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Photograph of John Iveson with his artwork.

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Perfect Entrance Exhibition.

Constantine Building, 7th December 2017.

This event was organised and curated by level 4 students, who started Teesside University in 2017. This was their first exhibition hosted as a group.

Altogether there were 25 students who were part of the exhibition, who each created a number of pieces of work. They curated their own pieces of work in their studio space, which was then opened to the public.

The art was all ‘Fine Art’ based, it ranged from sculpture pieces to painting and printing. The work was diverse and each artists individuality came through.

I myself have a studio space on the same floor as the artists who curated this exhibition, however, I did not go into their studio until the time of the exhibition, I did not want to ruin it for myself and see the artwork before it was ready to be shown. Although, I have met a lot of the artists and spoken to them about ideas. The event was well organised and hosted with great professionalism, all of the artists were present at the event, and were willing to discuss their own work and future ideas. They included drinks and snacks at the event and made sure everyone who attending felt welcome. Each artist had put time and effort into each piece of work they created, but they all also had thought cleverly about were to place their work, and how it would look best displayed.

My favourite piece of work at the exhibition had to be from John Iveson, the ideas he had about minimalism really stood out to me. His work was simple but clever, and the display of them stood out to me more than the rest. He is a talented artist who I would like to see more work from in the future.

I saw a few posters around the university about the event, however, I feel as though more could have been done to organise the event. There was a good turn out, nonetheless, which I was happily surprised about.

Overall the event was a success, new artists and some established artists got to show their work to an audience who appreciated the effort that had gone into each piece. The event was enjoyable and I would definitely attend another exhibition of theirs or even an exhibition hosted by one of the artists alone.

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Photograph’s from the Experimental Film Festival. Taken by Gemma Tierney.

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Experimental Film Festival, Poster and Leaflet.

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Experimental Film Fesitval

Middlesbrough’s RAOB Club, 5th December 2017.

This event was organised and curated by Aimee Suggitt and Gemma Tierney of THE BIG NOTHING art collective.

There were twenty films shown on the main projector and there were another ten silent films that were also played.

The event had four televisions set up at the back of the room which were all showing a range of films, these televisions were playing the films at the same time as the main films were being played on the projector.

The films were created by people from a variety of places and who were all various ages.

Again with this event, I had been to the place that it was being curated at and I am interested in film as an art so I went along. I knew from the past event that Gemma hosted that I was going to enjoy myself and I was not disappointed. I stayed for a few hours and watched many different types of films. Some were more intriguing than others, however,  a lot of effort and skill had gone into them all. I really enjoyed that Gemma and Aimee placed televisions at the back of the room because it gave people the chance to interact with the event more than just if you were to sit and watch. It also meant that if a film on the projector didn’t interest you, you had other choices of films to watch.

Ben Barton's film ‘Stella’ had to be one of my favourites, it was well created and the film engrossed everyone in the room. All the films I watched were good, and the curators did an excellent job of choosing which films to play. Again the event had snacks and a bar.

Leaflets were also made for this event, similar to the last one, what I liked about this event was that an open call was made before the event to interest artists into showcasing their work.

Overall I did enjoy this event, the atmosphere in the room was great, and the event went well, there was a great turnout, from both artists and just the general public, who were all intrigued what experimental film had to offer.

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Photographs of Performances. Taken by Gemma Tierney.

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WET. Performance Posters.

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WET. Performance Night.

The Westgarth Social Club, Middlesbrough, 30th November 2017.

This performance night was organised and curated by Charlie Wood and Gemma Tierney of THE BIG NOTHING art collective, who was assisted by Alex Hayward from Teesside University.

There were ten acts that performed altogether over a five hour period, all showcasing different performance art. The artists themselves who performed at this event came from different places and were of different age groups.

When I first heard about the event I was intrigued to find out more about performance art, I myself have not seen a lot of performance art and was interested to see what it was all about. I knew the place that it was being curated at so I thought it would be a good idea to go and take a look. My first thought as I came into the event was that it had a specific mood that had already been set by the lights and the images around the room. The lights were dim and a few projectors had been set up. There was a stage at the back centres of the room and most of the performances took place here. There were snacks available and there was also a bar that was open for the event.

My thought about the performances was a very positive one, I thought that the range of people that were performing was great. I love how anything from a poem to audio performance and dance can all be included in a performance event. My favourite performance of the night had to be Jenni Dixon, who placed herself in a dog cage, in order to explore the aesthetics of disgust and the audiences react to performance art. She used herself in a very creative way in order to help her understand other people’s reactions and I thought this was a very interesting idea.

The curators and organisers of the event also created leaflets for the event, which explained who was performing, and what their act was all about. Clearly, from the work that had gone into this event, from the social media aspect and the creating of leaflets and posters, this was not the first time they had hosted an event. In my opinion, the event went well, they had a good turnout, some people I recognised from the University, and others who had come along just for this event.

Overall I would recommend anyone interested in a performance event to go to one of Gemma and Charlie's events if they host another because it was a great experience. I learned more about performance art and met some great people who were involved in this event.