England Art And Culture

Elements of the Fish Bone chapel being 3D printed If you're an artist or designer interested in applying your creative skills to life sciences, chances are that you've heard about Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Awards, an international competition that invites artists and designers to submit proposals to a jury of experts and develop them in close collaboration with The Netherlands most prestigious Life Sciences research institutes. The outcome of the competition range from the outrageously bold (the now famous bulletproof skin) to the ambitiously eco-friendly. The winners of this year's edition of the competition are Charlotte Jarvis who recently talked to me about her Ergo Sum project, Howard Boland and Laura Cinti with The Living Mirror (more about this one soon, i hope) and Haseeb Ahmed who is planning to digitally fabricate a Fish Bone Chapel. The artist is teaming up with the Netherlands Toxico-Genomics Center and Prof. Jos Kleinjans to build an architectural structure which, as its name suggests, will be made of fish bones. The vertebrae vaults, scaled walls and beating circulation systems of this architecture are derived from enlarged 3D prints and the skeletal structure of fish exposed to mutagenic toxins. Haseeb is working with the zebra fish, an animal often used for genetic testing as it is technically not considered to be animals for the first 5 days of their life Ultimately however, the work also asks whether we can see past the dangerous connotations of mutation and regard it as a medium to generate new forms. Zebra Fish altered exposed to toxins Elements of the Fish Bone chapel being 3D printed The more i read about the project, the more curious i grew so i contacted Hasseb Ahmed who patiently answered my many questions: The Fish Bone Chapel draws a historical connection with the Capuchin Crypt located beneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome. The crypt is decorated with the skeletal remains of 4,000 bodies believed to be Capuchin friars buried by their order, as a silent reminder of our own mortality. Hi Haseeb! Your project, The Fish Bone Chapel, 'is a hybrid building, existing of fish bones.' I'm sorry but i'll have to start with the most mundane question because i imagine a chapel to be rather big and i suspect your final prototype might not rise to ambitious heights. So how tall, how big can the chapel be? And will it adopt a shape that people associate with the one of a chapel? The Fish Bone Chapel is indeed the scale of a building. The goal has always been to create a spatial experience in which one can literally inhabit genomics research and in particular the mutations in Zebra Fish skeletons induced by exposure to toxins from embryo to adult. My work will be sited in the atrium of the the current depot of the Naturalis Museum and former Royal Museum for Natural History built in the early 1900's. This atrium already has a kind of pseudo-Dutch Protestant religious architecture complete with niches, vaulted ceilings, and chandeliers. However, instead of religious iconography it features iguanas, snails, and fish. My aim is to create works that build onto this architecture with arches of my own, ornaments, and chandeliers so that the space appears as though it was made to host the Fish Bone Chapel all along. My reference is the Capucine Bone Chapels of Southern Italy which use the bones of former Monks to construct architectural features. In my case it's Fish not Brothers. That was one concept of Life and Death given by Catholocism and I want to address the new intermediate stages of life and death brought about by Genomics research and its legal apparatus. Interesting enough the central 'altar piece' is at the base of a stairwell often drawn by M.C. Escher in his labyrinthine works and I will play up on this as well. The description of the project also mentions beating circulation systems which makes me think that the work will have some kind of life

VANTAGE are back with another art prize! This time three winners are awarded a group residency in London (venue TBC) with free accommodation, £250 expenses and an exhibition plus a publication. Deadline for applications 31st May.

If like me, you are a Pinterest fan, you no doubt spend more happy hours avidly collecting crafting ideas than actually creating them. Which is why the concept of Pinterest Parties have become all the rage in America, where crafting fanatics can meet up to bring their Pinterest lusts to life in the real world. Over here in lil old London Sarah and Plum (above) are the two enterprising ladies behind Pinned it! Made it! Pinterest Parties, held in Hackney Downs Studios. I of course jumped at the chance to attend one of their events, where I could learn how to make my very own Day of the Dead style floral headband, ideal garb for festival goers this season. You can find all the aforementioned Pinterest inspiration for these floral crowns on the Pinned it! Made it! board here. After a yummy Ilegal Mezcal cocktail (served up a jam jar by Qui Qui Ri Qui) we were given a brief demo by Marianne Johnson of Wild by Nature, a florist of some 15 years. She inducted us into the sticky ways of florist tape, a wonderful thing that enables spiky bits of wire to be glued together into one smooth mass. We were then directed to a table heaving with a colourful selection of fake flowers, and it was heads down all round, as we set about creating our floral crowns. As they began to take shape it became apparent that we were all creating very individual looks, and that is surely one of the best things about making something yourself: yes, you probably could buy something like this off the peg, but my creation will never look like yours. And I like that feeling! At the end Anna Wild gave us a brief demonstration of how to create full on Day of the Dead make up. I’m not really the type to dress up all crazee for festivals, but in a light bulb moment I realised that I’m now sorted to go as Frida Kahlo to a big fancy dress party I have been worrying about. All I need for that is copious quantities of eyebrow pencil. The Pinned it! Made it! ladies post all their events onto facebook, and of course, onto Pinterest. You can also find upcoming events on eventbrite. Find what tickles your creative fancy and then get your craft on by signing up for a Pinned it! Made it! party soon – the next one on June 18th will be blinging up sunglasses, inspiration here. It was a fab way to spend an otherwise ordinary weekday evening: I’ll leave you with some of the fab creations that the girls at my table made.

I've been posting on an irregular basis recently due to the need to keep giving my eyes a lengthy rest because I'm at the "inbetween stage" with respect to my surgery for cataracts. My new lens... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Here's this week's competition. We had another brilliant mailbag of entries last week, so please keep sending in your suggestions. To recap: The Telegraph Cartoon Caption Competition is a weekly bit of light relief – with a prize! Every Thursday I will post a cartoon relating to that week's news. It may be straightforward, it [...]

Students from the Arts University College of Bournemouth habitually show in the last week or so of Free Range, with creative graduates from a number of disciplines (fine art, illustration and photography) sharing their work across a big open space in the huge Truman Brewery warehouse. Historically this has meant that I don’t get around to covering their show, and I feel particularly bad that I didn’t cover the 2012 show, since this crew were very proactive in networking the brilliantly named Feral Show on social media (hallelujah). Still, here, at long last, is a taster of what I discovered. Illustrator Natasha Durley was justifiably crowned Best of Year by the D&AD Awards in 2012. Her work features lots of winsome characters, often amongst trees and little log cabins, all rendered in a luscious sweetie coloured palette which surely appeals to the romantic in all of us. Since graduating Natasha has worked for an illustrious trio of editorial clients; Nobrow, Oh Comely and Wrap Magazine. Kate Rowland’s watercolour and ink drawings were inspired by an obsession with science and space exploration. She has recently written a very honest blog about the trials and tribulations of life after university: well worth a read for anyone about to graduate. Kate is now creating jewellery, a popular product choice for many illustrators. Surrealism reigns supreme in vibrantly coloured work by Jack Reynolds, also known as REN. All three of the illustrators above were also featured in my review of the D&AD awards show. Polish illustrator Justyna Plec created a series of wall mounted portraits featuring a cast of curious characters: sadly it’s impossible to follow her career since as her only web presence beyond the Feral Show site is now inactive. A cast of muted watercolour Naked Nanas were created by Amelia’s Magazine contributor Fay Myers. Her fox puzzle illustration features in the Anorak Magazine Summer Games issue, out mid July, and she has a great tumblr which is regularly updated with new work. Jessica Durden’s watercolour drawings of wildlife in the woods are given a fairytale quality with the use of a subdued colour palette. She is currently working on a designer range of printed scarves from her studio in Surrey. You can buy products by Jessica Durden on Society6. Norwegian illustrator Maria Midttun created a giant mural on the wall to go with her 87 Octane risograph zine, available from etsy here. Prolific blogger Louise Byng creates images with meaning in a consumer saturated society, and much of her beautifully drawn illustrations provide a commentary on contemporary society. This delightfully engaging creature is by Emily Hughes. I love him! And lastly – mine and Snarfle’s reflection in one of the fine art installations: how tiny he was back then! He may not sleep through the shows this time around…

Art Since yesterday's visit to West Park Museum in Macclesfield might have been a surprise for some readers, I thought I'd re-post the links to previous visits. The explanation for why I've been doing this is in the first entry, for Southport's Atkinson Gallery. Accrington - Haworth Art Gallery Altrincham - Dunham Massey Birkenhead - Williamson Art Gallery and Museum Blackburn - Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery Blackpool - Grundy Art Gallery Bolton - Bolton Museum, Art Gallery and Aquarium Burnley - Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museums Bury - Bury Art Gallery and Museum Chester - Grosvenor Museum Kendal - Abbot Hall Art Gallery Lancaster - Lancaster City Museum and Ruskin Library, Lancaster University Liverpool - Sudley House, Tate Liverpool, University of Liverpool Art Gallery and The Oratory Macclesfield - West Park Museum Manchester - Whitworth Art Gallery Oldham - Oldham Art Gallery and Museum Port Sunlight - Lady Lever Art Gallery Preston - Harris Museum and Art Gallery Rawtenstall - Rossendale Museum Rochdale - Rochdale Art Gallery Salford - Salford Museum and Art Gallery and The Lowry Southport - Atkinson Art Gallery Stalybridge - Astley Cheetham Art Gallery Stockport - Stockport War Memorial and Art Gallery Warrington - Warrington Museum and Art Gallery Wigan - The History Shop Which leaves ... Carlisle - Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery Coniston - Brantwood and Ruskin Museum Grasmere - Wordsworth and Grasmere Museum Knutsford - Tabley House and Tatton Park Liverpool - Walker Art Gallery Manchester - Manchester City Art Gallery Runcorn - Norton Priory Museum There's actually less than I thought ...

The full-colour silent era footage that caused so much excitement online recently is almost like science-fictionReading this on mobile? Click here to view the videoLondon looks itself and other in this footage. For a 21st-century viewer it is like watching a science-fiction film in which almost everything is the same until you notice little differences that betray a completely alien quality. The past is another country, but in Claude Friese-Greene's film of the capital's streets and sights it is a place disguised as our own.This is because this 1926 footage, which is currently a Twitter talking point, was shot in colour. Friese-Greene and his father William pioneered their own method of shooting in colour, back during the silent era: it is a byway of cinema history, an experiment that never caught on. In fact, it is part of a lost history of rival technologies in which Britain was an early leader – the Friese-Greenes fought a legal battle in the House of Lords with the rival Kinemacolor method before both were eclipsed by the American success story of Technicolor.Reading this on mobile? Click here to view the videoSo there's this haunting little film, in which Claude Friese-Greene demonstrates his colour method by revealing the green embankment, the brown Thames, the dark stones of the Tower, the blue of a policeman's uniform as he directs traffic.It's easy to see why this clip from Friese-Greene's documentary The Open Road has become an online hit. It mirrors our nostalgia perfectly, in this age of revitalised royalism and Ukip-ish invocations of England's lost green and pleasant land. Here is an uncanny full-colour glimpse of a time when even London looked innocent.The policeman directing traffic is a case in point. There is plenty of traffic on the roads – carts and drays as well as motor vehicles – but it all stops timidly when a London Bobby raises his hand. People cross the road under his protective eye, then he lets the traffic move forward.Reading this on mobile? Click here to view the videoOn the pavements, people walk by in small quiet groups. Even crowds filmed at Petticoat Lane market are properly dressed, in brown suits and hats, and mill with what can only be called gentleness.Another friendly policeman appears patrolling the Embankment in a scene that is captioned as a "romantic" view of London. Beyond him the Houses of Parliament glow in sunlight, in a vision of an orderly, humble, relaxed Britain.Of course it is an illusion. The film was made to show in European cinemas and gives a tourist view of the great city. In reality, there were tanks on the streets of the capital during the 1926 General Strike.But we are all tourists in our past, a place that gets sweeter with distance. Eerily silent as it may be, this placid vision of London tickles fantasies of a kinder, more secure age. It is a national idyll in living colour.Silent filmLondonJonathan Jonesguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

We always look forward to seeing the catalogue for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize land on our desks here at 1000 Words and this year is no different. Featuring a selection of meaty essays by David Evans, Christopher Bucklow, Gerry Badger and Ian Jeffrey it is a veritable banquet for the brain - one that provides a perfect accompaniment to an exhibition that arguably offers the most expanded view of what photographic practice is, or can be, since the prize’s inception. Below is a series of video interviews with the four finalists: Mishka Henner, Cristina de Middel, Chris Killip and Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin that are worth sitting down to watch. The winner will be announced at the award evening on 10 June 2013. To read our review of the shortlisted artists and their work click here. Who gets your vote?

Remember last year when bloggers and friends of The Culture Vulture were invited to Leeds Met School of Art, Architecture and Design for a behind the scenes tour of the Final Year Show? Well they've only gone and asked us to do it again. Tuesday, June 4th, in The Rusty Building.