The Everyday Olympians

I must admit I've never really got into the Olympics very much, I'm not a bit athletics fan, but the some of the cultural side events that have been funded as a result of London 2012 have been quite interesting and another one is happening soon in the Southside.

"Olympians. They may be physically impressive specimens, sure, but why do we laud someone for jumping over a bar or chucking a discus, when often the real challenges that people face in life go unacknowledged?

The Olympics of the Everyday, a new multi-media theatre, film and music piece from Ankur, poses that question. While the eyes of the world are on the London Olympics, a cast of thirty young performers (drawn from refugee and asylum seeker groups, BAME communities, and culturally diverse areas across Glasgow), working with professional musicians, writers actors, designers, and video artists, are preparing to take over Bellahouston Leisure Centre and celebrate your achievements."

The show is a series of site-specific narratives by playwright Jodie Marshall using sporting events and the awarding of medals to tell stories of 'mundane' everyday events. The info we've been sent promises bike rides in the Spin Room, a locker door orchestra and a lighting design that will transform the Bellahouston Leisure Centre into a theatre with red carpets and rovign reporters.

It also will in some way involve the talents of beatboxer Bigg Taj, who we last saw in the Queens Park Cafe as part of the Glasgow International, and he is well worth going to watch.

We are hoping to get a little interview with the director Shabina Aslam to find out a bit more about the show but if you want to get a little sneak peak of what it may entail then wander around Hampden before the football on Saturday 28 July as the cast will be performing "on the road to Hampden" to entertain the crowds.

Olympics of the Everyday, Bellahouston Leisure Centre, Glasgow

The main show runs Thu 9 - Sun 12 August at 4pm

Tickets cost - £2.50

Box Office: 0141 276 0767

Kate Thomson Sculpture @ House for an Art Lover

There is a great little show of the fantastic sculptor Kate Thomson's work on at the House for an Art lover right now until 30 September. Her work has a beautiful simple and delicate quality and plays with light in really interesting and unusal ways. Its well worth a trip to the HAL to see the show,

About Kate
"Kate Thomson is an established Scottish sculptor who has been working internationally for the last 20 years. After graduating in Fine Art from Newcastle University, she worked for 3 years as a community artist in the Gorbals in Glasgow, where in 1989 she was also one of the six Founding Directors of the Glasgow Sculpture Studios, before starting to work on site-specific public sculptures for parks, gardens, and buildings all over the world, from inner city re-developments and prestigious new building projects, to established sites like the British Embassy in Tokyo.

Kate Thomson’s work is abstracted from the human form and landscape, exploring relationships in physical, cultural and social space. Her beautifully crafted marble pieces use form to articulate light and life, and touch on something essential yet unique in all of us."

For more images of her work see - http://www.ukishima.net/

Sam Cartman Exhibition @ House for an Art Lover

An exhibition of work by Glasgow based artist Sam Cartman, is currently being shown at House for an Art Lover. He exhibited work at last years Art in the Park, in Queens park, but this his first solo show. His paintings are shaped by him being in a place at a certain time and his memory of that moment. His work includes beautiful interpretations of the west coast landscape. I would recommend you make the trip over to House for an Art Lover, have some tea and cake and have a look at his work it really is fantastic.

Exhibition @ House for an Art Lover until 1st March 2010