THE ART TRAIL 2004
July 22nd, 2004 by susanna
It’s not all about the music you know! The Big Chill arts trail is an integral part of your festival and a favourite place to wander and hang out. It’s moved further down the hill this year so there’s less huffing and puffing to get there! No excuses, come and have your mind led astray by our grandest ever arts trail. Helping celebrate 10 years of The Big Chill we’ve invited back some of our favourite mavericks alongside many new faces.
By day watch the weird world of Paris Hair and Pinky unfold "as they paint live" or sit and watch the world on Karn’s giant pauseway. Whatever takes your fancy, these and other inspired visions lead you through a cerebral cornucopia of stimulation and interaction. From visual trickery to the plain bizarre, just remember one thing – expect the unexpected…
Nightime-specific art trail installations can be seen from 10pm – 3.30am every night
CLARA COLLINGS: TORSO
The Torso has evolved through ideas concerning the body, looking from the outside inwards. Like much of Clara Collings’s work it refers to human fragility and a universal preoccupation with decay and sexuality. The Torso is anchored by butterflies as a symbol of the metamorphosis that we undergo. Bristol based Clara will soon relocate to London to study for a bronze casting MA.
COMPLETELY NAKED: KISSBOX
The lit KissBox hangs alone in the darkness. The audience form two queues. Unaware of each other, they wait. In turn, the head of each queue is blindfolded. Guided to the KissBox, they experience a kiss with a stranger. Regardless of age, gender, race and sexuality. Meanwhile, the audience watches the audience kissing live. KissBox, the ultimate experience of a kiss!
JONY EASTERBY: NATURAL GEOGRAPHIC
Ten years ago Jony Easterby showed up to first Black Mountains Gala attempting to blag his way in with half a ton of ice in his van, the hi-fi from his bedroom and a windmill on the roof. This time Jony returns with a motley crew of long time collaborators including Inhuman Biswas with his big gong, Dr Hughes on worm cam and the Reverend Statham with his exploding custard. Pull up a turf at Half Hearted Cafe for a Free Jazz Ritual of Nichrome ice sawing, Curlew runting calls, Temple Bells, and a touch of self-generative, live sampling courtesy of The Mighty Jungulator.
KARN SANDILANDS: PAUSEWAY
Pauseway was born from a need for comfort and a quiet place to relax on the Art Trail. The structure is an outcrop of white cubes rising from the ground, inspired by the Giant’s Causeway’s organic geometry born from nature. Furniture maker Karn Sandilands has worked with natural wood for nearly twenty years, gaining a reputation for natural lines, unbridled beauty and intricate workmanship.
PARIS HAIR
Neil McFarland aka Paris Hair creates a world populated by beautiful girls who carry parallel universes within their expansive hair-dos; it is a world of strange creatures that drip and gambol, smiling as they go. The bold style of his work stems from his grounding in comic art, which influences the narrative element to his work as both an illustrator and animator.
PINKY
Trained in the art of confusion, pop artist Pinky aka Luke Cooke has been drawing and painting since he was old enough to hold a paintbrush. Brought up in the windy wastelands of north Hull he now lives in London and recently had his first solo exhibition of paintings and prints, ‘The Feel’. This year’s Big Chill will see Pinky continuing on his mission to spread the love. Come and say hello.
PIPPA TAYLOR
Pippa Taylor, sculptor who lives and works in Maentwrog, Wales, makes fantastic, beautiful, wooden life size figures. And she’s bringing them back to the Art Trail to party again. Say no more…
PUNCHDRUNK: WOYZECK
Punchdrunk fuse live performance, music and large-scale installation art to create the most evocative of atmospheres within which the audience are given the freedom to choose what they watch and where they go. At The Big Chill this year Punchdrunk presents Woyzeck – an interactive world of paranoid guardsmen, crazed doctors and thieving gypsies on the night when the travelling sideshow is in town.
SASHA GABBE
Acclaimed light designer Sasha Gabbe will be installing giant ‘pod’ lights in a tree on the art trail. The pods are like giant seeds, spores, or strangely mutated fruit; they glow and pulsate with light and life. Made from a new material bio-resin; which is non-toxic and bio degradable, Sasha’s aim was to produce lights with longevity that are also ecological. She’ll be launching her company Turn-On at 100% Design (London) in September 2004.
ULF PEDERSEN
Ulf Pedersen is working as an artist specialising in photography and has been producing installations using lighting and projections in various guises for a number of years. He is currently working on a commission for a special-needs school where an element of interactivity is involved. This year at the Big Chill, he’ll be using a 10 metre dome to project onto the trees.
ZAC: NEXT GENERATION
Zac is a kinetic and sculptural lightworks artist, whose ‘Next Generation’ celebrates how wind and hydrogen is helping to shape the next generation of energy production. Wind perpetually moves through the work powering a landscape that is self sustaining and always harmonious with its environment. In its simplicity ‘Next Generation’ aims to create an experience that will educate, celebrate and provoke thought into the awe, power and magnitude that can be derived from of our most ubiquitous natural resource.
ZOE BROWN
Film Artist Zoe has just completed her MA in Sculpture (projection installation) at the Royal College of Art – look out for her individual AV installation on the biggest tree on the opposite hill to the art trail. She has recently received aninvitation by Red Mansion to go to China on an internship. This is Zoe’s fourth year at The Big Chill Art Trail.
