Author Archives: josefminta

Vigilantia: Artists respond to Mogwai

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I am really proud to have joined a massive range of artists in writers on responding to the music of Mogwai in a fantastic collection VIGILANTIA: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ARTISTS AND WRITERS PAY ATTENTION TO MOGWAI . The collection was produced by David Banning at the wonderful Chroma Edition who continue to release a wide range of really interesting books as well as supporting a number of exhibitions. This collection is wide as it is deep, with each artist or writer taking a song title and responding to it in some way. Some pieces are directly linked to lyrics or title while other work is much more abstract. I was really pleased to produce an art work and a poem responding to the the song “The Precipice” and feel I captured the building momentum of the music somewhere in the art I created. There is also a gripping story by my good friend and sometime collaborator Lee Ashworth (his blog is a bit quiet at the moment but you can find him out there if you so desire). The book is available now and it is not only a beautifully produced object but also sits in a real sweet spot between art, music and writing. You can also listen along to a playlist of tracks responded to in the book on Spotify.

The T-shirt as cultural keystone.

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I am really pleased and excited to be showing a new piece as part of an amazing group exhibition opening at Rogue Studios on Saturday 30th September 2023.

Tees is a group exhibition curated by Mike Chavez-Dawson and Co. exploring the t-shirt as an artform, a form of self expression and a symbol of protest. As someone who regularly used to make their own t-shirts as a quick and easy response to political moments or to quickly realise an artistic idea, I have long be fascinated by the flexibility of the t-shirt as a direct form of self expression; the idea of wearing your heart or your politics on your sleeve (or more accurately on your chest) holds a universal appeal. There are some amazing artists included in this show including Peter Blake, Jeremy Deller and Bob and Roberta Smith to name just a few, more excitingly there are a massive range of artists who have taken this brief and ran with it in every direction all at once! I will be reading a new piece ” The Complete and Unabridged History of Fire” at the preview at 3.30pm on 30/9/23 Be there, buy the t-shirt!

Huge thanks to the team who created the wonderful images:

TEES shoot sponsored by NORTH – great team headed
by Lucy Cameron – creative producer – @lucyy_cameronn @representedby.me

Ona Greenwood – stylist – @onagreenwood @representedby.me

Chris Harvey – photographer – @chrisharveyphoto @representedby.me

Jack McCarthy – Digital assistant – jmcc_rthy @representedby.me

Ryan cooper – videographer – rmcvideography @representedby.me

Aly Steer – HMUA – @alysteermakeup.me
@representedby.me

Harriet Crossley – styling assistant – hlc_styling – @representedby.me

Modelled by Ellie Sammer @elliesammer

Big up to Sam & Karen from Represented by Me for the support. @representedby.me

And Rogue Artists’ Studios (location), and the artists 🙌🙌🙌

You are very welcome!

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We’re celebrating the opening of our new space with a spectacular series of events and performances chosen by the people of Greater Manchester – and everyone is welcome!

Since getting involved in the Manchester International Festival by hosting a festival in my house Future Feast back in 2019 and then being a co-creator of Looking Forward To Tomorrow (Environment Day and Equality Day) in 2021, I have been very lucky to join an amazing group of Greater Manchester Residents to form the Factory Assembly responsible for designing, planning and delivering The Welcome . The Welcome is a nine-day series of events  (11th-19th November) to welcome all the people of Manchester into Aviva Studios, the brand new arts and culture venue for Manchester located behind the Museum of Science and Industry on the old site of Granada Studios (my one time former employer!). Huge events, family friendly workshops and talks are all available for everyone to access and come and make Aviva studios theirs. It would be wonderful if you were able to attend some of the events as there really is something for everyone and it looks set to be an amazing and immersive cultural experience. The Factory assembly is a fantastic group of people who it has been and incredible privilege to work with and go on the massive journey with but nothing would be possible without the hard working team who work full time at MIF and Aviva Studio- their support, care, patience and dedication to realising this project in the way is was conceived and developed has been phenomenal and illustrated just what can be achieved when an organisation really invites in and supports people. I could not be prouder.

Art..Creativity…Bolton

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  • Pigeons took flight with our words.

Sometimes projects come along that really help you to connect back with your own subjects and themes while at the same time exploring new territories, this is really the sweet spot for me, and it has been an absolute pleasure to work on a new project with the fantastic young people at Creatives Now.

Wide venn diagrams covering mapping, psychogeography, mass observation studies, poetry, local history archives and finally a window installation have been rich veins to explore that have not only allowed me to share some of my process with a new group, but also gave me the opportunity to be led and developed by a group of young people keen to make a creative impact on their town. The ultimate in win win. Overheard speech, book titles from archives and poetic responses to field work all came together in a rich and intriguing cultural soup which had almost endless possibilities- it is always fantastic to be in the middle of a project and almost have TOO MANY ideas on where it could go next!

I really think the opening of empty shop spaces to creatives (as well as inviting local groups in to explore collections) is a real way forward to town centre regeneration- look at Stockport, Glossop and beyond. In come the arts and there follows this mysterious and difficult concept to pin down…a vibrant culture. Bury and Radcliffe take note!

The final piece we created “The Anatomy of a Town” was a combination of found text, sculpture and an attempt to reimagine the town centre as something new. For me, it was also great to be working as an artist and workshop facilitator, a side of my practice which I continue to develop through collaborative projects and my work with Factory International (where I am keen to keep young people and local artists front and centre). Got a project? Feel like collaborating? Have an empty shop you think some artists could work in? Need a poet or artists to help articulate your project? Get in touch

This Way/These Words

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Although I may have been quiet…I’ve actually been very busy. I was chosen as a successful applicant for a Bury Town Of Culture micro commission which is slowly coming to completion and is currently part of an exhibition at Bury Art Museum.

 

For the commission, I wrote five poems responding to Bury as place and its unique and often hidden history. Using a combination of local knowledge (from being a lifelong resident), half heard tales and archive material, I wrote about Kay Gardens, Bury Art Museum and Library, Bury Market, The Rock, and the Robert Peel statue. When the poems were written they have then been shared and as part of an ongoing process are being recorded by current and former residents to then be accessible as an audio tour around the town. It has been really fantastic to hear these poem brough to life in different voices with unique intonations and phrasing. I also performed the poems on a busy and blustery Bury Market (next to the chippy!) and then last week in Bury Art Museum to launch the exhibition. Seeing your poems up in print and being able to share them with a wide audience is a really great feeling and I am really proud of the work. (Huge thanks to Anna, Steve and all the BAM team who have put the exhibition together and helped support the live events.)

The recording and editing process is still ongoing If you wish to record your own version of one of these poems to be included, please contact me via townofculture@bury.gov.uk with the heading poetry and the emails and recording instructions will be sent out to you.

You should also take the time to check out the other commissions- some really fantastic work by local artists, illustrators and photographers that really reflects the vibrancy and diversity of our local community. The exhibition runs until 22nd February 2022 and sits alongside the excellent exhibition programme at our amazing gallery an sculpture centre.

Out of sorrow…something new.

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a4250049049_16Where are we now?

Where are we going?

It was in this thoughtful frame of mind that I recorded and released a new EP called “Kummerspeck/Sowrrow Fat” which brouhgt togetther songs I had been working on for a while and new pieces written in lockdown. A lot fo the songs featire samples or found sounds which I have recorded and which take on a different life when embedded in these tracks. Yoko Ono imploring the crowd to breathe captured as part of Bells for Peace at Manchester International Festival   become a medativie mantra sitting behind the story of Breathe while sounds recorded as part of Not Quite Light Festival dawn walk in 2018 bubble up between the sound of guitar and vocals in Not quite light.  Using garageband, I created and produced all the trakcs and (for once) had the time to complete them in a way I was really happy with. I still need to skill up on some aspects of this but I think this captures well songs written and produced in a unique moment.

Album available here

Kummerspeck EP

with a great bio written by Lee Ashworth

Lee Ashworth Site

 

If you build it…

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It’s has been a long time in the making and Pomona seems an awfully long time ago but fellow artist and writer Lee Ashworth and myself have finally got around to putting together our new exhibition “Living and Dying in Our Grandfathers’ Houses” which will open on 24th May 2018 at Insitu in Manchester. Preview is 6-8pm

We have been working on this for a long time and unlike the Pomona exhibitions the source material is much more emotionally and physically close to us as it relates to shared experiences, family memory and place. It is also the first exhibition under our joint working title The Manchester Art Authority

I don’t want to give to much away as we would like the work to speak for itself. The exhibition runs from the preview on the Thursday night, all day Friday and all day Saturday.

Pomona Year Zero

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Pomona Year Zero is the second exhibition I have created with fellow artists and writer Lee Ashworth https://leeashworth.co.uk/ at Nexus Art Cafe http://nexusartcafe.com/ in the Northern Quarter.

This exhibition continues exploring the themes of city, place and progress we explored in Pomona Is Rising but with a new site specific installation in the front window and stair well (a magnificent space!)

We also created a limited edition, hand numbered a text/art/map which we have distributed as part of the exhibition.

Step into the city…the water is complex.

Tweets and instagram pictures tagged with #pomonayearzero

 

pomona-year-zero-posterpomona-map-complete-correct

There is a hole in the city…

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Dark ships… are on the horizon,

profane cargoes,

holed up and howling.

ipad pictures 447

Drawn,

to the centre of it…

 

  1. There is a hole in the city.
  2. The edge of the hole is ringed with steel.
  3. Nobody has seen the whole of the hole.
  4. The hole is not the head or the heart…the hole is the pancreas.
  5. The hole is not black but that does not mean it has never been or may not yet be.
  6. ALL CAPS LETTERS SIGNS.
  7. Arrows, roads and paths mark the centre.
  8. 6 hours walking to it, from it and around it.
  9. “We roped ourselves together”
  10. A single bell hung from a lamppost was rung every 13minutes.

Dark ships…

moored in the tepid swell,

unload their cargo.

Pomona is rising. ipad pictures 508