As we race to the close of Amphis and the end of the residency by Kobberling & Kaltwasser we have been covered by local and Regional press from our last call for volunteers last which went out on both Q103, Star 107 and BBC Radio Cambrideshire - thank you for those volunteers who came down and helped last week.

BBC Cambridgeshire website has also done a feature on Amphis - see the links below :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/places/features/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2008/08/22/wysing_amphis_feature.shtml

Also over the Bank Holiday BBC Look East put out a piece about the Residency project and our volunteers and the huge communal space nearing completion on the Wysing site.

We also featured in the Guardian Guide Sat 23 Aug as well as the Cambridge Evening News so hopefully people have been able to track the project through our blog and the publicity and also through our Flickr images.

Thank you again to the volunteers and the many other helpers who have been involved, as well as the people and businesses who donated materials which have actually made up AMPHIS.

Come and see the results for yourself if you are passing …

we held a second family workshop for the AMPHIS project on Saturday 16 August, check out two of the animations made by children on the day.

I am on another trip to the south coast this week (leaving on weds morning) for a new project to create a temporary site specific sculpture in Eastbourne during Airbourne, International Air Show 14-17 August.  The sculpture will be made from discarded airplane parts, sourced locally (to wysing) from Duxford, and other re-claimed materials in Eastbourne and has been commissioned by Towner Offsite.

Extract from press release:

This year, visitors to Eastbourne seafront airshow, Airbourne, will be able to do more than just watch planes dazzle in the skies overhead. Airshow fans are being invited to do their bit for the environment during the four day event and instead of binning their used cans, water bottles and cardboard; they can drop their rubbish off at the art sculpture point on the Wish Tower Slopes to provide materials to build the recycled sculpture.

 Eastbourne Borough Council Spokesperson for Tourism, Cllr Steve Wallis said “I am very excited about this unusual art project taking place at Airbourne. It is something completely different and totally new for the airshow and with David building the sculpture over all four days; visitors will literally see the transformation before their eyes. Judging by some of David’s previous recycled projects, the change promises to be pretty spectacular.”

 From cardboard boxes to drink cans, from bubble wrap to water bottles, leaflets and cartons, David will work with just about any materials. With his starting base, David employs a unique and lively technique to build the sculpture and has previously transformed a saloon car and traditional black cab.

From 14-17 August 2008, David will work on his most ambitious challenge yet – transforming a plane tail unit. With a team of volunteers, a hands-on approach will use packaging tape, cable ties and cord to bind the objects together as the plane unit becomes virtually unrecognisable by the end of the four days.

Also, to remind you, if you are down that way about the group show, One Thing Against Another, which is currently showing at Aspex and other off-sites in Portsmouth.  For more info go to:  http://www.aspex.org.uk/

See  some video footage of Amphis in the Cambridge Evening news Friday 8 August :

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_video/displayarticle.asp?id=338191

Our family workshop went really well - people came and spent a great day out of the house away from the Tv and out of the continuous rain - we made models and buildings like fantasy buildings taking our ideas from the new giant house taking shape at wysing - like Amphis we used recyled materials to make our houses and models - old packets and packaging that is often thrown away - like our recyled building materials that together are making a new building and not going to land fill instead !

Freddie, Callum, Amy, Jan Gregor and Clara all had fun !

Last night a good group of people joined us as we screened The Making of Utopia (2006) by Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen which portrays four utopian communities in Australia: Bodhi Farm, Dharmananda, Equilibrium and Moora Moora and explores utopian vision and communal reality. This was followed by an informal discussion about Amphis, Wysing’s communal structure currently under construction and made entirely from discarded and found materials.  The evening was introduced by our new Curator Lotte Juul Petersen who joins us from Denmark. 

check out this website:  http://www.ubu.com/

Just a quick ‘Blog’ reminder that I will be in Portsmouth this week installing my work at the Natural History Museum, Butterfly House and the gallery space at Aspex for the forthcoming sculpture show One Thing Against Another.

If you fancy a trip to the south coast for the opening event this Saturday it would be great to see you!  Please visit the Aspex website to find out more information.  www.aspex.org.uk  There is also a v.good offer to go by coach from London (leaving outside the London Eye).  Booking in advance recommended.  All details on their website.

Both Katherine Hymers and Sarah Evans took the risk of presenting and then talking about their work in a semi - public setting - one artist had created a piece in a short space of time and in a completely new space - Wysing’s window room project space - the other artist had edited and reedited a piece but felt unsure about presenting it as a finalized work to a public or semi-public audience.  To undertake that scrutiny and potential critique of an audience is extremely brave and i hope it felt as rewarding as it did for that said audience.  The evening was among friends but it still felt a rigorous enough process for the artists to feel justified and proud of themselves for taking those steps.

 I enjoyed every minute of the films that were presented and really enjoyed the fact that people new to Wysing felt they too could contribute to a discussion and say just how they felt in reaction to a piece or a presentation.   As a space too i felt the window room had enough informality to be friendly and unintimidating but enough challenge as both a space for art and as a serious place to present and host a discussion on their practice. 

I will keep the vision of the falling snow and the gently swinging figure - in a secret forest somewhere - with me despite the current summer sun.

The Wysing evenings whether organised informally or formally are going from strength to strength and a real testament to the developing community of artists who are not only prepared to share their work but also to step out of their comfort zone and both organise things for themselves but also to host and present themselves to a wider audience - something not all artists are prepared to do.  The more the merrier.

Thank you.