Stroud Site Festival

Enjoy a whole month of visual arts, performance, music, screenings, open studios, artist talks and workshops at Stroud’s Site Festival 2012.

Now in its 16th year, Stroud’s contemporary art event Site Festival is back for another year running, and this May culture vultures can expect a full and dynamic programme of visual arts, performance, music, screenings, open studios, artist talks and workshops.

Taking over the Stroud Valleys from Tuesday 1 to Thursday 31 May 2012, the opening exhibition will be Sometimes Still by Darren Almond at the Brunel Goods Shed in Stroud – described as an imposing six-screen high definition video which the artist photographed near Kyoto, Japan, over several years. This will be its first showing in the UK.

Every year Site Festival incorporates new sites which are used by artists to present curated projects, and ‘internationally acclaimed’ artist Aleksandra Mir will be showing The Big Scale at Index – a new project space in the town.

While Stroud Fish Bar is opening up with Faster Food, Faster Paintings, a series of works which organisers say takes the brash design of fast food culture and turns it into something gloriously greased up.

Artist-led performance groups will be exploring the exchange between audience, spaces, performers and site for The Performance Exchange. Special screenings with directors talks will be brought to the mix care of Negative Space, and there will also be a series of spoken word events including poetry – not to mention opera, comedy and live music.

Yet another highlight will be the Art and Money Seminar, offering insights into the contemporary art market, working with curators and alternative ways in which artistic practice can be sustained.

Plus, grab an Open Studios directory and you’ll be able to find details of more than 80 artists who are showcasing their work during the middle two weekends of May. A great chance to view and buy work outside of the gallery arena.

Whatever your interest you’re sure to find something to inspire and enjoy at this year’s month-long Site Festival. Don’t miss out on the full choice of events by visiting the official festival website sitefestival.org.uk directly.

Six key festival events

Grab your diary and don’t miss these six Site Festival 2012 key events...

Darren Almond’s Sometimes Still exhibition is an imposing six-screen, high definition video filmed on Mount Hiei near Kyoto, Japan, over several years. In the film audiences will able see Almond accompanying a Tendai novitiate monk during a nightly marathon – forming part of a seven-year feat of physical and mental endurance during which monks attempt to reach a state of enlightenment. Saturday 5 to Thursday 10 May 2012 at Brunel Goods Shed, Stroud, GL5 3AP.

OperaUpClose’s adaptation of the Barber of Seville will see the classic transported to Jane Austen’s England, ‘ a world of rich, eligible bachelors, feisty heroines and snobbish relations familiar from much-loved BBC costume dramas.' Organisers say the work offers a fresh take on the original for opera fans and a slick, funny introduction for those who thought opera wasn't for them. Friday 11 May 2012 at Stroud Subscription Rooms.

Minima’s music is described as an audacious 21st-Century interpretation of the images of silent and avant-garde film, and live music fans will be able to enjoy one of the band’s scores for the 1922 horror classic Nosferatu – complete with electric guitar, bass, cello and drums – in this true spine tingler. Sunday 13 May 2012 at Brunel Goods Shed, Stroud, GL5 3AP.

Following the success of a group pop up show in Stroud last year, a number of artists have come together to collaborate again for a pop up exhibition entitled Before You Leave. It will include the work of Abigail Fallis, Colin Glen, Lorraine Robbins and Oliver Marsden, with inspiration drawn from the restored venue in which this event takes place. Friday 18 to Monday 21 May 2012 at Brunel Goods Shed, Stroud, GL5 3AP.

Simon Munnery and John Hegley will be presenting an evening of Comedy and Character for this year’s festival. As well as performing as themselves, the pair will present other selves which they will inhabit – including The Urban Warrior, a unicorn and his old sports master. Expect drama, plenty of joining in and some melancholy – but no hamsters! Friday 18 May 2012 at SVA, 4 John Street, Stroud, GL5 2HA.

Get the Blessing, dubbed Bristolian jazzy post-rockers, will be returning to the festival with the release of their third album OC DC. A shared love of legendary saxophonist Ornette Coleman’s early quartet is said to have inspired the bands boldly monophonic instrumentation. ‘The intricate but absolutely rock-solid rhythm section forms the glue that holds Get The Blessing together, with the dual sax and trumpet frontline working with the bass to create melodies and harmonies’. Saturday 19 May 2012 at SVA, 4 John Street, Stroud, GL5 2HA.