah! from all of us at Unravel, we can't quite believe how fast this year has gone but would like to thank each and every one one of our supporters, followers, hosts and participants for making 2011 a truly great year for us (search back through this blog's archive if you need any reminders of what we've been up to!).

We couldn't ask for a better start to 2012 though as we will be installing the edited work of our epic project at the IKON Gallery in Birmingham over the weekend of the 7th and 8th of January including a workshop hosted by Chris on the Saturday allowing another chance to add your finishing touches to the final film. It's an honour for us to return to the IKON to exhibit our project so hope to see plenty of you there!

Maria's 'Wild wild wilderness' show in Greece

Maria recently co-curated and exhibited in a show in Athens with fellow artist Eleni Bagaki. They've set up a seperate blog about it which is viewable here.

Thursday 15th December at Rogue Studios in Manchester

On thursday 15th December, Chris ran a workshop at Rogue Studios in Manchester - a three storey artists studios and events space located near Piccadilly Train Stration. We were invited to take part in the 'Office Christmas party' event curated by Taneesha Ahmed and Annie Carpenter which showcased the works of eleven other artists. It was a fun and lively event with a big crowd participating in the workshop all evening. Thanks go out to everyone who made it down but especially to Clair Thomas and James Cook for their assistance during the night, Dave Griffiths for the use of his projector screen and to Taneesha and Annie for being such great hosts. Here are some of Annie's great photos from the night...

Thursday 15th December at Rogue Studios in Manchester

Chris will be running a workshop at Rogue Studios in Manchester from 18.00 until 21.00.
The 'Office Christmas Party' event is curated and features work by Manchester artists Annie Carpenter and Taneesha Ahmed and also showcases works by:
Crowe & Rawlinson, Daniel Fogarty, Dave Griffiths, Fran Blythe, Hilary Jack, Ian Hartshorne, Jenny Steele, Kevin Burns, Liz West, Mark Kennard, Matt Bamber, Mike Chavez-Dawson & Len Horsey.


As ever, the event is free and open to all, culminating in a screening half an hour before the end of the night to show the filmwork produced that evening.
Hope to see you there...


Chris did a brief plug for this event on this week's Cornerhouse Podcast from 12:19 onwards:
http://www.cornerhouse.org/about/about-media/cornerhouse-podcast-we-review-shame

Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th November - screening event at the Chisenhale Gallery in London

We were absolutely thrilled to be part of the Open Research strand at the Chisenhale Gallery in East London to showcase edited highlights of the work in progress final film over two days on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th November in a designated installation space. We were delighted to have such a big crowd come and stay with the film for long durations, to listen to the perspectives and opinions on each of the locations of our workshops embedded into the final film that maps our metaphorical journey through collective memory and identity.

Saturday's screening was complimented by screenings of William Wegman's 'Around the Park' and the controversial 'White Dog' by Sam Fuller in an event curated by Chisenhale artist-in-residence to Victoria Park, Matthew Noel-Tod, where viewers were also invited to bring their dogs into the gallery to watch the films!

Thanks go out to everyone at the Chisenhale, especially Laura Wilson, recent winner of The Marsh Award in Gallery Education, for making this such a special weekend.

Great documentary made about Unravel

Rat Commander made this excellent ten minute documentary about Unravel for www.delete-tv.com featuring Maria and images from nearly every workshop so far. Enjoy!...

The documentary was also broadcast live through streaming on the Austrian channel www.okto.tv .

Screening of edited highlights at the Chisenhale Gallery on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th November

We are thrilled to be able to invite you all to a special weekend this saturday and sunday at the Chisenhale Gallery in East London to screen some of the edited interviews and films from our workshops so far. Come at any time between 13.00 and 18.00 to find out what some of our participants have offered in their perspectives on the places they have live whilst enjoying the filmic results generated at their respective workshops.

The Chisenhale is located in Mile End, East London near Victoria Park - a map of the location can be found by following the link below:

http://www.chisenhale.org.uk/visit.php

"In December 2010, Chisenhale Gallery hosted one of the seventy five national workshops entitled Unravel – the longest hand painted film in Britain, where participants were invited to paint, scratch and directly manipulate 16mm film.

Harking back to the direct animation techniques of Len Lye, Norman McLaren and Stan Brakhage these marked traces of multiple authors represent diverse demographics of the British people wherein each frame of the film represents one metre in the 874 mile distance between Land’s End and Jon O’Groats. Sound recordings, interviews and perspectives on each location have been collected and compiled– mapping a metaphorical journey through collective memory and identity. The collaged autobiographical oral accounts which speak of individual experience in different locations, times and spaces offer a non-linear, psycho-geographical exploration of the country made for and by the people of Britain."

Saturday 5th November at Peninsula Arts in Plymouth

Maria and Chris ran a workshop at Peninsula Arts in Plymouth on Saturday the 5th November. We'd been looking forward to this event for some time as, our host, the artist, Kayla Parker had originally contacted us after our workshop for Brighton Cine City in December 2010 where a special showcase of her work was screened. Kayla's work is also part of the One Minute volume five touring programme organised by The Museum of Club Culture's Kerry Baldry so, although we hadn't met Kayla in person until this weekend we already felt very much like we knew her. Kayla and Peninsula Arts' David McErlane were great hosts and had done a great deal of publicity in attracting the wide range of Plymothians who joined us for our workshop and presentation about the project just after the screening of another direct film that Kayla had made with a group of local schoolchildren. It was great to share some of our edited work and the film generated during the day was excellent, whilst all of our participants were a very warm and welcoming bunch.

Peninsula Arts is a great space and currently one of the hosting venues for the British Art Show that is shared through several arts venues around the city. Neither of us had been to Plymouth before and were stunned by the preserved Hoe and Barbican areas that definitely made the six hour train journeys there and back from Manchester and London worth while! It was also great to see Chris Bartholomew who Chris had worked with in the Netherlands come and and check out the project. Thanks again to Kayla, David and our volunteers from Plymouth University's Media Arts Department for all their help - hope to see you again Plymouth!

9th - 12th November Installation and workshop at National Media Museum

We showcased some of the edited work so far at the  National Media Museum in Bradford for the entire duration of the respected Bradford Animation Festival on the seventh floor exhibition space as a special installation from Wednesday 8th to Saturday 12th November including some of the work generated in Leeds and Bradford last year.

Chris also ran a workshop with special Unravel guest member, Leeds based artist and events promoter, Ali Clark, on Saturday 12th November with a extra special screening in the Cubby Broccoli Cinema and a presentation about the project and just how far it has taken us. We even had yet another return visit from two members of the Davies family - who must now be our most regular attendees (and hosts) to Unravel events.

We were thrilled to be able to return to the museum - a venue where Chris spent many childhood visits - it was again an honour and a privelige to be there so thanks again to everyone who could make it down.
Thanks go out to Amanda Chinneck and Deb Singleton as well as the rest of the National Media Meuseum and BAF teams.

This Saturday at Peninsula Arts in Plymouth

On Saturday 5th November we will be running a workshop at Peninsula Arts in Plymouth which we have been invited to attend by the artist Kayla Parker. We're really pleased to be working with Kayla who showcased her work at Brighton Cine City last December when we ran our first Brighton workshop and who's work toured around in Kerry Baldry's One Minute Volume 5 international touring programme with works by Chris,  Callum Cooper, Guy Sherwin, Tina Keane and many more. Chris and Maria will be delivering a talk as well as the workshop where we hope to engage with the public about the project, and for both of them it will be their first every visit to Plymouth!

The workshop starts at 10am and the screenings at 3pm so hope to see you there....
P.S
We love this LUX interview with our friend and hero A.L.Rees discussing the updated edition of his seminal book 'A History of Experimental Film and Video' - give it a read!

Exciting events coming up...

We have some huge events coming up with special event screenings of the work generated across the project so far at the Bradford Animation Festival at the National Media Museum and the Chisenhale Gallery in London in November, as well as the IKON Gallery in Birmingham in January.
Both the Bradford and Birmingham screenings will include workshops where participants can create the work and see what they are adding to and we can't wait to see you at all or any!

20th to 23rd October 2011 - Screening at Document 9 Festival in Glasgow

 We showcased the results of last years excellent workshop at the CCA in Glasgow at this year's Document 9 Festival which is a brilliant Film Festival that showcases documentary work surrounding human rights issues. Last year our participants allowed us to record interviews which talked about the things that they saw as good points and bad points to living in the city and the content of these interviews was played alongside the results of the workshop at this years festival.  Thanks again to Paula Larkin and the rest of the Document team for having us return to their excellent festival.

Chris's live visuals and documentary from recent residency in Schiermonnikoog

Chris completed a residency in early september on the remote island of Schiermonnikoog in the  Netherlands working with four international music schools to create live visuals for the performance of a ten day summer school for MA students as well as a documentary about the island and its inhabitants. The results of both are viewable on his website here and here.

Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2011

Here are some pictures from our brilliant weekend at the amazingly welcoming Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival at the end of September. It was a great weekend where we saw so many familiar faces from our last year of workshops all over the country. As well as running a very packed and very successful workshop filled with many Berwickers we showcased the work generated last year in the old Prison Cells of Berwick which are moody and captivating which also showcased the works of Toby Tatum, Rammatik, and Lawrence Jordan amongst others. We also took part in a public discussion to talk about the project and where it has taken us over the past year since its very first workshop at the Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival in September 2010.

A visit to our old RCA coursemate Jan Lun Lee in Tweedmouth rounded off the perfect weekend which was a total pleasure to re-attend.

 Thanks so much to Melanie, Adam, Alsion, Huw and all the festival organisers for having us - it was lovely to be there! 

This weekend in Berwick...24th, 25th September 2011

So, back in September 2010 we began our epic tour of the country with our first workshop at the rather excellent Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival.  We are thrilled to be returning to Berwick this weekend and to the festival which is Directed by the lovely Melanie Iredale - one of our most supportive and regular attenders of Unravel workshops.
We will be in the Maltings Stage Door Bar space from 1.00pm until 6.00pm on the saturday, screening the film made in Berwick last year as part of the artist trail, and on the sunday be part of the Artist Trail talks to discuss the journey the project has taken us over the last year.
The programme looks great and particular points of interest for us are the screening of the 1903 restored print of Alice in Wonderland, Cocteau's brilliant La Belle et le Bete and Chris's favorite film of the past year Le Quattro Volte.

Saturday 13th August at Bar Lane Studios in York

 We had a great day in York on saturday 13th August where Chris and Jo lead one of our last workshops that was within the city walls of Mabgate in York. Bar Lane Studios is a cafe and gallery that was well attended throughout the day by some great local art lovers and artists (and gave us a great view of the many stag and hen parties trawling round the bars from mid-day).

Interviews with attendees offered us some great insight into life in one of the UK's most historic cities and we were impressed by a retelling of the Greek myth of Perseus by one young participant. It was brilliant to see a lot of old friends come and show their support and this workshop was a lovely way for us to wind down our tour.

Next up - the end is the beginning is the end: we finish our official workshop schedule where we started, at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 23rd-25th September.....

Next workshop on Saturday 13th August at Bar Lane Studios in York

Hope you are all safe out there, riots have come close to each of us at Unravel in Manchester, London and Leeds and we're really sorry to hear of the damage affecting independent businesses, especially the devastating losses to many film makers and music labels due to the SONY/ PIAS warehouse fire which has decimated the DVD stock of BFI, Artificial Eye, Dogwoof, Peccadillo and Finders Keepers, Twisted Nerve, Rough Trade, Ninja Tune and Warp music stock, support can be shown by buying existing stock and digital downloads here and here.

On a lighter note we'll be coming to York this Saturday to run a workshop at Bar Lane Studios from 11am until 3pm. If you're around or know anyone who might be about in the historic city please let them know and get them to come down.
Look after yourselves!

Saturday 30th July at Derby QUAD

On Saturday 30th July, Chris and, special guest Unravel facilitator, Sian Williams, ran a workshop in Derby at QUAD. We were invited to come to QUAD by Sophie Powell, who works as the Participation Curator and had a great day utilising different spaces within the venue. The workshop took part in the engagement room but we also attracted many young participants in the cafe/bar area where Chris met the awesome and local analogue photography enthusiast, Peter Johnson, and finally projected the film in the main gallery space at the end of the day. 

We were really welcomed and looked after by everyone who came and made a great film of over ten minutes length as well as interviewing people about their perspectives of Derby. We even wrote a list of references for people to research for their own interests as Derby QUAD is station to one of the only BFI Mediateque suites outside of London. Thanks Derby - it was a great day. 

Special thanks to our honarary member of Unravel - Sian Williams. Sian is an excellent musician and film maker and works as a Film Archivist, having just come back from a residency at the San Francisco film and television archive. Sian stepped in at the last minute and was an excellent splicer, facilitator and driver and was a total pleasure to work with. Cheers Sian!