Spoon-Fed

This months Spoon-Fed (a wonderful Bristol based micro-funding event) was full of creative ideas, and inventive ways of communicating those creative ideas. The night goes something like this: we all pay a fiver and get some soup and bread (delicious); 8 artists present a project idea (interesting); everyone votes the project they want to fund (democratic); the artist with the most votes gets all the cash from the door (ch-ching).

What was really exciting about the Spoon-fed presentations was that they there were no technical aids, and they were limited to three minutes (stopped by Anna who played the human time-gong!). These limitations forced artists to think about how to communicate their idea in a simple, effective and dynamic way. Gentlemen Jack (who won the fund) presented from within the audience, to illustrate their immersive theatre (they had very loud theatric voice, and as I was sitting in the next seat it certainly took me by surprise!). EXPENSIVE danced their presentation (in a very glam sequined gold dress), Dominique Fester made some interesting contemporary dance movements, and Black and White theatre performed an extract of their show. [photos: the Collect]

I was presenting my Pop-up-paper-book project and used some rather lovely paper folds and illustrations (I’ve embedded a gif below). I didn’t win the fund, but really valued the process (it’s all about the process process process). I had to be incredibly disciplined to get a myriad of thoughts and ideas down to 3 minutes *no babbling allowed*. Also, I really enjoyed making the presentation book, which was my prop. I think it is a great alternative to keynotes, and it may catch on -just a little bit small for large groups.

The event was great for making new contacts. In 3 minutes the whole room had been introduce to your ideas, and were invited to ask questions in the break. I met the very enthusiastic Michael who makes robots for NASA using the same materials I am going to use in my book (this is so exciting!). I shall be finding out more about the materials Michael uses this week, and hopefully he’ll be able to advice me on the next steps -what an amazing outcome!