My Music, My Manchester
25th - 30th October 2016 | BBC Philharmonic Studios, Media City
Video Jam were invited to take part in an intensive week-long creative residency from 25 – 30 October with 35 young musicians and 2 artist filmmakers in a large-scale project that explored the city's rich and diverse musical culture. Facilitated by Brighter Sound and led by musician + cultural activist Meklit (above), the work produced was presented at the BBC Philharmonic Studios in Media City in a celebration of Manchester music.
Recruited from diverse musical backgrounds, the participants represented a range of organisations across the city including Manchester Camerata, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Brighter Sound, Music Action International, Z-Arts, One Education and the Royal Northern College of Music. These young musicians aged 13 - 18 worked in four groups at Band on the Wall music venue, each group composing new music that referenced a different musical genre and explored – and gave voice to – their city.
Video Jam commissioned 2 emerging Manchester based artist filmmakers, Elle Bulger and Joe Whitmore (see below), to work alongside these groups of musicians to produce new moving image works which were presented with live music on Sunday 30 October at BBC Philharmonic Studio.
About the filmmakers
Elle Bulger is a visual artist working predominantly in live projection. Her work revolves around concept driven live visual sets, aiming to form a synthesis between sight and sound. Most recently Elle has been exploring various new media, finding influence in the possibilities that lie in the relationship between emerging technology and live performance.
Joe Whitmore graduated from Manchester School of Art in 2014 with a BA in Illustration and animation and went on to be selected in the Bloomberg New Contemporaries in the same year. He has since been in various group and solo exhibitions and created moving image pieces for musicians, as well as his own audio visual projects. Joe's work is centralised on human behaviours, and the perception of historical events and its imagery.