AA2A Summer Show 2014

The AA2A Summer Show will be open to the public every Friday this month.

On Friday 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd & 29th August, Chart Council House, Plymouth will open its doors between 12 and 2 to showcase the works of Plymouth University AA2A artists. There will be chances to meet the artists and students reps of the scheme as well as listening to artist talks.
There will also be a closing event on Friday 29th August in conjunction with Visual Art Plymouth 'First Friday Open 4';

4:00 – 5:30 CHART - @ the Council House http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/councilbuilding
5:30 – 7:00 Radiant/Effervescent
7:00 – TBC KARST
TBC Flameworks


I will be at the Council House every Friday to discuss my work and the AA2A scheme, hoping to see you there!

All good things must come to an end

My time on the AA2A scheme is coming to an end, so to round it all off we are preparing our own Plymouth AA2A Summer show at The Council House.

At our last group show AA2A; Pilot in March, I gave away 50 disposable paper balaclavas for the public to take away and send me photographs of their encounters. I felt it was only necessary to show these images at the summer show as documentation of how the project has developed since my time on the scheme. Audience participation has always been at the heart of the experiment, but this time the work is truly theirs.

Thank you Jess & Ryan for your encounter.

I will be setting up for the show next week which will open up to the public very soon...

It's been a while...

...but the experiment still continues.

The last two months have welcomed so much change and has kept me very busy making plans for these changes. 

I have been meeting with dancers Olivia & Laura who have been incorporating dance with the restrictions and limitations of wearing the conjoined balaclava. I wanted to see what happens if I conduct The Balaclava Experiment on people who require intimacy in their work or lifestyle.



 Their relationship really interests me. In practises, the ladies have told me how their dances are about closeness and working in unison. However, once the conjoined balaclava was introduced, they saw this as a tool to challenge how close they could really get. This experiment allows all of us to look at the relationships we share. Their actions remind me very much of my own artistic collaboration with April Grosvenor.

 

I have been setting them little goals and tests to try using different balaclava props which we hope to start documenting soon. They have been such wonderful ladies and I am so excited to see what happens!

 

 

 

 

Meet Olivia and Laura.

 

 

These lovely ladies are helping me with a new kind of balaclava experiment involving dance...



Watch this space.

They just keep on coming in.

Thank you so much to Zinzi and Sam for sending me this beautiful photo of The Balaclava Experiment taken on Dartmoor.

 

Look closely.

Another thank you to Joe and Phoebe for sending me their encounter.

 

I look forward to checking my email lately.

 

I receive images like this.

 

Thank you Tim and Gabby for taking part in The Balaclava experiment!

AA2A PILOT

Last Friday was the private view of PILOT; AA2A Group Show at University of Plymouth.

Here are some highlights of the evening in photographs;

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much to Zinzi Graham for taking such amazing performance photos throughout the event.

It was a fantastic evening with a live performance from Lee McDonald and meeting lots of people through the medium of a balaclava. I particularly enjoyed interacting with Tabatha Andrews' Listening Object which obscured sound and jaded perception.

 

I have been receiving photos from participators of The (Disposable) Balaclava Experiment which I will be putting on here soon. So pleased to have been a part of the AA2A scheme and looking forward to our next group show this summer.

 



Let the experiment begin!

 

PILOT will showcase Plymouth University's AA2A resident artists from 24th -28th March. Come visit Roland Levinsky Building, Project Space 101 between 11am and 5pm, with a private view on Friday 28th, where you shall see works by myself, Lee McDonald, Tabatha Andrews, Sally Hall and Gabrielle Hoad.

 

In the run up to the AA2A show, I have become inspired by the props and playful presentations of Franz Erhard Walther. I wanted to use this opportunity to experiment with how to present my balaclavas and see what happens when I leave my audience to activate my work.

 

Bruce Nauman's use of instructions for Body Pressure has also influenced the way in which I have conducted my experiment.

 

On the right hand side of the suspended balaclava is a set of things to consider; 'Silence. Do not verbally communicate/Focus on where various parts of your body touch this person.' On the left hand side of the balaclava lies another set of things to consider; 'Speak. Discuss your feelings no matter how awkward this may be/Avoid all bodily contact with this person.'

 

Depending on where you are standing, this could get interesting...

 

And don't forget to take home your very-own-handmade-disposable-paper-balaclava to continue the experiment at home! You can even send me the photos at kayleighhillartist@gmail.com

 

Come and be part of the experiment.



I spent most of my lazy Sunday browsing through newspapers.

 

Disposable balaclava anyone?



I have recently returned from an inspiring day trip to London as part of my mentoring scheme at South London Gallery. I came away thinking about the placement of objects and how something can become 'activated' by interaction. I'm really excited to project these ideas at my AA2A show in March with a 'Franz Erhard Walther-esque' style environment...
I also managed to check out SLG's latest Richard Fleischner and Uri Aran: Five Minutes Before exhibitions.

My favourite balaclava interaction of the week has to be the one below; some people find it harder to look into each other's eyes than others.

Happy Valentine's Day



With all of the awkwardness that comes with wearing a conjoined balaclava, staring deeply into somebody's eyes and inhaling their exhalations, it also makes for quite a cute couples' photo. Naww! Just one of the few couples I approached in the lead up to Valentine's Day to become part of the experiment. Look out for more coming soon...

Happy New Year!

I feel that big things are to come of 2014...

...but just for now, I am really looking forward to this weekend's events at KARST. 

This Friday (January 17th) is the screening of Vest & Page's The Movie Trilogy, then live performance 'A Moorphologic Journey (On The Borders of  Our Bodies) Chapter 2' on Saturday 25th January. 

'VestAndPage invite the public to witness their durational performance 'A Morphologic Journey (On The Borders Of Our Bodies) Chapter 2'. This work was first conceived as part of their UK debut show and seminal 2011 exhibition ‘Vessel’, in the derelict building in which KARST has been established. The piece was composed as a 3-hour performance, divided into four episodes which are  to be continued as the pair revisit this old haunt.   

The performance takes James Joyce’s novel Ulysses as an inspiration, and the protagonists journey and encounters with a variety of women. These staged meetings with archetypal characters represent analogies of the behavioural patterns of people on the run; men and women in search to forget, with a longing for union and permanence. VestAndPage's process-led work will allow for moments of improvisation and reflection. The piece questions intimacy and trust in moments of solitude, fragility, exclusion and rejection.'

So there we have it. Can't wait to see a bit of live performance!

The movie trilogy will be screened from 17th-19th at 12pm and 3pm over the weekend.