Visual Arts at NNF10
NORFOLK & NORWICH FESTIVAL Visual Arts Programme 2010
Startling architectural interventions, large-scale touring exhibitions and ambitious new commissions will transform the city of Norwich this May as Norfolk & Norwich Festival (NNF10) presents its first ever visual arts programme.
Norfolk & Norwich Festival (7 – 22 May 2010) is the international arts festival for the East of England programming music, theatre, circus, dance, outdoor spectaculars and for the first time, visual arts for 16 days each May.
Acclaimed artist Tim Etchells crosses boundaries between performance and visual arts. His series of neon signs will infiltrate sites across the city from street corners to shop windows. Intriguing fragments of private dialogue draw the viewer in – “Please come back I am sorry about what happened”. Intimate messages are transformed from private communication into public plea, their urgent language at odds with the fixed nature of signage - “Wait I have gone to get help”.
Etchells will also premiere a new performance work using mobile phone texts. A Short Message Spectacle (SMS) will take place over sixteen days in diverse locations across an imaginary city. Audiences who subscribe will receive a series of evocative text messages allowing an extraordinary piece of theatre to unfold from the comfort of their living room.
Artist Kurt Perschke will premiere his internationally acclaimed RedBall Project throughout the streets of Norwich. Reflecting on and drawing attention to the landscape and history of the city, a 4.5metre red inflatable ball will appear in 13 different locations over the 16 day Festival. From the Cathedral Gate and medieval city lanes to Norman Foster’s iconic Sainsbury Centre, RedBall: Norwich will be squeezed into unlikely nooks and crannies across the city centre.
In addition to new outdoor commissions, the city’s main public galleries will be showing a series of special exhibitions. Pop photography comes to Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery with Beatles to Bowie: The Sixties Exposed an exhibition showcasing iconic images of pop legends such as David Bowie, Marianne Faithfull, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. Music is also the subject of an exhibition at Norwich University College of the Arts. The Rock ‘n Roll Library brings together an Aladdin’s Cave of music memorabilia from magazines, books and posters to plane tickets, lyric sheets and stage clothes – all collected by musician Mick Jones (guitarist from the Clash and Big Audio Dynamite). At the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, The Artist’s Studio offers a fascinating exploration of the hidden world of the artist’s studio though a collection of paintings, drawings, prints and photographs from Rembrant, Cezanne and Turner to Antony Gormley, Lucien Freud and Andy Warhol. Finally, The Forum hosts Points of Perception, a collaborative project between artist Madi Boyd and two neuroscientists, Dr Mark Lythgoe and Dr Beau Lotto whose multimedia sculpture is an immersive experience that aims to confuse the human brain.
Norfolk & Norwich Artistic Director, Jonathan Holloway said: “The visual arts programme in NNF10 is at once playful and contemplative, irreverent and urgent. It will use the heritage and vibrancy of the city of Norwich to transform the way it is experienced and remembered by the people who live here and the people who visit.”
Now in its 239th year Norfolk & Norwich Festival already has an impressive reputation for it broad-ranging programme and highlights this year include dance by Michael Clark Company and music by John Cale and Michael Nyman. With many events outdoors and free the new visual arts programme will broaden the scope of the Festival and bring the city alive with the best in visual arts, from important exhibitions to major new commissions.
To find out more or request a brochure, please visit www.nnf10.org.uk or call 01603 877750.
ENDS
For more information, please contact Penny Sychrava on: 0796 791 5339 or at pennysychrava@hotmail.com
NNF10 Visual Arts Programme
Kurt Perschke, RedBall: Norwich
7 – 22 May, Norwich City Centre, FREE
Tim Etchells, Neon Signs
7 – 22 May, Norwich City Centre, FREE
Tim Etchells, A Short Message Spectacle (An SMS)
7 – 22 May, FREE (text NNF, postcode, age to 60777)
The Artist’s Studio
9 Feb – 23 May, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (closed on Mondays), Tickets £4 (concessions £2)
Beatles to Bowie: the Sixties Exposed
8 May – 5 Sept, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Special exhibition tickets £3.30 (adult), £2.80 (concessions), £2.40 (young people 4 – 16)
Mick Jones, The Rock & Roll Public Library
13 April – 22 May (closed on Sundays), Gallery at Norwich University College of the Arts, FREE
Madi Boyd, Points of Perception
7 – 22 May, Fusion at The Forum (coordinated by Norwich Arts Centre) FREE
Museum at Night Special
19 May, 5pm – 11pm, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, FREE
