I am back in Lancaster after my summer break, which was a bit eventful to say the least!. I am back in Lancaster doing my MA in Professional Contemporary Arts Practice (PROCAP for Short) at Lancaster Institute for The Contemporary Arts (LICA). I had a tour around the wonderful new building LICA have had developed, which is amazing! If I remember in time for my next blog entry, I will try and upload some pictures of the new building, it is a truly inspiring building!
Over the past few days I've trying to put some general themes together in terms of what I am most interested in artistically at the present moment.
The main theme which keeps coming back to me is the 1960's. For a few years now the appeal of the 1960's has grown on me. As I am only 21, I can probably say that I didn't live through the 1960's so of course I have lived with the mediated view of the 1960's through television, film, music and documentaries. My first film I really enjoyed watching was the Italian Job (1969), a film I still enjoy watching today. What attracts me to watch it is the glamour, the cars, the locations, its a boys film but its funny, glamourous and fast. The sense of determination and desire to improve life is seen in every aspect of 1960's. From the Labour leadership of Harold Wilson in 1964 in the UK replacing the Conservative PM Harold MacMillan and to probably the most glamorous American President in US political History John F Kennedy.
The sense of ambition is mirrored throughout the 60's from the space race, to the designs of the cars (Mini, Lamborghini Mura, Ford GT40), to travel, clothes and art, everything was changing, a new world seemed to be developing. Of course with only having a mediated view of the 60's one can forget some of the awful injustices that occurred in the period such as sexism, racism, homophobia which would horrify us today. The 60's for me are an incredible time for social and cultural change. Which is so exciting to watch from a position of not having lived in the period because, you are allowed briefly to see the 1960's as a perfect collaboration of design, innovation and change, forgetting the injustices and the inequalities because you are allowed to construct your own view of the 1960's. Not wishing to cause any offence hear by saying inequalities such as sexism and racism are fine, I HATE RACISM, SEXISM AND HOMOPHOBIA!. Its very much like the comparison with James Dean and Marlon Brando, you saw Brando get old, you never saw James Dean loose his youth, with a mediated view of the 1960's it will never loose its innocence and youth.
This brings me to the question of how to utilise this passion for the 1960's into performance? Well As an individual artist I don't have the scope for a huge theatrical piece but I am open to lots of ideas none the less. Currently it is serving as more of an inspiration for ideas rather than a piece about the 1960's as my main research / practical interests lie in media and performance / live art / digital art. For me the influence of the 1960's is still so apparent in modern society, most notably the comparisons between Barack Obama and JFK, the sense of destiny placed upon both Democrat Presidents and the sense of ambition and generation defining Presidencies. I still get so much inspiration from watching two of favourite TV shows 'Thunderbirds' and 'Captain Scarlet' because they are just so timeless and seem to be so modern and forward thinking, even though they were made 40 years ago. I guess what I am saying with all these things is that I am interested how the 1960's is still present in our shaping our society today, and how me as an artist can try and show that to audiences because I feel the influence of the 1960's socially and culturally is extremely dominant in shaping our lives. A very current example is the success of the hit HBO series 'Mad Men' has taken off, showing their is still a yurning for anything from the 1960's.
This week I am visiting the Cornerhouse in Manchester to see the UNSPOOLING - ARTISTS & CINEMA Exhibition (http://www.cornerhouse.org/art/info.aspx?ID=417&page=0) and also visiting the Manchester Art Gallery to see Recorders: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (http://www.manchestergalleries.org/whats-on/exhibitions/index.php?itemID=73)
Please Contact me:
http://twitter.com/#!/MarcusLilley - My Personal Twitter
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524662090 - My Personal Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124476677586329 - Lancaster Creative Arts Network, "A Network for all those involved in the creative arts in and around Lancaster to come together to share ideas, try out ideas, meet other people in the arts sector.
Actors, Directors, Artists, Film-makers, Co - Directors, Dancers, Musicians, Composers, Technicians, Video Artists, Digital Artists."
http://liveatlica.blogspot.com/ - LIVE AT LICA blog, where I am a regular contributor
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