Archive for the 'People' Category

We were having lunch with my pal Michael Spencer over the weekend and he was telling us about the educational workshops he runs in Japan to bring music into the lives of school kids. Here is a video of Mike doing his thing, bringing together the cultures of Europe and Japan in one concert. I’m particularly intrigued by how he used Skype for some of his workshops to bring the music of Spain to the Japanese kids!

by Guest Blogger Paola Minekov, artist

When, a few months ago after seeing my painting in a group show, Yang-May asked me to be a guest blogger on Fusion View and tell you something about my art, I really had no idea where to start. I asked her what she thought you’d be interested to know about and she was like: ‘Well, Paola, you know, people would like to know how you make your art, why, what inspires you…’ Simple, right? I make art, so one would think I’d be able to explain why and how without too much effort… except, I couldn’t really. Until last night that is, when I attended my first meditation lesson and it all clicked. People meditate because they need an outlet for their emotions, some ‘me time’, an escape from all the stress and their hectic lives. The thing is, it turns out that for me making art has always been a bit like meditation - a process in which I work on my painting with the kind of concentration that actually helps me forget to think - I stop hearing the music in the background, all my daily problems melt away, and all that’s left is the artwork. It may be because I’ve been painting all my life and having started to paint this young often means that there are no agendas, no specific thesis one necessarily needs to prove, discuss or conceptualize. It’s just what I do, because if I don’t, it feels wrong. And before I started painting and exhibiting professionally at the beginning of 2010, I used to mainly do it when I had a problem I needed to express, solve… or simply let go of.

While, or perhaps because, I come from a family of artists and have studied Fine Art for years, after graduating I decided I wasn’t ready to become a full time professional artist. I told myself (and everyone else) that I was too young to close myself in a studio and that I needed inspiration. This was partly true. As you’ve probably guessed by now, to me painting is a solitary business. The truth is though, that being an artist isn’t easy for more than just that reason. It’s a life full of ups and downs, where one’s body of work is constantly judged, evaluated and re-evaluated by literally everyone who sees it. It’s not that I don’t like hearing people’s comments, on the contrary, and nothing makes me happier than seeing another person connect with and relate to something I have painted. It gives a deeper, new and external meaning to my work. I would go as far as to say that it helps me see new things in my own work and develop so now I intentionally seek it… But because art is so damn personal, I still feel that I need to prove myself, over and over again, not only as an artist but also as a person - something I found very hard to come to terms with in my early 20s.

My paintings are and have always been conceived in my mind. They are my own, from the minute I first imagine them to the moment I paint the last brush stroke, take a step back, take a good look at my work and tell myself: ‘Yes, this is it, this is what I saw in my head’. After that they sort of acquire a life of their own, like grown up children who no longer need you… In this sense exhibiting and selling them can be likened to the process of letting go. It does however require a certain level of detachment and a mindset I’m still working towards.

Yet, my mind is full of colours and numerous images I’d like to paint. I’ve realized that what inspires me the most is the feelings and emotions of the people closest to me, the important events in my life and my immediate surroundings. Perhaps letting go of my completed works, the ones that no longer need me, also means making more space for new beginnings…

You can see Paola’s works at the Ballet Gala in the Britten Theatre on November 7.

Her website is www.paolaminekov.com where you can see some of her work. I love her fluid style that conveys graceful movement even of scenes you’d expect to be static such as cityscapes!

Images: from Paola’s website, with thanks

Most major exhibitions offer visitors an audio- or multimedia- guide that can enhance your experience of their artworks or artefacts. As you take the tour of the gallery or exhibition, audioguide in hand, it’s like having your own private expert alongside who can point out the fascinating details of the exhibits.

Who are the creative artists behind these audio experiences? In this episode, I hope to find out as I talk to Steve Slack, the writer behind the audioguide for the Italian Renaissance Drawings exhibition, now on at the British Musuem (until 25 July 2010). Steve also shares tips on the business of being a freelance writer & the emerging field of multimedia writing.

You can subscribe to the Fusion View Mobile Podcast by clicking on the “Subscribe with iTunes” button - it’s free and new episodes will be downloaded automatically to your iTunes application.

What do you think about exhibition multimedia guides? A help or a distraction? Or do you have a comment about anything else in this podcast? You can send me - or Steve - an email or voicemail via my Contact Page

Photo: from Steve’s website, with permission

Can art make a practical difference to the world we live in? One man thinks so. His name is Neil Ellis and he is hoping that his performance piece for Anthony Gormley’s 4th Plinth project is going to make a real practical difference to Londoners.

I talk to Neil about his performance piece Pedal Power and how he hopes it will contribute to making London’s roads safer for cyclists.

You can subscribe to the Fusion View Mobile Podcast by clicking on the “Subscribe with iTunes” button - it’s free and new episodes will be downloaded automatically to your iTunes application.

Links:

You can join Neil’s Pedal Power Facebook Group to add your voice to his campaign.

GalleryFilm event at Dulwich Picture Gallery: The role of protest in art - Neil Ellis on Anthony Gormley’s 4th plinth creating a drama performance to drive home the issue of cycling safety. Come and see the sizzling short films by Riffy Ahmed, the visually stunning Illuminations Productions ‘Anthony Gormley and the 4th Plinth’ and discuss the issues with them.
Monday 10 May, 7.15pm at Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Tickets: 020 8299 8750 or online

CORRECTION: The video of Neil’s performance is not yet available online so I’m not able to show it here. As soon as it is available, I’ll add a link or embed it here. Apologies for the incorrect information in the podcast.

Do you have a comment about cycling safety? Or about anything else in this podcast? You can send me - or Neil - an email or voicemail via my Contact Page

Photos: thanks to Dulwich OnView, with permission

As you may know, I’ve been involved in a social media project for the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery on a voluntary basis - a community blog called Dulwich OnView. We started it just over two years ago and it’s been going from strength to strength, gaining quite a lot of attention within the heritage/ musuem sector here in the UK and internationally.

The exciting news is that the blog has been nominated for the Conference Archimuse International Best of the Web Award 2010. The annual conference is one of the biggest international conferences in the heritage/ museum sector and is taking place this year in Denver, USA. One of our bloggers team, Ingrid Beazley, is off there this week to give a presentation about Dulwich OnView alongside a number of academics who have written research papers on the strategy and structure of the blog.

The success of Dulwich OnView (DOV) is due to all the individual volunteers who have contributed their diverse skills as well as their time to the project so I want to set out for the record acknowledgements to the core team who have, to date, made the blog an eclectic and lively online community:

Founder Members and Editorial Team

INGRID BEAZLEY - In her capacity as chair of the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery she facilitated Yang-May’s concept, ’selling’ it to the Gallery staff and Friends committee. Now as one of Dulwich OnView’s acting editors, she commissions articles from the Gallery staff and from the local community and promotes the website ceaslessly, locally as well as internationally.

ANGIE MACDONALD - took over from Catherine Fraher as acting editor in the early months of Dulwich OnView and shaped the role of the Acting Editor. She wrote the Editor’s Handbook, trained other team members to be editors and to use Wordpress blogging software. She also writes occasionally for DOV. More recently she has been involved in project managing the redesign of DOV, co-ordinating the team ideas and working closely with Ingrid and the web designer to create a new-look DOV.

YANG-MAY OOI - created the concept of Dulwich OnView as a community blog and developed the key “guerrilla marketing” strategy for the blog to raise Dulwich Picture Gallery’s profile among the online demographic. She also planned the DOV team structure and set up the web-based collaborative systems which make this project self-managing and non-hierarchical. This includes creating the collaborative editorial documents which ensure that the blog runs smoothly and writing the several handbooks which set out all the processes for current and new members of the team. She continues to provide strategic advice as well as contributing multimedia content to the blog.

ANNA SAYBURN - wrote many of the earliest DOV articles, helping to develop the informal, community style of Dulwich OnView through a mixture of interviews with local people, reviews of local events and pieces about local history and art associated with Dulwich. She served as an acting editor for part of the first two years, helping bring in new contributors and fostering the sense of community. She still writes regularly for DOV.

STEVE SLACK - writes off the wall articles for DOV with the aim of debunking the myth that Dulwich is populated solely by rich, posh people. He’s written about pub quizzes, street names, local history and general peculiar cultural goings-on. Working with DOV has helped him develop as an online writer and given him skills he uses in other freelance work.

TAHRA MORTON - is an intern at DOV, writing articles as well as carrying out her role as one of the acting editors while on a work secondment in Brussels, Belgium, underlining that DOV is truly an online community that while local is also without borders.

SALLY ANN JOHNSON - advised the team on risk management and helped develop DOV’s article submissions policy. She also writes for the blog.

CATHERINE FRAHER - was DOV’s first acting editor. She co-ordinated the team of volunteers, editorial meetings and uploaded much of the early content onto the blog.

SHAPA BEGUM - an intern at DOV, she currently writes articles and is responsible for the Paul Nash online art competition. She is provided with regular support by the editorial team to learn and develop skills in networking, editorial management and technical skills.

ANNA MARIA DI BRINA - is one of DOV’s acting editors and also writes articles on art and events.

ANGELA CORRIAS - contributed to the editorial style of DOV as one of the acting editors and collaborated in its content with interviews to local artists and coverage of local events.

Other Contributors

Amanda Greatorex, Greville Havenhand, Laverne Hunt, Ed Saunders, Rebecca Portsmouth, Erica Green, Steve Overbury, Nigel Thorpe, Lorenzo Ali, Daniel Pateman, Patrick Knight, Bella Tullo, “Jane Morris”

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Related info:

Dulwich OnView
Patrons of Dulwich Picture Gallery
Blogging for the Heritage Sector
Dulwich OnView leads the way for heritage sector blogging
Our pro-bono project, Dulwich OnView, makes impact in heritage sector
Dulwich OnView Wikipedia entry

Some friends and I met up for dinner the other evening at Tukdin, a Malaysian restaurant in the Paddington area.

It was recommended to me by Zaharah Wan, aka Kak Teh, so it was a great bonus that she and her husband Wan Hulaimi, aka Awang Goneng, the bestselling Malaysian author of Growing Up in Trengganu could join us to introduce us to what turned out to be their “home from home”.

We were also joined by my good pal, Ingrid Beazley, blogger and co-editor of Dulwich OnView, the online magazine of the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery and my partner, web designer Angie Macdonald.

We did a podcast review of the restaurant and also got the opportunity to meet Tukdin, the man himself. Check it out via the player below.

You can subscribe to the Fusion View Mobile Podcast by clicking on the “Subscribe with iTunes” button - it’s free and new episodes will be downloaded automatically to your iTunes application.

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If you’re tempted by our review to try Tukdin for yourself, the address is 41 Craven Road W2 3BX Tel: 020 7723 6955. Please mention Fusion View if you do.

Anna Sayburn is a journalist and online editor at the British Medical Journal. She also blogs at Dulwich OnView (which is how I got to know her) and her two blogs, Work in Progress and Bloomsbury Bluestocking, while working on her first novel. Now that’s true dedication to the craft of writing - which is why I wanted to introduce her to you all here on Fusion View who love words, writing and reading.

Here is our interview:

What is your novel about and what inspired you to write it?
The novel seems to be about things that have been buried - buried bones, buried secrets, buried treasure! I first got the inkling of an idea for it when I walked to Canterbury last Easter, with my husband Phil. Long walks seem to be very good inspiration for writing. Lots of the things and places we came across on the way have found themselves into the plot.

How are you finding the writing process?
Slow! I’ve never tried to write anything of this length before. I work as a journalist, so tend to think in terms of 350 words for a lead story, 1000 words for a feature. I’m aiming for 80,000 words for the novel. It seems an awful lot and it’s hard not to get daunted by the sheer scale. But when I actually sit down and write, it’s fine and I enjoy it. I tend to write the bones of the plot quite quickly, then have to go back and fill in the detail later.

Do you have a routine or a particular approach to the writing process?
The main challenge is to find a stretch of time when I won’t be interrupted and force myself not to do anything else! I can write for about 2 hours before I need a break, and I think I start writing rubbish after about 4 hours, so I try to stop then. In an ideal world, I’d get up early, write all morning and go out for a long walk in the afternoon. In the real world, I go to work, come home, make dinner and then switch on the laptop for a couple of hours before bed.

How does it compare to writing as a journalist or blogger?
The scale is the main difference. Plus, of course, it all has to come out of your own head, as a sustainable story. Making a coherent plot is a real challenge. I’m surprised how much I’ve enjoyed that bit. I do summaries of each chapter, and I’m about 5 chapters ahead in terms of plotting, compared to what I’ve actually written. But the time frame so different. I’ve no idea when I’ll finish the novel, while journalism and blogging are both pretty instant hits. I’ve always written fast and I tend to do blog posts in lunch hours or spare 10 minutes here and there. For the novel, I need at least a couple of hours, or there’s not much point starting.

What do you enjoy about blogging in contrast?
The immediacy of blogging is great. I can think of an idea, write it up, find a photo and post it in less than an hour. It couldn’t be more different from writing the novel. It’s also a great excuse to put off writing the novel! In fact, I’ve started a second blog, BloomsburyBluestocking, just to have more space to witter on in a non-professional manner. Trouble is, writing is addictive and the more I write, the more I seem to want to write.

Photo: Anna Sayburn, from her blog

Chinese-English translator, Nicky Harman, who has previously written for this blog, emailed me last week with some information about a talk she is giving tonight on literary translation. I’m sorry for the short notice about the talk, but if you can make it, it looks like a really interesting insider’s view of the world of translation.

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The Meridian Society/BBCN will be hosting a talk on Tuesday 17th November, 2009 in association with the CSSA of London School of Economics. The lecture will be delivered by Ms Nicky Harman Lecturer at Imperial College.

The many lives of the literary translator

Nicky Harman divides her time between lecturing in technical translation at Imperial College, London and translating literary works from Chinese to English. Her recent book-length translations include Xinran’s Letter from an Unknown Chinese Mother, and Han Dong’s Banished! (awarded a PEN Translation Fund Grant and long-listed for the Man Asian Literary Award, 2008). She also works on the website Paper Republic, which promotes Chinese literature in translation, and is actively concerned with the need to encourage and mentor beginning Chinese-to-English literary translators.

Her research interests focus on aspects of Chinese to English literary translation, and she was Visiting Scholar in the Chinese Departments of Fudan University, Shanghai; and Peking University, Beijing, in 2008, as well as at the Research Centre for Translation at Chinese University Hong Kong, 2006.

Nicky says: “This lecture talk will look at a number of different aspects of literary translation. I will draw on examples from my own work to illustrate the linguistic and cultural challenges of Chinese-to-English translation, and will also examine how the translator needs to present their work to the outside world, that is, publishers and, beyond them, the readers. Just as literary translators have to assume many roles - talent scout and promoter, as well as translator - so this seminar will touch on a whole kaleidoscope of issues. The aim will be to communicate to the audience some of the passion which I feel for translation as a whole, and Chinese-to-English literary translation in particular.”

Time and Venue

Date: Tuesday 17th November, 2009
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: D302 in Clement House
Address: The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Houghton Street, Aldwych, London, WC2A 2AE

Transport: The nearest tube stations are Holborn and Temple (both are 5 mins walk)
The nearest Main Line stations are Waterloo and Charing Cross (both are 10 mins walk)
Buses go to Aldwych: 19, 38, 55 59, 68, 91, 168, 243, 341 & 521
Alternative: For more options please go to:
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en

Tickets are not required but you are urged to RSVP to reserve a seat.
Tel: 07973796866 or Email: themeridiansociety@gmail.com.
TMS/SACU Members free Non-members £3 donation
Note: This talk will be conducted in English

The Meridian Society is a registered charity (No. 1115664) and a company limited by guarantee (No. 5572806

My good friend and co-author Silvia Cambie had a week or more of the ultimate nightmare - her blog was down due to hosting problems. She has just tweeted that her blog is back up and running - what a relief!

In case you’ve had trouble locating her blog and website in the last little while, here is the URL again: www.chandacom.com

For those of you who’ve not discovered Silvia’s blog yet, you must go and check it out - she writes on cross-cultural matters from her own wide experience of working in Europe and internationally as well as being the kind of brilliant communications professional who can catch and analyse the latest trends in her field. Her blog also shares some of her personal stories and is a great example of blogging for business purposes without losing the personal touch. (OK, so I’m her friend and we wrote a book together and some of you might be thinking I’d be biased - but don’t take my word for it: read her blog and judge for yourself!)

Leadership coach and good pal Nicola Stevens interviewed me this afternoon about my book International Communications Strategy and using social media for business. She used the Ipadio app on her iPhone to record our conversation and then posted it up to the web within minutes of our chat - so it was a little nerve-wracking knowing there was no opportunity for any editing before we went out “on air”!

She also snapped me in full flow with her iPhone and posted it up to her Posterous site.

Off record after the interview, we talked about how easy it is these days to publish images, video, audio and text. A click of a button on a mobile phone is all it takes! Even just a few years ago, it was still very fiddly to get the content from whatever source - a digital camera, a video tape, an audio recorder - convert it to the relevant format and find the software to FTP transfer it up to some specialist server and then to get it to your website… Now, even a self-confessed non-tecchie like Nicola can be a one-woman multimedia hub - all she needs is her iPhone!