Interact
Sweet 'Art presents Interact Week as part of our Cultural Programme. From 29th June to 3rd July the gallery will host a number of events that honour Sweet ‘Art's ethos of inclusive and interactive events that invite visitors to engage with the space in direct and immersive ways. The week will include Sweet ‘Art collaborators hosting interactive performance pieces, a Fashion Teach Boutique, film screenings, therapeutic workshops and welcoming creative spaces for making with an LGBTQI focus in the run up to London Pride!
Pride Through Making
29 June 2022
5.30 - 9pm
In the run up to London Pride artist Katie Schreiber (@keernas) will host a joyous coming together of LGBTQ+ community members and allies to reflect on and share their appreciation of the great work that has paved the way for the queer community through the creation of art. This relaxed and inclusive creative safe space will take place in The Art Bypass Gallery as part of Sweet ‘Arts’ Cultural Program on Wednesday 29th June between 5.30pm -9pm. The evening will be an opportunity to celebrate the achievements that have been made by the LGBTQ+ community, in their fight against injustice and inequality. Incorporating a DIY ethos homage will be paid to LGBTQ+ activists who often incorporate these approaches as part of their fight for change.
The space will be a relaxed and welcoming one with a focus on peer and community led creative activities. Katie will facilitate a guided peer led workshop where participants can discuss their LGBTQ+ heroes or allies and learn DIY making techniques with the aim of creating affirmation keyrings in appreciation of queer community.
Participants can also visit to just hang out, share snacks and drinks and browse the existing Sweet ‘Art Zine Library that will be curated for the evening with a LGBTQ+ focus. A range of art materials will also be provided for guests to explore and have a go at creating their own mini zine, facilitated by artist Sammy Iacob (@sup_im_samantha).
Casa : London
30 June 2022
6 -9pm
‘Casa: London’ is an ongoing collaborative performance between Ning Chou and Nurin Yusof, where a romance-less relationship is explored through domestic life and the idea of ‘home’. Through interactive performance, Ning and Nurin will host a house warming party where the audience are invited to build a cardboard house with the artists as means to negotiate shared vs. personal space, private vs. public life and performance vs. reality. The trajectory of the performance will remain unknown and improvised, allowing for the relationship to run a course of its own before, during and after the performance in both physical and digital landscapes, further blurring the realities of daily life and performance. This non-romantic relationship also extends to explore the difference and familiarity between a house and a home for Ning and Nurin and how their respective Taiwanese and Malaysian culture may affect their experience of establishing a shared home within the United Kingdom, evoking questions of personal security of a living space and co-dependency in the act of being together. Cardboard is also the material of choice due to its ephemeral quality that aids in questioning the durability of the house come home as well as the relationship’s reliability. Thus, its fragile and impermanent nature will also question the intimacy shared and/or achieved between both artist within the voyeuristic setting of a ‘new’ home occupied by the artists themselves and their attending house guests.
Rethink Fashion
Fashion Teach Boutique
1 July 2022
4-6pm
Oblique Arts was set up in 2007 and focuses on arts and ecology alongside raising awareness of inequality. They seek to use the arts to inspire and educate and are pleased to partner with Oxfam to call for systemic change in the Fashion industry, presenting RETHINK FASHION in Cambridge and London. The aim of ‘Rethink Fashion’ is to inspire enthusiasm and creativity in the way that people shop and dress, rejecting the massive global fast fashion’ industry, with a gentle reminder that the associated pollution ecological impact.
The project aims to inspire people to remember the DIY Punk ethos of the 1970’s, pre-loved grunge vibes of the 1990’s and the focus on love and peace in the message of flower power.
Oblique arts will host a Fashion Teach Boutique run by renowned illustrator / artist Penny Sobr where participants will have the opportunity to create and customise clothing with fabric spray paints, paint pen and a treasure trove of embellishment materials. We will provide some plain preloved T-shirts , but do check out the charity shops and markets and bring along hats, bags, scarves, t-shirts and any other garments that you would like to customise and up-cycle.
No sewing skills required. During this unique workshop there will be an Eco film
screening and clips of the Rethink Fashion Happening held in Cambridge last year. There will also be a fun, animated slideshow and posters of the Models to enjoy and to inspire you.
Rethink Fashion Happening
2 July 2022
7 -9pm
On Saturday 2nd July Oblique Arts will present the Rethink Fashion Happening. Guests will be treated to an amazing event; fourteen diverse and beautiful models will be wearing customised, embellished and recycled unsold Oxfam clothes that were destined to become mattress filling.
Upcycled designs will be created by Central Saint Martins Fashion Graduate and artist Jamie Ashman. The film, music and compèring will be provided by Pakana Curtis (AKA Short form Short & Sweet DJs). She describes the ethos of the show model by model, asking people to rethink their consumption of fast fashion and instead to source clothing from second hand, vintage and independent and ethical designers. This action has the power to stop excessive textile waste in landfill as well as the widespread pollution caused by the relentless wheels of the global fashion industry.