Numbers, mobile phones and a trip to Russia
ARTISTS from Shetland are taking part in the seventh International Festival of Experimental Art,
which will take place from 18th to 27th July at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall in St Petersburg, Russia.
Susan Timmins and Freya Inkster are exhibiting a collaborative film work, Random Reconciliations. It is an experiment in numbers, music and photographic images. The work arose from Susan’s interest in the “behaviour” of numbers, the result of keeping the accounts for her local playgroup.
The relationship between music and numbers is a key element in their mother-daughter collaboration. Freya, who is the musical half, has experimented with monthly bank reconciliations using different notes and combinations of notes for each number. The finished work comprises four short film pieces which were launched at a preview at their home in Burra last week.
Roxane Permar is creating a new participatory project, Swap Shots. It is an experiment in creating new networks by exchanging mobile phone films. She is inviting people from all over the world, but in particular from Shetland, St Petersburg and those living at 60º North, to send her very short films of six seconds each by mobile phone. All the films that people make and send to her on their mobile phones will be “swapped” and then shown in St Petersburg during the Festival.
If you would like to take part in Roxane’s project, send her a text message: 07711 157 451 or email: roxane.permar@btinternet.com. She is holding an open session this Sunday 18th July at her studio, Mungies Waater, Papil, Burra, from 3-6 pm for anyone who wants technical help with making and sending films.
The Festival will present a range of the most recent trends in contemporary work from the late 1990s to the present day, including performance, installation, photography, video, digital works as well as a conference.
There are over 100 participants in the festival from twenty countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Hungary, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, Finland, France, Montenegro, Sweden, Estonia and Japan.
Further information and a downloadable catalogue are on the festival web site: www.performart.narod.ru