martin sumner

A Fool’s Errand

MSadmin — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:39:40 +0000

My second and final work from a recent trip to The Hague with Tim Godwin is the story of Godwin Timms, a woman under a bush, a horse, and the search for mysterious dutchman Hermannus. It’s called A Fool’s Errand. Eventually it should find it’s way into a coffee-table book of the same name, with a photographic collection of ephemera from the trip and the other story, Tom Poes. I hope Tim & I can have it done by September, and that will complete a two year adventure from our first trip to Holland, when, with nine other artists, we went seeking new ideas and new directions.

For me, the cycle really completes with a very exciting job appointment: getting back to my community roots with a moving image production management post. Fun, fun, fun ahead…

Writing On Museum Collections

MSadmin — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:48:42 +0000

On Friday a new exhibition opens at The Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery in Rowley’s House, featuring work selected by the Shrewsbury Museum Writers Group, about which members have written interpretive prose and poetry. I am among them, having written Purveyor of Time as a reflection of the parliament clock in the collection. My films with Sue Challis using the museum collections for the Strata Project will also be screened as part of the show, as well as two films by Marilyn Miller which I edited.

I have seen in the proof of the catalogue that accompanies the show that I am listed as a comic football poet. Which I certainly have been, but not for some time. Better get back to that. I have a whole collection of unfinished works that need, well, finishing.

Brain Coral Projections

MSadmin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:59:12 +0000

A quartet of films by Martin Sumner and Sue Challis, recently uploaded and created for the DCD Shrewsbury Museum project.

Martin’s Youtube Channel

This is a series of films featuring sets of projections, some back projected onto screens, some onto the foreground object, which is a 480 million-year old brain coral from the local area now held in the Museums collection.

Projections included a dawn to dusk timelapse from Wenlock Edge by Martin Sumner, short films by Sue Challis for the Darwin Festival, and MRI scans from creative commons. Soundtracks by Martin Sumner and Sue Challis include creative commons atmospheric recordings from Freesounds, street-based vox-pops, and a recitation of a Wenlock Olympiad prize-winning poem from 1851.

Tom Poes

MSadmin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:52:42 +0000

I’ve had a busy month with one thing and another, so here is a little update from my trip to The Hague – a short work of fiction inspired by a shop we found in Amsterdam’s Nine Streets, which discouraged people from coming in by posting a sign outside which read “Just looking? Then visit a museum.” All well and good if you could see what was inside, but the window display obscured the interior completely. And that got us thinking about the idea of a shop where you couldn’t see anything until after you had paid for it…

Tom Poes’ World Famous Travelling Haphazard Bazaar

Along with my colleague and fellow adventurer Tim Godwin, we are now planning to turn the story into a performance piece with a real live shop where you don’t see the goods until they are paid for (and no refunds). And then another trip sometime. And here’s the philosophy behind the adventure, on Tim’s website which I had a hand in getting designing.

Experienceology

The Hague

MSadmin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:55:25 +0000

Eighteen months ago, two colleagues and I managed a trip to Belgium and Holland for something we called a SEEK – where we, and eight young artists in the early stages of their careers, went on a creative adventure for inspiration. I wrote afterwards that it was easy enough to seek, but dealing with what you found was the real challenge.

The Seek Blog

One thing that came directly out of the trek to Utrecht was my book, A Festival of Martyrs. On the pier at Scheveningen, I met Harmannus, and he was inspiration for a story as well as a kicking-off point for the book. Next weekend, I’m returning to Holland to give him a copy of the book, and to try to draw out the conclusions of my thinking for the last year and a half since the last trip. I’m looking forward to some creative thinking time, and to initiating a new adventure beginning again in The Hague.

Flipside

MSadmin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:11:24 +0000

January brings me right back into the world of work with a big project in Dudley, West Midlands for the Black Country Partnership and Flipside, who deliver Multidimensional Therapeutic Foster Care or MTFC. I’m producing a documentary film about it for a conference in March. In addition, the QR code Strata Project and a little WordPress wizardry for Thrift Theatre in West Berkshire means I’m actually working days in a row. It takes a stamina I didn’t realise I had lost. I’m quite worn out already. Which is not a complaint – far from it. It’s a good feeling.

Sabotage Times

MSadmin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:13:41 +0000

It’s nice to see the work finally getting out there – over the weekend Sabotage Times, the net magazine, published Avatar Omega, the story of my rather lame adventures in Second Life. I always felt Avatar Omega had the potential to go far, and it’s great to get him in a national publication.

Read Avatar Omega here.

Unretirement

MSadmin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:19:40 +0000

Well, my first retirement was an unpalatable six months and I’m glad to say I am back in the world of the itinerant artist thanks to Shrewsbury Museum, the good people of Wolverhampton and the agency that mismanages Post Office recruitment. And so to rebuild my frail confidence in my own work and my battered bank account…

First up is the Digital Content Development project for the Museum, including a treasure hunt of QR codes for scanning around Shrewsbury, which I’m in the process of designing. Young & New Curator groups at the Museum will be testing the hunt in the new year, which will include finding work by myself and artist Sue Challis, responding to that work, undertaking challenges and exploring some of the museum collections in a virtual environment. The engine driving this project is being built by James Grimster of Orangeleaf Systems as we speak, for the new Discover Shropshire website. The project, Strata, will have a live site too, more news as it happens.

On another note – 40 copies of my book sold so far – and that just among friends. Relentless marketing on Facebook accounts for all of that, I really should do a bit more for a wider readership…

The Writer’s Fear of Publication

MSadmin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:20:45 +0000

When the shop went live with my little book of nonsense, there was a distinct moment of regret. I wished – for a moment, maybe more – that I’d kept my mouth shut, my journal shut, my mac shut. The Writer’s Fear of Publication. Stupid to think it would do anything but embarrass me…

A big thank you to my lovely friends who immediately bought copies, and by so doing reassured me that it wasn’t all that silly an idea. And to those who have given me the thumbs up. A special thanks to Mark for his very generous support, and to Rob for a great review, a bit of which I reproduce here, in a slightly boastful way, to encourage the doubters to try out Festival of Martyrs…

Take a trip past the yellow sodium glare, through the darkness into the hills. It’s an experience you won’t regret and you can enter the village safely in the knowledge that, unlike the author, you get to leave when you’re ready. As a reader I wanted to return.

Thought provoking, amusing, strange, evocative, entertaining, disturbing.

22 short stories and an angry poem.

A fine debut.

Words For Sale

MSadmin — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 10:04:04 +0000

Over the weekend the sale of my little book went live at lulu.com and although I’m not expecting any sales it’s still an exciting – and scary – moment. How much of a muppet have I actually been by assuming anyone would be interested in this nonsense? Only time will tell. But I’m very proud of it, myself, even though it’s a bit of a jumble. It’s good to finally get it finished and allow me to devote more headspace to other works that need finishing. I also have to face up to a little bit of canny marketing if I’m going to sell any. Cue blog entry about Festival of Martyrs.

Another Small Press – with more details about the book.

Lulu – a link to the book shop. Only £5 sterling!