"Blackbird" / Artes Mundi 7

David Harrower’s Olivier Award-winning play “Blackbird”, from Those Two Impostors, is the latest piece being hosted by The Other Room Theatre, and my most recent reviewing assignment. The tale of a young woman confronting the middle-aged man with whom she had a sexual relationship when she was 12, it is very well acted, but I found it a tad troubling in its apparent even-handedness.

"Blackbird" (photo: Kirsten McTernan)

Also opening in the past week has been Artes Mundi – the 7^th edition of the biennial, international art prize, exhibiting in Cardiff. I went to see those elements of it which are at the National Museum, and while there was plenty of interesting stuff on offer – I experienced only a few minutes of John Akomfrah’s migration-themed installation films, and Amy Franceschini’s ambitious “Future Farmers” project looked interesting - the most immediately arresting piece was Bedwyr Williams large-scale “slow” video “Tyrrau Mawr”, imagining a futuristic city in North Wales, with accompanying narration. I fully intend to go again and watch the whole 20 minutes.

Tyrrau Mawr (Artes Mundi)

And another biennial visual arts event, Cardiff Contemporary is also on, and currently livening up the city centre.

Laura Ford's redecoration of Cardiff Castle's Animal Wall for Cardiff Contemporary

Earlier in the week, I was one of a group of filmmakers who met with the latest intake of students of the University of South Wales’ Masters in Film Production, as part of a promising initiative from B.F.I. Wales – aiming to match our proposals with the students’ final projects and the B.F.I.’s know-how in terms of funding. All the others who were pitching were vastly more experienced than me, but it was, at the very least a valuable learning experience.

Y Tŵr / Dirty Protest vs Artes Mundi

I got the rare opportunity to experience some classic Welsh-language theatre this week on behalf of the British Theatre Guide. This was courtesy of Invertigo Theatre Company, and their touring production of Gwenlyn Parry’s “Y Tŵr”. A very interesting piece, partly naturalistic and partly allegorical, with a couple experiencing a lifetime of small-town crises whilst intermittently ascending the titular, symbolic tower. The English translation was projected on a video-screen to the side of the stage at Chapter, for the benefit of non-Welsh-speakers, who seemed to be very much in the minority in a packed auditorium.

And last night there was another Dirty Protest night of rehearsed play-readings, this time at the redeveloped Abacus building near Cardiff Bus station. Playwrights Richard Redman, Tracy Harris, Neil Bebber, Kelly Jones (winner of the 2014 Wales Drama Award), Owen Thomas and Paul Jenkins were tasked with coming up with ten-minute pieces inspired by the exhibits which were up for the Artes Mundi Prize. References to Renzo Martens’ chocolate sculptures cropped up in at least three of the pieces; dysfunctional relationships were a recurring theme, as well as the egotism of the artist. Entertaining and stimulating as ever with a fine cast – Gareth Pierce, Gwawr Loader, Neal McWilliams and Melangell Dolma, plus special guest Sharon Morgan. 

Artes Mundi 2014

I paid my regular (i.e. every two years) visit to the 2014 Artes Mundi exhibit – or, at least, those elements of it which are currently housed at Cardiff’s excellent National Museum of Wales. As usual, it’s a disorienting experience.

On entering the space, one’s first experience is of Theaster Gates’ multimedia display, comprising a big-screen amateur gospel video and various iconic objects – notably a stuffed goat on a railroad track; it appears to be a celebration of marginalised aspects of African-American culture. Carlos Bunga’s piece consists largely of a set of large columns, defining a space throughout which other elements are dotted – most interestingly a hypnotic video showing a light-bulb being smashed and inexpertly reassembled. Renzo Marten’s room is dominated by confrontational self-portrait sculptures of Congolese plantation workers, rendered in chocolate (I overheard an attendant remarking on their propensity to melt). I hesitated to enter Renata Lucas’ exhibit, since it looked as though it was still under construction; what it is, though, is a room full of hinged wooden pallets, which one is free to walk through and rearrange – thus defining one’s own experience of the gallery space, I guess. And I’ve seen Omer Fast’s military-themed video-work before, at the Tate Modern – his piece here is a slick, surreal film about parents mourning their soldier son; from the fraction of the 40-minute piece which I caught it seemed to be full of striking moments.

Fascinating, as ever, and far more imposing and thought-provoking than any verbal description can convey. As is another current exhibition there, of worrisome official prints from World War One.

Meanwhile, this piece of video flash-fiction is entirely irrelevant to all that, other than in the obvious fact that experiencing stimulating art-works does inspire one to create.

Ideal - a short story from OTHNIEL SMITH on Vimeo.

Dirty Protest vs Artes Mundi

Having previously blogged about visiting the Artes Mundi Prize exhibition, I seized the opportunity to watch a preview performance of a selection of short Dirty Protest plays allied to it, presented at the National Museum. This was a lunchtime show, prior to the full extravaganza (consisting of seven pieces) taking place later that evening at Porter's Bar, a new venue elsewhere in central Cardiff. It was certainly a clever idea to have the three playlets performed in the rooms in which the artworks which inspired them were situated, and it made for a delightful experience. Miriam Bäckström’s gorgeous crystalline tapestry was a suitably epic backdrop for Katherine Chandler's amusingly sexy anti-rom-com; Tom Wentworth's poignant take on hoarding sat equally well within Sheela Gowda's industrial oil-drum-oriented installation; Teresa Margolles’ prize-winning exhibit, inspired by her experience of the Mexican drug wars provided an effectively clammy context for Lotty Talbutt's chilling tale of hired killers.

There are presumably numerous factors, mostly related to the safety of the items on display, which would render the Museum’s habitual use as a venue for site-specific theatre impractical. I'm sure, though, that most writers would leap at the chance to create work based on and performed in the proximity of pieces from its impressive permanent collection.

Artes Mundi 2012

I paid a visit to the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, to check out the contenders for the  2012 Artes Mundi Prize – or at least those whose work is actually exhibited there (Tania Bruguera’s “Immigrant Respect Campaign” consists of a number of non-gallery events; and Apolonija Šušteršič’s “Politics ‘In Space’/ Tiger Bay Project”, an examination of the Cardiff  Bay Redevelopment, is represented only by a big-screen documentary and a newspaper).

The first piece to be encountered is Miriam Bäckström’s “Smile As If We Have Already Won” a huge, iridescent tapestry, striking in its beauty. Darius Mikšys’ “The Code” is a kind of artistic self-examination taking the form of a mini-museum compiled from objects in the host institution’s collection. Sheela Gowdi’s  “Kagabangara” is an installation consisting of artfully arranged steel drums and sheets of tarpaulin (clever, but it left me cold); this is being shown alongside her “Heartland” -  an affecting, politically-slanted painting derived from an altered news photograph. Phil Collins’ “Free Fotolab” is a strangely hypnotic slideshow featuring snapshots taken from strangers’ rolls of film. Most subtly impressive, in my view, is Teresa Margolles’ exhibit, consisting of a number of subtle meditations on death – a sound recording from an autopsy; part of a floor on which a friend died; hot metal plates on which drip water from a morgue.  

As always, an inspirational, low-key show which gives even the casual, inexpert viewer much to think about.