ACE Centre, Nelson
Daily
We worked with our colleagues in Pendle to create an exciting, creative launch programme for Nelson's Arts, Culture and Enterprise (ACE) Centre which officially opened on Monday 8 June 2009. The programme represented many artforms including dance, theatre, music and visual arts through free hands on activities and performances designed to entertain and involve the local community.
The ACE centre offers a high quality arts and cultural venue for the people of Pendle which includes a 200 seat performance space for cinema, theatre and live music, exhibition space, a recording studio, dance/drama studio and business services such as office space and conference rooms.
Here are some of the exciting things that took place during the launch:
Portable Pixel Playground
Portable Pixel Playground is an innovative and fun play space for all ages which has been created by artists working with digital technology. The interactive and hands on elements of the playground included pieces by Finland based duo Andy Best and Merja Puustinen called 'Too Much of a Mouthful' and a new artwork by internationally acclaimed artists Squidsoup called 'Glowing Pathfinder Bugs'.
'Too Much of a Mouthful' was a bouncy castle type installation that created sound senstions through people jumping, rolling and crawling on it. 'Glowing Pathfinder Bugs' allowed users to create and manipulate a physical landscape inhabited by a host of virtual creatures.
Soundwave
SoundWave took over the foyer area of the ACE Centre to create a three dimensional sound field which visitors found themselves wrapped up in as they moved through an invisible grid created with the use of a multi level speaker system. The audience heard sounds around them across three dimensions, and through their movement and activities helped create a soundscape that has provided a unique record of opening events.
Paul Floyd Blake
Widely-exhibited photographer Paul Floyd Blake captured images of Nelson people as they went about their everyday lives. The images created a spectacular wall of portraits within the centre. During the time that the images were on display, Paul won an international award for his photography. Click here to read more about this accolade.
Chila Kumari Burman
Chila Kumari Burman is an internationally acclaimed artist who has been exploring the experiences and aesthetics of Asian femininity through painting, installations, photography, printmaking, video and film for over 20 years. She worked alongside Nelson's community to produce giant photomontage works which are now displayed within the foyer of the ACE centre. The large scale banners form temporary, jewel like decoration for the walls and also provide a visual document of people who participated in launch proceedings.
Some of the many other activities that took place included Dhol drumming sessions with Dhamak, circus skill workshops with Skylight Circus and dance classes with professional dancer Thea Soltau.