John Newling’s lemons

Really pleased that the artist John Newling is coming to Mezz on Thu 26th of this month. Looking forward to this talk, especially about his work The Lemon Tree and Me. Hopefully see you there.

Jodrell moves

Jem Finer came to Mezz last night. It was a fascinating evening and good to hear Jem talk about projects of his that I have know about for some time from a distance, such as Longplayer and Score for a Hold in the Ground. However, the best was at the end when he showed a short film of First Light, a one-hour ‘performance’ of the main radio-telescope at Jodrell Bank. For that hour he and artist Ansuman Biswas were given control of the telescope, which they made ‘perform’ with lighting, sounds from contact mikes on the structure itself, and music by Jem. Stunning, atmospheric and so majestic. Thanks Jem for a great evening. (image by I. Morison (JBO))

Jem Finer @ Mezz

For our next Mezz event it is Jem Finer. I am really looking forward to this one, as I have liked his work for some years now. From mezz.info: “At time of writing this, Jem Finer’s Longplayer has been running for 11 years, 306 days, 3 hours, 36 minutes and 2 seconds. Designed to continue for a 1,000 years, Longplayer brings together Finer’s interest in technological systems and time, pushing the limits of what might be possible when setting yourself the task of composing a piece of music that will never repeat itself over such a long time frame. But all these numbers overlook the simple beauty of the composition itself. Trained in computer science, a founder member of the Pogues, and more recently winner of the prestigious PRS Foundation New Music Award for hisScore for a Hole in the Ground, Finer’s ambitious artworks oscillate between the lure of technology and the physicality of the natural world: the sounds produced by Score… (pictured above) depending solely upon the play of water on metal underground which is then amplified by a large horn extending up into the surrounding King’s Wood in Kent. His most recent piece, Spiegelei which was recently sited at Compton Verney, continues his interest in technology, revisiting and updating the camera obscura. For Mezz#15 Jem will be talking about these and other projects, the order and direction of the evening being determined by the audience. This promises to be a wide ranging and fascinating encounter.” 7.30pm / Wed  7  Dec 2011 / SVA/ £4.50  (note: it is Wednesday this time, not our usual Thursday)

Body stones

For our Mezz event in May we have the artist Ilana Halperin coming to talk. “One evening, someone approached me and said; I came across something I think you might be interested in – a collection of body stones. Body stones? Body stones: gall stones, kidney stones, they are made of geology. From this conversation grew the idea that we as humans are also geological agents – we form geology. We are like volcanoes, producing new landmass on a micro scale.” Recently returned from Iceland and on her way to the Turner Contemporary for a performative lecture, Mezz is pleased to present Ilana Halperin, who utilises text, delicate graphite drawings, sculpture, video and performance to explore our intimate relationship to the seemingly distant and abstract world of plate tectonics, in her quest to develop art objects formed within a geological, or deep time context. For Mezz #13 Ilana will first be showing some work from herPhysical Geology series, followed by a talk entitled Autobiographical Trace Fossils: “a field dispatch on the nature of new landmass of a cultural, biological and geological nature – from petrifying caves in France, to geothermal pools in Iceland and a collection of body stones more animal than mineral.” Fascinating stuff. Hope to meet you there on Thu 5th May. See the website for details.

Live interval

‘Birds that feed on fish; their excrement will form the beginning of an oasis in which human beings can live, until the next stream of lava smothers it all.’ Manfred Eicher in Iceland. We have the artist Ilana Halperin coming to Mezz soon, and all her work in Iceland. Looking forward to it.

It’s Mezz this evening

We are showing films by Phillip Warnell this evening at Mezz (www.mezz.info). He works with medical imagery and links this to the outside world. A man after my own heart!