Metal

Cafe Valise:  A pop-up, cafe and arts venue for the Peterborough Festival

Saturday 30 June – Friday 6 July 2012
Cafe Valise at Chauffeurs Cottage, St Peter's Road, Peterborough PE1 1YX

Sat 30 June: The Maciek Pysz Trio.

Metal and Deconstruction Project presented an evening of contemporary Polish music - passion for acoustic music and intricate rhythms brought together by Maciek Pysz Trio. Maciek Pysz is a Polish guitarist and composer. His improvisational and accompanying style is a unique combination of many influences coming from the jazz, Spanish, classical and Brazilian guitar traditions. Maciek has played for London's Ronnie Scott's, Charlie Wright's, Oliver's Jazz Bar,  BBC Radio and many more.  For the evening at Cafe Valise he will be accompanied by Demi Garcia (percussion/Spain), Patrick Bettison (bass,harmonica/UK). For more information please go to www.deconstructionproject.co.uk or www.maciekpysz.com

"Maciek Pysz has wowed the crowds at almost every Jazz venue that matters in London" Spoonfed
"Incredibly talented young guitarist" Jazz Forum

Doors:  7.30pm
Free Entry.  

Wed 4 July: An evening with Yasmin Alibhai Brown

Writer and broadcaster, Yasmin Alibhai Brown hosted an evening of discussion around the subject of migration and food. Reading from her recently published memoirs The Settlers Cookbook she shared her stories and her recipes with the audience and other invited guests.
Doors:  7.30pm

Thurs 5 July:  Pecha Kucha Night.

10 artists, designers and creative individuals from Peterborough and beyond presented work and ideas using this dynamic, Japanese, method of presenting. Each presenter was allowed 20 slides, on screen for 20 seconds each – giving them 6 minutes 40 seconds.  A fast-paced, fun and informative evening.
Doors:  7.30pm
Free Entry. 

Fri 6 July:  An Evening of Spoken Word

Verbal Remedies is the poetry phoenix to arise from a previous poetry night called 'Speakeasy', which was the brain child of both Mark Grist and Keely Mills. This new poetry animal co-presented an evening of spoken word with Metal and Cafe Valise. Poets and performers from across the UK gathered to share their love of all things lyrical – all set to a backdrop of a Blok Collective art jam. The Headliner was  Elvis McGonagall descibed as Stand-up poet, armchair revolutionary and recumbent rocker.  Elvis McGonagall is the sole resident of The Graceland Caravan Park somewhere near Dundee where he scribbles verse whilst drinking malt whisky and listening to Johnny Cash. Elvis is the 2006 World Slam Champion, the compere of the notorious Blue Suede Sporran Club and is one of the poets occasionally in residence on BBC Radio 4’s “Saturday Live”. 

He was joined on stage by Hollie McNish, Paul Lyalls, Skilly Skillz and resident Verbal Remedies compere, Keely Mills.

Doors: 8pm / Free Entry. .

ELVIS McGONAGAL

'McGonagall combines anger, polish and carefully crafted verse in a way which recalls John Cooper Clarke' - The Scotsman review

'...verses shot through with a moral umbrage and rhetorical power....this hour is a bracing throwback to the days when comedy made room for militant eccentrics with a knack for scansion and a bolshie hankering to change the world' - The Guardian

PAUL LYALLS

Paul Lyalls is a star of BBC2's/CBBC's 'Big Slam poetry House' and currently working with Arsenal Football Club to help them and their young fans celebrate the clubs 125th Anniversary. Paul Lyalls' new full collection 'Catching the Cascade' (Flipped Eye) is available from all bookshops and Amazon & has been shortlisted for the 2012 People's Book Prize.
In 2008, Paul was Poet for the London Borough of Brent (London's 5th coolest Borough) and he performed at the new Wembley stadium. He has 2 poems in the New 09 Penguin's A-Z of Childrens poetry. Paul has also performed at 10 Edinburgh festivals, 1 Eton College, 5 Glastonbury's and on a 73 Bus, which made the 'and finally...' bit of the 6pm national news. Paul has worked & performed with Michael Rosen, George Best, Jean Binta Breeze, Will Self, john Hegley, Benjamin Zepphaniah & Andrea Leavy to name but a few. Paul has also been selected as as one of the London 2012 Olympic 'Shake the Dust' Poets & 2012 Smile London Poets.

'Has an eye for the Absurd...his views on life's fleeting moments are poignant'
The Daily Mail  StarStarStarStar

'Very, very, very, funny and very very feel-good'
NUS magazine StarStarStarStar

HOLLIE MCNISH

Hollie McNish is a published UK poet and spoken word workshop leader. She has appeared in venues as diverse as Glastonbury festival, Ronnie Scotts Jazz Bar, London’s Southbank Centre and Cambridge University. She has been featured on Radio 4’s Poetry Diaries, Women’s Hour and opened Southbank Centre’s 2011 Women of the World Festival alongside Kate Nash. Her first collection, Papers, was out this year, published by Greenwich Exchange, London. For more information, see Page to Performance website and Hollie McNish's website.

More information about the other performers to follow soon.

Artists-In-Residence

There were a number of artists in residence at Cafe Valise - some all week and some popping in and out:


Chila Kumari Burman
Chila Kumari Burman has been exploring the experiences and aesthetics of Asian femininity in paintings and installations, photography and printmaking, video and film since the mid 1980’s. Challenging stereotypical assumptions of Asian women, her work is informed by popular culture, Bollywood, fashion, found objects, the politics of femininity the celebration of feminity; self-portraiture exploring the production of my own sexuality and dynamism; the relationship between popular culture and high art; gender and identity politics.

She grew up in Liverpool where her father owned an ice cream van.  Imagery from this era re-occurs throughout her artwork and is used as a device to ask serious and contemporary questions about representation and self-identity in a humorous and approachable way that aims to attract new audiences to the visual arts.  For Café Valise, Chila has created a new sculpture exhibited throughout the Peterborough Festival. www.chila-kumari-burman.co.uk

The Drawing Paper
The Drawing Paper are an artist duo, Jon Barraclough and Mike Carney.  They have been celebrating their obsession with, and fascination for drawing by curating and publishing Drawing Paper - an occasional free newspaper featuring the work of artists from local, national and international places. Printed in Peterborough, Drawing Paper represents their desire to bring together drawing in its widest definitions and has created a kind of portable gallery space that's free from preconceptions, inclusive and uncluttered by logos and ads.  This includes drawing as a preparation for something as well as an end in itself.

More recently, and with the support of the artist collective, The Royal Standard, (in Liverpool where they are both based) Drawing Sessions has taken shape.  This brings people together in the same space to create drawing in response to sound and music - because that's how they both make drawings themselves.  A mammoth, seven day Drawing Session will be created at Café Valise that invites visitors to drop in and take part – as well as viewing each other’s drawings throughout the week.

Jon and Mike's own personal exploration of drawing is central to their practice and although quite different in approach and outcome they have no difficulty in choosing who to invite to submit work for the paper.  "Drawing is such a basic human expression and yet it has the capacity to be emotive, descriptive, powerful and highly personal to the creator. It is like a conversation we can have with the world and with other people about how to see things and ideas. "  They also have ideas, create graphics, music, photographs and film -sometimes sculpture and installation when it's the right thing to do.  Drawing is, however, their most durable companion.  www.drawing-paper.tumblr.com

Sam Wiehl
Sam Wiehl was a resident at Café Valise throughout the whole week of the Peterborough Festival. He invited residents from across Peterborough to loan objects to a museum of curiosities – entitled ‘Wunderkammer’ that represent places (nearby or far flung) that are loved by the people who live in the city.  Wunderkammer will build over the seven days of Café Valise to create an impression of the connections of Peterborough to the rest of the world.

How To Take Part:-
Found - we asked visitors to lend us a keepsake or souvenir of a place that they loved. These items were beautifully displayed, well cared for and their stories told during the week. All objects were returned at the end of the project.

Search - also on site was a cabinet hosting the hopes and aspirations of visitors to Café Valise for the future.

Joseph Kopiel

Visual artist Joseph Kopiel came back in the city where he grew up, for the first weekend of Cafe Valise. He was running a workshop for all ages called Print Peterborough, offering the opportunity for visitors to get an introduction into the print processes that artists use - monoprinting and screenprinting.  Participants worked on individual artworks creating flags and bunting that made part of a larger installation Celebrating Peterborough, in the courtyard that grew throughout the weekend.

Some Kind of Life by Denis Doran and Teresa Cairns
Some Kind of Life is a documentary film project that explores the themes of home and belonging in the lives of people in Peterborough who have been, or still are, homeless.  It was on exhibition at Cafe Valise between Saturday 30th June and Friday 6th July.

Some Kind of Life forms part of the Places For All? project which offers a visual and dynamic perspective on Peterborough through the stories of its residents and which aims to bring people together across Peterborough’s diverse communities through oral history and multimedia activities including film, photography and drama. More information can be found at www.placesforall.co.uk.  Further information about the artists / filmmakers at www.climbingthewall.net

Simon Poulter
Demographics is a cultural analysis tool developed by Simon Poulter, that encourages people to think about the level and importance of culture in their communities. The tool promotes reflection and conversation on factors that shape and inform culture, such as political will, vision and risk.  The tool – used in previous cities, Liverpool and Southend on Sea, has been redesigned for Metal's development work in Peterborough, as a printed sticker game, a web application and with some accompanying artwork on the walls of Cafe Valise.

Visitors to Cafe Valise at Chauffeur's Cottage were invited to participate in the project and share their views. By supplying a postcode (optional) participants could also help to build up a picture of perceptions on culture in the city over the summer of 2012.

Deconstruction Project

Deconstruction Project is a not for profit arts organization that aims to bring Polish and British audiences closer together by strengthening cultural relations and establishing new contacts among artists, arts teachers, musicians and curators. Their ambition is to raise awareness about Poland and its culture, presenting it as a modern, creative nation with a significant contribution to the contemporary arts.  They were on site over the first weekend at Cafe Valise (Sat 30 June / Sun 1 July) asking visitors to the cafe to take part in their workshop 'Let's Do It Together'.  There is an online survey too.

For further information about any of these events, please call 01702 470700 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it