Southend on Sea
Light Sculptures Chalkwell Park
Metal commissioned artist, Ron Hasleden to create a light work within the wildlife garden in Southend’s well used public park, Chalkwell Park – which is where Metal’s Southend home is situated.
He chose to work with a group of school pupils from Darlinghurst Primary School asking them to complete a set of simple pencil line drawings, responding to the theme of their favourite flower or plant. Around 150 drawings were produced.
From these drawings, Ron selected six different blooms which have been faithfully translated into neon light sculptures, each approximately 1m x 1m large. The lights are mounted onto 5m high wooden posts and permanently installed within the park for all to enjoy.
Anthem 2012
Anthem 2012 is Metal project that is bringing together a choir of 2000 school pupils and adults from across Southend to sing a specially commissioned new piece of choral music in celebration of the Olympic Torch visit to Southend on Friday 6th July 2012.
Metal in partnership with Southend-on-Sea Borough Council (SoSBC), Southend Education Trust (SET) and Arts Council England (ACE) are working with 34 schools and 7 Community choirs to welcome the Olympic Torch to Southend.
We have commissioned the music from the renowned, Essex based composer, Tolga Kashif.
The piece of music, titled Anthem: Let Your Light Shine is a rousing, epic work that draws on many different music genres, rhythms and styles to represent a global message. The work has been developed in response to the open-air performance site, the sea and the large number of singers taking part.
It has been written to allow for participation from a wide range of ages and abilities from the age of 7 upwards – and has a memorable refrain that will hopefully get many more singing in the audience
Music and singing has long been one of Southend's cultural strengths. The town boasts some outstanding musical talent in a number of genres including Benjamin Grosvenor (the youngest pianist to play at the proms) Southend Girls and Boys Choirs, Lee Mead and The Horrors among many others. As the torch makes its lunch time stop, Southend will celebrate by joining together in collective voice to celebrate the town, its people, its cultural achievements and send a message of good luck to the Olympic athletes.
Music accompaniment for the work is provided by Black Dyke Mills Band among many other musicians.
This ambitious idea, conceived and developed by Metal, forms part of a wider programme of activity programmed by SoSBC to celebrate the torch visit. It follows Metal's previous, successful mass-participatory cultural projects in the town, including: breaking the Guinness World record for the Longest Line of Bunting in 2009 (9000 flags were made by the people of Southend) and a visual arts project, Thames to Tama in 2011 that saw 4665 school pupils create one large installation in celebration of the 15th Century explorer and adventurer, William Adams.
Summer School
Summer School
Metal are organising a creative summer school over the holidays – book one of the week-long tailor-made arts experiences for young children that includes collage, screen-printing, marbling, photography, drawing, working with found objects and more. With two professional artist tutors, this is a great opportunity for some exposure to different materials and techniques for budding artists.
Ages 5-11 years
Week 1 - Monday 6 - Friday 10 August, 10am – 4pm
Week 2 - Monday 13 - Friday 17 August, 10am – 4pm
We also offer an optional early start from 9am and late finish at 5pm for £6 per hour.
Snacks / drinks provided (Please provide packed lunch)
£100 / week
Limited places, please book early by filling in and returning the Application Form (download here) with a non-returnable deposit of £40, payable by a cheque or Paypal (please include the child's name in the payment notes).
Culture LABS
Metal runs a programme of Culture LABS each year that brings together groups of artists and thinkers in exploratory, week-long, intensive residencies around different themes and subjects. Artists come from a variety of disciplines, types of practice and different places around the UK and overseas.
LABS this year have included investigations into; Digital work with emphasis on new software and hardware development; Comedy and Live Art; Protest and Propaganda in relationship to the modern Olympic movement.
We host LABS from both our spaces in Liverpool and Southend-on-Sea. They are designed to help artists examine and develop their practice, assist with knowledge exchange and expertise, and to provide the opportunity for time and space to develop new ideas.
Culture LAB: Protest and Propaganda - March 2012:
March Culture LAB took place at Metal in Southend, and looked at the subject of Protest and Propaganda in relationship / response to the Olympic Games 2012.
Participating artists: Heidi Wigmore, Hayley Goodsell, Stephen Walker, Lynn MacRitchie and Josh Langan.
Watch the videos to see what the artists thought of the lab:
Culture LAB: Comedy and Live Art - October 2011: Metal devised and hosted the second in our series of Culture LABS in October 2011 with the performance artist, Oreet Ashery. The week-long, residential LAB held in Southend brought together live artists and stand up comedians to explore humour and the processes of developing work. The LAB was facilitated by Oreet Ashery and Simon Poulter. Participating artists were Caroline Smith, Mem Morisson, Owen Parry, Scottee and Oriana Fox. Visiting comedians included Simon Munnery, Alex Horne, Shaista Aziz and Markus Birdman.
During the week a number of artists developed ideas for new projects. These were presented to a number of invited guests at the end of the week and several of the projects have already gone into development.
See what the artists had to say at the end of the week:
Culture LAB: Digital: March 2010. Metal's first Culture LABS was developed and facilitated by artists, Simon Poulter and Graham Harwood and was organised in partnership with the Digital Exploration Centre in Southend on Sea. We invited eight European artists to come for a week to Chalkwell Hall. Participants included Hans Verhaegen, Stephen Fortune, Caroline Heron, Markus Soukup, Olga Panades, Rob Smith, John O'Shea and Emilie Giles.
Visiting guests ran sessions with the artists, these included Dr Tim Kindberg, Pervasive Media Studio, Dr Matthew Fuller, Goldsmiths College, Dr Ken Guild, University of Essex and Peter Higgins, Land Design Studio. A series of early development projects were created by each of the artists, including a short film by Markus Soukup that went on to feature in Metal's exhibition STILL and contribute to him winning the Liverpool Art Prize in 2011. You can see documentation of the Metal/DEC Lab 2011 by clicking here.
"I was hugely grateful to be nominated for this week long workshop because, having not been surrounded by a supportive network of my peers for some time, this was an opportunity for me to rejuvenate, to come up with and develop an idea quickly, using the group as a soundboard and finding their comments extremely useful in my progress. I felt over the course of the week I found a way back to my own ideas again and have a new sense of positivity about my practice for the future." Caroline Heron
Life Drawing
Listen To This
LISTEN TO THIS: A CELEBRATION OF POPULAR MUSIC
Metal are delighted to present a series of events centred on the importance of popular music to the formation of people's identities and sense of place, developed and presented by author Daryl Easlea and academic Andrew Branch.
Taking place in Chalkwell Hall, Southend on Sea, Listen To This will place a specific focus on the local in relation to national and international popular culture. Special guests will be in attendance at each event to discuss their work and, in some cases, perform.
Listen To This will reflect on past era-defining moments in popular music and culture with a local South-East Essex perspective. The evenings will culminate in a concert at Village Green 2012.
This Must Be The Place: Music, Social Spaces And Ways Forward For Southend’s Music Scenes.
Friday 24 February 2012
7.30pm – 10pm
Dr Feelgood: The Esplanade, January 1973
Junk Club formed at Royal Hotel 2002
Special guests: musician Wilko Johnson; musician, producer and writer Will Birch, and academic, journalist, cultural historian, Dr Andrew Calcutt. More guests TBA.
Boys Will Be Boys And Girls Will Be Girls: Popular Music And Gender.
Friday 16 March 2012
7.30pm – 10pm
David Bowie at Eastwoodbury Lane, August 1970
Blur, Cliffs Pavilion, June 2009
Special guest: local author, musician, music critic and Slits biographer, Zoe Howe. More guests TBA.
Tribalism And Difference: Subcultures And Scenes.
Friday 20 April 2012
7.30pm – 10pm
The Who at Kingsway, Hadleigh, Jan 1967
Depeche Mode: Crocs June 1981
Special guests: Dean Chalkley, renowned photographer and director of the recently released Northern Soul film homage, Young Souls; and Chris Sullivan, DJ, author, nightclub host, pop star, painter, style commentator, entrepreneur and fashion designer.
Everybody Dance: Music, Meaning And The Body.
Thursday 17 May 2012
7.30pm – 10pm
Jackie Wilson at Zero 6, 1972
Chris Hill first plays at The Goldmine 1973
Special guests: internationally acclaimed sociologist and musician, Professor Les Back; hugely influential soul DJ and music promoter, Chris Hill, and journalist, music critic and percussionist par excellence, Snowboy.
Listen To This in concert at Village Green
Saturday 30 June 2012
Timings and venue at Village Green to be confirmed.
Tickets cost £5.00 and can be booked online here, by telephone on 01702 470700 or by calling in at Chalkwell Hall.
Read Echo newspaper's review here.
Photos from February Listen to This (by Simon Fowler):
Photos from March Listen to This (by Simon Fowler):
Future Park
Future Park is Metal’s networking and information sharing evening for practicing artists, working in all disciplines, from across South East Essex.
The format of each evening is as follows:-
7pm – 8pm: Practical session / ‘surgery’ run by experts on different (useful) subjects for artists.
8pm – 8.30pm: Up to 10 x 3 minute ‘open mic’ spots for artists to tell you about new ideas, existing projects, opportunities coming up etc. If you want to sign up for a slot, email
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
8.30pm: Invited guest speaker with opportunity for Q&A
9pm – 10pm: Networking and drinks.
Artists, working in all disciplines who think they may benefit from engaging with a dynamic, ambitious, artist-led environment are welcome to drop by.
2012 Future Park DATES
Thursday 29 March 2012: Surgery: How to Document Your Work Well – with artist and photographer, Joe Lang. Guest Speaker: Gavin Wade, artistic director, Eastside Projects.
Thursday 26 July 2012: Surgery: Final Cut Pro – the basics, with artist Simon Poulter. Guest Speaker: to be confirmed.
Thursday 25 October 2012: Surgery: Putting a Great Portfolio Together. Guest Speaker: to be confirmed.
Thursday 6 December 2012: Surgery: Public speaking and Presentation Skills. Guest Speaker: to be confirmed.
Thursday 28 March 2013: Surgery: Making Funding Applications. Guest Speaker: to be confirmed.
Venue:
Chalkwell Hall
Chalkwell Avenue
Southend on Sea
SS0 8NB
Tel: 01702 470700
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Just ask if there’s a particular topic you’d like us to cover or an inspiring speaker you'd like us to invite to future Future Park evenings and we’ll try to help.
Photos from previous Future Park events:
About Future Station and Future Park
Metal believes that good ideas, creativity and the commitment of individuals can transform places, and like all enthusiastic and successful enterprises, create more participation, optimism and determination in others.
In both Liverpool and Southend on Sea Metal has a wide network of volunteers and supporters, made up of creative individuals who help us shape ideas for both Edge Hill Station and Chalkwell Hall, as well as helping us successfully deliver activities and events.
These groups called FUTURE STATION (in Liverpool) and FUTURE PARK (in Southend) meet on a regular basis to brainstorm ideas, make plans and talk tactics.
If you would like to get involved and help us continue to develop our exciting places and activities, we would love to hear from you.
For FUTURE STATION contact Jodie Mellor on
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 0151 7072277
For FUTURE PARK contact Camilla Fox on
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 01702 470700
Village Green 2012
Metal presents Village Green. Back for 2012, Metal's popular, FREE arts and music festival in Chalkwell park takes place on Saturday 30 June, 11am until 8pm.
This year’s event boasts a host of talent in a wide range of artistic disciplines, that includes: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly; Wilko Johnson; The Correspondents; Passenger; Snowboy; The Shirt Tail Stompers; The Boy With Tape On His Face; Lili La Scala; Jugnu Bhangra; BrazilArte; and a wide range of visual artists; street theatre and comedy. Our marketplace of over 100 artists and craftspeople also returns with a host of talent from Southend and beyond.
We are also introducing a variety of new attractions: a ‘cycle in’ cinema presented in partnership with Cycle Southend & The White Bus; learn to dance Lindy Hop and the Waltz at our tea dance party; side show tents featuring cabaret artists; and for a quieter moment enjoy spoken word and storytelling in the grounds of Chalkwell Hall, whilst enjoying a cup of tea from Metal's Pop-Up Cafe in the Hall.
Village Green for 2012 is being curated as one of the many events associated with Southend in Sea’s season of activity supporting the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Metal is commissioning a number of visual artists to respond to an Olympic theme across the festival site – so look out for a range of humorous, playful and more literal interpretations – and come prepared to join in.
In previous years the event has attracted an audience of around 28,000 from across the South East region and London, as the event has become a cultural highlight of Southend's thriving arts scene.
Village Green is made possible through the support of Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and Arts Council England.
OPPORTUNITIES:
Volunteering:
We need your help to make Village Green run successfully – roles include marketing (selling programmes, giving out information), working back stage, capturing the event on film and site staff. Click here to apply online, or email Jo Dickinson at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
for more details.
Marketplace:
Are you a local creative with something to sell and/or show? - Apply for a market stall to showcase your work amongst the finest creative talent in the area. Download: Application. Deadline: Friday 27 April 2012
Food concessions:
Are you a local food retailer/restaurateur? - Apply to run a food outlet at this year’s Village Green. Download: Application + Checklist + Guidelines. Deadline: Friday 27 April 2012
Sponsorship:
Take out a banner or advert at this year’s Village Green. Different sponsorship packages are available. Download the sponsorship info here.
PROGRAMME:
ARCHIVE FROM PREVIOUS YEARS
VILLAGE GREEN HIGHLIGHTS:
2010
VILLAGE GREEN 2010 - SATURDAY 25 SEPTEMBER. 11AM - 10PM. CHALKWELL PARK, SOUTHEND ON SEA, SS0 8NB.
VILLAGE GREEN STAGE
CARLEEN ANDERSON - Former lead singer of the Brand New Heavies; Young Disciples; Soloist; multi award winning; currently working with Ben Castle.
ANTHONY JOSEPH AND THE SPASM BAND - Regarded as the voice of black avant garde Britaina and one of the UK's most exciting and innovative voices. A poet, novelist, musician and lecturer Anthony will be performing at Village Green with his ‘voodoo punk’ Spasm Band.
STEVE MASON - Having hidden behind monikers for nearly 15 years, Steve Mason has finally emerged producing music under his own name. He was the lead singer of The Beta Band, released solo recordings as King Biscuit Time and also released an album under the V2 record label. Steve produces music from a variety of genres including electro, dance and more recently acoustic.
SNOWBOY AND THE LATIN SECTION - Without doubt the UK’s leading exponent of Afro Cuban Jazz, Snowboy and the Latin Section are a ‘dream team’ band of the finest Latin and jazz musicians based in the UK.
LAURA B AND THE MOONLIGHTERS - Laura B and the Moonlighters is an exciting seven-piece rockin’ and honkin’ rhythm and blues combo in the upbeat style of Ruth Brown, Big Maybelle and Lavern Baker. They released their debut album late last year, ‘Jump and Shout’, and have recently played the Vintage at Goodward Festival. Laura B and the Moonlighters, for rhythm and blues lovers.
RICHIE PHOE - The Lee Scratch Perry of Brighton, Richie Phoe, will again be spinning his dub tunes in between sets at stages one and two at this year’s Village Green. Feted by radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank, Richie began mixing on his Amiga 500 in the 1990’s. His career really took off in 2006 when became involved with Sunday Best Recording’s, which included a totally awesome remix of Max Sedgley’s ‘Celebrity’.
MEADOW STAGE
LEMN SISSAY AND CAROLINE BIRD - two fantastic performance poets go head to head in the Meadow Stage.
SUNDOWN ARTS - Southends very own Spoken Word specialists have curated a 3 hour slot for the Meadow Stage with a mix of comedy, live music and poetry. Includes JIM BOB / RUCKUS JUICE AN CHITLINS / CAR WRECK CHICKEN / BRIDGETTE APHRODITE / SIMON BLACKMANHIP HOP SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
/
KINO VILLAGE
THE WHITE BUS - a wide variety of fantastic short films throughout the day from the organisers of the Southend Film Festival - animation, children's classics and art house.
HOOK AND THE TWIN - this dynamic duo from Bristol (Marcus Efstratiou and Tom Havelock) bring drum beats and digital tunes to create a truly exciting and innovative sound that has attracted national attention specifically from revered radio DJ’s Zane Lowe, Marc Riley, and Steve Lamacq. With live improvised visuals from Mike Lowther.
SOCIETY OF IMAGINARY FRIENDS - cinematic folk - a unique sound described by Tim Cunniingham as an 'operatic sensation'. Their stunning soundscapes have led to work with numerous film directors, including Luke Scott, Martin Jones, Chris Newby and Julien Temple.
JOHNSON E KANE: presents TUPPENYBUNTERS - A wacky musical performance with accompanying indulgent, visual projections reminiscent of Velvet Underground performances of the 60s and the spirit of Warhol's Factory. An eclectic mixture of garage-punk originals, classic TV & radio theme tunes, performance art and minimal electronic & ambient pieces. Johnson E Kane has created standalone and collaborative video works for over 15 years with many musicians, artists, organisations and festivals including Arctic Circle, Sadler's Wells Theatre, Tate Britain, Union Chapel and Big Chill.
NICO BENTLEY - young, vibrant composer, producer, and performer. His ablity to engage with various musical styles, including Jazz, Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Indian, African, Latin, Pop and Electronica, has led to musical pieces for the Silversmith Dance Theatre and the Bhangra Latina project.
HYBERNATION - Southend artist, Stuart Bowditch likes to capture the sounds of everyday life and turn them into music. He is as at home playing sets in Southend Library as he is in Tate Britain.
COMEDY AT KINO VILLAGE
At 8pm our film and experimental audio visual space at Kino Village will be transformed into a comedy venue with three fantastic comedians curated and MC'd by Markus Birdman.
MARKUS BIRDMAN - A connoisseur of political and religious humour, Markus enjoys bucking the system and rebelling against his parent’s generation who told him to ‘get a proper job’. Instead Markus likes watching CSI, playing table-tennis and listening to Bob Marley, oh and making people laugh! The BBC says Birdman is ‘the all-round package’, and who are we to argue with the BBC.
FRANCESCA MARTINEZ - award-winning comedian who you might recognise from Ricky Gervais’, ‘Extras’. She has toured internationally including sell-out performances at the Edinburgh Fringe and Just for Laughs in Montreal, as well as playing in Hollywood and on Broadway. The Guardian gave her 5 stars and Time Out calls her, ‘Highly accomplished...very funny’. Francesca is currently working on her BBC sitcom pilot, but is taking the day off to make us laugh at Village Green.
ANDREW BIRD - ‘superb…a rising star. Not to be missed ’,Time Out. He's fashioned a charming set of uncomplicated anecdotal stand-up where his everyman outlook comes in remarkably useful. The audience can share the embarrassment of his faux pas, knowing something similar could so easily happen to them – and probably has.
GREEN STAGE
THE SAMPHIRE BAND - Molly Nyman and Harry Escott are award winning, BIFA nominated (for their film score for Shifty), film composers who were awarded 'Best New Documentary Filmmaker' at the Tribeca Awards. They have been creating beautiful scores for the last seven years for films such as Michael Winterbottom's "A Mighty Heart", Nick Broomfield's "Ghosts", David Slade's "Hard Candy" and Michael Winterbottom's "Road to Guantanamo". With their 12 piece Samphire Band they will perform a live score alongside the UK premier screening of Olhos do Farol on Metal's huge outdoor cinema screen. The film has recently played to rave reviews at the Indie Lisboa film festival in Portugal; "Its a little masterpiece, this long awaited animation by Pedro Serrazina..." The Samphire band will also perform the Shifty Suite along with a beautiful piece of film created by the artist Nick Hornby and a clutch of songs especially arranged for Village Green featuring the husky, tremulous tones of Kristin McClement and live improvised visuals from Mike Lowther.
PHILLIOUS WILLIAMS - named after a chronic bigamist and storyteller from the seventeenth century. The reliably popular quintet play heavy blues tinged country and western which embraces the themes of immigration, relationships, and much more.
HIP HOP SHAKESPEARE COMPANY - Shakespeare like you’ve never heard it before. A music and theatre production company founded by MOBO award winning Kingslee ‘Akala’ Daley to share his love of Shakespeare and hip-hop in a more direct way. Since 2008 Akala and his team have been introducing young people to Shakespeare through performance and workshops that demonstrate how modern hip-hop relates to the themes, languages and rhythms used by Shakespeare himself to wide critical acclaim.
BALLET BLACK -‘Ballet Black is phenomenal’ (The Independent). The Company was founded in 2001 by Cassa Pancho. Her dream was for a company where students of Black and Asian descent could train in classical ballet and eventually restore the ethnic balance within ballet companies - realised both in this company of young professional dancers and through the Ballet Black School for young children in Shepherd’s Bush. Ballet Black have performed to national critical acclaim and if previous performances are anything to go by, this will be one of the many highlights of Village Green this year.
KAYZAR DANCE - Southend dance act Kayzar played at our first Village Green back in 2008. Since then they have enjoyed remarkable success performing at Saddler’s Wells; TV's in ‘Britain’s Got Personality’ and ‘Got to Dance’ as winning Brentwood Got Talent competition. They have also competed in the IDO World Hip-hop championships. Their performances have that ‘wow’ factor with explosive dance routines that include some quite breath-taking breakin.
JUNGNU BHANGRA - the UK's most established bhangra performers. Over four generations, the group has astonished audiences across the world with their spectacular and exciting performances.
JAZZ CO TECH - a UK dance group specialising in Old Skool Jazz Dance that have performed all over the world from St Lucia to Furano, Pheonix to Glastonbury and have supported artists such as James Brown, Maceo Parker and Jamiroquai. This act is full of funk, soul and jazz. They will be performing in their own right on the Green Stage, as well as jumping up with Snowboy and the Latin Section on the Village Green Stage.
BEN ESHMADE - Founder of the innovative internet radio station, Arctic Circle, Ben is a regular at the Union Chapel and other such venues from Dublin to Southend. Ben brings ambient folk to Village Green.
GLOBAL VILLAGE
The One World One Essex exhibition put together by Essex County Council is on show within the Global Village circus tent - a touring exhibition celebrating the richness of the different cultures of the families that live in Essex and just how we all came to be here. Throughout the day the Global Village Venue will also play host to a number of performances and workshops, including La Roma, Jugnu Bhangra, Ayigafrik Dance and more.
IMAGES FROM VILLAGE GREEN 2009
IDEA13
IDEA13 is an online network for culture across Southend on Sea. It was instigated by Metal in 2007.
Register HERE for information on all cultural events happening in and around Southend on Sea. It's FREE.
BLOG – to promote your events.
FORUM – to share news and ideas, make contacts.
WHAT’S ON – to promote and view local events.
PROFILE – to profile your artistic practice and promote your business.
IDEA13 is running a series of surgery sessions to help explain how to make most of the PROFILE opportunity. If you are a practicing artist working in any discipline, or a creative business – come along and find out how to present you business online at Idea13.
DATES:
TUESDAY 13 MARCH 4-5pm
SUNDAY 13 MAY 4-5pm
All sessions are being held at Metal, Chalkwell Hall, Chalkwell Park, Southend on Sea SS0 8NB. Tel: 01702 470700.
For more information, contact Michaela Freeman on michaela (AT) idea13.org
To visit Idea13 - www.idea13.org
Salon
The second salon event of the series sees some of the best contemporary chroniclers of the city in discussion about their recent projects.
Our host, Rachel Lichtenstein will be launching her latest book, Diamond Street: the Hidden World of Hatton Garden (Hamish Hamilton), which includes tales of diamond dealers, medieval monks and a trip to the sewers to explore the lost River Fleet.
Joining her will be the highly regarded New York based writer and film critic for the Telegraph, Sukhdev Sandhu, who will be discussing his extraordinary Artangel project, Night Haunts – a nocturnal journey through the London night, along with Craig Taylor, talking about his recently released bestselling oral history of the city, Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now, As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It and Long for It, during which he interviewed over 200 ordinary people who live and work in London now.
For more information about our Salon series, click here.
Tickets can be booked online or by calling 01702 470 700.
2012 DATES:
2012 sees the return of Metal's hugely popular Salon series - literary evenings held at Chalkwell Hall, hosted by acclaimed local writer Rachel Lichtenstein, with guest speakers, food, wine and debate. This year, the Salon is dedicated to exploring a sense of place as expressed in literature.
SALON - Southend in Literature
Wed 9 May 7 – 10pm
During this first event of the series, writers and historians discussed how Southend and its environs had been represented in literature through examining the works of Jane Austen, H.G.Wells, Sebastian Faulks and Simon Schama amongst others. The White Bus screened an archive film of Southend on 1950s.
The evening also included a dramatic reading by award-winning Radio 4 presenter and oral historian Alan Dein from a novel set in Southend in 1930s.
SALON - London
Tue 5 June 7.30 – 10pm
With Craig Taylor (Londoners, 2011) and Sukdhev Sandhu (London Calling, 2003; Daily Telegraph Film Critic; London Review of Books). Rachel Lichtenstein launches her new book Diamond Street: The Hidden World of Hatton Garden (officially launching on June 7th 2012) which includes tales of diamond dealers, medieval monks and a trip to the sewers to explore the lost River Fleet.
Joining her will be the highly regarded New York based writer and film critic for the Telegraph, Sukhdev Sandhu, who will be discussing his extraordinary Artangel project, Night Haunts – a nocturnal journey through the London night, along with Craig Taylor, talking about his recently released bestselling oral history of the city, Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now, As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It and Long for It, during which he interviewed over 200 ordinary people who live and work in London now.
SALON - Estuary
Wed 18 July 7.30 – 10pm
With a mix of artists and authors using text to explore the Thames Estuary. Including Frances Lord, artist/curator; Stephen Turner, artist/writer; Germander Speedwell, poet.
Tickets £8 (Includes light meal and a glass of wine).
To ensure you hear in plenty of time about the each Salon event please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to go on our mailing list.
ARCHIVE, 2011:
Friday 15 July 2011
PART OF OUR SHORELINES: LITERATURE FESTIVAL OF THE SEA.
Including reading from and discussing the award winning novella Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi (Periene Press). A dramatic reading from the book by actress Lisa Dwan followed by a panel discussion with Suzi Feay (literary critic) and Adriana Hunter (author and translator)
This special festival Salon took place in Metal's temporary, pop-up, venue in Chalkwell Park - Solomon Monk's Pump House - so named after the C18th tenant farmer of Chalkwell Hall who was responsible for putting a pump in to tap the water well of 'Chalkwell' fame.
2011 saw the return of our hugely popular Salon series - four literary evenings with guest speakers at Chalkwell Hall over the summer of 2011. Developed in collaboration with acclaimed Southend-based author Rachel Lichtenstein, the evenings are reminiscent of the informal gatherings once held in Rachel’s grandparents house on the nearby Chalkwell Hall Estate when they would invite the poets, writers and artists of the pre-war Jewish East End into their tiny front room to talk and debate.The Georgian Grade II listed manor house, Chalkwell Hall, renovated into a low carbon space for art and ideas in 2009 is brought to life as we pack out the former drawing room and its new extensions.
Salon: Friday 17 June 2011
Guest speakers: Sarah Wise and Jerry White. Jerry White is visiting Professor in London History at Birbeck and has been writing about London for thirty years. He started with London in the Twentieth Century: a City and its People (winner Wolfson History Prize), moved on to the Nineteenth Century and is now completing a history of the capital in the Eighteenth Century. Sarah Wise is author of The Italian Boy; Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830's London (winner Crime Writers Gold Dagger Award) and The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum. Both books are set in the same small quarter of London.
Salon, 20 May 2011
Guest Speaker - Ken Warpole
Ken Worpole is one of the UK's most influential writers on landscape, architecture and public policy issues. He talked about his recent publication 350 miles: An Essex Journey, created with photographer Jason Orton, that documents their journeys into the landscape, history, coast, rivers and estuary of Essex.
2010
Metal's 2010 Salon series included the following speakers:-
Robert MacFarlane
Iain Sinclair
Phil Maxwell and Hazuan Hashim
Alan Dein
Stephen Watts
Oreet Ashery
Samantha Ellis
Naomi Alderman
Speakers Biogs
Robert MacFarlane is a British travel writer and literary critic. Macfarlane's first book, Mountains of the Mind, was published in 2003 and won the Guardian First Book Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. It was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. His second book, Original Copy: Plagiarism and Originality in Nineteenth-Century Literature, was published in March 2007. The Wild Places was published in September 2007. In it he embarks on a series of journeys in search of the wildness that remains in Britain and Ireland. The book explores wildness both geographically and intellectually, testing different ideas of the wild against different landscapes, and describes Macfarlane's explorations of forests, moors, salt marshes, mudflats, islands, sea-caves and city fringes. A condensed version of the book was broadcast as Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 in September 2007. In November 2007, the book won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, and in June 2008 it won the Scottish Arts Council Non-Fiction Book Of The Year Award.
Rachel Lichtenstein will host each evening. She is an artist, writer, oral historian and curator. She is author of Rodinsky's Whitechapel (1999), Keeping Pace (2003), A Little Dust Whispered (2004) and the co-author with Iain Sinclair of the highly praised Rodinsky's Room (1999). Her latest book, On Brick Lane, was published in 2008 to much critical acclaim. On Brick Lane was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize last year and is the first of a trilogy of books on London Streets for publishers Hamish Hamilton. Volumes on Hatton Garden and Portobello Road will follow. She has also written essays, short stories and book reviews for periodicals, newspapers and radio. Lichtenstein has exhibited her artwork internationally, including venues such as The Whitechapel Gallery, The Tate Modern, The Barbican Art Gallery and The Jerusalem Theatre. Her public artwork is on permanent display in Brick Lane and The Holocaust Museum in Nottingham.
Iain Sinclair’s non-fiction works inlude Lights Out for the Territory: 9 Excursions in the Secret History of London (1997); London Orbital: A Walk Around the M25 (2002); and Edge of the Orison (2005), a reconstruction of the poet John Clare's walk from Epping Forest to Helpston, near Peterborough. His novels include Downriver (1991), which tells of a UK under the rule of 'The Widow', a grotesque version of Margaret Thatcher; Landor's Tower (2001); White Goods (2002); and Dining on Stones (2004). His latest book is Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire: A Confidential Report (2009). Iain Sinclair lives in Hackney, East London.
Phil Maxwell and Hazuan Hashim
Hazuan Hashim is a filmmaker and video artist. Phil Maxwell is a photojournalist, filmmaker, visual artist and writer. Exhibited all over the world including the Middle East, their work covers documentary and experimental film. They have collaborated with composers Michael Nyman, Lola Perrin, Deirdre Gribbin and Simon Rowland-Jones, theatre director Lou Stein, dancers Mavin Khoo, Seeta Patel and Kamala Devam and painter Alice Sielle. Their recent documentary, Not in Our Name explores the response of artists to war. Featuring the President of Stop the War Coalition, Tony Benn, the film was shot in 14 countries including Iraq. Both are currently artists in residence at the Wilton’s music Hall. Their latest film Moon Love, will see its world premiere at the 24th BFI London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on 25th March 2010.
Alan Dein has worked as a freelance oral historian and broadcaster for over 15 years. He has presented documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and has conducted interviews for museums, galleries and the British Library National Sound Archive, including a major oral history of the British Steel Industry. Alan is also tour guide and social historian of London's East End and for the last four years has been living with his family in Kentish Town.
Stephen Watts was born in London in 1952: his father’s family came from Stoke-on-Trent, his mother’s from the Swiss-Italian Alps and he has cultural roots there and in Scotland. In the early 70’s he lived on North Uist working as a shepherd and since 1976 has been in Whitechapel in the East End of London. He has published three books of poetry—The Lava’s Curl (Grimaldi Press, 1990), Gramsci & Caruso (Periplum, 2003), The Blue Bag (Aark Arts, 2004) and edited several anthologies—Houses & Fish (a book of drawings with writing by 4 & 5 year olds, Parrot Press, 1991), Voices of Conscience (an international anthology of censored poets, Iron Press, 1995), Mother Tongues (a special issue of Modern Poetry in Translation, 2001), and Music While Drowning (an anthology of German Expressionist poems that accompanied an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London, Tate Publishing, 2003).
Oreet Ashery is a London based, interdisciplinary visual artist. Ashery’s practice engages with socio-political paradigms and tends to include participatory and delegated elements. Interested in notions of subjectivity and authenticity, Ashery will frequently produce work as a male character. Those have included; an orthodox Jewish man, an Arab man, a black man, a Norwegian postman, a large farmer and most recently a false messiah. Ashery exhibits, performs, intervenes and screens her work extensively in an international context, both in highly established art contexts, as well as in highly experimental public spaces or situations. Ashery has published three books in 2009; The Novel of Nonel and Vovel, a joint graphic novel and an expanded project with the artist Larissa Sansour (Charta), Dancing with Men; interactive performances, interactions and other artworks (Live Art Development Agency), and Staying; Dream, Bin, Soft Stud and Other Stories (Artangel), a participatory project with women seeking asylum in the UK due to their sexual orientation. www.oreetashery.net
Naomi Alderman grew up in London and attended Oxford University and UEA. Her first novel, Disobedience, was published in ten languages; it was read on BBC radio's Book at Bedtime and won the Orange Award for New Writers. In 2007, she was named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, and one of Waterstones' 25 Writers for the Future. She has published prize-winning short fiction in a number of anthologies. From 2004 to 2007 Naomi was lead writer on the award-winning alternate reality game Perplex City and in 2008 she wrote the Alice in Storyland game for Penguin's online We Tell Stories project. She has written columns for the Guardian. Her latest novel, The Lessons, was published by Penguin earlier this year. www.naomialderman.nfshost.com
Samantha Ellis
http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/samantha-ellis
Pecha Kucha Night
Pecha Kucha Nights 2012 will be annouced soon. If you'd like to present your work, get in touch on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
ARCHIVE:
2011
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 9
Part of our nine-day festival of events at Solomon Monk's Pump House, a pop-up venue in Chalkwell Park in Southend on Sea from Friday 15 July - Saturday 23 July 2011.
7 artists, designers and creative individuals to present using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were Adrian Green, Syd Moore, Simon Callery, Ben Eastop, Michaela Freeman, David Murphy, Dr John Eacott. Simon Moore, Julian Woollat, Steven Walker
Date: Thursday 18 July 2011. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Solomon Monk's Pumphouse, Chalkwell Park, Chalkwell Avenue, Southend on Sea, SS0 8NB
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 8
Metal in association with the Leigh Art Trail, brought together 7 artists, designers and creative individuals to present using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were Lydia Hardwick, Dave Shields, Richard Baxter, Tricia North, Madelaine Murphy, Lola Swain, and Jo Hartle
Date: Thursday 9th June 2011. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Parkview Suites, Chalkwell Park, Chalkwell Avenue, Southend on Sea, SS0 8NB
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 7
Six artists, designers and creative individuals present using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Humberto Velez, Peter Cusack, Alison Gwilt, Tse Hui Teh, Lola Pedro and David Matthews.
Date: 9th March 2011. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Parkview Suites, Chalkwell Park, Chalkwell Avenue, Southend on Sea, SS0 8NB
2010
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 6
7 artists, designers and creative individuals to present using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Mary Flanaghan, Laura Keeble, Daryl Easlea, Heidi Wigmore, Fiona MacDonald, Ian Brownbill and Amy Frampton.
Date: 21 October 2010. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: East 15, Clifftown Studios, Nelson Street, Southend on Sea.
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 5
Nine artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Pat & Trevor, Markus Birdman, Grant Philpott, Tom King, Jules Easlea, Jo Overfield, Ray Morgan and David Anderson.
Date: 15th July 2010 Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: East 15, Clifftown Studios, Nelson Street, Southend on Sea.
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 4
Seven artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Lee Baker, Holly Murray, Kidda, Paul Siggins, Amy McKenny, Emma Emmerton, James Harrod. Date: 25 March 2010 Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: East 15, Clifftown Studios, Nelson Street, Southend on Sea.
2009
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 3
Six artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: AEW Architects, Rachel Lichtenstein, Graham Harwood, Adam Perry, Andrew Carpenter, Greg Klerkx. Date: 14 July 2009. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Chalkwell Park, Meadow Field, Southend on Sea SS0 8NB.
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 2
Eight artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Simon Poulter, Charles Sharman-Cox, Al Johnson, Roger Griffiths, Jo Melville, Kamil Pechalko, Darren Berry, Scott Dolling. Date: 29 April 2009 Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: Leigh Centre, Elm Road, Leigh on Sea. SS9 1SP.
Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 1
Five artists, designers and creative individuals presented using the dynamic Japanese method of Pecha Kucha. 20 slides x 20 seconds. Presenters were: Jude Kelly, Rob Tinlin, Simon Fowler, Dan Harvey and Damien Robinson. Date: 1 April 2009. Time: 7pm - 9pm. Venue: East 15, Clifftown Studios, Nelson Street, Southend on Sea.
Pecha Kucha Night was devised by architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
The key to Pecha Kucha Night is its patented system for avoiding lengthy presentations – ‘death by powerpoint’. Each presenter is allowed 20 slides (all image based), each shown for 20 seconds – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up.
This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.
Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown and Pecha Kucha Nights now take place regularly in over 400 cities around the world.
Pecha Kucha is now part of Metal's ongoing programme in Southend on Sea. Images of some of our past Pecha Kucha evenings are included below.
