Archives for posts with tag: Mad Lab

What’s on in Greater Manchester in October

17/10/2011 //
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What’s on? Lots on…

I love Manchester: it’s the funkiest, edgiest, dirtiest city in the UK. It’s a mish-mash of architecture and a melting pot of people. Living here, we can dip our fingers into many cultural pies and take a nibble of this and a mouthful of that. Below is a list of things to see and do during October that should accommodate all tastes:

October

  • Royal Exchange Theatre: Good from 12 October until 5 November; Dagmar Krause on 25 October.
  • The fabulous Manchester Literature Festival kicks off on 10th October and runs until 23rd October. Quite a few of the events are free, but you’ll need to hurry to reserve your ticket(s).
  • We are ExtInked exhibition at Manchester Museum. You can view more exciting things to see and do at Manchester Museum in October here.
  • Here’s what’s going on at Mad Lab in October.
  • The fabulous Cornerhouse not only shows the latest world films, but also hosts art exhibitions and educational courses too.
  • Want to get out and about in the fresh air? The National Trust are holding a Walking Festival during October.
  • The wonderful Ford Madox-Brown: Pre-Raphaelite Pioneer exhibition, is a must-see event at Manchester Art Gallery. There’s also still plenty of time to catch the Grayson Perry exhibits which will be on show until February 2012.
  • The Gallery of Costume’s latest exhibition is on the brilliant French fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent.
  •  Until 13 November, the People’s History Museum is hosting an exhibition of artwork by J Chuhan as part of the Asian Triennial 2011.
  • Hot Bed Press in Salford, offer fine art courses in printmaking, book-making, photo-etching etc.
  • If you like modern architecture then you may be interested in what’s on at CUBE (Centre for the Urban Built Environment).
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Cornerhouse meet and mingle: thanks for coming

19/09/2011 //
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HwaYoung from Mad Lab

Hwa Young (above) talks geek and bio

Isn’t it great when a bunch of interesting, creative people get together in one room?

Friday’s event at the Cornerhouse was such an occasion. Community partners, WEA staff and tutors, prospective learners, film makers and cultural partners all gathered in the Cornerhouse annexe to meet and mingle and learn more about Peripheral Vision.

Apart from a slight glitch with my beloved MacBook (well it is four and a half years old), which decided, on a whim, to go mute. “What?” I said, “What?” staring in disbelief at its white, shiny loveliness. “Today, of all days,” I scolded. Thank goodness Hwa Young had brought hers along and I’d had the foresight to pop my presentation on a memory stick. Crisis averted we got on with the presentations:

Thank you

Thank you to everyone named above, and to Jenny from MCC, Niall from City South, Amanda from the Booth Centre, Zoe from Manchester City Council, Harriet from Manchester Camerata and the film-makers Barney and Liz for attending.

Also thank you to my colleagues, Fiona, Mandy, Andy, Susan D, Susan A, Karen and Catherine for being there too. Finally, thanks go to Pat at the Cornerhouse for organising the room (which everyone loved) and the teas and coffees.

Looking back, from my perspective the morning was a success. However, I sort of wish I hadn’t mentioned the pickled gherkin and plum tomato nibbles, while telling an anecdote about a male life-model…

We send our best wishes to Connie from Manchester Art Gallery who had a cycling tumble and couldn’t attend. Get well soon Connie x

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Desperately seeking… film-makers

03/09/2011 //
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Mad Lab Film Fest

On the Hunt: arrows drawn

“I need film-makers,” I said to Hwa Young at our last meeting. “No problem,” she replied. “We’re holding a Short Film Fest at Mad Lab on Friday 2 Sept, come along and you’ll meet some of the directors and producers.” Fantastic!

So, at 17:30 I logged off, locked up and skipped down Oxford Road towards the Northern Quarter. The Film Fest started at 6pm and would go on until the stars popped up in the sky and the drunks stumbled around in the gutter.

First we watched some music videos and then some fascinating short films. I was particularly struck by a black and white film shot in Manchester called Voices. The writer/producer/director, Mat Johns from Zero Facility Films, was sitting on the floor behind me and when the film finished I congratulated him and was amazed to find out that he had produced it in 24 hours from start to finish. I gave him a copy of the Peripheral Vision PDF and we exchanged contact details.

Then, by sheer good fortune, the enigmatic Michael Barnes-Wynters, of Doodlebug fame, sat down next to me. I first met Barney at the Noise Lab launch in 2009 when I was scouting around for interesting events and people for the Just the Ticket project. You can see a tiny video of me at the launch here.

Baekdu

By 8pm our stomachs were rumbling and we headed off to Baekdu (by Shudehill Station), a Korean restaurant. It was full to brimming and we had to wait to get a table. We love the chef there: he always takes such care over his cooking and often presents the food himself with a huge smile. It was absolutely delicious. Here’s a photo of my chicken Bibimbap with an egg on top:

Baekdu dish

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Peripheral Vision is now ‘out there’

01/09/2011 //
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Jaume Plensa: Irma-Nuria, 2010 (Yorkshire Sculpture Park, August 2011)

Spread the Word!

Today, Peripheral Vision officially went live. I sent an email to everyone at WEA in the North West, with the project PDF attached and a link to this blog.

I also finalised the arrangements for the Peripheral Vision presentations which will bring together the four main partners: Cornerhouse, Whitworth Art Gallery, Mad Lab and People’s History Museum. This will take place on Friday 16 September from 10:00 – 12:00, in the Cornerhouse annexe (thank you Pat). WEA staff, tutors, some learners and volunteers and community partners will also be invited to make up the audience.

Aims for the meeting:

  • to tell people about the project and how they can get involved
  • to showcase the four main cultural partners so that they can extol the virtues of their respective venues
  • to sign up interested parties to the project
  • to enlist new potential bloggers
  • to mingle, mix and mooch
To Do:
  1. Design invitation for community partners/volunteers (01/09/11) and send out (06/09/11)
  2. Draw up list of invitees (05/09/11)
  3. Contact Pat re: refreshments and/or lunch (02/09/11 out of office reply) (Pat emailed – only Cornerhouse caterers can provide refreshments 07/09/11)
  4. Do my Power Point Presentation (13 & 15/09/11)
  5. Do agenda and timings (14/09/11)
  6. Write press release
  7. email NIACE with blog link (02/09/11)
  8. Tweet blog link (02/09/11)
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Mad Lab, Lauren Powter & Common Bar

23/08/2011 //
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Mad Lab's latest expo

Manchester Digital Laboratory

Lucky me, I had a meeting this morning at Mad Lab with Hwa Young, to catch up and tell her more about Peripheral Vision. I just love it there – they do such interesting, and often wacky, things such as: Spectacular Shots Club; Fashion Hackers; Robot Hacking; Music Hacking and DIY Bio.

While I was there, I had a look at the latest exhibition on display: Twice Removed. I couldn’t quite believe my eyes when I saw that they had printed some gorgeous posters of the photographs in the expo that could be folded and cut and made into a little book. This is exactly the kind of book-making that I would like the Peripheral Vision participants to make and use. Serendipitous indeed.

Lauren Powter

I also met a lovely young woman called Lauren Powter, who had just moved to Manchester and was looking for work and opportunities to meet new people. She is a recently graduated graphic designer and you can view her website here.

Common Bar

Once the meeting was finished I met Mr W for some nice nosh at Common Bar over the road. What a lovely morning!

Common Bar interior

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Meeting at Mad Lab

16/06/2011 //
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Manchester Digital Laboratory

Today I had a meeting with Hwa Young at Manchester Digital Laboratory (Mad Lab). I always enjoy the walk to the Northern Quarter. It’s nice to wander around the back streets behind Piccadilly Gardens looking in the windows of all the alternative shops.

Mad Lab have also submitted a bid to the IACL Fund. Hope they get theirs too.

Hwa Young and I discussed ways in which we can work together to provide WEA’s learners with wizard ways in which to learn about new technologies. Mad Lab do exciting things with arduino circuit boards and robots and blue screens. They also run courses in film making and creative writing, and they have various clubs such as Girl Geeks and Friday Freelance club, where for a fee of £5 you can sit with warm-blooded human beings, make eye contact and engage in conversation, rather than sit at home alone all day. Bargain.

If both, or either of us get our bids then we will be working together closely over the coming months. Even if we don’t, we’re still going to share learners and courses and ideas.

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