As promised, I’m finally uploading the stuff from last Saturday’s Misguided tour. It was ever so much fun, although my hangover definitely made walking around one of London’s liveliest areas a bit more effort than it should have been.

We started off outside Hackney Central station, opposite the Railway Tavern. On the tour there were clocks and “H’s” everywhere.

Our esteemed tour guide Richard Tyrone Jones told us that there is half a tube station in Hackney: Manor House. Maybe that derth explained the prevalence of cycle paths and buses. We headed past the relocated and the radioactive grave (said Richard) to one of Hackney’s highlights, Sutton House…

And then on to Tesco…the security guard was not very pleased at having over 50 people descend on the carpark, and wouldn’t even let us in the shop. Richard was forced to “cross the red line” so that he wasn’t on Tesco property any more, in order to perform his poem about Tesco, as we all stamped and clapped the beat.

Interestingly, the first Tesco was opened in Hackney. If that’s interesting.

After the fun of being evicted from the Tesco car park I was saddened by the irony of seeing a ghost bike chained to a post that also played host to a cycle safety campaign.

Onwards though. Onwards to the Hackney Empire, Town Hall and Museum, and then further to the open mic at Nathan Penlington’s house, where Nathan himself bent a spoon, Uri Geller style. Can you spot it?

Quite a full day!

I’ve been so pushed for time since, well, forever, that I didn’t publicise or write up anything about the Flea Circus exhibition I did on the 23rd July. It went really well, though it was fraught with excitement for me after I made the, some might say, not pragmatic decision to make my newest piece from a 2′ by 4′ solid plywood pallet. I had no idea how I would get it to the Candid Cafe, nor had I any idea how we’d mount it. Thankfully, both issues were taken care of for me by lovely, kind and helpful boys in my absence (me being stuck at work).

So here it is - Play on Words - with me in the pic for good measure

And here is My Chemical Life

I had a great time, the acts were fab, and Richard Tyrone Jones asked me to be the artist in residence on his Utter! tour of Hackney, and for Brixton and the Edinburgh festival too. Sadly I’m away for the Edinburgh fest, but my next post will inform you about my Misguided tour of Hackney!

http://tinyurl.com/d7wmox and search austen to find the review!

There is purportedly a burgeoning arts scene in Bangkok, and I have spent quite a lot of the last week trying to find it. It seems that the rule is as follows: If it’s meant to be there, it won’t be. If you aren’t looking, you’ll turn a corner and find it. I must have spent hours and walked miles in the heat, hunting for galleries that either no longer exist or are inexplicably closed with no indication of when they may reopen. The most exciting was my visit to Tadu Gallery in the Barcelona Motors Building, which my trusty (ha!) Lonely Planet indicated was a “major centre for experimental art, culture and conversation” close to the Thailand Cultural Centre metro stop. In fact it’s about a half mile trek down a hot and polluted 3-lane road to find, in my case, an empty and unmanned space full of boxes atop a BMW dealership. I’m sure that when they have exhibits, the exhibits are great, but from the information I could find there it seemed that these are few and far between - hardly a hive of activity.

The one exception to that, and I think we were lucky to find it, was Subconsciouscape by Noraset Vaisayakul at Galley VER in Klong Sarn Plaza building, Klong Sarn Market. Getting there was an adventure in itself, involving the BTS (skytrain) and 2 ferries. When we got there, we navigated our way up a foreboding and unlit stairwell past what can only be described as heaps of junk. Just as the floor came to eyelevel, we were greeted by an extraordinarily intricate and energetic, life-sized pencil sketch of a dog that had been drawn on the wall. On an almost empty shelving unit had been placed a clay sculpture of a head. We found the unassuming door to the gallery opposite piles of wood and cardboard; on the wall by the entrance was the brochure for the exhibition, so at least we knew we were in the right place. On entering, however, all we found was an alcove with a tv on wheels, and a huge, triangular box constructed from mdf and 2by4s, suspended from the ceiling. Timidly, we walked accross the room to a doorway, through which was emanating lots of excited Thai conversation. I stuck my head through, and was greeted by 6 men and a video camera. I slunk back, but was followed by a man who turned out to be Noraset himself. It turns out that he and his exhibit were being filmed for a Thai tv show and, as the camera man followed him when he came to talk to us, so were we!

He asked us to come back after the interview. So, we went and explored the area and returned in 30 minutes, a little unsure of what might greet us given my previous 6 or so experiences with Thai art galleries. When we were shown the installation by Noraset, it turned out that you sit in the ‘control area’ and use a wireless remote to explore the terrain that Noraset constructed - his subconscious - within the aforementioned triangle. You control the direction of movement of a robot, and the direction of view of the camera, in order to journey through the strange, eerily beautiful world that is the inside of Noraset’s head. The robot is a bit hard to control, the camera a little fuzzy, and the terrain is jagged and bumpy. You often get stuck and disorientated; but every so often, you are suddenly confronted with something beautifully etherial that quite simply takes your breath away. It is a perfect allegory of the building of a relationship with someone. Seriously, Noraset’s installation is absolute genius.

So, for anyone hanging around Bangkok at the moment here are my tips for getting to see good contemporary art:

1. Go to Gallery VER, it’s amazing! but the installation is only there until Feb 14th. Get to it by taking a ferry to stop 3 on the river - Si Phraya. Turn left and walk up past the big hotel, turn left again and that takes you to the river crossing pier of Si Phraya - from here cross to Klong Sarn. Walk into the market, go down the 2nd row of stalls and VER is very obviously on your right.
2. Go to the Thailand Cultural Centre changing exhibitions gallery to see a wide range of Thai art. Some of the sculpture is astounding, and there are obvious Thai influences in some of the very original work you see there.
3. Go to Chatuchak market for a load of amazing stalls. My favourite, and a guy from whom I bought, is Kongsak Poonpholwattanaporn, who is also exhibited at…
4. Zen: The Art of Living on the 8th floor of Central World, Chit Lom or Siam BTS - new trends in furniture and art, some amazing chairs!
5. More design than art, Moody at MetroMall in Asok / Sukumvit change over.
6. The cafe next to Zen on floor 3 of Central World has some intriguing art on the walls at the moment - not worth a special trip but if you’re that way for #4 then it’s worth popping in.

NB: I haven’t had time to see the university art galleries, but given the quality of the artwork I’ve seen here, IF they are open, I think they’d be worth a trip. I’m too tired of tramping around in the heat to go out to them on my last day in the city though!

Finally - get GuRu magazine for tips on what’s on and from there you can find places that will have leaflets. It’s always a gamble to find places here, but if you persevere it can sometimes really pay off. Don’t give up due to the frustration of the daft, hit-and-miss Bangkok address systems.

On Friday, I installed my sculpture, Re-cycle (1), in the gallery, Williams Arts and Antiques on Gwydir Street, just off Mill Road in Cambridge. It will be there for a month I think, so head on down if you’re in the area and take a look at it in person. Playing with it and it’s moving mechanisms really beats looking at photos!

The opening evening was excellent fun, and the sculpture seemed well received by everyone. For anyone interested, the blurb for the piece runs like this:

Re-cycle (1)

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The concept for Re-cycle (1) came out of discussions between Chris Williams (Williams Arts and Antiques) and I for a moving sculpture. I have worked with bikes in my sculpture for the past 3 years, re-using old bicycles and parts donated by Cambridge residents to create life-affirming, environmentally focussed and politically demonstrative artwork. So, when Chris proposed a chase scene in sculpture form, it seemed only logical that I should use some of the many bicycles and parts that I have amassed to create it. Similarly, it made sense that the sculpture should focus on the greatest bike race in the world, the Tour de France.

Re-cycle (1) is comprised of 3 bikes, used electric guitar strings, old computer wires, an ethernet board, used sand-paper, planks from a broken fence, newspaper cuttings and the jack of a defunked headphone set. The sand-paper has been used in a two-fold capacity, as it was used to sand the planks and thereafter added for aesthetics. Every part of the sculpture is re-cycled. Each part would have been either thrown away or abandoned if it had not been donated to the project or commandeered by me for the same purpose.

The sculpture shows global issues in a frank manner. However, the aim of the Re-cycle (1) and the images contained therein is to explore fundamental ideas of death and rebirth. I hope to raise questions about the nature of hope and the effect of perspective in gaining or maintaining it. Images within the sculpture are open to various interpretations: The green fields shown behind the valiant cyclists, while verdant and life affirming, are images of palm-oil plantations in Borneo, which are destroying the natural biodiversity and soil fertility of the area. Similarly, the image of wheat holds many meanings, both good and bad, ranging between ancient mythological, biblical and modern-day ecological.

The issues addressed in Re-cycle (1) are serious, but their delivery is intended to be humourous, because it’s better to laugh than to cry.

Kat Austen

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As most of the parts are donated, I would like to thank the following people for their contributions: Catherine McKnight, Ruth McKnight, and Jacob Phelps for the bikes; Jim Fowler for the guitar strings.

A riveting tale about the making of Re-cycle (1)…

The frame of Re-cycle (1) was built in Cambridge, whereupon I drove it to a small cottage in North Wales to finish it. The thing about staying in a small cottage in North Wales is that resources are distinctly limited. Imagine my horror, then, when I discovered I needed a rivet for the chain on Re-cycle (1), which is a full millimetre thicker than the 3 spare chains I brought with me, due to the rare hub gear mechanism on the bike. I took my broken chain to the one bike shop within 20 miles of the cottage, but they only deal with mountain bikes; there was no chance they would have a rivet the right size. I had no idea where I would find somewhere that would have one, moreover a used one, in time to finish the project. How terrible to be thwarted, after months of work, by one small, metal cylinder. I returned to my chilly garage and tried once more to hammer in a rivet of the wrong size. All I was doing was damaging the chain… Sitting back on my heels, my eye fell on the headphones that I had brought, along with all the old computer wire, to make the race competitors. I’ve learned through years of working with recycled materials that if it looks like it might work, it’s always worth a try. So I tried it. To my utter astonishment it fit the chain and it didn’t block the mechanism once cut to size. It saved both the day, and the whole project.

Now that they are with their owner, here are my paintings of Peru

I can’t believe it… today a tv company rang me up and asked me if I wanted to come be a scientific expert on a quiz show. The world is full of randomness. On top of that, this week I am going to meet with a guy who wants to hire me as a logo designer / sign writer for his new security firm. It’s amazing what springs up when you least expect it.

That’s right folks, I didn’t take the safe option, I decided to turn down the money job in order to follow my dreams. Here’s the enlightening thought: If it makes you feel claustrophobic when you think about starting a job, chances are it’s not the job for you. Now, keep your fingers crossed that all this design and art and following my heart pays off. In other news, Kat and Jim the dynamic musical duo are recording a boootiful choon “in progress” at the moment. So watch this space!

Indigo Cafe in Cambridge have agreed to exhibit my paintings in 2 month’s time. Head down there in August and pick up a masterpiece (ahem) with a nice cuppa cha.

Awesome news, Marie-Noelle Kendall, my superfantastic piano teacher and extremely talented pianist is now online. Check her out (in her Kat-made website) at www.marienoellekendall.com

In other news, she’s performing on the 25th May at the Fitzwilliam Museum lunchtime promenade concert: Fitzwilliam Museum Music

I’m page turning! For the chance to enjoy wonderfully moving piano or to see me look marginally smart do come along!!