Full Steam Ahead!

Exciting Times................

Hello again! I'm breaking the summer silence and will update you on my recent activity.

Documenta 13, Kassel, Germany

Hotel Europa: Sunny Beach
an excursion by Random People

Immediately after making Cock[le] Pit for Adain Avion, I set sail in an actual aeroplane for DOCUMENTA 13 in Kassel, Germany. Documenta festival engulfs this city in contemporary art. It was invigorating to see so much exciting work by a variety of international artists. Personal highlights were sound works by Janet Cardiff, a drawing installation by Tacita Dean and all of Ryan Gander's pieces. Whilst in Germany we caught up with artist friends in Hamburg. Random People's Esther and Dan have regularly exhibited at Experimentica in Cardiff and will return to make new work for this festival next November. Visiting their artist studio in the heart of Hamburg was a treat- being allowed into artist's personal space is a privilege. It will be a joy to see them and their work again.

It is full steam ahead over the next few months. Here's some information on what projects I will be working on...........

Farewell Cardiff by Secret Theatre, 2011

The Farewell Project: Collaborating with Secret Theatre

September 14/15 2012, Chapter Art Centre, Cardiff, UK

THE FAREWELL PROJECT is a goodbye party specifically made for a city. It is created and performed by Chad Dembski and Dustin Harvey. This duo from Canada first performed a farewell for Cardiff at last year's Experimentica 1.1. I am honoured to be contributing research, ideas and being involved in their performance process. It is great to be commissioned by them to respond to Cardiff and its history. I plan to bring my own perspective on the Capitol City of Wales to the table. Join us for the performances at Chapter, Cardiff in September.

For Future Reference, Residency at Flux Factory NYC

October 2012, Flux Factory, Long Island NYC. This project is supported by Wales Arts International

For Future Reference is a new body of work I am developing that aims to collect and archive a variety of predictions about my future. These examples of my future will be collected through visiting psychics, palmists, tarot readers and astrologers. This project idea stems directly from an experience on a trip to New York in 2007. Whilst on holiday there I visited a psychic and her prediction was alarming to me. This spurred me to investigate as many different narratives on my future as possible. I visited psychics in Wales and videoed the sessions. Each psychic had such different and confusing narratives of my future and what will happen to me. I will be using my time in New York to revisit that psychic and to create a site specific performance in response to this.

Flux Factory have invited me to be in an exhibition of Welsh and New York based artist's which is curated by Sam Perry. Watch this space!

For Future Reference: Mother Time Performance

Day of the Dead 2012 (1/11/2012), 13:05 National Museum of Wales, Cardiff UK

I have been commissioned alongside other local artists and musicians to make a new responsive work about an artist in this years Artes Mundi 5. This will be performed at the museum as part of the weekly context programme every Thursday throughout the exhibition. I will be exploring the day of the dead, the future, time and some of the themes within Teresa Magolles work.

Matt Cook

Experimentica 2012: Unseen

21st-25th of November, Chapter Art Centre, Cardiff UK

Artist Sam Hasler and myself have been invited to deliver the contextual programme for the annual Performance art festival Experimentica. We will be organising events and happenings that explore the themes in the work of the other artists and the festival. Information on this will be available in the Chapter Guide.

LINKS:

• Documenta: http://d13.documenta.de/
• Random People:http://www.random-people.net/
• The Farewell Project:http://thefarewellproject.org/about/
• Flux Factory:http://www.fluxfactory.org/
• Sam Perry:http://themiddledistancerunnerdot.wordpress.com/
• Artes Munid 5:http://www.artesmundi.org/
• Experimentica 2012: Unseen:http://www.chapter.org/26498.html

Cock(le) Pit Images

Durational performance Cock(le) Pit for Adain Avion. June 26th 2012. An attemp to consume my Swanseaness through eating 4kg of Penclawdd Cockles.

Interview with Marc Rees

Cpt Marc Rees and his Flight Attendant

Interview with curator Marc Rees about my Adain Avion project. Enjoy x

http://vimeo.com/44463999

Cock[le] Pit

Cockle Pickers 2012, Film Still

Tuesday 26th of June 2012
15.30-17.30
Adain Avion, Swansea, National Waterfron Museum


Cock(le)pit is an attempt by Kathryn Ashill to reclaim her sense of Swansea identity. Cockles feature heavily in the hazy summer memories of the artist's childhood, walking towards the Mumbles in the hope of getting a tub of the fishy Swansea delights and covering them in vinegar. The cockle stalls at the centre of Swansea's iconic indoor market, with its four blue banners is, to the artist, a shrine to cockles.

Through social interactions with the cockle pickers of Penclawdd and the cockle sellers at Swansea indoor market, Kathryn will explore this industry’s heritage, and communicate these experiences through film, performance and drawing to create a new cockle shrine at the cockpit of Adain Avion.

This project is a commission for Adain Avion curated by Marc Rees.

Cockle Pickers

Cockle Pickers 2012, Film still 1

Cockle Pickers 2012, Film still 2

Cockle Pickers 2012, Film still 3

Cockle Pickers 2012, Film still 4

Cockle Pickers 2012, Film still 5

Cockle Pickers 2012, Film still 6

Cockle Pickers is a filmed performance that took place at Penclawdd's salt marshes. Here my Mother and I collected cockles from the muddy bed of the estuary. Penclawdd, on the Gower coast is world famous for its fresh cockles. Swansea's salty treats. I will be celebrating the history of Swansea's cockling industry through making a new live performance for Adain Avion. Penclawdd, my mam and us cockling will form the backdrop for the live work.

Cockle Picking

Penclawdd Cockle Pickers

Carol Watts Famous Cockle stall at Swansea Indoor Market

This weekend marked a breakthrough in my new artwork for Adain Avion, the Cultural Olympiad for Wales project. After months of investigating the cockle industry, its history and having conversations at Swansea Market with Carol Watts and her family, I made a new responsive performance called Cockle Picking. This new work is a filmed performance piece that will form the backdrop to a live performance that I will be making in the Adain Avion plane at Swansea on Tuesday 26th of June 2012. Cockle Picking was created at Penclawdd on the Gower estuary. My mother and myself climbed into the muddy salt marsh and picked as many cockles as we could find. Cockling has a predominantly female heritage, after the industrial revolution many of Penclawdd's workmen faced large unemployment due to injury or lack of industry in the area, as a result women would cockle in order to support the family financially. I have been visiting Carol Watts' stall at the market regularly since I was a little girl. They were my favourite work lunch and whenever I was in Swansea I would pick some up. Carol is supplying the cockles for my live work, as well as sharing her and her families history with cockles and the market. This has fuelled my desire to create a work which strongly references the strong filial ties that are embedded in the Penclawdd estuary and the history of cockling.

Images of Cockle Pickers to follow soon................

Month of May

As usual, my month of May has been crammed with art activity. I am currently preparing myself for one of my biggest projects of 2012: Adain Avion. For this I am exploring the deeprooted Swansea history of Cockling, and will be showing my new artwork in the wingless plane on June 26th 2012. It has been an honour to be commissioned by curator Marc Rees and to work alongside him and his team for the Welsh Cultural Olympiad. Who would have thought that the Olympics would effect me in any way?! I am adverse to sports!
I have just returned from Swansea where I went to see the open studio event of artist Sam Hasler at the Mission Gallery. Sam is currently artist in residence at one of my favourite galleries. Every Weirdo is on My Wavelength was an intimate event where Sam invited us to read his new written work, see his drawing, painting and overall work in progress. This was an intimate and unpolished event, and the audience were really moved by the intense reading. It was good to see the space in a low key manner, as the Mission is known for it's highly finished and produced exhibitions. Sam has been selected to represent the Mission Gallery for the Adain Avion project and his slot in the plane is before mine. Come and see!
We kicked off the second instalment of Tooth&Clawr on the 16th of this month. The event was really well attended and sold out again! Myself and Phil Owen are delighted that so many interesting and thoughtful people wish to discuss the exhibition programme in depth. There is more detail on the discussion on the Tooth&Clawr blog. I cant wait for the next one!
June is going to be a hectic month for me and my practice. It kicks off with the Jubilee and an installation I will be making at Chapter of my Royalist Memorabilia collection. It is my own personal Museum of chintzy Royalist mugs, scarfs, trays, ashtrays, plates, posters and books. It is highly Taboo to be a Welsh speaking Royalist and I hope to address this conflict of National Identity. I will also be doing a bunting workshop at the gallery for the OH so Jubilee event on June 2nd. Then comes Adain Avion. After that I will be working on Delaine La Bass' exhibition in the old Library, Cardiff (cant wait for this!). I am then off to Berlin, Documenta and Hamburg to visit artist's and to consume as much artwork as possible! Ill keep you posted.

Links:
http://www.adainavion.org/swansea/1173
http://www.missiongallery.co.uk/events/every-weirdo-in-the-world-is-on-my-wavelength/
http://www.samuelhasler.co.uk/
http://www.chapter.org/27155.html
http://d13.documenta.de/