David Shrigley 'Brain Activity'

‘Brain Activity’ couldn’t have been better timed. With 2012 promising little but a gloomy economy and even more uncertainly ahead, we could really all do with a bit of laughter. Shrigley’s aim behind ‘Brain Activity’ was just this: to make people laugh, and he does it very, and somewhat surprisingly, successfully.

As visitors walk around the upper rooms of the Hayward Gallery, they really are laughing out loud and it doesn’t take too long to understand why. Shirgley has a skill of observing life and it’s banality from an absurdist point of view, taking familiar items and transforming them into obscure objects of comedy. Take the taxidermy squirrel, which holds it’s own decapitated head as it would a nut, or the stuffed dog that bears a sign simply stating, ‘I’m dead’. Perhaps you’ll glance upon the photographs on the wall, one of which depicts a tiny container in the middle of a building site labelled ‘leisure centre’. Another is the image of a note stuck to a tree with the words: ‘Missing pigeon. Normal size. A bit mangy-looking. Does not have a name’.

Shrigley’s works are doused in irony and there are definite influences of the surreal amongst the 240 pieces on display. A gigantic cup filled with real tea sits in the middle of one floor, whilst the animation of a headless drummer is projected onto the back wall. Filling a quarter of one of the rooms is an unnerving sculpture in which hundreds of black, metallic, ant-like forms appear to be crawling hurriedly to and fro carrying weapons and disturbing objects on their backs. This is the kind of work that makes your skin crawl and is reminiscent of nightmares of a dark underworld.

Shrigley’s simplistic black and white drawings are also very funny. His depiction of ‘career’ is an endless tunnel with a bemused stick man at the beginning of it, whilst on another we see a cat shaking hands with a mouse after it agreed not to kill it, to which the mouse replies “thanks”.

Unlike some contemporary art exhibitions ‘Brain Activity’ has no ego and absolutely no pretence. There is a ’matter of fact’ air about the exhibition, conveyed even through its very title, yet he juxtaposes this objectivity with a sense of fantastic hilarity and we become transported into another world.

Perhaps this is the point. Shrigley asks us to forget the doom and gloom of our own reality by inviting us into a world where imagination runs rife and laughter is irrepressible.

‘Brain Activity’ currently runs at The Hayward Gallery until 13th May.

Bristol Arts Week

Bristol University student, Rosanna Wollenberg, discovered a burgeoning opportunity for budding artists to showcase their talent through a student-run festival: Bristol Arts Week. The art extravaganza aims to celebrate the creativity of students who often produce compelling art outside of their studies. "So many of my friends are incredible artists, and there is so much talent here that simply doesn't get seen" she says, "I thought it was time to invite people to exhibit their works in a festival that is wholly focused on students and their fresh artistic expression".

Bristol Arts Week, which is relying solely on donations, sponsorship and the assistance of volunteers, will showcase a variety of works including original short films, photography workshops, open-mic nights, live graffiti and poetry readings in venue 'The Showroom and Parlour'. Rosanna is running the festival in conjunction with Bristol council's 'Capacity' initiative, in which local empty spaces are loaned to promote the work of local artists. Despite the fact that Bristol Arts Week is launching on the 20th February, Rosanna is still hotly pursuing participants, "I am very much looking for local artist support as well as sponsorship from local companies who want to get involved. My aim is to unite student artists with Bristol's established art scene so that we have one huge celebration of creativity".

On the 25th February the Showroom and Parlour will host an event for The Bear Pit Rejuvenation Project which seeks to transform an old, blighted underpass in Bristol into a brand new, multi-functional, creative space. "I am so excited about collaborating with The Bearpit project. I share their vision of heralding the arts within Bristol and am looking forward to seeing what they will do with the space".

Bristol Arts Week launches on the 20th February and runs until the 25th. If you're in the area, get done there, and get creative. You can follow the Bristol Arts Week blog for a schedule of events.

If you would like to sponsor this event, please email: Bristolartsweek@gmail.com

Cathedral Lights Up The Sky

An Italian family business have dressed the Luminarie Cagna, Belgium's biggest cathedral, with over 55,000 LED lights. The cathedral drew over 200,000 people from across the globe, and illuminated the night sky at the second annual Festival of Lights in Ghent, Belgium.