ARTSBLOG LIVE WEEK

After much preparation we’re all set, and frantic with excitement – welcome Artsblog Live Week! And what a programme we’ve got planned for you... with two fantastic live events, accompanied by a deluge of online activity, including videocasts, tweets, podcasts, blogging and more. It’s all aimed at exploring how artists and audiences interact with, talk about and create art works using the internet. More than that though, it’s also a celebration of the achievements of the Artsblog to-date. Have a quick scroll through the blog archive - with a huge range of live art, theatre and exhibition reviews, and coverage ranging from national service in Nigeria to un-appreciative Turner Prize visitors, the atheist bus campaign to performance art weddings...is it any wonder we’re rather proud of ourselves? Read on for full Live Week line up details...



NEWSFLASHES
Released at 3pm on Monday 25, Tuesday 26th and Thursday 28th May
Streamed live from 8pm on Friday 29

Log on to the Artsblog to see live videocast footage of the Artsbloggers preparing for the ‘Artsblog Live’ event on Friday, and then take part yourself on May 26th. Expect a quirky take on everything from promotion to some rather physical preparation, all with the comic and unusual slant of our diverse set of Artsbloggers. Newsflash 5 will be streamed directly from the ‘Artsblog Live’ event on 29 May, enabling an intimate insider-view of Friday night’s action, as it unfolds.

PODCASTS
Downloadable from the Artsblog, from 12pm, Wednesday 27 May

Download a podcast walking tour to guide you on your journey to the Artsblog Live event on Friday 29, or just to listen to and follow at your leisure. Choose from two Podcasts recorded by our Artsbloggers: a burlesque Jack the Ripper Tour or a soundscape DJ set, both based in the area around Commercial Street, London E1, with one starting at Liverpool Street Station and the other at Aldgate East Tube.

ARTSBLOG LIVE WEEK DISCUSSION
7.30pm, Tuesday 26 May, Brick Room, Toynbee Studios, free

Join us at Toynbee Studios or online, here on the Artsblog, for a round table discussion that everyone can get involved with. A group of performers, bloggers and artists will be invited to share their views on the relative merits and complications of using the internet as a space to present work, and will be open to your questions. We’ll discuss issues such as developing new audiences, questions of ‘quality’, notions of truth and representation, and the impact of all this online activity on ‘real life’ books, print media and art. The following group of individuals – who all spend their time writing about, observing and performing art works, music, fashion and current affairs on the internet – will be attending and giving their views:

Tassos Stevens (theatre-maker & game-designer, Coney)
Isabell O’Carroll (blogger, Catwalk Queen and Brandish)
Anna Goss (music manager, music blogger and blog PR)
Linda Duffy (artist, ‘Encounters’: Accidental Festival)
Holly Revell (teacher and photographer)
Ben Beaumont-Thomas (blogger, Bad Idea Magazine and playitasitlays.net)
Justin Allen (artist, Switch Performance)
Ant Hampton (artist and performance maker, Rotozaza & The Other People)
… and the Artsbloggers themselves (yes – you’ll be able to meet these cultured wordsmiths in person!)

ARTSBLOG LIVE – INTERACTIVE EVENT
7.30pm, Friday 29 May, Artsadmin Arts Bar & Café, Toynbee Studios, free

Witness the virtual and real worlds collide at the Artsblog Live interactive event. Come along and try out some surprisingly lo-fi versions of social networking tools, join us in creating an online collaborative piece of work, or even grab five minutes of fame by featuring in the recording of the final Newsflash.



ABOUT THE ARTSADMIN ARTSBLOG

The Artsblog was set up in September 2008 by Artsadmin and a group of participants from past education and participatory projects at Toynbee Studios, as a way of talking about the arts. It continues to be run by this group of young artists, students, teachers and performers, all of whom are driven by an interest in live art and performance. We all contribute for free, and no money is earned through advertising or sponsorship on the blog. The Artblog is fuelled by our passion for opening up the often small circles formed in the live art and performance world: we want to encourage conversation and debate. It is with these objectives in mind that we have developed the Live Week programme of activity you’re about to experience – get involved!