March 2013 - School of Arts — Oxford Brookes University

SCHOOL OF ARTS
NEWS
March 2013
Welcome to the latest edition of the School of Arts newsletter in which
you can read about news and events from staff and students within the
School.
In this issue:
Publishing
Film Studies
Music and Sonic Art
Arts Short Courses
Fine Art
University-wide
& External Events
@OBUarts
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www.facebook.com/brookes.arts
NEWS IN GENERAL
Designed for Women Exhibition – now showing in Glass Tank gallery space
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Glass Tank, Abercrombie Extension, Gipsy Lane campus | 8 March – 5 April 2013
Glass Tank is currently hosting an exhibition of early stage design projects by Foundation Art and Design students
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in the School of Arts. To correspond with International Women’s Day on 8 March, the exhibition showcases a
range of designs which seek to empower women and improve their quality of life. The exhibition also showcases a
cross-faculty selection of gender-based research by university staff.
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/campuses-and-facilities/glass-tank/
WOODSHED exhibition by School of Art staff
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Showing in the Richard Hamilton Building between 8 and 15 March, WOODSHED* was an exhibition by
nineteen artists working on the Fine Art BA, Interdisciplinary Arts MA, Art & Design Foundation and the Intensive
Foundation Portfolio courses at Oxford Brookes University. They are working with glass, video, text, paper, sound,
photography, drawing and sculpture.
Art Shop now open for business!
In response to student requests, the School of Arts has now opened a small shop within the Richard Hamilton
building. The shop is open between 11am and 1pm Monday to Friday and will stock basic items related to Fine Art,
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Film and Music work. The shop is currently staffed by 1 year Fine Art student Ryan Quarterman and 1 year
Music student and student rep Tim Hennessy.
All Arts students can now purchase vouchers to spend at the shop via this link:
http://shop.brookes.ac.uk/browse/product.asp?catid=224&modid=1&compid=1 and the plan is to open up the
facility to other students within TDE in the near future.
PUBLISHING
Working in Publishing Day | Thursday 7th March 2013
This item has been taken from the blog of MA Publishing Student Lauren Moore and has been shortened from the
original version.
Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies (OICPS) students, both undergraduate and postgraduate,
attended the annual ‘Working in Publishing’ day. This definitely was a day not to be missed – an introduction from
Angus Phillips, OICPS Director, then students split off into their chosen workshops, which included one specifically
for International students, dealing with issues such as visas and working restrictions.
I found the covering letter and prospecting workshops really useful, and the following tips the most relevant:
• Ensure your covering letter is not generic by tailoring it to the individual company and job
• Make sure you split the letter into sections covering all main aspects of your application, and include your
knowledge of the company
• Don’t wait until the deadline; apply as early as possible to ensure your application is considered.
The afternoon ‘speed-dating’ sessions were a definite highlight. Each student had the chance to sign up with eight
publishers or industry professionals, ranging from literary agents, to trade, children’s and academic publishers, as
well as recruitment agencies.
My overall experience was certainly a very positive one; everyone I spoke to gave really insightful answers to my
questions and provided engaging conversation about their experiences and the industry, as well as useful advice
and tips from the recruitment agencies. Then it was all rounded off by a closing talk from Executive Director of
Bloomsbury Richard Charkin, followed by wine and nibbles – a great end to a fantastic day.
Lauren Moore is an MA Publishing Student at OICPS with interests in both marketing and rights. Currently working
as the marketing intern at the Voltaire Foundation, she also has placements coming up with Raintree and Watkins
Publishers. Read more by Lauren on her blog: http://learningtheartofpublishing.weebly.com/the-page-turner.html
Workshop on Prospecting employers with Helena Markou
Taking Notes
Looking at Samples
Tweeting the Introductory session with #wip13
Examples from Publishers
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MA Publishing student to help judge BBC Short Story Competition
Emma Carroll, studying Children's Publishing as part of the MA Publishing programme will help judge 500
WORDS, a short story competition for children run annually by BBC Radio 2 via the Chris Evans Breakfast Show.
Children are invited to write a story in 500 words to be in with the chance to win Chris Evans' height in books
for themselves and a further 500 books for their school's library. There are no stipulations on content or theme,
children are allowed to write whatever they choose.
As a volunteer, Emma is part of the first stage of the judging process. Emma says that her stories are in the 10 - 13
category: I've begun reading the stories and I am amazed by what some of these children are writing about. Some
of the stories are not what I was expecting." The final selection is made by an expert panel consisting of Richard
Hammond, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, Frank Cottrel Boyce and Charlie Higson. The finalists will be announced at
the Hay Festival on May 31st who are developing the competition in association with Hay Fever, the family and
children's programme of the Hay Festival. The winning entries will each be read by an actor or well known
broadcaster and the top 50 stories will be published in an anthology.
Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/500words/2013/
FILM STUDIES
Activating the Archive
Film Studies lecturer Dr Alison Kahn gave a paper at the University of Cambridge last weekend. entitled Activating
the Archive: a tablet technology to create pathways through the archive of Ursula Graham Bower (1914-1986).
This was a CRASSH funded conference and all leading experts on visual anthropology, material culture and visual
culture were there. http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/2066/
MUSIC AND SONIC ARTS
MA Music student to sing at the Royal Opera House
Music at Brookes is delighted to announce that tenor Benjamin Hulett, currently studying on
the MA in Music, will make his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, during the
2013-14 season. Ben will sing the role of Edmondo in a new production of Puccini's Manon
Lescaut to be directed by Jonathan Kent and conducted by Antonio Pappano. The
production will be staged in June and July 2014, with one performance to be screened in
cinemas nation-wide. Ben's more imminent engagements include singing Tamino in a
concert performance of The Magic Flute in April with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
under Sir Simon Rattle.
AHRC funded studentship: MA in Music
The School of Arts invites applications for one-year AHRC-funded studentships in Music.
The MA in Music at Oxford Brookes comprises pathways in the following areas:
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Music and Popular Culture
Music on Stage and on Screen
Contemporary Practice in Composition
Music in 19th-Century Culture
For further details of how to apply for an AHRC award in Music at Oxford Brookes, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/brookesmusicahrc
Further information about the MA can be found at
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/studying-at-brookes/courses/postgraduate/2013/music/or by emailing Dr Alexandra
Wilson: [email protected]
It should be noted that in order to be eligible for the AHRC competition, applicants must have first applied for a
place at the University and hold an offer of admission. The closing date for the AHRC awards is: Friday 19 April
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OBERTO / MA Music opera trip to La traviata
OBERTO members comprising students on the MA in Music
and staff specialising in opera studies spent an enjoyable
evening in February at the London Coliseum watching English
National Opera’s production of La traviata. Having recently
studied the opera in detail, it was a particularly worthwhile
experience for the MA students, enabling them to apply their
new perspectives and ideas developed in class to this popular
work. While Verdi’s musical score and the impressive vocal
performances did not fail to impress, director Peter
Konwitschny’s symbolic and minimal approach to staging
certainly provided food for thought. The director’s unusual
interpretation of La traviata provoked mixed reactions from the
group. Lively discussion and debate has since taken place on Moodle and has no doubt enhanced study not just of
this work, but of nineteenth-century opera in general. Overall, a fantastic evening was had by all, for even those
who prefer a more traditional operatic experience could not resist the charm of Verdi’s music, and with 2013
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marking the composer’s 200 anniversary, should we really be so averse to updating a classic opera after all?
Alexandra Puzdrowski (MA Music)
Network on Music & Publishing
The Music department are currently bidding for AHRC funding to set up a Network on Music and Publishing, with
several events planned including a symposium featuring Chris Difford of Squeeze and exploring issues around
royalties, the artist and the industry. There will also be a symposium on Crass and anarcho-punk, which Pete Dale
is organising. This is scheduled for Friday 28th June here at Oxford Brookes and will feature talks from Penny
Rimbaud (a pivotal figure from the band Crass), George McKay (a leading academic who studies 'cultures of
resistance') and many more.
OBERTO "Staging Operatic Anniversaries" conference: call for papers
2013 is a year of important operatic anniversaries, marking, amongst others, the bicentenaries of Giuseppe Verdi
and Richard Wagner and the centenary of Benjamin Britten. While conferences and performances are being
organised worldwide to celebrate the music of these composers, we wish to consider the question of how operatic
anniversaries are themselves commemorated, in keeping with the historiographical focus of past OBERTO
conferences.
‘Staging Operatic Anniversaries’ will address how composers, operas and operatic institutions are memorialised in
anniversary years and the different ways in which such commemorations can be considered to be performative: an
act of ‘staging’. Simultaneously, the conference will explore how historical anniversaries have been depicted or
celebrated upon the operatic stage. Finally, it will also consider issues surrounding the (literal) staging of operas by
composers whose anniversaries fall in 2013.
We aim to expand the field of study in this area and intend that the conference should bring together in fruitful
debate musicologists, historians, scholars of biography, those involved in organising and marketing anniversary
celebrations and other interested parties. We therefore invite papers addressing as wide a variety of topics and
methodologies as possible, including (but by no means limited to):
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The ways in which the anniversaries of the births / deaths of operatic composers and of significant operatic
premieres have been marked, both historically and in the present
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Celebrations to mark the anniversaries of opera houses, opera festivals and other operatic institutions
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The ways in which anniversaries of significant historical events or birthdays have been depicted upon the
operatic stage
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Historiographical approaches to musical memorialisation
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The staging of works by composers whose anniversaries fall in 2013
Proposals of up to 250 words are invited for individual papers of 20 minutes duration. Proposals should be
submitted by e-mail to Dr Alexandra Wilson ([email protected]) no later than 26 April 2013.
Conference organisers: Alexandra Wilson, Barbara Eichner and Christopher Chowrimootoo
http://arts.brookes.ac.uk/research/oberto/
MILKY WIMPSHAKE | Port Mahon | Saturday 20th April
Pete Dale, Lecturer in Popular Music, and first year music student, Mark Vincent, perform in the band Milky
Wimpshake with local Oxford group Les Clochards upstairs at the Port Mahon.
Advance tickets are available from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/208336 and of course all are welcome!
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ARTS SHORT COURSES
Summer Research School in Digital Film Practice
3-week Intensive Courses in Digital Filmmaking,
Production and Distribution in the Sciences and Humanities
Aims:
• to update your camera knowledge of HD and D-SLR equipment
• to get to grips with editing software
• to understand formats for the production of film
• to learn about the best practices in conservation of archive film and photographic material
• to access new databases of film collections
• to learn about how to make and distribute e-books and tablet content
• discuss methods, ethics and techniques surrounding the representations of visual material
• to work in an interdisciplinary way to gain insights from scientists, social scientists, artists and researchers
using AV for research
• to develop your own proposals from idea to product.
Who? This course endeavors to bring together a group of dynamic researchers at different stages in their
application of visual methods. Our program integrates practical knowledge of filmmaking and sound recording with
current research methods to foster creative approaches in social/scientific/artistic enquiry. The course is facilitated
by several inter-disciplinary practitioners working in diverse areas such as; anthropology, education, international
development, communication and social change processes. The course will be useful for those who are active in
the practice of research (inside and outside academia) and who are open to collectively thinking about the
processes of the production, distribution and consumption of visual culture.
What? 1) Sharing research experiences, ideas and aspirations in visual research. 2) Thinking, theorizing,
research as a practice of ethics. 3) Hands-on experiential and experimental productions with cameras and editing
software. 4) Cross-Media Practices: discussing how new technologies such as tablet technology to aid the
presentation of content. 5) Creating material for multi-platforms as a collaborative and individual process
How? Participants will be given the opportunity to pitch their own projects to experts in filmmaking and media
technology to develop their ideas from idea to screen. During the first couple of sessions, all participants will be
encouraged to reflect on the core themes their current research work and future aspirations, within a process of
current methodological research in participants’ specialize areas. The pedagogy of the course integrates
cinematographic knowledge with the requirements of good practice within the highest disciplinary standards of
presentation and ethical approaches. Facilitation of techniques throughout the course will engender a range of
discussions, from brief presentations to screening of films and demonstration of contemporary practitioners across
disciplines. The course schedule accords time for individual and collective reflection on multi-media platforms and
experiential learning.
TWO 3-week courses available during Summer 2013
http://arts.brookes.ac.uk/cpd/courses/filmmaking-summer-school.html
Where: Oxford Brookes University, Film Department, Richard Hamilton Building, Headington Hill Campus
Dates: 17 June- 5 July 2013 (max 16 participants)
or 8 July -26 July 2013 (max 16 participants)
Duration: 3 weeks per course (Monday- Friday 9.30-5.30)
ALL FILM EQUIPMENT WILL BE PROVIDED.
YOU WILL JUST NEED TO BRING AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE
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Costs: £2,100 per participant (10% reduction if payment received by 19 April).
Accommodation: We can advise on accommodation
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FINE ART
Open Studios for BAcubed
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The Fine Art undergraduate third years are gearing up for their Degree Show which opens on 10 May and is
entitled BAcubed. Check out their blog on a-n's Degrees Unedited. Last year one of our third years was a national
a-n blog prizewinner and this year's blog is a fascinating insight into artistic processes and the stresses, strains and
delights of pulling together a group show: http://www.a-n.co.uk/degrees_unedited/projects/single/2667920
You can also follow them on Twitter: @BAcubed Some work in preparation for the exhibition is shown here:
Claire Ringrose
Jaclyn McRae
Maria Zherdeva
Sophie Lamb
Maria Zherdeva
They have an Open Studio event next Monday 25 March 2-5pm - everyone welcome to visit their studios and see
their work in progress. The third years are spread across three studios in the Richard Hamilton Building:
Downstairs RH G.44
Upstairs RH 1.10 & 1.11
Where is the Hoover? (Not the Degree Show)
A small group of third year are holding a one day exhibition in a domestic space on Thurs 28 March 6-8pm - see
below for details. Don't miss it.
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Private View for Rising Stars 2013
Ruth Simons, Fine Art undergraduate featured in last month’s newsletter has been selected for Rising Stars 2013
at New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham and will be showing her artist's book Kapa Kapa and the screenprints:
Monoculture and Mutations. There will be a private view between 6-8pm on Friday 22nd March, all welcome.
http://www.newashgate.org.uk/
Art Society Guest Lecturer
On behalf of the student-led Art Society, you are invited to a guest lecture by Dr Christopher Brown, Director of the
Ashmolean Museum. The event will take the form of a short panel discussion followed by dialogue with the
audience.
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Twitchers: Birds and Art
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On 12 April, Fine Art Lecturers Paul Kilsby, Clair Chinnery and Tracey Warr are convening a session at this year's
Association of Art Historians conference on Birds & Art. Clair will also be presenting a paper on her work. The
early bird booking rate deadline for the conference has now passed but you can still book tickets via the AAH
website here: http://www.aah.org.uk/annual-conference/2013-conference There is a student rate and a day rate.
More information on the Birds and Art session is here: http://www.aah.org.uk/annual-conference/2013conference/session23
Enemy No.1 – Clair Chinnery
Golden Oriole – Paul Kilsby
ALUMNI NEWS
Zsuzsanna Nyul – Visible Invisible at MOA
Don't miss last year's Fine Art graduate Zsuzsanna Nyul in residence at
Modern Art Oxford. Her Open Studio Days are on 20, 21, 27 March 12-4pm.
http://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/whats-on/zsuzsanna-nyl-visibleinvisible/about/
UNIVERSITY-WIDE AND EXTERNAL EVENTS & NOTICES
Hamilton/Pasmore Conference
On May 3-4 2013 there will be a conference on Victor Pasmore, Richard Hamilton: radical innovation in art,
architecture and art education in the North East. This is taking place at the Live Theatre, Newcastle, and tickets for
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this go on sale from 15 March. The following link takes you to the conference website, through which you can
access the Full Programme of speakers and registration details:
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sacs/fineart/conferences/pasmore/
The registration fee includes lunch and refreshments on both days, as well as a drinks reception on the evening of
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Friday 3 May. Please circulate widely.
Frances Spalding
Newcastle University
Conference Organiser
[email protected]
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Hayley Newman & Emily Speed
1 March to 7 April 2013 | Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
Castlefield Gallery is pleased to present its annual Head to Head exhibition featuring new work by Hayley Newman
and Emily Speed. Programmed under the gallery’s 2012/2013 overarching theme of World In Transition their work
explores the relationship between the body and architecture. Using an eclectic range of media from sculpture and
video to performance and writing, their work can be seen to continue a tradition in female performance and
sculpture that explores physical limitations and mental or emotional trajectories, orchestrating narratives that play
with the precariousness of the body’s relationship to one’s environment.
Castlefield Gallery has commissioned an essay by Tracey Warr to coincide with the exhibition that will be
available during the exhibition. Warr is writer, curator, teacher and Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Art
Theory at Oxford Brookes University.
This exhibition is part of Wonder Women: Radical Manchester. Find out more at creativetourist.com/wonderwomen
Preview: Thurs 28 Feb 2013, 6-8pm
Exhibition Dates: 1 Mar to 7 Apr 2013
Venue: Castlefield Gallery, 2 Hewitt Street, Manchester, M15 4GB, (behind Deansgate train
station) Tel: 0161 832 8034
Web: www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk
Opening Times: Wed to Sun 1pm – 6pm
Admission: FREE. The gallery is fully accessible
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A Sense of Place | Oxford Town Hall Gallery 2nd - 27th April 2013
A Sense of Place has been part-organised by Brookes alumni Janey Carline, who graduated last year. Activities
listes are suitable for all ages and abilities. More information here: http://www.everyonesanartist.moonfruit.com/
Interactive elements in gallery 10am - 5pm
Put Yourself on the Map. Play in the Den. Relax in the hammocks and roll on the giant balls. Explore the show by
doing the trail quiz. Make the Explore Oxford Kit. Dress up as a ball! Have some fun with the life size puppets in the
Interactive Day Centre. Stroke the amazing cats! Listen to the birds. Find a fish to escape the net…….
Timed activities:
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Tuesday 2 April 2.30 – 4.30pm Nest building workshop with Janey Carline followed by Easter Egg hunt. Maybe
bring some items you would like to include in your nest and something to take it home in, unless you want to leave
it in the show.
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Tuesday 9 April 10 30 – 12.30 as above.
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Friday 5 Singing workshop for all ages 11.30 – 12.30
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Friday 5 and Fri 12 April 2.00 – 3.30 pm Drama session in the Interactive Day Centre with Alice Hicks , et al
and life size puppets
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Thursdays 4 , 11 , 18 and 25
From 1 30 – 4.30 pm Jenny Wylie “I’m on the Bus”. Jenny will travel round
Oxford on the buses and ring in to the gallery so visitors can track her progress round Oxford on the map. There
will be someone in the gallery to enable this.
Musical Saturdays. 12.00 – 4.30 pm in The Gallery
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6 April | Opening Party: Mark Coleman sing-along favorites, Robbie Shackleton a wild performance artist, Ben
Mowat String Project www.benmowat.com (2 pm) followed by Music in MIND band (3 pm) (interactive music
session).
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13 April: Robbie Shackleton, Nicola Whitten, singer and songwriter, followed by the Ben Mowat String Ensemble.
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20 April: Ragdoll band www.ragdollband.co.uk followed by Ben Mowat String project (other musicians TBC)
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27 April | Closing party! All our artists and visitors get together to celebrate including Robbie Shackleton, Roly
Carline and Ali Hall running the Super Best Friends karaoke session, Open Mike and Music in MIND band
(interactive music session).
NEXT ISSUE
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The next issue of this newsletter will be distributed during week commencing 22 April 2013. If you would like to
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have an entry included, please email Sarah Jex on [email protected] by Thursday 18 April.
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