Escaping Gravity

A collaboration between 6 artists from the UK, the work’s core inspiration is the epic story of the R101 Airship - a project that incited the dream of airship flight but ended in tragedy.

Escaping Gravity is an immersive, contemporary, cinematic experience produced by a collaboration of six artists over a two-year period during the pandemic. The work explores the essence of humanity – birth, death, our place in the atmosphere, human folly, and the environmental climate crisis. Its core inspiration is the epic story of the R101 Airship - akin to the Titanic, a project that incited the dream of airship flight but ended in tragedy. This multi-layered metaphor evokes the journey of the R101 from its maiden international flight to its ultimate crash, imbued with the themes of birth, death and rebirth echoing the lifecycle of an airship doomed by hubris. The experience has been created using Unreal Engine gaming software and incorporates film and archive airship footage set against an original symphony, combining choral voices with abstract sound thus transporting the viewer on a meditative journey through digital landscapes.

Trigger Warning: Flashing images.

Exhibition Launch: Saturday 2 September 2:00pm-3:00pm

Exhibition/Screening hours:

Saturday 2 September - 12:00pm-3:00pm

Sunday 3 September - 12:00pm-3:00pm

Wednesday 6 September - 12:00pm-3:00pm

Saturday 9 September - 12:00pm-3:00pm

Sunday 10 September - 12:00pm-3:00pm

Wednesday 13 September - 12:00pm-3:00pm

Saturday 16 September - 12:00pm-3:00pm

Sunday 17 September - 12:00pm-3:00pm

Partners

JAMES HULLICK - CEO & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

James Hullick is CEO and artistic director of JOLTED Arts Space & Centre of Excellence: 342 High St Northcote. This project is about bringing avant garde international artists into the City of Darebin community. The long term goal is to build solid international pathways to and from the JOLTED Centre of Excellence.

MIKE STUBBS

Artist MIKE STUBBS’ work has been transmitted by Channel 4, BBC and STV, has work in major collections and has major exhibitions including a monograph at Baltic Art Centre, Newcastle and video retrospective at Tate Britain. He has won major international awards for his own work including: Next Art, Tainan 2019, 1st Prize WRO Biennale.

 

Mike Stubbs website

 

ROLAND DENNING

ROLAND DENNING is a London-based filmmaker, writer and audio artist. He is a long time collaborator with Mike Stubbs, founding Metamedia with him in the 1990s creating films of art, dance and music.

Roland Denning website

ROGER ILLINGWORTH

ROGER ILLINGWORTH is a composer, songwriter, teacher and community musician based in Bedfordshire. He is currently studying for a PhD in composition at Goldsmiths University, with an interest in community composition, improvisation and electronic music. He is a founding member of the Grubby Mitts and Buzzard Lope, and leads the Bedford Arts Choir.

 

Roger Illingworth website 

 

DAVE LYNCH

DAVE LYNCH is an artist, director and inventor working internationally at the intersection of art, science, business and the environment. Dave’s work has been broadcast on the Discovery Channel, BBC 2, Radio 4 & the World Service. In 2016 he was nominated for the Ars Electronica STARTS prize.

Dave Lynch Website

ROB STRACHAN

ROB STRACHAN is an active musician and sound artist. His audiovisual installations have been exhibited at the Wordsworth Trust, Itami, Japan. Abject Gallery, Newcastle, Liverpool Biennial. Rob s a senior lecturer at Liverpool University. 

Rob Strachan soundcloud

SAM WIEHL

SAM WIEHL is a visual artist focusing on immersive audience experience. Audio visual collaborations include work with Matthew Herbert, Mogwai, Yann Tiersen, and Forest Swords. Commissions include work with Tate, Unsound Festival, CTM Berlin and Valentino fashion house.

Sam Wiehl Website

JOLTED ARTS

Artists across the planet are frothing at the mouth in their attempts to expand humanity’s experience of creativity. JOLTED Arts Space and Centre of Excellence is an avant-garde arts organisation that seeks to forthrightly contribute to the flowering of local cultures, whilst maintaining an international vision through our total devotion to deepening the creative experience of our audiences and artists alike. Based at 342 High St Northcote, we actively seek to remove many of the restrictive barriers that artists and audiences are often faced with. Our open-minded and actively positive attitude is supported by our own definition of what we believe art to be, “any creative act that prioritises creativity.” JOLT Arts is an inclusive arts organisation with charitable status that creates in-house new cross-disciplinary productions – as a production house – whilst also supporting and presenting the work of other creators. We present new cutting-edge work by local and international artists with a focus on avant-garde creators across a range of contexts and abilities: artists of neuro-diversities, artists of youth, emerging artists and established artists. Following our inclusive agenda, our programs often mix and match established and emerging artists across a range of presentation contexts: galleries, festivals, concert halls, pubs, arts centres, community venues, site specific venues and more. We have a broad attitude to what art may be and therefore the artists we support regularly create work with artists from a range of disciplines. Directed by composer and artist James Hullick, JOLT is based in Australia, and governed by a board of directors, led by Margaret Woods. Through strong leadership, JOLT has established an international touring network of producers with JOLT’s 2015 Touring Festival Asia featured on national TV in Japan. JOLT has presented international festivals in Japan, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Australia. Since JOLT’s inception in 2009, the organisation has devoted much energy to developing projects that engage youth artists and artists supported by the NDIS. Initially incubated by Footscray Community Arts, JOLT has mentored the growth of The Amplified Elephants – a sound art ensemble for artists with neurological diversities. Sonic arts access has become central to JOLT’s identity as the organisation, such that the organisation has developed a range of workshops for people with disabilities. A key function of JOLT is as a mechanism for introducing emerging artists to professional opportunities, thereby better creating avant-garde art born in the hearts of living, breathing creative communities.

Website: https://jolted.art/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JOLTsonicarts

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joltarts/

Bandcamp: https://hullickstudios.bandcamp.com/music

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw0cUZyQaB2hISPydh_pokA

Event & ticketing details

Accessibility

Gender Neutral Toilets
Wheelchair Access
Accessible Toilet

Dates & Times

Event is free and bookings are not required Saturday 2 September - Sunday 17 September

Tickets

FREE For enquiries contact Charlotte Bolcskey: charlotte.bolcskey@joltarts.org

Location

JOLTED Arts Space

342 High St, Northcote

Get directions
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