Thematically the curated visual art programme for Wirksworth Festival interrogates the commonalities, the contrasts and the conflicts in the relationship between Art & Architecture, how we perceive and experience the built environment that we inhabit but often never truly see.
Art intervenes in buildings and spaces throughout Wirksworth, and this year there is a strong international flavour. At the Parish Room, Japanese artist Goh Ideta, whose Cube Ring enthralled many people last year, returns with new interactive lightworks which play with our sense of our physical relationship with architectural space, supported by Sasakawa UK Foundation; at the same venue Caitlin Masley, an outstanding American photographic artist shows 2D and 3D work, using kaleidoscopic repeats and collaged imagery of iconic, industrial, dysfunctional and war-damaged buildings; French artist Bibi constructs the Bibigloo, ostensibly a functional building, which appears in Wirksworth for the duration of the Festival, entirely manufactured from recycled red 20 litre plastic petrol canisters and lit from within, creating a tension between the iconic Arctic home and the fuel of global warming.
Moving image is a feature of the programme. Tony Hill, one of the UK’s leading experimental film-makers, shows Doors, a new multi-channel film installation at the Parish Rooms, alongside London-based Darshana Vora’s Walks in Silence, a rhythmic architectonic visual diary of the city by night, and Phillip Johnson’s Manhattan, which playfully transposes the setting of Woody Allen’s famous film to Leeds, both as a joke about Hollywood remakes and as a heartfelt dedication to Phillip’s home town. For the first time we have an Artists’ Film & Video Salon, with entries from all over the world, at the Town Hall on Saturday 18 September.
St Mary’s Church is the site of three interventions: Derby-based sculptor David Booth’s suspended sculpture physically models statistics on births, marriages and Wirksworth parish records, using tens of thousands of coloured balloons hanging in the void of the belltower; Michael Miller’s triptych of mirror-gloss black canvases reflects back to viewers both themselves and the massive architectural space they occupy, subtly distorted by the stretching and distortion of the paint’s skin; and the Makers’ Selection Panel have invited renowned ceramicist Ashley Howard to install his Ritual and Setting series, placing his hand-made fonts amongst the sacred vessels of the church.
Even in the streets of Wirksworth there is no escape from contemporary art. There is optical trickery, with 3D imagery from Sam Paechter of Boffin Projects placing phantom objects in shops throughout the town, French artist Flore Gardner wrapping St Mary’s Church in a mile of French knitting as part of her re:place commission on Saturday 18 September, and felt-maker Denise Stanton, local choreographer Debi Hedderwick and musician Tullis Rennie creating a collaborative performance for the Heritage Centre and the Market Place for the Trail Weekend. Tim Haynes’ Land_Slice is a 50-metre light installation, which by night will appear against the backdrop of the Gilkin and fade with the morning light. Lucy Steven’s Don’t Shoot the Messenger invites you to retrace a visitor’s footsteps around Wirksworth to experience a different type of audio tour; listen to the sounds of the town through intense 360-degree binaural audio recordings and become immersed in a narrative that explores the town from the viewpoint of a bird looking down from the rooftops. During the Trail Weekend visitors can play a game of chance, creating an experience unique to each individual as they take a ride in Metro-Boulot-Dodo’s Whispers rickshaw, putting on headphones and immersing themselves in a world where secret pockets hide intriguing objects that contemplate the nature of journeys and destiny, classical Chinese music, low-fi electronica, new technology and story telling all intermingling to create a philosophical ride.
Elsewhere the Visual Art Selection Panel have picked the cream of this year’s graduates from the East Midlands for Graduate Focus, showing a range of work including photography, installation, fine art and sculpture. The new Eco Centre on the National Stone Centre site hosts RIBA’s 50|50, a touring exhibitioncelebrating our region’s architecture and the fifty landmark buildings in the East Midlands from 1960-2010.
On the second weekend you can spend Saturday 18 September exploring the selected and curated shows in depth, meeting the artists, and rounding off the day with the Artists’ Film & Video Salon.
Wirksworth Festival wouldn’t be Wirksworth Festival without the extravaganza that is the Art & Architecture Trail and Makers’ Market, and as usual there is a vast amount to see with work by 100 artists and makers at over 70 venues on the 11 and 12 September.
For more information visit the Wirksworth Festival website or contact info@wirksworthfestival.co.uk
