AlterNativeArt

I have spent the better half of this week supervising a Video Art Workshop here in Lagos and its been really exciting working with artist from around Nigeria who work in a broad range of arts, from sound art to photography, poetry to performance. Most of the artists were experiencing Video Art for the first time and now they are really running with it! See http://artspeakafrica.blogspot.com/ for more info. The workshop has been run by members of theoneminutes organisation, who work with video art that lasts only a minute, see www.theoneminutes.org, also see my residencies section for their current open call. Watching the artist work made me a little jealous as I would love to produce my own piece (when you work in arts admin you sometimes wonder whether or not you should be producing work)! I had a lot of encouragement from the lead artists and the participants who pushed me to come up with a concept. Having worked in both poetry and fashion I gravitated to these two areas of intere...

I want to direct you to the fantastic new site http://www.catchavibe.co.uk/ Catch a Vibe is the new site from the people who brought you www.sayitloud.org.uk. It was with Say It Loud that I first started commenting on art and theater by writing reviews, so I am very happy to see them moving on and up! Do visit the site which offers information on Afro-Caribbean arts/ entertainment in and around London, film/music/book reviews and much much more! Also if you think yourself a budding writer why not get in touch with them about doing a piece. http://www.catchavibe.co.uk/

Hi all, I would normally include this in my residencies/ opportunities section but as its something I'm working on I decided to make it a full on post. It takes place in Lagos so if you or anyone you know is interested please pass on the details. I am really interested to see what is happening in Africa in the way of video art and new media and I welcome the programme. Having had the chance to speak with the artist Goddy Leye I see that there is definitely a presence within the continent and I am interested to hear a bit more. If you are a video artists based in Africa or in the diaspora it would be lovely to hear from you as the contemporary arts organisation I am working with has committed to promoting the art form throughout 2009. Other exciting news: I have just started blogging for artsadmin. My first post is up alongside some really great articles: http://artsadminartsblog.blogspot.com/ VIDEO ART WORKSHOP The Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos is pleased to present its first ...

If you keep up to date with my posts via the Taking It Global site do visit the Blogger page. You will be able to find opportunities/ residencies that can not be viewed via that version: http://alter-native-me.blogspot.com/

Friday 24 October 2008 - Saturday 1 November 2008 Southbank Centre Belvedere Road London SE1 8XX Poetry International 2008 is about freedom. It celebrates poetry’s enduring ability to transcend doctrine, spin and censorship, to confirm, in John Berger’s words that ‘in the world we live in today poetry is an unbowed, unspinned means of communication’. We celebrate poetry in translation by looking at Palestine, magnified in significance by the untimely death of Mahmoud Darwish. Speechless presents poetry beyond censorship from South East Asia. Six Seasons evokes the poetic moods of Bengal through text and music, and some of the greats in world poetry, including Jorie Graham, Mark Doty and Tomas Venclova, read from their latest work. Look out too for Lemn Sissay’s specially curated installation running throughout the festival and join us for a reading from his new collection, Listener. My picks from the festival are: Sean O'Brien Sunday 26 October 2008 Sean...