war & peace 2006 Artists & works in order of screening: Dominic Thomas, Richard Of York Gains Battles In Vain (2005) 4’23” In 1471 the army of Edward IV defeated the army of Margaret of Anjou in one of the last and bloodiest battles of the War of the Roses. The flood plain between the river Severn and the town of Tewkesbury where the battle took place is still known today as ‘the bloody meadow’. At an annual re-enactment of the battle, past and present conflicts are brought momentarily together around the apparently futile actions of a lone protester. Dominic Thomas’ multi-disciplinary practice evolves through site and context specific research and involves working with performance, installation, video and other media. Recent works and events include a solo project Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance and exhibitions at Miroslav Krajevic Gallery, Zagreb; Metronome Gallery, Barcelona, Station, Bristol and the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. 2 Sean Burn, stealing brecht (2004) 3’42”, the terror we create (2006) 1’26” Record levels of serious mental health problems are being experienced by UK soldiers following service in Iraq. Sean Burn’s work refers to his own battle with chronic mental ill health, building a bridge between his own oppression and the oppression of others. Stealing brecht refers to the power of language, giving voice, allowing the silent and silenced to speak , creating alternatives, a strategy for survival. the terror we create uses text/soundwork/animation/film to explore boundaries and freedom, rights and responsibilities. Sean Burn is a writer, artist and performer with a growing international reputation. He has done text-art projects for dada-south, Fold Gallery in Cumbria, and cesta in the Czech republic.   3 Ronnie Close, Martyrs, Myths and Metaphors: Irish and Iranian Republicanism (2006) 9’ The Iranian acknowledgement of Bobby Sands as a martyr forms an intriguing connection with the tradition of Irish republican martyrdom. This piece is taken from a greater body of work that offers a fragmented insight into the world of the martyr and the role of their myth in the formation of cultural identity. Ronnie Close is doing a PhD at the University of Wales. He was previously a lecturer in Photography at Griffith College, Dublin. He has won awards at the Werner Herzog Film Festival, Ireland and BBC Digital TV Network. Recent exhibitions include: Indiana International Video Art & Architecture Festival, Novosibirsk State Art Museum Russia, and Film and Television Conference, Cologne.   4 Austin Houldsworth, Past and Future Self (2006) 1’35” A strange ambiguous shape starts to form, our own development before self-consciousness, a state of automated survival. Slowly it realises itself and then the inevitable happens. Austin Houldsworth attempts to explore humanities fascination with destruction and creation. His work has been screened work at the Salt Gallery in Cornwell, and Manchester Met, and in Germany (Re/Act festival), Spain, and Sweden. He has also worked as a prosthetics/ special effects technician.   5 Lisa Vinebaum, blow up (2005) 3’45” blow up is an experimental work of narrative fiction. It is a thematically and visually challenging artist’s video that grapples with the complex subject of urban/Western suicide terrorism, cultural and religious identity and otherness, the traumatic aftermath of events such as 9/11 and 7/7, and the dangerous consequences of the war on terror. Lisa Vinebaum is doing a PhD in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, where she is a visiting lecturer in Visual Art. Her work has been nominated for the Prix de la Creation Video in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and also selected for the OMSK LondonArt Video Screening in Vasteras, Sweden; and Videonale 11, Berlin.   6 Louisa Fairclough, Steppe (2000) 6’30” Filmed from the level of her bicycle handlebars, Louisa uses a fragment from a six week journey to the Aral Sea, the site of an ecological disaster. Rivers were diverted to create vast cotton plantations, resulting in a shrinking sea and dust storms that blight the land and its people. Steppe offers a never ending horizon line, a shimmering panorama. Anonymous but utterly specific, it combines memory with desire in an unending exchange. Louisa Fairclough is a lecturer in fine art at the Slade. She has shown work at Danielle Arnoud and the Jerwood Gallery in London, the International Hamburg Short Film Festival. Recent awards include a commission with Picture This Small Wonders.   7 Una Artist, Dream (2005) 5’ Dream tries to show the paradox of idealism and the difficulties of belief. It challenges assumptions about what we expect to hear and see. Una experiments with all media. Her influences arise from literature, poetry and the natural world. Her work reflects her interest in cultural issues and the human condition. 8 Sarah Bowden, Big Bang (2003) 5’ A relentless sequence of explosions extracted from the ‘World At War’ series. The title refers to the almost cosmological appearance of the fire and noise, and alludes with something like despair to the violence at the heart of the universe. Sarah Bowden has done residencies at PVA medialab and Stroud Valleys Artspace. Her work has been shown at the Berlin new media event, Greenbelt 03, and Stroud Valleys Artspace.   9 Annette Smith, Jericho (2004 ) 3’ Jericho was shot when George Bush visited London in November 2003. Scenes from the demonstration are intercut with trumpet blasts in reference to the biblical story of the siege of Jericho. By concentrating on specific and mometary details she wanted to convey the strength of hope and anger against militarist policies. Annette Smith has exhibited work at the Greenbelt Arts Festival, the Bath Fringe Festival, and Black Swan Arts Frome.   10 Martin Hamblin, Example hypocrite (2005) 1’, r’n’r (2005) 1’ Example hypocrite is a visual demonstration of the difficulty, and quantum nature, of defining terrorism. r’n’r is a party political broadcast. In 2003, during the run up to the invasion of Iraq, Margaret Hassan was one of several international aid workers who voiced their concerns to the UN and the British parliament. “The Iraqi people are already living through a terrible emergency,” she said in a House of Commons briefing, “they do not have the resources to withstand an additional crisis brought about by military action.” She stayed on in Baghdad throughout the war and its aftermath, until she was kidnapped whilst driving to work in October 2004. She is now presumed dead, although her body has never been found. Martin Hamblin is doing an MA in Experimental Film at the University of Central Lancashire. Recent exhibitions include: MaxTenner Film Festival at Newlyn Art Gallery, Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, Inport 2005 in Estonia and Flatpack Film Festival, Birmingham.   10 Andrew Thomas, 3 minute silence (2005) 2’05” This piece considers the process of individual and collective remembrance. Organised silences when people stop and inhabit a private internal place and meditate loss or personal moments of reflection enable us to transcend day to day experience and consider fundamental elements of our existence. Andrew Thomas has an MA from Central Saint Martins. He works mostly photographically, but has recently adopted both video and drawing into his practice. He has exhibited work in the UK, Germany and America, and currently lives and works in Berlin.   11 Fiona Kam Meadley, Liberia Remembered (2006) 10’20” It is a long hard road from ceasefire to lasting peace. Liberia is emerging from fifteen years of civil war. This time, will the peace hold? Liberia Remembered records the stories of two aid workers, the people they worked with, and what happens when the fighting stops. Fiona Kam Meadley was a development worker for fifteen years, before becoming an artist. At a recent Arts Council sponsored exhibition at Nailsworth Quaker meeting house, she explored the theme of War and Peace and the role of human rights. She has just started making videos.