NUWAVE-AC

Walking into Apartment 26 on the 23rd of September I was greeted with a different yet pleasant sight of the usually quiet bar. Its windows had been covered with sheets for the projections that Nuwave were to show for its fourth sketchbook exhibition, which showcases the work in progress of artists currently on Nuwaves books. The principal of doing this is to give the artists some idea of what their artwork would look like inside a venue and to get feedback from the public. Along with the covered windows, a large area had been cleared for the music that would be accompanying the work of the twelve artists exhibiting their work in the bar that evening. As soon as I arrived at Apartment 26, there was a feeling amongst the group I was with of anticipation of how the night would run and what the projections would be like. No-one I was with had been to a Nuwave event before and did not know what to expect from the evening. Luckily this anticipation quickly turned to a general feeling of excitement when the projections started. They ranged from quirky images of wind up toys, stick men and one amazing piece of work of a fire being lit that spread across all three screens. Over the course of the night the artwork was looped as they were in a sequence that lasted for two hours. This gave the public a chance to see much more of the work on show and there was not a feeling of missing out on anything if you popped up to the bar to get yet another beer, as I did many times during the evening. The projections were shown with musical accompaniment which made the movements in the projections more dramatic to watch. I also feel that the aid of music throughout the night helped to maintain he attention of everyone in Apartment 26. It gave the visual art the element of being like music videos and the general public found it more accessible than just watching the artwork. This was exactly the aim of Nuwave and the musicians. Tom otherwise known as “The Uplifter”, one of the musicians wanted “the music and visuals to work in harmony” but also did not want the music to “overshadow” the visuals. Another of the musicians ‘Max the Good’ who actually makes his own instruments started the night with very “Plinky Plonky” music which gave the visuals an element of suspense. Overall the night was a fantastic success with hundreds of people turning up to view the artwork. Downstairs in Lizard Lounge there was also live artwork from another group, Kench and more projections from ‘AFM’. Robert Wicksteed of ‘AFM', only began making his animations as a “hobby over the summer” which shows that art can be accessible to all. The next sketchbook, due to be held on Monday the 29th of January, is expected to be even more of a success as the number of artists is constantly growing and Nuwave have lots of other ideas and works in progress to be shown. Article by:- Hannah Rachel Barton If you are a writer and would like to be involved in Nuwave please get in contact