conalmcstravick

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Learning In A Public Medium (2015-18) Artist’s blog on collaborative events, workshops, screenings and other activities on artist, AIDS activist, writer, curator, educator, arts organiser, TV documentarian and composer Stuart Marshall (1949-1993).

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Morgan Quaintance, Stephanie Schwartz and Conal McStravick for Art Monthly on Resonance FM, Monday 8th February 2021

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Profile: Jamie Crewe by Conal McStravick, Art Monthly, 443, February 2021

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TEXT: ****brother to brother, brother to brother**** As the first instalment of our queer cinema series 'How Do I Look?', Outburst is thrilled to present a very special limited online screening of Marlon Riggs' groundbreaking film, 'Tongues Untied' (1989). Part documentary, part poem, part lesson in how to deploy a *snap*, 'Tongues Untied' speaks to being black, gay and HIV positive in the predominantly white gay communities of 1980s San Francisco, and positions Black men loving Black men as *the* revolutionary act. The film, which generated massive controversy on release because it was publicly funded, is now seen as a vital queer classic and has been described as "life changing" by queer cultural figures like Billy Porter. Screening with 'Tongues Untied' is Jay Bernard's short film 'Something Said' (2018), an exploration of black British history told through stories of fire, political upheaval and intimate queer experience. We are very excited that these film streams, which will be available for a three hour window only, will be followed by a discussion with Vivian Kleiman from Signifyin’ Works, the production company co-founded by Marlon Riggs, and curator Karen Alexander who commissioned Bernard as part of the initiative Philomena’s Chorus. The discussion will be led by  artist and curator Conal McStravick. 

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Pride Inside Final Event, Friday 10th July 2020, 6-7pm TEXT: Thank you for joining us for PRIDE INSIDE on Friday at 6pm. We are really excited to welcome you!

Please bring with you:

• a plant • some plantains • some lavender (a candle, flower, or wear something purple!) • a mask or a costume Activities:

- We are shaping this event as a collective letter to Liz Truss, UK Womens’ & Equalities Minister, US President Donald Trump or anyone with a stake in our LGBTQ+ lives, so they can understand the pain they have caused in not listening to LGBTQ+ people and the pleasures we continue to seek in our demands to be heard...

- write down and bring with you on the day: a short sentence expressing your 'present fears and future hopes' which you would be happy to say to the group by way of an introduction at the start of the session as a collective statement which we'll take turns to read out...

- The event will contain a short intro, a video of our activities and we will then share these activities: queering our plants, reading Zoe Leonard’s ‘I Want A President’ and queering our cameras and wearing our masks and singing Diana Ross’ 'I'm Coming Out,' together.

It's only a short event but it will mean a tremendous amount to our LGBT+ elders and allies, many of whom have been shielding for months, and it's a great way to celebrate the end of the project.

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Pride Inside: Week 4, Saturday 27th June 2020, 12-1.30pm with Linda Stupart (Artist, Writer, Educator and Activist) introducing their queer eco- feminist art, performance and writing-based practices. Taking us through making a papier mache or paper mask using found and discarded objects and everyday art materials. Thinking eco- and queer feminist practice through a non-binary and trans lens. Activities: Bring: - A paper mache Pride protest mask, made in advance, to finish and share (to be continued) - Ideas of how to share what we’ve learned and who to invite (LGBT elders and their allies) Materials: - materials you were sent in week 1 & 2 & 3 and anything you have made before (a slogan or banner, a queer space or a pride protest mask which you can continue making and share with us) - materials you have gathered yourself at home - a way to record these spaces on your phone or tablet or laptop - something you have learned that you want to share Outcomes: Reading and writing as collective caring, sharing and learning and as a time travelling Pride protest Ideas for the final event: a learning as caring and sharing event

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Pride Inside: Week 3, Saturday 27th June 2020, 12-1.30pm

Activities: Bring: A papier mache mask, made in advance or A4 card or paper Materials:

- a slogan, idea or message from week 1 - any materials or elements from your queer space from week 2 - any materials you have gathered in your shoebox since week 1 to experiment with changing how we appear on screen or to change our environment - a way to record these with your phone camera or laptop.

Queering our face and our space, we aim to speak to and about Pride and all ‘the pandemics...’

Outcomes:

We will name and shame the pandemics and make a pride protest mask about ‘epidemics’ and queerness...

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Pride Inside: Week 2, Saturday 13th June 2020, 12-1.30pm with Ash Kotak (writer and activist with AIDS Memory UK) on his experience of a lesbian and gay youth group in the 1980s and how this informed his AIDS activism, plus current plans for the AIDS Memory UK memorial gardens.  Activities: Bring: A beloved recipe, a plant or a story about yourself We are going to think about Pride at a social distance and queering our private spaces - our plants/ our closets- and making the personal political by making them public... Looking to LGBTQ+ creatives who have shaped how we think about LGBTQ+ art and life as protest and making private public and the personal political. 1. Queering our houses (Joe Orton, Playwright & Derek Jarman, Artist) 2. Queering our plants and gardens (Vita Sackville-West, Writer & Gardener & Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Photographer) 3. Out off the streets and into our closets (Billie Holiday, Singer & Octavia E. Butler, Writer)  Queering our spaces we aim to: - make space and time-travel through our actions, images and histories, past and present  Outcome:  - We will queer our closets (or another space in our homes or gardens) - We will make and re-make queer space collectively (Image: ‘Queering our plants and closets’ Mosaic contributor and Conal McStravick)

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Pride Inside: Week 1, Saturday 6th June 2020, 12-1.30pm with Peter Scott-Presland (ex- Gay Liberation Front, writer and activist) on the UK before decriminalisation and the Stonewall Riots. Thinking through living queerly before Pride and dominant US LGBTQ+ historical narratives.  ACTIVITIES: Bring: a slogan, an idea or a message that's important to you... We are going to think about Pride at a social distance and ‘queering’ our online spaces by looking to LGBTQ+ creatives who have shaped how we think about LGBTQ+ art and life as a protest: 1. Queering our cameras (Artist, Jack Smith) 2. Queer our voices (Composer, Pauline Oliveros & Writer, Audre Lorde) 3. Queer our actions or 'It all doesn't matter if ain't got soul...' (Marsha P. Johnson, Activist & Chelsea Manning, Activist) Queering our online spaces, we aim to: -find our voices, ideas and a message through a lens, a mic and our bodies. Outcomes: - Making a badge or a mini-banner by using our slogan, idea or message. - Making images, sounds and actions collectively and in an embodied way.  (Image: LGBTQ+ and Pride revolutionaries: Jack Smith ‘Queer Film Superstar,’ Pauline Oliveros ‘Deep-Listening Lesbian Composer,’ and Marsha P Johnson, ‘Street Trans- Action Revolutionary.’ 

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https://www.studiovoltaire.org/whats-on/desperate-living-c-19/ Pride Inside with Conal McStravick and Mosaic LGBTQ+ Young Persons’ Trust for Desperate Living C-19/ Studio Voltaire with Linda Stupart (artist, writer, educator, activist), Peter Scott-Presland (former GLF activist and writer) and Ash Kotak (writer, filmmaker and activist with AIDS Memory UK) A series of five weekly online workshops and an online final event exploring how creativity has shaped Pride with artist Conal McStravick. A safe queer space for young and elder persons to share queer histories, creatively collaborate and think through the impacts of lockdown, whilst we can’t physically connect. 

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Picturing a Pandemic: Part 7— Bob Huff’s The Asshole Is A Tense Hole (1985) and Sherry Milner’s A Womb With A View (1987) Interview— An interview with Bob Huff and Conal McStravick in October 2020 https://lux.org.uk/writing/pap-bobhuff

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Picturing a Pandemic: Part 6— Vincent Chevalier’s A Vancouver (2016) and Andre Reeder’s Aan Niets Overleden (1996) Interview— An interview with Andre Reeder and Conal McStravick, in July 2020. https://lux.org.uk/picturing-a-pandemic-an-interview-with-andre-reeder

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Picturing a Pandemic: Part 5— Jay Bernard’s Something Said (2017), Zachery Longboy’s Confirmation of my Sins (1995), Evan Ifekoya’s Contoured Thoughts (2019) & Kent Monkman’s Future Nations (2005).  Interview: An interview with Zachery Longboy and Conal McStravick, in July 2020. https://lux.org.uk/writing/picturing-a-pandemic-an-interview-with-zachery-longboy

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Picturing a Pandemic: Part 4— Sistren Collective’s Sweet Sugar Rage (1985) Interview: An interview with Lana Finikin, Ford Honor-Smith and Conal McStravick, in June 2020. https://lux.org.uk/picturing-a-pandemic-an-interview-with-lana-finikin-and-honor-ford-smith

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Picturing a Pandemic: Part 3— Richard Fung’s Chinese Characters (1986) Interview: An interview with Richard Fung and Conal McStravick, May 2020 https://lux.org.uk/writing/picturing-a-pandemic-an-interview-with-richard-fung-and-conal-mcstravick-may-2020

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Picturing a Pandemic: Part 2— Stuart’s Marshall’s Over Our Dead Bodies (1991) Interview: The Channel 4 Years— Working with Stuart Marshall a conversation between Rebecca Dobbs (Mayavision) and Caroline Spry (former commissioning editor at Independent Film & Video, Channel 4) https://lux.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Channel-4-Years_-Working-with-Stuart-Marshall.pdf

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Picturing a Pandemic: Part 1— Stuart’s Marshall’s Bright Eyes (1984) Interview: The Channel 4 Years— Working with Stuart Marshall a conversation between Rebecca Dobbs (Mayavision) and Caroline Spry (former commissioning editor at Independent Film & Video, Channel 4) https://lux.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Channel-4-Years_-Working-with-Stuart-Marshall.pdf