Category Archives: art

Munoz Humour!

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I had a great day in London yesterday – it’s good to be back to normal and having my (at least) weekly YFC day in London.

I had a couple of good meetings before starting my final module at SEITE on Spirituality which I’m looking forward to. I will have a great excuse to get to grips more with Ignatius.

I had quite a big gap between my last meeting and lectures and so I was able to make a decent visit to the nearly over Juan Munoz exhibition at the Tate Modern. While there I spent a couple of minutes watching Shibboleth being filled in – its going to be quite an eerie looking scar on the floor.

Munoz was superb – love the humour of the pieces which brought smile after smile to my face. A genius with a great sense of humour. My favourite pice was ‘Many Times’ which is shown in the picture – 100 identically dressed figures with different expressions with groups joking, listening, whispering. As you wander around th groups of figures you can again ‘taste’ the humour and pain of the conversations. As you ‘listen in’ it is easy to be sucked into this amazing piece of art. If you get a chance to go before it ends – which is only in 4 days time.

Living Hope

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Today was an awesome day.
Loads of great conversations.
Lots of surprises over peoples creative abilities.
Lots of connections made between heaven and earth.
You can see my photos from Living Hope here.

amazing art!

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I am amazed, challenged, humbled, moved, excited and generally awestruck.

A large part of today we have been setting up Living Hope and I am massively grateful to the artists and to the very kind people that gave their time in the setting up.

I am struck by both the variety and creativity of the stations that people have brought. I’m not going to say too much here (that would spoil the surprise for those coming)but I will post some pics in the next few days.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow!

Living Hope

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We are trying something new at St Marks this coming Saturday, which will be Easter Eve. I have taken a rough ‘stations of the resurrection’ outline and asked various individuals and groups to interpret a particular biblical scene of the resurrection and illustrate it through a media of their choice.

I have been impressed and surprised by the take-up and there is going to be a great range of creativity on display. Someone is producing a cartoon image, someone else a poem (which I had the pleasure of reading today and is superb), another person is writing a song, someone else painting … the list continues. Individuals, friends and family groups are being creative.

If you are in the Medway area why not pop in this Saturday – or if you think you would like to contribute please feel free to get in touch as it’s never too late!

Hope (full) day

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Today has been a day of good meetings where I have been able to chat with people I admire and respect and tussle over some theological type issues.

This morning I met for a long overdue coffee with Mark and it was good to simply chat over issues that are interesting to both of us. I don’t get this opportunity very often, but to analyse, think and wonder over key issues such as ecclesiology in a safe environment is always good – so thanks Mark!

After coffee we both made our way to the Gillingham Hope08 meeting. Recently some people from local churches used a simple questionnaire to ask people what they thought and enjoyed about living in Gillingham. People were also asked for their views on how the church could help the community. I was surprised by the answers. People want more clubs for young people and children, and drop in coffee shops for themselves. I was surprised by this as the churches already run loads of these, and it became clear that we are not very good at advertising what we do so that people can make use of them. So, to start with, Hope here is going to need to be about getting the info about what we are providing out to those that may wish to make use of the clubs and drop ins.

As part of Big Hope on Easter Saturday (Easter Eve) I have volunteered to pull together a stations of the resurrection art installation at St Marks Church. I’ve wanted to have a go at something like this for a while and I need a challenge! At the moment I think I have 8 of the 12 stations covered with people producing a cartoon, writing a song, painting, using computers and so on. I think the variety is going to be quite impressive. I’ll keep you posted, but if you think you’d like to be involved and take on a station either on your own or with a group of friends why not give me shout! Whatever … please pray for those involved as this is a first for all of us!

After the Hope meeting I met up with Den in a great coffee shop in Cranbrook. This was another time of chatting over some great stuff and sharing ideas and dreams. Thanks for the time Den.

I came away from my day full of hope, inspiration, enthusiasm and love.

I thank God for those lives that have touched and inspired me today.

How do you feed motivation?

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I had a few meetings in London today but had three particular highlights.

I experienced the good side of facebook, which we used earlier in the week to enable me to meet up with Mark, my best man, for lunch at The Chandos. I haven’t seen Mark in years and it was great to catch up over a couple of beers and lunch. Between meetings I managed to pop into the Louise Bourgeois exhibition and I ended the day with a ‘swift half’ with Jeremy before catching th train back to Medway.

I enjoyed my time to wander through the Louise Bourgeois exhibition at the Tate Modern. I find some of her work quite sinister, but it is amazing to enter into the dark sinister-ness of her pieces. On one of her works she had written the following:

‘It is not so much where the motivation comes from but rather how it manages to survive‘

As I traveled home, I mulled over question after question, but came up with very few answers…
As I think to developing something new in September I wonder how I will enable my motivation, and the motivation of other, to survive?
How do you feed motivation so that it stays with you?
What does motivation need to survive?
What marks out a ministry of motivation?
How does God motivate?
How did Jesus stay motivated in the gospels?
I feel an essay coming on!

Ephinany

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At lunch time I managed to squeeze in a visit to Epiphany at Wallspace.

This is an exhibition of contemporary and traditional icons, all created in Britain. The display is quite stunning and incredibly moving. It’s hard to describe, but I heard once someone explaining an icon as a window to God; maybe if you can imagine walking into a church where you are presented with 73 stunning windows to God, you can grsp something of how unique this exhibition is.

If you want to visit an exhibition which demands your engagement then pay this a visit – but you only have until 12 December before it ends.

I too some photos on my phone as I did not bother taking my camera as I did not think they would be allowing photos. They were, and so I grabbed some pics of my favourite icons and have uploaded them to flickr.

The world is a stage

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The World as a StageAfter my meetings in London today I popped in on The world as a stage at the Tate Modern which is becoming more and more my London office/haven as I convince people to meet up in that part of town.

It’s definitely worth a visit if you are in the area- you could stand in Hein’s rotating mirror labyrinth, sit in on a re-enactment of the running battles of 1984 between miners and police using former police and miners involved in the original battle or stand in Sweeney Tate which will be used to invite barbers to show off their skills … not sure I’d want to volunteer to be shaved though!!!!

Epiphany

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Epiphany over at Wallspace looks interesting.

For Epiphany we have gathered together 15 contemporary, traditional iconographers who live and work in the UK for what we believe is the first exhibition of its kind. While there have been survey exhibitions of icons from other places in the world, there has never been an opportunity to get the work of the very best iconographers in Britain together in one place.

Not all of these iconographers are UK-born, but they all work here. And while all the icons shown are contemporary, they are nonetheless produced in the traditional manner, using authentic ancient designs and methods. The exhibition is timely, given the current revival of interest in icons and their increasing appearance in cathedrals and parish churches across the country.

I am going to try to get to this discussion led by the Bishop of London:

Forum
Modern Mystery
chaired by the Bishop of London Rt Revd Richard Chartres
6 December 7pm-9.30pm

Why are icons experiencing a revival in the West? Is this influencing British churches’ approach to imagery, devotion and liturgy? How does this distinctive visual tradition relate to contemporary art practice?

Many of the iconographers will be present at this discussion.

two great events worth visiting

Using my senses

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I had a wonderfully enjoyable people day in London. A day when I used all my senses in a variety of enjoyable ways.
Met with some people at Premier Radio to look at Hope 08 in London and consider how we can encourage engagement with Hope08 across London. This was a focused 90 minute meeting which seemed to go well particularly as the plan from the meeting is sensible in using our networks that already exist rather than setting up some new infrastructure. The cooperation was a delight to see and hear.

Following the Hope meeting I shot across to the city to have lunch with good friend Terry. I rarely go the city part of the city and the atmosphere is definitely different from the other ares I usually hand around in. Catching up, chatting about our different worlds and eating together was a special and privileged time. The steak was fantastic to taste and smell too!

After lunch I walked to the Tate Modern (via Monmouth Coffee Company in Borough Market!)to pop in on the Dali and Film Exhibition. I lost myself in Dali;s films and ended up staying a lot longer that I had planned. I skipped fairly quickly through the paintings as I have seen a lot of Dali’s creative wonders, but really wanted to watch the films. Un Chien Andalou was my favourite – as the guide says it is ‘violent, funny, illogical and dynamic’. I actually sat, laughed, smirked and winced (particularly near the beginning of the film) through the film twice – magical! I was touched by the delicate portrayal of the characters within such short films.

The amusing part of the day on the way home was people sniffing the air and wondering where the lovely coffee smell was coming from – that would be my bag containing a kilo of freshly roasted beans then! The coffee was great when I got home!