559: Inside

Thursday night was the opening of 'Inside', Blank Media Collective's first Arts Council funded exhibition, and their most ambitious so far. The participating artists are Claudia Borgna, Philip Cheater, Drop Collective (Blair Zaye, Anna Louise Hale, Adam Dahrouge and Alison Thomson), Gill Greenhough, Rosie Leventon, David Ogle, Emily Rubner, Liz West and Chris Wright.  


"Within the insular and atmospheric setting of BLANKSPACE gallery, Inside explores the psychological connections we form with our environment, placing the participant within a collection of works that disturb, envelop, and engage."

OK, that's the spiel; the off-the-shelf opening paragraph expected of the unimaginative arts reviewer, the symptom of being a critic and not an artist. That's me; hello. I compiled it from cliches, links and press releases; the word is churnalism. I made a churn. I digress, I do.

Inside is the first time for a few months I've been down to BLANKSPACE since I stopped working with them last year. Michael Thorp, me and the rest of the blankpages team always fancied doing a printed issue. I'm reliably informed that one is on the way in the near future, and I look forward immensely to seeing this, but in the meantime BMC have released the Inside tie-in limited edition zine-like non-zine magazine not-a-zine zine. It's limited to 375 copies, goes at three quid a pop, and is well worth every penny. Illustration, flash fiction and poetry from a range of contributors, hand screen printed on big thick paper (you know, the kind that feels nice). Go to BLANKSPACE and buy one.

When you are entering BLANKSPACE to buy your zine (for want of a better word), don't stumble over the intricate wooden sculpture surrounding the front door. Look at it instead. Seriously, my words are flippant and silly, but the work in Inside is not. They are varied in their interpretation of the brief, and the show is coherent and engaging. I hope it will draw in more visitors to BLANKSPACE, and I hope this is the start of more printed material from Blank Media Collective.

During the launch I was taking tiny millisecond video clips that I've been editing together into a little sort-of teaser promo type thing. I expect it will win an Oscar or something. There's not enough major documentaries made using Windows Movie Maker. In case you were wondering, this isn't a review of Inside; I'll leave that to the serious arts blogs. This is Saturday morning, blanket, sofa, cup of coffee; the yawns and aches of a week at work. Have a nice weekend. Go and see Inside. It runs until Sunday 29^th April. Go on, get!