JOE Stevens news

This week I finish my conversation with Alan Rogers, Cultural Coordinator as part of the Weymouth and Portland 2012 Operations Team, at Weymouth Pavilion.
creativedialog.wordpress.com

We start by talking about how he balances the difficult decisions of working within a limited budget. We go onto hear what Alan thinks about the long lasting effect of the cultural Olympiad on this area. & I end by picking Alan’s experience about ways artists can build in sustainability in the incredibly precarious career of artists practice.

Two of my works, thunder and uMM that was nice, are amongst the ten works in this years Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Open. It features nine artists who have created sound work through a range of multi-disciplinary methods, exploring diverse themes.

The selection was made by George Barber and Matt Davenport from 73 works submitted by 47 artists from all over the world. Sound based work was chosen as the discipline for our second Open Online exhibition. This exhibition includes sound works – with and without visual elements – that manipulate and play with a range of source recordings; including media, oral history and field recordings, simple sounds that are used to evoke a powerful sense of place; alongside complex musical sound scores complemented by visual animations.

Hear / see the works at: www.fermynwoods.co.uk/current-programme/open-online-two

diplopia is part of Countertext, a collection of transmedia installations and events to complement the Bridport Open Book Festival including sculpture, video, sound and performance, curated by David Rogers and Nigel Slight. See countertext.wordpress.com/countertext11 for more info and other events.

projection with stereo audio
Friday 18th – Saturday 26th November 2011

Venue: LabCulture MediaLab, 1 Kings Square, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3QE

diplopia is a film I’ve made about traveling with double vision, a condition I’ve had for awhile now. My left eye diverges from the right eye, which means that my brain “sees” double, or what they call ‘diplopia’. As my eyes no longer work together they see different images and my brain cannot comprehend the resulting information. This has led me to see things that aren’t there, resulting in my tripping over and walking into objects.

 In this new work I have continued my interest in creating moving pictures. Painters, photographers, and filmmakers have inspired its making and I have treated these animated landscapes as a simplified drawing. Trying to avoid putting in more than is necessary; I endeavour to balance the identity of the landscape, with the abstraction of the picture frame, reducing and simplifying the colour space.

The soundtrack is constructed from sounds I recorded inside the car; driving along different tarmac textures. I have also used a recording in a lay-by on the A30. These sounds have been mixed and heavily treated.

experimental films at countertext11 to complement the Bridport Literary Festival, starting on 18th nov. Featuring Joe Stevens new film work, ‘diplopia’. About traveling with double vision. Animated landscapes with a disorienting soundtrack. Also showing ‘thunder’, a new work that uses data conversion techniques to reinterpret the sound of thunder into a moving image.

Regular screening featuring Duncan Whitley, Marjorie Van Halteren, Justin Bennett and my own work throughout the week.

Download full programme: http://countertext.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/ct11fullprogpixs.pdf