Various Talks, Teaching, Performance Lectures.

Alongside my sculpture, installation and works on paper I often use talking and teaching as a similar space for improvised (some say slapdash!), pragmatic, interactive connection.

As with my other work, I enjoy devising them in direct response to specific opportunities, but most can be adapted to new contexts, so do get in touch if you would like me to deliver any of these.

Here are some recent examples:

Promoting a Pragmatic Practice, Pt1 & Pt2

Lecture and workshop, 2021

At the invitation of SULL, I was commissioned to develop two Zoom presentations on the mechanics of maintaining an art practice. We looked at time management, motivation, self-respect, peer groups, rethinking CVs and artist stamements, and the art of everyday life.

Post Covid Curating?

Lecture Series, 2020

Due to the pandemic lockdowns I had to drastically change the content of the curating in public spaces course I taught at University of the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK. As well as teaching it online, we switched to examining what would be possible within the new restrictions, and what would be most appreciated by artists and the public. I was then asked to adapt it for a number of ther audiences, including Turf Projects, Croydon, UK and The Friendly Society of Artistic Labourers, UK.

What Just Happened?

Artist's Talk

An illustrated Artist Talk where all the titles for the various artworks or projects I've made are displayed alongside me and the audience get to pick which one I speak about, creating a new talk or sequence of works each time I do it. Like a user generated artist talk, or jukebox, or feat of memory and association.

Impersonating a Part-Time Police Officer

Presentation, Q&A and handmade costume, 2007-2010

At the invitation of various galleries and museums I would circulate amongst visitors whilst dressed in a fake police uniform I had made, followed by a short talk where I pretended that I now support my practice with part-time community police work, followed by a question and answer session where the audience - who seemed to believe me - would ask about how that worked.

'A Hermit's Movie IV: In Trees' & 'Hermit Movie Rethink'
Lecture and light projection, 2011

Devised for the Immersive Vision Theatre, a small 60 seater digital planetarium in the centre of the University of Plymouth, I wrote a lecture examining broader ideas of projection, time, space and distortion, using live feeds, bespoke animations and karaoke.

Although made bespoke for a very specific location I then crudely adapted it into 'Hermit Movie Rethink' for any other interior, delivering it in galleries and art colleges, each time presenting it projected up into the ceiling instead of a wall or screen.

I Am Not Him And I Do Not Have Your Pen
Performance and interventions. 2011

I was invited to develop a solo Late at Tate event for Tate St Ives, responding to their summer programme of exhibitions, focussing on ideas of uncertainty, proxies and a potential for failure. This included my rerecordings of that weeks Top Ten singles played in the cafe; selected perfumes sprayed into the galleries; small sculptures secreted within the displays; and a  lecture from within Martin Creed's 'Work 210: Half the Air in Given Space' about being mistaken for TV choir master Gareth Malone.

An Introduction to Laughter Yoga
Workshop and various props, 2017 onwards

An ongoing project where I attempt to redeliver from memory a session of fake laughter exercises. Each time presented in a specifically potent location, environment or group of participants. More info HERE.