Press  Release  14  March  2016    Art  Sheffield  announces  full  artist  list  for  2016  festival  programme:  Up,  Down,  Top,  Bottom,  Strange  and  Charm    

16  April  –  8  May  2016  Media  and  Professional  Preview:  15  April  2016      

 Still  from  Duvet  Brothers,  Blue  Monday,  1984,  Courtesy  the  artist  and  LUX    

 Art   Sheffield   today   announced   the   full   artist   list   for   the   2016   festival   programme,   entitled  Up,  Down,   Top,  Bottom,  Strange  and  Charm.   The   festival   is   curated  by  Martin  Clark,  Director  of  Bergen  Kunsthall,   and   runs  from  16  April  –  8  May  2016.      The   artists   are:  Marie   Angeletti,  Michel   Auder,   Charles   Atlas,  Anna   Barham,   Steven   Claydon,  Mark   Fell,  Beatrice  Gibson,  Pat  Hearn  and  Shelley  Lake,  Florian  Hecker,  Hannah  Sawtell,  Richard  Sides,  Paul  Sietsema,  Jean-­‐Michel  Wicker.  Scratch  video  works  will  be  shown  by  George  Barber,  Nick  Cope,  Jeffrey  Hinton,  Duvet  Brothers,  John  Scarlett  Davis,  Gorilla  Tapes,  John  Maybury,  Kim  Flitcroft  and  Sandra  Goldbacher.    Conceived  as  an  ‘exploded’  group  show,  Art  Sheffield  will  present  a  carefully  selected  programme  dedicated  entirely   to   sound   and   moving   image,   exhibited   across   Sheffield’s   galleries,   venues,   industrial   and   urban  spaces.   Highlights   of   Art   Sheffield   will   include   three   new   commissions   by   British   artists   Steven   Claydon,  Hannah   Sawtell   and   Richard   Sides,   who   will   each   produce   site-­‐specific   work.   Central   to   the   festival   is   a  collection   of   rarely   seen   ‘scratch’   videos,   a   short-­‐lived   but   influential   phenomenon   that   emerged   on   the  underground   scene   in   the   mid-­‐1980s.   Other   works   address   themes   around   politics,   economics,   music,  technology,  the  ubiquity  of  the  Internet  and  the  material  reality  of  the  physical  world.      The  title,  Up,  Down,  Top,  Bottom,  Strange  and  Charm   is   taken  from  the  six   flavours   (or  types)  of  quark:   the  elementary  particles  that  make  up  every  atom,  and  the  fundamental  building  blocks  of  matter.  Through  film,  video   and   sound,   the   fabric   of   the   city   itself   will   be   explicitly   activated   and   inhabited   by   the   exhibition  dispersed  in  and  around  Sheffield  city  centre.    

   New  Commissions    

Steven   Claydon   will   present   a   new   video   and   sound   work   in   the   iconic   Grade   II   listed   Moore   Street  electricity   substation.  Working   directly  with   scientists   at   IBM,   Claydon’s  work  will   draw  on   research   into  materiality   and  matter   at   an   atomic   level.   Using   footage   produced   by   IBM’s   sophisticated   atom-­‐moving  technology,  Claydon  will  create  a  large-­‐scale  video  work  projected  within  the  18,000sqft  venue,  which  will  be  accompanied  by  audio  samples  of  atoms  being  moved.  Claydon  will  work  with  local  steel  manufacturers  to  create  a  large  plate  reverb  panel  that  will  amplify  the  sound  to  create  a  fully  immersive  installation  that  situates  the  viewer  amongst  the  building  blocks  of  matter.      

Hannah   Sawtell  will  draw  on  Sheffield’s   industrial,  musical  and   leftist  political  heritage   to  develop  a  new  multi-­‐disciplinary  work  that  explores  the  concept  for  a  new  ‘people’s  currency’  for  Sheffield,  modelled  on  alternative   currencies   like   bitcoin.   Using   open   source   apps   and   software,   as   well   as   CGI   and   electronic  sound,  she  will  create  a  work  that  builds  a  new  idea  of  community,  value  and  exchange  -­‐  one  very  directly  engaged  with  and  informed  by  the  economic  realities  and  rhetoric  of  the  present.      

Richard  Sides  is  a  multi-­‐disciplinary  artist  with  a  background  in  electronic  music,  who  was  born  and  raised  in  Rotherham.  Richard  Sides  will  be  producing  a  new  work  on  Eyre  Street  that  will  combine  video,  audio  and  sculptural   elements   into   a   large-­‐scale   collaged   installation.   He   has   been  working  with   actors   to   produce  pseudo-­‐advertisements  that  will  play  throughout  the  space.      Scratch  Video    

Art  Sheffield  2016  draws  on  the  various  political,  social,  cultural  and  material  histories  of  Sheffield  in  order  to  address   more   universal   themes.   These   include   the   city’s   prosperous   industrial   past   built   around  manufacturing,   steel   and   light   industry,   and   its   rapid   decline   in   the   1980s;   Sheffield’s   long   history   of  resistance,   socialism   and   independence   -­‐   from   John   Ruskin’s   utopian   initiatives   for   workers   in   the   19th  century,  through  to  its  present  as  one  of  the  UK’s  longest-­‐standing  Labour  strongholds;  and  its  proud  musical  heritage  which  includes  bands  such  as  Cabaret  Voltaire,  Human  League  and  Pulp.  The  1980s  were  defined  by  industry  decline  and   the  Thatcherite  politics   that  accelerated   it,   the  cold  war,  nuclear   threat  and   the  boom  and  bust  of  burgeoning   global   capitalism.  At   this   time,  new  video  editing   technologies  became  available   at  various  arts  schools,  including  Sheffield,  leading  to  a  number  of  artists  and  musicians  experimenting  with  the  medium  in  very  politically  engaged  ways.  This  led  to  the  development  of  a  new  visual  language  and  technique  –  ‘scratch  video’.      

Using   rapid   cuts   and   repetitions,   as  well   as   new  digital   effects,   this  work  was  often   screened   in   clubs  or  music  venues,  or  made  as  stage  visuals  or  music  videos  for  bands.  Art  Sheffield  includes  a  number  of  these  rarely   seen   ‘scratch’   videos   by   filmmakers   including   George   Barber,   Nick   Cope,   Jeffrey   Hinton,   Duvet  Brothers,  John  Scarlett  Davis,  Gorilla  Tapes,  John  Maybury,  Kim  Flitcroft  and  Sandra  Goldbacher.  In  the  way  their  work  very  directly  sampled  and  subverted  found  footage  from  TV  news,  films,  advertising  and  popular  culture,  they  can  be  seen  to  have  anticipated  many  of  the  techniques  and  visual  languages  that  are  now  so  ubiquitous   across   the   internet,   social   media   and   platforms   like   YouTube.   Scratch   Video   is   presented   in  association  with  LUX  and  the  BFI  National  Archive,  as  part  of  major  touring  film  project  THIS  IS  NOW:  FILM  AND  VIDEO  AFTER  PUNK.   The  UK   tour  of   THIS   IS  NOW  has  been  developed  with   the   support   of   the  BFI,  awarding  funds  from  The  National  Lottery.    City-­‐wide  Programme    

The  city-­‐wide  programme  has  been  developed  and  delivered  in  collaboration  with  Sheffield’s  leading  visual  arts  venues  -­‐  Bloc  Projects,  S1  Artspace,  Museums  Sheffield,  Sheffield  Hallam  University  and  Site  Gallery.  In  addition,   a   number   of   off-­‐site   venues   have   been   very   specifically   selected   including:   former   steel   and  cutlery  works;  nightclubs  and  music  venues;  the  iconic  Park  Hill,  a  controversial  brutalist  housing  estate  and  now   the   largest   listed   building   in   Europe;   and   Moore   Street   Substation,   a   famous   modernist   landmark  which   will   be   opened   up   to   the   public   for   the   very   first   time.   Shown   alongside   the   scratch   videos,   the  contemporary   works   demonstrate   and   develop   similar   ideas   and   attitudes,   still   as   politically   and  aesthetically   relevant   today:   from   an   interest   in   the   sub-­‐atomic   reality   of   the   physical   world   to   new  

economic   models   and   patterns   of   risk;   from   virtual   and   constructed   realities   to   the   subversion   and  distribution  of  open  source  digital  tools;  from  the  politics  of  neo-­‐liberal  capitalism  to  communities  created  through  music,  labour  and  resistance.  Throughout  Art  Sheffield  2016,  video,  film  and  sound  are  explored  in  their  various  material  forms,  on  the  one  hand  as  a  mechanical,  digital  or  virtual  medium,  but  on  the  other  as  kind  of  collective  unconscious  or  reverie,  evoking  the  past  only  to  reflect  on  the  current  state  of  Britain  today  and  our  saturated  and  fragmentary  internet-­‐state-­‐of-­‐mind.    

   ARTIST  PROGRAMME      MARIE  ANGELETTI  –  VENUE  TBC  Angeletti   uses   photography   and   video   to   re-­‐present   and   re-­‐frame   discordant   yet   familiar   genres   of  representation.   She   photographs   her   objects   and   subjects,   then   the   resultant   images   are   often   re-­‐photographed,   scanned,   in   some  places  abstracted,   confusing  both   the  original   source  and  author  of   the  image,  creating  a  pictorial  ambiguity  through  association  and  presentation.      MICHEL  AUDER  –  S1  ARTSPACE  ,  PARK  HILL  French-­‐American  artist  Michel  Auder  has  been  working  in  film  and  video  for  over  50  years.  He  will  present  of  group  of  video  works  in  S1  Artspace’s  new  temporary  gallery  at  The  Scottish  Queen,  a  newly  refurbished  space  (once  a  notorious  pub)  on  the  Park  Hill  Estate.  Despite  his   influence  on  a  new  generation  of  artists,  Auder’s   experimental   video   works   have   rarely   been   seen   in   the   UK.   His   work   strongly   evokes   the  strangeness,   banality   and   beauty   of   the   visible   world,   which   he   records   with   a   compulsive   almost  voyeuristic  gaze.    CHARLES  ATLAS  –  156  ARUNDEL  STREET    A  pioneer  of  80s  video,  Atlas  often  collaborated  with  dancers  and  choreographers  including  Michael  Clark  and  Merce  Cunningham   to  develop   ‘media-­‐dance’   –   dances   specifically   produced   to  be   captured  on   film  and  video.  Atlas  will  present  a   recent   immersive  video   installation   in  Arundel  Street  warehouse  space,  as  well   as   two   earlier   videos  made  with   Cunningham,  which   experiment  with   ‘state-­‐of-­‐the-­‐art’   digital   video  and  film  effects  at  that  time.    ANNA  BARHAM  –  VENUE  TBC  Barham  will  present  video  and  sound  work  The  Catwalk  (2015).  Barham  created  the  work  by  corrupting  the  code  of  a   jpeg   image  by  typing  selected  quotes  by  quantum  physicist  David  Bohm  directly   into  the   image  code.  The  corrupted  code  produces  a  distorted   image,  with  shift,  colour,  panning  and  sound  all  randomly  generated  by  the  intervention  at  the  jpeg’s  structural  level.      STEVEN  CLAYDON  –  MOORE  STREET  SUBSTATION    Claydon   will   present   a   new   video   and   sound   work   in   the   iconic   Grade   II   listed  Moore   Street   electricity  substation.  Working  directly  with  scientists  at   IBM,  Claydon’s  work  will  draw  on   research   into  materiality  and  matter   at   an   atomic   level.  Using   footage   produced  by   IBM’s   sophisticated   atom-­‐moving   technology,  Claydon  will  project  his  video  work  within  the  18,000sqft  venue  accompanied  by  audio  samples  of  atoms  being  moved.      MARK  FELL  –  THE  LINK  PUB,  PARK  HILL  Legendary  DJ,  producer  and  artist  from  South  Yorkshire,  Fell  will  create  a  new  site-­‐specific  installation  in  the  derelict   Link   Pub   at   Park   Hill.   Evoking   Sheffield’s   music   and   club   culture   of   the   90s,   Fell   will   create   an  immersive  sonic  and  visual  environment  using  recordings  of  a  pirate  radio  show  broadcast  out  of  Park  Hill  in  1992.  As  part  of  the  installation,  Mark  will  interview  Richard  Hardcastle  of  Solid  State,  who  is  DJing  on  the  recording.    BEATRICE  GIBSON  –  BLOC  PROJECTS    Gibson  will   show   two   films   at   artist   run   project   space,   Bloc   Projects.  F   for   Fibonacci   (2014)   and  Crippled  Symmetries   (2015)   collapse   together   ideas   of   economics   and   experimental   music,   risk   and   chance,   and  draw  connections  between  the  abstraction  of  money  and  that  of  music  or  art.    

 PAT  HEARN  &  SHELLEY  LAKE  -­‐  DINA  A  video  by  Pat  Hearn  and  Shelley  Lake  will  be  shown  at  DINA,  an  ex-­‐nightclub  turned  DIY  arts  space  with  a  focus  on  digital  arts.  Made  before  Hearn  became  one  of  the  most  influential  art  dealers  in  New  York  in  the  1980s,  the  video  shows  Hearn  dancing  naked  with  a  strobe  light  experimenting  with  new  ‘portapak’  video  technology.  During  the  session  she  suffers  an  epileptic  fit,  brought  on  by  the  strobe.  The  rest  of  the  video  captures  the  ambulance  crew  and  paramedics  attending  her  at  the  scene  and  the  subsequent  brain  scans  she  received  at  the  hospital.      FLORIAN  HECKER  –  PORTLAND  WORKS    Hecker  will  present  synthesized  sound  installation  at  Portland  Works,  the  factory  where  stainless  steel  was  invented  and  manufactured.  Portland  works  was   threatened  with   closure   in  2009  but  now  operates  as  a  workspace   for   small   businesses,   artists   and   craftspeople.   Hecker   is   an   experimental   sound   artist   whose  installations,   live  performances  and  publications  explore  specific  compositional  developments  of  post-­‐war  modernity,  electro-­‐acoustic  music,  and  other,  non-­‐musical  disciplines.      HANNAH  SAWTELL  –  SITE  GALLERY    Sawtell   will   draw   on   Sheffield’s   industrial,   musical   and   leftist   political   heritage   to   develop   a   new  multi-­‐disciplinary   work   that   explores   the   concept   for   a   new   ‘people’s   currency’   for   Sheffield,   modelled   on  alternative   currencies   like  bitcoin.  Using  widely   available,   open   source  apps  and   software,   as  well   as  CGI  and  electronic  sound,  she  will  create  a  work  that  builds  a  new  idea  of  community,  value  and  exchange  -­‐  one  very  directly  engaged  with  and  informed  by  the  economic  reality  and  rhetoric  of  the  present.  Site  Gallery  is  Sheffield’s  contemporary  art  centre.    RICHARD  SIDES  –  EYRE  STREET    Sides   is   a   multi-­‐disciplinary   artist   with   a   background   in   electronic   music   and   was   born   and   raised   in  Rotherham.   Sides  will  make   a   new   installation   at   Eyre   Street   using  moving   image,   sculpture   and   sound,  which   he   describes   as   time-­‐based   expanded   collages   combining   media   simultaneously   to   create  environments  for  others  to  inhabit.      PAUL  SIETSEMA  –  BIGGINS  BROTHERS  LTD    American   artist,   Sietsema   will   present   ‘Abstract   Composition’   at   Biggins   Brothers,   an   electro-­‐plating  workshop   established   in   1856.   The   35mm   film   projection   pictures   a   highly   complex   CGI   animation   of   a  simple  piece  of  cardboard,  slowly  rotating   in  space.  After  rendering,   it   is  returned  to  this  almost  obsolete  analogue  medium,   now   situated   somewhere   between   film,   computer   animation,   sculpture   and   concrete  poetry.  Operating  as  a  kind  of  generator  or  ‘engine’,  the  work  describes  various  objects  and  artefacts  that  are  caught  in  a  virtual  network  of  commerce  and  exchange.    JEAN-­‐MICHEL  WICKER  –  S1  STUDIOS    The  book  as  both  object  and  idea  is  central  to  the  French  artist  Jean-­‐Michel  Wicker’s  varied  oeuvre.  Along  with  other  printed  media  such  as  fanzines,  flyers,  posters  and  low-­‐tech  mechanical  sculptures,  it  functions  as   a   parallel   space   (both   literally   and   metaphorically)   where   information   is   constantly   re-­‐edited   and  collapsed  together.  Wicker  will  show  a  number  of  works  on  paper,  as  well  as   'anti-­‐books',  video,  text  and  printed  materials  -­‐  expanding  the  idea  of  ‘moving  image’  through  an  interplay  between  video,  the  page  and  kinetic  works.    SCRATCH  VIDEO  –  SHEFFIELD  INSTITUTE  OF  ARTS    Scratch   was   a   short-­‐lived   but   influential   phenomenon   born   out   of   a   disparate   group   of   artists  experimenting  with  newly  available  video  editing  technologies   introduced   into  a  number  of  art  schools   in  the   UK   in   the   mid-­‐80s,   including   Psalter   Lane   art   school,   Sheffield.   Sampling   footage   from   TV   news,  advertising,  films  and  popular  culture,  these  videos  were  often  structured  musically  or  rhythmically,  ranging  from  highly  political  to  more  satirical  or  playful  works.  A  specially  presented  showreel  will  be  screened  of  works  by  artists  George  Barber,  Nick  Cope,  Gorilla  Tapes,  Jeffrey  Hinton,  Kim  Flitcroft,  Sandra  Goldbacher  and  Duvet  Brothers.  This  part  of  the  programme  is  presented  in  association  with  LUX  and  the  BFI  National  Archive  as  part  of  the  touring  project  THIS  IS  NOW:  FILM  AND  VIDEO  AFTER  PUNK  (1978-­‐85).  

 

 PUBLIC  PROGRAMME    Panel  Discussion  Saturday  16  April,  1.00pm  -­‐  Sheffield  Hallam  University  A  panel  discussion  exploring  the  themes  of  the  festival  in  more  detail  –  Artistic  Director,  Martin  Clark,  will  introduce  the  broader  themes  of  the  festival,  which  will  be  followed  by  a  discussion  and  Q&A  with  selected  exhibiting  artists.      THIS  IS  NOW:  FILM  AND  VIDEO  AFTER  PUNK  Screening,  Parts  I-­‐IV  THIS   IS   NOW:   FILM   AND   VIDEO   AFTER   PUNK  is   a   major   new   touring   programme   rediscovering   key  underground  films  from  the  post-­‐punk  era  in  the  UK  (1978–85).  Developed  by  LUX  in  partnership  with  the  BFI   National   Archive.   The   Showroom   will   present   the   first   of   a   four-­‐part   series   of   screenings   with   an  introduction  from  LUX's  Special  Projects  Curator,  Nicole  Yip.  www.thisisnow.org.uk    (Part  I):  Wednesday  27  April,  6.00pm  -­‐  Showroom  Cinema  (Part  II):  Saturday  30  April,  6.00pm  -­‐  Bloc  Projects  (Part  III):  Wednesday  4  May,  6.00pm  -­‐  Venue  TBC  (Part  IV):  Saturday  7  May,  6.00pm  -­‐  Bloc  Projects    Young  People's  Weekend:  Shut  Up!  See  Art!  Friday  29  April  -­‐  Sunday  1  March  -­‐  Site  Gallery  and  Millennium  Galleries  A  free  weekend  of  events  showcasing  and  celebrating  youth  and  creativity  in  Sheffield.    Parallel  Programme  After-­‐hours  Tour  Friday  6  May,  6.00pm  –  The  Washington,  79  Fitzwilliam  Street An  evening  tour  around  some  of  the  highlights  of  this  year's  Parallel  Programme;  projects  developed  by  local  artists  and  curators  as  a  fringe  to  the  main  festival.    Weekly  Saturday  Tours  Alongside  the  public  programme,  free  weekly  tours  of  the  main  festival  exhibition  will  take  place  every  Saturday  from  12pm,  beginning  at  the  Festival  Hub  at  Site  Gallery.  www.sitegallery.org  

   About  Art  Sheffield    Art   Sheffield   brings   together   new   commissions,   exhibitions   and   performances   by   international,   UK   and  Sheffield-­‐based  artists  at  locations  across  the  city  alongside  a  programme  of  events,  talks  and  discussions.  It  was  established   in  1999  to   further   the  presence  and  awareness  of  contemporary  art   in  Sheffield   through  joint  programming,  audience  development  and  profile  raising  activities  to  achieve  an  ambitious,  world-­‐class  festival  and  events  programme.  Art  Sheffield  is  delivered  through  a  consortium  of  leading  visual  arts  venues  across  the  city:  Bloc  Projects,  S1  Artspace,  Museums  Sheffield,  Sheffield  Hallam  University  and  Site  Gallery.  The  Art  Sheffield  consortium  members  share  a  fundamental  belief  in  the  power  of  art  and  culture  to  change  lives;   collectively   championing   Sheffield’s   reputation   regionally,   nationally   and   internationally   as   a   centre  for   contemporary   art.   Art   Sheffield   is   supported   by   Arts   Council   England   and   Sheffield   City   Council.  www.artsheffield.org      About  Martin  Clark    Martin   Clark   has   been   Director   of   Bergen   Kunsthall   since   September   2013.   Previously   he   was   Artistic  Director   at   Tate   St   Ives   (2007-­‐13),   Curator   of   Exhibitions   at   Arnolfini,   Bristol   (2005-­‐7),   and   Curator   and  Exhibitions  Tutor  at  Kent  Institute  of  Art  and  Design  (now  University  College  of  the  Creative  Arts)  (2002-­‐5).  Clark   graduated   in   Fine   Art   from   Sheffield   Hallam   University   in   1998   and   was   a   founder  member   of   S1  Studios,  Sheffield.  Over   the  past  16  years  he  has  curated  and  organised  over  60  exhibitions  and  projects,  including  solo  shows  by  Simon  Starling,  Linder,  Jean-­‐Michel  Wicker,  Giorgio  Griffa,  Lily  van  der  Stokker,  Alex  Katz,  Robert  Overby,  Will  Benedict,  Carol  Bove,  Simon  Ling,  Heimo  Zobernig,  Brian  Griffiths,  Adam  Chodzko,  Hannah  Sawtell,  Deimantas  Narkevicius,  Lucy  McKenzie  and  Albert  Oehlen,  as  well  as  a  group  exhibitions  

including:   ‘The  Noing  Uv  It  (2015)  (curated  with  Steven  Claydon),   ‘Aquatopia:  The  Imaginary  of  the  Ocean  Deep’,   (2013)   (curated  with   Alex   Farquharson),   'The   Dark  Monarch:  Magic   and  Modernity   in   British   Art'  (2009)  (curated  with  Alun  Rowlands  and  Michael  Bracewell),  and  'Pale  Carnage'  (2007).  The  exhibitions  he  curated  of  Mark  Titchner  (2006)  and  Dexter  Dalwood  (2010)  were  both  nominated  for  the  Turner  Prize.  He  has  edited  numerous  publications  and  catalogues,  as  well  as  writing  widely  on  contemporary  art  and  artists  for  publications  including  Frieze,  Mousse  Magazine  and  Art  Review.        Art  Sheffield  2016  is  generously  supported  by: