Tipping Point

Fri 27 May, 6pm - 10pm at Walcot Chapel BA1 5UG

Sat 28 May - 6.45pm - 9pm at Milsom Place BA1 1DN

Free, no need to book

Curated by Anna Novakov

Belgrade-born and Berkeley-raised creative Anna Novakov was a Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the San Francisco Art Institute and Saint Mary’s College of California before leaving academia to work as a multi-genre artist and writer.

Retaining studios in New Mexico and New York, Serbian-American Novakov produces olfactory installations, wall works, screenplays and textiles. She is also Senior Curator of Provisional Art Space, New York, a consortium of artists dedicated to environmental justice.

Gen Doy

After working for many years as a university lecturer in history and theory of visual culture, I qualified as a fine artist, graduating with an M.A.(distinction) from University of the Arts London in 2013. I also have an M.A. in History of Fine Art and French Language and Literature from Glasgow University, and a Ph.D. in History of Art from the University of Essex. My published books deal with issues of “race”, gender, sexuality and the politics of representation.

I use various media in my work, particularly sound and live performance. I also work with still and moving images, written and spoken texts, in order to construct narratives that are not linear, but suggestive, evocative and open to creative interpretation by the viewer and listener. I am interested in myth, history and the many ways in which the historical can collide and interact with the contemporary. Giving voice to, and making visible, people and events which have been ignored or marginalised is important to me, as is the creation of a political artistic practice.

Angel Greenham

Angel Greenham is an artist whose practice is split between both Bristol and Bath. She received a BA Hons from University of Wales Trinity St David in 2006 and an MA in Fine Art at Bath School of Art and Design 2017. In 2018 she participated in a four month Cells Residency at Trowbridge Townhall Arts and following this was selected for the Visions of Science exhibition at The Edge & The Andrew Brownsword Gallery. Since graduating Angel has been in discussions with Dr Ventsislav Valev from the Physics Department at the University of Bath and her work has been heavily informed by those conversations. Her sculpture ‘Beyond Human’ is currently on permanent loan at The University of Bath physics department.

Angel is the 2022 Fine Art Mentor on the Bath Spa University graduate program Emerge, and is also an Associate Lecturer on the Creative Arts Practise course. Her practice continues to be influenced by the transformative effects of light, architecture, and how technological advances are impacting on the human race.

Gavriel Rubin

Gavriel Rubin is a London based sound artist and music therapist in training with research interests in music and consciousness, performance anxiety, mental health, and spirituality. His music includes elements from a diverse range of genres including ambient, glitch, Jewish Folk music, field recording and electroacoustic. All collaborative work is multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural. Gavriel’s music and approach is mindful and introspective. His compositional process is a research into the relationship between spirituality and music as a means to improve psychological wellbeing.

After completing a bachelor’s degree in composition and classical guitar performance in Johannesburg, Gavriel travelled to the UK to undertake a master’s degree in sound and electroacoustic music at Bath Spa University where he conducted research on the psychology of the composer in electronic music.

Seth Guy

Lives and works in London, UK. Seth Guy appropriates, reconfigures and juxtaposes materials to create playful performative works which explore the discourse between ear and eye. Influenced by his interests in experimental fiction, art, and music, Seth's research explores the intersections of shared language, of memory, and imagination, in which the acts of listening and visualising are investigated. Often collaborating and devising projects of a participatory and experiential nature, Seth makes both sonic art and visual art - sound compositions, performance, and collage - work which is often humorous, and occasionally disquieting.

Recent exhibitions of Guy’s work includes audio for Future Nostalgia FM’s Futurology Kiosk touring in Weimar, Germany (May 2022 - May 2122!), and a commission for six digital collages made in collaboration with covert performance group DROSS for But These Forms Need to be Created at the KSCC in Ramallah, Palestine (August – October 2021).

Recent publications include a transcript of his participatory performances EPIC Fails 1 & 2 as part of A Catalogue of Failures Issue 2 (December 2021), and an artist feature and cut-out page in Kolaj Magazine's World Collage Day 2021 Special Edition (May 2021).

Antoni Hidalgo

Antoni Hidalgo (Inercies, 1969) is a Mollet del Vallés, Barcelona-based artist, has studied Labour Relations at the University of Barcelona and painting courses at the Escola Massana, Art and design centre of Barcelona, has made some collective and individual exhibitions and combines artistic works in the environment with experimental music.

His work refers to the city where we are and where we live our routines. It's about a common place where we realize the only possibility of change is..., the Art. 

Ron Hutt

Ron Hutt is an Electronic Music Composer, Performer and Multi-Media Artist. Hutt has a professional background which includes University Professor of Digital Art and Design, Scientific Visualization, Expressive Arts Therapist and most recently a Music Therapist focusing on end-of-life issues. 

Conceptually, Hutt’s current works are influenced by areas of inquiry defined by the collective works of Critical Posthuman Studies and the academic work of Rosi Braidotti — a convergence of humans in contemporary scholarship with a new position for future study of complexity which she refers to as “Planetary Differential Posthumanism.”

Keeling Curve

The Keeling Curve is an electronic music duo comprising composer Will Frampton and violinist Rhiannon Bedford. Will recently completed a PhD in Composition at the University of Manchester, for which he received AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Program full award. Rhiannon is currently studying a MMus in Violin Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. They write and record ambient and experimental music exploring humankind’s relationship to nature, using synthesizers, tape loops and found sound. The Keeling Curve were shortlisted finalists for RMA’s The Tippett Medal 2020 for their track ‘Mersey Beat’. Since formation in early 2020 they have released three E.Ps., been awarded grants from Sound and Music and Arts & Heritage, and have written music for Whatstick and Proxemics Theatre companies. They have been featured on broadcasts and compilations including Name Drop San Diego alongside Ralph Keeling (June 2020), NW Live Arts Music and Place (September 2020), BEAST FEaST 2021 University of Birmingham (April 2021), ‘Sounds for an Empty House’ Plas Bodfa, Soundlands and Amgueddfa Llwch (November 2021), and Radiophrenia Glasgow (February 2022).

They are currently working on ‘Leaky Transmissions’, a site-specific work with artist Nastassja Simensky funded by Arts Council England’s Project Grants.

Brian Madigan

Brian Madigan is a Bath-based composer, performer and educator. Originally self-taught on piano, he studied drums and flute, before majoring in composition at Middlesex Polytechnic. There he became fascinated by the creative possibilities of composing for contemporary dance.

Whilst working as a dance accompanist, Brian co-founded the physical-theatre group ‘Hot Savoury Souffles’, performing and leading workshops in music improvisation. In 1992, he created Dance Notes, through which he produces music and resources for dance education.

As a performer, Brian has played in everything from pit orchestras to punk bands. Currently he is the drummer of Nu-Folk ensemble Rivers of England. He also appears and records solo as A Band Named Brian. Brian has been commissioned to compose for theatre, dance, film, advertising and digital media. Recently, he developed a series of Fringe Theatre events that centre around his songwriting whilst challenging the norms of musical performance. Visual-artist Natasha Parker-Edwards danced in two of these shows.

Natasha subsequently engaged Brian to create a soundscape for her 2020 installation Roar & Pelting. Unfortunately, this project had to be shelved. However, it resulted in the sound-composition 2020 Vision - a thought-provoking snapshot of life during these extraordinary times.

Steve Pettengell

Steve Pettengell is a British/New Zealand artist, living and working in London. He graduated from Goldsmiths College, University of London and Glasgow School of Art, exhibiting extensively over the last 10 years in the UK and abroad, including the 58th Venice Biennale, Frieze Week and the Edinburgh Art Festival.

His practice is a reflection on home and power, in its many forms, from the domestic to the political. Often re- appropriating domestic paraphernalia and cultural vernacular as he questions the well-established social constructs at play in our everyday lives. The work is multi-disciplinary in its approach, incorporating a wide range of media most appropriate for the concept, including sculpture (olfactory, sound, social, assembled-readymade), mixed media and photography.

Robert L. Pepper

Robert L. Pepper , is a Brooklyn born artist/musician, based in New York City. His works include oil, and acrylic paintings, films, and experimental music recordings. His work is abstract in nature while using various symbols and occult references. His portraits are a breakdown of the subject’s personality into abstract designs and esoteric symbols. His musical projects include Pas Musique, The Jazzfakers, Eyryx, and Limax Maximus. Robert has performed and displayed art in over 18 countries.

‘When the viewer looks at my work they are presented with many intertwining and interacting forms. These forms make up scenes and imaginary beings, which are part of an internal world that I have created. Many people have their television world, I have decided through painting to create my own world. All these scenes originate from deep within my mind. I am inspired by “tribal designs” from all over our globe, ancient texts, microcosm, macrocosm, and occult symbolism. I try to create something mysterious, provocative, and intriguing out of the simplicity of these forms, as well as displaying a story for the viewer to decipher for themselves.’

Jessica Rowland

Jessica studied Music & Performing Arts at De Montfort University Leicester, and spent several years working as a Lighting and Sound Technician in Theatre. In 2003 she took a year out to study Music Technology in Manchester, and later studied for an MA at the University of Leeds. She works with musical and found sounds, and the spoken word; recording & remixing, creating unusual rhythm patterns and layers of sound.

In 2009 She took part in an Artists Residency in Iceland, collaborating with visual artist Pat Hodson and poet Liz Cashdan, which led to exhibitions in Sheffield and Leeds. Since then Jessica has had pieces in various exhibitions, created installations for Light Night Leeds and the Liverpool Book exhibition (2016) and created a sound design for a touring theatre show.

After taking time out to have her second child, Jessica’s most recent projects are “it’s a Jungle out there“ with fellow technicians from University of Leeds (2019) tackling the subject of climate change and sustainability; and a piece for Cities and Memories online exhibition The Orange Garden (2021)

She lives in Manchester and works as a Technician for the School of Performance & Cultural Industries, University of Leeds.

Klaus Von Mork

I am a musician/ photographer working mainly in the noise music field. Prior to relocating to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria in 2020, I was a member of the Brighton-based Safehouse Collective and continue to work with them remotely.  I am a member of the experimental trio “Klaus, Gunther & Plotz” and the performance duo “Rough Work”. I also perform as a solo artist.