Tag: #getcultured

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2022: CULTURE/HULL/GOOD LIFE

by anetesooda1 Comment on 2022: CULTURE/HULL/GOOD LIFE



As per tradition this blog post is here just before we clock off for 2022: mic-drop kind of send off from me.
It’s been a funny year you know, but amongst all the “life give you lemons, some good for a lemonade, some can go in the bin” there has been culture outings and some awesome jobs in the city.

You will see that my culture wonders are not as frequent in my 2022, but I still believe that our city gives us cultural treats for us to feast on and we embrace it. To some I wishfully never went to, but things I did attend made me smile, wonder and love the city (you know I am a big fan of Hull). 

This year was big and important for myself, and it was almost like stepping on the other side, where the light is.
The start of 2022 was tough and most days my head was rolling into the mud, my body trying to catch it, but I didn’t give in. New home came, I found somebody who is worthy of me trying to stay sane and hopeful for the future, then my new lush job came (job interview with a glass of wine and a onesie: not a luxury, but necessity), great freelance jobs kept popping up and then I found love. On the very last day of the year, I look back and it was the best year in decades. 
Today I am grateful and ready for 2023. 
We all know it’s going to be a difficult year, everyone skint and worried, world around us is falling apart, opinionated and angry species that poison the happy and good, climate change probably is going to throw some surprises our way and so on. 
As individuals we need to focus on our own good deeds, be nice and do our best, be open minded and engaged, care and love, respect and never take for granted. And the shit that come our way will be easier to deal with. Simple, isn’t it? And never forget about art and culture, we all need it in our lives.

Which brings me to my main subject: CULTURE IN HULL 2022

2022 started with a spectacular event across the city that Freedom Festival Trust trust brought to us: The Awakaning.  “It’s initial creation was a way of driving audiences to significant cultural landmarks within the city of Hull as part of an outdoor cinema experience. Beautifully using the environment and the historic buildings that line the streets by projecting on to them at night, Re:Score allowed the audience to connect with warm, nostalgic footage from the past with a reimagined, bespoke musical soundtrack.”  

Source: Freedom Festival Trust 

Amongst everyone’s favourite events in Hull the light shows will always be on the top of the list, to layer Hull landmarks in stories about Hull with visuals and lightshows works magic. The attendances were amazing and in my personal spectrum, me and my partner learned things as we went along. 

Ferens Art Gallery as usual gave an interesting exhibition BRICK BY BRICK by Andy Morris 

Designer Andy Morris, aka Little Big Art, is based in Cardiff and specialises in making LEGO® themed artworks. He has exhibited his work internationally. 

His work, Popcorn Time! 2018,  was exhibited in Ferens this year and aren’t we just lucky. It was fun, as cheesy as it sounds, but it was also very detailed and genius/beautiful. Kids area had a space to build your won and me at 32 seized the opportunity. 

At the same time there was more exhibits that tickled my fancy too:

Freedom Festival this year was not pencilled in my freelance diary, but on the last day I went out to see couple of the events. 

SIRENS at the Tidal Barrier, GF Smith PORTAL: A JOURNEY THROUGH COLOUR down Humber Street, 2Face Dance LAST ORDERS down Princess Dock Street were my last-minute choices. All of which brought smiles, inquisitive thoughts, questions and nevertheless another link to the city built through cultural experience 

GF Smith exhibition photographs have vanished in my archives, but one for the eye and memory I suppose.

UNBOXED ABOUT US in April was the favourite. I guess another light show in the city that was a visual spectacular, but for me it was very special. In silence at late hours, I visited Queen Victoria Square and found my seat. I watched it I my own time, in the space I built for my self with someone I love.  

I visited Humber Street Gallery on few occasions for leisure and work purposes, nice stroll down the lovely street always ends there.

BLOOMBERG NEW CONTEMPORARIES 2022 was hosted at the Humber Street Gallery in November. It contained various artist and artworks and as stated is an annual survey exhibition of emerging and early career artist. From my own Google search Humber Street Gallery kind of nailed this: it is  prestigious opportunity and lucky us [again] 

Throughout the year I also did some cool freelance jobs closely Hull culture related: 

Absolutely Cultured LUMINARIUM 

Absolutely Cultured FAST FOOD MEGAVERSE by The Herd Theatre . This was commissioned cultural outing, it was family-friendly, all age groups welcome type of happy event.

Good Things Market in April was MEGA 

HULL COMEDY FESTIVAL 2022 where I literally tipped up on the last day [I was very busy] 

Humber Street Gallery hosted one of the best things of 2022. Silent Uproar is an award-winning theatre company based in Hull and I had an opportunity to photograph one of their shows.  

Big thing this year was getting involved with Risky Cities Project for Hull University. I was asked to cover many events and I loved it.  

“The city of Hull and Humber estuary region has an 800-year history of living with water risks, including recorded floods from the 1250s onwards and several major floods since 2000. Despite this, research has found that residents have a low engagement with flood risks and adaptation measures, such as flood alert systems. 

In response, the local councils, alongside the Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water and the University of Hull, have developed the Living with Water Partnership with the principle aim of increasing awareness and engagement in the region. 

The Risky Cities project will contribute to this partnership by drawing on Hull’s long history of living with water – as recorded in its artistic and cultural heritage – to raise climate awareness and build flood resilience today and for the future” 

Source: Risky Cities 

The project focused on engaging with local communities across the city and that was the “juice” of the project. The conversation around the subject was vital and I learned so much throughout the workshops, talks and exhibitions.   

New Year’s culture resolution: to be more out in the culture, monthly visits. More frequent none-work related culture wonders.
This is the seventh-year culture blogging anniversary and I want to celebrate double that, so let’s get cultured.

YOURS TRULY 

ANETE SOODA PHOTO

 

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That mystery trip of 2002

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on That mystery trip of 2002

This was when we were able to do fun things, mingle, to breathe on each other and stay over. I was c h e e s e f a c e happy and excited to go on my first real British National Holiday Mystery Tour with other three friends. I was excited about the mystery location, about the grannies on the coach, about eating crisps on the coach and, most importantly, wonder around new cities, soak up new culture and relax. We even had a little betting game of where we will go. If I correctly remember I was the closest one to guess with putting Coventry in line and I won a pint of beer. Lichfield and Derby on the day 2 were our mystery locations, and, although not really tropical and exotic at first thought, it was a pretty good. We actually got soaked more than normal in August, and it was rather nippy for the time of the year, but we survived that too.

Since the current states is a bit plain in my line of work, I’m finally getting time to edit and revisit old personal and semi personal imagery/content.

Two main attraction points was the stunning Lichfield Cathedral and Darby Museum and Art Gallery with two exhibitions – Bare Bones and Wild: A Celebration of the Natural History of the British Isles

The best thing about the concept of mystery trip is the unknown. No pre planning was that little freedom. We just set ourselves to a random direction and strolled through beautiful town centre through Lichfield Cathedral

It goes without saying that the cathedral was gorgeous and it had little exhibits [including a children’s play area with a coffin as a centrepiece].

It resembled Hull Minster and how these incredible buildings can be used not just to pray, but also bring communities and people together with art flare in the middle.

The cathedral is enormous and takes time to walk around, but the view up is stunning.

Lichfield was welcoming and friendly, good vibes and all that was enhanced by an accidental farmers market with something for everyone – alpaca meat, apple moonshine and ice lolly artworks.

Day two brought rain. Enough rain to skip exploring Derby and hide into Darby Museum and Art Gallery.

It was actually funny visit to a museum/art gallery with three grown ups with different interests in life. We laughed, learned stuff and were fascinated by the collection of bugs and creepy crawlers. Skeletons, drawing stuff, assembling horse and escaping hunger with weird sausage rolls.

I loved the intense red at the Bare Bones. From seeing so many exhibitions over the years valued its great ability to educate and amaze at the same time.

The other big part was the Wild: A Celebration of the Natural History of the British Isles and this had a mixed reaction. Some of the bugs and creatures raised goosebumps with my imagination flying to the worse scenarios and confrontation with them.

But it was beautifully set out and organised teaching me all about British Isles wildlife.

And there was there rest of the museum and gallery – again, very good and educational with not many yawns.

It was a shame that the rain spoiled seeing the city, but we probably wouldn’t have seen these beauties, so all good and forgiven. We did had Derby sausage rolls and saw the giant sheep. Plus visited the entertainment centre and played some indoor games.

Fun times, fun times. All being well we might be able to repeat that in 2025. Maybe. But for now we listen to Boris, say thank you for good health and plan our future dream destinations.

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 43

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 43

Week 43 of photo challenging myself with Hull17 has been a bit of a weeeirrrd one. I was feeling snoozy, poorly and busy all week and the culture just seemed to slip through my hands. However – I did see The Sixteen Thousand at C4DI, PRACTICE IN PROGRESS at Queens House Showcase run by CreativeENRG and 1% of the current HIP PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL at Princess Quay.
And then on Saturday – my snooziest day of the week I woke up to realise that I need to get some fresh air and had a stroll through Humber Street just before it gets drunk and celebratory.

The Sixteen Thousand was a planned trip to C4DI.

_Z1A0180WEEK 43 bI was one of the first ones there and it felt like the little clay brick exhibit is undergoing some work processes. The workman boots near the entrance where suggesting so.

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It turned out that someone from a building company was there to measure and asses each individual brick for a little future monument.

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The Sixteen Thousand is incredible collection of little imprints of the new generation. My favourite bricks are the wonky ones. Nothing is perfect in this remarkable world so to see the little bricks not being manufactured perfect makes more sense out of this world.

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Last week I really wanted to see the HIP PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL in full. But I was time pressure so I just passed by and looked at small part of the festival located on the ground floor of Princess Quay.

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On Thursday I had a meeting at the Queens House Showcase  and I wanted to take an advantage of it and see the new PRACTICE IN PROGRESS exhibition. It hosts two artists, Both graduates of Hull School of Art & Design – Matt Hopper and Adam John Wilson.

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The artwork speaks in detail, precision and I really wanted to chat with artists to know more about their work. But one of the artists was not present, the other one was busy, so I hope to return there at some point before it ends on the 10th November and have a chat with the artists.

I was not sure about the UNDEAD BOD thing, I had so many questions of why, how, when and where, but again, I need to hear from the artist before make any judgements.
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By Saturday I was drained and really wanting to be in bed. I didn’t expect any more culture, but there was a point when I had to have some fresh air. And I rarely have the opportunity to see Humber Street on the night time[when it or I am sober], so I happily brought a camera.
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Shop windows/gallery windows, bars, restaurants are so different when the sun settles and I was feeling that little bit privileged to be able to see all this and call it my city.

So yeah medium-excited culture week last week, but the madness will begin this Thursday when the Hull Comedy Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary. I am the official photographer third year running and I am well excited to see all the acts – old, new, famous, local. EXCITEEEED.
Hopefully I will have time this week to share some long lost photographs from the last comedy gig I photographed ages ago – before the madness begins.

Happy culture, people!!!!

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 39

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 39

Week 39 of the culture has been a bit on the difficult side, but despite that I have had culture ranging from live painting in the gallery to poem writing, Russian poetry to voice making in Pickering Park.

I returned to Hull late Tuesday, was working long day Wednesday and didn’t think I will recover sooner than the weekend or after a good sleep. But on Thursday I had the opportunity to see the Queens House Showcase run by CreativeENRG and the latest exhibition there, plus I was passing a culture spot in Princess Quay.

Queens House Showcase currently is exhibiting + live painting by artist Emma Garness, the exhibition titled SOMETHING IN-BETWEEN.

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The day was surprisingly warm and sunny and so was the artist, her smile lit up the room and her laugh welcomed people to stay and enjoy the paintings.
Throughout the time exhibiting, she is also live painting and all in all that makes this small showcase so special. Each painting is surrounded by the feeling of love, care and sweet, sweet memories.
The space also has bits and bobs that are creating home like feeling.

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The exhibition is closing soon – 6th October, so you have to hurry up!

Rushing to the Princess Quay car park after a long morning, I stopped by another culture spot that Princess Quay successfully offers in the recent year.

HULL GADA – THE SHOP OF POEMS – Polish poet Bohdan Piasecki and his collection of poems from Polish community gathered in his Pop-up Poetry Station across Hull.

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I am not the one for the poetry, but as this week was all about the spoken word and poetry festival CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE, I wanted to engage and understand. And the HULL GADA – THE SHOP OF POEMS was a surprise to my brain. In a strange way I was relating to poems, like they have been written by me at some point in my immigrant life. I would slap anyone who would call me that with mean intentions, but at the end of the story – I am a immigrant looking for a better life. Grown up from the stage of a stranger in this country, I can reflect that I have always looked for a different life – not a better one. But yeah, it was interesting. I used to make the same promise to myself and my family that I will return, now I just know that when the time is right I will live in Latvia, but UK will always be my home nr. 2.

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As the CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE festival was continued to educate and please people, I was busy sorting my work/life out, so by the time I picked out my must-go’s the choice was narrow.

POETRY PICNIC: POETRY TAKE AWAY – FRED VOSS and ORBITA was still available.

The Poetry Takeaway was an open event in Queens Gardens and ORBITA was performance from creative collective of Latvian poets writing in Russian.

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I was very late to the Queens Gardens The Poetry Takeaway, so I really didn’t get the sniff of what actually happened.

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However I took part in the poetry writing workshop for kids. I had a 10 year old with me, so that was the perfect camouflage. I had fun, but that’s it – I am not a poet in the blood.

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All of this was a very quick insight of what was for offer, but we had brilliant 15 min poetry experience with other participants and little cute lady [in the photo].

I have grabbed a random snap of poetry on the streets too, which I know I missed tickets to….

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I was really intrigued to see ORBITA, of course because they come from Latvia and I rarely or never have been to an event of this kind.

First impression – travels back in time, to some Latvian bloke’s garage where he keeps is radio collection around 1999.

_Z1A8700WEEK39 b The sounds of the radio waves, sound snippets from Latvian or Russian news, old songs and Justin Bieber’s recent song Despasito. Then the poetry started to flow, complimenting the sounds [or other way round]. The poems where read in Russian, translated in English on the screen [with few delays], so it was a multi-all experience.

It was the feeling of home, of my high school days, of my Russian friends, my lack of Russian and seeing Latvians performing in a venue that I usually attend for a good laugh – comedy. Bizarre, bizarre….

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On Sunday it was the case of doing all the unfinished jobs for the week, home class cooking, so I didn’t think there is more space for culture. But then I remembered about the VOICE PARK ad that it is the last day to see it.

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There are no regrets that I went out on a rainy day to see the VOICE PARK in the Pickering Parks Pool.

It was really cool you know – seeing kids and grownups making strange noises, me including. The laughs and the curious faces/ears running around the pools, making connection with geared up speakers… believing that they need to be stroked and loved before communicating.

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I enjoyed the experience and most definitely discovered an inner camel [donkey, whale, cat] because of the noises that come out of my mouth. The children seemed to be extremely pleased – everything is accessible and no restrictions – as loud and often as you wish.

To make it more fun – we gave away our voices and sounds to the future collections and got a magic liquid that makes your words important.

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THE CULTURE MADNESS CONTINUES, THE LAST SEASON LOOKS LIKE A RIGHT TREAT.

 

P.S. Were you near a phone box at 2 PM yesterday for the 2097: WE MADE OURSELVES OVER? I wasn’t because I thought it is today #its2097fail

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 38

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 38

SURPRISE SURPRISE I HAVE LEFT HULL FOR A BIT. SO I CULTURED MYSELF WITH WHAT WAS AVAILABLE DURING THE WEEK.
Gutted that I’m not in Hull this weekend, there was so many wonderful things happening,  so I hope you all enjoyed it.

First stop this week was the ARCO HARD HAT CHALLENGE DISPLAY in St. Stephens. Walked past it last week without camera on me and instead celebrated the masterpieces this week.

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One thing is for sure – each hard hat is as precious as people in Hull are, also most of them are really well represented as signatures of Hull. Great work!

Other thing I visited was the INSIGHT – A COLLECTION OF WORK BY GEOFF HEWITT, ANGELA BELL & HEATHER BURTON.

The paintings are displayed in House of Fraser – home for the top brand fashion, home ect.

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In the background Hull17 shop was stealing the attention as I really like all the merchandise. Colours, shapes and content for most of the stationary, gifts, T shirts and other bits are pretty cool. I am refusing to get something just yet, as I want to wait until the year finishes and choose my favourite after.

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Anyway… I had one of the best Hull17 converastions with a man who I claim to be the face of Freedom Festival and arm of UK City Of Culture 2017. He is wise, he is keen and the best conversations around culture are with people like him.

And off course I took photograph of him. Because how I can I not? Each or most of the photographs are memories of this amazing year, so I don’t want to forget that day, the reason for being there and that minute when we shared culture.

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The last season of the year is fast approaching. TELL THE WORLD is expected to be spectacular and I am excited. Too excited and worried that there isn’t enough time on my hands to fully experience the goodness…we’ll see.

See you soon, people.

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 37

by anetesooda2 Comments on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 37

NOTE: THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT AND MAYBE BAD LANGUAGE

I have had so much fresh air today so 4:40 PM I am nodding off, but today I have a mission to blog my culture wonders.

First as planned

Alien Sex Capsule at Artlink Hull

The exhibition by John Walter transformed Artlink into a colour loaded space with a content that has got everything up its sleeve to shock people.
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Everything there is bursting with colour and clever illustrations looking at relationships between visual culture and HIV today. Every piece of art weather its illustration on massive cards, video, light installation or a song addresses the complex subject of contemporary sexual health.

I really loved it. Artlink always is chilled out space where I can actually enjoy art in my own privacy. There was one thing – the CRYSTAL DICK SONG that maybe have scared me for life – for the rest of the day I had it in my head. And off course the visuals accompanied with the song is something “out of this world” people. You have to see/hear it for yourself. The exhibition is on until 29th September.

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I think this exhibition definitely raises awareness of sexual health and HIV, but I don’t think it has the power to change the world.

Artlink hosted these little cute “things” of art, but in the rush I didn’t pay attention of who is the author [you can educate me if you know in the comment below].

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ON SATURDAY I WENT DOWN TO HULL TRINITY SQUARE FOR THIS – TAKE FLIGHT.

Little while ago a little fairy – one of the choreographers,  was praising told me about this event, whilst it was still in making, so I have been waiting to see this since.
There are two good reasons of why I liked it  – the performance was smooth and the young talent was shining together with the sun spells. The second reason – this event was beautifully “decorated” with over dozen volunteers. It is always pleasant to see them around every single volunteer is like a piece of an important Hull 2017 puzzle. They are brightening up any dull day.

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The performance was all about the unique partnership between The Royal Ballet, Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and Hull dance schools.

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What will this week bring? Next weekend looks super busy:
HULL WALK OF ART: THE AVENUES

+ there are other things to see during the week:

INSIGHT – A COLLECTION OF WORK BY GEOFF HEWITT, ANGELA BELL & HEATHER BURTON

WHAT DO YOU KNOW? HULL SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN

+there is a Car Show somewhere in outskirts of Hull where I have my eye on…..

HAVE A GREAT WEEK CULTURE READERS!!!

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 36

by anetesooda1 Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 36

HELLO.

 

This week is more about what I didn’t do  – my engagement with Hull 17 has been very poor. My honest feeling about it late Sunday was gutting, but sometimes other things come first, sacrifices had to be made.

From past two months I have had some interesting photography experiences – Freedom Festival, few important portraits, first wedding, smoke bomb awesomeness, beautiful mother to be photographed, Home Glory series updated, new website work progress and thoughts about the future…so all this has to be shared with everyone and requires work. SORRY CULTURE

Plus – important to remember that Freedom Festival took its toll  there was extra 2 1/2 days to recover and edit…..

anyway….
things I really wanted to do but didn’t this week:

 

Turner Prize Nominees and Winners at the Ferens

Incredibly gutted, but definitely not missing the The Turner Prize 2017 which is coming soon – 26th September.

Alien Sex Capsule at Artlink Hull

Planned, but didn’t happen due to work commitments. Will visit this week [more than welcome to join me] it is on until 29th September.

Albemarle Saturdays – WORKSHOP 15: MELIA DUO – FOUND OBJECTS PERCUSSION/ COMPOSITION

This was found in the pile of culture flyers/books I have and as I was desperate to do some culture I booked some tickets. It was on until I went to a family day at Smith&Nephew [work thing] and cos of free food and entertainment +dozen of Hull 17 volunteers I thought that this is good enough.

Smith&Nephew is major sponsor for Hull 17 so that make it count even more.

Also I was very realistic – I had no objects that make noise, I have zero talent for music and I didn’t feel comfortable going, so decision was made.

Here are few culture snaps from the family event – site is safety aware, so the less I publish the better I feel.

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THIS WEEK I AM PLANNING TO BE A GOOD CULTURE GIRL, DELIVER SOME INTERESTING CULTURE AND BLOG Freedom Festival

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Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 35

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 35

Have a guess of how I am feeling today after full weekend of Freedom Festival? Trashed. And thankful for such a crazy work opportunity.

Somehow I managed to visit culture that was not Freedom Festival on Thursday. Little to say that photographs from Freedom Festival are still in “baking” so keep your eyes peeled for the highlights…

BACK TO CULTURE.

 

THE HESSLE ROADERS exhibition was something not to be missed – Hessle Road community was part of my lesson of how to be British and even after moving away from the area, I still go there on a weekly basis. The exhibition is celebrating Hull’s Fishing Community through an eye of a ALEC GILL.

AND JUST AS IMPORTANT – the exhibition held in church +plus I got someone cultured.

As we walked in we were welcomed by a warm handshake from a lovely man, who turned out to be the photographer himself. As proceeding through the exhibition and even days after, I get the sense of how important the short greeting was.

The exhibition is everything we need – genuine story with beautifully captured lives, connection with the past and the future [Smith&Nephew are the sponsor’s of Dr Alec Gill’s photo exhibition] and human factor in each photograph. To meet the photographer was my highlight, he was the warmest and nicest person, but on point and professional.

My favourite part of the exhibition is the opportunity examine lives of community in a collapse – how people lived, rebuilding their lives and keeping the community spirit. Real detail of real lives from psychologists point of view.

Everything was real, Alec Gill was real.

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BIT OF INFO:

As part of Smith&Nephew new £8 million world-class Research&Development centre opening THE HESSLE ROADERS was exhibited in the centre and still is there pleasing the eyes of  all the staff at Smith&Nephew [genuine source told me].

There is also an artist out there who is making film about Dr Alec Gill, so I will be looking out for it.

Dr Alec Gill is also author of books, Hull historian and filmmaker.

If you get a chance to go – it is open until 10th September.
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Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 34

by anetesooda2 Comments on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 34

I am just going to pretend that it is Monday, although clearly I have broken the routine FIRST TIME IN 34 WEEKS by doing this on Tuesday.
My excuse – Bank Holiday and unexpected health issues.

 

The week was something between a recovery and back to work mode… so I packed in dose of culture in one day, predicting that no other days will be suitable.

I had a plan:
TIGER RAGS – THE FABRIC OF HULL CITY AFC

BLEACHED BY TANIA KOVATS

THE DINOSAUR EXPERIENCE HULL @DINOSTAR

THE HOUSE OF KINGS AND QUEENS

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When heading to the TIGER RAGS – THE FABRIC OF HULL CITY AFC display, I was pretty clueless that it will be about the famous Hull City. Which easily proves that I am not in the game at all.

For me the display perhaps didn’t mean the same as it would to true fans and believers, but I felt a bit of a legacy when entering a room. There was a family that looked at the whole history of the Hull City kits and memorabilia, watched the video about the players and I recognised the importance of the little exhibition in the most bizarre place.

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BLEACHED BY TANIA KOVATS as part of the day came on my way to Humber Street. The building, its location and potential to amaze me was present when approaching.

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Without making things up – genuinely one of my favourite culture visits in the recent weeks. There is no photo proof, but I had two guys helping me to soak the culture, we talked and chit-chatted, criticized and praised the work of Tania Kovats. Complete strangers, but the culture brought us together for those 15 important minutes. And the story behind their visit – old friends, both retired, now living in different areas, come together to see the culture and have a lunch/brunch/coffee/pint every now and then. How cool is that? This is why this year has changed things around, this is why everyone can find something beneficial about Hull 2017.

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Sculptures exploring the beauty of coral and its fragile position in the world’s ecosystem, was something that we evaluated as potentially upsetting – if beneath the white coat was real coral, we could not accept the sacrifices made to create the art.
Off course it turned out that The Deep was able to save a large quantity of modal (artificial) coral after refurbishment for Tania to work with, so the artist used representation to raise awareness of what could potentially happen with the corals if the humans don’t start to think environmentally friendly.

It remains stunning sculpture with exceptional amount of fine detail that I had the pleasure to view.

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The sculptures Ocean Bowls are just as stunning as the corals. And mystery at first glance. I thought that each metal piece has been saved from a different ocean and we see the different effects that it had created. But NO, under each piece was a great idea hidden for us to find…

Each piece has been cut out as Planet Earth, metal part being ocean and cut outs being land. So if pieced together it will create a planet that we know so far.

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As before – it was so interesting to puzzle this mystery with strangers that become your friends for the moment and find Great Britain, Philippines, Baltics or Mexico.

There was a third art display – a bit of paint on paper that we called to be a fish planet – because so many things are to do with water, sea, river.

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After the amazing experience I walked into almost electric skyline overlooking Hull Town and was in a good mood – being busy even with photo-jobs can sometimes be difficult, because there is no real freedom. However the culture photo challenge gives me the freedom, so something to celebrate.

And then it was spoiled – by Dinostar – The Dinosaur Experience Hull.
I am really sorry, but I was very shocked when I noticed the price for entry -not a symbolic £1 but £3 for an adult. And to make it worse, finishing my tour I felt like that was my worst £3 spent for an entry to culture.
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It turned to be funny – this place has always been on my sight, interested of what is hidden inside the building. Every time I walked past there, it was closed, so to finally get in should’ve made my day.
The whole thing is ridiculously outdated and 90’s entertainment. Even for children in our generation this must feel like a joke.
But then – I have seen some spectacular exhibitions and art spaces, so the stacks are high.

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I came out with my hands stamped with blurred dinosaurs and a conclusion – Dinostar need to apply for a funding and re-do the place, because the idea behind it is great and keeps the world of the mystery and wonderful alive for the kids.

Whilst heading to THE HOUSE OF KINGS AND QUEENS I bumped into something really cool – Building Block Hack!

The workshop run by artist and FORMCard founder Peter Marigold is part of the States Of Play Workshops – the incredible exhibition that I visited few weeks ago [see the photos here: MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 29]

In short – kids and grownups playing with Lego’s and bits of melted plastic creating monsters, hero’s, unicorns and random bits.

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The last one of the day was THE HOUSE OF KINGS AND QUEENS.

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First impression – stunning display and beautiful photographs covering a content that surprisingly remains taboo amongst society [noticed that when hanging about near the entrance – parents by accident brought kids thinking that it is the States Of Play exhibition and rushed out as soon as realised that the story behind the heartfelt photographs is transgender].

But I loved it. I truly did. First of all  the photographer Lee Price has done an amazing job with storytelling through photographs, curating the notes underneath the photographs. Secondly – the context is easy to relate to. You don’t have to be transgender or gay to not feel free in today’s world. There are so many other reasons why people feel like that. I found it touching and really encourages me to be more open mined.

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Also seeing this exhibition I really need to find out more about Sierra Leone and its relationship with Hull. It has popped up before in my culture wonders, or event at Uni. Now it is time to find out more, so a little homework for coming weeks.

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This exhibition is 10/10. Thank you for the viewing and observing experience.

 

 

THIS WEEK IS THE FREEDOM FESTIVAL 10th ANNIVERSARY AND I AM SO EXCITED TO WORK WITH FREEDOM FESTIVAL THIS YEAR.

I might have a bit of none Freedom Festival culture for you – THE HESSLE ROADERS

but we’ll see.

HAPPY CULTURE PEOPLE

Hull City Of Culture 2017

MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 33

by anetesoodaLeave a Comment on MY CITY OF CULTURE – MY HULL – WEEK 33

LATE SUNDAY AND I AM DETERMINED TO QUICKLY DELIVER SOME CULTURE -WEEK 33

FASHION & FREEDOM – IN PARTNERSHIP WITH 14-18 NOW by Freedom Festival Arts trust

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One of the most radical changes during the war was the huge change in women’s lives. With the men away fighting, more than one million women went to work for the first time. These new responsibilities led to a new look, and a century later, this era has inspired Fashion & Freedom, an ambitious, multi-faceted exhibition that examines the fashion legacy of the First World War.
Exquisite craftsmanship courtesy of fashion stalwarts Emilia Wickstead, Holly Fulton and Sadie Williams are also on display.
A series of specially commissioned original short films complement the garments, including films by directors from Nick Knight’s award-winning SHOWstudio and Luke Snellin, who wrote and directed First, which reimagines a young woman’s first day as a bus conductor.
Source: Hull 2017

This fashion exhibition is like breath of fresh air in the Princess Quay Shopping Centre and for once the exhibits come together nicely with what people visit the shopping centre.

Most of the dresses are a pleasure for the eye, some are so tempting to be touched and put on.

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The same day I had a look at the new arrival in Princess Quay Shopping Centre
Artist Claire Morgan has created the new artwork, named Elephant in the Room, which highlights Hull’s relationship with the sea and reflects on the environment and sustainability. It has been hand crafted, created from 12,000 fragments of paper and 4,270 individual threads.
It is pretty impressive, but you need to know about it, otherwise it just seems like an early Christmas decoration.

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On Thursday I had a stroll down Hull Marina/Fruit Market/Humber Street in the search for a new arrival – graffiti by Calvin Innes and Spray Creative.

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The graffiti murals liven up the place and I like the ever changing face of the streets. + both artists are pretty cool people too.

The morning was a bit dull and quiet – a different scene from few weeks back at the Humbers Street Sesh back when streets were buzzing with people. Humber Street Gallery had its doors closed and it was soooo quiet.

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AND OFF COURSE I HAD TO SEE THE SOLAR GATE SCULPTURE AT QUEENS GARDENS THAT EVERYONE WENT MAD FOR.

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Solar Gate is the latest addition to a host of new public realm artworks, including Shane Rhodes’ poem The City Speaks which encircles the newly-installed fountains in Queen Victoria Square.

I thought that setting out an artistic gallery from few photographers of the giant being installed was pretty rushed and even when I visited it did not looked finished. Patience, patience people.

I think it looks fantastic, Queens Gardens might be the next hot spot for visitors and well deserved – the park is beautiful.

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THIS WEEK MY CULTURE VENTURES ARE RUSHED – I WAS RUSHED ALL WEEK AND MY HEAD OCCUPIED WITH MAD THINGS.
BUT I AM STILL LOVIN’ MY PHOTO CHALLENGE AND SOON I WILL HAVE SOMETHING NEW TO SHOW OFF.

GET CULTURED AND KEEP CALM