This year we participated in the Luxury Goods Festival, performing in the programme ‘Moving Image’ at the Courtyard Theatre, Hoxton on 28 April. We were not familiar with this venue and, although we arrived at the theatre early to set up our equipment, as usual it was a last minute rush to get everything working in time for our slot in the programme. This theatre has a very pleasant, welcoming atmosphere but for projection it was only possible to use a screen set on the stage (smaller than we had anticipated). It was also difficult for Dima to find a suitable position to set up our tripod for the video capture.
Photographer Patrick Foster kindly sent me this nice photo and below is Dima’s video clip from our performance. It is all shot at the same rather awkward oblique angle but this at least provides some kind of record of the event. Because my drawing area was limited to the dimensions of the screen on the stage it was not really possible for me properly to follow our intended ‘programme’ and although I was drawing over some footage that we have used before (from Dima’s project ‘Being Here’) our set turned out to be something of a jam session. The music is from (one of our favourite albums) ‘Blue Moustache’ by our friends from Rotterdam, the band Coolhaven.
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/23752482]
The following evening we set up the Tagtool for a little party at Liquid Studios (where we did outdoor projections last year during the Hackney Wicked Festival). In the studios’ communal area the projection set up, covering the wall from floor to ceiling, became a real installation, and we used the same video footage and music to accompany the drawing as we used at Hoxton. In the first video Ed Hathaway and I took turns to draw (which was not easy for him as he is right handed and we were using my left handed Tagtool all-in-one!)
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/23790019]
Next to ‘have a go’ at the party was another right hander, figurative painter Mick Martin, who is a very old friend of ours (and also did some drawing last year at the Hackney Wicked Festival). Despite having to draw ‘cross handed’ he gave a really virtuoso performance as you can see in the video below – and don’t miss the brief appearance (and participation) of some of the audience as well….
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/23794452]
Postscript.
While I went off for a holiday in Cornwall, Dima remained at the studios and he acquired a new ‘toy’ – Kinect. It’s his new ‘most favourite thing’ so I’ve included below a clip of him trying it out (with the help of some of our friends at the studios).
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/23853362]
I’ve had a go at dancing with Hatsune Miku too – certainly great for a party, but Dima has plans to use MMD in some of our studio projects in the future……we’ll see!