Milkilling
BxNU MFA | GRADUATE EXHIBITION
3-21 June 2015
DAVID BILBROUGH
TIM CROFT
RACHEL ERRINGTON
JOANNA HUTTON
RICKY JAMES
LILY MELLOR
GETHIN WYN JONES
BALTIC’s project space at BALTIC 39
31-39 High Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne
baltic39.com/mfa
Tim Croft, Tennis (detail) 2015. Photo: David Bilbrough
A CONTEMPORARY ART COMPLEX( ITY)
BALTIC 39 is our contemporary art complex(ity)* where
postgraduate students and researchers from Northumbria
University rub along with thirty-odd studio holders and all who
pass though BALTIC’s project space; a beautifully top lit gallery on
the 4th floor where the exhibition Milkilling was presented. The
BxNU MFA studios are at the heart of this recently renovated
building, their creamy tiled walls evoking its former life as a printing
warehouse. BALTIC 39’s constant comings and goings, the ebb
and flow of public, artists, curators and guests provides the
necessary complexity in this idyllic place which fosters art research
and practice.
The appetite for critically engaged dialogue has influenced the way
the structure of this new course has developed. Peer to Peer is a
series of critiques and discussions between BALTIC Crew and the
students focussing on work in the studios and BALTIC’s project
space. BxNU Respond has similarly built on the opportunities for
parley: over the two years of the course, the majority of the
students exhibiting here have had proposals selected and have
been mentored to develop a (mostly performative) public event
which responds to, or confronts, an exhibition in the project space.
The intimacy, which the students have developed within their
immediate context over two years, comes through clearly in work
which is firmly rooted in this space and place but which faces
confidently outward.
The eight practices (one collaborative, in addition to the work of
two individuals) represented in the exhibition Milkilling have been
forged in the early years of a new course, a new building, a new
*
partnership. With good grace and patience the students have
worked through the contradictions of intense scrutiny/freedom and
opportunities of their new-fashioned situation. These
circumstances came together, like the milk and the illing to form
something full of life and new possibilities. We thank David
Bilbrough, Tim Croft, Rachel Errington, Joanna Hutton, Ricky
James, Gethin Wyn Jones and Lily Mellor for this. They have been
a great first cohort.
Thanks also to the staff team from across Fine Art in Northumbria
University, who have contributed to the course, greatly enriching
the students’ experience and to BALTIC colleagues across the
learning and engagement, technical and curatorial teams who have
been generous partners and critical friends. Special thanks to
Fiona Crisp, MFA Course Leader who has steered the course into
existence, to Professor Chris Dorsett for his contribution to the life
of the mind that is Talk Studio and to acting Course Leader,
Sandra Johnston – the students’ enthusiasm and talent for
performance is largely due to her influence.
CHRISTINE BORLAND
BALTIC Professor
*after Mildred’s Lane
Milkilling: BxNU MFA | Graduate Exhibition, Installation view. 3-21 June 2015, BALTIC’s
project space at BALTIC 39 © BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Colin Davison
Milkilling: BxNU MFA | Graduate Exhibition, Installation view. 3-21 June 2015, BALTIC’s
project space at BALTIC 39 © BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Colin Davison
Milkilling: BxNU MFA | Graduate Exhibition, Installation view. 3-21 June 2015, BALTIC’s
project space at BALTIC 39 © BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Colin Davison
DAVID
BILBROUGH
Image courtesy the artist © David Bilbrough
Milkilling: BxNU MFA | Graduate Exhibition, Installation view. 3-21 June 2015, BALTIC’s
project space at BALTIC 39 © BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Colin Davison
Image courtesy the artist © David Bilbrough
Image courtesy the artist © David Bilbrough
TIM
CROFT
Tim Croft, Organ Grinder’s Monkey (video still) 2015
David Bowie Chronicles (extract). "I remember been on, er…
well, we… we'd had a show… the tour had been going well
but I mean David was… I think, er… David seemed very…
very restless, very er… I think he was kinda keen to really
move on to doing some new material, and I think he really
wanted to get the tour over with and… really get back to the
studio, get back to writing, really sort of try some new stuff.
And, er… it hadn't helped that, that David had a bit of bad
health, the tour - The tour was going well but we'd had a few
niggles, personal niggles within the crew, some technical
niggles and er… And we were on the tour bus, we were
going to, I think we were… were going, we were… That was
it, we'd landed in Japan. And we had a couple of dates in
Japan, and I remember we were on the bus going through
Japan and… Beautiful, beautiful country and er… I
remember… David just… He was very quiet, seemed very
self-reflective. Y'know and I just left him to that, y'know, I
was there with him. I was sorting out some… money…
money stuff at the time. I seemed to remember having my
little notebook out and… Just checking some figures over
and David bolted out of his seat, ran straight down to the
front of the tour bus… At the driver, 'Gotta pull over! Gotta
pull over right now!' And the guy pulled over, and David
bolted out of the bus. And I thought, well y'know he's not
one to… he's not prone to travel sickness, as far as I was
aware at the time, y'know, and I thought, well… 'Okay.' So I
wandered down, got off the bus, and there was David, side
of the road… with his penis out, just pissing into the breeze.
And er… There was actually a breeze, so… Thankfully it
wasn't a, er… a facing breeze, y'know, it was a sideways
breeze, so it carried his urine… off somewhat, but not onto
him, er, because I know David would not've been happy had
that happened. He could have quite a violent temper on
him… But we'll not go into that. But yeah, I remember seeing
David there, and he, he finished and he, y'know tucked
himself away. Tucked the ol' little fella away. Well I say little
fella, David was, y'know… reasonably hung guy, y'know. He
had nothing to worry about there… And he turned around to
me with a beaming smile on his face, and he just said to me,
'I love Japan!'… And er… In hindsight that was a special
moment. I think that was a very important moment for
David… because he went back to Japan… a good six times
in the following twenty years… And er… Yeah… It's the little
moments like that, that, y'know… made working with David,
er… An experience that I… wouldn't trade for anything."
Tim Croft, Boundary Reconfiguration, video still, 2015
timcroftworks.com
Sammy the Soap. Sammy the Soap lived in Dave’s bathroom. Sammy spent his days resting on a
small shelf attached to Dave’s shower. Sammy would spend most of his time looking around the
bathroom, or sleeping on his back. But most days Dave would come into the bathroom to use the
shower. The light-switch would click, the bathroom would be bathed in light, and the bathroom fan
would start whirring. Then Dave would set the shower running whilst he hung up his bath robe.
Sammy the Soap would be engulfed by a cloud of hot steam. Into the shower would step Dave. Into
Dave’s hand Sammy would be grasped. “Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee” went Sammy with excitement, as his
swooped across Dave’s chest. Whooooooooooosh went Sammy as he sped down Dave’s arm.
“Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaay” went Sammy as he cor nered hard round Dave’s armpit.
“Woooooooooooow” went Sammy as his zig-zagged down Dave’s leg. “Uh-oh” went Sammy with
hesitation, as Dave thrust Sammy deep into his hairy arse crack. Up and down went Sammy. This
was the worse bit. “Urgh” went Sammy as he got spun around and around Dave’s hairy ball-bag.
Dave was done showering, and Sammy the Soap was placed back on his small shelf attached to the
shower. Sammy watched as Dave dried himself with a big towel. Sammy watched as he himself
dripped dry on his little platform. A few days later, the bathroom door opened, the light went on, the
fan whirred. Sammy the Soap’s eyes lit up. “YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!” he shouted, overjoyed
at what he saw. Dave’s girlfriend Elaine had come over to stay the night. “Jammy bastard” grumbled
Stephen the Scouring Pad who sat neglected on the bathroom windowsill. Sammy could not help
but beam with joy. That’s one vigorous arse and gusset plunge Sammy was happy to take. Several
weeks passed of Dave’s showers, and Sammy’s exhilarating roller-coaster rides over Dave’s body.
But one morning Dave came into the bathroom to shower. The light-switch clicked, the bathroom
was bathed in light, and the bathroom fan started whirring. Then Dave set the shower running whilst
he hung up his bath robe. Sammy the Soap was engulfed by a cloud of hot steam. Dave got into the
shower and looked at Sammy with a look of concern and disappointment. Sammy the Soap was ill.
Sammy the Soap was dying. Sammy had lost a lot of weight, and lay there delicately on the shower
shelf. He lay there desperately thin, with a couple of thick curly hairs embedded into his frail body.
Dave gingerly tried to pick Sammy up from the shelf, but Sammy was so ill that he had become
stuck to the shelf. As Dave tried to pick Sammy up, Sammy’s body began to squash at the edges.
Oh what a sorry state Sammy was in. Dave continued, trying to prize Sammy from the shelf.
Eventually Dave succeeded, but Sammy’s body was mangled around the edges. As Dave pressed
Sammy against his chest, poor Sammy broke apart into three pieces. Dave lost his grip and
Sammy’s broken body dropped to the shower floor. His dismantled body collected in the plug hole
of the shower. Sammy the Soap was almost dead. He grew ever thinner. His body snapped into
pieces. Dave looked down upon Sammy. “What to do?”, Dave wondered. Using his big toe, Dave
mangled the remains of Sammy into the plughole, breaking Sammy down in a mush of soap and
thick wiry hair. Eventually Sammy dissolved and was no more.
Tim Croft, C, mixed media, 2014
Image courtesy the artist © Tim Croft
RACHEL
ERRINGTON
Milkilling: BxNU MFA | Graduate Exhibition, Installation view. 3-21 June 2015, BALTIC’s
project space at BALTIC 39 © BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Colin Davison
Rachel Errington, MY CURVES/YOUR NEEDLE (performance still) 2015. Photo: Caroline Cockburn
Voices, 2015, Zine.
Rachel Errington, MY CURVES/YOUR NEEDLE (performance still) 2015. Photo: Caroline Cockburn
JOANNA
HUTTON
Milkilling: BxNU MFA | Graduate Exhibition, Installation view. 3-21 June 2015, BALTIC’s
project space at BALTIC 39 © BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Colin Davison
Joanna Hutton, Slide (detail) 2015
Image courtesy the artist © Joanna Hutton
Image courtesy the artist © Joanna Hutton
RICKY
JAMES
Milkilling: BxNU MFA | Graduate Exhibition, Installation view. 3-21 June 2015, BALTIC’s
project space at BALTIC 39 © BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Colin Davison
Ricky James, Drafting (performance) 2015. Photo: Denys Blacker
Ricky James, Drafting (performance) 2015. Photo: Denys Blacker
LILY
MELLOR
Lily Mellor, Dependent Variable (performance still) 2015
Milkilling: BxNU MFA | Graduate Exhibition, Installation view. 3-21 June 2015, BALTIC’s
project space at BALTIC 39 © BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Colin Davison
Left: Lily Mellor, Work that never
existed , for a show that already
existed, for a gallery that no longer
exists 2014. Right: Lily Mellor,
Comfort Zone 2014
GETHIN
WYN JONES
Milkilling: BxNU MFA | Graduate Exhibition, Installation view. 3-21 June 2015, BALTIC’s
project space at BALTIC 39 © BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Colin Davison
Gethin Wyn Jones, Blue Title 2014
Gethin Wyn Jones, RIFT 2014
Gethin Wyn Jones, From Form to Form 2014
RICKY
JAMES
LILY
MELLOR
Ricky James & Lily Mellor, Measures for Social Betterment (film still) 2015
Ricky James & Lily Mellor, A sort of honeycomb arrangement (film still) 2014
Ricky James & Lily Mellor, Untitled (film still) 2014
Ricky James & Lily Mellor, It is promptly carried off and
in a short time, a new one takes its place (film still) 2014
COURSE INFORMATION
The BxNU Master of Fine Art (MFA) at
Northumbria University has been developed in
partnership with BALTIC Centre for Contemporary
Art. The two-year course offers ambitious artists
the opportunity to participate in a unique
postgraduate degree programme, centred on the
vibrant and dynamic studio culture of the BxNU
Institute of Contemporary Art at BALTIC 39 in
Newcastle’s city centre.
The Institute is a base for BALTIC Professor
Christine Borland and a network of internationally
active artists, academics and curators who
provide world-class teaching and mentorship in
contemporary art practice and research. The
BxNU MFA provides students with exceptional
opportunities to develop their art practice in this
vibrant context, supported by outstanding
exhibition facilities and dedicated studio spaces.
Find out more about BxNU MFA and watch a film
with teaching staff at baltic39.com/mfa
Watch a short film with BxNU MFA 2015
graduates at baltic39.com/milkilling
APPLY NOW
BALTIC 39 is a vibrant community of practising
artists located on High Bridge in the heart of
Newcastle upon Tyne. This publicly accessible,
cultural hub for contemporary art practice and
research opened in April 2012 as a unique
collaborative venture between Newcastle City
Council, Arts Council England, BALTIC Centre for
Contemporary Art and Northumbria University.
The former Ward’s printing warehouse and
distinctive Grade II listed building at 39 High
Bridge Street is home to BALTIC’s project space
– a stunning top-floor gallery, 33 artists’ studios
and the BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art.
baltic39.com