Art in Unusual Spaces is a recent scheme lead by Leeds City Council and partnering organisations to get more art showcased within the city centre, particularly taking advantage of disused/empty shop units that would otherwise be left dark and unnoticed.

Taking place in a number of locations across the city centre the first round of exhibitions included some ace photography and ‘curiosity’ shops pop up in the Merrion centre, photography from young people of Leeds in Lands Lane, The Woolgather Travelling Gallery in Leeds Shopping Plaza and the short shorts video projections in the 42 gallery on New Briggate.

I was lucky enough to have my video tree-window-window accepted as part of the short shorts exhibition that will run from dusk till dawn until the 27th of February 2010. If you would like to head down then take a look here for the location [google maps].

Following the success of the first wave of art in unusual space there is now an opportunity to submit proposals for work that can be shown in March 2010. Go here to find out more information [submissions must be in by 29th Jan 2010].

Do you like Latin and Cuban music?

Havana Club Rum have teamed up with Gilles Peterson and Cuban pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa on a new album project called ‘Havana Cultura‘ consisting of new contemporary Cuban music. I’ve had a chance to listen to the album and can say it’s packed full of lovely fresh music capturing the essence of the Cuban culture.

- It’s grand!

To celebrate the album launch there is a party going on at The Wardrobe in Leeds this Friday (13th Nov). I’ve got a pair of tickets up for grabs for this event – Gilles Peterson himself will be spinning discs and there will be a full Cuban band to match. Don’t miss this! Live music and DJing in the centre of Leeds for free on a Friday night!

To win, all you need to do is answer the following question as a comment on this post:

What is the name of the music studios that Gilles Peterson and the Cuban artists have been working in for this album? [You could visit the Havana Cultura website for clues...]

Good luck and happy listening

You can also find the Havana Cultura album on Amazon and iTunes

Never Dive Alone conference - Manchester - photo by Full Circle Arts

Does charging for your conference affect who attends and ultimately the quality of your event?

I went along to the Breakfast with AudioBoo event at Marshall’s Mill in Leeds – part of Digital Week 09 [Twitter: #DW09] recently and was very impressed by the material presented and the discussion that followed. A thought has since occurred to me that I thought was worth discussing with others – readers and people that stumble across my site.

I have been to plenty of techy/digital/web/art/etc. conferences in the past year – many of them free events – and often find a number of things:

- lots of name badges never collected from the main desk

- large numbers of attendees with varying degrees of interest in the topics being discussed or presented

- jam packed venues with very short Q+A / discussion time after talks

From past experience I have found this leads to relatively poor questions and discussion in the conference space, meaning you have to go and seek out the speaker at the end of their talk if you have a particular point or question to ask them. Not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes quite difficult when a) several other people have the same idea and b) everyone else is battling for the coffee and cakes in the short break time before the conference continues.

In contrast, the DW09 event I attended (Listed ticket price £10) seemed to have a slightly different feel to it:

- small amount of people (perhaps 10-15)

- relatively intimate presentation space with opportunity for audience to ask speaker questions throughout without disrupting the flow of the presentation

- relevant and interesting Q+A session that answered many of my questions as well as providing food for thought for those present.

Now, it is hasty to come to a conlclusion after one such event but it did get me thinking – does introducing a relatively small registration fee to conferences make a difference, and if so, how and why? Another priced event I attended was the Never Dive Alone conference organised by Full Circle Arts in Manchester – £50 per ticket, a bigger crowd of attendees this time, perhaps 100 or so – but still great discussions and degree of interest and knowledge shown by all.

There are plenty of free conferences that I have really enjoyed – including the ‘Art of Digital‘ series and I have gleaned plenty of valuable information from these as well as making a whole host of contacts to work with or whom I have kept in touch since. I will definitely be attending more free conferences next year but will also make the effort to go to more paid events to see how they compare.

What are your thoughts and experiences?

I went down to the Holy Trinity Church, Leeds last night to see what was happening at the first Transend / Transmit meeting: a discussion about setting up the project.

Introduced by Louise Marchal and Jo Tyler, Transend / Transmit are two interlinked art schemes / projects that explore the idea of broadcasting and the relaying of information.

Transend/Transmit aim to link Leeds’ Holy Trinity Church to Sunderland’s Holy Trinity Church, both designed by the same architect, William Etty of York in the 18th century.

Streams of data transfer – physical mail, FM transmissions, digital streaming, telephone feedback loops and DIY electronics were all mentioned as potential disciplines that could be explored.

Other topics included:

The nature of radio content, and it’s evolution through the introduction of the digital radio platform.
How does podcasting affect the idea of ‘broadcasting’ in a traditional sense: if you listen to a ‘breakfast show’ in the evening; is it still a breakfast show?
Using DIY technology to transmit information – homebrew electronics?
Possible collaboration with local broadcasters / organisations
Using FaceBook as a promotional / info network
Running a series of ‘workshops’, or ‘media labs’ to encourage participation from other artists / creators

All in all, a very interesting discussion that shows the beginnings of a potentially very interesting long term project for both Leeds and Sunderland.

Thanks to Bruce Davies + the Arts@Trinity group for hosting the evening, I look forward to more of these! If you are interested in taking part in these upcoming projects get in touch.

Last night I attended the private view launch party of Samenhang – an international exhibition of contemporary art from artists that are alumni of the EEA – the European Exchange Academy – that has been running since 2003.

Once I found the gallery [it is a tad out of the way, tucked away on the outskirts of Leeds city centre] I entered into a crazy atmosphere of inflatable sculptures hanging from the ceiling and numerous video screens showing a host of different visual pieces.

Of particular interest to me was Marguerite Leudet’s sonic art piece, ‘Speakers‘ consisting of batteries + small piezo speakers. I liked the simplicity of the physical elements that contrasted with a mysteriously undulating rhythm of the sound produced.

Another notable piece was two photographs by Stefan Ruitenbeek – it took me a little while to adjust to these and stomach them, well worth seeing!

The evening proved to be a great success and kick started a very interesting exhibition. Samenhang will be running until Friday the 13th – I advise that you check it out before then. See http://www.novgorod.co.uk/ for more information.

MAP Gallery: Hope House, 65 Mabgate, Leeds LS9 7DR.

So here it is, soon to be filled with my head’s ramblings through an osmotic blogging process.

Watched an interesting video today about net neutrality, and how some people reckon the internet is going to be heavily regulated and, in turn pretty much ruined if we don’t do something about it fast. Check it out here