International Book Art

The University for the Creative Arts at Maidstone will host a new exhibition of international Book Art from 3 June to 3 July.

Undergraduate students from UCA Maidstone, Javeriana University in Bogotà, Colombia and the Academy of Fine Arts, Katowice, Poland display innovative work that is an indication of both their individual, expressive way of working with books, and the different approaches of the three universities.

Some books are for tasting... is open to the public at the University for the Creative Arts George Rodger Gallery between 3 June and 3 July, with a private view on 2 June.

Silke Dettmers, curator of the exhibition and Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design at UCA Maidstone is keen to use the exhibition as a showcase for Book Arts, as well as the adventurous and exciting way this art form has been taken on by an international array of students.

The book has provided these artists with a recognisable object to manipulate, subvert and recreate. Some of the exhibits here concentrate on the ideas within the book, while others transform the book into an experience of visual and tactile sensations. All of them appear to take on a life of their own.

One book entitled: Push, a Story of Everyday Buttons and their Underlying Danger is encased inside an actual plastic plug socket. The exhibition also features a book entitled Our Saints, which shows Catholic Saints prayed to by Colombians in a Mayan style, on fig-bark pages in the traditional form of the Mesoamerican book.

Another example entitled Chicken or Egg is made from an egg carton complete with six eggs that are hinged and when open, reveal fold-outs, plastic toys and written messages.

Szymon Prandzioch, from the Academy of Fine Art in Katowice, Poland has reworked the 60s novel The Boys from the City Streets introducing darkly violent figures and aggressive typography, renaming his book, street boys.

The exhibition has been organised by the Expanded Page Research Cluster at the University for the Creative Arts that specialises in book design and book art. The research cluster based in Maidstone recently held the successful Liquid Page Symposium at Tate Britain in London.

This exhibition marks the first that time that universities across different continents have collaborated to present undergraduate book design. The exhibition travels from Maidstone on to Poland and then to Bogota in Columbia next year

Some books are for tasting

Matchbox Pinhole Camera

Rushing to Paradise

A Photo Guide to Getting Lost

Found Photographs Slides and Negatives

“Losing things is about the familiar falling away, getting lost is about the unfamiliar appearing"

Crazy Bones and Bang Bros

Lomo Fisheye

Busie olde foole, unruly Sunne

Funny Bones

Autumn Pinholes

Tunbridge Wells Autorama 2008

My Blog is running out of space so the rest of the images can be seen here

Pinhole Portraits

The rest of this set can be seen here

Tunbridge Wells Mela 2008

More images here

Shopping with Mother

Sarah's writing journal . Want to join my gang?

8 Sausages 3 Ways

Home Secretary ok's restrictions on photography

Local restrictions on photography in public places are legitimate the Home Secretary has stated in a letter to the National Union of Journalists.

While Jacqui Smith reaffirmed that there are no legal restrictions, she added that local Chief Constables were allowed to restrict or monitor photography in certain circumstances.

The letter dated 26 June, which BJP has seen a copy of, is in response to correspondence sent by the Union secretary general, Jeremy Dear, who expressed concern at police surveillance of journalists, in particular photographers.

'First of all, may I take this opportunity to state that the Government greatly values the importance of the freedom of the press, and as such there is no legal restriction on photography in public places,' Smith writes. 'Also, as you will be aware, there is no presumption of privacy for individuals in a public place.'

However, the Home Secretary adds that local restrictions might be enforced. 'Decisions may be made locally to restrict or monitor photography in reasonable circumstances. That is an operational decision for the officers involved based on the individual circumstances of each situation.

'It is for the local Chief Constable, in the case of your letter the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Force, to decide how his or her Officers and employees should best balance the rights to freedom of the press, freedom of expression and the need for public protection.'

The Home Office does not produce any guidance on photography in public places, and has not produced any specific guidance to [Forward Intelligence Team] officers, the Home Secretary says. 'I recommend, therefore, that the questions in your letter are best put to the Commissioner.'

The NUJ is expected to meet with MP Tony McNulty – Minister of State for Security, Counter-Terrorism, Crime and Policing – to discuss the issue, the Home Secretary confirmed.

In May, Dear had written to the Home Office after press photographers noticed that the Metropolitan Police's FIT was monitoring them.

Folk Stones and Baby Things

19,240 Beach pebbles have been numbered and placed as a monument to the 19,240 people who lost thier lives on the first day of the Battle of the Somme,
many of them had marched through Folkestone before disembarking for the battlefields of France and Flanders.

location west end of the Leas Folkestone Kent.

artist Mark Wallinger

Seven bronze casts of found items of baby clothing are located at sites throughout Folkestone.
Tucked under a bench or hanging from a railing, the sculptures appear as if they are lost, waiting to be found, making reference to the high propotion of teenage pregnancy in Folkestone.Artist Tracey Emin .

Thought insertion

10 Seconds of Forever

Pinhole photographs
Pinhole Size: 0.18mm
Focal Length: 40mm
film Stop: F/235
Film Format: 120 Roll film

UFO's on the Common

Today I had an intresting chat with two men using Dowsing techniques to search for traces of Alien life on the Common.
Talk of Lay lines, Aliens burial sites on the Grove, and an underground City beneath Wellington rocks.

Camera obscura

Spare room turned into a Camera obscura

view from the back of my house
photographed with a digital camera

Simply black out all windows and light leaks with heavy duty black plastic make a small hole in the black out material about as big as a 5 pence coin and enjoy bringing the outside into your room
Best results on a sunny day experiment with the aperture