arnolfini brochure march april may 2013

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1 March – May 2013

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Arnolfini Whats On brochure March April May 2013

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March – May 2013

WELCOME

What does it mean to be a painter today? This Spring we are delighted to present the work of one of the most influential contemporary artists grappling with this question, Jutta Koether. Best known for synthesizing painting, punk rock and critical theory (her canvases frequently serve as backdrops for Brechtian lectures and noise-rock performances), the New York-based artist has lately trained her focus on Modernism’s origins, at Arnolfini specifically responding to the Seasons and Sacraments of Nicolas Poussin. Alongside Koether’s charged paintings and installations, photographer Susanne Kriemann continues her exploration into the power of the archive, with a project focusing on the history of the Construction School in Bristol – an attempt to establish an experimental design school similar to the Bauhaus in a local English context.

Interdisciplinary practice is one of the defining characteristics of Arnolfini’s programme, and this season we continue to blur the territorial boundaries. Version Control is an exhibition about performance, bringing the black box of theatre into the white cube galleries, and culminating in a major conference, Replace, examining the remains of live art. The second of our quarterly performance platforms, 4 Days, focuses on language and the spoken word, taking occupation throughout the building along with BABE (Bristol Artists Book Event), and an exhibition of the questionnaires and bookworks of Don Celender in April. Mayfest includes performances by acclaimed Belgian company, Ontroerend Goed, while the music programme presents Mika Vainio, formerly one half of the pioneering Finnish electronic duo, Pan Sonic.

For those seeking active participation, We are Family is a new regular event, taking place on the last Saturday of every month, starting with the Weekend of Returns in March. Other dates for the diary include International Fascination of Plants Day in May, as well as a series of boat tours to visit the re-planted Floating Ballast Seed Garden.

Tom Trevor, Director

Arnolfini building, photo by Jamie Woodley.

Opening Hours

Exhibition spaces open: Tuesday – Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday 11 am – 6 pm

Bookshop: See page 29 for full details

Café Bar open: Daily from 10 am

Admission to the exhibition spaces is free.

@arnolfiniarts www.arnolfini.org.uk

Contents Exhibitions 3 – 10 Family / Online Project 12 Off-Site Projects 13 – 15 BABE 16 – 17 Performance 18 – 21 Music 22  Poetry 23 Screenings 24 – 25 Talks / Lectures / Courses 26 – 27 Reading Room Events 28 Bookshop 29 Café Bar 29 Support Us 30 Venue Hire 30 Visit Us / Access 31

(cover image) Jutta Koether, The Seasons I, 2012, acrylic and oil on canvas.

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Gerry Bibby, The Screens / The Islands, 2009 – 2013, screen-printed paper, concrete, metal. Installation view Version Control, Arnolfini 2013, photo by Stuart Whipps.

EXHIBITION

Version ControlUntil Sunday 14 April, free #versioncontrol

APNews, Giles Bailey, Gretchen Bender, Bernadette Corporation, Gerry Bibby, Ruth Buchanan, Antoine Catala, Nicolas Ceccaldi, David Raymond Conroy, Simon Denny, Tim Etchells, Loretta Fahrenholz, Felix Gmelin, Louise Hervé & Chloé Maillet, Andy Holden, Morag Keil, Oliver Laric, Louise Lawler, Tobias Madison, Eva & Franco Mattes, Melvin Moti, Rabih Mroué, Ken Okiishi, Amalia Pica, Seth Price, Emanuel Rossetti, Nora Schultz

Version Control is a large-scale interdisciplinary exhibition about the notion of performance and appropriation. It presents the works of artists from different generations and backgrounds, looking at the idea of performativity and how it has informed artists working today. Ranging from live activities to video, sculpture, and painting, the works share an interest in the potential of objects and images to represent actions and social processes, and how the apparently stable world of ‘things’ and the time-based idea of performance interact, influence and determine each other.

The artists included stage their work through mediation, appropriation and re-presentation of established material. On-going reinstallation and a series of performance interventions add a further layer of performativity, as the exhibition itself changes over the course of its duration.Version Control is produced by Arnolfini in association with the collaborative AHRC-funded research project Performing Documents, hosted by the University of Bristol in partnership with Arnolfini, In Between Time and the University of Exeter. Additional funding by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

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called ‘forensic aesthetics’ is making an argument using objects, but also considering the means of presentation and the theatrics of delivery. At this special event, artists and writers including Eyal Weizman and Judy Radul join us for presentations and a roundtable discussion.

Screening

Ken Okiishi: The Deleted SceneSaturday 23 March, 6.30 pm, free

The Deleted Scene was filmed at the project space APNews in Zurich in a now-defunct shopping mall. APNews, acted as the producer for the film, creating a collaborative and open-ended process with constantly shifting roles. A TV set was constructed in the space, and at some point, two of the artists built a giant coin, which was rolled all over Zurich. The film is presented as a four channel projection in the Auditorium. Ken Okiishi, CH / USA 2012, 28 min

Family

Weekend of ReturnsSaturday 30 – Sunday 31 March, 1 pm – 5 pm, freeFor further details see page 12.

Version Control: EventsDance / Screening

A Season of Dance Screenings Friday 1, 8, 15 & 22 March, 6.30 pm, £6 / £4 concs

This series of screenings presents works by some of the most important dance choreographers seen through the lens of seminal filmmakers. With a collaborative spirit, these films explore the potential of movement and film, including films by Charles Atlas, Babette Mangolte and Thierry De Mey, and choreographies by Trisha Brown, Yvonne Rainer, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Merce Cunningham and Michael Clark.

Performance

Giles Bailey: Extracts from the Talker Catalogue. On Telling and WhatnotSaturday 16 March, 6.30 pm, free

Giles Bailey presents works from his ongoing project Talker Catalogue, which proposes aberrant re-readings of performance art’s histories. Referring to works such as Vito Acconci’s Undertone or Chantal Akerman’s film about Pina Bausch, Bailey constructs monologues that subjectively rework the material. Highlighting footnotes or overlooked aspects, the project suggests an alternative model for the assembling of history.

Talk

Things that TalkWednesday 20 March, 6.30pm £6 / £4 concs

The idea that objects ‘speak’ is increasingly central to current philosophical, ethical and political debates. This shift from the text and the human witness towards the things itself is also reflected in contemporary artistic discourses central to the exhibition Version Control. What could be

Installation view, Version Control, Arnolfini 2013, photo by Stuart Whipps. (page 5) Tim Etchells (with Bruno Roubicek and Lucy McCormick), Untitled (After Violent Incident), 2013, production image, photo by Hugo Glendinning.

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Performance double bill

Keren Cytter with Andrew Kerton Poker FaceFriday 5 April, 7.30 pm, £5 for both performances

One night on stage a romantic poet is overtaken by the murderous ambition of his alter-ego. As he fights for the audience’s attention and for his sanity, Lady Gaga’s eponymous hit is heard undulating around his poetry. His alter-ego coerces him to kill off his colleagues in order to reclaim the spotlight.Poker Face was originally conceived for the Serpentine Gallery’s poetry marathon in 2009.

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Louise Hervé & Chloé Maillet: Spring Water & Sea Monsters (A Treatise on Baths)Friday 5 April, 8 pm, £5 for both performances

Historical fiction and the artistic use of remnants of the past are important elements of Louise Hervé & Chloé Maillet’s practice. Their performances often combine fictional and documentary elements that are charged with historical meaning, referencing both contemporary social issues and popular forms of narration.

Conference

Performing Documents: ReplaceFriday 12 – Sunday 14 AprilFor further details see page 18.

Performance

Felix Gmelin: Understanding Negative DialecticsFriday 12 April, 11 am – 8 pm, free

Felix Gmelin’s performance presents a continuous reading of a text that Gmelin’s father wrote in 1968. Initially presented as a video work with Gmelin’s own son, then ten years old, the new performance will re-enact the reading with a group of young people and touch on questions of understanding and the failure, and hope, of history.

Performance

Tim Etchells with Bruno Roubicek and Lucy McCormick: Untitled (After Violent Incident)Saturday 13 April, 7.30 pm, free

A performance directed by Tim Etchells based on Bruce Nauman’s seminal video work Violent Incident (1986). Informed by Nauman’s interest in the psychological mechanisms of domestic violence, the performance investigates the relationship between human psychology and the notion of the script. The performance is part of Etchells’ contribution to the exhibition Version Control.

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Don Celender, Art and Artists’ BooksSaturday 20 April, 4 pm, free

A panel discussion about the work of Don Celender and artists’ publications, featuring Clive Philpot, former Library Director of MoMA, New York, Gustavo Grandal Montero, special collections librarian at Chelsea College of Art & Design, Julian Warren, Archivist at Bristol Record Office, and Sacha Waldron, curator of Surveyed, chaired by Axel Wieder, Arnolfini Exhibitions Curator and co-founder of Pro qm bookstore in Berlin.The exhibition coincides with the Bristol Artists Book Event (BABE, see page 16) and includes rare works from the Arnolfini artists’ books collection. Surveyed is a collaboration between Arnolfini and Crate, Margate, with the support of OK Harris, New York. The exhibition is curated by Sacha Waldron, former Arnolfini RCA Curatorial Fellow.

EXHIBITION

Don Celender SurveyedSaturday 20 – Sunday 28 April #DonCelender

Surveyed is the first European solo exhibition of the American conceptual artist Don Celender (1931 – 2005). Celender was a master of asking questions, his work takes the form of mass mailed out surveys to specific groups of people, or professions (chefs, prison guards, art critics or dentists, for example) asking them what they think about life, their jobs, art and often, ultimately, death. Without an immediate purpose, the questionnaires are interested in a conceptual collection of data and systems of order, but at the same time subvert these systems through radical openness and the artists’ participatory methodology. Celender would often bind the responses he received into artists’ books which were circulated world-wide, however the majority of his work has never been seen outside of the US. Surveyed is a rare opportunity to see a selection of Celender’s unpublished survey projects.

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Don Celender: Getty Affluent Art Survey, 1971.(page 6) Portrait of Don Celender.

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EXHIBITION

Jutta Koether: Seasons and SacramentsSaturday 4 May – Sunday 7 July 2013, free #JuttaKoether

The exhibition Seasons and Sacraments will feature a selection of new and recent works by Jutta Koether, one of the most important artists working with painting today. While Koether’s practice also engages with performance, music and text, and often incorporates unusual materials such as glitter and liquid glass, the history of painting continues to play a decisive role in her work. The exhibition will comprise two large series of works that respond directly to the

French artist Nicolas Poussin (1594 – 1665), a reinterpretation of his The Seven Sacraments re-imagined as a series of installations, and Seasons (2012), a response to Poussin’s The Four Seasons. Remembering, repeating and working within a tradition, but deviating and radicalising this tradition dramatically, serves as a working model in Koether’s practice to investigate what it means to be a painter today.

Koether’s version of The Seven Sacraments proposes seven different approaches to contemporary painting: Confirmation presents everyday objects encased in clear liquid acrylic, attached to vast sheets of glass; Penance is symbolised by a contemporary Danish-designed perspex table that resembles Poussin’s depiction of drapery, while Baptism is represented by a painted canvas featuring a racing car driver rather than a scene from classical antiquity. Koether’s response to Poussin’s The Four Seasons is presented on freestanding sheets of glass and was shown at the 2012 Whitney Biennial in New York.Jutta Koether: Seasons and Sacraments has been organised in collaboration with Dundee Contemporary Arts with support from the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen.

Jutta Koether, The Seasons III, 2012, acrylic and oil on canvas.(page 9 & 10) Susanne Kriemann: A Silent Crazy Jungle Under Glass (Gestein), 2011.

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EXHIBITION

Susanne Kriemann: Modelling (Construction School) Saturday 4 May – Sunday 7 July 2013, free #constructionschool

Susanne Kriemann’s work is concerned with the power of archives. Often based on photography, her works look at specific examples of documentary images, from early photo history to surveillance cameras, and how they shaped our understanding of reality. With playful and inventive moments, the artist suggests a reading of pictures that asks for their meaning in the present.

For the exhibition at Arnolfini, Susanne Kriemann develops a new series of work that respond to the history of the Construction School in Bristol. The history of the Construction School has been extensively researched by designer James Langdon, who provided the original material for

the exhibition. The Construction School existed from 1964 to 1979 as part of the West of England College of Art and Design (now UWE) and was an attempt to establish an experimental design school, similar to the Bauhaus and the HfG Ulm, in a local English context. The Construction School’s history is closely bound to the career and concerns of its founder Norman Potter, an anarchist and practitioner on the margins of mid-twentieth century English design culture. Potter resisted the increasing emphasis on specialisation in design education and worked to encourage practical collaboration between disciplines. Susanne Kriemann’s exhibition will look at materials from the Construction School archive and their legacy of protest and change for today.The exhibition by Susanne Kriemann is organised by Arnolfini in connection with a series of events about the Construction School, initiated by James Langdon in collaboration with Spike Island. At Spike Island, Langdon will present a performance of a play by Norman Potter, Icarus, and a purpose-built space for the archive of the Construction School.

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The second of our quarterly pieces of new writing reflects upon the notion of ‘forensic aesthetics’, a theme running throughout this season’s exhibitions programme.

Things that TalkThe relationship between the world and its interpretation is a long-standing topic of discussions from philosophy to social sciences and culture. What do we trust – the thing itself or its analysis? What comes first: experience or knowledge? Do we read texts to enter a subject, or look and understand ourselves? It’s a seductive idea to imagine the world as an accumulation of signs, which we can read and understand, once we have learned the language. But the more complex the issues are that we are dealing with, the less we can rely on our intuition or evidence – we need background information to make judgements.

A recent model to think about interpretation is connected to the fascination with ‘forensics’ that is currently haunting popular imagination. Crime thrillers, like the long-running BBC television series Silent Witness, literally lay bare the physical ‘object’ of homicide - the victim’s naked body – stretched out dead on the pathologist’s slab. The central premise is that this abject, voiceless cadaver can somehow tell the story, if only the specialists are acute enough to read the evidence before them, embodied in the thing-itself. While legal and cultural scholars have labeled the latter part of the 20th century – with its particular attention to testimony – as the ‘era of the witness’, the prominence of forensics in legal forums and popular entertainment signifies a new attention to the communicative capacity, agency and power of things. Today’s legal and political decisions are often based upon the capacity to display and read DNA samples, 3D laser scans, nanotechnology and the enhanced vision of electromagnetic microscopes and satellite surveillance.

Within the field of contemporary art there has been a parallel shift, away from a focus on the discourse or conceptual framework that surrounds an artwork, back to the thing itself, allowing the

material object, in all its complexity, to tell its own story. As inanimate objects, they still need translation and consideration, of course, which is where the methaphor of forensics comes into play. The Latin derivation of forensics refers to the ‘forum’, and to the practice and skill of making an argument. Forensics has always been part of Classical rhetoric, but its domain includes not only human speech but also that of objects. In forensic rhetoric, objects can address the forum, but that still requires a person or a set of technologies to mediate between the object and the assembly, to present the object, interpret it and place it within a larger net of relations. As a practice and a model, forensics has an aesthetic dimension, which includes its means of presentation, the theatrics of its delivery, and the forms of image and gesture. An exhibition can be considered such a forum, where we encounter an argument, presented in a specific way. Specialised in aesthetics, exhibitions – as well as live events, performance, film and music - have the potential, too, to reflect of the means of making the argument, the scripts, technologies and methods that structure the creation of knowledge. In different ways, the current exhibition Version Control, as well as the upcoming programme, consider the changing status of materiality and discourse. A discussion event will specifically focus on ‘forensic aesthetics’ in March (see page 4).

What if the object is not a ‘witness’ but an entity constructed for the express purpose of creating, or activating, the forum? Such an object might map the diffused networks of informal or illegal labour, or be called upon to narrate historical events in the absence of evidentiary materials. In fact, the object may be the very thing that produces a forum where none previously existed. An artwork likewise produces its constituency; it gathers, rather than simply assumes an already extant audience. If the object, conceptualized as such, is not that which registers the events that came before it in the manner of the classical witness, then it might be said the object itself becomes the event to which the forum as witness will address itself.

Tom Trevor and Axel Wieder Bristol 2013

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Photo by Max McClure.

FAMILY

We are FamilySaturdays 30 March, 27 April & 25 May 1 pm – 5 pm, free

Join us on the last Saturday of every month to explore Arnolfini’s vibrant programme of events, performances and exhibitions. Our experienced learning team will inspire you through practical, fun activities for families to enjoy together.

Weekend of ReturnsSaturday 30 & Sunday 31 March, 1 pm – 5 pm, free

This weekend, artists, musicians and performers will animate the exhibition Version Control through a series of interventions. Families and young audiences are invited to return to artworks and create unusual versions of the works on display. Join us and become part of intriguing interventions and playful interpretations – this is your show!

Seeds of Change: The Making of an ArtworkThursday 30 & Friday 31 May, 12 pm – 4 pm, free

Join us at Castle Park with a bird’s eye view of the Floating Ballast Seed Garden for an afternoon of exciting plant activities for all the family. Meet University of Bristol Botanic Garden volunteers, students and Arnolfini staff who will tell you about the amazing garden and the plants that you can see growing. See page 15 for further information.

ONLINE PROJECT

Slub: Slub World project.arnolfini.org.ukYou are invited to join a new, on-line, sonic world co-inhabited by beatboxing robots. Participants will be able to make music together by reprogramming their environment in a specially invented language, based on state-of-the-art intarsia, campanology and canntaireachd technology. The result will be a cross between a sound poetry slam, yarn bombing, and a live coded algorave, experienced entirely through text and sound. To see how this turns out, sign up for alpha membership, leading to full beta access from May at slub.org/world

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idea of shipping work but instead to take with her a roll of yellow self-adhesive tape on to which was inscribed the repeating phrase, ‘There is No Border Here’. Equipped solely with this high visibility tape, she made a series of interventions in sites around La Cabaña Fortress, including a large wall-drawing in the form of a flag, made up of lines of poetic text which described a lover’s vain attempts to divide the sky into two separate territories.

The site-specific wall-drawing, Untitled (There is No Border Here) 2006, by Shilpa Gupta, is one of the acquisitions made for a major new collection of international contemporary art for Bristol. Over the past five years Bristol Museum & Art Gallery has been working in close partnership with Arnolfini to build this world-class collection, with the support of an Art Fund International (AFI) award of £1million. No Borders is curated by Tom Trevor, Associate Curator of the AFI collection, assisted by Julia Carver, Curator of Visual Art at BM&AG.

OFF-SITE PROJECTS

No BordersPart of the Global to Local series of exhibitions, 2012 – 14 Bristol Museum & Art Gallery Until Sunday 2 June, free #noborders

Artists: Ai Weiwei, Yto Barrada, Hala Elkoussy, Shilpa Gupta, Amar Kanwar, Tala Madani, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Imran Qu’reshi, Walid Raad, Shahzia Sikander, Haegue Yang and Akram Zaatari

When the artist Shilpa Gupta was invited to take part in the 9th Havana Biennial in 2006 she discovered that getting artworks from Mumbai through the Cuban customs was nigh on impossible. Her solution was to abandon the

Shilpa Gupta, Untitled (There is No Border Here), installation, Wall Drawing with Self Adhesive Tapes, 2005 – 2006, Courtesy of artist and Galerie Yvon Lambert.

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Seeds of Change: A Floating Ballast Seed Garden was commissioned by Bristol City Council as part of its public art programme and designed by Gitta Gschwendtner. The project was funded by the Ashley, Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Partnership, with the kind support of Bristol Harbour Authority, Arnolfini, Ramboll, University of Bristol Botanic Garden and Avon and Somerset Probation Trust Community Payback team and Bristol Packet Boat Trips.

Seeds of Change: Tour for Gardeners of the Ballast Seed Garden and University Botanic GardenSaturday 20 April, 11 am – 4 pm, £18 / £16 concs Advance booking required Location: Please meet at Arnolfini Box Office

This fascinating two part tour will begin with a boat trip from Arnolfini to the garden, and finish with a tour at the University of Bristol Botanic Garden. Tour host Nick Wray, Curator at the University Botanic Garden will explain the principles behind the design, how the plants are raised, established, and how the display will be developed in the future. Ferry to the garden and bus to the Botanic Garden are included in the ticket price.

OFF-SITE PROJECTS

Maria Thereza Alves Seeds of Change: A Floating Ballast Seed GardenOngoing #ballastseed

Working with Brazilian artist Maria Thereza Alves and designer Gitta Gschwendtner, Arnolfini has utilised a disused grain barge to create a Ballast Seed Garden on Bristol’s Floating Harbour, populated with a variety of non-native plants, creating a living history of the city’s trade and maritime past.

The Garden is visible from Castle Park and can be accessed through Arnolfini’s public programme of boat tours running from April – October 2013.

A Floating Ballast Seed Garden, photos by Max McClure, (page 15 below), courtesy of the University of Bristol Botanic Garden.

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2013 International Fascination of Plants Day Boat tour to the Floating Ballast Seed Garden Saturday 18 May, 5.30 pm – 7 pm, £6 / £5 concs Advance booking required Location: Please meet at Arnolfini box office

Boat tour with Helen Davies, Curator of Learning and Participation and Nick Wray, Curator Botanic Garden. Learn about the concept of Maria Thereza Alves’ Seeds of Change project and the botanical background to the garden.

Tour of the University Botanic GardenSunday 19 May, 10 am – 4 pm, adults £3.50 Friends of the Garden and students free Location: University Botanic Garden, Stoke Bishop

Join in with celebrations for International Fascination of Plants Day (plantday12.eu) at the University of Bristol Botanic Garden. An opportunity to view the Seeds of Change display set amongst the Garden’s extensive plant collections.

Seeds of Change: The Making of an Artwork Thursday 30 & Friday 31 May, 12 pm – 4 pm daily, free Location: Castle Park See map at arnolfini.org.uk

Meet University of Bristol Botanic Garden volunteers, students and Arnolfini staff at Castle Park with a bird’s eye view of the garden. Hear about the concept of the project, how you can get involved and find out about the work behind the planting process, from raising plants to designing the Seeds of Change project as the Botanic Garden team carry out their annual planting of the garden. For family activities see page 12.

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BABE 2013: Bristol Artists Book EventSaturday 20 April, 11a m – 6 pm & Sunday 21 April, 11 am – 5 pm, free Throughout Arnolfini

BABE is back and bigger than ever for 2013. Spread over three floors more than 80 artist bookmakers, dealers and small presses from Bristol and around the world will come together at Arnolfini to show and sell their work. BABE provides a relaxed and friendly space to meet and chat to artists about their work and buy works of art. Prices start from just a few pounds.

Across the weekend there will be a number of performances, interventions and informal talks. For further information visit arnolfini.org,ukBABE is organised in conjunction with the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England.

BABE ToursSaturday 20 & Sunday 21 April, 2 pm, free

Artists Book SurgeriesSaturday 20 & Sunday 21 April, 11 am – 3.30 pm Free, booking essential

An opportunity for artists to discuss and receive advice on any aspect of a book related project be it conceptual, technical or otherwise. Individual surgeries held by artist/writer Nancy Campbell on Saturday, and Simon Goode founder of the London Centre for Book Arts on Sunday are up to 25 minutes each.For further information contact Arnolfini Box Office.

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BABE WorkshopsSaturday 20 April, 11.30 am – 1.30 pm, free Booking advised

Guy Begbie’s introduction to Simple Books – bookmaking workshop (age 16+).

Saturday 20 April, 2 pm – 3 pm, free

Book Badge-making, drop-in workshop with Angie Butler (all ages – children must be accompanied by an adult)

Sunday 21 April, 11.30 am – 1.30 pm, Meeting Room Free, booking advised

Stephen Fowler’s fabulous rubber stamp roller workshop (age 16+).

BABE event photo by Carl Newland.(page 17) Imi Maufe, LK 243 UnderSail, post 37a.

Imi Maufe: LK 243 UnderSailSaturday 20 11 am – 6 pm & Sunday 21 April 11 am – 5 pm, free

LK 243 UnderSail is the result of an artist residency onboard the sailing ship Swan during the Tall Ships Races 2011. Imi Maufe spent five weeks travelling with the crew, from Ireland to Sweden via the Shetland Islands, documenting and collecting information to be used in the final exhibition which will be on show during BABE 2013. Whilst at sea forty-three wooden postcards were cast into the ocean and eight of these were found, five hundred boat drawings were collected from the public visiting the harbours; these and a collection of artists books, screenprints and other artefacts are housed in a bunk box, made specifically to contain the entire exhibition and travel onboard the Swan.

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PERFORMANCE

Dance

Lisa May Thomas Grassblades (open studio)Friday 8 March, 2 pm – 5 pm, free

You are invited to observe the working process of dance and video artist Lisa May Thomas’s latest project Grassblades. In residence at Arnolfini 2 – 9 March, Lisa will be joined by her company of dancers, composer and sound designer Andy Pink. For further information on the Grassblades project, visit lisamaythomas.co.uk/projects Further updates from Lisa will be posted on Arnolfini’s blog.

Performance

Replace ConferenceFriday 12 – Sunday 14 April £120 / £80 concs and day tickets £40 Tickets from University of Bristol box office #perfdocs

The Performing Documents Replace conference is the culminating public event of this large-scale research project, which looks at the remains of live art today. Replace feeds into and reflects on the Version Control exhibition as an example of the wide-ranging possibilities for performance within curatorial strategies. Over three days, an international group of scholars, artists, theatre makers, digital media practitioners, choreographers and archivists will gather for a series of lectures, dialogues and performances, reflecting on the state of contemporary performance and its documents. Highlights include: a keynote speech by Rebecca Schneider; artists Every House Has a Door, Blast Theory, Bodies in Flight and Performance Re-enactment Society; performances from Version Control artists Felix Gmelin and Tim Etchells; and a special exhibition at the University of Bristol’s Live Art Archive of the newly acquired archive of artist Franko B.Performing Documents is an AHRC funded project produced by the University of Bristol, the University of Exeter, In Between Time and Arnolfini.

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Performance as public speaking, alongside notions of ‘text performed’ give April’s edition a spoken word theme alongside the potential to explore meanings via language and listening. Between communications, the act of meditation provides a durational subtext suggesting ideas of live sculpture.

The edition begins with performances from Nicoline Van Harskamp and Lawrence Abu Hamdam, both of whom then offer interactive installations for the remainder of 4 Days, before heading into spoken performance from Emma Bennett and Antonia Barnett-McIntosh and a short programme from David Berridge’s Very Small Kitchen. Linking with Bristol’s Poetry Festival, SJ Fowler then presents Maintenant Camarade whilst Caroline Wilkins’ performance is also informed by the poet Chlebnikov as well as Russian Futurist Kruchonych.

Other highlights include Cally Spooner’s humourous take on the act of impromptu public speaking and a look at the importance of ‘well-being’ including an offer from Parisian choreographers les gens d’uterpan to take part in regular meditation sessions throughout 4 Days. Spectator feedback and reflection is welcomed throughout the event. There will also be a complimentary meeting of Arnolfini’s regular art and writing salon, Tertulia, on 27 April featuring the work of three local artists. 4 Days continues in September and November 2013.

4 Days#4days2013

Four consecutive days of live works and installation from Cally Spooner, Caroline Wilkins, Emma Bennett and Antonia Barnett-McIntosh, Holly Pester, Lawrence Abu Hamdam, Leslie Kulesh, les gens d’uterpan, Nicoline Van Harskamp and Very Small Kitchen featuring Becky Cremin, Ryan Ormonde, seekers of lice, and X Marks the Bökship. Plus poetry and reading events from SJ Fowler’s Maintenant Camarade and Tertulia.

Thursday 25 – Sunday 28 April, 11 am – 8 pm Many events are free entry, evening events are usually £5. Some free events are limited capacity. A 4 Days year pass guarantees entry to every event in the 4 Days series for £30.

4 Days is a quarterly programme of performance, activating Arnolfini spaces for visitors to experience multiple live propositions during a single visit. This second edition takes up residency primarily on the second floor with additional events in the foyer, traditionally the first meeting point for visitors.

Lawrence Abu Hamdam, Aural Contract, image courtesy of the artist. (page 18) Lisa May Thomas.

20(page 21 top) All That Is Wrong, by Ronny Wertlelaers, (page 21 bottom) Forest 4.

PERFORMANCE

MayfestTuesday 21 – Saturday 25 May Mayfest and Arnolfini present three theatre works as part of 2013’s festival. See mayfestbristol.co.uk for the full programme at Arnolfini and across the city.

‘Few festivals sizzle quite so deliciously as Mayfest, which always succeeds in feeling both very local and completely universal.’ The GuardianMayfest is produced by MAYK in collaboration with Bristol Old Vic and venues across the city. Funded by Arts Council England.

Hannah Jane Walker & Chris Thorpe the oh fuck moment Tuesday 21 – Thursday 23 May, 7 pm & 9 pm £10 / £7 concs, limited capacity Details of location on booking

In this Fringe First winning show, poet Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe examine the poetic guts of mistakes in a bundle of words and strip lighting. Screwing up is the truest, funniest, most terrifying moment you can experience. You will make a mistake, maybe you’ll learn from it. The oh fuck moment is a conversation around a desk for brave souls to hold their hands up and admit they screwed up, or for people to laugh at us because we did.

‘A brilliant celebration of our mistakes & evolutionary reflexes’ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

Ontroerend Goed All That Is WrongTuesday 21 & Wednesday 22 May, 7.30 pm £12 / £9 concs

Belgian company Ontroerend Goed have been touring the world with their unique theatre and performance projects. This, their latest presentation, looks at the world from the point of view of a bored and lonely eighteen year old called Koba Ryckewaert. Koba knows that all sorts of things are wrong with the world, including herself. She resorts to resolving these wrongs the best way she knows how, without a computer, without a family, without a lover. Fixing things on her own terms. This is the third part in the Koba Ryckewaert series.

Chris Goode & Company The Forest & the FieldFriday 24 & Saturday 25 May, 7.30pm, £10 / £7 concs

Relaxed and informal, passionate and provocative, experimental theatre maker Chris Goode has created a gently seductive, immersive piece of non-fiction storytelling which asks its audience to look at themselves, and to consider what we’re all doing when we meet in a theatre space. Using live demonstrations and video clips, and drawing on a wealth of examples from Shakespeare to O.J. Simpson via John Berger and Bruce Lee, The Forest & the Field creates a space for reflecting on theatre, from inside the moment of its happening

‘A theatre-maker of infinite talent and infinite compassion’ The Guardian

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MUSIC

PAN Showcase: Lee Gamble, NHK’Koyxeи, Rene Hell, Helm, Bill KouligasThursday 18 April, 7.30 pm, £10 / £8 concs

The label of 2012 for many critics, PAN has rapidly risen to prominence at the centre of a musical community in which new lines of connection between avant garde experimentation and the dancefloor are being plotted. Five from this vital label perform live sets at this concert.

NHK’Koyxeи, photo by Aoki Takamasa.(page 23) The Rememberers.

Mika Vainio Friday 31 May, 7.30 pm, £10 / £8 concs

For many years, both through his work as half of the pioneering Pan Sonic project, and as a solo artist releasing on labels Touch, Editions Mego and many others, Mika Vainio has been at the forefront of electronic music, making continually incisive inquiries into the physical properties of sound and silence.

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Penelope Shuttle, Deryn Rees-Jones, Pat Simmons, Kapka KassabovaFriday 26 April, 7.30 pm, £7 / £5 concs

Penelope Shuttle’s latest book, Unsent, is drawn from over three decades of published work. Deryn Rees-Jones is Professor of Poetry at the University of Liverpool. Her collection, Burying the Wren, was shortlisted for the 2012 TS Eliot prize. Kapka Kassabova is the author of two UK poetry collections; an award winning travel writer, she regularly contributes for The Guardian, TLS and BBC Radio. Pat Simmons was winner of the 2010 Grey Hen National Poetry Competition.

Screening

We are Poets Saturday 27 April, 12 pm, £5 / £4 concs

Brave New Voices, the most prestigious poetry slam competition in America, chose Leeds Young Authors to represent the UK at their competition in Washington DC. Sheffield-based filmmakers Alex Ramseyer-Bache and Daniel Lucchesi followed the group as they prepared for a transformational journey of a lifetime. Mixing cinematically crafted lyrical sequences with raw, intimate documentary, We Are Poets challenges our understanding of youth by giving them the stage.Alex Ramseyer-Bache & Daniel Lucchesi, UK, 2012, 80 mins

The RememberersSaturday 27 April, 8 pm, £7 / £5 concs

A live Hip Hop graphic novel presented by Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Apples and Snakes, written and performed by Kenny Baraka with musical direction by Drew Horley.

In a dystopian near-future John Kia, leader of the Found, guardian of the Rememberers tells the story of 7, a girl whose undiscovered power holds the key to humankind’s future. If Earth is to be saved, confrontation with the sinister NorCon Corporation can no longer be avoided.

Bristol Poetry Festival Spring 2013Ian McMillan: Talking Myself HomeWednesday 24 April, 7.30 pm, £10 / £7 concs

Ian McMillan pays tribute to the people, places and circumstances that have made him into the writer and popular performer that he is. Ian presents The Verb on Radio 3 and appears regularly on Quote Unquote, Pick of the Week and You and Yours to name but a few. His rip-roaring poetry performances are legendary. (Age 13+)

Three Men Talking About Things They Kinda Know AboutStephen James Smith, Kalle Ryan, Colm Keegan Special guest Pete Mullineaux

Thursday 25 April, 7.30 pm, £7 / £5 concs

What does it mean to be a man? Venturing where few men have gone before, three of Ireland’s leading performance poets talk life, love, family and feelings in a show about universal truths, the things that make us human and the things that mess us up. Originally from Bristol, Pete Mullineaux now lives in Galway, he is the author of three collections of poetry.

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SCREENINGS

A regular programme of Thursday evening screenings with a focus on artists’ film and video, experimental documentary, underseen cinema and discourse.

Arnolfini cinema is fully licensed Tickets £6 / £4 concs

The Film lecture series is free for UWE and University of Bristol staff and students with ID. Free tickets available from box office on the day of the event.

Time Together Introduced by Mark Aerial WallerThursday 7 March, 6.30 pm

Time Together is a long-form work developed from the video series that Waller shot, edited and exhibited daily for his contribution to the Baltic Triennial 2012 (produced by CAC Vilnius). In the film, a studio presenter’s interpretations of solar activity interweaves with a soap opera-esque narrative around the mysterious rituals and chance meetings of three protagonists.Mark Aerial Waller, UK, 2012, 70 mins

Film Lecture: In the Cut (18) Introduced by Estella TincknellThursday 14 March, 6.30 pm Free for UWE / UOB card holders

A star-studded psychological thriller combining elements of modern love and modern crime. In the Cut explores the darker side of passion when a lonely New York woman becomes involved with a tough homicide detective who is investigating a series of murders in her neighbourhood. Jane Campion, USA, 2003, 119 mins Estella Tincknell is Associate Professor of Film and Culture at the University of the West of England.

Implosion + Grand Openings Return of the Blogs Followed by a discussion with Loretta FahrenholzThursday 21 March, 6.30 pm

Fahrenholz’s digital cinema merges a straight documentary ethic with playful manipulations of contemporary image technologies and collaborative approaches to production. In Implosion, internet sex workers perform a Kathy Acker script in a high rise condo in Manhattan. Focused on the relationship between institutions and performance art, Grand Openings’ employs partly scripted and partly improvised actions, loose choreographies, musical scores, and acts of self-reflection that all co-exist in a chaotic structure.Loretta Fahrenholz, Germany/USA, 2011, 30 mins & 2012, 40 mins

The Film Exercise Thursday 28 March, 25 April, 30 May, 6.30 pm, free

A new season of monthly screenings and discussion that explores the urgency, social or political timeliness in curatorial approaches to artists’ film and video, as well as the diverse potential in approaches to the form. The Film Exercise is produced and presented by Bridget Crone and Al Cameron. Each month a curator or artist is invited to present and discuss a film programme.

Spectres Followed by Sven Augustijnen in conversation with TJ DemosThursday 4 April, 6.30 pm

Framing questions of guilt, trauma, history and fiction through ideas of the spectral, Belgian artist Sven Augustijnen’s prize-winning film essay follows a Belgian colonial official’s very personal investigation into the murder of the prime minister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, in 1961; an encounter with the restless ghosts of the colonial past. Sven Augustijnen, Belgium, 2011, 104 mins, subtitled

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Film Lecture: The Secret City Introduced by Lee Salter Thursday 11 April, 6.30 pm Free for UWE / UOB card holders

Written by UWE lecturer Lee Salter and directed by Michael Chanan, this recent film investigates the City of London, the Corporation (which is older than Parliament) that governs it, and its role in the economic crisis. The Secret City exposes the deleterious effects on democracy, politics and economics. Michael Chanan, UK, 2012, 72 mins

Detropia Thursday 2 May, 6.30 pm

The new documentary from Oscar-nominated filmmakers explores the contrasting past and present of the Motor City. Detropia sculpts a dreamlike collage out of the haunting imagery of a once-grand city teetering on the brink of dissolution, but it also explores Detroit’s residents’ struggles to salvage a different future within post-industrial America. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, USA, 2012, 90 mins

The Forgotten Space Thursday 9 May, 6.30 pm

An esteemed duo, of artist and writer Allan Sekula and film theorist and filmmaker Noel Burch, worked together on this astounding film, which starts off as investigative documentary but becomes a mythopoeic essay on modernity and the sea. As the directors put it, ‘our premise is that the sea remains the crucial space of globalisation. Nowhere else is the disorientation, violence, and alienation of contemporary capitalism more manifest.’ Allan Sekula and Noel Burch, USA, 2010, 112 mins

Detropia

26Tom Dale, The Cow Palace, 2011, image courtesy of Poppy Sebire Gallery. (page 27) Saskia Olde Wolbers, Pareidolia, 2011, still courtesy Maureen Paley.

TALKS / LECTURES / COURSES

UWE Fine Art/Art in the City Lecture Series £6 / £4 concs, free for UWE staff and students with ID

Organised by Arnolfini, Bristol City Council, and the University of the West of England.Supported by Bristol City Council.

Dexter Dalwood Wednesday 27 February, 6.30 pm

Dexter Dalwood was born in Bristol in 1960 and was a member of the 1970’s punk band The Cortinas before becoming one of the UK’s most respected painters. Dalwood’s work uses a collage technique to make painting that talks about the idea of a splintered reality, drawing equally on historical tradition and contemporary cultural and political events.

Tom Dale Wednesday 6 March, 6.30 pm

Dale’s work is absurd, witty and diverse. Often referring to his sculptures as ‘preposterous’ they make explicit the inherent contradictions of the grand gesture. It is a theme that emerges in a series of twisting stunt ramps emblazoned with stars and stripes, inspired by Evel Knievel as well as in his recent work, an installation at Ham House, which traces the tangled relationship between patronage and democracy. His talk will include details of his current public art commission for Bristol.

Laure ProuvostWednesday 27 March, 6.30 pm

Often exploring ideas of translation between languages, Laure Prouvost works across different media from painting to video, sound and installation. Recently appearing at Arnolfini as part of the 4 Days platform, Prouvost is also keen to present work in performance contexts. In 2011 she was awarded the Max Mara Art Prize for Women in conjunction with the Whitechapel Gallery where she is currently presenting a solo exhibition.

27Bristol Festival of Ideas Robin Ince: The Importance of Being InterestedWednesday 15 May, 7.30 pm, £10 / £8 concs

Bristol Festival of Ideas returns to Arnolfini and venues across the city in May with its annual festival of talks, debate and discussion. Award winning comedian and science enthusiast Robin Ince follows up his Happiness Through Science show with a look at his favourite scientists, Charles Darwin and Richard Feynman. It is a loving look into the minds of two giants of human imagination who changed our worldview. He’ll also stop off on the way to look at some of the more bizarre views of early science. For further information visit www.ideasfestival.co.uk. Bristol Festival of Ideas is produced in association with the Observer.

Courses

MA Performance Writing: Taster Day Saturday 2 March, 12 pm – 4 pm, free

Recruiting now for October 2013, Arnolfini in partnership with Falmouth University offer this unique masters degree in interdisciplinary writing. Using the idea of the ‘City as Campus’, this course is aimed at writer/artists who want to widen and deepen their practice in its relationship to language. The MA allows students to engage with Arnolfini’s Tertulia network and also follow an Erasmus Summer Intensive at the University of Madrid. Part time or full time. For more information email [email protected], visit arnolfini.org.uk, or come along to the MA Taster Day.

Saskia Olde WolbersWednesday 3 April, 6.30 pm

Since the mid-1990s Saskia Olde Wolbers has been working in video, combining analogue imagery with first person fictional narration. The videos are shot under water in handmade model sets that are dipped in paint to create unstable environments. She will be talking about the making of several of her most recent pieces.

West of England Design Forum Talk Graphic Storytelling – An evening with Noma BarWednesday 13 March, 7 pm, £12  / 10 concs

By striving for ‘maximum communication with minimum elements’ Noma Bar’s unique graphic style has become instantly recognisable throughout the world. Revered by his peers, he has won various industry awards, with his Cut It Out exhibition nominated for the Design Museum’s Designs of the Year 2012. Join us for an evening of graphic discovery.

28Photo by Justin Yockney.

READING ROOM EVENTS

Future ForwardThursdays, 2 pm – 6 pm, 14 & 21 March, free Phone Box Office to book your 30 minute slot

Future Forward is a free portfolio and advisory service for 16 to 25 year olds. You don’t have to be in formal education or even be 100% sure about your career path, but have a desire to find out more about how to pursue a future in the contemporary arts. This series will focus on performance, music and the visual arts. The sessions are with experienced arts professionals who will be able to advise across a broad range of media and disciplines.

14 March, Nick White, Travelling Light 21 March, Sophia Loizou, Colston Hall

Reading Art and… PerformanceThursday 11 April, 6.30 pm, free

Reading art and… is a new series of informal meeting intended to introduce participants to key themes in contemporary art theory, using excerpts from seminal texts. With Version Control, 4 Days and In Between Time Festival in mind, the first event will be focussed on performance, looking at issues such as conceptualism, the artists’ body, performance and documentation, and the performativity of objects. The texts for study will be available from Box Office or the Reading Room before the meeting, but you will still be welcome if you don’t have time to read them beforehand.

TertuliaSaturday 27 April, 2 pm – 4 pm, free

Tertulia is a regular salon event intended to bring people together working with or interested in language. We aim to act as a supportive platform for innovative, experimental work and research, and to promote exchange and discussion between creative disciplines. Part of 4 Days (see page 19).tertuliablog.wordpress.com

Young ArnolfiniDuring March and April Young Arnolfini, a group of 16 to  21 year olds will focus on both developing their online presence via a blog (accessed through Arnolfini’s new website) and produce a contemporary art zine. Both projects are intended to share thinking, inspiration and knowledge of contemporary arts related events and activities with more young people. They say; ‘We’ve been ambitious and diverse; we’ve tried new things and not been afraid of failing. We’ve begun to take ownership of the building and use it in ways that excite us, programming music, film, visual arts and performance work created by young people. We are developing our presence, going from strength to strength. We are Young Arnolfini.’

BOOKSHOP

Arnolfini is home to one of the UK’s leading specialist contemporary art bookshops.

Open Tuesday 11 am – 6 pm, Wednesday – Saturday 11 am – 8 pm, Sunday 11 am – 7 pm

Contact bookshop with enquiries or orders on 0117 917 2304 or [email protected] NUS get 10% off all purchases on Wednesdays

Spring is in the air and as ever it is an exciting time to be in the bookshop with fabulous new titles hot off the presses. It is always a busy season for the bookshop team out and about in the city, with bookstalls for Bristol Festival of Ideas, or at Arnolfini with the Spring Poetry Festival, and the icing on the cake – this year sees the fourth incarnation of BABE, Bristol Artists Book Event, which is always a highpoint for those who love books in all their forms.

CAFÉ BAR

Open daily from 10 am

Food inspired by the flavours of Italy and cooked with the best local produce is served all day. Look out for our kitchen happy hours, cake of the day deals and free spuntini (little Italian bar snacks) every Friday from 5.30 pm.

Sign up to our mailing list by emailing [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @finicafebar

10% off food for ticket holders to Arnolfini events.

Arnolfini Bookshop. (below) Arnolfini Café Bar, photos by Max McClure.

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SUPPORT US

For over 50 years Arnolfini has been a meeting place, a catalyst for ideas, and a unique showcase for world class contemporary art and performance. In this time, we have supported now-influential artists early in their careers and have encouraged people of all ages and backgrounds to engage with art. As a registered charity we depend on the support and generosity of our supporters to help us grow our innovative programme of exhibitions and events.

Arnolfini membership offers a wide range of benefits for you and your friends, and your contribution will help us to continue in our efforts to make art accessible to all. Our schemes range from individual membership through to patrons. Gift memberships are also available as the perfect present for those interested in art, performance, literature and good food. For more information on becoming a Supporter please email [email protected]

VENUE HIRE

Arnolfini is a unique venue and offers contemporary spaces for hire, including, Fifth Floor, a new space for events at Arnolfini. It has a stunning 360 degree view reaching from St Mary Redcliffe, across Bristol’s historic harbourside, to Bristol Cathedral and beyond. The space is ideal for weddings, conferences and large launch events.

Other spaces for hire include a 209 seater auditorium as well as smaller light filled rooms for conferences, receptions or meetings.For further information contact [email protected] or 0117 917 2313

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Arnolfini Fifth Floor, photos by Samuel Docker.

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VISIT US

Arnolfini is situated by the water at Narrow Quay in Bristol’s Harbourside. It’s a 15 minute walk from Temple Meads railway station, and Marlborough Street bus station. Most buses stop at The Centre, a short walk from Arnolfini.

If travelling by car, follow brown tourism signs. The nearest car park is The Grove. For further information visit arnolfini.org.uk or ring 0117 917 2300

Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA

ACCESS

We aim to make all visitors welcome. There are parking spaces for disabled visitors outside our main entrance, access via Farr’s Lane. Wheelchairs are available inside the building, and guide dogs are welcome.

Large print and Braille versions of this brochure are available on request, and an MP3 version can be downloaded from the access page of our website. There is an induction loop system within the Auditorium. Please inform Box Office of any special requirements.

Funded by

BristolOld Vic

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www.arnolfini.org.uk