This is not about the well-known Leeds United football team, although we have it on good authority that artists can also enjoy and understand the beautiful game. Click here to read our longer article about the visual arts and some rather quirky and seemingly disparate happenings linked by the brand of United.
In days gone by the visual arts in Leeds may not have enjoyed quite the profile of the performing arts, or the funding. We think the casual observer may be surprised at the strength, diversity and sheer entrepreneurial spirit of Leeds-based artists right now. Lack of money does not seem to be a deterrent, in fact it only serves to act as a galvaniser, bringing collectives together to be creative. We have witnessed a plethora of new studios, artist collectives, zines, websites, galleries and more.
In towns across the UK artists are turning empty shop units into galleries, adding vibrancy to ever desolate townscapes. It may only be a matter of time before we see such activity here in Yorkshire. The latest budget has grants of £1000 for artists to breathe life into empty units. Can our artists seize the moment? Would they have your support? The St John’s Centre in Leeds, at least seem to have seized the initiative…
East Street Arts fourth Social Club UNITED brings together a collection of creative happenings taking place in Leeds during May and June 2009. You can find the whole shebang on visual arts website Something Visual, but we have dug deep to unearth a few golden nuggets…
Day Off
Taking place in ESA Project Space @ Patrick Studios:
Day Off by artists Kristy Noble and Tom Poultney
Sat 9th – Fri 15th May 2009 12.00 – 6.00pm
Preview: Thur 14th May 6.00 – 8.00pm
Initially meeting on Facebook due to a shared interest in photographing allotments, Kristy Noble and Tom Poultney decided to put an exhibition together exploring the themes and issues common to their work; namely the role of leisure time and the changing face of the British pastime in Yorkshire communities. Have the virtual networks where the artists met, overtaken the traditional leisure pursuits of shooting, drinking and train spotting. And have the meeting places created for the interaction of the community been made redundant by the habits of the digital generation? These questions are posed as the artists seek to understand the history of these social networks, aged pastimes and attractions of the past.
Homebrew
Taking place throughout the two months as a social hub for UNITED.
Gordon McKiernan, an experienced brewer, is transforming the ESA meeting and resource room into a temporary micro-brewery for the duration of UNITED, to produce a new beer based on the open source FreeBeer recipes started by artist group Superflex. The Social Club bar made especially for ESA by artist Donnna Walker will also serve a guest beer by Sheffield based artist Alex Hislop and a guest wine by artist Bob Milner who is Wakefield based. There will also be an assortment of beer snacks and non alcoholic drinks.
UNITED Closing Party @ ESA Barkston Studios
The finale event for UNITED will take place over Friday 26th June (11am – late) and Saturday 27th June (11am – 5pm) at ESA’s Barkston Studios in Holbeck.
ESA’s Barkston Studios are situated within Barkston House, a 1970s Council building, and for UNITED’s closing party artists and audiences are invited to this unique experience, intermixing a range of events in the studios, gallery/project space, corridors and empty semi-industrial units. There is nowhere else in Leeds where this kind of event can take place that has such a range of artists, projects and social gatherings.
The following events are all happening during the closing party at ESA Barkston Studios:
UNITED Social
As part of the closing party celebrations, artist Daniel Lehan is inviting Barkston House tenants, artists, audiences and passers-by to pop in for some food and drink and to be part of a growing community.
Edwige_and_Megan_at_Barkston_House_Leeds
Screened at the UNITED closing party, artist Megan Smith will develop a new piece based on her avatar in Second Life.This piece investigates an area of Smith’s practice-based research where she strives to embody the digital domain through performance by living vicariously through Edwige Pronovost, Smith’s Second Life avatar in order to comment on and to analyse how humans as characters appropriate and make social or structural claims on space.For more on Megan go to: www.megansmith.ca
MEET THE MAKER!
Organised by experimental film collective EXP24, this is an open submission film and video event – dictating that film makers have to attend the final screening in order for their work to be shown.
EXP24 want to encourage live discussion and debate between makers and the audience, stepping away from the idea that “meaning is in the eye of the beholder” and reviving a sense of responsibility for what the filmmaker creates. EXP24 are a Leeds based experimental film collective with a penchant for film happenings, who operate on a not for profit basis. See www.flickr.com/photos/exp24 for more details or visit EXP24 website: www.exp24.org
The best of the rest includes:
Open Studios – studio members based at Barkston Studios will open up their work spaces up to the public. For more details on the artists participating in this please go to: www.esaweb.org.uk
Instruments – artist Ben Byford will show films and a sound installation at ESA Barkston Studios during the UNITED closing party.
Orchestra – the general public will be asked to participate by talking to a camera about themselves for approximately 5 minutes.At the end of the first day the people’s collected films will be edited down to DVD to be played on as many TVs as possible, one person per screen. The sound of their talking will be edited out leaving just individual pauses, erms’, ‘likes’, and ‘you knows’. The final installation will be presented as an orchestra of miming and a sound clash of personal stutters displayed in an semi-circle, reflecting the arrangement of a concert orchestra.
CoMelody – in addition to Orchestra, people will be given the chance to help create a collaborative melody and harmony. Recorded using audio equipment, the volunteers will each be asked to sing the next note in the melody listening from the last person.The finished piece will be a melee of vocal tones spiralling through an unconventional key to an unpredictable climax and will be displayed on several CD players with headphones.