Autumn 2010
QUAD at night © Graham Lucas Commons
An inaugural film festival explores identity through film, while QUAD’S senior citizens explore what they think of contemporary art as they curate an exhibition drawn from the Arts Council Collection…
Leading regional arts centre Derby QUAD today announces its Autumn programme.
Celebrating its second birthday this September, QUAD has quickly established a reputation for attracting the most significant and important names in the world of art and film to the city. This Autumn QUAD will tackle the issue of ‘identity’ through film with the first ID Fest, and mount the ambitious Objects of Delight – a major exhibition of 20th-21st Century British art, drawn from the Arts Council Collection and curated by regular visitors to the centre.
Opening 13th November 2010, Objects of Delight will see a group of QUAD’s regular visitors become curators of an exhibition that presents works by internationally renowned artists including Grayson Perry, David Hockney, L.S. Lowry, Winifred Nicolson and Anya Gallaccio. The team of fourteen co-curators, aged between 55 – 75 years old, come from a range of backgrounds, many with limited previous engagement with contemporary visual arts.
Works included in the exhibition were selected from the Arts Council Collection of 7,500 British artworks, following a ten month workshop programme of lively debate and research, which saw the group travel to art stores in London and Yorkshire to view the collection and make their final decisions. Each employing their own personal perspective in their choices, the exhibition presents a diverse range of works across sculpture, painting, ceramic, pastel and glass.
November will also see QUAD present ID Fest, a thought-provoking film festival exploring concepts of identity. In its first year, the festival will focus on the theme of ‘English Identity’, opening with a panel debate. Chaired by Daily Telegraph journalist Nick Britten, the panel will consist of actor David Morrissey (subject to filming commitments), archivist James Patterson and academics Professor Jeffrey Richards, Professor Cecile Wright and Professor Rob Colls. QUAD’s cinema will be packed with a mixture of special events, director’s talks, classic screenings and film previews, as well as a variety of workshops and lectures.
QUAD cinema © Graham Lucas Commons
QUAD © Graham Lucas Commons
Family workshop © Graham Lucas Commons
English Identity will be explored from a wide variety of perspectives during the festival. As part of an ongoing partnership with Sichuan Fine Art Institute in Chongqing, China, QUAD has commissioned young film-makers from the institute to create 1 minute short films reflecting their perceptions of this topic. Local-based film-maker Doug Smith, who has directed videos for the likes of Roxy Music, Def Leppard and Saxon, has been commissioned to create a series of vox pop interviews with the people of Derby, documenting their current perceptions of what it means to be English.
ID Fest and Five Lamps Films will also be holding a ‘24 Hour Film Challenge’ the weekend before the festival, tasking film-makers to create a 3 minute film based around the idea of ‘English Identity’ within 24 hours, with films screened during the festival.
Other Autumn highlights include Derby Gleam, a spectacular festival of light that will transform Derby-by-night with a programme of site-specific installations, projections, events and performances from 12th – 20th November.
The city will also welcome back Derby Festé for its third year from 24th – 26th September, with highlights including a mesmerising luminarium by Architects of Air, and an electrifying performance by the internationally acclaimed percussion and pyrotechnics act Les Commandos Percu on Saturday 25th September.
QUAD opened in September 2008 when two well established arts organisations from Derby, Q Arts and Metro Cinema, joined forces with Derby City Council to create a cultural partnership. The Fielden Clegg Bradley (www.fcbstudios.com) designed venue has quickly become a central element of Derby’s artistic offering. Visitor numbers exceeded the initial target of 200,000 and attracted 245,344 in 2009-10, an indication of shining success in its aim to bring world class art and film to Derby.
Further programme highlights will be announced later in the year, including full details of FORMAT International Photography Festival, the UK’s leading biennial photography festival, taking place 4th March – 3rd April 2011.
Keith Jeffery, Director/CEO of Derby QUAD, comments, “We are thoroughly excited to announce the highlights from our upcoming Autumn programme. QUAD strives to make art and film accessible to everyone. From spectacular street performance at Derby Festé, to some of our best known British visual artists at Objects of Delight, and thought-provoking film at ID Fest; this Autumn is set to be a blockbuster.”
Programme Highlights
Objects of Delight: Personal Choices from the Arts Council Collection
Participants discussing works for the exhibition How do you curate an art exhibition?
Fourteen regular visitors to QUAD have risen to the challenge, working with lead curator Jane Bevan, to curate a major exhibition of 20th and 21st Century British art. The exhibition presents diverse range of works across sculpture, painting, ceramic, pastel and glass.
Following 10 months of lively debate and research, the curators have selected 20 works from the Arts Council Collection of 7,500 British artworks. Each employing their own personal perspective in choosing from the collection, the exhibition will present works by major British artists including Grayson Perry, David Hockney, L.S. Lowry, Winifred Nicolson and Anya Gallaccio.
Dates: 13th Nov 2010 – 16th Jan 2011
Price: Free
ID Fest
Adulthood will be screened during ID Fest
This November, QUAD presents the inaugural ID Fest, a thought-provoking film festival exploring the concept of identity and the changing nature of how people create and communicate their own identity.
The festival will open with a panel debate on the topic of ‘English Identity’ – the theme for this year’s festival. Consisting of actor David Morrissey, archivist James Patterson and academics Professor Jeffrey Richards, Professor Cecile Wright and Professor Rob Colls, the panel will be chaired by Daily Telegraph journalist Nick Britten. The opening night will finish with a screening of a classic English film.
From Friday to Sunday, the cinema will be packed with a mixture of special events, director’s talks, classic screenings, film previews and specially curated short films, as well as a variety of workshops and lectures.
ID Fest and Five Lamps Films will be holding a ‘24 Hour Film Challenge’ the weekend before the festival, tasking filmmakers to create a 3 minute film based around the idea of ‘English Identity’ within 24 hours, with the films screened during the festival.
Dates: 25th – 28th Nov 2010
Price: Call box office for details – 01332 290606
Derby Gleam
The Battle of Branchage by Seeper
A spectacular festival of light, Derby Gleam will transform Derby-by-night with a programme of site-specific installations, projections, events and performances.
This multi-sensory festival will delight both children and adults alike, whether following the Derby Light Trail of projections, illuminations and artistic interventions scattered throughout the Cathedral Quarter, or visiting the magical Garden of Light in the Market Place.
Leading artist and VJ collective Seeper will open the festival on Friday 12th November as their audio-visual projections change the face of the city’s familiar architecture.
Thursday 19th November will see Surtal Art’s community lantern parade. Led by schools and community groups, the parade will culminate in the city centre in a finale of dance and music from around the world.
Dates: 12th – 20th Nov 2010
Price: Free
Derby Festé
© J Verhoustraete One of the most spectacular weekend festivals of its kind, Derby Festé returns for its third year with the theme of ‘Colour & Light’.
The three-day event will bring together a variety of international and local artists for a feast of eye-popping outdoor performances and installations across central Derby.
This year’s festival will open on Friday 24th September with a mesmerising luminarium by Architects of Air installed on the Cathedral Green and an outdoor disco in the city’s Market Place.
The undoubted highlight will be the internationally acclaimed percussion and pyrotechnics act, Les Commandos Percu, whose choreographed performance in the Bass Recreation Ground on Saturday 25th September will entertain all the family.
Derby Festé is programmed by QUAD, Dedá and Derby Live, produced by Arts Agenda and funded in partnership with Derby City Council, Arts Council England, Championing East Midlands, Westfield and Marketing Derby. It is supported by East Midlands Development Agency.
Dates: 24th – 26th Sept 2010
Price: Free
Editor’s Notes
QUAD
QUAD is Derby’s centre for art and film, on the Market Place in Derby city centre. QUAD is a gallery, cinema, café bar and workshop that anyone can use.
The £11 million QUAD building was a partnership between Derby City Council, Arts Council England, EM Media, European Union, East Midlands Development Agency, Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership, Derby City Partnership and Derby Cityscape.
QUAD’s exhibitions programme for the next nine months can be downloaded in a new leaflet:
www.derbyquad.co.uk/files/exhibitions_leaflet_to_april_2010.pdf
Chatelin Bruno 
