Monday 12 October 2009

Beeston Castle V1.1 from Andrew Howe on Vimeo.

Interloper by Patricia Mackinnon-Day


View Spaces: Interlopers in a larger map

Interloper: Patricia Mackinnon-Day

The Interloper is seeking to raise levels of social capital with a Habitats & Hillforts residency and a series of art projects to explore the idiosyncrasy of rural communities as well as being an intensive investigation of the natural world along the sandstone trail. 2009 - 2011.

SONGS OF THE TRIASSIC SEA - Ram Your Spike

Being the second of four lyric poems inspired by the Weaver Valley and Winsford Waterfront.

Written and composed by W. Terry Fox (Cheshire Poet Laureate 2008 & 2009)

Commissioned by Spaces

Presented here scripted for film. Running time approx. 20 mins.


(ii)

~ RAM YOUR SPIKE ~

EXTERIOR: INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE, CHESHIRE - IDEALLY, RUINS OF OLD CHEMICAL PLANT - WITH CUTS TO FILM CLIPS OF OPEN PAN SALT MAKING.

TIME: EARLY 20TH CENTURY.

PERFORMER: A LUMPMAN FRONTING AN ACOUSTIC FOLK BAND. THE LUMPMAN AND THE MUSICIANS ARE WEARING OUTDOOR CLOTHES APPROPRIATE TO THE PERIOD AND TO THEIR OCCUPATIONS. THE LYRIC IS SUNG THROUGHOUT.

[80 BPM. DROPPED D. CAPO 4. GUITAR, MANDOLIN, CELLO, SMALL MALE VOICE CHOIR]

LUMPMAN: At Meadow Bank where I was born
Draw your rake and hap the block
We fire our brine pans up at dawn
Ram your spike and fill the loft

Live out your life in smoke and grime
Draw your rake and hap the block
Sweat for your money at the bubbling brine
Ram your spike and fill the loft

A Union lass, she likes her man
Draw your rake and hap the block
Stripped to the waist with his happer in his hand
Ram your spike and fill the loft

With two half barrels on your feet
Draw your rake and hap the block
Dodge the pan in the blinding heat
Ram your spike and fill the loft

Your money will spend and your clogs will rot
CHOIR: Huh!
L’MAN & CHOIR: Draw your rake and hap the block
LUMPMAN: Touch your cap to the Union boss
CHOIR: Huh!
L’MAN & CHOIR: Ram your spike and fill the loft


[INSTRUMENTAL VARIATION 2X]


LUMPMAN: When poverty turns a man blackleg
CHOIR: Huh!
L’MAN & CHOIR: Draw your rake and hap the block [CLAP END 3 BEATS]
LUMPMAN: Send him off with your mundling peg
CHOIR: Huh!
L’MAN & CHOIR: Ram your spike and fill the loft [CLAP END 3 BEATS]


LUMPMAN: Come lumpmen, wallers, loftmen too
CHOIR: Huh!
L’MAN & CHOIR: Draw your rake and hap the block [CLAP END 3 BEATS]
LUMPMAN: Here’s salt in your beer to the Union crew
CHOIR: Huh!
L’MAN & CHOIR: Ram your spike and fill the loft. [CLAP END 3 BEATS]

[INSTRUMENTAL VARIATION 2X]

THERE IS A SILENCE SHORTLY FOLLOWED BY ESTABLISHING SHOTS OF THE CONTEMPARY WINSFORD WATERFRONT WITH AMBIENT SOUND.

Thursday 25 June 2009

FRAMING IDENTITY

8 May to 26 September 2010

From 8 May to 26 September 2010, Tatton Park will stage its second Biennial of contemporary art, with up to 20 commissioned works responding to the site and notions of identity that emerge from it. Landscape as a social platform; social divides reflected in landscape; a sense of place in relation to the macro- and immediate vicinity of the Park; the relevance of the boundary wall that encircles its 1,000-acres; people who work at the site and know it intimately and those who live in the very different estates that ring Tatton and are not included among its current visitors are all subjects of enquiry. The opportunity to re-examine the site as a living and evolving subject rather than as an historical keepsake is at the heart of 2010.

Partners from across the arts and cultural sectors in the Northwest and the UK are working with the Biennial to deliver a programme that will extend the reach of the event to national and international audiences. There will be several commissioning opportunities involving multiple sites and organisations like museums, universities and community groups.

There are three commissioning schemes: curators’ invitation; peer recommendation and open competition, which will work to develop the artistic scope of the Biennial as it locates itself as a dynamic laboratory for experimentation and exchange. Artists working internationally will be commissioned alongside some of the most innovative emerging artists in Britain, with work taking on a variety of media, from large-scale installation to film, video, book & web-works and performance, with new collaborations throughout.

Ongoing Tatton Biennial Commissions