Stephen Kelly : Twoplayer

Amazon Wishlist

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:36:20 +0000

When you wish upon a star makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star as dreamers do.

Identity Crisis

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:58:22 +0000

An identity crisis is a term in an epigenetic and social psychological theory in which an individual loses a sense of personal sameness and historical continuity. The term was coined by the psychologist Erik Erikson. According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself.

Waveform Transmission Vol. 1

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:28:17 +0000

Changes of life.

Nicolas Roeg

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:11:15 +0000

Nicolas Roeg is a director known for his use of the cut-up technique, through which a linear narrative is given a new and less conventional meaning. His oblique storytelling formula, with ambiguous characters, blurred genres, distorted chronologies, and open-ended themes invites warring interpretations.

Lillian Ramsay

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:06:46 +0000

Lillian Ramsay, devoted her life to the less privileged, in particular to the care of the young. In the 1990s, a chance viewing of a television documentary called Fields of Darkness led her to establish a national team of social workers to care for children born without eyes. Drawing on her many friends in the profession, she was able to set up The Eyeless Trust, managing the entire organisation with her redoubtable capacity for energy and her commitment to young people.

Rumble in the Jungle

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:07:46 +0000

Serious monkey business, May Day weekend.

Jacques Tati

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:10:17 +0000

Jacques Tati was a French film actor and director who became best known for his inspired physical comedy and his accident-prone alter ego, Monsieur Hulot. In his films Tati forsakes traditional narrative in favour of vignettes that use sight gags, timing, mannerisms, and physical action to reveal the humour and texture of modern living.

Oblique Strategies

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:13:13 +0000

The Oblique Strategies constitute a set of over 100 cards, each of which is a suggestion of a course of action or thinking to assist in creative situations. These famous cards have been used by many artists and creative people all over the world since their initial publication in 1975.

Edward de Bono

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:56:24 +0000

Edward de Bono is regarded by many to be the leading authority in the world in the field of creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. He is the originator of lateral thinking which treats creativity as the behaviour of information in a self-organising information system, such as the neural networks in the brain.

Street Sounds Electro

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:22:41 +0000

Influenced by Neville Brody’s design for The Face magazine, the Street Sounds Electro sleeves designed by Red Ranch eventually went on to inspire an electro cover of The Face magazine by Neville Brody. Perhaps overshadowed at the time by the music that the records carried, the sleeves were undoubtedly part of their success.

Naoto Fukasawa

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:06:19 +0000

Naoto Fukasawa is one of the best-known Japanese product designers working today, achieving widespread recognition with his groundbreaking wall-mounted CD player, designed for MUJI in 1999. Fukasawa has won acclaim for his innovative designs of familiar objects, which are based on his close observations of how we use things in our everyday lives. An exquisite synthesis of east and west has produced a wide range of products in seeming perfect balance. His objects, however, merely look simple.

Chris Carter

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:30:10 +0000

Chris Carter began his career in the late 1960s working as a sound engineer for Thames, Granada and LWT on numerous TV shows and documentaries, and received commissions for BBC shows, Colour Me Pop and The Old Grey Whistle Test. In the mid 1970s, Chris began an experimental music/sound collaboration with Cosey Fanni Tutti, Genesis P-Orridge (also working together as performance art group COUM Transmissions) and Peter Christopherson. The result was the creation of the now legendary Throbbing Gristle, Industrial Records and the birth of the 'Industrial Music' genre.

Orbison Illusion

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:55:25 +0000

The Orbison illusion is an optical illusion that was first described by the psychologist William Orbison in 1939. The bounding rectangle and inner squares both appear distorted in the presence of the radiating lines. The background gives us the impression there is some sort of perspective. As a result, our brain sees the shapes distorted.

Anthony Shakir

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:13:23 +0000

Anthony Shakir is one of if not the most underrated names in Detroit techno. Producing tracks on his own since 1981, Shakir worked as a co-writer, producer, editor, and engineer next to Atkins, May, and Carl Craig in the late 1980s. Some of his first material appeared on the seminal "Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit" compilation. In the 1990s he co-found Puzzlebox with Keith Tucker and Frictional with Claude Young.

Another Side

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:57:52 +0000

You saved my day. Thank you.

Corky McCoy

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:37:27 +0000

For his 1972 cosmic funk album, On the Corner, Miles Davis asked his former flatmate and cartoonist, Corky McCoy, to create an album cover that would appeal to hip young African Americans. Some critics were appalled by what they saw as racially sensitive depictions of African Americans. Corky's multi-hued blaxploitation street scenes of superfly guys, playaz and fine bitches in hot pants and high heels, were a perfect fit for Miles radical music. Corky also drew sleeves for In Concert, Big Fun and Water Babies.

Jerry Dammers

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:26:46 +0000

Born in 1955 in South India, Jerry Dammers was the founder, main songwriter and keyboard player of Coventry band The Specials. The 2-Tone image and ethos was primarily concocted by Dammers who, drawing influence from original Jamaican rude boys, created the familiar 2-Tone look which adorned their releases. Their suits, Ben Sherman shirts, etc. came from seeing the fashions worn by fascist elements of the National Front. Dammers thought if they were going to put across an anti-racist message it was better to look like the people whose attitudes they were trying to change, rather than those who were already like-minded.

Tyree Guyton

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:26:11 +0000

Primarily a painter and sculptor, Tyree Guyton has also been described as an urban environmental artist. He has waged a personal war on urban blight on Detroit's East Side, transforming first a street in his neighbourhood, and then two city blocks into a living indoor/outdoor art gallery by using discarded objects including old shoes, bicycles and baby dolls to embellish abandoned houses, sidewalks and empty lots.

Berthold Lubetkin

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:18:16 +0000

Berthold Lubetkin is widely regarded as the most outstanding architect of his generation to have practised in England. Lubetkin's designs are characterized by clear geometric figures, technical ingenuity, and a functional resolution that show modernism at its most poetic and powerful. Famous works include the Gorilla House and Penguin Pool at London Zoo, Highpoint One/Two Highgate, Dudley Zoo and Finsbury Health Centre.

Dieter Rams

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:54:36 +0000

For over 40 years, from 1955 until the late 1990s, Dieter Rams designed or oversaw the design of over 500 products at German consumer goods maker Braun. He was radical in his use of materials but always determined on designing products that were fundamentally honest, as simple to use as possible and that worked as well as possible.

Movement in Squares

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:17:17 +0000

"Chess can be described as the movement of pieces eating one another."

Richard P. Gabriel

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:44:04 +0000

Poet and computer scientist Richard P. Gabriel is a distinguished engineer at IBM Research, looking into the architecture, design, and implementation of extraordinarily large, self-sustaining systems. He is the award-winning author of four books and a poetry chapbook, and popularized the phrase "Worse is Better" in his 1990 essay "Good News, Bad News, How to Win Big".

Gerald Simpson

Wed, 13 May 2009 13:44:00 +0000

Since the 1980s, Manchester native, A Guy Called Gerald, born Gerald Simpson, has proven to be among the most innovative figures in modern music. His influence is international, and through his versatility he has spawned genres and generations of music culture. From his early experimentation with techno and acid house to his ground breaking contributions to jungle, GCG's art and craft has perpetually evolved regardless of his individual successes in each of those genres.

2012 Olympics Logo

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:13:08 +0000

Devised by brand consultants Wolff Olins, the 2012 Olympics logo was hailed as "dynamic" and "vibrant" by organisers. A segment of animated footage released at the same time as the logo, caused seizures in a number of people who suffered from photosensitive epilepsy and is an example of how accessibility may affect any of us.

Denys Fisher

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:41:32 +0000

Born in 1918 in Leeds, Denys Fisher was an English engineer. In 1961 his company Dennis Fisher Engineering won a contract with NATO to supply precision springs and canon components, a job no other British firm at the time felt confident to take. The contract gave him the security to pursue a project closer to his heart, and between 1962–64 Denys produced prototype drawing machines for what would become the Spirograph. In 1969 Denys designed Sticklebricks, a construction toy for toddlers.

Tina Frank

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:33:51 +0000

Tina Frank's designs for the experimental electronic music label Mego crash analogue and digital imagery together in an often raw, confrontational approach that still retains a contemporary edge more than a decade later.

Colin Dale

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 13:36:55 +0000

In 1986 Colin Dale gave up his day job at a bank and joined Kiss FM as a pirate radio DJ. He played a selection of music drawn from house, funk and garage, until visiting Detroit DJs Derrick May, Blake Baxter and Juan Atkins, turned him on to techno. By 1991 his "Abstrakt Dance" show boasted over 50,000 listeners each week.

Interaction of Colour

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:39:50 +0000

"As it is with people in our daily life, so it is with colour. We change, correct, or reverse our opinions about colours, and this change of opinion may shift forth and back."

Andreas Pavel

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:31:08 +0000

In 1972 Andreas Pavel invented the Stereobelt to "add a soundtrack to real life" by allowing the user to play high-fidelity music through headphones while participating in daily activities. In 1979 Sony's very similar TPS-L2 Walkman introduced a change in music listening habits, allowing people to carry their own choice of music with them.

Relics

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:43:58 +0000

A relic from longer than long ago.

Alan Oldham

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:40:32 +0000

Alan Oldham has been a mainstay of the Detroit techno scene since he was an on-air personality on WDET-FM (101.9) from 1987 to 1992, hosting the innovative "Fast Forward" and helping introduce Detroit techno to a wider Detroit audience. Alan was the first-ever UR "Assault DJ" and first graduate of the UR techno DJ boot camp. As an illustrator his artwork graced the early releases of Transmat, Retroactive, Djax-Up-Beats, Submerge, KMS and +8.

Esther Venrooy

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:08:20 +0000

Esther Venrooy is a composer and sound artist working in the field of electronic music. Her work ranges from purely electronic composed music to improvised combinations of electronica with traditional instrumentation such as piano, flute and satsuma-biwa.

Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:20:47 +0000

One of the most ambitious and effective information design projects ever executed in Britain is the road and motorway signage system designed by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert from 1957 to 1967. Intellectually rigorous yet inclusive and engaging, their system has become a role model for modern road signage all over the world.

Val Denham

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:35:25 +0000

Val Denham is visual artist from Yorkshire, England. Always refreshing and unconventional, Val is best know for his record covers for Marc Almond, Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV.

Owen Maclaren

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:16:23 +0000

Owen Finlay Maclaren, a former test pilot, was responsible for the design of the Supermarine Spitfire undercarriage for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Drawing inspiration from his familiarity with lightweight, collapsible structures, Owen went on to design the baby buggy, the first generation of comfortable and portable transport for toddlers.

Deepart

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:34:36 +0000

Minimal lo-fi style, techno soul. Deepart's series of five "Picture" releases lacked titles or artwork, the music itself being the object of interest.

Traffic News

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:09:50 +0000

Avoid jams in the South East – latest traffic news, delays and roadworks.

Mark Pauline

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:39:10 +0000

Survival Research Laboratories was conceived of and founded by Mark Pauline in November 1978. Since its inception Survival Research Laboratories has operated as an organization of creative technicians dedicated to re-directing the techniques, tools, and tenets of industry, science, and the military away from their typical manifestations in practicality, product or warfare.

Rune Lindblad

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:33:23 +0000

Rune Lindblad (1923–91) was an early pioneer in electronic and concrète music. After extensive art studies, he taught painting and graphic arts. When he began composing in 1953, he was the first composer in Sweden to work only with electroacoustic sound material. At a time when Cologne and Paris were fighting over the aesthetic differences between oscillator tone music and musique concrète on tape, Lindblad did not see the genres as mutually exclusive.

Chris Watson

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:18:57 +0000

Chris Watson is a sound recordist specialising in natural history. His work as a wildlife sound recordist includes both work for film and television documentaries, and experimental musical projects. In 1971 he was a founding member of the influential Sheffield-based experimental music group Cabaret Voltaire. His sound recording career began in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television.

Hilary 'Harry' Fisher Page

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:11:52 +0000

Hilary Page was born in 1904 and sadly committed suicide in 1957. During the years 1932 to 1957 he changed the face of the British toy industry and created some of the classic pre-school toys played with by children today. Classic play patterns such as stacking, nesting and sorting were created in plastic, but Page's greatest claim to fame has to be his invention of what was to ultimately become the Lego brick.

Abdul Haqq

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:20:40 +0000

For over 16 years, Abdul Haqq has contributed to the science fictive creeds of Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Underground Resistance and others by creating visual worlds that are synonymous with Detroit techno. A conceptualist and futurist, Haqq's role as the Ancient is affirmation of the fact that we do hear and see sound.

Enid Marx

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:21:33 +0000

Enid Marx spent her life designing objects to delight the eye. She created textiles, postage stamps, jampot labels, repeat patterns for both paper and cloth, book jackets and book illustrations. Add to that posters and textiles for the London underground, magazine adverts, suitcase linings, laminated tabletops and nursery furniture. She wrote eight children's books, and is co-author with Margaret Lambert of two books on folk art.

Liaisons Dangereuses

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:50:38 +0000

Liaisons Dangereuses were founded by Beate Bartel and Chrislo Haas together with vocalist Krishna Goineau. A German group who sang in French and/or Spanish – resulting in an experiment equally cold and dark, yet sensual and exotic. In 1981, after releasing four ten minutes cassettes CHBB1, CHBB2, CHBB3 and CHBB4, they recorded their sole self-titled album at Conny Plank's studio in Köln.

Victor Papanek

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:00:48 +0000

Victor Papanek was a designer and educator who became a strong advocate of the socially and ecologically responsible design of products, tools, and community infrastructures. He disapproved of manufactured products that were unsafe, showy, maladapted, or essentially useless. An untiring, eloquent promoter of design aims and approaches that would be sensitive to social and ecological considerations.

Alfred Wallis

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:44:26 +0000

Alfred Wallis was a Cornish fisherman and artist. He painted his seascapes from memory, in large part because the world of sail he knew was being replaced by steamships. Having little money, Wallis improvised with materials, mostly painting on cardboard ripped from packing boxes, using a limited palette of paint brought from ships chandlers.

Toru Iwatani

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:40:05 +0000

Without any formal training in computers, visual arts, or graphic design, Toru Iwatani (with the help of four others) completed Pac Man in 1980, after working on it for a year and five months. Pac Man introduced an element of humour into video games that designers sought to imitate, and appealed to a wider demographic than the teenage boys who flocked to action-oriented games.

Dario Argento

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:06:51 +0000

Dario Argento is a film director best known for his work in the horror genre. Fresh, daring and wildly imaginative, his mix of special effects, vivid color and virtuoso camera movement is one of the most unique in the world. He has a fascination with voyeurism and often introduces humorous elements, through visual jokes and/or amusing characters.

Send Ten Postcards

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:30:35 +0000

There are some things that make sense, but can't be easily explained. My Grandad enjoyed receiving postcards. My Mum enjoys sending postcards. It's something that I need to do, but I can't explain why.

Kenneth and Mary Martin

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:50:07 +0000

Kenneth and Mary Martin were at the forefront of artists including Victor Pasmore who "rediscovered" abstraction during the 1940s. Kenneth Martin's mobile sculptures and Mary Martin's reliefs are based around mathematical principles and display extraordinary innovation.

Irdial~Discs

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:24:32 +0000

Irdial~Discs is a world renowned publisher, driven by a relentless, ferocious and uncompromising vision of what the public should expect from music, sound recordings, print and publishing. During its long history, Irdial~Discs has been responsible for exposing the public to many revered artists and the most extraordinary and important of historical sound projects.

Daphne Oram

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:35:56 +0000

Daphne Oram was one of the central figures in the development of British experimental electronic music. Early in her career she declined a place at the Royal College of Music to become a "music balancer" at the BBC, and as co-founder and first director of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, she is credited with the invention of a new form of sound synthesis – Oramics.

George Shaw

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:50:18 +0000

George Shaw became famous for his paintings of the Tile Hill estate in Coventry where he grew up in the 1970s: its houses, paths, garages and woods. And he did it all with Humbrol enamels – the same shiny paints he used as a boy on his Airfix models.

Harry Beck

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:28:34 +0000

In 1931 Harry Beck stripped London of it's details, leaving a clear and comprehensible underground map for visitors to the capital. An electrical draughtsman, Beck realised that travellers weren't bothered about geographic accuracy, but were interested in how to get from one station to another.