This is Boo!, filmed by Jay Langdell, which won the prestigous gold medal in the Talking Birds’ Decathlon 100m Sprint final staged at mac yesterday as part of the opening night of Fierce Festival. We asked for submissions of 9.58 second length artworks in any medium, and then last night screened the 9 that qualified for the final. The audience clap-o-meter voted this piece as the gold medal winner.
What do you think?
After a nailbiting final, the audience clap-o-meter has spoken. Here’s the winners (and representatives) listening to the national anthem after receiving their medals.
Bronze: Anthony Hopwood (represented by Megan Vaughan)
Silver: Stacey Allen & Rachel O’Keefe
Gold: Jay Langdell (represented by Alison Gagen)
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who competed. We’ll get the videos up soon so you can watch them yourselves.
Thanks to Fierce Festival and Pilot Nights for having us!
The line up for the final on Thursday has now been announced:
Stacey Allen, Cormac Faulkner, Mark Hancock, Anthony Hopwood, Johnny O’Hanlon, Jay Langdell and Alan Van Wijgerden will be lining up in the starters’ blocks at PILOT at Fierce Festival at mac on Thursday. (Well, their 9.58 second films will, although having written that – I’m kinda wishing I could see a *real* 100m sprint race with those artists lined up against each other…)
Who’ll be taking home the gold medal?
**DON’T FORGET** Before this, on Wednesday, Jack’s Picnic at Dusk – the finale of the final FarGo Space Programme residency. [Read more…]
Lots in the pipeline this year, what with it being our 20th anniversary ‘n’ all, but here’s where you can catch us in March:
Saturday 10th March: Petite Decathlon work in progress show-ette as part of the magnificent Bite Size Festival at Warwick Arts Centre – one of the tea-time tasters.
Saturday 24th March: The Whale & The Q will be two of the attractions at the opening event for the new Bradford City Park.
Thursday 29th March: Screening of the 100m Sprint Final of our Decathlon, with medal ceremony, at mac, Birmingham as part of Fierce Festival.
We also recommend that you should be in the audience for some of these – we will be!
Tuesday 13th March: The Ethics of Progress by Unlimited Theatre at Warwick Arts Centre.
Thursday 15th March – 1st April: Still Walking Festival, Birmingham.
Thursday 29th March – 8th April: Fierce Festival all over Birmingham.
Craig Clarke is currently putting the finishing touches to his work at Unit 4, and he’ll be opening the doors to all you lovely people who want to come and have a look at what he’s been up to in there this month tomorrow [Wednesday 29th] evening from 6.30-8pm.
Do come! Let Google tell you how to find it…
There’s still time to submit your 9.58s artwork for the 100m sprint: a lavish prize, gold medal & screening @fiercefestival could be yours!
Have you got a 9.58 second artwork in you?
A poem that takes 9.58 seconds to read out loud?
A play that takes 9.58 seconds to perform?
A film that tells a 9.58 second story or juxtaposes 9.58s of images to give the viewer a subliminal message?
A painting that takes 9.58 seconds to make in a Take Hart style (drying time not included)?
A cello solo that takes 9.58 seconds to play?
A computer animation that runs for 9.58 seconds?
Something else that’s far more interesting and inventive than any of the above?
We’re looking for 9.58 second artworks to line up for the 100m sprint.
At the time of writing, the world record for the 100 metres is 9.58 seconds and is held by the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. In March 2012 we will be screening 8 very short films at the Fierce Festival in Birmingham, where each film will be 9.58 seconds long. These 8 films will constitute the final of the 100 metres in our Decathlon. There will be medals for the ‘winning’ three as voted by the audience, and a lavish £95.80 prize for the gold medal holder.
To that end, we are looking for 9.58 second artworks. They can be in any artform – performance, video, sculpture, poetry, installation, happening, drawing, animation etc – as long as the artwork is 9.58 seconds long, and can be submitted to us as 9.58 second video. We are looking for works which wholly embrace the 9.58 second-ness of the idea, and are either natively digital, or document a 9.58 artwork.
Deadline for submission – Midday February 28th 2012
For more info, (and the reasons why we want your work) see the Decathlon pages on the Talking Birds website.
Talking Birds’ Decathlon – Call for submissions
In 2012 Talking Birds will be 20 years old. Perhaps less widely known, 2012 is also London’s Olympic year and so, to celebrate both those things, we are embarking on a year long project called Decathlon – ten artworks, each inspired by the decathlon’s ten sporting disciplines. It is designed to involve a wide range of people as participants and audience…without them having to don shorts or get out of breath.
Some of the ten artworks in the Decathlon require input from other artists, and so we will be issuing a series of calls for contributions over the next few months. Here are the first two:
1. 100 METRES
At the time of writing, the world record for the 100 metres is 9.58 seconds and is held by the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. In March 2012 we will be screening 8 very short films at the Fierce Festival in Birmingham, where each film will be 9.58 seconds long. These 8 films will constitute the final of the 100 metres in our Decathlon. There will be medals for the ‘winning’ three as voted by the audience, and a lavish £95.80 prize for the gold medal holder.
To that end, we are looking for 9.58 second artworks. They can be in any artform – performance, video, sculpture, poetry, installation, happening, drawing, animation etc – as long as the artwork is 9.58 seconds long, and can be submitted to us as 9.58 second video. We are looking for works which wholly embrace the 9.58 second-ness of the idea, and are either natively digital, or document a 9.58 artwork.
Technical and Usage Considerations:
The video can be supplied as a Quicktime movie on CD, or DVD, posted at the address below, or via web-based file sharing sites (Dropbox, SendIt etc) with the link emailed to birdmail[at]talkingbirds[dot]co[dot]uk. Videos need to be of high enough resolution to be projected onto a large screen. The artist must be the copyright holder for the material, and by submitting the work agrees to it being used on the Talking Birds website throughout 2012, the Fierce website, as well as for the screenings during the Fierce festival, if selected, and in publicity for the event. Videos which do not make ‘the final’ will be used, potentially, as part of the ‘heats’ and available for viewing on the company’s website.
Deadline for submission – Midday February 28th 2012
2. HIGH JUMP
In May Talking Birds will be working with Capital Plays and Writing West Midlands, to stage a night of short performances at mac, Birmingham. We are looking for 5 minute pieces (stories, monologues, plays) which engage with the high jump, either metaphorically, or literally. The plays or stories need to be completed – we’re not looking for part-works, or works in progress – but which are fully realised by, and embrace, the 5 minute form.
At your disposal on the night there will be up to 3 actors, or you can perform the work yourselves or with people you’ve brought along.
Please send a completed script, narrative, or description of the piece either by email as an attachment to:
birdmail[at]talkingbirds[dot]co[dot]uk with the subject line: High Jump Submission
Or by post to: Talking Birds, High Jump Submission, Institute for Creative Enterprise, Parkside, Coventry, CV1 2QR. (In the case of paper submissions we regret we will be unable to return them).
Deadline for submission – Midday February 28th 2012
FarGo Space – WANTED Makers of Memories
Artists/Producers/Events Organisers/etc who can make interesting and productive use of a free empty space (approx 8m x 5m) in Coventry for a month – and, just before their month is up, invite the public in and make something amazing happen there. We’re looking for people/groups who can create something original and wonderful (and perhaps even a bit beautiful) that will make people want to come and experience the Space Programme for themselves. Something that will contribute to building up an understanding and expectation in the wider Coventry unconscious that FarGo is a place where cool things happen.
Slots in January & February 2012. [Apologies for the short notice – only just got the lease extension!] The Space Programme is curated by Talking Birds and has been running since July 2010. You can find details of projects so far by clicking here.
Successful applicants will be awarded £100 at the start of their residency.
If you are interested in taking part, please send an email of up to 600 words to janet[at]talkingbirds[dot]co[dot]uk detailing: *who you are; *what you would do with your month in the Empty Space Module; *what your event might look like; *whether you could go on site at the drop of a hat (January 1st) or need a longer lead in (February 1st); *links to any online images/info about your past work
Deadline for expressions of interest: December 23rd 2011
1. Making a new website.
2. Writing an application (or 3).
3. Meeting with our Advisory Board.
4. Making a set model.
5. Writing a screenplay.
6. Playing the piano.
7. Tour-booking.
8. Plotting & planning.
At FarGoSpace, the empty warehouse we’ve been curating, Ludic Rooms are busy getting stuff ready to welcome you at the weekend. There are circuit-bending workshops on Saturday and Sunday morning, followed by an informal interactive family-friendly exhibition (think light, sound, video, analogue & digital) in the afternoon and evening. More details on our FARGOSPACE blog.
At The Herbert, the superb ‘homecoming’ exhibition by Coventry-born and Turner Prize nominated artist George Shaw continues. It features paintings of the Tile Hill that Shaw remembers, done in his trademark luminous Humbrol enamels, as well as new watercolours revisiting those locations. In a way though, the most interesting part is the room featuring his early art-school drawings. A must-see.
So our run of Capsule at Warwick Arts Centre is over and all the bits are packed away. It’s been a short but hugely enjoyable fortnight and we’d like to say an enormous thank you to all our lovely audiences, and to those who also user-tested the Difference Engine. And of course to the team at Warwick for making us so welcome!
It’s tricky to make comments or post pictures about a show that hinges on a surprise/twist without giving the game away, but we’ll try and do that and post some stuff up here next week.
Here’s a few from Twitter:
@HollyCParkerx: @birdmail You didn’t disappoint – what a FANTASTIC twist. Definitely unlike anything I’ve seen before. Fab fab fab and ridiculously charming. Very endearing.
@Cathryn_G: Capsule is something fresh – unusual and much appreciated – I want to see it again now to appreciate nuances that passed me by.
@Philippa_Cross: @birdmail I SO loved that 🙂
We’d now like to take Capsule out and about a bit, so fingers crossed you’ll be able to take a trip in it yourself soon at a venue near you…
We’ve been squirrelled away at Warwick Arts Centre for a week and a bit now, re-acquainting ourselves with this 30minute show we made almost a year ago. And in getting to know it again, we’re remembering what it is we like about it and why we wanted to do it again (which is, frankly, quite a relief…)
It’s been fascinating – and tricky – to rework though, because it was originally made as an experiment. We had a space (http://fargospace.posterous.com); a month; a 3m x 3m x 2m walk-in ex-teapot to recycle; and a hunch that something made mostly out of sound happening around – and mostly out of sight of – the audience would make for an interesting piece.
The space was an empty warehouse. It was (very) cold and had/s a lovely – and very particular – atmosphere which shaped the piece in a particular way. Now we’re in the newest space at WAC, the Helen Martin Studio, and the contrast couldn’t be more marked.
We *think* we’ve translated Capsule into something that works in, for & with this space. On Thursday I guess we’ll find out whether the audiences agree with us…
[There is a very small handful of tickets left – ring Warwick box office to find out when/where they are: 024 7652 4524] **SOLD OUT**
Words from the Birds 