#so having david literally 2 meters away from me multiple times

[jula483]

David Tennant, November 8th ❤️

[ayearinfaith]

𝗔 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟴: 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆

Scientology is a religion founded in the 1950’s by L. Ron Hubbard, formerly an author. The organization has become mired in numerous controversies such as fraud and capitalistic exploitation of its followers. In some ways it is structured like a classical mystery religion and as such much of the public knowledge of their teachings comes from leaked documents and the testimony of those who have left the organization.

𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀

Before the religious movement there was Dianetics, a method and organization of psychotherapy devised by Hubbard. He was inspired primarily by the writings of Sigmund Freud, a prominent figure in early 20th century psychology. In this method, Hubbard conceived of a partitioned conscience, the conscious analytic mind and the subconscious reactive mind. This reactive mind was the host of harmful traumas which Hubbard eventually dubbed “engrams”, a term from cognitive psychology (Hubbard’s engrams are not the same). These engrams were quite literal memories, or fragments of memories, of events in a person’s past, even from past lives (more on that later). Engrams festered in the reactive mind and could cause all manner of ailments, both mental (ex. anxiety and depression) and physical (ex. asthma and arthritis). Homosexuality was also caused by harmful engrams. Ridding oneself of engrams and the surface level issues they caused could be done via a process called auditing. In an audit the subject, known as a “pre-clear” is guided by the auditor via a series of questions and suggestions to analyze and talk through traumas. While originally these were done solely via dialogue, Hubbard sought a method to aid the auditors in tracking and measuring pre-clears. The answer eventually came in the form of the “E-meter”, short for “Electropsychometer”. The E-mater is a type of device that measures skin-level electrical activity in the human body. The polygraph of “lie-detector” is another such device, and Hubbard even took them under consideration before the E-meter. The pre-clear takes a pair of cylinders in their hands and the auditor adjusts the meter so the dial holds steady in the center of its display. E-meter displays have no numbers, as they are not for taking electrical measurements. Instead, the auditor is trained to look for fluctuations in the bobbing of the dial for guidance. The end goal is to achieve “clear” status, meaning that one’s reactive mind has been cleared of engrams. A clear is supposed to experience a lack of physical and mental maladies and furthermore possess a higher intellect that before and perfect recollection. Dianetics was official published in 1950, and for about a year was an enormous and profitable fad. It came with legal issues though, as the scientific and medical communities rejected the idea that Dianetics was a viable program (scientifically) and the Hubbard had failed to produce any verifiable support. Hubbard claimed that he had and blamed his rejection in part on the international Communist party and, even more vehemently, on the psychiatric community whom he accused (and Scientologists still believe) of being part of a global conspiracy to keep humanity shackled. As the fad died down and legal fees built up, Hubbard was eventually forced to flee and sell off the organization, including the copyright to Dianetics. Though he would eventually reclaim the copyright, the stage was set for the next revelation: religion.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺

In 1953 Hubbard officially founded the Church of Scientology in Camden, New Jersey (it is now headquartered in Clearwater, Florida). Scientology continues the practice of Dianetics, albeit with government mandated disclaimers. It also expanded on the scale of Dianetics. It its original capacity, Dianetics was largely based on someone’s current life, and the engrams developed therein. Scientology brough the nature of an immortal and transcendent soul, the “Thetan”. Though the Thetan shares many similarities with the general concept of a soul, Scientology elevates it to the primary mode of existence. Bodies of flesh are temporary and the individual they represent isn’t much better than a lie. The true you is an immortal Thetan, a powerful cosmic entity that has lost its memories and powers due to the accumulation of engrams. Information on Thetans is closely guarded by the Church who claim that the knowledge can be harmful, even deadly, to those not ready to receive it. Practitioners of any rank are obligated to deny claims made by former practitioners or the non-initiated. Scientologists may elevate themselves by means of auditing, certain aspects of which can cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. The path is known internally as the Bridge to Total Freedom. The first level is that of clear, the aforementioned clearing of engrams. After that one can rise to varying levels of “Operating Thetan”. Each level comes with increased revelation of Scientology doctrine. Currently the Church offers 8 levels, though Hubbard wrote of more. Thetans originally were all-knowing, all-powerful, and self-created entities from beyond the material universe. For a number of reasons (possibly as a sort of game) they created the material universe and inserted themselves within. Over time they have experienced many traumas and become increasingly trapped within their own fiction. By untangling this trauma, which can go back quadrillions of years, Thetans may reclaim their awesome reality altering powers.

𝗫𝗲𝗻𝘂 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮

Scientologist beliefs include a large and detailed history of the cosmos, included extraterrestrial activities over the course of hundreds of trillions of years. The most infamous is known internally as “Incident 2” or the “Wall of Fire”. It has often been called a “space opera”, and Hubbard actually wrote a film screenplay about it in 1977. It is revealed to those who have reach OT (Operating Thetan) level III. The story takes place 75 million years ago in an interplanetary government known as the Galactic Confederacy. The Confederacy was ruled by a dictator called either Xenu or Xemu; Hubbard used both in speaking and his handwriting is inconclusive. Plagued by overpopulation, Xenu crafted a nefarious scheme. Under the guise of tax auditing or some other bureaucratic excuse, Xenu transported billions of Confederate citizens to Earth, know to them as the planet Teegeeack. Once there, hydrogen bombs implanted in major volcanoes were detonated which killed everyone. Aware of Thetans, Xenu also arranged for special devices to capture the Thetans before they could locate new bodies. These Thetans were subjected to brainwashing and forceful reeducation, effectively stripping them of their self-awareness and implanting new ideas about humanity and the cosmos, including all other world religions. Though Xenu is overthrown by rebellious officers, the Earth and its Thetan prisoners is left abandoned. Thetans who leave earth continue to be reprocessed by stations on various stars and planets, including Venus. Because there are more Thetans than human, modern humans are both a Thetan and the host of “body Thetans”, extra Thetan individuals that have attached themselves to the same body out of confusion.

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘆

It would be impossible of me to summarize effectively, within just this entry, the history of Scientology’s conflicts with the law and other organizations. Its status as a protected religious organization has been vehemently fought for, and is still under debate in Germany (the government does not recognize it, but the court case is ongoing). Back when it was still Dianetics that state of New Jersey raided and seized many documents and items such as E-meters. After years of litigation the state was eventually forced to return it all, though the Church was made to pay for it. Scientology’s elite form a committee known as the “Sea org”, which originally was actually located on boats, and the Church still does maintain a large cruise ship, the Freewinds, which is where OT VIII audits occur. The original function of the vessels was likely to perform Church functions away from prying government regulation. Members of Sea org must accept certain restrictions on their living quarters, marital status, and sex life, different in practice but similar in theory to the limitations placed on Catholic priests. As the Church does take payment for audits and other services it has been criticized for exploitation and has gone to court many times in multiple countries for such claims. As mentioned earlier, Scientology has never been able to back claims that the Dianetics method is clinically viable and must now provide disclaimers even as a religious organization.

Image Credit: David Miscavige, current leader of Scientology, in a 2007 announcement titled “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘈𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘌𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺”, standing amid images of international translations of Hubbard’s books. Taken from www.scientology.org.

[so-bad-its-good]

Fateful Findings (2007)

NEIL BREEN

      Watching a Neil Breen movie is like helplessly watching a train crash and then burst into flames, and then hearing a bunch of people unconvincingly scream in agony. Neil Breen is a former real-estate agent and architect, who is now a filmmaker. He is known for editing, writing, directing and starring in his self-produced films, notable ones being I am Here …. Now, Double Down and the film in question: Fateful Findings. Fateful Findings is considered a cult film and, like all of Neil Breen’s films, is infamous for being completely terrible. I don’t mean just plain bad, I mean so spectacularly and hilariously bad that people are reluctant to believe that he is serious. Bad movies gain mass followings because they are both amusing and extremely sincere. It is somehow charming when a film tries so hard, yet still fails in every way, and Neil Breen’s third movie Fateful Findings is a perfect example of this.

BRIEF SUMMARY

      Potential viewer be warned: 7 people commit suicide and 2 are murdered in this film. It all begins when Dylan and Leah, two nine year olds who are best friends, discover a magical mushroom that turns into a magical box containing a magical black stone. When Leah’s family moves away, Dylan vows to always carry the stone as a reminder of their “magical day”. Flash forward and Dylan (Neil Breen) is in his 40s, a successful author, and unhappily married to Emily (Klara Landrat). When Dylan is hit by a car and comatose, he is mysteriously saved by his magic stone - which he seriously still carries after 32 years. Dylan’s recovery from his coma is miraculously quick, but he begins experiencing pain and strange dreams as a result of his head injury. This prompts his decision to no longer work on his second book, but to instead hack the government in an attempt to expose their secrets and lies to the public - because that’s the obvious thing for a man with no apparent computer knowledge to do. Throughout the film, Dylan talks to therapists, throws some get togethers and ceaselessly abuses his five laptops during fits of pain and rage. And then there are Dylan and Emily’s friends: another unhappily married couple consisting of Amy (Victoria Viveiros) and Jim (David Silva). Jim is an alcoholic who loves his sports car, and Amy is a banker with fake breasts who no longer wants to be intimate with her husband. Jim’s teenage daughter Aly (Danielle Andrade) just won’t stop propositioning Dylan, despite his being more than twice her age and distinctly unattractive. Later, Aly witnesses Amy accidentally shooting Jim directly in the chest, though she was only trying to shoot his car, which was at least a meter away from him, but this doesn’t really matter since Jim’s death in no way affects the following events in the film. The story moves somewhere completely different when Dylan reconnects with his childhood love, Leah (Jennifer Autry). They both admit to thinking about each other every day since they were nine - which is quite odd - and fall back in love. This would be a problem seeing as Dylan is married and Leah is engaged, but no need to worry, Emily promptly overdoses on painkillers and Leah leaves her fiance. Dylan and Leah reminisce about their childhood - something they are clearly unhealthily longing for -  and revisit the magical box. Next, because clearly there isn’t enough happening, Leah gets kidnapped and Dylan saves her by using his magical ability of dematerializing. The film comes to a close with Dylan exposing the government and corporations, and all of the people he exposes subsequently killing themselves in a variety of brutal ways. The audience is left with a feeling of what-the-hell-did-I-just-watch and the command to: “Act now. It’s our only hope for the future.”

PLOT

      It would be a stretch to say that this movie has one clear plot. It is half scenes from a  low-budget 90s porno and half scenes from a twelve year old’s sci-fi fan fiction. The beginning leads us to expect that this will be some children’s film about a magical box. Once we flash forward to present day, we realize that this is a sci-fi disaster that we are about to observe. Honestly, the running plot of Dylan’s magical stone and powers is unnecessary and confusing. Other than being a feeble attempt to make this film interesting, this plot line might serve the purpose of making Dylan super-human, or perhaps it exists to ensure that Dylan and Leah shared something unique that would help them reconnect later in the film. No matter the reasoning, this plot has absolutely nothing to do with the message of the film. As the movie progresses there are aspects of this plotline that we expect to be explained later on, but of course they never are.

      Also, there’s the seemingly unnecessary plot line involving family friends Jim and Amy. It is emphasized that Jim is an alcoholic and his way-too-attractive-for-him wife is fed up with him, resulting in her throwing various things at him throughout the film (a pillow, a roll of paper towel, a drink, and a glass). Oh yeah, and she eventually shoots him. When Jim dies, it seems like the audience is supposed to feel sad, but none of Dylan and Jim’s supposed meaningful friendship has been shown to us and Neil Breen’s acting certainly doesn’t help to evoke sadness. I don’t think this plot contributes to the overall message of the film, unless of course I’m overthinking this and the central theme is death - there is a plethora of that.

      Dylan and Emily also have a failing marriage, and she is addicted to drugs. She eventually kills herself while Dylan is off reminiscing with Leah and awkwardly closed-mouth kissing her. When Dylan discovers his wife has committed suicide, he is only briefly fazed, then replaces her with Leah. This begs the question of whether Emily’s character was necessary to the plot whatsoever since she’s just thrown aside in a matter of minutes. This part also made the protagonist come off as a pretty terrible person, which is odd since he’s otherwise portrayed as very heroic and in-the-right. Perhaps this was done intentionally to highlight that the protagonist has flaws, or maybe it was because Neil Breen wanted to be naked with and/or closed mouth kissing as many women as possible - who can know?

      The plot line that is highlighted the least is the only one relevant to the message. I’m referring to the plot following Dylan’s hacking into the government. This plot is mentioned maybe five times throughout the entire film, yet it is the only thing imperative to the climax and the message. Dylan mentions periodically that he is hacking the government, despite having no explanation for his hacking abilities, to expose “national and international corruption”. This plot leads to the climax of the film, when corporate and government officials kill themselves after Dylan exposes their “lying”, “corruption” and “greed”. This part of the film seemed gruesome and had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the film, but it is made extremely clear what the message of the film is because Dylan flat out tells us in this scene. This plot line seemed meaningful and the message seemed very important to Neil Breen, but it really stuck out among the sea of irrelevant and unnecessary storylines. Having four plots definitely ensures that you never get bored because there’s so much happening, but when a story is this all over the place nothing is really happening.

ACTING

      This is a film that not only tests your ability to suspend disbelief because of a convoluted sci-fi plot, but because it seems like the actors are actually actively trying to make you not believe them. This is best demonstrated by Neil Breen, who plays the protagonist, Dylan. At the beginning of the film, you may notice that the actor playing young Dylan is decidedly unimpressive, but to the audience’s dismay, the man playing him all grown up makes that child actor look like an Oscar winner. Neil Breen is so incapable of conveying any emotion, that it’s lucky the script has characters clearly state how they are feeling so they don’t have to be inconvenienced with actually having to act. The only thing that is harder to believe than his terrible acting is that it’s not intentional. Neil Breen showed me that there is something hilarious and disheartening about an actor eating a salad unconvincingly.

      As for the supporting cast, I can only think that Neil Breen must cast friends or friends of friends. While I know the script was in no way conducive to good performances, the supporting cast only fed the fire of this trainwreck. Jennifer Autry, who plays Dylan’s love interest Leah gave an underwhelming performance, with unsure deliveries and ill-fitting facial expressions. Not to mention her being cast makes no sense, as she is supposed to be in her mid-40’s and looks like she’s 30. The arguments between Victoria Viveiros and David Silva as Amy and Jim were entirely overacted. Meanwhile, Klara Landrat performed every scene like she was a bored Urban Outfitters employee. Additionally, as Jim and Amy’s daughter, Danielle Andrade’s attempts at being a flirtatious and distressed teen were forced and, quite frankly, embarrassing. The storyline is extremely dramatic, but these actors performances managed to evoke nothing but amusement and disbelief on every level.

CREATIVE ELEMENTS

     There were many choices made during the production of this movie that contributed to making this film so ridiculously awful. The music and most of the sets were adequate - that’s the only positive thing I have to say on the subject. The editing was completely disorienting. The cuts at the dinner party, and literally every other time there were multiple people in a scene, made me physically uncomfortable and entirely unable to follow the scene. Then there were the camera angles. We saw everything from shots from the chest down - at least we were spared the actors’ facial expressions - to unironic crash zooms. It all seemed without reason.

      Another notable element was the special effects. The sound effects were either too loud or made no sense with the scene, for example when the background noise made it sound like there were twice as many people at Dylan and Emily’s barbecue. The visual effects were even worse. I laughed out loud every time I saw that cartoonish smoke effect blow across the screen, telling us that something magical was about to happen. Another appallingly hilarious moment was when objects were supposed to be mysteriously moving, but we could see the string!

      The attempts at symbolism throughout this film are either above the audience’s head or very unclear - I expect the majority of viewers side with the latter. There are the dramatic dream cutaways to Neil Breen naked with Aly, Jim’s teenage daughter,  in front of a wall covered in garbage bags, which in no way relates to the plot, but is extremely off-putting to watch. And the most obvious symbolism of Dylan’s two therapists, one of whom he sits across a long table from and one of whom he sits in a small broom closet with. I understand that the first therapist offered him medication and was distant, while the second one knew his secrets and offered him encouragement, but then the second therapist disappears into thin air at the end of the film, and I don’t see the relevance of any of this to the plot. I will give dishonourable mentions to the outdated props and costumes that really reinforced that 90s porno vibe. I don’t know why these decisions were made, but they sure were awful and they sure were funny.

CONCLUSION

      I must say that I have the utmost respect for anyone who pursues a creative project. I think that what makes this film almost lovable is that you can feel Neil Breen’s passion throughout the whole thing. While I admire him for his passion, I also blame him for this absolute trainwreck of a film - he is the one to blame because he did almost everything: from casting to special effects makeup, to craft services. I do think that the writing was the downfall of the film, but it was more than bad lines and a lack of clear plot. It was the atrocious acting, the confusing symbolism, and the ineffective editing and directing. Everything from the first second to the six thousandth added up to a truly horrendous film. Fateful Findings failed on almost every level and in no way achieved its purpose of motivating audiences to act against governments and corporations. It was so bad I almost couldn’t believe it: I was cringing and cry laughing at the absurdity of every aspect of this film. Fateful Findings possesses every attribute of a film so laughable that it’s laughable. Is it the poorest excuse for a film I’ve ever seen? Yes, it is. Have I watched it four times in the past month? Yes, I have. To quote the film, “I feel like something’s inside me” and it’s the bad movie bug.

[markwatkinsconsumerguide]

Consumer Guide / No.50 / Artist Ros Burgin MRBS with Mark Watkins.

MW : You're a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. How does that work for you?

RB : I love it. When I first walked in to an event at 108 Old Brompton Road there was a palpable sense of being amongst my own kind of people namely sculptors. The RBS is an independent and artist led organisation that promotes high professional and creative standards among sculptors and members share skills and experience. It is committed to making the full range of contemporary practice accessible to all.

MW : What places and spaces do you source objects in order to create art?

RB :  Anywhere and everywhere. I notice particular things  that are part of everyday  life and they stand out because of their inherent qualities and characteristics. What ends up in my hands is usually down to curiosity  about the unfamiliar. The things that end up interesting me don’t always immediately suggest a piece of work. I will keep them around the house so they remain in sight and in mind until I get an idea for a piece of work.

MW : What makes an object potentially upscalable?

RB : Probably, the intent of the Artist governs whether to change the scale from life-size and almost anything is possible nowadays with advances in science, technology and materials. Perhaps the main limitation to realising larger pieces is the availability of a location and the necessary funds.

‘Stella V’ is an example of this. I received a commission from Amesbury , a local school with an age range of 5-13, to make a sculpture for their grounds. I worked with one year group and decided to focus on the part of the school day they spend in the playground and introduced them to the game of Jacks or 5 stones as it is universally known. We made multiple scaled models and scattered them outside to assess them collectively and chose a particular size that related in scale both to the location and the average height of the group.

MW : Tell me about 'Stays, Holds, Ties’ (2009)...

RB : ‘Stays, Holds, Ties ‘ literally reveals the shape of women at the beginning of the last century. Society changed the shape of women’s bodies imposing a desirable form and used the corset to achieve it. I combined it with the covers of romance novels because they are stories which end in marriage another way society proposed women’s lives should be lived and offered few alternative prospects. By revisiting this period and reviewing women’s history and the unenviable lot of previous generations in the light of contemporary society we can see how far we have come and consider how far we still have to go. I tend to find that the pace of change towards equality for women is excruciatingly slow. So I make pieces which comment and draw attention to issues surrounding equality and I am a founder member of the Women’s Equality Party. 

MW : Tell me about 'Skylines' (2015)...

RB : I am a member of the Fawcett Society who published a blog about my project for the installation ‘Skylines https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/Blog/female-pilots-flying-face-of-adversity which addresses very relevant issues of women in the workplace and their underrepresentation in certain professions. After 100 years of aeroplane flight women make up less than 5% of pilots and there are only 450 captains worldwide out of 130,000.This installation features the names of 301 female pilots who, I believe, are role models and an inspiration to others. As an artist I want to encourage dialogue and Skylines draws attention to the number of female pilots increasing the visibility of them as group of women in this workplace and by making them visible encouraging women into the profession …you have to see it to be it.

MW : Tell me about ‘Totally Thames’ (2016)...

RB : ‘Totally Thames’ is an annual celebration of the River Thames with a creative and diverse programme of events throughout September which is curated and managed by the Thames Festival Trust. I joined them as a partner for the first time in 2016 to launch another piece from my ongoing series of work called ‘Thames Drawings’, which all focus on a particular 42-mile stretch of the Tidal Thames flowing through Central London, from Teddington Lock in the west to the Thames Barrier in the east. “Thames Drawing #2” is a new map of the River made using names of boats that use the Thames woven into a continuous piece of text written in graphite on paper which exactly charts its twists and turns.

The exhibition was held at St Katherine Docks in Devon House which looks out onto Tower Bridge and they extended the show for 4 months. I made a second very similar drawing to exhibit along with Thames Drawing #3 – a gold leaf drawing and 2 other pieces, ‘Island’ and ‘Lifeline’, at Trinity Buoy Wharf in the Chainstore at an event organised by www.5x15stories.com commissioned a full sized print of the work to be made which is now on permanent display in Orchard Place at the entrance to the Wharf. It is 1m x 2.8m and looks great as an unbroken line of text. The print works really well anywhere between 50% - 100% of the original size. And the reduced scale is easier to place in a domestic setting.

MW : Away from your studio, what do you enjoy seeing / doing in and around Godalming, Surrey, where you live?

RB : I love getting out and exploring both towns and the countryside. We are never really far from a coastline on this island and I adore the sea so frequently head off to the shoreline wherever I go.

Sport is a regular thing for me, currently tennis and skiing - but I am about to focus more time on learning to surf.

MW : How aesthetically pleasing is your garden and what makes it so?

RB: I have a small garden, and a little borrowed landscape from my neighbours, and the Lammas Land edging the River Wey running through my hometown. It is south facing so I have planted and shaped a couple of olive trees, a fig and the local apple tree bramley to take advantage of the shadows they cast across the space as the sun moves from east to west. I enjoy a crisp shadow; mark making on a large scale with a light touch.

I have a friend who is a beekeeper, and so have come to learn more about bees’ patterns and needs. As a result, I have replanted my garden over the last few years with bee-friendly-plants and let them escape into the lawn, which now grows to full height for the spring and summer months. Incidentally, this brought an enormous variety of other insects, moths and butterflies into the space. They seem to fly at different heights and rather like pilots stick to their routes. Inadvertently, I created a habitat which suits all these different species.

MW : Earth, wind and fire. Discuss how these three elements are represented by design in your home and work spaces…

RB : Earth, wind and fire, powerful stuff. I have specifically played with fire and burnt materials to see what happens. I have a wood burner stove which allows me to sort of control the flames and burning time by choosing how much fuel, what matter to burn, and stopping the airflow to arrest the burning. I burnt animal and bird bones, saved from whatever I was eating, and they took on beautiful patinas and became fragile, reminiscent of porcelain sort of taking on the aspects of the plate from which they were eaten. They sounded quite different when strung up in the wind. I have learnt how to burn some pages of an open book and want to make a large piece like this. It will need to be done in the exhibition space and immediately covered with an acrylic case to preserve the delicate leaves. Fire will come up again in a future piece in Thames Drawings. I will be using wood from a burnt boat.

I engaged somewhat with air/wind through the Skylines work, by looking at and thinking about the marks made by pilots as they fly their planes to and from points on earth through the space above us. They are creating temporary traces and lines and these lines informed the shape of Skylines.

Earth comes into my work either as a fired substances, or, as a temporary vehicle for imprints and traces left by people and things such as bicycle tracks. The latter produced installations called Spin and Twist. I also carve stone now and again which is some of the oldest material I work with. There is a small piece on show until October at David Hartlands’ www.elementalsculpturepark.com near Cirencester along with a few installations of Spin.

MW : What was the last film you saw, and which one are you looking forward to seeing next?

RB : The last film was ‘Cloudstreet’ adapted from Tim Winton’s book of the same title. He wrote the script with Ellen Fontana and Matthew Saville directed it in Perth. It was shown as a mini-series and I was blown away by it. Not only a beautiful film but great observation through the language, pace and cinematography. I have now found many of his others books through the library and they have not disappointed. I look forward to catching up with this years film releases in the autumn when my current exhibition closes and daylight is shorter.

MW : Which TV programmes do you never miss, and why?

RB : I like series such as Spooks and heist movies, the twists in the plots appeal. I enjoy Scandinavian series too for many reasons not least they show women in roles other than decorative and victim and don’t flinch at showing women in positions of authority, lead roles and letting them keep their clothes on. I am now watching Montalbano set in Sicily and it helps keep my struggling Italian language in tune.

MW : What do you have ongoing, and planned for the rest of 2017, and beyond?

RB : My current exhibition is now open until 1st October and features ‘Thames Drawing 4’ which is a 4 meter long wall mounted sculpture made from wood salvaged from decommissioned boats that spent their lifetime on the Thames. The project is supported using public funding by Arts Council England and exhibited in partnership with Totally Thames 2017.

I worked with Mark Edwards MBE, a master boatbuilder and set up as an Artist in Residence (AIR) in one of his boathouses used by the Thames Wherry Trust. The AIR was open to the public to reveal and demystify an artist’s process. We adapted techniques specific to wooden boat building, and employed them to produce a piece of sculpture made from unique materials which pay tribute to their history. The work marks the points where the tributaries and ‘lost’ London rivers feed into the Thames . It was amazing working on the riverside and I documented the whole process which I will shortly publish as a blog. I am at the exhibition every Friday (12pm-6pm) and weekends (11am-6pm) in September for informal Q&A with the public. I share the space with ‘Working River’ a Thames Festival Trust project film and story boards about the remaining boatbuilders on the Thames.

For the rest of the year, I will be seeking permanent locations in buildings along the River for bespoke scaled commissions of my work in the Thames Drawings Series. There are additional pieces to be made from parts of wooden boats which suggested themselves during the AIR at Mark’s and he seems to have a bountiful supply of old boats to choose from.

A future project includes working with light in partnership with photographer Nick Joubinaux who is based at Trinity Buoy Wharf and photographed Thames Drawing 2 enabling it to be made into a print.

MW : Where can we find out more?

RB : www.rosburgin.co.uk current projects section of the website and via my newsletter if people send me their contact details I will add them to my mailing list.

© Mark Watkins / September 2017