Contains Art - Artists' studios and Exhibition Space

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Richard Broomhall
Severn Sea
01/04/17-01/05/17
11am-4pm Wed-Sun
& daily during holidays

Exploring the intersection of landscape and technology, Broomhall and collaborating animator, Mark Fish, combine sculpture and moving image to bring life to the network of fibre-optic cables lurking in the waters beyond West Somerset's coastline.

Installation artist-in-residence with Contains Art, Broomhall brings sharks to shipping containers in this epic deep sea dive of film and animation, plumbing the depths of landscape, legend and technology. The Bristol based, Spike Island artist/filmmaker goes looking for the 'fibre glow' of a thousand terabyte internet cables flowing beneath the Severn Sea. His film installation, a mythology of the Bristol Channel, will take viewers on a visionary odyssey, combining drone shots and computer game animation as he goes swimming in the Severn Sea with Habren as his guide (the Old Welsh folkloric River Goddess of the Severn).

'As you stand on the bay at Watchet and you look out across the Severn to Barry and Cardiff, you're looking immediately over four [fibre-optic] cables... Watchet and Contains Art are vital to [my] Severn Sea project, this is one of the few places where you can actually work as an artist, right on the banks of the Severn' – Richard Broomhall

Generations of Broomhall's family have lived and worked along the banks of the Severn; retracing the footsteps of his forebears the artist confronts boundary conflicts of a global scale. Looking at our collective fascination with technology, Broomhall uses the narrative device of Sabrina (Habren), a folkloric post-human river goddess (named after Milton's character in Comus, A Masque), to summon the global infrastructure of submarine cabling which makes landfall on the West Somerset shores. Through ocean-gazing and digital dependence we are both spiritual witness and contributors to the presence of these fibre optic cables (which make up 98% of all electronic communication). Sabrina and warring tribes of animated, nation-state branded sharks infest the psychology of this fantastical journey through Broomhall's multi-media installation.

Container Conversation
with Darren Hall from The Green Party
7pm 21/04/17 - £12 entry
an evening with dinner & drinks

Join Richard for an intimate and relaxing evening with Darren Hall, rising star of The Green Party, when they discuss the themes surrounding Richard's work, inspiration and ideas in our popular, informal, conversational format. The discussion will be followed by a chance to ask questions alongside a meal with wine.

All proceeds go towards supporting Contains Art, a not-for-profit venture. Please book, email jon@containsart.co.uk

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