Below is a little selection of photographs taken in and out of the flat during my residence there:

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Last weekend I found myself on a hectic art rollercoaster, (metaphorically speaking that is, though a literal art rollercoaster does sound fun!) anyway, I found myself going from a rooftop in Dalston to a basement in Holborn all in the space of a day.

The day began at the Dalston superstore,  a chilled out café/ bar full of character, characters and charm, it was here I met my friend for a brunch-beer… (well what weekends for, if not an opportunity of a brunch-beer?!) We then set off to the Bootstrap Company where we became members of the Dalston Roof Park Club.

We were visiting The Rooftop for an afternoon tea party, which was put on in order to raise funds for performance group Skip Theatre and their new act ‘Mermaids Curse’ an interactive site specific theatre performance occurring Friday 30th July and Saturday 31st July in Porlock at 7.00pm and Friday 6th  and Saturday 7th August in East Prawle at 7.00pm.

The Roof Top Garden is a charming and relaxing space, especially when the sun is out! Rising above most of the low-rise (for now at least) buildings of Dalston it offers a peaceful distance from the hectic high street. The place puts on regular events for members and some of which I look forward to attending in the future!

From Dalston to Oxford Circus and the Photographers gallery, where the Sally Mann exhibition, which runs up until the 19^th September.

Though interesting enough, I have to confess, I didn’t come away from the show with the sense of excitement, inspiration and awe I have had from other shows. That said… I found the works in the final room very powerful and compelling. The black and white images of decomposing bodies, photographed in the federal Forensic Anthropology Facility are both intriguing and unnerving. The bleak compositions of the bodies, all varying in shape and structure as well as stages in decay, almost suggest empty vessels, like larvae that has hatched; it made me wonder whether the photographer was suggesting that these lumps of disregarded flesh are simply empty shells that have been left behind, and offering a sense of celestial optimism to the haunting photographs.

From rooftop to ground level and now to the basement, which ironically was, for me the highlight of the day. The creators project. Set in Victoria House, WC1.  The Creators Project was a show that explored the relationship between technology and art. There was a good number of exhibits and talks which all came together to become a great event. One of the strong aspects or theme of the show was audience participation. Whether it was dancing in front of a video camera that was fed through to a large screen in an audience filled room next door, or playing on a spectrum-like (low-fi) computer game, specifically designed by artists; visitors were encouraged in a variety of ways to become part of the art.

 A presentation by Joachim Sauter on ’The Renaissance of Space’ almost alone, made it worth the visit. I would strongly recommend checking out his work. The show also offered the opportunity to see Nick Zinner’s, from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs (one of my all time favourite bands!) photography and 3d sound installation… Which you can see the making of below…

All in all in was a marvelous day out with lots to see and reflect on!

I recently went to ‘Exposed’ at Tate Modern. This well curated exhibition is full of works that explore themes of voyeurism and surveillance. The show gave me the opportunity to see some works that I had been admiring in magazines and publications for a while. Kohei Yoshiyuki’s series ‘The Park’, for example, contains photographs that have been mentioned and printed in numerous publications. To see these photographs up in the Tate was quite a thrill. The photographs are shot on infrared film in a Tokyo park at night. The content of these night photos are intriguing, bewildering, shocking and mesmerising; as you find yourself entering into a bizarre cycle of seedy voyeurism… watching watchers watching. …

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Image Copyright Kohei Yoshiyuki

Yesterday work began on the building of a car park over the east side of famous footballing spot, Hackney Marsh, where the likes of Bobby Moore and David Beckham learnt to play England’s favourite sporting game. In the way of the building site, stands, or rather stood, three football pitches including a pitch described as the “premier pitch”, the pearl of Hackney Marshe’s pitches, used for big matches. News of the construction’s commencement came as a surprise to regular users of the pitches.  Interestingly, it seems no one had informed them of the start date.

Several months ago I went to Hackney Marsh with documentary production company, Spectacle and writer Claire Sharples who are exploring the impact of the 2012 Olympics is having on the peopIe and communities in the chosen areas for ‘development’. Commissioned to take supporting stills, you can see a selection of photographs from the series below.

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Visiting new places, has always been a great source of inspiration to me. Maybe unsurprisingly, there is something about seeing new environments that evokes fresh thought and ideas. Many projects have and are founded in a seemingly random photograph, taken while exploring an alien and unfamiliar landscape.
For these reasons I am putting together a blog catergory of places. It will serve pretty much as a journal (very unique idea, I know). It will be a recording of the places I go, of the things I see and the ideas I have. Hopefully you will find the memos and images more original than the concept.

Swanage

Not strictly a new place for me, as I visited Swanage numerous times as a child. However as a grown up (supposedly), it was landscape that would  seen from a new perspective, laden with nostalgia, which offered interesting situation. It is always a risky business revisiting the past, in any context. Revisiting places you loved as a child is a particularly high stakes gamble. You run the risk of not only being dissappointed but also doubting the reliabillity of those original memories. On the contrary, I found Swanage filled with more charm and more to explore than I remembered. On top of this I was free to explore the place without the limitations imposed by parents, which were inforced last time I was on holiday there and with this new found freedom, I found myself doing exactly the same as parents! Long walks, gallery visits, tea and scones!? Talking to a befriended black bird (pictured below). May be this is the kind of behaviour this beautiful town evokes!

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Due to illness Part One. at v42 contemporary art gallery Ljubljana, Slovenia has had to be postponed. The new exhbition dates will be published as soon as they are annouced.

After much blood, sweat and tears the new look richbunce.com is now up and running! This also marks the launch of a brand spanking new blog too! I hope you like it, your feedback is always most welcome!