A Record of Fear

Orford Pergodas
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

As if all that Grizedale excitement wasn't enough last weekend this Sunday I got to visit Orford Ness a trip I've wanted to make for years ... These images were taken there - it's Europe's largest vegetative shingle spit (!) and site of secret military activity from 1913 into the Cold War.

I went to see artist Louise K Wilson's excellent sound work A Record of Fear which as was fantastic as the site was interesting. Have a look at the other photos on Flickr and try to imagine the lighthouse completely painted in camouflage during the war.

Jesse Whaur's yer troosers

Following on from Bedwyr ... Brian Dewan conjured with a small but dedicated audience for a performance on the enormous stone xylophone lovingly taken out from its local museum home for the first time in years.

By the time we reached the evening and Jesse Rae's set only the dedicated few remained. All I can say to the inhabitants of Coniston is you missed yer selves! As a teenager growing up in a small village I'd have thought the word had spun on it's axis if an evening's entertainment half as intriguing as Jesse's highly profesinal yet bizarre performance had come to Papworth St Agnes. It seems Coniston youth have better things to do though than watch a world class bass player (Doug Wimbish) and amazing live band travel between musical areas as diverse as Jesse's 'dark' new tunes to his own version of yes ... Donald Whaur's Yer Trousers.

swing
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

I particularly like this image from the night of Jesse in full kit (yes he still NEVER takes this off) and my friend's daughter Ellie dancing with Polly the photographer.

An After Art Dinner Speech ...

I've been out of town so often lately that the posts about these events have been sadly delayed. I have though seen & heard some of the best 'art' in non-art venues I've been to in a long time.

Karen and I hosted our It's A Lake District Knockout up in Coniston (nearest village to Karen's house) which seemed to go down pretty well. Whether anyone thought of it as part of an arts festival who knows ...

It was followed by a set of strange and fantastic events that the audience (which was dwindling with every new turn) evidently didn't either appreciate or care if it was art.

Following a dinner for all the It's A Knockout contestants cooked by (the industry that is) Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall of River Cottage (I'd like to say more about how weird this was but may require a separate post) Artist Bedwyr Williams addressed the crowd with An After Dinner Speech about food golf and I think Wales. It was fantastic - the super long delay between his speech and the amplified version of it that eventually fed back to us from the enormous PA for the games which was sending it out to the mountains and bouncing it back, only added to the surreal quality of his already dry yet hilarious commentary.

us with bedwyr
Originally uploaded by Nina Pope.

Sadly it proved a step to far for the contestants who left the table in nervous droves as Bedwyr pressed on valiantly alternately striking golf balls through a welsh harp and recounting disastrous local restaurant occasions. By the end about 8 of the audience remained and as evidenced by this image Bedwyr was hardly in the mood for competitive costume photography