the slack diaries: Archive

The Great Glass Bead Game

Image: Simon Bruntnell

13 June – 30 June The Great Glass Bead Game

Slack Space

Victoria Place Colchester CO1 1LR

Bubbles and beads.

Cast, flame and blown glass work

Glass sculpture

Fused, vitreous and iridescent. Mirrors, minerals, web and wire

Wall mounted

Ice, light, clear

Space marbles, glass peacocks, spiders webs and life size men

Beads of sweat, tears

Pure and impure

An exhibition of glass work and imagination featuring work from:

Red Flower Glass

Carola Smedjebacka

Liz Wotton

Dominique Hodges

Jean Muir

Ellison Art Glass

Carol Hennahane

Jane Ostler

Claudia Uller

Steam Punk Glass

Caroline Moiret

Dorian Kelly

Stained Glass work from Adult Community Learning group led by Carol Hennahane

The Colchester Glass bead!

From 13 – 30 June 2012 Slack Space presents a very special exhibition ‘The Great Glass Bead Game!’ This exhibition is part of Colchester Carnival and Sparks Will Fly, the official Essex Cultural Olympiad event, and features some very exciting activity!

In May a 12ft high champion Marina (a stilted performer and chariot) arrives on a sail barge to Harwich. She is met by local dignitaries and others. The Champion is here to play ‘The Game’ and must collect 12 giant glass beads from across Essex. A few days later another Champion, Boris, arrives via Stansted Airport and is greeted with the full state welcome! Boris too is here to collect glass beads and play ‘The Game’. For the next month the two Champions go all over Essex, never meeting each other, joining in a big event in each town and finding beads. Each time they visit a town they grow bigger and by the time they get to Colchester they are 12 foot high!

The finale date is Hylands Park Chelmsford on July 6th when the two Champions meet and battle it out in ‘The Game,’ accompanied by a spectacular fire show. This finale event also celebrates the arrival of the Olympic Torch in Chelmsford.

The puppet Marina will arrive in Colchester on 30 June, Carnival day, to find the Colchester glass bead!

May 19, 2012

The Great Glass Bead Game - call for artists

Call for artists and makers in glass work:

Dear friends,

Please see below of ran exciting opportunity for local artists and makers who work in and with glass. 2 or 3D submissions are welcome as are any unusual or creative interpretations of the theme. Please e mail details of your submission to colchesterslackers@googlemail.com by 1 May 2012. Please entitle your submission ‘The Great Glass Bead Game’

13 June – 30 June The Great Glass Bead Game

Slack Space

Victoria Place Colchester CO1 1LR

From 13 – 30 June 2012 Slack Space presents a very special exhibition ‘The Great Glass Bead Game!’ This exhibition is part of Sparks Will Fly, the official Essex Cultural Olympiad event, and features some very exciting activity!

In May a 12ft high champion Marina (a stilted performer and chariot) arrives on a sail barge to Harwich. She is met by local dignitaries and others. The Champion is here to play ‘The Game’ and must collect 12 giant glass beads from across Essex. A few days later another Champion, Boris, arrives via Stansted Airport and is greeted with the full state welcome! Boris too is here to collect glass beads and play ‘The Game’. For the next month the two Champions go all over Essex, never meeting each other, joining in a big event in each town and finding beads. Each time they visit a town they grow bigger and by the time they get to Colchester they are 12 foot high!

The finale date is Hylands Park Chelmsford on July 6th when the two Champions meet and battle it out in ‘The Game,’ accompanied by a spectacular fire show. This finale event also celebrates the arrival of the Olympic Torch in Chelmsford.

The puppet Marina will arrive in Colchester on 30 June to find the Colchester glass bead!

Mar 12, 2012

Slack Space latest news

Slack Space Third Birthday Party and Exhibition Private View

The Pigeon-hole Project

Slack Space regional Empty Shops conference – ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT TO BOOK

Culpable Earth – firstsite late night opening

Call for artists – Alchemy 2

Slack Space Third Birthday Party and Exhibition Private View

We are hugely proud that Slack Space Colchester has reached its third year. It’s our birthday!. We are celebrating this not only by presenting an important regional conference on empty shops on 17th March (see next entry) but also with a party and private view of our new exhibition “FROM BARSHAM TO ALBION” A retrospective and joyous celebration of the seminal East Anglian Fairs of the 70s and 80s and its legacy, in an archive exhibition of poster art, photographs film, music and reminiscence.

The party / Private view will run from 7.00- 11.00 pm or later on Saturday 10th March. We will be showing some special documentary films, with musical and street theatre offerings from the period. A variety of musicians and performers (to be announced) which will include a real psychedelic band. Illuminati ( that’s Dorian) will do a bit of his world famous (but somewhat dated) psychedelic light show ( if he can find enough kit and borrow some overhead projectors). Mulled wine and some Veggie chilli and rice will hopefully be available, otherwise bring your own drink and make an evening of it!

The event is preceded from 2.00 pm by a the regular “Slack Folk” , an open mic show for local folk based performers. Potential performers are welcome but must book a slot at colchesterslackers@gmail.com )

THE EXHIBITION “From Barsham to Albion” which will also include the notorious Weeley 1971 festival, runs from the 7th March to 24th March. It is open from Wednesdays to Saturdays from 11.00-6.00 pm at Slack Space, Victoria Place, Eld Lane, Colchester.

The Pigeon-hole Project

In the new Slack Space ‘Long Gallery’ near the Post Room, there is a bank of delightful old wooden pigeon-holes.

As part of the Slack Space 3rd Birthday celebrations we are inviting artists to make a piece of 3D art/sculpture to fit into these boxes on a semi-permanent basis.

Each box measures approximately: 35cm wide x 25cm high x 38cm deep.

Paula MacGregor is the lead artist for this project, please address any questions to her at: colchesterslackers@googlemail.com labelled ‘Pigeon-hole project’

Slack Space regional Empty Shops conference – ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT TO BOOK

Transforming spaces – Arts use of empty shops and other disused spaces

Saturday 17 March 2012 9.30am – 5.15pm @ firstsite, Colchester

Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester, Essex CO1 1JH

£32.40 incl. VAT, lunch and two refreshment breaks

A Regional conference hosted by UK premier Empty Shop organisation Slack Space Colchester, in partnership with firstsite. The event will look at working in empty shops and other disused spaces and will combine an interactive focus on case studies and success stories with practical advice and contextual understanding.

Outline of day:

9.30 Arrivals. Refreshments available to purchase at firstsite restaurant

10.00 Abigail Cheverst (Slack Space) ‘Working in empty shops – possibilities, challenges and opportunities’

10.30 Michaela Freeman (Artside) ‘Artside - curating in the public space’

11.00 Amy McKenny (Tap) ‘TAP – running an artist led studio / gallery space’

11.30 Refreshments (provided)

11.50 Breakouts

12.15 Kayte Judge (We are Bedford) ‘We are Bedford’ – case study’

12.45 Chris Clarke (Slack Space) ‘Slack Space – case study’

1.15 Lunch (provided) with performance from popular folk band The Medlars

2.00 The coalface slots – a series of short presentations from working artists on what empty shops activity has meant for them

2.30 Eddie Bridgeman (Meanwhile Space) ‘New spaces, new ways of working - the meanwhile lease, development trusts and other solutions’

3.00 Dan Thompson (Empty Shops Network) ‘The big picture – presenting the results of a National research and evidence gathering project on disused space activity in the UK’

3.30 Refreshments (provided)

3.50 Breakouts

4.15 3Space presentation

4.30 Plenary / panel discussion – ‘Empty shops, disused spaces – the potential, the pitfalls and where we go next.’ The results of this plenary will be fed into the Empty shops Network National conference taking place later in the year

5.15 Close

Refreshments available to purchase at firstsite restaurant

Tour of Slack Space Colchester (optional)

All delegates will receive a copy of the Slack Space Manual and the Empty Shops Toolkit

Partner profile:

Slack Space is one of the premier ‘empty shop’ organisations in the UK and has been successfully putting art and performance into empty shops for over two and a half years

firstsite is a contemporary visual arts organisation based in Colchester with a mission to make contemporary art relevant to everyone.

Artside is a CoExist project featuring two weeks of art and interventions in Southend High Street with artists working directly with venues to create site-led work.

TAP is housed within a converted water works. Currently it houses CoExist Galleries and Studios, The White Bus, MEET, Solug and Open Arts.

We are Bedford is a community collective. The group put on the Castle Quay Weekender in March 2011, an arts festival in 7 empty shops, and run various other successful community events.

Meanwhile Space is led by the Development Trusts Association as part of the Advancing Assets programme, with support from the Dept. of Communities and Local Government.

Empty Shops Network is the National Network for organisations and individuals working in empty shops and other disused spaces.

3Space offer a brokerage service between landlords / developers with empty space and charities or other organisations wishing to use that space.

Culpable Earth – firstsite late night opening

Friday 16 March, 7 – 11pm

Special evening event with live music from the Grubby Mitts in the Learning spaces and hands-on creative activities in the Mosaic space, including beeswax candle rolling, bell ringing, and leather stitching

The evening ends with a display of fire-swinging in firstsite’s D-shaped garden!

A selection of Culpable Earth artist Steven Claydon’s short films will play in the auditorium throughout the evening.

Free; just drop in.

Call for artists – Alchemy 2

WANTED: Artwork for the ALCHEMY 2 exhibition. The exhibition is again all about found objects and recycled materials, but with an added interest this year – the theme of Bottles, Books and Boxes.

We are looking for some very special artwork that fits in with these criteria. The exhibition is 7 weeks away (starting 18 April) – You have just 4 weeks left to register your interest and get your pictures and proposals in to us at colchesterslackers@googlemail.com under the heading of ALCHEMY 2.

Mar 3, 2012

New Slack Space exhibition

From Barsham to Albion

7 March – 24 March

Open Wed – Sat 11am – 6pm

Colchester Slack Space, the pioneering empty shops artists collective, is thrilled to have secured the entire archive of the seminal and pioneering East Anglian Albion Fair movement of the 70’s and 80’s for an exhibition at Slack Spaces’ new premises in Victoria Place, Eld Lane from 7th March to 24th March.

The exhibition, which is of national importance, is a retrospective and joyful celebration of the legendary Albion Fairs . It is collection of beautiful and iconic posters, photographs, films and assorted memorabilia from the fairs, including the ultimate monthly newspaper of alternative East Anglia, the Waveney Clarion. It will evoke memories for those who were there and will explain the magic and significance of the fairs to those who missed them. Their spirit of creativity, play and environmentalism was ahead of its time and has left a legacy today, not least in the Glastonbury and Latitude festivals. which were directly inspired by the Moon Fair, the Earth , Fire and Rainbow Fairs at East Bergholt, and of course the Rougham Tree Fairs.

Comfort was far from the norm (ask anyone who attended an Albion Fair about the infamous “long drop” toilets!), the music was sometimes dodgy, there were often far more naked people than one really wanted to encounter at the water standpipes in the morning, but the real ale and the vegan food was always plentiful and in an era when Mrs Thatcher was teaching us all to think of “me, me, me” and where riots had become a common occurrence in the major cities, there was something quite special in being part of several thousand people gathering together in our little corner of rural England to live for a weekend in peace, love and harmony …… yeah man!

Sadly, the festival movement was a mirror of the times. The relative tolerance of a “free festival culture ” by government in the late seventies and very early eighties had given way to a far more repressive regime . The “Peace Convoys” -which were anything but peaceful - , had became very prevalent, with their hard drug acid-punk culture, and antisocial behavior, culminating in the notorious “Battle of The Beanfields” near Stonehenge. Free festivals could no longer flourish due to the new public order acts which banned gatherings on public land, and The Albion Fairs were no more.

THE EXHIBITION RUNS From the 7th March to 24th March. It is open from Wednesdays to Saturdays from 11.00-6.00 pm at Slack Space, Victoria Place, Eld Lane, Colchester.

There will be a viewing / celebration from 6.00- 10.00 pm on Saturday 10th March. We will be showing some special documentary films, with musical and street theatre offerings from the period.

Mulled wine available, otherwise bring your own drink and make an evening of it!

It is preceded from 2.00 pm by a special edition of “Slack Folk” , an open mic show for local folk based performers can show what they can do (potential performers must book a slot at colchesterslackers@gmail.com)

Feb 25, 2012