b-side Multimedia Arts Festival starts this Friday 5th September on the Isle of Portland near Weymouth in Dorset, and continues every day until Sunday 14th September. I’ll be recognisable throughout the two weeks mainly because I’ll be dressed as the animal whose name it is forbidden to mention on Portland. I’m hoping to collect from Portlanders as many stories, justifications, excuses and confabulations as they can think of regarding this prohibition and its continued relevance to the island. Read more about this project here.
In addition to popping up randomly to give you great photo ops for your Facebook page or Twitter timeline (and/or scaring children and animals), if you really want to follow the white r***** then I’ll be at the Cove Inn on Saturday 12th and near the South Entrance of the Verne Citadel on the 13th.
On Saturday the 6th, 13:30-14:30, you can come to my free talk and supercut of (mostly, probably) every major cinematic appearance of Oryctolagus cuniculus. I’ll be talking about Alice in Wonderland as one of the most influential fictions over more than a century, discussing the fine line between adorable and abominable, and asking why the hell bunnies so often wear bow ties but rarely wear shirts, among other things. Again, meet near the South Entrance of the Verne, then you’ll be conducted into the former High Angle Battery tunnels. If you’re coming, arrive nice and early because space is very limited. Teenagers are fine, but it’s not for young children because it’s dark, potentially a bit trip and bump hazard-y in and the whole thing might be a bit scary. Trust me, you don’t want the little darlings freaking out in there. I definitely don’t.
I’ll be dressed like Donnie Darko, obviously.
With yet another daft costume I’ll be performing in the artists’ cabaret at the Royal Manor Theatre on the night of Thursday 11th September. This is the only event I’m involved in that isn’t free, but it’s cheap: £3.50 in advance or £5 on the door. This will be a good time, too.
The island is relatively small, so every day has loads for you to see and get involved with once you get there, with a lot of great and diverse work by artists who not only aren’t crap but are actively excellent. How often does that happen? <EVIL DEAD VOICE> Jooiiiin uuussssssss.
Alistair Gentry 