May 2018: Trevor H. Smith is Od Writer in Residence
We’re excited to announce that Trevor H. Smith will be our writer-in-residence for the very first Od Arts Festival 2018.
Trevor is an artist and freelance writer based in Bath. He is interested in ideas of selfhood in the digital age, the boundaries between artworks and the stories we attach to them. Trevor was selected for the 2017-18 a-n Writer Development Programme and is currently studying an MA in Fine Art at UWE, Bristol.
Over the weekend of Od Arts Festival, keep an eye on #odartsfest on Instagram, where Trevor will be sharing his responses to artworks and encounters in East and West Coker.
April 2018: Od Arts Festival Programme is Out!
Read below or click here to download (1.7MB) your very own copy…
Time to plan your trip!
March 2018: Od Arts Festival Announces 2018 Artist Line-up
Following a competitive open call, to which over 70 artists applied, we’re excited to announce the selected artists and projects that will stir up rural Somerset this May.
Festival co-curator Bob Gelsthorpe said:
“I’m really excited to be involved in the first Od Arts Festival. Rivalry is a great premise to play with – a little healthy competition never hurt anyone! The selected artists will explore posture, humour, song, fiction and many things in between, all jarring to create a weekend of contemporary art in East and West Coker.”
Highlights include:
- A participatory installation exploring rivalry in love through the medium of karaoke. Artist Sadie Hennessy, recipient of the festival commission, will host a series of karaoke booths in public spaces, inviting visitors to pick from a long menu of jilted lovesongs. Expect to belt out some classics, from Blondie – Rip Her to Shreds to David Bowie – Letter to Hermione to Pussycat Dolls – Dontcha wish your girlfriend!
- A series of temporary living sculptures exploring our dependencies on one other. Megan Calver and Gabrielle Hoad will collaborate with Coker residents to lean their bodies and various objects, giving and taking support, and occasionally flattening people or structures into submission.
- An autobiographical and anecdotal performance by Tom Smith, delving into artistic rivalries, nostalgia and stagecraft, and detailing the circumstances under which he shot quite a famous artist’s cat with a water pistol.
- Paintings by Janet Sainsbury exploring the male friendship and imagined tension between Samuel Beckett and Alberto Giacometti. Envisage mask wearing, partner swapping and conquests fuelled by insecurity and jealousy.
- The local Wassail Theatre Company will produce a new short play devised in collaboration with people living in West, East and North Coker, which hopes to decipher what it means to be a ‘Cokerite’.
- Hands-on printmaking as Double Elephant Print take up residence at at Dawe’s Twineworks, in a series of workshops suitable for all ages and abilities. It will be a chance to get inky, to challenge yourself and your neighbours.