Schizopolis 11/09/07
Below is a list of the names of The Dispirit Art Collective and descriptions of their work taken from the programme available at the opening of “Schizopolis” on 11th September 2007 at Holy Trinity Church in Leeds. The idea for the evening was to present a rare opportunity for a mixed-media collision of ideas on the city of today.
While offering an evening of art and entertainment, the event was also a means of raising money for a good cause, with the £500 profit from the £5 entrance being donated to the Big Issue in the North Trust.
Neil Hardy
Neil’s “popalyptic” paintings explore the narrative function of old religious triptychs whilst quoting Dada photomontages of the 1920s, pop art of the 1960s and the role of advertising and television in contemporary culture. Using traditional and modern painting techniques, Neil’s aim is to explore the 21st century obsession with the end of the world.
Demented Tonka Toys Fighting Chickens In The Dark
Demented Tonka Toys are a post-punk trio led by one of twin brothers, originally from Durham City, who say they have adopted Leeds as their home. Scared of modern day living, and especially the dominating media industry, DTT are trying to open up audiences to the value of music purely as enjoyment and not just as image. They quote early country music, existentialism and boredom as influences.
Andrew Dominic Bove
Best remembered for his performance in Ripon College’s 1993 production of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, story writer Bove was also a renowned clerk at Borders, and latterly the University of Leeds. Bove was a keen fantasist, with a special interest in escaping reality in depressing war time cinema. He was particularly fond of drawing the blackness inside his soul, and of children*, having a small and extremely clever son, Alex. Andrew wanted to be remembered as a lover of love, but, due to a misunderstanding at the mason’s, will be known in perpetuity as a lover of loaves.
(* in a good way)
Owen Findley
Combining elements of street photography from the 1960s and 1970s and more recent digital manipulations effects, Owen Findley’s images offer a fragmentary snapshot of the modern urban space. In some cases the image is the result of a digital combination of a number of photographs to make a single portrait of the city while other images are single shots taken over a number of weeks spent wandering the streets of Leeds.
Oko-oo-ho
Sebastian Juszcyk & Matt Parker are oko-oo-ho, an audio / visual project. oko-oo-ho create multimedia and multisensory projections of sound and moving image. Their current live show explores the theme of technologies’ rapid growth within a framework of diverse aesthetics. For the current project, Sebastian manipulates video cuts from original and sourced footage. He projects these images in a live setting using his notebook as a controller. Matt and Sebastian together have constructed an accompanying soundtrack that is simultaneously performed live with the projected images using guitar, mpc, keyboards, laptop sequencers, vocals, loop pedals and effects.
The Nervous Shakedown
The Nervous Shakedown re-emerged in their current guise late in 2006. Influenced by some, but with a fondness for unexpected reinvention, the band continues to go with what feels right to produce their sound. They describe their sound as a mixture of primal heavy grooves and experiments in the darker side of pop!
Alexis Snell
Artist Alexis produces monoprints from her studio space in Leeds, “but not serious ones” she says.
Music From The Loft
Music From The loft is a debut for Anthony Bedford and Iain Hill. Both have a background in electronic and sound engineering combined with a love of ambient music. The 45 minute piece represents a journey of a city worker in a single day where free time is represented positively and time dedicated to work and the city produces some darker tracks. Going against the usual ambient formulas, this piece gives the visitor a more intense experience of the moods the City provides.
Rachel Savage
Rachel’s paintings are informed from photographs, which she has taken in the cities’ parks (the “Park Series”) and from nature (the “Mountain Series”). The looming figure-like silhouettes of the trees in the park paintings give an impression of unease and conflict with the safety that the park traditionally offers as a place to relax. As for the mountain paintings: “The scale of the mountains brings an awareness of my own insignificance in the grand scheme of things, in time and as part of nature”.
Graham Creaton
Graham Creaton is an artist living and working in north Leeds. This series of sculptures is entitled “Inner City”. They seek to illustrate the experiences of living in a modern city. These are peoples’ homes, and their surroundings, the reality distorted by their emotions and aspirations. How they feel about the inside and the outside of their homes. What their dreams, for where they live, might look like.
Karen Dennis
Karen runs “Ketchup”, a recycled clothing range based in Leeds. A recent collaboration with Nicky Rai and Filthy Squirrel produced some of the photos on display. Shot at the disused Glass Factory in Leeds 6, Karen’s aim was to juxtapose scenes of urban decay with themes of identity and isolation, whilst making a comment on “hoodie” culture. Contrasting to this, also included, are shots of the clothing range in a nearby inner city park allotment.
Caroline’s Visuals
Caroline has been providing her unique blend of quirky projections and animations for artists, bands and club nights around the north of England for the past 2 years. Her hand made projections go way beyond the backdrop of the usual, with the aid of live camera feeds and a bespoke touch to create an atmosphere matched perfectly to the environment she and the artist are performing in.
Caroline’s Visuals are entertaining, sometimes hilarious and totally original, a must see.
Mik Artistik
Fresh from playing Glastonbury with his band “Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip”, comedian, singer, painter and writer Mik will be performing a one-off selection of his songs as poetry. King Gong winner at Manchester’s Comedy Store last month, Mik is a true Leeds legend. Whether he’s frequenting the local pubs and drawing people’s portraits on brown paper bags or performing his songs to delighted audiences Mik always has the power to surprise: “I remember a year ago we played the Packhorse in Leeds and these two Big Issue sellers came in to watch. They enjoyed the gig so much that they clubbed together to find £8 to buy a cd!”
Carl Stipetic
Music producer Carl took this striking photograph in 1979 on his way to the UK from Canada after living there as a musician, “It was six o’clock in the morning and there was nobody about”. From that point on, Carl felt a connection with the Twin Towers, in his words “the glory and the splendour of the buildings”.
Ben Blakey
Kicking the night off with his song ‘Mary’, Ben’s aim was to write “a song which comments on the paranoia amongst the popular media and the conservative public in regards to British youth.
The song uses the character of Mary as a way of expressing the over-sensationalised view that the youth are becoming out of control and growing up without morals”.
Andrew Fentham
Fresh from reading at this year’s Saltaire literature festival, poet Andrew was born in Birmingham in 1986. He currently lives and studies in Leeds.
Dan Wilson
Shakedown singer Dan has produced a series of apocalyptic Photoshop portraits of his friends specifically for the evening.
The Dispirit Art Collective 2007