Abandoned At The Exit mini exhibition

Last week, I curated a one day Lincoln Artists' Network exhibition in an Empty Shop space that we've been given permission to exhibit in at no cost to us. 
During a showing of video art, my usual digital camera, known to me as "The Lady Of Shalott" died on me, as I'd been using it all week to document the event etc, so usually I use a phone camera as a backup. As I currently have a cheap mobile that I'm using temporarily until I can sort out something more permanent, and one that got run over at one point(!), of course, the quality wasn't as good. So I had to explain this when documenting the exhibition, in case anyone thought Tom's video work was poor quality when it isn't. As such, I made sure that I noted and included a link to the Rip Off Britain programme in this blog

I don't want anyone to think that I'm a rubbish photographer just because I've been denied the ability to run my business quite as it should due to Orange's failures. If I'm a rubbish photographer, fair enough, but usually I can document work pretty well with proper working equipment. The old arcade space was an ideal location to showcase the effects Orange have caused by their failures. I don't, however, consider Orange a work of art. Orange are just rubbish. If they were a work of art, they'd be that distorted skull at the bottom of Holbein's The Ambassadors. They'd be a restored painting of Jesus by Cecilia Gimenez. They'd be a piece of elephant poo stuck to a painting. They'd be The Potato Eaters by Van Gogh. But Orange aren't art. They're just greedy.

The Lettings agents had been trying to ring me to arrange a gas safety check. They'd been ringing me on the landline, but I've been too busy to get back to them until yesterday. When I did, they told me they'd tried to call me on my mobile, but  they still had my old number. On the letter they sent me, it states that gas checks (as anyone knows) are essential for the safety of me as a tenant. Granted, I should've remembered to give them my new number, but I shouldn't have to keep changing my number because Orange have failed to provide the service they initially offered, and their failures could potentially put us at risk. I've done this, because there was a Rip Off Britain episode to highlight the issue, however, nothing has yet come of it, and last week I received a letter from another debt collection agent wanting me to pay money I do not owe. So in response, I do wish to publicise precisely the effect they're having. 

The exhibition itself went really well. It made a huge difference having the support of Revival, a business co-operative that runs the space, and being able to exhibit without worrying about costs as much. 
The space in an old arcade was ideally suited to Space Invader comics, digital work, video, animation and digital prints, as well as Alice Bradshaw's Museum Of Contemporary Rubbish, which was very well received.
Lots of positive feedback for my curation, and for the work as well. The title of the exhibition "Abandoned At The Exit" was taken from Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation, although of course, it suits the space, and the experience of being a recent graduate. 
I didn't include any of my own work this time, although I probably have lots of work I could've included, I would've liked to have had time to have something blown up and printed on the plotter, but have decided to wait and do that if I'm accepted onto the AA2A scheme.

I will know after I get back from Oslo at the beginning of next month. I am finally going to Oslo on Friday, courtesy Jo Nesbo's Headhunters film / Momentum pictures, and am all set, apart from going to the Post Office to get some kroner.

upcoming Oslo trip

I haven't posted in here for a while, as I've been working on some self-directed illustration projects, including a graphic novel concept that occurred to me in a dream.

A while ago, I was lucky enough to win a free trip to Norway, courtesy Jo Nesbo's Headhunters film!!
This is 2 return flights, 3 nights at a hotel, and £200 spending money.
I was thinking of going over the summer, but when Apparatjik announced that they were performing a free gig at the brand new opening of the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo, I decided to wait for that.

As you can imagine, this has required a considerable amount of organising.

As it's now term time again, I can't take the kids with me. I was thinking that I need a break from them anyway. It's been extremely stressful getting Kurt through his G.C.S.E. exams, never mind the phone bill incident, but this won't really be a holiday. It counts as work. And requires Mum to babysit for the weekend, so I can go with my brother.

There's an additional exhibition at the Nasjonalmuseet entitled "I Wish This Was A Song" with Apparatjik alongside Oslo Complaints Choir, and other work.

I plan to meet up with friends and illustrators whilst over there, and also take time to do the tourist trail to visit the museums over on Bygdoy.

The Astrup Fearnley Museet is designed by Renzo Piano, and displays a large collection of postmodern art, mainly American, but there's Damien Hirst and a variety of work. The museum was founded by the Astrup Fearnley shipping empire, and intrigued by the similarity, and non-Norskness of the name, I found that the Fearnleys originate from Yorkshire. Which is also where the Dearnley family come from. I also discovered that there was an Ann Fearnley that went by the name of Dearnley, so it wasn't even a joke that I'm probably related to the museum in some spurious way. 

A while ago, I mentioned an issue with an Orange mobile phone scam. Fortunately, things have been quiet on that score, as I successfully prevented them from escalating the problem with "debt collectors". 
On Friday, the problem will be covered on Rip Off Britain, so we're of course hoping it'll be resolved finally, and those of us affected will receive some form of compensation for 2 years of stress and costs. Fingers crossed!