8004 -- 8019

Charlotte Prodger

Spike IslandAutumn 2015

ExhibitionsCaféEvents

Charlotte Prodger8004 -- 8019

10 October to 13 December 2015Preview: Friday 9 October, 6–9pm, and afterparty

Exhibitions

Charlotte Prodger is recognised for her audiovisual practice using equipment selected for its specific technological capacity, design history and subcultural aesthetics. In her largest solo show to date, she presents a new body of sculptural objects balanced by the feature length Stoneymollan Trail — Prodger’s first single channel video. The exhibition (titled 8004 -- 8019 in reference to the RAL colour codes that Prodger has used here) builds upon her impulse for listing, incremental sequencing and the mapping of co-ordinates.

The grid is an ever-present motif in her work. Rectilinear pattern is used as a formal constraint for subjective narrative content that is often messy and slippery, shifting around in time and place. Moving between and blending the native aspect ratios of her mixed sources, Stoneymollan Trail comprises material from multiple formats: a personal archive of deteriorating miniDV tapes; high definition camera footage; iPhone videos; screenprinted graphic forms and recorded voice over. Stoneymollan Trail uses the geometry of the 16:9 (widescreen) and 4:3 (standard) aspect ratios as a way of bringing the spatial concerns of her former multi-monitor installations into the linear constraints of the single screen.

The physicality of the screen is brought into focus as a measure and mediation of subjectivity. Stoneymollan Trail considers screens both as objects in the world (monitors, windows, folding screens), layered internal rectangles within the video, and as framing devices through which culture and reality are shaped. Landscape is a recurring motif throughout this video, which traces a recent history of the medium of video as well as the artist’s personal history.

The sculptural objects made for Spike Island see Prodger using vertical and horizontal pictoral planes to consider screens as various ways of punctuating architectural space; blocking, dividing and revealing as the viewer navigates their way through the galleries. As Stoneymollan Trail uses the intimate physical materiality of video to frame autobiographical content, Prodger’s sculptural objects draw upon industrial materials and processes (aluminium, haulage tarpaulins, Perspex, powdercoating, RAL charts) and more traditional binary grid systems to think about the relationship of technology to landscape and the human body.

32

Charlotte Prodger Stoneym

ollan Trail (2015)Video stills

Free, no need to bookInformal introductions to the exhibition, led by invited guests and members of the Spike Island community.

Paul Purgas, musician and curatorSaturday 24 October, 2pm Paul Purgas discusses the use of sound and technology in Charlotte Prodger’s exhibition, approaching it from his interest in structural/materialist practices in filmmaking and experimental music.

Elisa KayCurator and Spike Associates ProgrammerSaturday 28 November, 2pmElisa Kay gives a tour of 8004 -- 8019 with particular reference to landscape and the work of the artist Nancy Holt (1938–2014), a pioneer of American land art and an influential figure for Charlotte Prodger.

Charlotte ProdgerArnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QAWednesday 4 November, 6.30–8pm£6/£4 concessions Free for UWE staff and students with IDCall Arnolfini 0117 917 2300 or visit www.arnolfini.org.uk to bookCharlotte Prodger discusses her practice and current Spike Island exhibition, 8004 -- 8019.

Exhibition Tours

UWE/ Art in the City Talk

Art Weekender

Film Screening and ConversationNancy Holt, Revolve (1977)Introduced by Charlotte ProdgerFriday 30 October, 6pm £5/£3 (free for Associates)Booking advisedCharlotte Prodger introduces Revolve, a video by seminal American land artist Nancy Holt. Through multiple camera angles and minimal repetition, Holt presents her friend David Wheeler’s intimate story of his battle with leukemia, and effectively projects the personal into the conceptual.

Exhibition ToursFriday 30 October, Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, 2pmFree, booking advisedInformal introductions to the current exhibition.

30 October to 1 NovemberThe Art Weekender — Bristol & Bath is a three-day celebration of visual arts across two cities, with over 50 arts venues, artist-led groups and arts producers. Visit www.artweekender.com for the full programme.

Cunae: A Lecture on NestingSunday 1 November, 7pmBristol Museum & Art GalleryQueens Rd, Bristol BS8 1RLFree, booking advisedArtist Andy Holden and his father, ornithologist Peter Holden, present a performative lecture on the ingenuity and diversity of nest building. Including field recordings, film archives and museum collections, this special one-night event is a collaboration between art and science, father and son.

Late opening of exhibitionsEnjoy longer opening hours at Spike Island during the Art Weekender: 11am–7pm on Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November.

5

Charlotte Prodger Stoneym

ollan Trail (2015)Video still

A nesting Spotted FlycatcherC

ourtesy the RSPB archive4

76 Events Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 NovemberFree, booking advised See www.spikeisland.org.uk for full scheduleThe second Creative Time Summit of the year maintains its focus upon the idea of curriculum. Taking place inside the Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, New York, the summit engages a broad range of international speakers, from politicians to artists, on topics of pedagogy, knowledge, and learning. As the summit unfolds, watch the live stream inside our free screening space and join in with additional guest-led discussions.

Creative Time Summit 2015 (Live Stream)

Tuesday 6 October, 6pmFree, booking advisedEach year Spike Island offers fellowships to promising graduates of the University of the West of England, Falmouth University and Plymouth College of Art. We look forward to welcoming four new Graduate Fellows for 2015–16: Esme Boggis and James Lee join us for a year, while Nicholas Popham from Falmouth University and Andy Cluer from Plymouth College of Art undertake a three-month residency. Night of the Fellows sees them introduce themselves alongside outgoing fellows Simon Hood and Steph Li (UWE) and Edward Hill (Falmouth University), who recall their experiences and discuss plans for the future.

Night of the Fellows

Ursula MayerTuesday 24 November, 6.30pm£5/£3 (free for Associates), booking advisedUrsula Mayer, London-based artist filmmaker and winner of the 2014 Derek Jarman Award for radical filmmaking, creates cinematic works that are rich in historical resonance. This screening includes Mayer’s recent films Medea (2013) and Gonda (2012), alongside the short works Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight (2010) and Cinesexual (2013). Mayer’s work often challenges gender boundaries and expectations resulting in complex and autonomous statements, or even speculations, on the contemporary human condition.This screening is presented as part of the ICA Moving Image Network.

Film Screening

Ami ClarkeThursday 12 November, 6pm£5/£3 (Free for Associates)

Ami Clarke is an artist and founder of Banner Repeater — a reading room with a public and digital Archive of Artists’ Publishing and project space, located on a platform at Hackney Downs train station, London. She talks about her work with a focus on post-digital art production, publishing, distribution and dissemination.

Artist’s Talk

Nicholas Popham Atocha (eng. subs) (2015)

Ursula Mayer Medea (2013) Film still

LiteratureStudios£5/£3 concessions, booking advisedEach month we invite a debut novelist to read from and talk about their work in an informal setting. Extracts are available in advance but prior knowledge of the texts is not essential. These sessions are a great way to discover new writing talent and great books. In partnership with Bristol Festival of Ideas.

Thursday 29 October, 6.30pmIn a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother’s sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness. In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow — antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter.

‘I found it utterly astonishing. Truly, truly remarkable. At once deeply affecting and fiercely intelligent, an elegy and a celebration …’ Nathan Filer, author

Thursday 19 November 6.30pm Feverish and forthright, Pond is an absorbing chronicle of the pitfalls and pleasures of a solitudinous life told by an unnamed woman living on the cusp of a coastal town. Broken bowls, belligerent cows, swanky aubergines, trembling moonrises and horrifying sunsets, the physical world depicted in these stories is unsettling yet intimately familiar and soon takes on a life of its own. Captivated by the stellar charms of seclusion but restless with desire, the woman’s relationship with her surroundings becomes boundless and increasingly bewildering.

‘These stories are intelligent and funny, innovative and provocative, and it’s impossible to read them without thinking that here is a writer who has only just begun to show what she can do.’ Eimear McBride, author

Novel Writers

Max PorterGrief is the Thing with Feathers

Claire-Louise BennettPond

8 9

Conversation Pieces20 November to 13 DecemberConversation Pieces presents new work by Spike Island studio holders, formed through a communicative process between artists who have visually responded to each other’s practice. Curated by Georgia Hall, Spike Island/UWE MA Curating student.

Simon Hood presents: 100 Paintings of Ringo Starr17 October to 3 November Preview: Friday 16 October, 6–9pmSimon Hood presents 100 Paintings of Ringo Starr, a body of work inspired by the metamorphosis of Richard Starkey who emerged from a year-long coma aged six with an interest in percussion, later becoming the lovable popstar drummer in The Beatles.

Episodes in Cultural Imperialism: The Democratic Republic of Free People(s)3 to 11 October Event: Friday 9 October, 6–9pmAn exhibition made in collaboration with Spike Island volunteers, focusing on the independent country The Democratic Republic of Free People(s), founded by its democratic leader, artist Simon Hood.

Test SpaceTest Space is programmed by studio holders based at Spike Island and

offers artists a chance to exhibit new works and test ideas. Artists from

within the Spike Island community and beyond are included. Please ask

at reception for access.

Free, booking advisedChat with artists based at Spike Island, explore their studios and view works in progress at these informal encounters.

Saturday 21 November, 2pmHarriet Bowman and Simon Olley Harriet Bowman shares her new and recently exhibited work which takes the form of image, installation, text and video. Simon Olley talks about using found imagery to produce collages and videos that fragment and repeat to create new surfaces and meaning.

Behind the Scenes Studio Visits

Harriet Bowman TTNWpart1.jpg = This time next week, part 1 (2015)Installation view

11Opportunities

Are you interested in art and want to improve your ability to talk about it? Apply to The ARTiculation Prize, a nationally acclaimed event aimed at sixth form students to promote engagement with art.

The competition develops your ability to analyse art, express thoughts and deliver opinions through short presentations on your choice of art, artefact or architecture. A regional heat takes place at Spike Island on Monday 18 January, 2.30–5pm. Organised in association with The Roche Court Educational Trust.

To apply, or for more information, visit the Spike Island website or email admin@spikeisland.org.uk. Deadline 9 November 2015.

Do you have ambitions to work with film? Camera Buff is Spike Island’s online commissioning strand of experimental films specifically for 16–24 year olds based in the South West of England. Camera Buff offers you the support, funds and professional experience needed to develop your early ideas into a broadcast quality short film while also expanding your knowledge and experience of experimental film. Camera Buff is part of the Random Acts South West Network Hub led by our partners Calling the Shots.

To apply, or for more information, visit www. spikeIsland.org.uk or email admin@spikeisland.org.uk. We run application rounds twice yearly until 2018.

Camera Buff: Film commissioning opportunity for young people

ARTiculation Prize 2016 Let’s talk about art!

10

Friday 23 October , 10–11am Friday 20 November, 10–11amFriday 18 December, 10–11am£3 per childAll materials provided, booking essentialLed by Éilis Kirby, these monthly sessions in Spike Café are for under fives and their carers. Play with colour, shape, texture and easy ways to create, using simple methods and materials you can usually find at home. The gallery opens at 11am so you can look around the current exhibitions after the session (excluding December).

Baby Art Hour

ActivitiesThe Drawing Exchange Saturday 3 October, 12–4pmBring a stamp and a friend’s postal address along to this drawing workshop, led by Kayle Brandon of the Drawing Exchange. Through a series of group drawing exercises, create collaborative letters ready to post at the end of the workshop.

Jo LathwoodSaturday 7 November, 12–4pmTest the possibilities of making and using iron oak gall ink — one of the oldest natural inks made from simple foraged ingredients — and experience its black lightfast quality which makes a particularly unique mark.

Anna MarrowSaturday 5 December, 12–4pmMake your own Christmas cards, wrapping paper and tags, using simple and effective printing techniques, with guidance from Spike Print Studio member Anna Marrow.

Free, no need to bookThese monthly activity sessions are led by artists and take place in the Spike Café. Visitors of all ages and abilities can try out new techniques and approaches to making art, from drawing and painting to collage, sculpture and animation and are invited to drop in any time during the session.

I am Making Art

Jo Lathwood Blind View #3 (2015)

Patrick Staff The Foundation (2015)Production stillCo-commissioned by Spike Island and Chisenhale GalleryPhotograph by Max McClure

13Support usComing soon

16 January to 27 March 2016Preview 15 January, 6–9pmIn his largest exhibition to date, Michael Simpson shows work spanning the last 25 years alongside new works. Simpson makes large scale paintings in an ongoing series that repeat and rework a number of key elements which relate to his interest in the infamy of religious history. His austere bench painting series (1989–2009) was made as a homage to the Neapolitan renegade philosopher Giordano Bruno, burnt at the stake by the inquisition in Rome’s Campo dei Fiori in 1600. The bench itself serves as a fixed coherent form within the paintings, the structure through which Simpson explores the pure language of painting — form, colour composition — through imagery without figures, yet implying a profound human presence.

Spike Island is a registered charity (no.1003505) working to nurture artistic talent and bring artists and audiences together. Your gift, via our website or at one of our donations boxes, supports free entry to exhibitions, educational activities, subsidised studios and artists’ development.

Join our dynamic team of volunteers and make a significant contribution to the work we do, while gaining valuable work experience within the arts. Apply online at www.spikeisland.org.uk/opportunities

Michael Simpson

Donate

Volunteer

12

Artist editionsA unique and affordable series of artworks created by leading artists on the occasion of new exhibitions at Spike Island, including David Batchelor, Melissa Gordon, Richard Long and Patrick Staff. Each edition is made in support of the artists we work with and our exhibitions and events programme.

New editions now available include Reto Pulfer’s Knochenwesen (Bone Beings) (2015), a limited edition of eight Raku ceramics, each unique and produced specifically for his solo exhibition Gewässerzeiten. The edition was created during a live performance by the artist using the traditional sixteenth-century Japanese technique called Raku. Available to purchase at £200.

Michael Sim

pson Leper Squint (2015)

Reto Pulfer MM

MS Reticulum

Gew

ässerzeiten (2015) Photograph by M

ax McC

lureReto Pulfer Knochenw

esen (Bone Beings) (2015) Photograph by Stuart W

hipps

Charlotte Prodger’s exhibition 8004 -- 8019 is co-commissioned by Spike Island and Electra, with support from Creative Scotland and The Henry Moore Foundation. With thanks to The Elephant Trust, courtesy of The George Melhuish Bequest. Stoneymollan Trail was commissioned by Glasgow Film through the Margaret Tait Award, supported by Creative Scotland and LUX. The artist wishes to thank Rayne Booth, Luke Collins, Matt Fitts, Isla Leaver-Yapp, Steff Norwood, Casey O’Connell, Panel, QD Plastics, Irene Revell, Sonic Stainless, Linsey Young.

Andy Holden’s Cunae: A Lecture on Nesting is commissioned by Spike Island and Artangel with the support of Bristol 2015 European Green Capital. This is the first phase of the commission. The next phase will be presented by Artangel in 2016.

The Art Weekender – Bristol & Bath is produced by Situations with support from Bristol and Bath Cultural Destinations.

Spike Film and Video provides specialist exhibition, production and post-production services to the art and heritage sectors. Our team works nationally and internationally with artists, arts organisations, galleries and museums on the development and delivery of their moving image projects. For more information visit www.spikeisland.org.uk/spike-film-and-video

Spike Island is a registered charity (no. 1003505). Spike Island gratefully acknowledges support from Arts Council England and Bristol City Council.

We wish to thank Patrons of New Art Bristol for their support: Jerry Cowhig MBE, Professor Alex Gilkison, Mike Jackson, Lance Moir, Esther O’Callaghan OBE, Zoe Sear, Craig White, Iwan Wirth and those who wish to remain anonymous.

1514 CalendarOctoberSaturday 3 12–4pm I am Making ArtTuesday 6 6pm Night of the FellowsFriday 9 6–9pm Exhibition Previews: Charlotte Prodger, 8004 -- 8019 Test Space: Episodes in Cultural Imperialism 9pm–11pm PartyFriday 16 6–9pm Test Space: Simon HoodFriday 23 10–11am Baby Art HourSaturday 24 2pm Exhibition TourThursday 29 6.30pm Novel Writers: Max Porter

Art Weekender — Bristol & Bath

Friday 30 2pm Exhibition TourFriday 30 6pm Film Screening and Conversation: Nancy Holt, Revolve introduced by Charlotte ProdgerSaturday 31 2pm Exhibition Tour

NovemberSunday 1 2pm Exhibition Tour Sunday 1 7pm Cunae: A Lecture on Nesting

Saturday 7 12–4pm I am Making ArtThursday 12 6pm Artist’s talk: Ami ClarkeSaturday 14 10am–5pm Creative Time Summit (Live Stream)Sunday 15 10am–5pm Creative Time Summit (Live Stream)Thursday 19 6.30pm Novel writers: Claire-Louise BennettFriday 20 10–11am Baby Art HourSaturday 21 2pm Behind the Scenes Studio VisitsTuesday 24 6.30pm Film Screening: Ursula MayerSaturday 28 2pm Exhibition Tour

DecemberSaturday 5 12–4pm I am Making ArtFriday 18 10–11am Baby Art Hour

PlymouthCollege of Art

The Roche CourtEducational TrustNewArtCentre.

Spike Film and Video

Thank you

This programme is available in large print. Ask at reception, email admin@spikeisland.org.uk or call 0117 929 2266.

Spike Island

Arnolfini

SS Great Britain

Ferry crossing

Ferry crossing

Harbourside Walk

Pay and display car park

CUMBERLAND ROAD BRISTOL TEMPLE MEADS STATION →

SYDNEY ROW

HAN

OVE

R PL

ACE

GA

S FE

RRY

ROAD

WAP

PIN

G R

OAD

M Shed

← CREATE

PRIN

CE

STRE

ET

FOO

TBRI

DG

ESpike IslandSpike Island is an international centre for the development of contemporary art and design. A vibrant hub for production, presentation and debate, it invites audiences to engage directly with creative practices through participation and discussion.

133 Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UXTel. 0117 929 2266www.spikeisland.org.ukadmin@spikeisland.org.uk

facebook.com/SpikeIsland @_SpikeIsland @SpikeIsland

Mailing listVisit our website to sign up for Spike Island’s fortnightly e-newsletter or email admin@spikeisland.org.uk

Visitor InformationGallery open Tuesday to Sunday, 12–5pm (during exhibitions only). Admission to the gallery is free. Prices for events vary, please see individual listings for details.

Café open Monday to Friday, 8.30am–5pm,Saturday and Sunday, 12–5pm.

Spike Island aims to be a fully accessible building. There are three Blue Badge parking spaces outside the main entrance.

Booking InformationBook for events online at www.spikeisland.org.uk, call 0117 929 2266 or visit Reception.