tenantspin has had a hectic couple of weeks in the world of webcasting. On April 9th, we played host to a film made by FACT-based filmmaker Leon Seth and merseyside historian Ron Noon; Love Lane Lives. The film documents the rise and fall of Liverpool-based Tate and Lyle throughout the 20th century and the effect the closure of the two sites, Love Lane (now the Eldonian Village) and the river-based plant had on the local community. The event was well attended by past employees of the sugar giant and reflected the need to us to have a regular spot in our programme for screenings of films which have a strong community flavour.
on 7th May we held an afternoon discussion looking at the rise of gun related and violent crime in Liverpool. Our panel was made up of esteemed experts in this field including a representitive from Merseyside Police Matrix unit, a retired officer partly responsible for the Citysafe initative, a mother with a son currently in prison for committing murder and who is writing a screenplay about violent crime and a representitve from Liverpool Echo. The show was chaired by Liam Fogherty who dissected causes, effects and the representation of gun crime in Liverpool.
On 21st May (as seen below) we held the first of our Ways of Seeing webcasts with a virtual Nancy Davenport, University of the 3rd Age and The Windows Project.
June 4th saw the second part of our Cultural Commentators series this time chaired by Mandy Queen of Culture We began discussion with each person in the room listing their favourite event of 2008 with choices ranging from the Youth Orchestra to the decapitation of the Ringo topiary in South Parkway train station! What ensued was an interesting and diverse debate which concluded with one and all looking forward to the second half of the year and of the programme with great gusto. The event was covered by Liverpool Confidential to see the article click here.
Finally, last Wedensday 11th June tenantspin were on the couch with our second set of Ways of Seeing guests. Swedenish artist Otto Karvonen joined us via live skype-link-up from Helsinki for a discussion around the up-and-coming projects he is working with the Off the Page Writers group from North West Disability Arts Forum. We talked about writing in the public/not so public realm, signage and the effect it has on the cities citizens as well as the work of the Off the Page Group and how important the written word is to our everyday lives. Otto will be visiting Liverpool over the next couple of months to start his work so we look forward to seeing him in the flesh (and 6 foot smaller!)
Over the coming months there is no promise of a reprive in our schedule as we welcome Toxteth TV to FACT on 8th July 6.30 - 8.00 for L8A, a third Ways of Seeing webcast on the 9th; Hubbard and Birchler and Walton Youth Projects, on 30th July our Park Road Market debate surrounding local v’s global, 13th July The End of My World - a debate about the now topical global warming issues facing modern humans, on the 14th August we have the 4th Ways of Seeing with the Bluecoat Blueroom project and David Blandy and last but not least 17th September which is the last Ways of Seeing webcast, an open session days before the launch of the festival 2008 featuring a range of different artists and curators in Liverpool for the biennial. Phew!
tenantspin is very excited to present the first discussion in our six part Ways of Seeing Series 2008. For those of you that are new to us, tenantspin have been working with the Liverpool Biennial over the last 3 festivals, and in the build up we host a series of discussions aimed at giving us a bit of background leading up to the festival’s September launch.
In the broadcast below we welcomed, The Windows Project, University of the 3rd Age and artist Nancy Davenport who joined us all the way from America. Click here for more information about this years Biennial.
on the 7th of May, in the Box at FACT, tenantspin hosted a discussion about gun crime. Guest host Liam Fogarty welcomed onto the tenantspin couch: Andrew Edwards, Deputy Editor of Liverpool Echo and lead on Liverpool Unites charity and campaign, Ian MacDonald, Retired Police Officer and Initiator of CitySafe, Stephen Moore, Merseyside Police Matrix Unit and Tracy Dunn, Film-maker.
We asked the question: is Liverpool losing the battle against gun crime? See the discussion below.
Wednesday 16th April
Arrival in Dresden about 8.00pm very warm welcome at the hotel. Met in youth club ready for for broadcast at 2pm, which went very well. We had and interpreter by the name of ‘Emily’ which was a good help as we did not know any German.
Thursday 17th April
We went to Dresden today and it was a mixture of old and new buildings, one church had been rebuilt after the 2nd World War and was beautiful inside. We also saw other buildings which included a palace and then we returned to see the hosts presenting a film being made with green screen technology. Then we had lunch before a panel of people who were having an AGM discussion (pity it was in German)
Friday 18th April
Another trip to Dresden before returning to the community centre for another discussion. Friday night we went by invite to a preview of films by artists (animations) which were very good. We returned to the hotel early hours of the morning.
Saturday 19th April.
Breakfast at 8.30 taxi at 10.00am to take us to Dresden to catch the train to Berlin, lots of football fans and more food before climbing the 3 flights of stairs to catch the train to the airport - thus ending our three day trip to visit idee01239 in Prolis at the conference for Place Based Art. To watch the stream here
Blog written by Mavis Thomas.
tenantspin have just returned from The International Community Arts Festival (ICAF) in lovely Rotterdam. tenantspin interviewed participants and delegates attending the festival and asked the question “What does quality in Community Arts mean”. We also hosted a live discussion in a local retirement village, where we discussed the similarities and differences between Liverpool and Rotterdam.
We had a great time. Please watch this 20 minute compilation of our time at the Festival.
Patrick and I spent 27th March in Space gallery in Hackney, East London for their symposium On the Margins of Technology a day of ‘presentations and debate about realising the impacts of technology expanding and diversifying participation in art and society.’
We responded to a number of projects including Geezer Power a project which is run by Lorraine Leeson and the ‘Geezers’ some of whom included Dennis Banks, John Bevan, John Day, Ray Gipson and Ted Lewis. The project is based around accessing the Geezers collective experience and expertise of ways in which you can generate energy from already available resources. What they came up with was a turbine fixed to the Thames barrier which they hoped could either generate enough electricty for street lighting for their community.
Although the project was different to ours in the sense that it focusses on scientific subject matters rather than those of a creative or technological ilk we felt that their ethos really matched ours and we were inspired to start thinking about accessing the wonders of people over 55’s knowledge and expericence of life and how this should be tapped into when looking at the future of the planet for all of us.
We also responded to Mukul Patel and Fiona Fieber talking about User Manuals and ‘explaining technology’ which focusses on the relationship between the explaination of a product/entity and the usage of that in everyday life.
We really enjoyed our stay in London and met some inspirational and complex people and projects and are grateful to Space for inviting us down. For more information about Space gallery, Hackney please click here.
on the 26th of March, in the Box at FACT between 2pm - 3pm, tenantspin will host the first in a series of Cultural Commentaries. We will be looking back over the first few months of this momentous year for Liverpool. The live discussion is open to the public and all are welcome. But first, we want your opinions….
What cultural events have you attended this year?
What do you think the highlights have been?
What about Ringo?
Do you think this year will have a positive effect on how Liverpool is perceived?
What are you looking for from a year of Culture?
Please add your comments. This is your year, so speak up!
On the 5th of March, tenantspin and E-Space Lab connected with Shanghai and Hong Kong for a conversation about Christmas. A conversation about Christmas in March may seen a little strange but tenantspin had been working on a series of films about how the festive period is celebrated here in the UK, while groups in China collated footage of their New Year celebrations. Both groups discussed the differences and more importantly, the amount of shared customs. The discussion will be available very soon, and thanks to Phil Courtenay and Peter Hagerty from E-Space Lab and our friends in China.
tenantspin welcomed onto the couch Dr. John Hunt from UK BioTech Liverpool University, Anthony Mark Cutter, Senior Lecturer and Director of LLM, Medical Law and Bio Ethics, and Sharon Waldron from Transform Medical Group to discuss advances in medical technology, the effects on the body and the ethical implications of such works. This discussion was filmed as part of FACT’s Human Future’s Programme.
