POLITIKINO – Pop-up political cinema at The Project Space

POLITIKINO is a monthly screening of radical and political films curated by artist Sara Rees as part of her residency at The Project Space, Newport.

Free film screening, followed by discussion with Grace Krause, researcher at Cardiff University.

This months film – FILM: ‘Inside Job’ (2010) Directed By Charles Ferguson

The global financial meltdown that took place in Fall 2008 caused millions of job and home losses and plunged the United States into a deep economic recession. Matt Damon narrates a documentary that provides a detailed examination of the elements that led to the collapse and identifies keys financial and political players. Director Charles Ferguson conducts a wide range of interviews and traces the story from the United States to China to Iceland to several other global financial hot spots.

For more information about the event, and to keep up to date with the latest news and updates in the series, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/1576048062645026/

Designer Vaginas – Workshops at The Project Space

Vaginas, Cupcakes and Jerusalem.

This Project is intended as a space to explore the relationship between patriarchy and our “quaints”.

This workshop is intended to be a pilot to an ongoing project. It will initially take place in The Project Space over two dates – 26th and 27th of June, between 10.30am and 2pm.

The workshop will perform as a ‘sewing bee’ and participants are invited to ‘reconstruct’ an image of a vagina from fabric. The (initially female) participants will begin a dialogue about the brutalisation and/or worship of the Vagina. We will be exploring culture, religion, art and pornography within patriarchial societies.

The project will develop organically and be participant led. This will hopefully nurture a sense of solidarity around the issue of ending the violence of Female Genital Mutilation. Sewing and cutting both act as a metaphor and the reconstructions are a statement of intent for this project’s purpose.

The project will develop organically and be participant led. This will hopefully nurture a sense of solidarity around the issue of ending the violence of Female Genital Mutilation. Sewing and cutting both act as a metaphor and the reconstructions are a statement of intent for this project’s purpose.

For more information, please contact Julia Wilkinson on 07598 384851 or magdelene1962@gmail.com

MEET THE RESIDENTS #2: Sara Rees – “DEMOCRACY”

Still of DEMOCRACY from Arcade Cardiff courtesy of Sara Rees

On Saturday 18th April and Saturday 2nd May, artist Sara Rees will engage shoppers and passersby in conversations about democracy at The Project Space on Newport’s Commercial Street in her performance of DEMOCRACY.

Sited in one of the now ubiquitous empty shops symptomatic of the Global Financial Crisis, DEMOCRACY explores the ideological basis to the current crisis and the threat to democracy posed by global corporate capitalism. The placing of this installation draws upon the history of democracy, which originated in the agoras of Ancient Greece. Agoras were open public spaces in the centre of the city that were both marketplace and the place of assembly, the site of both commerce and politics.

Based in a vacant retail unit shop in the centre of Newport, and appropriating the visual aesthetic and conventions of consumerism, DEMOCRACY, to all intents and purposes, is a shop. There are bright lights, piped music, and helpful sales staff on hand. There’s even a sale on. But there is nothing for sale. The consumer space has been supplanted with a discursive space, where unsuspecting shoppers are invited to reflect, engage and talk about their experience and understanding of democracy.

DEMOCRACY is made in response to the growing ferment of disillusionment that many people feel with democracy, both nationally and internationally, being increasingly compromised by the insidious influence yielded by powerful corporate elites. To remain democratic, democracy relies on participation of the people. In making this work I want to stimulate discussion about the nature of democracy and engage people with these ideas in the approach to the general election on 7^th May.

The two performances of DEMOCRACY at The Project Space will run between 10 am and 5 pm on both days. For further information, please contact the artist at reessara@hotmail.com or visit www.sararees.com

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About the artist:

Sara Rees is a practising artist from the Gower Peninsula, currently based in Cardiff. Awarded First Class Honours in Visual Performance at Dartington College of Arts, she later gained Masters in Fine Art at Cardiff School of Art & Design with Distinction. For the past fifteen years Rees has created artworks for residencies, commissions, and exhibitions; her work is exhibited both nationally and internationally, including in The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Latvia, Belgium, Montreal, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, Barcelona, Glasgow, Athens, Moscow, London, Sao Paolo and Berlin. She has been the recipient of a number of awards and prizes, including First Prize for the Oriel Davies Open, a Creative Wales Award and the prestigious Leverhulme Trust Award. 

Conceptually driven, Rees works across mediums, including video, photography, performance, installation, intervention, writing, and relational art. She works both within the gallery and beyond, creating site-specific installations and interventions for a diverse range of sites, from bucolic woodlands to a derelict ex-Soviet power station. Her practice is an on-going exploration of the interface between nature and civilization, of the conditions of global capitalism in relation to the environment and the human condition. While political and provocative, Rees’ work is also playful. Often blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, her work is both uncanny and enchanting.

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Port Songs by Operasonic – EASTER ACTIVITIES

We love Newport – it’s a city worth singing about!
Tell us your Newport stories, and spin them into songs, working with the operasonic team – composer Stacey Blythe and director Rhian Hutchings. operasonic is holding workshops at Project Space in Newport for young people aged 10 to 14 years old on:

11am – 1pm Thursday 9th April
11am – 1pm Friday 10th April

If you would like to find out how to sign up email rhianhutchings@outlook.com
Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/operasonic

Book on Eventbrite:

Thursday 9th April https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/port-songs-easter-workshop-1-tickets-16169973827
Friday 10th April https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/port-songs-easter-workshop-2-tickets-16170016956

CALL OUT – Residencies at The Project Space during 2015.

147 Commercial Street, Newport NP20 1LN

Call out for proposals for Residencies at The Project Space

A printable version of this document is available at: FINALCalloutforResidencies2014

See also: FAQs Residency / Guidelines / Terms & Conditions

Who we are & what we do:

The Project Space is a cultural community platform for the creative arts in Newport, South Wales. Initiating, developing and delivering a programme of performances, exhibitions, workshops and activities in the heart of the city, we deliver events that are responsive to both the needs and interests of our wider community.

Building on the success of previous schemes piloted in the city, Empty Shops Project (2010) and URBAN (2011-12), we exist to facilitate creativity in the community, and create opportunities for people to engage with the arts in Newport.

Project & Proposals:

We would like to build on the considerable success of projects involving our community and are inviting proposals from creative practitioners for projects based in and emanate from the city of Newport. Proposals can be for projects in any form and might include process-led residencies or a series of events, but should start with an engagement with the communities of Newport, whether that is an object, landmark, activity or group.

One aim of this project is to support and encourage new opportunities and an active artist presence for creative practitioners in Newport as well as generate professional and cultural opportunities to work within the city.  We will provide support, guidance, use of our resources and equipment, and act as a sounding board to hear and develop ideas. Also, throughout the project, you will have the benefit of mentoring and/or feedback and dialogue with visual artist who has knowledge and experience of developing a practice that relates to community based activity. In addition, you will be able to use The Project Space as a workspace and will have access to shared and heated communal areas.

You will be expected to present the outcomes of your residency project at the end or during the project period. There is no fixed format in which this should happen and will most likely be responsive to the outcome of your work. This will most likely mean a small-scale exhibition, talk, performance or other event that can be accommodated within The Project Space building.

Another aim of the project is to develop The Project Space as a resource within the community, and to encourage increased awareness and use of it by making art available and accessible directly to the wider general public. Applicants therefore should give an idea of how their project would highlight certain aspects of The Project Space, or generate an activity that encourages direct engagement with Newport residents.

In addition:

The Residencies will run along side regularly programmed events at The Project Space. Those units will be used as development spaces during weekdays and be open to the public each Saturday. During this time, we will continue to run our advertised programme of talks, activities and events. Before submitting a proposal, it is strongly recommended you come into The Project Space and familiarise yourself with our programme, as well as our immediate area in Newport. The Project Space is open Tuesday – Saturday between 10 am – 2 pm, and you are welcome to pop in any time. If however you have a specific time you would like to visit, we recommend you call or email in advance and arrange an appointment.

For more information, please email sally-anne.evans@newport.gov.uk or theprojectspacenpt@gmail.com

 

Timescale of project: 20 days during March – April 2015.

Outcomes of project: To be exhibited, documented or presented during May 2015.

Stipend: Maximum £2000

PROCESS

Applications for these residencies close on Friday 13th February 2015. Strictly no late submissions will be accepted. A panel of community representatives will then meet in February to review the submissions and generate a shortlist of artists. These artists will then be invited to interview with the panel about their proposals during that month, before the final Artists-in-Residence are chosen.

All successful shortlisted artists will be contacted directly via email no later than Wednesday 18th February. Successful residents will be notified by Wednesday 4th March.

How to apply:

To make an application for this project, please email the following material to theprojectspacenpt@gmail.com

• A current CV (including website / blog and contact information).
• A proposal outlining your idea and its aims, including how it will highlight content or generate activity in The Project Space on Newport. The proposal should be 500 words maximum. A financial breakdown of how you expect to use the stipend for the proposal is also desirable.
• Up to 12 photographic images of your 2D/3D work saved as jpgs, 1MB max per image, and/or:
• Video / audio documentation of your time-based work, performance or show reel.

Deadline for applications: Friday 13th February 2015

These residencies would not be possible without the generous support of The Project Space by the Arts Council Of Wales, for which we show our thanks.

A printable version of this document is available at: FINALCalloutforResidencies2014

DISCOVER DANCE at The Project Space – 10th to 22nd November 2014

Discover Dance, Newport’s annual dance festival, is back for 2014 with an array of performances, dances and events across our city.  Not only will there be opportunities to see top professionals perform many different dance styles in Newport, but there will be plenty of opportunities for everyone to get involved and learn some new moves, or show off the ones you already know!

As part of this, The Project Space brings you FREE Yoga based sessions by Marega Clark for people with and without experience:

Monday 10th November – 10am – 11am

Tuesday 11th November – 10am – 11am

Wednesday 12th November – 11.15am – 12.15am

Friday 14th November – 10am – 11am

…just bring a mat, a towel or something to lie on to take part!

Marega will also be leading dance and movement drawing sessions through as part of Discover Dance festival, More details of events and performances to be announced this week – watch this space for details!

Half term activities at The Project Space

The search is on! Gwent Young Artist 2014 – This Saturday

Overall winner of the Gwent Young Artist of the Year 2013 competition was Blackwood Comprehensive pupil Casey-Leigh Prosser, 15 – Photo: South Wales Argus

This Autumn, we here at The Project Space are proud to support the South Wales Argus as once again, they go on the look out for the best young artist in Gwent.

This annual competition, now in it’s fourth year, as well as giving young artists the chance to showcase their talents, provides youngsters with the chance to win some generous cash prizes. All you have to do to take part is submit an original piece of art, be it a drawing, painting, sculpture or whatever to the address on the entry form.

The closing date for entries is FRIDAY 12th December 2014.

The judging panel made up of representatives from the University of South Wales, South Wales Argus and Western Power, will meet during the following weeks to select a shortlist of winners whose work will go on display here at The Project Space between Thursday 8th January until Saturday 31st January 2015.

In addition, we’re teaming up with the Art Foundation tutors at University of South Wales to run two workshops o:

Saturday 18th October (FREE – 10am – 2pm) and

Saturday 1st November (FREE – 10am – 2pm) to help contestants perfect their art techniques.

The Age categories for the competition are: 8 years old and under – 9 to 12 years – 13 to 18 years

There will be a winner and runner-up in each age category and then an overall winner, who will be named the South Wales Argus young Gwent Artist of the Year.

Winners of the age groups will each receive £75; runners-up £25 and £175 for their school’s art department. The overall winner will win a trophy plus £400. Their school will receive £275 for the art department. They will also receive an art masterclass at the University of South Wales.

For more information, check out the South Wales Argus website: http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk

We’re going international! #bigsplash2014

Image © Chris Evans – Poppy Evans and Kate Mercer at work mosaicing the underside of Newport’s #bigsplash2014 whale with Stephanie Roberts and Naz Syed in background. 2014.

After a successful first workshop in The Project Space with mosaic artist Stephanie Roberts and Naz Syed, we are ecstatic to announce that Newport’s happiest whale is about to go international.

On Saturday 10th May 2014, Steph will be joined by international mosaic artists Rachel Silver (New Zealand), Sé Van Weert (Netherlands) and Tamara Froud (UK) to help get this whale in shape for his Big Splash festival glory! As well, one of Britain’s leading mosaic artists, Carrie Reichardt, will be designing a section of the Whale although is unable to visit and take part in the project in person. All artists were involved in The 1st International Urban Mosaic Intervention in 2014, that took place in Chile earlier this year, and have continued to collaborate on projects since.

There’s still plenty of whale to mosaic and go around, so be sure to pop in to The Project Space on the day for a chance to talk and learn from International professionals in the heart of the city, working tirelessly to put something back into Newport.  We’ll still be running out #namethewhale competition too!  If you can think of a name for our whaley mate, get in touch – winner to be announced at The Big Splash festival weekend.

Further information on each artist can be found at:

Stephanie Roberts – stephanierobertsart.wordpress.com

Carrie Reichardt – www.carriereichardt.co.uk

Rachel Silver – www.rachelsilvermosaics.co.uk

Sé Van Weert – www.sevanweert.nl/home-english

Tamara Froud – www.mosaicartltd.co.uk

For more information regarding Newport’s Big Splash Festival 2014, please visit  www.newport.gov.uk/theriverfront, or find them online at Twitter: @newportfestival #bigsplash2014  / Facebook: big splash newport / Instagram: @riverfrontarts