screenzine - Bren O`Callaghan

SCREENZINE
December 2007
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an admirable approach for experimental fashion
set up shop with a cartoon dynamite box, our mum
was straight on the phone to the parish priest. Viva
la Homotopia!
PASSENGERS, PREPARE FOR LANDING
It’s a bumper issue, a whole SIX MONTHS of highlights as we teeter on the verge of the big two-ohoh-eight, a date we have awaited with the patience
of druids for the dawn, milling about Clayton Square
in frayed tablecloths, knees buckling, waiting for the
toilets to open. That’s right - Liverpool, European Capital of Culture is almost upon us!
Alas, we don’t feature in the 08 programme. Apparently all we do is show News24. Bless. But do join
us in our below-radar limbo as we whip out the
grass skirts and swig from mugs of steaming
voodoo juice to toast our plans for the year
ahead!
As the first rays break, let’s recap our recent activity shall we? It’s a stretch this exercise lark, lobbing
invisible tennis balls in public with hundreds of new
friends during our Wimbledon Wii tournament.
Trickier yet, the launch of HUB 07 meant it was
time to git wid da kids by attempting a triple-crown
spizzle-wotsit before a spell in casualty to surgically extract missing underwear. Don’t be deceived by the posh vowels and gold-topped canes of
the premium rate brains at Radio 3’s Festival of
Free Thinking - instead, we hid behind their straw
boaters and flashed up fake bank account numbers
in our ‘thought-provoking’ installation as Joe Public
choked mid-stride, sputtering pastry crumbs in
consternation. And when some very tall ladies with
Contents
Wimbledon Wii Sports
HUB
Bare Feet Story
Urbeatz
Sound of Sites
Homotopia TV
Concrete Cannot
Stop Them
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SERVICE WITH A
SMILE
kids, while grandparents pulversised sulking teens.
WIMBLEDON Wii SPORTS
Using the Wii remote, the game is controlled by the
player performing realistic racket swings, with all
matches played as doubles allowing users to support each other and shout unrepeatable encouragement.
To mark the return of Wimbledon and the start
of the underwater tennis season (having just pipped
an alternative suggestion of open-air grunting
workshops in honour of the Williams’ sisters), the
Big Screen knocked on the door of neighbours
Virgin Megastore who picked up their hotline to
Nintendo UK.
One player came down to take part after his train
at Liverpool Lime Street Station, Platform 9
was cancelled; a spot which for those who don’t yet
know offers a direct view of the Big Screen
Liverpool via a freak topography-glazing
combination. If there are any astronauts with a
better view, I’m sure we can accommodate a small
landing module if you wish to join us on the next
occasion.
The result? A full day of the absurdly playable Nintendo Wii Sports, specifically Tennis, featuring a
robust wireless unit at the base of the screen.
A snaking queue of would-be players risked the
boss’s wrath as lunch hour became a lunchafternoon: middle-managers pitted against school
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HUB 2007 LAUNCH
The HUB Festival attracts around 18,000 people to Liverpool’s Otterspool Promenade over two
days every July. With skateboarding, BMX, live music, breakdancing, inline skating, parcour, street
art and a portable wind tunnel, it has established itself as a highlight of Liverpool’s European Capital of
Culture programme.
This year’s event featured an International Bboy Break-dance competition with crews entering from
Martinique, France, Belgium and Korea. The weekend prior to the main events, the cream of regional
dancers attended the Big Screen to fly the flag and launched an impromptu break-off of their own
against the vidi-wall backdrop of sk8er graphics and audio mash-ups.
An appreciative crowd soon gathered to watch, marvel and sympathise with the host of unseen mothers
who would surely have to boil-wash their sons’ threads after rolling about the mucky, grime-slicked paving,
performing joint-popping feats that will have the osteopaths of Merseyside working overtime in years
to come.
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BARE FEET STORY
URBEATZ
Bare Feet is an arts and performance project
staged, rehearsed and presented mainly by children,
on, or formerly on the streets of Lusaka, Zambia.
An urban music, media and youth culture company,
Urbeatz recently completed a homegrown music
documentary - Crossing the Line. This explored
the Liverpool North/South divide, looking at the
similarities and differences of young people on either side of the perceived wall.
The brainchild of former Liverpool resident Adam
McGuigan, the actor/director filmed and edited a
short film to highlight the work carried out in Africa to solicit support back home.
Supported by two further music videos from local
rap artists, the playout was also accompanied by the
construction of a temporary vox-pop recording studio beneath the screen, complete with
cameras, recording equipment and volunteer support from community representatives.
Here at the Big Screen, project supporters held a
special screening of the film, attended by Liverpoolbased arts workers and musicians who have staged
a number of fundraising events to help Adam expand the project.
As the video material played out above, the public
were invited to voice questions, concerns, fears
and hopes to camera, the eventual footage from
which is due to presented to Mersyside Police
Authority to enable better response from hardto-reach communities as part of the city-wide ‘It’s
Not OK’ campaign.
Although not a means of generating funds on the
day, the purpose was to publicly celebrate the
many partnerships and help already received
by a myriad of local organisation in the form of an
open street party for all to enjoy.
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SOUND OF SITES
HOMOTOPIA TV
Led by Liverpool WAC Performing Arts &
Media College, a series of short films, slideshow
and narrative voiceovers/poetry formed the bulk of
the video content.
A unique events and community web channel supported by the Arts Council, the public launch took
place at the Big Screen with a dynamite plunger
and unseasonal deluge of glitter-tape as pink
clouds gathered above the assembled crowd.
A photographic, creative writing and musicbased project for both young people and adults,
Sound of Sites tutored participants of all ages
across the summer throughout the local wards of
Anfield, Everton, Granby, Dingle and Toxteth,
culiminating in a popular showcase at the Big
Screen.
Homotopia is a bold, ambitious, homegrown
Queer Art’s Festival which continues to grow
and impress year upon year. Featuring a variety of
events including theatre, film, art, performance, photography, heritage and storytelling,
a new and exciting addition to the rolling programme is Liverpool’s very own Queer TV station.
Activity included spoken word, plus live bands
and community choirs performing new work in
response to a changing backdrop of images; seeking
to capture the true spirit of each locale for those
who live and work there.
Content will feature regularly upon the screen and
online, ranging from politics, art, heritage, reviews,
community news, opinions, performance and debate.View more at www.homotopia.tv
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CONCRETE CANNOT STOP THEM
In association with BBC Radio 3 Festival of
Free Thinking which this year investigated the
theme of Freedom as a key issue, the Big Screen
Liverpool presented an international selection of
video and interactive work that responded to pervasive surveillance. Hail the rise of the all-seeing
eye!
the viewer to take control as in the following instance.
Two associated local commissions from ICDC:
International Centre for Digital Content at
Liverpool John Moores University delivered the
heart of this themed package: Freedom of Information and Big Screen Vote.
Curated by manager Bren O’Callaghan, five artists
and filmmakers from across the world reversed the lens upon this highly charged topic. According to UK statistics, the average citizen is
caught upon camera 300x per day. The unit that
sits atop the Big Screen is actually a passive camera
employed for interactive applications only, allowing
The first, an interactive display highlighted surprising details of the data held upon the average
citizen, while the latter allowed observers to vote
live upon Free Thinking issues such as the perception of civil liberties. Are we really free? Many
participants were left wondering...
FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION
AT WHAT COST
SECURITY?
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CONCRETE CANNOT STOP THEM (VIDEO PROGRAMME)
THE SPECTRAL CHILDREN
Manu Luksch (UK/AT 2006, 15 min)
Using CCTV images obtained over a 4-year period under the UK Data
Protection Act, artist and filmmaker Manu Luksch replaces regular
cameras with these preinstalled surveillance devices, a film crew with
the data controllers, and a script with the law. An abridged interpretation of the feature-length project, Faceless.
CAMOUFLAGE #1
Penelope Cain (AU, 2005, 4:20 min)
Stressed, anxious and alienated in his urban habitat, a white-collar
worker attempts to camouflage himself within his city environment. By
obsessively taping sheets of printed copy paper over his body, he mimics the chameleon instincts of small animals sensing danger through an
act that makes him ironically conspicuous.
AFTERGLOW
Katy Connor (UK, 2007, 12 mins)
This audio-visual piece fuses themes of urban surveillance with body
memory as airborne cameras scan the arterial routes of a city grid. Suffused, pulsing with flesh and metal, the impersonal becomes intimate via
a surgeon’s gaze. But who wields the knife? Made in collaboration with
sound artist Helena Gough.
BIRDS OVER THE WHITE HOUSE
Michael Bell-Smith (USA, 2006, 5 mins excerpt)
Lo-fi yet sharply relevant, this pixel-cute blueprint of the White House
when transposed upon the Big Screen brings to mind the massive video
walls of cold war blockbusters D.A.R.Y.L. and War Games. A generative
algorithm maps the plane-like movement of birds as they encircle the
President’s sanctum.
MASSIVE ATTACK: PROTECTION
Dir. Michel Gondry (UK/FR, 1995, 6:38 mins)
The camera as voyeur, free to roam, unseen, omniscient, unblinking. The
guilt-free gaze is key to our visual interpretation of the world and
never more beautifully realised than in this classic music video tracing
the tiny lives of residents in an apartment block. Observation unfettered.
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COVER IMAGES
1. (Clockwise, far left to right) Lady Shaun at Homotopia TV launch © Matt Ford 2. ‘Freedom of Information’ installation, Concrete Cannot Stop Them. 3. HUB 07 launch 4. Nintendo Wii Sports, screen detail
CONTACT INFORMATION
Got a question? Get in touch!
Bren O’Callaghan
BBC Live Events
Big Screen Manager Liverpool
Address: BBC Merseyside
31 College Lane
Liverpool L1 3DS
email: bren (dot) ocallaghan (at) bbc.co.uk
to submit city diary and listings information
visit us online at www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool
www.bbc.co.uk/bigscreens
This edition released December 2007
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