Moonshot
Hello hello
How are you? I have to say, feeling better weather and Spring vibes creeping in over the past week has done a lot to improve my mood. Sunshine and bird song and snow drops. WE had a very domesticated weekend, which has resulted in clean windows and colourful window boxes and everything just feels hopeful.
And when I ask how you are, I mean it. The absolute best thing about sending these out is the messages and emails I get in return.
//happening
At TF we've launched something new this week. A bit of an experiment I guess, as it's not the kind of thing we traditionally put out. But over this pandemic year we've been trying to be helpful and supportive to artists and producers like us. The Making Of - episode 1 was released on Wednesday - is a series of video conversations with the whole team where we talk about all the 'behind the scenes' stuff and try and share some advice on producing risk, supporting artists and where to start with tech.
Questions were submitted through an online form we shared. And I actually really enjoyed the time to think and talk through what's important to me in how I approach TF.
Yup, there's a few episodes and they will all be released on IGTV on the Tempting Failure instagram.
Oh and I want to recommend the UNFIX call for artists. I performed there a few years ago and they were amazing. And I like their provocations and approach. "To find out through art who the Anthropocene is asking us to be."
//aesthetic pleasure
Ooh. First bit of 'pandemic art' that's appeared in here. Something about this I quite liked. Bindi Vora's Mountain of Salt responds to the past year with digital collage, found text and archive images.
//read
++ Remember the drones over Gatwick? Were there ever actually drones over Gatwick? After reading this, I'm not convinced. (But being unconvinced makes me feel a bit like I'm adopting a fairly tame consipiracy theory)
++ "We are, trenchcoats and shades aside, pretty much waist-deep in Cyberpunk right now." I've long been a fan of the cyberpunk genre and enjoyed this, admittedly old, piece on why a 'second wave' of cyberpunk in cinema hasn't really worked. I wonder if the lack of source literature also played a part - it was originally a book genre right? And is anyone writing it these days? (Genuine question. I'd love to know.)
++ Beautiful, heartbreaking piece on Najin and Fatu, the last two Northern white rhinos on Earth. The last of their kind.
Right then. Until next time, stay safe, mask up, find the sunshine
//Hellen