Memories: Deda Night

Saturday night saw Deda light up and flash back in a series of events that encompassed the arts through a variety of media and performance with a truly international vision ..

Upstairs, the artists known as Cruiser exhibited a collection of works based around the theme ‘Memory & Migration’ .. downstairs Julian’s paintings, executed outdoors during a succession of twelve full moons, were being previewed .. later he and his retro-punk band rocked the house ..


Saira Lloyd not only curated the exhibition but was the perfect hostess, moving through the sizeable gathering ensuring all were mingling and enjoying the evening ..

Saira’s box set of personal objects combine fragments of human memory through the genetic codes inherent in collected hair, lint and fibres, yet remain unidentifiable as though glandular specimens had been procured randomly and displayed as medical curiosities ..



Mr Lewis-Jones puts the focus on small things .. I’ve yet to persuade him to tell me all the slightly obscure hidden meanings ..


Gareth Jordan’s video blurred the distinction between the snapshot and the snapshot memory and brought the personal into the abstract ..

John Fanning created a 3 dimensional piece with hints at passages and movement - nativity scenes and goalmouth incidents create a memory collage in this delicate work ..

Yelena contributed a series of ‘martian flowers’ .. memories of growing up in the Urals during the Cold War .. a collection of paintings on what were originally propagandist posters from the Soviet Republic ..

Simon offered the opportunity to interact with the past .. a journal, a diary, a photograph (well I saw one) .. a book of dreams, a sacred place to reflect on your own collection of memories .. recollections of the religious ..?

I installed a new variation on ‘El Sol Entre Dos Palmas’ .. based on a dream and geometric synthesis of natural occurrences the piece taps the collective memory of shared symbols and forms ..

I also wrote a specially themed spoken word poetry piece called ‘Memory Man (memories of migration)’ which was, in it’s excerpted and casually performed version, well received ..

Cruiser will stage their next exhibition ‘I can see your house from here’ at Old Knows Studios Nottingham near the end of February ..

I will keep you posted on dates etc .. In the meantime watch my other blog Kevin Wallace Poet for an upcoming post featuring a complete version of the poem with photos from the Memory and Migration event ..

Naturally, I thank everyone involved in making the evening a success: Steven Munn, Mark, Saira and all who turned out to add buzz and personality to the event ..

I half expected you to be there, half hoped you would show, kept watching for the sparkle of your eyes through the crowd, my heart beating heavily in anticipation, but alas, time and distance ..

The Memory & Migration exhibition is showing at Deda until March 27th 2010 ..

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Travelling Hopefully: Memory & Migration

As Artists Travelling Hopefully Cruiser make their way to the exhibition and performance space at Deda in Derby this month ..


I will be performing ‘Memory Man’ .. Yelena Popova will be performing as Martian Gardener .. and the rest of the Cruiser artists will be exhibiting and on hand to show and discuss their work which will be on display through March ..

Julian Woodcock is a main attraction.. and Moon Bullet will be providing music throughout the evening ..

Free preview on Saturday 23rd January .. performances start 8pm ..

And .. if you wanna make a weekend of it .. Friday night Apples and Snakes presents the tongue twisting heartfelt sentiments of Zena Edwards .. She graces the stage with her performance of ‘Security’ .. having met Zena in London recently, I can assure you this is a show worth coming out for ..
at Deda from 8pm on the 22nd ..