Building on a successful multimedia art project in Manchester, Sam Kennedy, aka Ronald Raygun, and his merry bunch of collaborators are set to bring a similar, diverse, art extravaganza ‘AudioVisual’ to Darlington; and there’s call for everyone to get involved.
Seeking to provide an opportunity for local artists to showcase their work, as well as becoming a centre point for the local community to immerse themselves in new and interesting art pieces, Raygun see’s AudioVisual as having unlimited potential; “I love Darlington and I can’t believe how strong the local music and art scene is. For me the main aim of AudioVisual is to throw a party in Darlington and have a get together with our favourite artists. We’ve run a similar event in Manchester, called Broadstoke, which has been incredible and really helped unearth some strong local artists and we hope to do something similar for Darlington’s art community”.
Positioning the evening as the chance for the local community to come together, Raygun sees his team’s role as curating an evening which creates opportunities for discussion and conversation; “We try to create a space which is a total mixture of audio and visual art, including a mixture of local bands, local visual and audio artists, and some dj’s. By putting on a mix of artists we hope people will be inspired by something they may not normally hear or see”.
Doubling up as a soft launch party for Raygun’s most recent music single, an 80’s funk track ‘Allergic’, Raygun is happy for his project to take a back seat on an evening all focused on community; “Allergic will be mentioned on the night, but it’s only part of a night which will have a number of different elements to it, so whilst I’m incredibly proud of the track I see it as being part of a wider evening.”
Drawing on the experience of art director Lydia Bailey (“Lydia’s got some really interesting experience with showcasing art, as well as understanding how to unearth hidden talent”) AudioVisual hopes to promote local art works; something Bailey confirms “there are really exciting cultural things happening in the North East and we want to contribute to that, and celebrate some of the talent we have in the region; it’s not always felt like there’s been the same platform for emerging art/visual artists, as there has been for musicians, for example on the local circuit to show their work and engage in a critical dialogue”
An open call for artists to submit their work to be included on the evening is available, though you’ll need to act soon; “We’re hoping to get artists/ musicians involved to meet before the event to chat about curation of the work and to have an informal discussion, so there’ll be another side to it for those involved Rather than just shotting your work up and taking it down the same day, we want to create space for the discussion around the work and to meet with other people involved.”
New music and new art? It sounds perfect.
Ronald Raygun’s new single ‘Allergic’ is released on 10th July. To find out more about submitting your work to AudioVisual contact audiovisualne@outlook.com – Deadline is 10th July.
More information about AudioVisual can be found on the Instagram page AudioVisual_ne