Preview: Art Weekender – Bristol & Bath

Returning for its second year, Bristol and Bath’s Art Weekender (Oct 30 – Nov 1) promises an adventurous, all-involving three-day celebration of the visual arts across the two cities.

Produced by Bristol’s award-winning art programmers Situations, the Weekender unites more than 30 arts venues, artist-led groups and arts producers across Bristol and Bath. The programme brings together exhibitions, one-off special events, artists’ talks, family activities and trails, public artworks and performances by outstanding contemporary artists in multiple locations across the two cities – with free access to almost all venues and projects.

Among this year’s highlights we must, of course, mention Theaster Gates’s extraordinary continuous-soundscape project Sanctum. There’s plenty of other tempting fare, though – such as The Kiosk Project in Castle Park, a site-specific kiosk from which artists Marcus Jefferies and Colin Higginson will be dispensing free, purpose-made souvenirs over the weekend. In The Taming of Moloch, meanwhile, local audio-visual collective Aural-I will project a series of awe-inspiring images onto the façade of Hamilton House on Stokes Croft, illustrating Bristol’s transition from its industrial past towards a nature-embracing, balanced future.

Elsewhere, Spike Island are working with artist Andy Holden (who had a major solo show at the gallery last year) on a project specifically for the Weekender. The artist and his father Peter Holden (pictured together above) are undertaking a study of the structures of birds’ nests through a new performative work, looking at how knowledge is transferred and informs the construction of objects and the domestic environment. Field recordings, drawings, film archives and museum collections will be incorporated into the work.

Each morning of the Art Weekender will begin with a pastry and provocation as a panel of guest speakers discuss relevant topics in a specially curated talks programme, including the role of artist-led collectives and their survival in the current climate. Other special events include a lecture by the Holdens père et fils, exploring the ingenuity and diversity of nest building; Australian artist Merilyn Fairskye discussing her solo exhibition Radiant; and a special screening of Andrew Kötting’s new film, By Our Selves. 

Artists from Bath Artists’ Studios, Jamaica Street Studios and Bath’s 44AD artspace will be enlivening the 12-minute train journey between Bath and Bristol by providing a ‘have a go’ introduction to life drawing. Activities for families, meanwhile, include a Halloween-themed storytelling boat trip on the River Avon and children’s trails through the RWA’s 163 Annual Open Exhibition (see preview below).

Says Situations Director Claire Doherty: “If Manchester is the new cultural powerhouse of the North, Bristol and Bath are England’s new cultural horizon. Both cities provide a seedbed for exceptional artistic, performance and musical talent, and the Art Weekender is just one example of the ways in which that talent explodes onto the streets, curses through the galleries and museums and surrounding countryside to surprise, delight – and challenge audiences to see these two cities anew.”

Art Weekender Bristol & Bath Fri, Oct 30 to Sun, Nov 1. For more info, visit www.artweekender.com