A local voice, conversation series iiii, collective sculpture - essay booklet (click to view) |
| A Video, sound & installation Showing at Summer Art Thread LCB Depot, Leicester 26:08:17 11:00- 21:00 An expansive collaboration between Leila Houston, participants and musicians. |
The Crash, London
A Local Voice exhibition set-up at Summer Art Thread (part of City Festival), LCB Depot, Leicester, UK.
Photo by Phil Dickson-Earle
Photo by Andy Valente
Summer Art Thread (part of City Festival), LCB Depot, Leicester, UK, 28.8.17
A Local Voice, participatory event at Two Queens Project space & Studio, 5-6.8.17. Photography by Leila Houston and Tove Dalenius.
Technical support & Artist Tove Noorrjahaan Dalenius & Artist assistant- Jodie Shadforth taken just before two day work shop
my Studio at Two Queens
On the radio with Anna Laurini THE NEWS AGENTS Resonance FM (listen here)
Performance by Anne Imhof work, Faust, German pavilion. Venice
"Freedom and the question of what keeps people together and indeed what drives people apart?"
"Freedom and the question of what keeps people together and indeed what drives people apart?"
David Medella in Giardini Venice Biennale
Venice Conversation Series III, screening at Empire II in London. Photo by Jessica Baley.
The Journey of Empire II exhibition & The Crash
Fit the Slit, artist collaboration in Venice.
Working in clay with Dean Allen at his studio in Nottingham
media highlights
Artist’s work on isolation joins select company, Leicester Mercury newspaper, 18.6.17
The Newsagents, Resonance radio 104.4fm, 8.7.17
Feature: Leila Houston, The Great Central magazine, 8.6.17
Graduate Leila Houston sees her work showcased in world-leading arts festival in Venice, De Montfort University, 23.5.17
Empire II is an artist led satellite project devised and curated by Vanya Balogh for the 57th Biennale di Venezia, FAD: cool art & stuff, 7.5.17
Vanya Balogh Curates Immersive Film Hub Satellite Project For 56th Venice Biennale, Artlyst, 6.4.17
A Local Voice – Art connects with Leicester community, Arts Council England, 23.8.17
Age of Anxiety, :venews magazine, issue 216 venice guide
The Newsagents, Resonance radio 104.4fm, 8.7.17
Feature: Leila Houston, The Great Central magazine, 8.6.17
Graduate Leila Houston sees her work showcased in world-leading arts festival in Venice, De Montfort University, 23.5.17
Empire II is an artist led satellite project devised and curated by Vanya Balogh for the 57th Biennale di Venezia, FAD: cool art & stuff, 7.5.17
Vanya Balogh Curates Immersive Film Hub Satellite Project For 56th Venice Biennale, Artlyst, 6.4.17
A Local Voice – Art connects with Leicester community, Arts Council England, 23.8.17
Age of Anxiety, :venews magazine, issue 216 venice guide
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'How to survive' (2017) . By Leila Houston. Unfired clay sculpture with artist's marks left and reflecting on how our surroundings leave marks on us. Donated to Art 4 Grenfell.
Leila Houston (London, 1977) is a visual artist whose work investigates the social, political and historical aspects of a place and the impact we have on each other and our environments.
‘How to survive’ (2017) was the first part of a major project funded by Arts Council England. The work derived from a dream Houston had perhaps, due to living in poor conditions in England. The dream featured a rotting, barely alive baby. This vivid image was moulded into a sculpture for this project, reflecting her own experience of vulnerability and anxiety.
The work was featured as part Houston’s recent live event ‘A Local Voice, Conversation Series IIII, Collaborative Sculpture’ (2017) (see booklet). ‘A Local Voice’ was in part a search for the genuineness of face-to-face interaction, a reestablishment of compassion and a step away from the strident individualism encouraged online. Over two days in Two Queens Gallery, local people of Leicester came together to take part in an installation and create a collaborative sculpture using clay.
Activities and prompts were placed in the space with microphones recording the interactions and conversations. Participants worked in groups to film each other’s hands or eyes whilst telling truths and lies, moulded a clay sculpture in response to cut-out phrases from newspapers, and worked together to rearrange strips of grass varieties into an order that made sense to them. The recording and unplanned, naturally occurring awkward moments were developed further as an installation alongside artwork made by the participants, later exhibited at local event ‘Summer Art Thread’.
It is in part an attempt to understand space and its impact upon us, and our impact upon it. It is a platform for many voices. It is an ongoing expedition, a journey down a sprawling path with no single destination.
Bio
‘How to survive’ (2017) was the first part of a major project funded by Arts Council England. The work derived from a dream Houston had perhaps, due to living in poor conditions in England. The dream featured a rotting, barely alive baby. This vivid image was moulded into a sculpture for this project, reflecting her own experience of vulnerability and anxiety.
The work was featured as part Houston’s recent live event ‘A Local Voice, Conversation Series IIII, Collaborative Sculpture’ (2017) (see booklet). ‘A Local Voice’ was in part a search for the genuineness of face-to-face interaction, a reestablishment of compassion and a step away from the strident individualism encouraged online. Over two days in Two Queens Gallery, local people of Leicester came together to take part in an installation and create a collaborative sculpture using clay.
Activities and prompts were placed in the space with microphones recording the interactions and conversations. Participants worked in groups to film each other’s hands or eyes whilst telling truths and lies, moulded a clay sculpture in response to cut-out phrases from newspapers, and worked together to rearrange strips of grass varieties into an order that made sense to them. The recording and unplanned, naturally occurring awkward moments were developed further as an installation alongside artwork made by the participants, later exhibited at local event ‘Summer Art Thread’.
It is in part an attempt to understand space and its impact upon us, and our impact upon it. It is a platform for many voices. It is an ongoing expedition, a journey down a sprawling path with no single destination.
Bio
from booklet 'Houston grew up in North Kensington Community Centre, London, which was run by her parents for 11 years between 1977 and 1988. Purpose- built in 1936, the large building was later demolished, thought to have been due to regeneration in the area. New housing and streets were paved in its place, with the community centre later replaced with the much smaller Dalgarno Gardens Community Centre, which is still open today. Growing up in a place of discussion and exchange, the impact of spaces that foster both communication and quiet reflection has been a long- time fascination of Leila’s. The centre gave both a social platform for development, whilst also allowing a degree of individual ownership of the space. ' | (click images to enlarge) |
A very busy evening with amasing art, artists & visitors @ CRASH Exhibition @ Cavendish Square Central London.
Click all photos below to enlarge
Click all photos below to enlarge
Was really happy with my work in the space. amassing location and new developments
(click images below)
(click images below)
Taking Local Voice: Conversation IIII to London- exhibiting with over a hundred artist in a multi story car park.......in a suit case, sachet and two carrier bags - a role of grass turf, 3 rolls of fake grass, two patches of other fake grass, clay, two pot plants of long grass, 1 picture, clay models, two recorders, 150 booklets and printed labels.... |
Previous years curated by Vanya Balogh
Click to see example of Leila Houston Video, sound collaborations
Leila Houston
Leila Houston (London, 1977) is a visual artist whose work investigates the social, political and historical aspects of a place.