Immerse yourself in the interview series of Peterlee residents that are being added to the virtual 'game space' of the town by artist Andrew Wood for digital artwork 'SeventyFiveThreads (ver 1.0)' - part of the No More Nowt Digital Residency programme.

The work reflects on the realities of the utopic aspirations of the new town of Peterlee as it reached it’s 75th birthday in 2023. 

Wood's has created this virtual meditation for people to ‘play’ Peterlee, but it’s impossible to tell the story of the town, its 75 years, or to chart its course forward without first reckoning with its multitude of canceled futures. Those phantom plans that continue to haunt the minds of residents, scholars, architects, historians, and artists, all curious about what might-have-been. Wood questions these possibilities through his digital residency.

Get more info on the project page here: https://nomorenowt.org/projects/digital-residency-peterlee-75-andrew-wood

SeventyFiveThreads ver 1.0 - Interviews from the 'game space'

At a time when galleries and museums are caught in the middle of a culture war about representations of history, Nathalie Olah's short volume Class – recently published as part of the Tate's Look Again book series – offers a fresh take on the relationship between "great" art and systems of power.

In this conversation with Eleanor Penny, the author of Steal As Much As You Can explains how works from Britain's largest national art collection have much to teach us about the making and maintaining of class oppression, from the dehumanisation of the working class in 18th century portraiture to Hogarth's fly-on-the-wall paintings acting as a forerunner of tabloid TV like Benefits Street.

With reference to Turner, Gainsborough, Jacob Epstein and the Young British Artists, Olah explains how art has been transformed into a PR-friendly asset for the ultra-rich and asks why self-styled "political art" so often fails as art.

Novara Audio: Radio for a Different Politics

What Can Art Galleries Teach Us About Class Oppression? W/ Nathalie Olah

Everything There Ever Was brought a magical, large-scale, participatory performance to Crimdon Dene, featuring songs, theatre, a live band and a huge community cast for hundreds of local people. The work produced was part of No More Nowt’s (formerly East Durham Creates) commission strand, ‘This Place We Call Home’, which commissioned collaborative, relevant, exciting and inspiring art from 2018 - 2020.

Waves Crimdon Dene (2019)

A recording of the performance of a semi-improvised collage of voice and electronics, like an expanded song melting in and out of a soundscape.

Me Lost Me (Jayne Dent) weaved samples taken from an interview with Stephen Maitland and lyrics written in response to them; a reframing of the song 'On and Off' which was commissioned by NO MORE NOWT and The Auxiliary project space the 'Untold Stories' project - available as a limited tape release with Industrial Coast.

It is a song exploring the disorientating cycles of shift work in the mines, zooming in on the detail of how often Stephen recalls having to change his clothes when working the 3:20am shift - change to work, change to eat, change to sleep.

Industrial Coast - “We are helping with the production of a limited edition cassingle (a single track cassette) which will only be available at the show.  The work is in response to a conversation Jayne had with former miner Stephen Maitland in the spring of 2023 and is part of a project, Untold Stories. Jayne has a wonderful voice and it’s a beautiful track.”

The song was available on a very limited run of tapes on the opening night via Industrial Coast with all proceeds going to charity.

On And Off — Me Lost Me (Jayne Dent)

EK1 — 'SeventyFiveThreads ver 1.0' interview

EK2 — 'SeventyFiveThreads ver 1.0' interview

EK3 — 'SeventyFiveThreads ver 1.0' interview

EK4 — 'SeventyFiveThreads ver 1.0' interview

EK5 — 'SeventyFiveThreads ver 1.0' interview

NO MORE NOWT (Formerly East Durham Creates) works to engage local people in creative activities and grow arts provision in ways that are sustainable and can last. We’re working to attract more people to choose, create and take part in art experiences where they live.

EK3 — 'SeventyFiveThreads ver 1.0' interview

No More Nowt

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