MAYFLIES
Saturday 28 July 2007 Site Gallery, Sheffield (prelude 25-28 July)
Saturday 1 September 2007 Cornerhouse, Manchester
Saturday 8 September 2007 Star and Shadow, Newcastle upon Tyne
Sometimes the best art experiences are also the most fleeting. Mayflies is a series of three one-day art events happening across the North of England, in which each event has a unique live presentation from an artist who articulates something fleeting and momentary:
In Sheffield, Guy Sherwin presents his subtle, mesmerising film works, in Manchester German performance artist BBB Johannes Deimling challenges our daily experiences and in Newcastle Howard Matthew takes a new look at the city’s daily existence.
Alongside each live event, a specially selected screening programme of artists’ film and video will play at each venue, expanding on the unconscious and non-verbal themes of the performances and completing the Mayflies experience.
Site Gallery, Sheffield:
25 – 28 July (Wed – Fri 11am – 5.30pm, Sat 11am – 4.30pm)
Mayflies Prelude (installation of single screen works by Guy Sherwin)
To launch the Mayflies series, two of Sherwin’s single screen film works will be shown at Site. Views from Home is Sherwin’s poetic timelapse portrait of light shifting through domestic space and Cycle captures a simple circular loop of shifting shadows.
Saturday 28 July
5pm: Mayflies Screening Programme
7pm: Guy Sherwin (presentation)
All entry is free, booking for the screening and presentation is recommended, via events@sitegallery.org
Guy Sherwin, accompanied by his collaborator Lynn Loo, will present an evening of new and older 16mm expanded film works, including Mobius Loops (2007) which uses multiple projectors to create a single, mesmerising projection with which the artist himself interacts. An active member of London Film-Makers' Co-operative in the 1970s, Sherwin makes experimental film and expanded cinema performances that delve deep into the magic of celluloid, focusing on the processes at work in the marriage between film, light, time and chemistry.
The Mayflies Screening Programme will be a constant element playing at each venue, in a single, sit-down, cinema-style screening. The films expand on the live works by offering an off-kilter sense of projected space. Many of the pieces are set in the interiors of houses that have taken on a threatening hue, and others inhabit streets where something subtle is amiss. At turns funny, magical, dark and absurd, these landscapes display a psychotic sense of abandon. Artists include George Barber, John Bock, Deborah Bower, Wojciech Bruszewski, Michelle Handelman, Nick Jordan, Vladimir Logutov and Ben Rivers.
FURTHER MAYFLIES EVENTS:
Cornerhouse, Manchester:
Saturday 1 September
11am-5.30pm: BBB Johannes Deimling (durational performance) and John Bock (video)
6pm: Mayflies Screening Programme and discussion
BBB Johannes Deimling is a German artist who creates Acted Images and performances, often involving the physical attachment of objects to his body to unsettling effect. In his performance Don’t Hurt Me, Deimling will intervene in the public spaces of the Cornerhouse building. Deimling’s invoking of the uncanny through the abject is echoed by Kleinodtotsod a video work by John Bock that hints at the malevolent nature of domestic space. Described as one of the most interesting characters of today’s German art scene, Bock has shown internationally including at the ICA, London, Venice Biennale, and Manifesta 5. This will be his first screening in Manchester.
Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle:
Saturday 8 September
11am-5.30pm: Howard Mathew (installation), 6pm: Mayflies Screening Programme
8pm: Howard Mathew (presentation)
Howard Matthew’s previous works have included performances where audiences view Matthew from a great distance via telescope, and several spectacular public interventions in phone boxes. Matthew will be creating a new commission, where he will respond to the ephemeral format of the Mayflies series, making a new site specific work focussing on a day in the life of the city which will be presented at the Star and Shadow cinema, an artist-run cinema and exhibition space.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Mayflies is the result of a year-long ‘Curatorial Dialogue’ project, co-ordinated by Site Gallery, as part of Digital North, a consortium of Media Arts organisation in the Northern regions. Participating curators Robin Close (Yorkshire), Ilana Mitchell (North East) and Kate Taylor (North West) have received a programme of professional development and mentoring support, with a focus on good practice and collaboration. Funded by Arts Council England. www.digitalnorth.org
For further information and hi-res images please contact Kate Taylor on 07950 638 350 or closemitchelltaylor@googlemail. The project website is www.mayflies.co.uk
Guy Sherwin at Site Gallery, 1 Brown Street, Sheffield, S1 2BS www.sitegallery.org. All entry is free, booking for the screening and presentation is recommended, via events@sitegallery.org
BBB Johannes and John Bock at Cornerhouse, 70 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5NH www.cornerhouse.org. Entry during the day is free, tickets for the screening are £3 and include a drink. Booking for the screening is recommended via Box Office: 0161 200 1500.
Howard Matthew at Star and Shadow Cinema, Stepney Bank, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 2NP www.starandshadow.org.uk. All entry is free, booking for the screening and presentation is recommended, via bookings@mayflies.co.uk.
