Now with Reactor at the helm, the long-awaited return of Trampoline took place at Broadway Cinema, Nottingham. In a one-off extravaganza the night featured the best new works by artists combining media, art and technology.
The evening kicked off with I Love Trampoline, a specially compiled show-reel of all the finest works from previous Trampoline events. This allowed the audience to catch up on what they might have missed over the event’s eight-year history and whet their appetite for the night to come. I Love Trampoline was interspersed with interviews with some of the ‘talking heads’ of the local art scene, sharing their views and memories about Nottingham’s first and finest new media art event.
Using a variety of household objects: cut up cardboard boxes, Post-It notes, florescent lights, Frank Abbott introduced the night’s compare. In the Cafe Bar the projection showed Abbott manipulating these items in a variety ways to create live idents to introduce the Trampoline Bear.
The projection cut to news footage where the Bear, stuck up a tree, was shot with a tranquilliser and fell to the ground bouncing off a trampoline positioned below and onto his head. After this rather heavy fall the Bear was carried off into the back of an ambulance, the video cut and the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. A medic in a white coat came running into the Café Bar asking for help, when no one came to his aid he resorted to dragging in the unconscious Bear himself. Standing on a table he sprinkled the hapless animal with magic glitter, reviving him from his coma. As the Bear awoke the medic removed his coat and donned his fez, becoming the Bear Trainer. Informing the audience that they had travelled all the way from the Reactor Russian Dancing Bear Academy in Vladivostok, the Trainer proceeded to interpret the wild gesticulations of the Bear as he introduced the night’s events.
When I called it ‘The Garden Party’, or, an incident in ¾ Waltzing by Daniel Oliver took place in the upstairs Mezzanine Bar. The performance consisted of a monologue by Oliver, incorporating video footage and audience involvement to make a series of cryptic demonstrations. Humorously unintelligible and incorporating a hosepipe and a giant ‘dog cone’, the performance cumulated with the raconteur falling in slow motion down the stairs.
Bob Levene’s performance Drum Roll consisted of two performers alternatively ‘playing’, with live footage of their instruments projected on the wall behind. The drums themselves were small electric motors with numerous strings attached; when the motor was started the strings spun rapidly hitting a surface creating the drum roll sound.
Dragged once more from the office, the Trampoline Bear was treated to a story. Opening a giant red book, the Trainer read The Legend of Mandy, acompanied by a picture showreel on the projection. This tragic tale follows the story of Mandy: the beautiful young girl who was once the Trampoline logo, and tells how she was captured and transformed into the Black Bear of the Dark Arts by the wicked art collective Reactorb.
Shouting at Cars was an interactive installation by Paul Ashton. Using the favourite toy of young boys everywhere: Scalextric, two players raced their cars around the track. The speed of each car was controlled via a crash helmet with an attached microphone, the louder the noise the player made, the faster the car would go. The two players with the best time over the night were bought back for the Grand Final at the end with live footage of the race projected on the screen in the Café Bar.
The final event in the
Café Bar was by La Halva Squid Piper Band; a variety
of traditional instruments and other improvised noise-making devices were
used to create an experimental sound performance.
The evening concluded with A Sight for Square Bears: a collection
of the latest cream of the audio-visual crop. This show-reel presented the
best screen based work from artists taking new media in new directions and
featured the work of Andrew Chadwich, Eunhee Choi, Katie Davies, Lenna Kela,
Vladimir Krushal, Emma Lewis, Sooty Monkey, Rafael, Reactor, Charlotte White
and Dan Williamson.
Other work featured throughout the night included:
Dandle by Dave Bond and Jon Burgerman, an animation/installation
requiring the viewer to put their head into the mouth of a giant cardboard
gnome in order to watch this strange and otherworldly animation.
For Worm by Tina Carter audience members instructed the grotesquely
masked figure as to its actions and behaviour. Moving around the building
throughout the event, the Worm interacted with those present
according to the whims of whoever controlled it.
Films by Paul Matosic and Samantha Donnelly were shown on a large projection
at the entrance and various films by Andrew Chadwick could be watched on DVD
in the upstairs Mezzanine Bar throughout the night.
