Every weekend, Express presents a selection of exhibitions, performances, workshops, events and other historic, creative and delicious content to help islanders get their weekly dose of culture.
Here’s this week’s offering…
Rock out at the Blue Note Bar
Tonight, you can visit the Broad Street-based Blue Note Bar for a free night of local live music.
The lineup features post-punk group 88 BunkFace and four-piece rock group FlashMob.
The organisers said: “Come down, bring a friend, get them to bring their friends and help us all show that live music is still loved and in high demand in Jersey!
Doors open at 20:00 and more information can be found HERE.
Sometime, Somewhere
A local playwright’s production, featuring a London-based actor, will be performed on Saturday evening, following a residency with the Jersey Arts Centre.
Performed by Alice McCracken, directed by Sioned Jones and written by Simon MacDonald, the play brings the real-life story of hair salon owners who shunned gossip magazines and tabloids in the wake of Caroline Flack’s death to a Jersey stage.
The play has already gone before audiences in London when, supported by ArtHouse Jersey, it was selected by Make It Beautiful Theatre Company for their showcase of one-act plays at the White Bear Theatre in 2021. Following this, it had a run at the Golden Goose Theatre in Peckham. The play made its Jersey debut in April of last year.
Since then, the script has become more elaborate, with Alice now needing to bring to life the voices and mannerisms of a whole cast of characters to tell the story centred around a hair salon. And with Sioned directing, this JAC rehearsal process will allow the trio to further develop the work.
Speaking about the show, Simon said: “This story has stuck with me for a number of years because the themes it explores are so rich and relevant. It asks us to question the ways we interact with a consumerist culture where we’re constantly oversaturated with media and content – and what’s at stake in the lives behind the headlines.
“I’m really excited to hand the directing reins over to Sioned. She’s an incredibly talented performer and director and I am so interested to work with her and see where her vision takes the piece. As always, I’m grateful to the Jersey Arts Centre for supporting this show from the very start.”
Tickets are available HERE.
Contemporary Art Show
An art exhibition showcasing artists from Jersey and Guernsey with practitioners from around the world launched last week.
The Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show – a partnership between ArtHouse Jersey, Art for Guernsey and Les Champs Libres in Rennes – is being exhibited at Capital House until 25 February.
The exhibition aims to offer new perspectives on how the Channel Islands relate to their pasts and a wider global future.
It explores the inspiration that the Channel Islands have offered to artists through history, particularly from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century and one that reflects the more complex social realities of the islands today.
ArtHouse Jersey said: “With stunning landscape and portrait photography, exquisite and subtly layered painted works alongside sculptural and video pieces, it will both question and invite the viewer to reflect on themselves and the complex global histories of these Islands.
“The show promises to be mysterious and experiential for the visitor, with shifting and changing perspectives, much like the Islands themselves when seen from close-up and afar, as visitors walk through the gallery environment.”
The work will be showcased first at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House between 19 January and 25 February 2024 followed by a month-long exhibition at Art for Guernsey in St Peter Port opening on Thursday 7 March 2024.
For more information, click HERE.
The Seaflower Venture Film
Over the past seven years, Martin Toft has covered more than 60,000 kilometres across land and sea, exploring the history of
Jersey’s cod-fishing trade in Canada in the footsteps of those pioneers.
One of the fruits of his labours is a short film, The Seaflower Venture, based on the life of one of the trade’s most successful exponents, Charles Robin, who set up business on the Gaspé Coast in 1766.
Premiering at the opening of ArtHouse Jersey’s Channel Islands Contemporary Art Show last week and part of the research
for a larger project called Entrepôt, it reimagines the merchant triangle linking Jersey with South America.
ArtHouse Jersey said: “Through the prism of colonialism and family history, Martin looks at how Jersey’s original wealth generated by the proceeds from the North Atlantic fisheries and maritime trade lay the foundation for the island’s future prosperity.”
His film can be seen at the Capital House Gallery in Church Street until 25 February.
Poetry Performance Evening
Jersey-based poet Traci O’Dea will be leading a poetry performance workshop in the Capital House gallery space this evening, inspired by work in The Channel Island Contemporary Art Show.
The event will be held from 18:00 until 20:00 and information about the performance evening can be found HERE.