Thursday, September 25, 2014

Responses to The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) at Unlimited Festival


We received some wonderful feedback from the visitors who experienced the work in installation at Unlimited Festival

Here is a selection of the responses that were written in the visitors' book that we would like to share.




“The level of intimacy accomplished with the multi-screen editing is intriguing, as well as the anonymity of workers/consumers.”

“Beautiful installation. It embraces the force and softness of a land I have started to forget: my original land. Memories of many generations.”

“Incredible piece of art. The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) shows not just a reality of an invisible community that feeds Bogotá and their surroundings but shows a true beauty, the colours, the lights, the beauty of the chaos. Thank you for this beautiful work.”

“The installation really made me feel that I was in Corabastos, experiencing it personally.”

“Absolutely wonderful. Very political. Made me wonder about the passage of the food through the body and the issues of fair trade.”

“I really enjoyed this film. It was very thought provoking and made me think about my own relationship with food, as well as how we treat food and the distribution of it in the UK. I really enjoyed the three screen format. I had never experienced that before and I liked how it made me constantly concentrate and view different aspects of the same scene.”

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Artist’s talk: Juan delGado in conversation with Sandra Tabares-Duque

The Artist's Talk at the +Southbank Centre was very successful, with tickets sold out days before the event.

Juan delGado met with
Sandra Tabares-Duque and a large audience in the Sunley Pavilion at the Southbank Centre to talk about the inspiration behind his Unlimited 2014 commission, +The Flickering Darkness (Revisited)

As the work explores the journey that produce takes from its arrival to its consumption at the Corabastos market in Bogotá, Colombia, the discussion revolved around food markets, politics food, displaced workers; inviting the audience to reflect on society’s strata. 

 Photos © from left to right @ShapeArt, @_caglark and @Dima_Sky7

 
Sandra Tabares-Duque is a producer who worked with Juan on Sailing Out of Grain in 2012 and is now developing documentary film projects 360º of Being Human (UK/Iceland) and Quipu Project (UK/Peru). 

Sandra is also part of Where there is Hope's group, a documentary film project aiming to follow and record the Mingueo project with the intention of producing a feature length film. Similar to Juan delGado, this group believes in the power of cinema to tell the stories of those without voices or visibility and calls for change and improvement among systems and communities throughout Latin America.

Sandra studied in Birkbeck College, University of London where she graduated in Spanish and Latin American studies. She has been researching Latin American cultural studies since 2003 and has been directly involved with the Latin American film activity in London gradually joining several teams such as the DLA Film Festival and Colombiage.

The talk was followed by a guided tour of the installation at the Southbank Centre, inviting visitors to debate and interact, filling the venue with activity.


 


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) - Installation

A week after the opening of +The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) by Juan delGado, the video installation is still being talked about. It's been a mesmerising week full of events, activities and mostly visitors!

We had the opportunity to meet many interesting people from the +British Council along with project managers, directors, producers, founders, curators, publishers, writers and many others based in the UK or visiting.

It's been a real pleasure discussing the work with visitors coming from different countries, elaborating on the chore topic of the installation, how it is dealt with in their respective countries and the fact that it is a universal problematic to shed the light on.

From the Corabastos market in Bogotá, +Colombia, the discussion led to many other food markets around the world, with visitors vividly narrating stories from their native towns and markets they grew up to see changing. It was mostly noted how +The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) added colour and dynamism to these memories, bringing a beautiful picture to such a strong reality.

It would be an amazing opportunity to visit some of those other food markets and share the story behind them all over again, with a different angle and a fresh perspective.

In addition to markets and politics of food, other themes were highly debated, including workers and displacement, cities with different profiles and inspiring descriptions, the evolution or metamorphosis of markets in the UK, etc.


The professional and motivated teams from +Artsadmin, +Shape Arts, in collaboration with +Southbank Centre's production team were of a big support. And a big thank you goes out to everyone who helped with the production and promotion of this new version of the work.

Being awarded an Unlimited commission has been a nurturing experience to Juan delGado. It's been such a wonderful week, witnessing the work being presented in a leading British cultural institution as part of an inspiring programme. Juan delGado is looking forward to future collaborations and touring the work to other venues both in the UK and internationally in the next year.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Unlimited on Screen - Sailing Out of Grain

While Juan delGado's The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) installation is running at the +Southbank Centre, another work by the artist: Sailing Out of Grain, is being shown part of Unlimited on Screen.

Unlimited on Screen is a programme of films featuring profiles of the Unlimited-commissioned artists. Visitors viewing Unlimited festival - an amazing event featuring work by disabled artists - can witness films from 2014 and 2012 alongside other films made by Unlimited festival artists. The films in the exhibition are captioned and audio described.

Sailing Out of Grain is a collaboration between the London-based Spanish artist Juan delGado and solo yachtswoman Hilary Lister. Together, they have embarked on a journey, which will lead them to explore the inner world of Hilary, her life, dreams and achievements. Through an observational camera, Juan will compose an intimate portrait of this extraordinary, yet vulnerable woman whose body has steadily became paralysed due to a progressive neurological disorder.


 The project will take the artist and the sailor beyond the physical, creating a poetical moving image installation revealing Hilary’s internal, psychological experiences and motivations.
Sailing Out of Grain invites it’s audience to embark on a journey to that significant place that is the sea, a remarkable place which allowed Hilary to reaffirm herself with life.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

La Tundra Magazine Interview - Juan delGado

The day we've been waiting for is finally here. The venue looks great, so much is going on. The week seems so promising and exciting.

Juan delGado who is exhibiting at +Southbank Centre met the Argentinian journalist Brunela Curcio for an interview, viewable here for La Tundra Magazine to talk about The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) and the themes around it.
 

Brunela Curcio is a columnist for La Tundra, an independent printed magazine in London and online platform written in Spanish.
The aim of the magazine is to reach new audiences in the UK showcasing well-established artists but also supporting emergent talents and festivals.

Brunela is also a journalist for EL IBÉRICO, a freelance creative writer and has worked with Pinta London as a Technical Communicator and with Aculco Radio as a Journalist and Voiceover.

Friday, August 29, 2014

'2 minutes with Juan delGado'

'2 minutes with Juan delGado' is a film directed and produced by award-winning director, screenwriter and photographer David Hevey.

HERE are both captioned and audio-described versions of the film.

David Hevey - as published by Shape Artists - is UK's leading diversity-media professional, a key creative: a filmmaker, producer, writer & digital-media professional running David Hevey Productions, based in Bloomsbury, London in the UK.

Among his outstanding array of digital films and moving-images, he created documentaries highlighting the talents of disabled creative practitioners and artists supported by Shape Arts. His contribution to the disability art sector is highly recognized, presenting a genuine perspective and touching stories of disabled people. One of his most famous works 'The disabled Century' were series commissioned by the +BBC. His Showreel speaks for itself.
Working and featuring in the work of such an innovative and creative media professional is an honor and a memorable experience. 




In this 2-minute interview, Juan delGado talks about the idea of invisibility surrounding a specific group of people working at the Corabastos market in Bogotá - the largest of its kind in Latin America. These people work at night to feed the city, a long procedure depicted in The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) project, which explores the journey that produce takes from its arrival before dawn to its consumption.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Audio Description recording for The Flickering Dakness (Revisited)

The countdown to the exhibition has started and the preparations are getting more and more busy.
We had the pleasure to record the audio description with Jenni Halton, a successful drama and theatre practitioner.
Jenni is the founder, workshop leader and project manager of Unscene Suffolk, a community theatre company for adults with visual impairment. Unscene Suffolk aims to impact positively on the lives of its participants and to create high quality work which celebrates accessible aesthetics for both audience and performers.
The company was founded in February 2013 with support from the New Wolsey Theatre and Sensing Change, has produced two performances to date and is currently planning and fundraising for another project in 2015.

Jenni has a long experience in the Arts and Theatre sector, working as an arts administrator and audio describer. In addition to freelancing as a theatre practitioner, she is also contributing to the Unlimited Festival.

The purpose of this recording is to make the video installation accessible to everyone.
Inside the White Room, where the three-channel installation will be set up, a headphone will be available for visually impaired visitors. Jenni helped make the audio-description as accurate, authentic and colorful as the moving image, making the narrative exciting to imagine and picture, transporting the listener to the scene's location.
Another plinth and pair of headphones will be placed outside the room, where the same description will be screened.



Tim Harrison, the sound designer at the Sounthbank Centre worked to bring out the power of the sound in a balanced surround system, placing speakers to help the audience experience an immersive impact of the video installation.

Tim runs Aumeta, a company specialising in feature film audio post and commercial sound design. He has a keen interest in experimental cinema, regularly working with director Luke Losey. Tims is also a member of filmmaking collective Studio Murmur and an Associate Lecturer at London College of Communication.

Room Setting Up for The Flickering Darkness (Revisited)

Monday was a productive day for the setting up team and Juan. 
It is very exciting to watch the White Room, a room usually filled with musicians rehearsing, transformed for the exhibition.
delGado worked closely with Freddie, the project manager and audio visual expert he commissioned for The Flickering Darkness (Revisited).
Freddie is supervising the painting of the room and making sure the skylight is perfectly covered with black textile. With her dynamic nature and perfectionist approach - a trait she shares with the artist - she made the process pleasant, meticulously taking measures and noting dimensions for the projection area.



Andy, the master carpenter was also present, putting all his energy into building the frames and screens, deciding with Juan on their placement and hanging as a pre-rehearsal, moving and testing projectors. The final rehearsal will take place on the 1st of September, right after the end of the Festival of Love and the Big Wedding Weekend when the team can be fully dedicated to the Unlimited event. Andy will be also making shelves for speakers.
the exhibition room is starting to look more and more like a part of the upcoming installation.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Interview on Disability Arts Online

The conversation with my friend and video editor Juan SOTO, produced by the Colombian writer Manuel Angel MACIA, is now published.

You can read it here on Disability Arts Online website page.
I hope you enjoy it.




Thursday, July 17, 2014

Interview for Disability Arts Online

Last week, I had a beautiful conversation with my friend and video editor Juan SOTO at the Geffrye Museum. The interview was produced by the Colombian writer Manuel Angel MACIA.
The full text will be soon published by DAO, Disability Arts Online and available to read.

Here's a preview of the interview.

In a dimly lit room at the Geffrye Museum in East London, Spanish artist Juan delGado talks about The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) with his friend and the film’s Editor, Colombian filmmaker Juan Soto. The semi-dark interior serves as an apt setting—surprisingly akin to the moody textures that this piece so vividly portrays. The following is a semi-fictional reenactment of this conversation, one that tries to capture its organic development. As such, it aims to portray the emerging discourse on the film as the main character. The names of the two interlocutors have been intentionally treated ambiguously, in order to portray the vivid and intricate conversation that took place that day...