Tea time

Crazy really when you pass a day, a week or even a month in a studio completely consumed by the production of your very own magnificent machine how easy it is to forget the world around us. Time passes by in varying speeds for each of us, some things are never ending and sometimes an hour passes like a minute. But it's what we produce in that time that makes us want to continue I guess.

It seems whilst we have been tackling our own V&A issues, others have been climbing the steep hill of contemporary art. Here Rona Smith a friend of ContainerPLUS has been busy recording the beauty that time leaves behind. Rona tackles the passing of time and the transient nature of life and her works continually amaze me! To be honest Rona has always been an inspiration and it was such a pleasure to work with her and contemporary dancer Jessica Green on a piece entitled 'Dust Spin.' Photos of this performance can be found on her website, it leaves a sweet taste in your mouth.

This picture shows a cup of tea that was left in a very dry room for 8 weeks.

Our studio as a boy's playground

We feel we are trapped in a 12 year old boy's bedroom as we experiment with automata for the "Tell All Printing Press" due to churn out people's secret confessions at the V&A's 'Art of Confession' event on the 30.5. - How will it work? - you might wonder... well, we are asking ourselves similar questions.

ContainerPLUS' swimming champion raises money for Marie Curie cancer care

Luise and her russian twin before and after Swimathon at York Hall.
Thanks to all our sponsors - we overshot our fundraising goal with your generous support!
Thank you Jenny, thank you Hege!

ContainerPLUS at the TV Baftas - 20.4.08 Grosvenor Park Hotel

The Long Awaited Studio Move

Meandering an enormous shelving unit down an inconvenient and twisting staircase may give you the mental image that sets the tone for the past few days in the world of containerPLUS.

The studio move has begun (finally!) and while Anna’s on a drilling frenzy and soon to reach her goal of rivalling Arnold Schwarzenegger in the muscle department, Patricia is in a constant state of excitement about the sheer volume of polishing that needs to be completed.

Phone lines connected, shelving units brimming, desks parked up and already filled with clutter, all of this sound tracked by the quacking of ducks paddling below in the canal..

So basically the move is now almost complete, 5 cackling girls equipped with a bulging bag of tools was always going to end in nothing less than triumph... Sorry boys (!!)

V

P.S Did I mention we also have a stage?

Our cup of tea...

White face paint, striped clown suits, accordions and a crazed Dame Ednaesque lead singer, no it's not a dream it's the Tiger Lillies and they're playing at The arches for basically the whole of April. Check out www.myspace.com/tigerlillies/uk you won't be sorry.

Vix this one is for you!

The making of a masterpiece.

An early morning start sees a fresh faced team arrive at our decrepit and abandoned location. Tired eyes and early morning mumbling seems like a relatively normal start to the day.

Felina (model) is being crimped and creamed by the wonderful Emily (make up artist) Anna and I are faffing around on set, Aaron (runner) has set off into the depths of hackney to find us much needed caffeine kicks, and Pats... is wearing my lacey petticoat on her head?? Must be her jetlag manifesting itself in ways that I am unfamiliar with.

Everything appears to be running smoothly. Then the darkness sets in. We cleverly diagnose this as a power failure which is an understandable problem when plugging magnificently strong lights into a house close to collapse (not to worry...everyone has signed the disclaimer.)

Assisting the darkness is an arctic chill and our newly toned stomach muscles are the result of manic shivering and desperate laughter. Meanwhile Anna and I are now preening our paper birds, Patricia is sourcing a generator, and David (photographers assistant & lighting extraordinaire) is contemplating the logistics of a candle lit stop frame. Aaron meanwhile shares the details of his secret yet lucrative sideline of naked housekeeping. I hand him a dustpan and brush and he gets to work.

At 4pm the lighting is restored, we resume our positions and it's back to work. The paper set has taken on a life of it's own, and the birds are beginning to try their luck, we find one sneaking under Felinas dress, and ear marking him as the pervert to stay away from we hastily continue with our stop frame.

The hours pass. Felina discovers that holding an expression of ‘surprise’ for several hours is actually rather laborious, and while we smother her with words of encouragement, one can't help but worry that she may eradicate this emotion for the fear of ever having to use it again (does the disclaimer cover emotional scarring??)

We continue through the evening in our manic stop frame frenzy, birds are flying, vines are growing and trees are wavering, however the tired eyes and mumblings of the morn have returned only to remind us that bed time is in fact nearing. In a couple of swift actions the lights are out, the birds are put to sleep, the petticoat is back in the arms of its rightful owner and we finally bid farewell to each other as we totter off into the night.

Until tomorrow ladies and gentlemen.


V

Oldie but goodie - Juan Munoz at the Tate Modern.

This may be old news to some but then again it may not so if it's recommendations that are tried and tested you're after, well you're in the right place.

The Juan Munoz exhibition at the Tate Modern has been on for a while now (!), it remains a feast of inspiration. This is a retrospective that is certain to set the brain juices flowing. It is political, riddled with curious incidents and inventive trickery that require a double or even treble look. Distinctive, bold patterns and a playful curiosity for materials make this an enlightening journey. Each room is a masterpiece in its' own right but be sure to leave a little space to fully digest the final figures, without giving the game away...look at the shadows.

Loris Greaud at le Palais de Tokyo

This short clip is jam packed with tantalising masterpieces; eery trees lit with apocalyptic tones, giant eiffel tower structures being welded together and a vending machine with posh sweets, what more can you ask from an exhibition? A lot more it seems, Loris Greaud has the audience on tenter hooks, actors run around playing what can only be described as a professional looking Quasar, whilst audience members interact with a very well made version of the yoghurt cup telelphone. This evening of childish antics is preceded by a mighty operatic voice and a full blown orchestra...no fair!

Whistle while you work

As a rule we at Container PLUS tend to listen to music whilst working...though Victoria's dulcet humming of 'Raindrops on roses' can brighten up many a dreary task...it's often preferable to drown her out with a touch of Beirut. This clip shows them off to their full potential, we caught them at the Roundhouse a while ago and are still infatuated.

Amica Magazine

Some of us are fortunate enough to be dreaming about warmer, flowery days whilst drawing up the Amica fashion road map for May, what will you be wearing when the sun finally puts his hat on?

Right now...

Container PLUS are hard at work, crafting and illustrating a set of mammoth proportions for an upcoming animation. The shooting of which will take place in the next two weeks. It's a stop frame number and without revealing too much will feature a lot of paper and play with ones notion of reality. Worlds within worlds upon worlds are created. Inspired by their scalpels and a few too many paper engineering books, the team are devising a magical moving image piece...hold tight not long to wait now!

Robert J. Lang

Try downloading a crease guide. If you, like us, are completely gobsmacked by the sheer complexity and ingenuity of this and want to drop everything you're doing and find a piece of paper...don't. You'll only feel like a three year old learning to ride a bike for the first time...trust us we tried it. This most definitely is harder than it looks and unlike riding a bike a lot less likely you'll find a teacher patient enough to show you the way. It is incredible and we want every single item folded and crafted by this guy.

Simon Husslein

The genius behind the madness that was the Haunted House. In the truest sense of the word, Simon is a genius (obviously minus the grey nasal hair and white jacket.) Complex mathematical diagrams remain scattered across the construction room in H/H, acting as a snippet of evidence for such a bold statement. This man conjured a world for our Evil Twins in which, one could lose all bearing out of several large pieces of wood and copious amounts of screws!

Serafina Steer

Have you ever found an artist and not wanted anyone else to know about them because they were too special? Package them in cotton wool and keep them for yourself, to gently hum along to their songs but as soon as someone else discovers them you want to cry out: 'I FOUND THEM FIRST!' Well Serafina is just that, she's the jem you listen to over and over on your ipod or play at a trendy dinner party and subtly mention her name in passing. Serafina is a delight to listen to and to watch, she is enchanting and mesmerising and is making sweet music on her harp for our animation!