New Art Club - The Visible Men

New Art Club
The Visible Men
29th October at The Place

'Close'……………... 'Open' the instructions given to the packed audience at various intervals during the performance last night at The Place. The audience were given the rules of the game at the start of the show, on hearing the word 'close' the audience were to close their eyes and on hearing the word 'open' they were to open them again. An ingenious idea from Pete Shenton and Tom Roden who create the winning partnership called New Art Club. The Visible Men is developed from the original idea for New Art Club's 2004 Place Prize piece The Short Still Show which involved strategically placed blackouts. The essence of the idea remained, the importance of the invisible, the things we cannot see, but are none the less essential elements of a dance performance. This was a fascinating look at the unseen in performance, while breaking a few fundamental laws of physics, and revealing our true colours in the process.

When asked by Pete who had ‘cheated’ and opened their eyes, the vast majority of the audience admitted to this, including me. I had the desire to see the invisible but upon seeing it, much like a card trick explained, the magic disappeared. I therefore decided to revert back to ignorance, which for this game was bliss. There were moments where I opened my eyes and thought ‘how did he get there?’ Of course you assume that Pete or Tom had run across the stage while your eyes were closed, but without witnessing this, how did you know?

As ever New Art Club’s brand of dance philosophy was humorous yet thought provoking. I left the performance with aching eyelids, a smile on my face, and many questions. Another triumph for New Art Club!

Picture This - Kings Cross Through the Looking Glass

Arrivals Fringe - call for submissions

If you haven't heard of Arrivals yet, where have you been hiding? It's a fantastic programme of events to celebrate the opening of St Pancras International and the new Eurostar terminal. There's a whole lot on the regular programme already - check out the Arrivals website - but the team are now looking for other great projects for the fringe programme:

UNDERCOVER: The official Arrivals fringe programme

www.arrivals2007.org.uk

The Arrivals programme of events, running from 14th-25th November 2007, celebrates the opening of St Pancras International and the arrival of the first Eurostar train.

It’s the beginning of a new era not just for St Pancras but for one of central London’s most vibrant areas, a place of transformation, regeneration and change. This is an opportunity to venture into the unknown, explore the eclectic range of artists, venues and hidden gems that make Kings Cross St Pancras so unique!

The Arrivals website is now ready and waiting to showcase your events on Undercover, the official Arrivals ‘OFF’ programme. Whether you have an exhibition, a gig, a club night or play, we’re interested in hearing from you.

Fringe events must
- fall within the duration of Arrivals’ event programme – 14-25th November,
- be located within the King’s Cross locale, and
- take some inspiration from Arrivals’ themes of meetings, journeys, change and community

If you have an event which you would like to submit for consideration, you will need to provide following information
· summary of the event (no more than 100 words)
· location (street address with post code)
· date of event
· time of event
· ticket price and box office information, if relevant
· contact email and phone number

All submissions should be sent to Arrivals Production Coordinator, Claire Horan: claire@createkx.org.uk

Deadline for all submissions will be 9th November 2007

The Bloomsbury Festival

This weekend hosts the second year of the Bloomsbury Festival, which takes place in (and outside) various venues around Bloomsbury. There's loads going on and I plan to be there, camera in hand, to prove it. Here's a bit from the website, to give you an idea of what the festival is about:

The three day programme will be drawn from leading national organisations, museums and galleries, and individual artists, designers and creatives located in the area, as well as a number of responses to the area from practitioners invited into it.

The festival will be open to everyone and the majority of activities within the programme are free.

With almost all its events and courses free, and funded entirely by local sponsorship, the Bloomsbury Festival aims to create a local network that is cross-disciplinary, and celebrates every aspect of life in this unique neighbourhood.

Check out the website for full listings, and to download your own brochure.

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