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field day
words dani
30th July 2010
music

Ah, Field Day. The only music festival, to my knowledge, where you can watch an array of fine international bands, eat some homemade cakes and partake in an egg-and-spoon race.

Field Day has been running for four years, the brainchild of Tom Baker of Eat Your Own Ears. What really makes the day special is the festival's Village Green arena and its Village Mentality activities. As they put it, the arena is "inspired by country pastimes and simpler pleasures, while not forgetting domestic drudgery and adolescent sports days". Meringue eating competitions, tug-of-wars, Blindfold Tea Drinking Relay Races, scone-throwing contests and much more - what's not to like?

You can peruse the musical line-up on their website. If you're at a loss about which act deserves your precious attention, we've taken the liberty of making some suggestions:

Holly Miranda (2pm @ Eat Your Own Ears Stage)

Memory Tapes (2:15pm @ Bugged Out Stage)

The Kissaway Trail (2:30pm @ Adventures in the Beetroot Field Stage)

Egyptian Hip Hop (3:30pm @ Adventures in the Beetroot Field / Last FM Stage)

Lightspeed Champion (4:15pm @ Eat Your Own Ears Stage)

These New Puritans (4:30pm @ Adventures in the Beetroot Field / Last FM Stage)

No Age (5:30pm @ Adventures in the Beetroot Field / Last FM Stage)

Archie Bronson Outfit (7:30pm @ Village Mentality / The Quietus Stage)

Atlas Sound (7:30pm @ Adventures in the Beetroot Field / Last FM Stage)

Caribou (8pm @ Eat Your Own Ears Stage)

Chapel Club (8:45pm @ Adventures in the Beetroot Field / Last FM Stage)

Silver Apples (8:45pm @ Village Mentality / The Quietus Stage)

Mouse On Mars (9:45pm @ Village Mentality / The Quietus Stage)

Phoenix (9:45pm @ Eat Your Own Ears Stage)

The Fall (Eat Your Own Ears Stage)

[approximate stage times, folks]

Field Day takes place this Saturday the 31st in Victoria Park, London. Tickets are £33.33 + bf and are still available to buy through their site.

Some of the Oh Comely team will outside the gates early in the day with a pile of magazines to give away, so come find us and say hello! We'll also have sweets. You can have some if you say the super-secret magic code word. The word is "jellybean."

The people at the Impossible Project have been winding back time. After the factory of the much-loved Polaroid film closed its doors, they bought it up and have been working to bring back the medium.

Today, the first flush edition of their colour film goes on sale. They say, "PX 70 Color Shade is reminiscent of the beloved expired, original Polaroid Time Zero film."

We have some free packs of their B&W handiwork to give away in our second issue, which will be out on August 9th. Have a look at magazine to choose an edition.

Colour polaroid film

The UK film industry needs you, and you can help by catching the last couple of showings of the Rushes Soho Shorts film festival at the ICA. 

There's a cluster of emerging talent in the newcomers category, including our own Alex Orchard-Lisle. His film, The Progression of Love is on tonight at 6.15. It's the brief tale of a couple stuck together on a train platform.

 

It's with some sadness that we've discovered that our guerilla garden has met a sad and dusty end, thanks to construction work going on partially over the plot. Last time we checked there was just one remaining lily looking tall and proud.

We'd love to revive it when the building work is over. If you'd like to help and can get to central London, drop us a line on [email protected]. We'll welcome you with open arms and a very large bag of compost. 

Tagine, the oh comely sheep, trotted into our office ready and waiting to be painted a coupe of weeks ago. We're painting a sheep as part of the Gibbard Art Gallery's forthcoming Henry Moore exhibition in Harlow, Essex. Tangine's not had a drop of paint near her so far. But this Tuesday at 11 o'clock, her time has come. We've had some fantastic suggestions about how to approach painting her wooly fleece, and we'll be taking inspiration from these. Drop me a line if you can make it and we'll look forward to seeing you there.

unto this last
words natalie bouloudis
14th July 2010
craft

Can craft also be contemporary art? Mosey on down to Raven Row's latest exhibition and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Unto This Last pays homage to the esteemed John Ruskin whose writings inspired the Arts and Craft movement, as eight artists explore the role of craftsmanship in modern artworks.

All three floors of the beautiful eighteenth century building have been taken over by works like Isabelle Cornaro's Homonymes 2. Here animal figurines, tools and even the surface have all been cast in grey plaster. The combination of decorative and domestic objects aims to challenge our perspective of representation.

Isabelle Cornaro, Homonymes 2, 2010, Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris

There is also Sarah Brownes's Common Knowledge, featuring a series of individually framed flowers that have been pressed within the pages of sociology and philosophy books. By adopting the hobby made famous by Victorian ladies and referring to the traditionally male-dominated texts, the artist provokes a head-on interface between conceptualism and craft. And the most impressive work comes in the form of Dewar & Gicquel's giant clay hippopotamus, where if you look closely, you can find the artists' fingerprints and footmarks remaining visibly intact.

Dewar & Gicquel, Untitled, 2010, Courtesy of the artists and Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris

The overall effect is a real celebration of dexterity and getting your hands dirty, whilst also revealing how good craft can produce some really alluring art. Until This Last is showing at Raven Row until 25th July 2010.

Well done to the vegetable puppets of Theatre Borscht for a stirring performance of Anna Karrotenina at the Festival of the Nine Muses. The festival is a one-day affair set in the lovely grounds of Milton Manor. This year was the first in a nine-year cycle that will honour each of the Muses in turn.

The audience were very taken with Anna the carrot, and were so convinced by the show's hammy Russian accents that they were surprised to find the performers spoke perfect English.

shop, craft, dance!
words rosanna durham
7th July 2010
events

Bust magazine are holding their annual Craftacular this weekend and we're excited. Held in the excellent York Hall in the east of the city, Bust is rocking London again with their eclectic, annual event.

The day promises music, craft, DIY, delicious food and even beginners Swing dancing lessons. We're looking forward to combing the 60 stalls, Tatty Devine's colour-in jewellery and The Make Lounge's fascinator headpiece workshops. Entry is a snip at £2 and it's running all day. Find more information here.